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Housing PANICHousing PANICWorldwide leading housing bubble and crash blog Articles
Hundreds of economists tell Clinton and McCain that their gas tax holiday i
2008-05-06 05:43:00 You wonder what a couple of pandering idiots like Clinton and McCain were thinking.Just two more short-sighted politicians, doing and saying anything to get elected. Even if it's stupid. Even if it makes zero economic or social policy sense.America deserves better. I'm not sure if most Americans understand things like the gas tax either, but that's why we need leaders who do.HP's recommendation? Raise the gas tax $1 a year for the next five years. Use the money to fund massive transportation infrastructure (highways, roads, bridges, trains, light rail, etc) and launch a Green Manhattan Project. The only way to get Americans out of their SUV's and away from imported oil and massive carbon emissions is to give them the incentive and ability to do it.Clinton and McCain - two idiots who don't understand Econ 101 or what's best for America, running for president and failing.Economists Criticize Clinton, McCain Gas-Tax PlansMore than 200 economists, including four Nobel prize winne... More About: Holiday
HOMEDEBTORS OF AMERICA - EVERY ONE OF YOU - STOP PAYING YOUR MORTGAGE IMMED
2008-05-06 04:35:00 Every homedebtor and housing gambler in America now has the incentive to stop paying their home loan, immediately.People who pay as promised get nothing. No cut in principal. No reduction in interest rate. Nothing.People who DON'T pay get everything. Not because Big Daddy Government cares about them, but because it wants to make sure the banks don't fail and home prices don't fall to their natural levels. Bankers and the REIC gave all that money to Dodd and Frank for a reason you know.Play by the rules and act ethically - the government tells you to go F yourself.Break your contract, stop making payments, don't honor your commitments - the government is there to shower taxpayer money on you to make sure you don't walk away from your depreciating debt-trap.This is what's become of America folks. A country whose corrupted Democratic and Republican leaders screw honest, hard working and ethical people every chance they get, doing the bidding of their bank and REIC masters, redis... More About: Mortgage , Stop
FLASH FLASH FLASH: BofA looking to cut Countrywide bid to $0 to $2, leading
2008-05-05 15:35:00 Tomorrow's news today, here on HousingPANIC. So when BofA walks away, Countrywide goes bankrupt, and Angelo Mozilo is indicted, there should be no surprises.Remember when we said 1 penny was too much to pay, and that this deal would NEVER EVER go through? Countrywide is every STD in the book. BofA would have to be the stupidest company on earth to hook up with them. And the Countrywide lawsuits and liabilities for years to come will be staggering.This gem hot off the wires just now:BofA may lower Countrywide bid to $2/share or belowBank of America Corp. is highly likely to negotiate a sharply lower price for Countrywide Financial Corp, and should just walk away from the deal altogether, an analyst said Monday.Bank of America could face $20 billion to $30 billion in write-downs of Countrywide's mortgage loans after it closes its acquisition of the troubled mortgage lender, FBR Capital Markets analyst Paul J. Miller Jr. told clients in a research note."BAC should completely wal... More About: Flash , Leading
Angelo Mozilo's time as a free man is running low. Countrywide Toxic Mortg
2008-05-05 12:34:00 Will Angelo go OJ on us soon? A white Ford Bronco with an orange man in the back headin to Mexico? Or will he pull a Ken Lay and just conveniently die?Anyone who thinks the housing crash and mortgage meltdown is over is fooling themselves. The next great chapter is coming - The Arrest of Angelo Mozilo and the Fall of COUNTRYRON. And the charges against Countrywide that will come will give BofA a convenient reason to walk away from that moment of stupidity too as CFC goes bankrupt and folds up shop.What's frustrating is that HP'ers knew what was going on for months and months, it was all just so OBVIOUS. And yet it took the government years to finally getting around to do something about it, after the real damage had been done.Government Intensifies Mortgage InvestigationFederal agencies are intensifying a criminal investigation of the mortgage industry and focusing on whether some lenders turned a blind eye to inflated income figures provided by borrowers.In March, the Justice De... More About: Running , Time , Free
HousingPANIC Quote of the Day
2008-05-05 10:55:00 "Detroit ended up making investments in SUVs and large trucks because that's where they perceived a competitive advantage and that's where they felt they could make the most profit. "I think it was a mistake for them not to plan earlier, and now we're seeing a huge growth in fuel-efficient cars that is benefiting the Japanese automakers and Detroit is getting pounded some more."- Sen. Barack Obama, May 2008(The question is - who's dumber and more shortsighted: Detroit auto execs, or America's homebuilders?) More About: Quote Of The Day , Quote
Donald Luskin at SmartMoney calls housing bottom, his only argument being "
2008-05-05 08:59:00 Here's Luskin calling bottom in housing, with no mention of price-to-rent, price-to-income, fraud, the global credit freeze, the change in consumer psychology, massive oversupply, job losses, or really anything of substance to back up his call, it's just that HP'ers are "arrogant". Luskin has a blog "The Conspiracy to Keep You Poor and Stupid" and I'd say the ones who are on the way to being poor and stupid are the ones who listen to such an idiot.Here's Mish slapping him down, and he also provides the nice chart above.Why do "experts" like Luskin, Larry Kudlow and Mike Norman keep embarrassing themselves by trying to call bottom on housing? If you're going to call bottom, at least try to make a compelling argument. Luskin, on the other hand, makes this his central argument as to why home prices will not fall any further:"They simply cannot go down forever"Feel free to comment over at smartmoney too - he apparently hates it.Yes, I do agree, one day, one distant, fine day, real... More About: Calls , Housing , Donald , Bottom
HousingPANIC Stupid Question of the Day
2008-05-05 06:24:00 Did HP'ers and your fellow bubble busters save your ass? Care to put a number on it? More About: Question , Stupid
In light of the mainstream media's continued refusal to cover the issues th
2008-05-04 18:22:00 America gets the media it deserves.I guess it deserves sh*t right now.I don't get the chance to watch a lot of CNN/Fox/MSNBC anymore, but what I do catch is frankly garbage. It's all about "the race" and not about the issues that matter. Unless there's a missing white girl, then even "the race" gets second billing. The last straw was the sickening and sad Democratic "debate" performance by Gibson and Stephanopoulos.I've gotta figure there are a good number of intelligent, informed Americans who would appreciate a news channel that actually covered news. Or TV programming that wasn't total and absolute crap (reality TV, housing porn, etc).I think blogs have taken off like they have, and newspapers and TV are dying, simply because Americans are looking for honest, quality information and debate. What's in blogs can find its way to TV and the MSM programming if someone in the biz is smart enough to make the jump. America deserves better. And without the Fourth Estate on gu... More About: Issues , Cover , Light
What do you do when you're the most tasteless and tactless person in the wo
2008-05-04 13:16:00 Charity? Nah!Taste? Of course not!Humility? No chance!Puke. I hope to see the Indians torch this place one day, French-Revolution-style.Inside The World's First Billion-Dollar HomeForbes estimated Ambani's net worth at $43 billion in March. Reliance Industries was founded by Mukesh's father, Dhirubhai Ambani, in 1966, and is India's most valuable firm by market capitalization. The couple, who have three children, currently live in a 22-story Mumbai tower that the family has spent years remodeling to meet its needs.Like many families with the means to do so, the Ambanis wanted to build a custom home. They consulted with architecture firms Perkins + Will and Hirsch Bedner Associates, the designers behind the Mandarin Oriental, based in Dallas and Los Angeles, respectively.Plans were then drawn up for what will be the world's largest and most expensive home: a 27-story skyscraper in downtown Mumbai with a cost nearing $2 billion, says Thomas Johnson, director of marketing at Hirs... More About: Person
Well, now we've seen everything. Welcome to Sh*tPANIC
2008-05-04 02:12:00 But what should we have expected? When you give farmers taxpayer money to grow food to put in Hummers, and then create hyperinflation to mask an epic housing crash, all kinds of bad thing happen...Shortages Threaten Farmers? Key Tool: FertilizerSome kinds of fertilizer have nearly tripled in price in the last year, keeping farmers from buying all they need. That is one of many factors contributing to a rise in food prices that, according to the United Nations? World Food Program, threatens to push tens of millions of poor people into malnutrition.Protests over high food prices have erupted across the developing world, and the stability of governments from Senegal to the Philippines is threatened.In the United States, farmers in Iowa eager to replenish nutrients in the soil have increased the age-old practice of spreading hog manure on fields. In India, the cost of subsidizing fertilizer for farmers has soared, leading to political dispute. And in Africa, plans to stave off hunger by...
Time for the running of the bulls on Wall Street?
2008-05-04 00:53:00 Has Helicopter Bernanke successfully engineered the beginning of Next Great Bubble? He told us what he was going to do, and then he did it. Screw moral hazard, it's too-low-rate party time. Bubble after bubble after bubble.... How else are Americans supposed to make money?And remember, houses are not stocks. It's the P/E stupid. It's always the P/E.Invest wisely.Drudge: Buffett Says Worst of Crisis Over for Wall Street , Individuals May Suffer... May 3 (Bloomberg) -- Warren Buffett, chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., said the global credit crunch has eased for bankers, and the Federal Reserve probably averted more failures by helping to rescue Bear Stearns Cos.``The worst of the crisis in Wall Street is over,'' Buffett said today. More About: Running , Time
HP favorite target "Third Avenue Lofts" in Scottsdale Arizona now going for
2008-05-03 11:09:00 HP'ers recognize this complex as one of the most obvious bubble-crazed towers of stupidity in Phoenix. So check out this firesale: Here's a 1000 square foot unit that old in bubble-madness 2006 for $895,000, now (trying to go for) only $395,000. And yet likely STILL overpriced based on its P/E ratio. Good god what fool (or fraudster) paid $895,000 just a few months ago? Someone without a calculator (or a realtor) most likely.And how about those "21 reasons" again? HP has the one reason that really mattered: It's the P/E stupid. It will always be the P/E stupid. Not the pro athletes. Not the golf. It's the P/E stupid.Here's what I wrote in October 2007 after doing the math, which might have seemed nuts to realtor-believers at the time:"Seriously, these hilariously overpriced bubblerific units will see drops of 50% to 70% when all is said and done. Just do the math. It's the P/E stupid. It'll always be the P/E stupid."And now, of course, it's happened.I'd love to see the (la... More About: Arizona , Target , Scottsdale , Avenue , Favorite
Oops! McCain slips up and tells the truth (before withdrawing the truth ho
2008-05-03 04:58:00 "My friends, I will have an energy policy that we will be talking about, which will eliminate our dependence on oil from the Middle East that will prevent us from having ever to send our young men and women into conflict again in the Middle East"- John McCain, May 2008(too bad our politicians feel they can't tell the truth and stick to it. it makes much more sense than the lies.) More About: Truth , Tells , The Truth
Make sure you thank Ben Bernanke when you're at the gas station this weeken
2008-05-01 08:56:00 You know, because bailing out his rich banker buds was sure more important than you and your silly problems. More About: Station , Make , Ben Bernanke , Bernanke
America has been down in the dumps before. It's just been awhile since it'
2008-04-30 23:29:00 * Home values crashing* Record gas prices* Soaring food prices* Job losses* Flat incomes* Lousy savings rates* Plummeting dollar* Stuck in a middle-east quagmire* Loss of trust and respect for America around the worldYup, I'd say things are looking good for the Incumbents this November.Not.The good news? I'm not sure it can get much worse, so maybe (except for houses) we're hitting rock bottom. More About: Dumps
Check out this video on Canadians swooping into housing crash and foreclosu
2008-04-30 22:55:00 It probably looks tempting for the maple-syrup-eaters flocking in Phoenix. All those half-off deals, the sea of foreclosures, the ruined families to take advantage of, the thousands and thousands of bank-owned debt-traps. But it's still not close to the bottom. Not even close. It's the P/E stupid. It'll always be the P/E stupid.You just know there's a bunch of Phoenix ramen eating realtors who have moved all their advertising and cold calling to north of the border. They ran out of suckers in the US, time to import.Here's the CBC video. Enjoy. More About: Video , Housing , Canadians , Check , Crash
HousingPANIC Stupid Question of the Day
2008-04-30 20:29:00 In what year will Ben Bernanke's successor have to raise interest rates to 10%+, in a desperate attempt to repair the damage caused by the biggest wuss ever to hold the office? More About: Question , Stupid
Countrywide loses $893 million for the quarter while Angelo Mozilo cashes i
2008-04-30 08:39:00 Seriously, if BofA completes the CFC acquisition, you'll know something funny is going on with Hank Paulson and Ken Lewis. Countrywide is AIDS, Chlamydia, Genital warts, Herpes, Gonorrhea, Hepatitis and Syphilis all rolled into one. BofA would be dealing with lawsuits, losses and employees going to jail for years and years.Watch for the other shoe to drop soon here. And watch for the FBI to announce formal charges against Countrywide execs, and Angelo Mozilo by the end of Summer.And oh, get your popcorn.Countrywide Financial Corp. said Tuesday it lost $893 million in the first quarter, as rising loan defaults amid a deepening housing downturn forced the nation's largest mortgage lender and servicer to sharply increase its provision for loan losses and book other credit-related charges.Shareholders saw their stake in the company dwindle as Countrywide shares lost 80 percent of their value by the end of 2007. Shares had hit a five-year peak of $45.03 in February of that year.Meanwhi... More About: Million , Quarter , Angelo Mozilo
And then people figured out living 50 miles away from work was really, real
2008-04-30 01:19:00 You're going to be shocked at how high gas prices will go. You're going to be shocked at how worthless homes in the Wal-Mart exurbs will get. More About: Living , People , Work , Miles , Real
Gonna be on the road the next couple of days
2008-04-29 23:19:00 Heading to Varna Bulgaria, doubt I'll find internet on the way (or paved roads)Let me know what I missed here. And if you're looking for a travel tip, get to Budapest before everyone else finds out. Great town and your dollars are still pretty good. More About: Couple , Days , Road , On The Road , Gonna
What do you do when you made the biggest financial mistake of your life, cl
2008-04-29 21:08:00 This article is so full of cliches I figure I'll just let you guys at it. Funny captions get bonus points.... Where's the wine and cheese everyone? For that matter, where IS everyone? I paid what? Come here doll - I want to show you my granite countertops, and my checkbook. More About: Life , Financial , Made
FLASH: Iowans Riot Against Foreclosures
2008-04-29 20:34:00 Iowans Riot Against Foreclosures Des Moines: Sporadic outbreaks throughout the farm belt against mortgage foreclosures reached a climax today when Gov. Clyde Herring, of Iowa, declared martial law in Plymouth County after a mob of 150 farmers dragged Circuit Judge Charles C. Bradley from the bench, manhandled the 60-year-old jurist and threatened to lynch him unless he promised not to sign further foreclosure orders. Tonight, 300 national gaurdsmen are patrolling the main streets of Lemars, the county seat and scene of yesterday's outrage, while detachment of the machine-gunners has guns set up at strategic points to guard against a further outbreak.- Iowa, April 1933-America, ???? More About: Flash
FLASH: Here's the latest S&P Case-Shiller numbers that Lawrence Yun, the NA
2008-04-29 16:56:00 "We think the housing market has now hit bottom"- Lawrence Yun, NAR Chief Propagandist, January 2007"The BubbleBloggers will someday bawl balefully in private, but they will never, ever admit that they have been very publicly very foolish."- Greg Swann, America's Most Discredited REALTOR?, July 2006 _______________Housing prices post record declines - Las Vegas, Miami and Phoenix all saw prices plummet by at least 20%.Home prices posted another record decline, as most of the nation's largest markets suffered double-digit drops over last year, a survey released Tuesday shows.The S&P Case /Shiller Home Price Index, which tracks 20 of the largest housing markets, showed prices plummeting by 12.7% in the 12 months ending February. That's the biggest fall since the index began tracking prices in 2000."There is no sign of a bottom in the numbers," S&P spokesman said David M. Blitzer, said in a prepared statement. "Prices of single family homes continue to drop across the nation.... More About: Flash , Numbers
Is throwing open the borders with Mexico and Canada the solution to the Gre
2008-04-29 11:25:00 AmerimexanadaMexamericanadaCanamerimexica Oh dear.Seriously though, if the US threw open their borders and did an "EU-thing" with Mexico and Canada , that would add 108 million Mexicans (a good chunk of which are already in the US illegally) and 33 million Canadians. First step would be an open-immigration economic zone, next step would be a common currency, and then a hundred years from now, one big country. And why stop with Mexico and Canada - watch for a massive increase in visas for workers from around the world. The United States is $53 trillion in debt, we have 20 million vacant homes ready to move into, we have 78 million Baby Boomers retiring soon, and soon we'll only have two workers supporting every one retiree (down from 3.3 today and 15 to 1 at the start of the Social Security ponzi scheme).In other words, at this rate we'll need people. Lots and lots of taxpaying, baby-producing legally-registered people. And if we decide we want the Big Ponzi Scheme to continue, we ne... More About: Open , Borders , Solution
A nation of 300 million people has nearly 20 million vacant and unwanted ho
2008-04-29 08:02:00 What this means:* Rents will stay low* Prices will keep falling* realtors will keep lying* Drastic government intervention into the free market is on the way What will we do with all these empty homes? How can we as a nation have been so incredibly stupid? And what will become of vacant-home foreclosure ghost towns like Maricopa Arizona? Time to send in the bulldozers?Home Vacancies Set Record The share of homes vacant and for sale, an important measure of the nation's housing supply, set a record in the first quarter in a signal that the glut of homes on the market isn't improving.The homeowner vacancy rate, which measures the number of vacant homes for sale, rose to a record 2.9% in the first quarter from 2.8% in the fourth quarter, about one percentage point higher than normal, according to new Census Bureau data. The vacancy rate has jumped nationwide and in cities, suburbs and rural areas since the housing bubble popped. From 1995 until the fourth quarter of 2005, the rate he... More About: People , Nation , Vacant , Million
The end of the world as they know it for realtors is now here: Ramen costs
2008-04-29 07:38:00 Here's the bad news from South Korea - coming soon to America.RamenPANIC is here!The Lee Myung-bak administration has laid out a series of measures to fight inflation, including eliminating or reducing import duties on grain and oil products.Still, the price of ramen soared 12.8 percent from a month earlier while bread jumped 8.8 percent. More About: Realtors , World , The World , End Of The World , Costs
HousingPANIC Stupid Question of the Day
2008-04-28 12:04:00 Will The Great Housing Crash offer a positive lifetime financial lesson for those under 25? More About: Question , Stupid
HP Special Post
More articles from this author:2008-04-28 08:44:00 An HP'er in the know wrote this letter to a friend who was thinking of buying a house, trying to recap for her the Great United States Housing Bubble and Crash, while warning her NOT to buy until this little crash thing is over. The letter was so good, I post it here, in its entirety. He asked to remain anon, as he's in a position to see how bad it is, and how bad it's gonna get.XXXXXX, I am delighted to explain. Some of this is theory and some is fact, but I feel very confident I am painting a very accurate portrait.The early part of this decade was marked by the bursting of the tech bubble and 9-11, and resulting subsequent economic disruption. The many free trade agreements signed during the 1990's led to bleeding of middle-class manufacturing jobs that used to be the backbone of our economy. Since Bush took office, nearly 4 million manufacturing jobs have been lost. But it goes beyond that. American companies, looking for increased profits, have outsourced millions of white ... More About: Post , Special 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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