Media, Congress Need To Wake Up
The warning signs are everywhere that a mortgage/housing fiasco is unfolding and the silence is deafening. Except for newcomers like Cramer, the media isn't covering this debacle or the Doral matter. The home builders having their head handed to them after record existing and new sales, plus record earnings, should put the media on notice that we have a problem.
Perhaps asking the media to quit cheerleading and look at the housing crisis objectively is too much. What of our representatives in Washington? The congress had better be meeting to figure out what the heck they are going to do instead of debating who is more responsible for Fannie.
18 Comments:
Ben, surely you jest! This Congress isn't the least bit interested in tackling any substantive problems. They spend all their time raising money for the next election, kissing up to the extreme right wing that votes for them and the corporate interests that fund their re-election campaigns. Thus, Congress rushes back into town to vote on Terry Schiavo, but couldn't be bothered to address something like the mortgage meltdown, or health care, or any of the other issues that are reaching a crisis point.
They say we get the government we deserve. The American public elected these clowns and we shall pay the price for our folly.
Maybe I am too optimistic, I know. I send emails to some congress critters so maybe a few are lurking and realize these things are being discussed.
Don't get me started on healthcare-hey that would be a good blog topic!
Thanks for the comment.
Besides the Schiavo fiasco, the House has recently voted to make it a crime to help a pregnant minor cross state lines to get an abortion, voted to end all estate taxes, and voted to make it harder for the middle class to file for bankruptcy protection. So if you're very wealthy, or a fundamentalist Christian, or a vendor of credit cards, your needs are being addressed. Everybody else is out of luck.
Ain't democracy grand?
"Perhaps asking the media to quit cheerleading and look at the housing crisis objectively is too much. What of our representatives in Washington? The congress had better be meeting to figure out what the heck they are going to do instead of debating who is more responsible for Fannie. "
Don't get me started ! I find the media to be the most hypocritical group of nobrains I've ever seen. Have you ever seen them dig deeply into an issue and get to the fundamentals ? They represent the whole world as a series of sound bytes.
Our economy is awash with problems right now:
- inflation
- lack of jobs
- manufacturing moved offshore
- pending health care crisis
- pending social security crisis
- housing bubble
- foreign investors fleeing the dollar.
Do you hear the media or government discussing any of this in great detail ? Instead they focus the publics attention on trivia personal interest stories.
What is more important right now, the above issues or the Micheal Jackson trial ? The Mickeal Jackson trial gets front page coverage EVERY day.
If the media started focussing on the real above mentioned issues, maybe the general public would start making better life decisions...
The media, sadly, feed the birds the kind of seed that attracts the largest flock. Imagine the glazed over eyes if they decided to do just a one-hour TV special on the dangers of too much liquidity. Most Americans would be expecting the show to be about drinking. There will be plenty of time for media coverage assigning blame during the aftermath of a correction.
"Most Americans would be expecting the show to be about drinking."
And thus we have a housing bubble. Lets review the equation: Stupid investors + easy money = bubble ! It happens again and again and again in history.
Joe sixpack doesn't have the time/energy/fortitude to read up and learn about investing and thus things go awry. Maybe losing $200K in the housing crash will convince him to do a little more research next time.
"Maybe losing $200K in the housing crash will convince him to do a little more research next time."
I lost $20K during the tech crash - invested in Jan 2000.
Don't own a home. Still rent. I'm not so sure Joe Sixpack will do so badly. I understand much more now than I did in Jan 2000, but still don't have any profit to show for it...Joe Sixpack with his IO/ARM does! Life sure is fair.
"Joe Sixpack with his IO/ARM does! Life sure is fair."
As far as I can tell, any profits that Joe SP made thus far have been either re invested in more housing OR they've been taken out as equity loans and spent. I think most Joe's have a ton of debt and when things crash he is going to be in severe difficulty. I don't think you will have any difficulty.
Democracy in America - what a joke! America has always been run by the golden rule, "He who has the gold makes the rules."
The elitists maintain control of the economy through corporations. You and a friend or two only need to own about 5% each of the equity to control the board. Once you control the board you milk the wealth through pension benefits, stock options and all kinds of goodies. Corruption is the rule, not the exception.
Corporations control the media. They pay for the advertisements. Anything half way controversial is completely watered down for fear of losing business. There is a pretense of oversite once in a while but it is usually drowned out by state sponsered murder (war), Micheal Jackson, OJ, Robert Blake, and American Idol.
Most people know that the candidates that are put in front of you are all part of the same system. There really is no difference between a democrat and republican. They both want to increase the size of government and its control over you and me. It's difficult to tell where the government ends and free market begins. It is all running together like a facist state.
Most people know this and simply don't participate in elections. Our current president was elected by only 24% of the eligible voters. Here's the math: 60% of eligible voters register to vote. of that, 80% voted in the last presidential election, of that, 51% voted for Bush. The math: .6 * .8 *.51 = 24%.
Not that it would make any difference if Kerry won. Heck, George and John have the same Alma Mater and even belonged to the same Skulls and Bones fraternity. But hey, I don't want to sound like a conspiracy freak so I'll just leave my lists of facts at that.
My conclusion; anybody who claims that America is a democracy is either ignorant or just plain naive. The truth is hard to find but thanks to the internet it is getting easier. Seek the truth because it will set you free and make you wealthy!
Don't get me started on Jim Cramer. I subscribe to Real Money and read him every day, and he can make you money more often than not if you can tolerate him. The frustrating thing is that he flip-flops frequently and makes no apologies. Mark Haines on CNBC used to call him "the pastor of the church of what's working now." As far as the homebuilders go, in just the past few months, he cheerled "Bob Toll's got land, and we've got a growing population" as homebuilders were making new highs. Then he got cautious the next week remembering how homebuilders were cyclical and when he just started in the business in the eighties the homebuilders had a tremendous run and a low p/e of like 6, and it was only a wiser manager who prevented him from jumping in as they got cut in half at the end of a boom cycle. Then he got positive again as the earnings came out and were exceeding expectations. Yesterday he argued against a housing bubble because a notable insider, General William Lyon was not selling shares but rather investing millions of his own money to take his company private. Today he wrote about how he didn't want to be long or short any homebuilder because the Fed can kill the stocks if they keep raising rates, but you can get killed being short because these stocks have become the new dot-coms and you can get your head handed to you if you try to call the top. So much for consistency. At least he made me money by being consistently positive on his oil stocks thesis.
Why are you guys complaining about Congress -- this is the best democracy money can buy!
"Besides the Schiavo fiasco, the House has recently voted to make it a crime to help a pregnant minor cross state lines to get an abortion, voted to end all estate taxes, and voted to make it harder for the middle class to file for bankruptcy protection. So if you're very wealthy, or a fundamentalist Christian, or a vendor of credit cards, your needs are being addressed. Everybody else is out of luck. "
Let's try to keep this SOMEWHAT on topic. You realize that this is a blog on the housing bubble right? (And not a forum for your socialist left-wing pap.)
"General William Lyon was not selling shares but rather investing millions of his own money to take his company private."
My guess is that Lyon is trying to protect the company from a takeover as there are serious consolidation forces ahead among homebuilders.
This is a blog about a housing bubble created by a right-wing congress that has bought the media and has an undereducated public buying it hook, line and sinker. This particular thread is about congress and the media's culpability in what might turn out to be the biggest recession our generation has ever seen. It is not left-wing pablum to state the truth: this congress is chasing idiot issues like Terry Schiavo and stopping water-retentive Britany Spears fans from bringing an unwanted child into the world. Who cares about this stuff?
Umm...remember how Ben started this thread?
What of our representatives in Washington? The congress had better be meeting to figure out what the heck they are going to do instead of debating who is more responsible for Fannie.
That opened the subject of how our nitwits in Washington are failing us - pandering to religious zealots and corporate moguls instead of watching out for the interests of the broad public.
So, just remember - since this is a faith-based government....when the economy comes crashing down, you better pray, brother!
(This is a blog about a housing bubble created by a right-wing congress that has bought the media)
I don't think so. This is a blog about a housing bubble created by Federal Reserve monetary policy during both left-wing and right-wing administrations. Generally, this blog is not political and we don't discuss lawmakers here because we expect them to be asleep at the switch; they have their own special interests to attend to. After the housing bubble bursts they will point fingers and pass laws just like after the Nasdaq bubble burst. If we start to rant and rave about lawmakers and current events, it distracts from what we are really trying to do here.
The media ? Well they are part of the problem with the banking system. They contributed, most of them anyways, to the high tech hubris. And yes they are the main culprit of the real estate bubble.
"Let's try to keep this SOMEWHAT on topic. You realize that this is a blog on the housing bubble right? (And not a forum for your socialist left-wing pap.)"
Ah, its great to see both sides here. If there is any issue that should bring us all together, its the housing bubble. When it pops, its going to hit everyone, not just the left or the right.
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