As most of you have probably heard, the sub-prime mortgage crisis is being dealt with by the government stepping in and attempting to buy many mortgage back securities. What's you opinion on this subject.
Personally I think that the government stepped in at the wrong time to be considered "saving America," as a vast number of the sub-prime mortgages were bought by larger companies betting that the values of housing were to rise. Although the government attempt to buy all these devalued properties might be good for a few companies now, it doesn't mean to much to me, which is why I say that I don't want to spend tax dollars helping some schmuck who actually bought into those commercials saying you can get rich on real estate. Personally I think houses should be lived in and not used as such a liquid resource. But being as nobody seemed to care that this crisis had been steadily rising for the past 5 years or so, (if not longer...) until large insurance agencies got involved, it is obvious to me that it's not the average middle class American that concerns the government.
I say let them all go bankrupt, I don't have much in common with people who used Fanny Mae anyway.
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If we let all the insurers and banks go bankrupt, who will fund businesses? Especially the smaller businesses, who employ 1,000 people or less and need the loans most? The bailout looks like it won't help anybody, but if we let these banks go bankrupt, businesses will fail and people will lose jobs.
Relatively ancient and inactive
I'm not really familiar (And I really don't care that much) with the details of the crisis or how the plan will help. Apparently, the government just wants to get the banks working again by transferring their debt to the government themselves. Then the banks will again have money and will be able to loan it out. It seems rather.. risky to me. If the banks make another mistake, we'd be in deeper doo-doo (I just couldn't resist) then we are now. At least as it is the banks can't screw anything over because they don't have money to make bad investments in. Give 'em more money, and unless they get lucky with good investments, and we're pretty screwed. Overall, I'd say riding it out would be the safest choice. And, again, I really don't care because this effects me very, very little. In fact, with the real estate crisis, I hope that stays. Then I'll be able to get a small home earlier. Yay me.
The nice thing about this, if the United States economy weakens it might not try to send it's military into the remotest parts of the world while whining about others sending it slightly beyond their borders. That can only be a good thing.
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Just a technical point, the
blank check is called so because the amount of the check is not written in, not because it isn't written out specifically to anyone.
And, again, I really don't care because this effects me very, very little. In fact, with the real estate crisis, I hope that stays. Then I'll be able to get a small home earlier.
I need to sell my house
. And I need to sell it fast. If you're looking for a small home with a massive yard in Massachusetts in a town with excellent education and the best private high school in America, do tell.
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And, again, I really don't care because this effects me very, very little. In fact, with the real estate crisis, I hope that stays. Then I'll be able to get a small home earlier.
I need to sell my house
. And I need to sell it fast. If you're looking for a small home with a massive yard in Massachusetts in a town with excellent education and the best private high school in America, do tell.
I wish I was older/futher along in life!
I wish I was older/futher along in life!
Not that far along. My parents live apart because my dad was able to get a good job in Georgia. Now, we need to sell our house because we're paying for heating/utilities in two houses, paying rent/mortgage on two living spaces, etc,. Our town appraised the value of our home at far, far higher than it's actually worth, so we pay lots of property taxes. Our town government is extraordinarily corrupt; despite making 100 million dollars a year from taxes, it is always broke. Example: 50 million dollar aesthetic makeover of the downtown, even as the school system faces large budget shortfalls, and forces students to pay ~$600 a year to play sports and ride the bus.
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Relatively ancient and inactive
Fascinating. The bailout broke through, and the stock market is collapsing. For all it's flaws, it looked like that was the best way out of this. What does another $700,000,000,000 mean when your debt is already $10,000,000,000,000?
You know, when Warren Buffett says that something is needed for a meltdown not to occur, you listen to him. He's the richest, most experienced investor in the world.
Post has been edited 2 time(s), last time on Sep 29 2008, 8:48 pm by Centreri.
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This is just part of the natural business cycle. These companies can't have it both ways when we've been loose regulating business and letting them make their own decisions and now when they fuck up they expect government to bail them out. Let those companies crash and burn because they've made bad decisions and they can't handle the competition. This is capitalism and new companies will rise up and replace them.
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Relatively ancient and inactive
Of course it will recover eventually. However, if they wanted it to recover sooner, this should've been passed. I find it hard to believe that it was the fault of all those thousands of companies across the world.
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It isn't thousands, it's a select number of rather large businesses, who all bet that housing prices would rise back soon, when the truth is that it won't. Houses are just too easy to make now. Just cause they complain doesn't mean their right. I don't think adding another 700 billion dollars would do much to help us. If anything the dollar would simply lose all worth and we would sink farther into collapse. The only way were going to get out of this is if people just decide to cut their loses and start selling houses they don't need.
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You know, when Warren Buffett says that something is needed for a meltdown not to occur, you listen to him. He's the richest, most experienced investor in the world.
You that this is very much his fault and that he was warned on live televsion(searching cspan junkie for it) that this was going to happen. He actually dismissed a woman's claims as impossible.
It isn't thousands, it's a select number of rather large businesses, who all bet that housing prices would rise back soon, when the truth is that it won't. Houses are just too easy to make now. Just cause they complain doesn't mean their right. I don't think adding another 700 billion dollars would do much to help us. If anything the dollar would simply lose all worth and we would sink farther into collapse. The only way were going to get out of this is if people just decide to cut their loses and start selling houses they don't need.
Who's buying, the same people that defaulted on their zero down 300 grand loans?
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Foreigners, they have money.
Ideally, intelligent people who would pay 20% down and ride low interest to a cheap house. I suppose this is a stretch for American society today though. (Touché)
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Fascinating. The bailout broke through, and the stock market is collapsing. For all it's flaws, it looked like that was the best way out of this. What does another $700,000,000,000 mean when your debt is already $10,000,000,000,000?
You know, when Warren Buffett says that something is needed for a meltdown not to occur, you listen to him. He's the richest, most experienced investor in the world.
Meh. I would save the word "collapsing" for a more serious fall. A complete stock market crash perhaps? But ya it took a pretty huge hit a few days ago, -200 points or something??
I think the problem is that people on one end of the wealth spectrum want the other end to get screwed. Big business wants more money from poor, and poor want the big business to go out of business. It sucks for everyone cause they rely on each other, yet they are also fighting each other. Walmart for example: Walmart takes care of the lower end of the wealth spectrum, but in the long haul, they are destroying the smaller businesses the people on the low end of the spectrum work for and run; thus ruining their lives. Somehow, someway, there needs to be found a way to coexist, or its all downhill similar to the Great Depression.
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Relatively ancient and inactive
Actually, I said it when it was -777 points or so. Then Bush said that the plan could still happen and it rose maybe 500 again.
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To guage the damage to the stock market you look at percentage lost, not points lost. The 700 point drop wasn't even close to the worst crash in the history of the exchange.
tits
Who is to blame for Economic Crisis?
The Federal Reserve, which slashed interest rates after the dot-com bubble burst, making credit cheap.
Home buyers, who took advantage of easy credit to bid up the prices of homes excessively.
Congress, which continues to support a mortgage tax deduction that gives consumers a tax incentive to buy more expensive houses.
Real estate agents, most of whom work for the sellers rather than the buyers and who earned higher commissions from selling more expensive homes.
The Clinton administration, which pushed for less stringent credit and downpayment requirements for working- and middle-class families.
Mortgage brokers, who offered less-credit-worthy home buyers subprime, adjustable rate loans with low initial payments, but exploding interest rates.
Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan, who in 2004, near the peak of the housing bubble, encouraged Americans to take out adjustable rate mortgages.
Wall Street firms, who paid too little attention to the quality of the risky loans that they bundled into Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS), and issued bonds using those securities as collateral.
An obscure accounting rule called mark-to-market, which can have the paradoxical result of making assets be worth less on paper than they are in reality during times of panic.
Collective delusion, or a belief on the part of all parties that home prices would keep rising forever, no matter how high or how fast they had already gone up.
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The house just passed it minutes ago. Bush made his speech and has said that he will sign it immediately.
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Relatively ancient and inactive
Heh. I was actually interested in what would happen if it didn't pass. Oh, well. Gogo world markets.
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