tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4921988708619968880.post9021892635615952678..comments2024-02-28T22:03:57.237-05:00Comments on The Automatic Earth: Debt Rattle, March 29 2008: Under the cloak of a crisisIlargihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09698428009501267664noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4921988708619968880.post-67118349074359616832008-03-30T11:14:00.000-04:002008-03-30T11:14:00.000-04:00GZ,It can be used to cover up balance sheets if so...GZ,<BR/>It can be used to cover up balance sheets if some are allowed to game it, but it could be a good thing in the sense that it could be a mechanism under which the IB's are allowed to fail without immediately taking the big depositories with them.<BR/><BR/>All paper has some residual value however small, but some paper has significant residual value. If an IB holds, for arguments sake, good VLADhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07303463697333210934noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4921988708619968880.post-28808380401662583682008-03-30T10:51:00.000-04:002008-03-30T10:51:00.000-04:00Hi eddd,Personally I would wait on buying land. As...Hi eddd,<BR/><BR/>Personally I would wait on buying land. As long as you can keep the do re me together you can be singing a quite happy song putting things in place before ever making that purchase. If you haven't started already then a bit of studying would do you much future good and avoid a lot of expensive and possibly irreparable missteps in that purchase. Lots of books and gardening Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4921988708619968880.post-3984542021491828752008-03-30T08:50:00.000-04:002008-03-30T08:50:00.000-04:00Ilargi,Stonleigh, I am still pondering the stimulu...Ilargi,Stonleigh, I am still pondering the stimulus cheques and where the money is coming from. It appears to my novice level of understanding that the $600 x 20 million are borrowed funds sent to citizens to use , not to improve individual solvency, but to spend, to increase personal debt risk. The clincher is that the gov't borrowed the money in their name, in the names of their children. <BR/>scandiahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07924260428840006237noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4921988708619968880.post-4424013658114921092008-03-29T22:23:00.000-04:002008-03-29T22:23:00.000-04:00Webbjazz, I, too, was thinking of Naomi Kleins boo...Webbjazz, I, too, was thinking of Naomi Kleins book...<BR/>Shock-paralysis of the markets!<BR/>Doctrine-the private Fed snatch at the public purse all within the law. <BR/>So much for the " owner society".<BR/> Which leads to Iowa Boy's ....We are either citizens or slaves. So far the role of the citizen in this burgeoning dynamic is being eliminated. Many of us had forgotten to tend to the scandiahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07924260428840006237noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4921988708619968880.post-21816208306702341952008-03-29T20:36:00.000-04:002008-03-29T20:36:00.000-04:00Thanks for the responses Stoneleigh and Greyzone. ...Thanks for the responses Stoneleigh and Greyzone. I absolutely agree with your admonition to hold the physical gold (which I do, mostly Kruggerrands in a safe, hidden location), and not a paper representation of the metal. <BR/>I don't need access to its buying power right now... and even if I lose my job I could get by for a while before I'd need to tap the value in the gold.<BR/><BR/>My wife Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4921988708619968880.post-58135067322559165532008-03-29T19:00:00.000-04:002008-03-29T19:00:00.000-04:00Greyzone said: "This is true only if you have phys...Greyzone said: "This is true only if you have physical possession of your gold. If you hold gold based paper assets, then get out of them ASAP. Not only will those decline in value soon, but the very financial houses that hold your investments may vanish, leaving you in a messy situation."<BR/><BR/>I would agree with this completely. Ownership of physical gold is a store of value or an insurance Stoneleighhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15099878430757036461noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4921988708619968880.post-7207310405171302632008-03-29T18:48:00.000-04:002008-03-29T18:48:00.000-04:00Ilargi and Stoneleigh,Did you see Mish's latest co...Ilargi and Stoneleigh,<BR/><BR/>Did you see Mish's latest column, <A HREF="http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2008/03/sec-openly-invites-corporations-to-lie.html" REL="nofollow">SEC Openly Invites Corporations To Lie</A>?<BR/><BR/>More effort at coverup, preserving the illusion, etc.Greyzonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03675706201111951125noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4921988708619968880.post-30389332845333221252008-03-29T18:34:00.000-04:002008-03-29T18:34:00.000-04:00Eddd, I am going to make a slightly different sugg...Eddd, I am going to make a slightly different suggestion than Ilargi or Stoneleigh might make.<BR/><BR/>One of the things that you, and only you, can assess is the depths to which you believe that this crisis will fall. If this is a deflation with the dollar gaining value, then holding dollars (or Treasuries) might make good sense. On the other hand, and this can still occur even during a Greyzonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03675706201111951125noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4921988708619968880.post-39703751777478344472008-03-29T16:10:00.000-04:002008-03-29T16:10:00.000-04:00Snuffy,Your place sounds great. I would suggest tr...Snuffy,<BR/><BR/>Your place sounds great. I would suggest trying to pay off the mortgage early if there's any way you possibly can, in order to safeguard it from an asset grab if property prices really collapse. IMO real estate prices may decline by 90% or more, which would mean there would be no safe level of debt. (As an aside, that doesn't mean property would be cheap. In the absence of creditStoneleighhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15099878430757036461noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4921988708619968880.post-5381074033985692052008-03-29T15:58:00.000-04:002008-03-29T15:58:00.000-04:00Eddd,I think gold will decline substantially from ...Eddd,<BR/><BR/>I think gold will decline substantially from here and that holding cash will be very important, but that doesn't mean you should necessarily sell. It really depends on your situation.<BR/><BR/>Gold will hold its value over the long term, but you may have to hang on to it for a very long time. Apart from the price decline I believe is underway from the recent spike high, gold could Stoneleighhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15099878430757036461noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4921988708619968880.post-74453715694155711682008-03-29T15:38:00.000-04:002008-03-29T15:38:00.000-04:00I don't know how this will play out for me.I only ...I don't know how this will play out for me.I only owe 75k on my place,which is assessed by the state at 220k+I have put in 180 fruit trees,a kiwi grove,huge garden,and extremely energy efficient home w/600$ a month payments it would have to get pretty grim for my situation to be unstable.I never submitted to the urge to refie....at one time I was told that because of the pond,[spring fed]locationsnuffyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03978637281755386311noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4921988708619968880.post-7408379172184188982008-03-29T15:34:00.000-04:002008-03-29T15:34:00.000-04:00Ilargi,I was reading in your blog about the owners...Ilargi,<BR/>I was reading in your blog about the owners of the FED being a group of bankers - the name Rockerfeller stood out and it made a light go on over a DVD I saw some time ago. The DVD can be downloaded free from:<BR/><BR/>http://zeitgeistmovie.com <BR/><BR/>the initial part I freely admit I thought a "little contraversial" , the middle part " interesting ", the end "ok" - the point that IAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4921988708619968880.post-63903690113574103822008-03-29T15:28:00.000-04:002008-03-29T15:28:00.000-04:00Ilargi and Stoneleigh, Thanks for setting up thi...Ilargi and Stoneleigh,<BR/> Thanks for setting up this blog over here, I apprecieate the effort you've undertaken to educate we of the, "lesser financial knowledge." I followed you over here from TOD (I've drastically reduced the time I spend on that site since the nasty fall-out with you two...). <BR/> I agree with your analysis that PO is a huge problem, but in the near term the stressesAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4921988708619968880.post-46104225778017665332008-03-29T15:08:00.000-04:002008-03-29T15:08:00.000-04:00Citigroup executive Robert Rubin is the prick who ...Citigroup executive Robert Rubin is the prick who began to dismantle banking regulation in earnest that were put into effect during the Depression to protect the public from the crap we're now seeing.<BR/><BR/>He did it as Clinton's Treasury Sec.<BR/><BR/>The guy is a bankster gangster masquerading as a respectable executive. Anything out of his mouth is a lie design to protect his 'posse' on Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4921988708619968880.post-58545106445996764802008-03-29T15:03:00.000-04:002008-03-29T15:03:00.000-04:00The federal backstop is to limit people from just ...The federal backstop is to limit people from just walking away. They'll be screwed later as it slowly unwinds, but the Fed (a private institution) can not afford to have such visibility that a New New Deal gets implemented ... this pickpocket job has to come on nice and slow, no bump and pull allowed or the victim will pound the thief.<BR/><BR/> It's a real shame for Wall Street that this didn't.https://www.blogger.com/profile/03915219261001181341noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4921988708619968880.post-88852404563484340082008-03-29T13:40:00.000-04:002008-03-29T13:40:00.000-04:00Rick,I can't answer for Ilargi but in my opinion t...Rick,<BR/><BR/>I can't answer for Ilargi but in my opinion the underlying problem is walkaways, about which Mike Shedlock has written extensively also.<BR/><BR/>Remember that many people see their homes as a form of investment for retirement. Even before the housing boom this was true. Your home was not a huge pile of money but it was some, and further, getting it paid off represented both equityGreyzonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03675706201111951125noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4921988708619968880.post-81452464438826200462008-03-29T13:39:00.000-04:002008-03-29T13:39:00.000-04:00pihwht,I'm in the process of reading an excellent ...pihwht,<BR/>I'm in the process of reading an excellent book on the creation and nature of the Fed, "The Creature of Jekyll Island" by Griffin. Most of the primary dealers aren't even US interests. For me, it's time to get knowledgeable on how money works and communicate with those I can about the nature of the Fed. In the end, though, I don't see it doing much good. FUD (fear, uncertainty, andAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4921988708619968880.post-40532820425520405202008-03-29T13:20:00.000-04:002008-03-29T13:20:00.000-04:00This fiasco has all the earmarks outlined in Naomi...This fiasco has all the earmarks outlined in Naomi Klein's book The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism.<BR/>This is disaster capitalism's finest moment.<BR/>Now that democracy is pretty much a joke in the US, they going to go after what's left of capitalism.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4921988708619968880.post-2978433507736341602008-03-29T13:07:00.000-04:002008-03-29T13:07:00.000-04:00"the Federal Reserve broad new authority to overse..."the Federal Reserve broad new authority to oversee financial market stability"<BR/><BR/>Didn't the FED have a role in creating the mess? Isn't the FED a private bank? Are we going to turn regulation of all capital markets over to the private banking system?Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02955595801723608994noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4921988708619968880.post-72834388197750439912008-03-29T12:24:00.000-04:002008-03-29T12:24:00.000-04:00Ilargi--Why is the FHA helping people who are unde...Ilargi--<BR/><BR/>Why is the FHA helping people who are underwater in their loans? That's irrelevant unless the banks can make a margin call (and I know that is your position, but I reviewed my old loan docs and the bank does not have the ability to require more money from me). Assuming the banks cannot make a margin call, what does it matter to the federal government that the homeowner owes Rickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14724736418456262462noreply@blogger.com