Yikes the economy forum.

[lonestarnot]

Looks pretty doom and gloomy. Ack. How's that 3 billion a month drain working?

[NMDemDist2]

1. i spend more time in there than in here

it's oddly refreshing


:hide:

[Warpy]

2. At least the economy forum doesn't have people

looking for daddies and superheroes and ripping each other's heads off when they disagree about who the daddy or superhero will be in 2008.

It's also nice to be vindicated on some of my predictions, although I'd give almost anything to have been wrong about most of them.

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. Can I join you on the prediction side?

:-)

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. Can I join you on the prediction side?

:-)

[Adsos Letter]

7. No need to hide, AZDemDist6...

It is a lot friendlier in the economy forum, and you can actually find useful info there. It also seems to exist just fine without snark...

[Double T]

8. Are YOU also in favor of self-torture?

[Captain Angry]

3. It's going to be gloomy for a bit.

Until there is a real reason for the economy to become stronger, it's going to be bumpy.

Right now, nobody wants to buy a house since they know prices have further to fall.

Right now, few can sell their house since they're already underwater on their mortgage.

We're not seeing any sort of push to create real jobs in the USA. By real jobs, I mean the kind that somebody can go work hard, and take enough home to pay the bills and save a little for an emergency.

All the credit and liquidity injections in the world are not going to make bad debt become better. It's not going to get people to start saving their money. It's not going to create jobs.

So, unless something dramatic happens, we're going to be in a rut for a while.

[MannyGoldstein]

4. Actually, The House Across The Street Finally Sold After 2 Years

However, it was 25% off of the original asking price - and this is in a very established and desirable city (Newton MA). So I guess that's not exactly a light at the end of the tunnel!

[Captain Angry]

12. Some people have to sell at any cost.

If they have to move for work, or can't afford the payments, eventually they'll take the money.

The mortgage lender would rather have some money than none.

[Double T]

9. Thanks for the HONEST assessment.

[Warpy]

10. Most people haven't seen their wages budge in 7 years

unless their jobs were offshored and their wages went down as they got desperate and took a service industry job. People are not going to take on debt if they have no prospect of paying it off sometime down the road as their wages rise with experience and efficiency.

This isn't a liquidity crisis or a debt crisis. This is a maldistribution of wealth crisis, same as it was just before the Great Depression.

Unless the government is ready to address demand side economics, we're about to see history repeat itself.

[Captain Angry]

11. My wages moved pretty dramatically.

They went to zero. My job was one of the many sent to India.

But anyway...

There are a lot of people taking on debt who have no prospect of paying it back. My friend's neighbors just abandoned their house. After running up $10K in credit debt. They skipped out of town in the middle of the night.

They called their bank and told them they would not be paying on the mortgage anymore. My friend happened to be outside when the bank sent somebody over to change the locks, etc.

What a mess.