We were at the Strawberry Fair in Garden Grove a few weeks back. They had a big jar with jawbreakers filled to the top. If you guessed the right number of jawbreakers you could win a car, a trip or a date with a monkey! As we wrote down all our pertinent info….like name, address, telephone, age and yearly income….we looked up and saw what the booth was all about – Time Share sales! In all honesty, after we attended the three hour (supposed to be 90 minute) presentation, we got 2 – $50 dollar gift certificates…one for Macy’s and one for Starbucks! We met a great Desert Storm Marine Vet Sales Person and had a great conversation about the Rules of Engagement that were in affect at the beginning of our war in Iraq! That is: until Abu Grabib!
The cost of a barrel of oil was about $32 – $36 bucks when we invaded Iraq…in the bad old days. The cost of a gallon of gas was about $2.69 for high test. Bacon was about $2.89 a pound for premium. Eggs were about $2.29 a dozen for the prime pick type! Traffic was bumper to bumper and the State of California had a deficit of about $3 Billion dollars. That was March 19th, 2003. The Real Estate spike was just starting to really crank into the stratosphere! The condo we moved into into in 2000 that was worth about $185,000 moved quickly up through that to $275,000 in 2003! By the year 2007….some of those units were selling for $875,000 for 970 sq. ft. two bedroom upstairs condo with a downstair one car garage in Newport Beach. Many people sold at $575,000 and bought new Condo units up in Newport Coast. Many borrowed on that property and bought new Mercedes and had fun re-doing their prime residences!
Were these really the “good old days”? Merrill-Lynch, Bear-Stearns, Goldman-Sachs and all those two name wonders….were busy buying up write-off credit card debts and sub-prime mortgages. All very high-risk investment vehicles. They called them SIV’s (Structured Investment Vehicles), Hedge Funds, Derivatives, Off-Shore protected Investments, Funding by proxy, Dating an Angel or just please “Wishing and hoping!”.
The giant pyramid scheme finally is suffering the same fate as the “Gold Bug Fever” of the late 1970’s-early 80’s! But, it may still not be over……as these prime time Investment Banks borrow, beg and steal cash from other sources to bolster their bottom lines and suck additional investors into their ill gotten gains! In the meantime, the civilians are taking gas! The prices of fuel, food and energy in general is killing our economy. The Sharper Image just declared bankruptcy a couple of weeks back. This economy is suffering from “sudden death overtime”. We may not know how many formerly great companies are going to fold overnight in this environment. Moving those CALPERs, CALSTRS Pension funds out of Hedge vehicles and into Energy Speculation seems the “De Rigueur” approved method…spiking our energy and gasoline prices in the bargain! Thanks….but who can blame them? It is the lack of Government/World Regulation that is causing this – nothing else! These Investment Companies are going to do whatever the rules allow and don’t allow! That is what they do!
Right now it is virtually impossible to raise prices fast enough to catch up with the “super inflation” our economy is suffering. Even the President of Iran says….the world’s bankers are playing with creating a world depression. What are those great people in Washington, D.C. doing again? Aren’t they supposed to be protecting us from “predatory investment banks”? How far is this debacle going to go? $15 dollar a gallon gas? Right now, someone better get a grip and figure out that the “Enron Exception” of 2000….needs to go the way of the dinosaurs! We need “radical solutions” now! The market is not going to “self correct” this time!
All the news reports are “mixed”! Some say we are going to write off Trillions before it’s over and others say….”It’s business as usual…and the economies of the world are doing just fine!” We believe it is all “Bull” and plenty of it. The cost of living is accelerating too rapidly and prices of consumer goods are going to either cause “bankruptcy” or “hyper inflation”! The time has come for “elected’s” to get the message and fix something!
If the government pension funds lose all their value / cash, are they still required to send out pension checks?
If so, where are they going to get the fresh cash?
Rollercoaster? more like the log ride, the big drop is yet to come.
Unlike the Y2K of 2000, this one looks to be real bad.
Take a closer look, government persion funds don’t have a pile of cash – just IOU’s (treasury notes) – it’s a pay as you go system – current benefits are paid out of current income – we’ve been running a surplus but when that ends, pensions & medicare will tap into the general tax revenue stream, meaning the defense budget may get cut or taxes may rise.
Also, high gas prices have been caused more by the goverment printing press running continuously to print money to pay for the war than by investment bank speculation. We have a Federal Reserve System which is a goverment controlled banking monopoly that protects banks from going under and taking their customers savings – and these are the people that preach open markets for everyone but themselves.
Traffic was bumper to bumper …… That was March 19th, 2003.
Thanks for the traffic update Winships.
RBS issues global stock and credit crash alert
The Royal Bank of Scotland has advised clients to brace for a full-fledged crash in global stock and credit markets over the next three months as inflation paralyses the major central banks.
“A very nasty period is soon to be upon us – be prepared,” said Bob Janjuah, the bank’s credit strategist.
A report by the bank’s research team warns that the S&P 500 index of Wall Street equities is likely to fall by more than 300 points to around 1050 by September as “all the chickens come home to roost” from the excesses of the global boom, with contagion spreading across Europe and emerging markets.[…]
“Cash is the key safe haven. This is about not losing your money, and not losing your job,” said Mr Janjuah, who became a City star after his grim warnings last year about the credit crisis proved all too accurate.
RBS expects Wall Street to rally a little further into early July before short-lived momentum from America’s fiscal boost begins to fizzle out, and the delayed effects of the oil spike inflict their damage.
“Globalisation was always going to risk putting G7 bankers into a dangerous corner at some point. We have got to that point,” he said.[…]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/…
Seems to me that one presidential candidate spoke about the dangers of printing money. And all the other Republicans on state laughed at him. Reagan always warned about inflation as being the silent thief. Yet when Ron Paul did it he was ridiculed. It is intersting how the GOP has changed over the years.
Ron & Anna.
Bloomberg had a very troubling report that I found on Drudge this morning. Following is but two small snippets of that depressing financial report.
Tom Cahill and Poppy TrowbridgeJune 18 (Bloomberg) — John Paulson, founder of the hedge fund company Paulson & Co., said global writedowns and losses from the credit crisis may reach $1.3 trillion, exceeding the International Monetary Fund’s $945 billion estimate.
Paulson’s outlook is consistent with the view of hedge funds meeting in Monaco this week. More than 80 percent of the 1,300 fund managers, investors and service providers gathered in Monaco for the annual conference said they expect the credit crisis will continue, according to a GAIM survey. About 23 percent said the situation “will deteriorate significantly.”
‘High test’ and premium bacon and eggs? Hold on a sec while I feign shock at your excessive lifestyle.
SMS
I seem to remmember two bloggers at this site 5 or 6 months telling everyone that know was the best time to purchase a house.
One later admitted that he was in the mortgage industry and previously swore to me the mortgage excutive Anthony Hesieh was a genious, a god like boss.
The other blogger I seem to have forgot the name.
There are a lot of factors at work but the biggest one is the record-high federal budget deficit that is ruining our currency. We can fix it if we cut government spending. Sounds easy.
Please could you help me to contact judge David SILLS.In 1975 I was french student and I stayed one month in Irvine at David and Susan home.35 years later I would like to contact them. Thank you. Best regards.
alain.trucco@orange.fr