If it were bowling….Paulson seemed to make every spare. Bernanke made all the three two splits and Cox had three strikes in a row! If it had been pro skateboarding …. we would have gotten to see alot of above the rim air! Yep, as the United States stood on the precipice…waiting like lemmings as the Pied Pipers spoke of asking for an unlimited credit card……lines were forming at banks around country – demanding their money!
It was a truely a surreal day today. Speaking in front of the Senate Banking Committee….the three heavyweights laid down the law. Unlimited Credit for Fannie and Freddie. No more Short Buying! “We are mad as hell and we aren’t goin take it anymore!” ….as Howard Beale said in Network! The three bears were not eating porridge …not sleeping in Goldylocks bed and certainly not going to put up with answering any inquisitive questions from Senators!
We wonder why the initial 300 point drop to the Dow….ended just 93 points down but breaking the metaphorical 11,000 number to end at 10,962.54. As the “heavies” spoke….the numbers change appreciably. Oil fell like a stone to end up back in the $138 per barrell range. Gold rose, Silver fell…..what the heck was going on here? The people waiting outside IndyMac Bank still couldn’t get in! The 2nd day of waiting…..to yank their baubles! One of the big Rating Agencies said IndyMac was not alone. They said there were another 150 Banks that could fall through the cracks – soon enough. They didn’t want to mention them by name….but slipped a two second flash…of the top five….which included Downey Savings!
But there is no need to panic…said the CNBC Commentators…hey, the FDIC will be there to protect you – up to $100,000 bucks! If of course, you can stand in line long enough to get it. Meanwhile, the looks on the Senator’s faces told a story. They were scared and praying that Bernanke, Paulson and Cox would be able to save the day. The rest of the week should tell the story! Maybe, just maybe….Oil will tumble to under $100 bucks a barrel. The bad news is that the Dow will also take a nasty dump along the way.
To get an idea on the Oil Market and what is happening there: The Commodity Futures Trading Corporation run about $5 Trillion dollars in Oil Futures each week. The “wildcard” has been the $9 Trillion dollars in Hedge Funds, Derivatives and SIV’s that have been chasing Oil is this run up. They have been borrowing cash to invest…hoping to sell at the top. You may have noticed Oil was at a top of $147 yesterday. Today….it fell to a low of near $135……this is called the spread….and people are making money here because of this “Speculation”. The new Security & Exchange Commission rules on “Regulated Short Selling” will require that some “be sacrificed” in a effort to send the market a message. It will be interesting to see who gets busted!
Meanwhile, the word on the street says that Real Estate still has another 18 months of downward spiral…but hey it might only be 15 months…who knows? We know that whoever is chosen to be our new President will be in for a very tough first two years! We also know that giving Fannie and Freddy unlimited funding….upwards of $5 trillion dollars….is a game of Russian Roulette that hopefully we will not have to tap into….for any reason!
Here’s a little REALITY juice for you.
By Stephan Andrew Brodhead
Barry’slousy Senate voting record (230 not voting records)
Here is a link to Project Vote Smart onhow Barry Obama voted on the
Housing Foreclosure Assistance Programs
http://www.votesmart.org/issue_keyvote_detail.php?cs_id=20503&can_id=9490
Democrats blame George Bush for the current housing mortgage crisis? When George Bush and Alan Greenspan lowered the prime rate in 2002, my wife and I jumped on 5 percent mortgages. In fact we refinanced our entire rental real estate portfolio from 30 year 8.5 percent loans to 15 year 6 percent loans. Our monthly payment stayed the same. We then structured the payment schedule to a Bi-pay system. We paid on them every two weeks. Now six complete years later, we are seeing extreme principal reduction.
How is that there were people that chose to refinance back to a 30 year loan, pay off their credit cards, only to run them up again, and then to refinance once more? Thousands of people refinanced on 5 year arms only to lose the homes they had lived in for 20 years. Why didn’t they pay off their homes when George Bush lowered the prime lending rate and interest rates went from 9 or 10 percent to 5 percent? I am trying to understand how Barack Hussein Obama can blame George Bush for lowering the prime so interest rates went from 9 or 10 to 5 percent?
Was George Bush making their mortgage payments and defaulted? Was George Bush the sole mortgage loan officer for all the people who acquired stupid loan programs and lived beyond their means? I have yet to understand the relationship between George Bush lowering the prime and then being blamed for the mortgage crisis?
Anyways, here is Barack Hussein Obama’s voting record in the Senate on the housing mortgage crisis and stimulus packages! The information is taken off of Project Vote Smart! Barry Hussein Obama talks a big game on housing issues but never shows for practice. He talks the talk and that’s about it.
http://www.votesmart.org/voting_category.php?can_id=9490&type=category&category=39&go.x=7&go.y=7
Housing and Property Issues
Date Bill Title Vote Outcome
07/26/2008 Housing Bill with Energy Tax Credit Extensions
HR 3221 NV Concurrence Vote Passed – Senate
(72 – 13)
06/25/2008 Housing Foreclosure Assistance Programs
S Amdt 4983 NV Amendment Adopted – Senate
(79 – 16)
05/07/2008 Optional Wind Damage Insurance
S Amdt 4719 NV Amendment Rejected – Senate
(19 – 74)
04/10/2008 Housing Bill with Energy Tax Credit Extensions
HR 3221 NV Bill Passed – Senate
(84 – 12)
04/10/2008 Energy Tax Credits Amendment
S Amdt 4419 to S Amdt 4387 to HR 3221 NV Amendment Adopted – Senate
(88 – 8)
02/07/2008 Economic Stimulus Plan
HR 5140 NV Bill Passed – Senate
(81 – 16)