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  • Great Depression 2.0: Acceptance is Spreading
    On Jan. 8, 2009, at 01:30 am, dtv999 wrote, "Hm, sorry but cars weren't appreciating at a 30% rate a few years ago like houses were. So I don't see car prices falling 50%." I don't know why dtv999 thinks car prices won't fall 50%, despite the fact that "...cars weren't appreciating at a 30% rate a few years ago like houses were..." The reason that car prices will fall 50% is that car buyers are getting to be somewhat of a rarity, already, and in two years' time car prices will be down 50%, for the simple reason that dealers and anyone else trying to sell cars will HAVE TO DROP THE PRICES THAT MUCH, in order to sell any cars, at all. Anything, even a Mercedes, is only worth what someone is willing (AND ABLE) to pay for it.
    Jan 08 17:44 pm |Rating: +1 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • Why Now Is the Time to Own Things
    Thrift stores.
    Jan 08 01:05 am |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • Did New Car Sales Bottom in November?
    I realize that one person's world is a small thing, compared to the entire auto market; however, I am not hearing ANYONE express interest in buying a new car, now. Are we sure that these sales that are taking place aren't simply fleet sales, at discounted prices, or some other kind of "lumped together" sales, as opposed to individual wage earners actually going out and placing an order for a new car?
    Jan 08 00:47 am |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • Great Depression 2.0: Acceptance is Spreading
    I accepted this direction early, approximately six months ago, and I'm gearing my actions based upon the certainty that it's all over, for the way we've been spending money. Virtually every product (except for possibly wildly extravagant things that I can't afford, anyway, and would not pay that much for, if I could afford it) is going to cost much, much less, going forward so far that I can't even see the end of it. Cash will be THE ANSWER. Keep your cash close, because it's going to go unbelievably further than most living human beings can remember. One example: Within two years, most new cars will be selling for half what they were priced at, in early 2008. Riciculous, you say. Yeah, that's what I was told, last year, when I said that I thought house prices would inevitably drop 50%, which is now headed this way, at runaway train-speed.
    Jan 07 19:49 pm |Rating: +3 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • Deflation: It's Starting to Get Silly
    It IS silly; and what's-her-name IS doe-eyed. Bernanke? Ah, he's merely ugly.
    Jan 06 00:44 am |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • How Congress Can Solve the Recession, Outsourcing and Social Security
    Simply, and I do mean simply, silly.
    Jan 06 00:36 am |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • Finally, Some Holiday Cheer
    It's possibly a good time to buy a few carefully selected shares, here and there. But I would be very careful about how far I went, on this. There's a nasty edge to this market, that's making me eerily cautious, almost paranoid, given the absolute calamity that 2008 was. I keep waiting for the 10,000 pound bear to eat all my holdings.
    Jan 03 23:20 pm |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • Relatively Low Unemployment Is No Cause for Optimism
    I think Mr. Panzer suspects that we are in round two of a fifteen round bout. I know that is what I strongly suspect. We've barely had enough time to realize that this is a VERY bad situation; it's doubtful that any of the pundits have had enought time to fully assess how bad it really it.
    Jan 02 22:35 pm |Rating: 0 -1 |Link to Comment |View article
  • The Invisible Stimulus
    All these quick-fix things are basically cotton candy, but slipping $10 a week into folks' paychecks is the same thing as doing nothing. (I know, I know, if everybody spends the $10, every week, it will add up to more gross revenue for the fat cats, who need it least, but that's no help to the average American.) It's just disgusting to me that a government (which, after all, is supposed to work FOR its citizens, remember?) that has stupidly allowed this massive failure of management to occur, now has only, and please excuse my "French," bullshit solutions to throw at their failures.
    Jan 01 16:26 pm |Rating: +1 -1 |Link to Comment |View article
  • Can Deflation Be Avoided?
    Happy New Year. My opinion is simple (hopefully not simple-minded), regarding the likelihood of deflation: I talk with a pretty large and diverse number of people on a regular basis, both in person and by phone, and almost NOBODY I speak with is contemplating any major purshases. Everybody echoes what Mr. Kingsdale mentioned, about waiting for prices to fall further. Everybody is trying to hold onto their cash, just in case they lose a job, or their own business revenues decline (which a good percentage of the business owners say is happening, already.) So, my "take" on all this is that if a cross section of the population (even if it only one man's cross section) is not going to spend any money, any time soon, won't this force a reduction in prices, based on supply and demand, even despite government efforts to force inflation?
    Jan 01 16:12 pm |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • The Brighter Side of Falling Home Prices
    Optimism is fine, but there is no real basis for the optimism put forth in this article. What data was used, to deduce that real disposable personal income is up just over 15%, since 2002? (I can't find anything that substantiates that conclusion.) And so what, if mortgage rates are lower than before? If a potential buyer does not have the money for the down payment, what difference does the rate make? And have you been paying attention to the news that jobs are flying away, like birds in winter? People are afraid, now, that they won't have ANY income, due to a job loss, and that kind of fear supercedes any desire to participate in the now largely discredited "American Dream" of owning a house.
    Dec 31 14:37 pm |Rating: +2 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • Case-Shiller Report Reveals More Record Home Price Declines
    Fatcat points out in his/her comment today that Charlotte may be in for a fall. I will go a little further: Charlotte WILL fall, hard. High-paying bank jobs have held this town's feet out of the hot water for a long time, but that scene is changing, as banks are definitely going to be deleting employees, including executives, soon. I am well aware that there are substantial industries in Charlotte (example: insurance), other than banking, but it is banking that drives the pace of Charlotte in virtually every way. As soon as the inevitable reductions-in-force hit banking, Charlotte will be among the first dominoes to fall. I will not be at all surprised to see this begin in as little as 90 days, from today.
    Dec 31 14:26 pm |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • Social Security: A Ponzi Scheme?
    As I read some of the ignorant comments regarding what the commentors' supposed "understanding&qu... of how social security works is, I sometimes want to try to get every school teacher in America fired, for turning out so many fools and idiots. Social security takes a small piece of one's income, in return for at least a safety net, late in life, the time when a lot of people will need it. Yes, I am aware that a fair number of people will be capable (and LUCKY) enough not to need social security income. It is, though, annoying to note that so many commentors THINK they know they will not need social security, and these small-minded individuals resent having a program in place that takes a little of their income, along with a portion of the incomes of other people, so that a great number of persons will not be in a dangerously deprived position in their old age. And to those prepetual knee-jerk jerks who will want to start typing on their computers about what a communist or socialist or whatever they think I am, bear this is mind: I am a decorated combat veteran, I pay my taxes, and I do not take advantage of other peoples' rights. I am just as American as anybody out there, but I seem to be one of a dwindling number of Americans who still realize that it is a worthwhile thing for a government to do, to maintain a program that actually HELPS its citizens.
    Dec 30 20:54 pm |Rating: +1 -1 |Link to Comment |View article
  • Another Look at Krugman's 'Hangover Theory'
    Good analysis of a very large topic.
    Dec 30 20:28 pm |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • What Will Happen If America Returns to an Historical Savings Rate?
    Bottom line: I have said all along that a lower standard of living, which will last for the rest of all our lives is now visible on the horizon. This article confirms in more detail what my gut feeling has been for more than a year. Why do I keep referring to what I think? Because I am a non-guru person, and I can see the writing on the wall. I believe that many others can see, as well. For that reason I think the American savings rate will go quite high, and this is going to throw a monkey wrench into the plans of the gurus who want to return to the bad old days of having the consumer spend every dime he gets his hands on. Who knows? This may rid us, once and for all time, of those damned yuppies.
    Dec 30 15:44 pm |Rating: +1 0 |Link to Comment |View article

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