...and in the "DUH!" dept. we have...

[Laura's Babies]

They need to throw the book at those people and take every cent they made from doing that, then throw them in jail!

[smokey the elder]

Speculation is what damaged all 3 markets in terms of supply/demand balance, IMO. The .com boom/bust cycle coupled with Y2K fueled NASDAQ; housing speculation and ridiculous mortgages fueled the housing crisis, and the weak dollar and all the other markets tanking fueled (pardon the pun!) oil and the other commodities. From what I understand about commodities trading, oil has different rules than the other ones (grain, gold, etc.) and thus can be more volatile. But it's always the lower and middle classes that get squeezed in the middle.

[Randi]

They need to throw the book at those people and take every cent they made from doing that, then throw them in jail!

The speculation by all those people are simply disgusting!! They all seem to think they can get money for nothing! The greed in this world!!

[smokey the elder]

The worst part of it is, they think it won't happen "this time", that the bubble won't burst. That 30-100% year to year growth rates are sustainable. The only way you get that kind of growth is with a new tech or product, very early in its introduction, where the absolute numbers are small. It's much easier to go from selling 10 widgets to 20 widgets than from selling 1E6 widgest to 2E6 widgets, but both are 100% growth rates. These bubbles trap unwary investors, which are often people who bet the farm chasing the stock, commodity, etc. It just makes me wince to see how naive people can be. When the stupid mortgages came out a few years ago (zero down, low "teaser rates" etc.) I would rant at the TV screen, imploring people not to be suckers and fall for this!

[RICHARD]

When the stupid mortgages came out a few years ago (zero down, low "teaser rates" etc.) I would rant at the TV screen, imploring people not to be suckers and fall for this!

And how those offers influenced other industries to go "no payments until 2010".


Here in CA the furniture industry had taken it on the chin-Two major chains have gone belly up and the smaller businesses are really taken the hit.

People put a down on a house when they saw they might pay 1k monthly, then go and buy cars, boats, furnishings and never thought about saving the extra money they had. People are now abandoning their homes when they default - along with the other purchases/bills they accumulated.

As the banks repo the homes, they will discount the prices for the properties to make the money they lost on the initial sale. IN another year those homes will be snapped up by people who will be able to afford homes. THe housing industry will grow again and maybe there will be more federal rules in place to keep this from ahppening again.

People want lesser Big Brother in their lives, but when things go wrong we have to depend on him to bail our sorry butts out.

[RICHARD]

Notice that in the last few weeks that gas, per barrel has gone down almost 45 dollars.

THe FWs that were speculating are laying low because they were found out.
I hope the bought all kinds of nice things they'll have to return soon.

I hope we get some Enron executive justice outta this.

[smokey the elder]

The mortgage meltdown caused by the latest bubble of greed has taken out Lehman Bros bank and Merrill Lynch is being bought out by Bank of America. No big surprise, Wall St. is tanking. BUT..."they" say there's no reason to panic, 98% of the banks are solvent. But what if the 2% of banks that fail have a disproportionate amount of the money? I think there is a lot of money being stashed in mattresses and empty mason jars about now. I don't even want to look at my 401(k). Ugh.

[Lady's Human]

But Smokey, wasn't there a claim sometime about a decade ago that we had defeated the business cycle?

[Edwina's Secretary]

The mortgage meltdown caused by the latest bubble of greed has taken out Lehman Bros bank and Merrill Lynch is being bought out by Bank of America. No big surprise, Wall St. is tanking. BUT..."they" say there's no reason to panic, 98% of the banks are solvent. But what if the 2% of banks that fail have a disproportionate amount of the money? I think there is a lot of money being stashed in mattresses and empty mason jars about now. I don't even want to look at my 401(k). Ugh.

But what kind of an example has the current administration set? Cut taxes and raise spending. Start an REALLY expensive war.

Sort of like...quit your job and then buy a house.

Borrow boat loads of money and declare the economy sound. What a disaster!