DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Stimulating the Economy..

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I could care less if it comes from a musician or my barber...it's an opinion.

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You're right. Still though, it's too bad Alec Baldwin didn't move to France like he promised.

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Everyone has a cause they wish to promote, and they usually use venues at their disposal to express them. We use DawgTalk. Bruce uses his mic. Last time I saw him live and he started going on an Obama diatribe, I went and grabbed a beer. Got back just in time to catch "Candy's Room".

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Poor comparison, people aren't paying us to post.

People aren't paying Bruce to talk about politics, people are paying to listen to him sing, why I don't know, but they are.

I actually agree.

just throwing this into the fire....


02/06/09 Paris, France We live in a world run by simpletons.

In this morning’s paper is a front-page article describing how Japan “wasted trillions” on its various stimulus programs.

The International Herald Tribune:

“Japan’s rural areas have been paved over and filled in with roads, dams, and other big infrastructure projects, the legacy of trillions of dollars spent to lift the economy from a severe downturn caused by the bursting of a real estate bubble in the late 1980s.”

Public spending was so aggressive, it boosted Japan’s government debt to 180% of GDP – more than two times the current U.S. level. But did all that cement buy Japan out of its slump?

You be the judge. Housing prices in Japan are now back down to where they were in 1975 – nearly 90% below the late-’80s peak. And stocks? The Nikkei index is back down to where it was a quarter century ago. Stocks sell for half their book value – and they’re still considered too expensive for beaten-down, hyper-fearful Japanese investors. The downturn began in 1990. Over the following 19 years, it did more property damage than the Great Tokyo Fire of ’23 and the Enola Gay combined, wiping out wealth equal to three times the country’s GDP. This was despite interest rates at zero…and a heroic effort at Keynesian stimulation.

If America were to follow Japan’s example, it would have to leave its interest rates near zero for the next decade…and add about $10 TRILLION to its public debt. And if it got the same results, you’ll be able to sell your house in 2026 for the same price you paid in 1992.

But the simpletons have no other idea.

“In a nutshell,” continues the IHT report, “Japan’s experience suggests that infrastructure spending, while a blunt instrument, can help revive a developed economy, say many economists.”

Are these, perhaps, the same economists who thought America’s super-consumption, eternal-debt economy would never fail? The same economists who thought the bankers were providing a public service, by offering so many people so much credit…and then planting their debt bombs all over the planet? The same economists who forecast rising stock prices in 2008?

Probably.

The Dow gained 106 points yesterday. The dollar gained ground too – rising to $1.27 to the euro. And gold rose too…plus $12 to $914.

In the United States, jobs are being lost at the rate of 6 million per year. New jobless claims just rose to a 26-year high.

Little by little, the word “depression” is creeping into the press. Yesterday, GE’s top man warned that the downturn could turn into a depression. And Britain’s Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, let slip the d-word during a parliamentary session.

The TIMES of London reports:

“Gordon Brown appeared to acknowledge for the first time today that the world economy was heading for a 1930s-style ‘depression’.

“Mr Brown stumbled slightly over his words at Commons question time, just a week after admitting that Britain was facing a ‘deep’ recession.

“As the financial gloom deepens, he told the Tory leader David Cameron today: ‘We should agree, as a world, on a monetary and fiscal stimulus that will take the world out of depression.’”

But not to worry…the simpletons are on the case. The price tag on Obama’s emergency plan had risen to nearly $1 trillion last time we looked. The Senate bowed to global scorn and ridicule, taking out many of the “Buy America” provisions. Of course, they didn’t do it as a matter of principle…they don’t have principles. Instead, someone must have warned them that if Americans insist on “buying American” the Chinese might insist on “investing Chinese.” And then the whole game would be up. The Ponzi scheme that is U.S. finance requires new money from foreigners in order to pay off the old money that foreigners put in last year and the year before.

The news this morning is that the senators burned the midnight oil…taking out the protectionism and putting in more boondoggles – including a $15,000 tax break for people who buy houses.

So, here at The Daily Reckoning, we have no worries. The feds are on the case. And they’re going to spend, spend, spend…until daddy takes the T-bird away!

*** Wait a minute. The feds are on the case…but haven’t they been on the case for the last 18 months…ever since Bear Stearns went broke? And wasn’t Tim Geithner right there in the room when they decided to let Lehman Bros. go broke…while saving AIG?

Albert Einstein: “Never expect the people who caused a problem to solve it.”

And aren’t the feds’ new plans to save the economy little different from their last plans? Bailouts, stimulus, tax breaks, new, looser credit…aren’t these the same things that were used not only for the last 18 months…but in the Great Depression in the ’30s…and in Japan in the ’90s? Have they ever worked? Nope. Never.

Of course, there’s a good reason they don’t work. As we explained yesterday, you can’t really buy your way out of a depression. Because the problem is deeper than that. The economy is not just taking a rest. It is dead. It needs to be restructured, not revived. And for that, the old structures must be destroyed. That’s what Schumpeter’s ‘creative destruction’ is meant to do. But the feds don’t appreciate it. They talk “change,” but the only change they want is for things to go back to the way they were. So, they’re trying to stop the correction. And they’re using every worn-out trick, every blunderbuss weapon and every claptrap theory they can think of. Bailout the banks…create a ‘bad bank’…nationalize the banks…stop the foreclosures…send out checks…lower interest rates…build bridges to nowhere – they’ll do it all. But it won’t work. All these measures are designed to encourage consumption…in order to support the old structures. But more consumption is just what the economy doesn’t need. It is in trouble because people have spent too much. Now, they have to cut back…and when they do, every enterprise, speculative investment, and household that depended on excess consumption is in trouble.

Ah yes, dear reader…that is where we are. In trouble. At the beginning of a depression. The old structures must be swept away to make way for new ones.

Change! Can it be stopped? Yes we can’t!

“So, what’s the solution?” asked a colleague this morning, after we explained why the stimulus programs cannot work.

“The solution to a depression is a depression,” we replied.

*** Here’s another idea that won’t fly, abolish America’s central bank, the Federal Reserve. From our old friend, Dr. Ron Paul:

“From the Great Depression, to the stagflation of the seventies, to the current economic crisis caused by the housing bubble, every economic downturn suffered by this country over the past century can be traced to Federal Reserve policy. The Fed has followed a consistent policy of flooding the economy with easy money, leading to a misallocation of resources and an artificial ‘boom’ followed by a recession or depression when the Fed-created bubble bursts.

“With a stable currency, American exporters will no longer be held hostage to an erratic monetary policy. Stabilizing the currency will also give Americans new incentives to save as they will no longer have to fear inflation eroding their savings. Those members concerned about increasing America’s exports or the low rate of savings should be enthusiastic supporters of this legislation.

“Though the Federal Reserve policy harms the average American, it benefits those in a position to take advantage of the cycles in monetary policy. The main beneficiaries are those who receive access to artificially inflated money and/or credit before the inflationary effects of the policy impact the entire economy. Federal Reserve policies also benefit big spending politicians who use the inflated currency created by the Fed to hide the true costs of the welfare-warfare state. It is time for Congress to put the interests of the American people ahead of special interests and their own appetite for big government.

“Abolishing the Federal Reserve will allow Congress to reassert its constitutional authority over monetary policy. The United States Constitution grants to Congress the authority to coin money and regulate the value of the currency. The Constitution does not give Congress the authority to delegate control over monetary policy to a central bank. Furthermore, the Constitution certainly does not empower the federal government to erode the American standard of living via an inflationary monetary policy.

“In fact, Congress’s constitutional mandate regarding monetary policy should only permit currency backed by stable commodities such as silver and gold to be used as legal tender. Therefore, abolishing the Federal Reserve and returning to a constitutional system will enable America to return to the type of monetary system envisioned by our nation’s founders: one where the value of money is consistent because it is tied to a commodity such as gold. Such a monetary system is the basis of a true free-market economy.

“In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to stand up for working Americans by putting an end to the manipulation of the money supply which erodes Americans’ standard of living, enlarges big government, and enriches well-connected elites, by cosponsoring my legislation to abolish the Federal Reserve.”

Enjoy your weekend,

Bill Bonner
The Daily Reckoning
About Bill Bonner
Author Image for Bill Bonner

Since founding Agora Inc. in 1979, Bill Bonner has found success and garnered camaraderie in numerous communities and industries. A man of many talents, his entrepreneurial savvy, unique writings, philanthropic undertakings, and preservationist activities have all been recognized and awarded by some of America’s most respected authorities. Along with Addison Wiggin, his friend and colleague, Bill has written two New York Times best-selling books, Financial Reckoning Day and Empire of Debt . Both works have been critically acclaimed and internationally. With political journalist Lila Rajiva, he wrote his third New York Times best-selling book, Mobs, Messiahs and Markets , which offers concrete advice on how to avoid the public spectacle of modern finance. Since 1999, Bill has been a daily contributor and the driving force behind The Daily Reckoning .

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I have been saying all along that I see nowhere for the Fed to go once interest rates hit 0 ....... and they're only .25% above that now ...... and the flow of "printed for the sake of printing" money becomes an inflationary force on the market. How does the Fed then counter inflation? There is nowhere to go on interest rates. That's been their hedge for the past 20 years or so.

Once the US currency becomes so devalued ..... and with interest rates at such miniscule levels ..... who is going to want to invest in US debt? What happens when we have less and less assets to secure our debt? What then happens when our currency further devalues as a result? What happens to home values? What happens to consumer prices? Want to bet that one plummets while the other soars?

We could have let this cycle hit a natural bottom and begin the cycle of recovery. There would have been some losses, and certainly maybe even heavy losses, however the more we try to prop this economy up on a weak foundation, the more it teeters and totters, and the harder the (inevitable) crash will be.

Our politicians don't really care though. Throw another trillion on top of the trillion (that we made up out of think air) that we spent on the banking "crisis". Let's look at how well that one worked out. Now let's use a similar model to throw another trillion at ...... something. I just heard a politician from Florida on the TV, and he said something along the lines of "We'll have to figure it out as we go". Well dammit ...... we should figure it out BEFORE we go. There is nothing so devestating happening today that waiting until we have a clear plan, with benchmarks and guidelines in place, would prove worse than waiting. Unfortunately, the partisanship in Washington will throw the tab for a crappy spending bill, disguised as a "stimulus" package, at generations to come .... just as the last administration did.

There are times I am very glad I don't have children who will be forced to pay the bills for the folly and ineptitude my generation is piling at their feet.

jc

INSIDE WASHINGTON: Congress retreats, luxuriously

Thursday, February 05, 2009
By LAURIE KELLMAN, Associated Press Writer


WASHINGTON — Members of Congress were quick to shame corporate executives for over-the-top extravagance during the economic crisis, flying private jets and taking luxury junkets. But some lawmakers are strolling fancy resorts spending tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars and mingling with lobbyists.

"We're very mindful" of perceptions, House Democratic Caucus Chairman John Larson told reporters Thursday camped outside of the sprawling Kingsmill Resort & Spa in Williamsburg, Va., where House Democrats were on their annual three-day retreat, which by some estimates has cost $100,000 in the past. "It's serious and it's from morning till night. We've been dwelling, rightfully, on the economy," said Larson, D-Conn.

Republicans and Democrats in the House have passed new rules governing such trips even as lawmakers say the events are useful for negotiating public policy. But with a nation tightening its belt and already fatigued by stories of corporate excess, perceptions matter these days in Washington. Congress risks shattering its glass house throwing stones.

"If it's a luxurious setting or if there's particularly high level entertainment, then they are running into the same problem," said Meredith McGehee of the Campaign Legal Center, a government ethics watchdog group. "They don't get that these are tough economic times, that Americans are struggling and they need to do their part."

Wells Fargo took that point when The Associated Press reported this week that the bank was rewarding its top performers with a lavish conference in Las Vegas, just after the company received a $25 billion bailout from taxpayers. After criticism from Congress, Wells Fargo canceled the getaway.

Democrats and Republicans defend the trips as valuable for the relationships they strengthen and they say details of such retreats are cleared in advance by the House ethics committee and comply with all rules and laws. Lawmakers pay their own expenses at the House retreats, including room rental, and may use their campaign re-election funds.

Democrats spend taxpayer money on their retreat but do not permit lobbyists to accompany them. The public pays for a charter train from Washington to Williamsburg for many of the 200 members who attend, as well as conference rooms, security and catering.

The round-trip fare on Amtrak is $90 or more. Catered dinners at Kingsmill cost at least $60 per person. Kingsmill's rooms at this time of year start at $119 a night. Democrats will not disclose the exact costs of this year's retreat, though group discounts for travel, food and lodging are common.

Republicans spend no public money on their retreat, which occurred last month at the historic Homestead resort in Hot Springs, Va., spokesman Matt Lloyd said.

Lawmakers pay for their own transportation and room costs, roughly $190 per night, including food, according to one Republican who attended but spoke on condition of anonymity because details of the trip were not made public.

But Republicans allow special guests to join them: lobbyists who are part of the Congressional Institute, a nonprofit organization that arranges events for both political parties. They pay $25,000 to join the institute, which allows them to attend the first night's dinner at the Republican retreat as well as other events throughout the year.

More than 300 people attended the dinner, including 136 Republican House lawmakers and 45 others _ mostly lobbyists _ from the institute's private sector advisory committee, said the group's president, Mark Strand. The institute also pays the costs of some congressional staffers who attend.

But what about those ugly perceptions of lobbyists meeting privately with lawmakers in posh surroundings?

"If we were paying for spas, if we were paying for golf outings, then you might have a point," Strand said. He said lobbyists are discouraged from talking about business on behalf of their clients during the retreat.

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Associated Press writers Ann Sanner in Washington and Liz Sidoti in Williamsburg, Va., contributed to this report.

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On the Net:

Congressional Republicans: http://www.gop.gov/

Congressional Democrats: http://www.dems.gov/

(This version CORRECTS that the $100,000 estimate for the retreat refers to previous retreats, not necessarily the current one.)


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Here is a list from CNN of some of the programs that got cut from the Stimulus bill. I don't think there should have been a bank bailout bill (which has not helped homeowners) and I do not think that there should be a stimulus bill, but they did cut some programs that would create jobs. Plus, it made me sick to my stomach the other night watching on CSPAN that McCain introduced a bill to remove the Buy American portion of the bill that has been around in some part or other since 1933.



(CNN) -- A coalition of Democrats and some Republicans reached a compromise that trimmed billions in spending from an earlier version of the Senate economic stimulus bill.


Senators worked late into the night to trim billions from the original stimulus bill.

CNN obtained, from a Democratic leadership aide, a list of some programs that have been cut, either entirely or partially:

Partially cut:

• $3.5 billion for energy-efficient federal buildings (original bill $7 billion)

• $75 million from Smithsonian (original bill $150 million)

• $200 million from Environmental Protection Agency Superfund (original bill $800 million)

• $100 million from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (original bill $427 million)

• $100 million from law enforcement wireless (original bill $200 million)

• $300 million from federal fleet of hybrid vehicles (original bill $600 million)

• $100 million from FBI construction (original bill $400 million)

Fully eliminated

• $55 million for historic preservation

• $122 million for Coast Guard polar icebreaker/cutters

• $100 million for Farm Service Agency modernization

• $50 million for Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service

• $65 million for watershed rehabilitation

• $100 million for distance learning

• $98 million for school nutrition

• $50 million for aquaculture

• $2 billion for broadband

• $100 million for National Institute of Standards and Technology

• $50 million for detention trustee

• $25 million for Marshalls Construction

• $300 million for federal prisons

• $300 million for BYRNE Formula grant program

• $140 million for BYRNE Competitive grant program

• $10 million state and local law enforcement

• $50 million for NASA

• $50 million for aeronautics

• $50 million for exploration

• $50 million for Cross Agency Support

• $200 million for National Science Foundation

• $100 million for science

• $1 billion for Energy Loan Guarantees

• $4.5 billion for General Services Administration

• $89 million General Services Administration operations

• $50 million from Department of Homeland Security

• $200 million Transportation Security Administration

• $122 million for Coast Guard Cutters, modifies use

• $25 million for Fish and Wildlife

• $55 million for historic preservation

• $20 million for working capital fund

• $165 million for Forest Service capital improvement

• $90 million for State and Private Wildlife Fire Management

• $1 billion for Head Start/Early Start

• $5.8 billion for Health Prevention Activity

• $2 billion for Health Information Technology Grants

• $600 million for Title I (No Child Left Behind)

• $16 billion for school construction

• $3.5 billion for higher education construction

• $1.25 billion for project based rental

• $2.25 billion for Neighborhood Stabilization


• $1.2 billion for retrofitting Project 8 housing

• $40 billion for state fiscal stabilization (includes $7.5 billion of state incentive grants)

I stimulate the economy.

I should be saving, yet all I've done is spend more for this Christmas, and continue to spend afterwards.

I'm far from rich, and I do want to save money, but we all can't hole ourselves up.

Obama had his nice little quip in the video that was posted on here about republicans calling this a spending bill and not a stimulus bill.. and he joked, "Isn't that the point?"...

Well, here is what the republicans mean by calling it a spending bill... a lot of the earmarked money isn't due to be spent until 2010, 2011 and 2012... how is that going to help the economy recover NOW? It's not. How is that going to save somebody's job over the next few months? It's not. It's basically all of the little pet projects that the dems have wanted more funding for over the last many years but couldn't get through, now they have wrapped it all up in this package, scared the crap out of everybody... and they want to get it through.

John McCain actually introduced an amendment that said, if the economy has recovered somewhat in the next year or two, the later portion of this spending should never happen and we could ultimately reduce the size of the this bill considerably.. the dems voted it down. Because it's not about the economy recovering, it's about introducing a bunch of new spending and funding projects they have been dying to get funding for, for a long time.

President Obama and the democrats are going to pay off a lot of campaign promises in one big swoop with this bill..

The biggest problem is that the people writing these bills are not in fear of losing their jobs, are not on unemployment, are not worried about how they will pay their bills or buy groceries for their family, or how the economy will affect their future retirement.

They are so far removed and isolated from what the general public is going through right now, they can't see where the problems really are, or how to correct them.

jc

Worthwhile Canadian Initiative
Canadian banks are typically leveraged at 18 to 1--compared with U.S. banks at 26 to 1.

Published Feb 7, 2009
From the magazine issue dated Feb 16, 2009


The legendary editor of The New Republic, Michael Kinsley, once held a "Boring Headline Contest" and decided that the winner was "Worthwhile Canadian Initiative." Twenty-two years later, the magazine was rescued from its economic troubles by a Canadian media company, which should have taught us Americans to be a bit more humble. Now there is even more striking evidence of Canada's virtues. Guess which country, alone in the industrialized world, has not faced a single bank failure, calls for bailouts or government intervention in the financial or mortgage sectors. Yup, it's Canada. In 2008, the World Economic Forum ranked Canada's banking system the healthiest in the world. America's ranked 40th, Britain's 44th.

Canada has done more than survive this financial crisis. The country is positively thriving in it. Canadian banks are well capitalized and poised to take advantage of opportunities that American and European banks cannot seize. The Toronto Dominion Bank, for example, was the 15th-largest bank in North America one year ago. Now it is the fifth-largest. It hasn't grown in size; the others have all shrunk.

So what accounts for the genius of the Canadians? Common sense. Over the past 15 years, as the United States and Europe loosened regulations on their financial industries, the Canadians refused to follow suit, seeing the old rules as useful shock absorbers. Canadian banks are typically leveraged at 18 to 1—compared with U.S. banks at 26 to 1 and European banks at a frightening 61 to 1. Partly this reflects Canada's more risk-averse business culture, but it is also a product of old-fashioned rules on banking.

Canada has also been shielded from the worst aspects of this crisis because its housing prices have not fluctuated as wildly as those in the United States. Home prices are down 25 percent in the United States, but only half as much in Canada. Why? Well, the Canadian tax code does not provide the massive incentive for overconsumption that the U.S. code does: interest on your mortgage isn't deductible up north. In addition, home loans in the United States are "non-recourse," which basically means that if you go belly up on a bad mortgage, it's mostly the bank's problem. In Canada, it's yours. Ah, but you've heard American politicians wax eloquent on the need for these expensive programs—interest deductibility alone costs the federal government $100 billion a year—because they allow the average Joe to fulfill the American Dream of owning a home. Sixty-eight percent of Americans own their own homes. And the rate of Canadian homeownership? It's 68.4 percent.

Canada has been remarkably responsible over the past decade or so. It has had 12 years of budget surpluses, and can now spend money to fuel a recovery from a strong position. The government has restructured the national pension system, placing it on a firm fiscal footing, unlike our own insolvent Social Security. Its health-care system is cheaper than America's by far (accounting for 9.7 percent of GDP, versus 15.2 percent here), and yet does better on all major indexes. Life expectancy in Canada is 81 years, versus 78 in the United States; "healthy life expectancy" is 72 years, versus 69. American car companies have moved so many jobs to Canada to take advantage of lower health-care costs that since 2004, Ontario and not Michigan has been North America's largest car-producing region.

I could go on. The U.S. currently has a brain-dead immigration system. We issue a small number of work visas and green cards, turning away from our shores thousands of talented students who want to stay and work here. Canada, by contrast, has no limit on the number of skilled migrants who can move to the country. They can apply on their own for a Canadian Skilled Worker Visa, which allows them to become perfectly legal "permanent residents" in Canada—no need for a sponsoring employer, or even a job. Visas are awarded based on education level, work experience, age and language abilities. If a prospective immigrant earns 67 points out of 100 total (holding a Ph.D. is worth 25 points, for instance), he or she can become a full-time, legal resident of Canada.

Companies are noticing. In 2007 Microsoft, frustrated by its inability to hire foreign graduate students in the United States, decided to open a research center in Vancouver. The company's announcement noted that it would staff the center with "highly skilled people affected by immigration issues in the U.S." So the brightest Chinese and Indian software engineers are attracted to the United States, trained by American universities, then thrown out of the country and picked up by Canada—where most of them will work, innovate and pay taxes for the rest of their lives.

If President Obama is looking for smart government, there is much he, and all of us, could learn from our quiet—OK, sometimes boring—neighbor to the north. Meanwhile, in the councils of the financial world, Canada is pushing for new rules for financial institutions that would reflect its approach. This strikes me as, well, a worthwhile Canadian initiative.

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So the brightest Chinese and Indian software engineers are attracted to the United States, trained by American universities, then thrown out of the country and picked up by Canada—where most of them will work, innovate and pay taxes for the rest of their lives.

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While we stumble over ourselves trying to give tax benefits and citizenship to office cleaners, tomato pickers and drywall hangers...

I've complained for years on this board that our country is operating under what many called 'lemon socialism' -- the taxpayer takes on the burdens and the corporations reap the benefits. Usually I was laughed at, called a communist, told that I just hate the rich, etc.

And now we're seeing the most disgusting of examples with these stimulus and bailout packages. In fear of the dreaded word 'socialism', the people who are essentially paying to help these lemon companies (through socialism) will receive no reward for it.

Had to go to my bank the other day,, First Merit.. They posted a healthy profit last year. I asked my banker,, why did you guys do so well and others fall on hard times..

Her comment was, "it all boils down to the fact that we NEVER relaxed out lending requirements"

Today, if you look around, those banks that participated in Subprime lending,, are in trouble.. those that didn't, are as strong as ever. Stronger in fact.

Whoever or whatever took thier eyes of the banking/lending industry are the culprits that ALLOWED our problems to be here today. Those that took advantage of not being watched so critically used greed as thier guiding light and they are the cause of our dilemma today.

I'm going to hear someone say,,, well, geez, why did people take those loans if they weren't able to repay them.... I have two things to say, some folks were either stupid and believed what mortgage brokers told them and had few other choices or they were part of a scheme to defraud lenders. (of course there are those that lost jobs, thus losing the ability to pay as well,, always tragic and that's always been something that's been around)

There are thousands of documented cases where Mortgage brokers flat out lied to borrowers about Adjustable Rate Mortgages..... Unfortunalty, there are many cases of unsophistcated buyers that didn't know the difference. Obviously, harder, if not impossible to document those.

The sad truth.

I still see ads on TV here and the radio, that advertise a new home for $800/mo PITI

We all know that's not possible. Heck, my taxes and insurance alone are that much a month. Which is basically what that is. It's a no interest payments for the first 12 months of the loan, but they won't tell anyone that. They wait til the 12 months is up then the payment jumps to $1400-$1500 on them.

And this is STILL going on.

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The sad truth is that many of the people say a free ride to live in a nice home for a few years, with no intentions of ever paying for it

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I have no doubt that some of that takes place as well GM....

Just clickin.

There is a very good interview with Peter Schiff-the fund manager that called all of this 2 years ago and was laughed at on Fox and CNBC. He thinks that we are not even to the worst part of this downturn yet.

http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/art...?tickers=%5Edji,%5Egspc,QQQQ,SPY,DIA,TLT,UDN

Fixing your URL: Peter Schiff Interview

For what it's worth, with the impending collapse of the bond market, a number of people have already been talking about the exact inflationary scenario he points out in that video. It is beginning to get a bit terrifying, actually.

I know man....the insurance for my home in Venice, Fla has doubled.....and would have gone up more had I not installed superduper hurricane shutters and not lived on a canal system that is proven to control flooding....we can drain down the lakes on the golf course days ahead to handle the rains.

Watched the video.

I was confused with the last stimulus package, and again with this one, as to why in the hell our government keeps making a "fake" economy. Let it hit rock bottom so it grows strong again instead of using band aids until it really crashes. Why is that so difficult to understand?

I'm about to pull my money out of my IRA. I lost over $15k last year, but have picked up a couple grand over the last month. It now appears to be sitting still. I can't let what little is left be dwindled away this year. And, if the worst is yet to come, which I believe it is, now may be the best time to grab it.

Thank you for the fix.

Peen,
I was watching or reading something this weekend about someone down in Florida who was trying to keep the neighborhood looking nice to keep up his home value because he was surrounded by homes in forclosure. Then it hit him that no matter what happens, he is paying almost $1500 a month for a house and a large number of houses around him are going for 30-40 percent of where they were 2 years ago. I did not believe that it was that bad so I got on craigslist and found houses that were appraised for 215k are going for around 70k. I also read another article over the weekend that banks are holding back putting all of their foreclosures on the market at the same time because they are afraid that they are going to flood the market and it would really nosedive. They are keeping some houses on the sideline for almost 6 months before they even put them up for sale. To me, that would seem to prolong the agony. Me and the wife looked Sunday at maybe inquiring about an investment for the future, but I still don't think we hit bottom yet.

For those that don't know...there's a Presidential news conference going on.

And, I'd like to know how long he thinks it will take to "create or save" those 4 million jobs. How do you measure "saving" a job, anyway...the unemployment rates?

I too see this as just the beginning. Look at how many people are on unemployment right now. What happens to the economy in 6-12 months when their unemployment benefits run out!? Watch the crime rate go up!

They won't go out. They will be extended until the end of time...Or until no one will loan us money anymore.

My guess is the housing market will hit its low by 2011. Once all of the foreclosed homes hit the market prices will drop farther than what they are now.

Tonight President Obama was asked about how the people would gauge the success of the stimilus bill. He said if it created OR saved 4 million (I don't remember the exact figure) jobs. For some reason the word OR just stuck in my head. The stimulis package needs to create AND save jobs. I'll admit, I voted for change, but this seems like the same old, same old.