Has the housing market hit bottom?

The annual rate of 329,000 units seen in January of this year was not only less than the 1981 low in nominal terms, but, after accounting for the increase in population, it was not much more than half that level.housing stock vs. new home construction inventory
Interestingly, there couldn’t have been two different eras for the homebuilders as far as the cost of money is concerned - back then they were sending truck loads of sawed up two-by-fours to the Federal Reserve building in Washington D.C. because Paul Volcker was on a mission to squash inflation with interest rates approaching 20 percent, whereas, today, the Fed has interest rates pegged at zero.

And speaking of the central bank, their legions of economists might think that housing has bottomed when looking at new home construction because this has a direct impact on economic growth - residential construction has been a drag on GDP for about four years now and, from a direct macro-economic perspective, the worst is probably behind us.

For the homebuilders, it’s hard to imagine how things could get any worse than they were in January, so, unless this downturn morphs back into the Great Depression II, things have got to get better. In this case, it’s probably fair to say that the bottom is already behind us.

Exploit Trader Advantages for yourself

Anyone who tells you that this is a good time to make a position trade is foolish. From current levels, and for the foreseeable future, the market could fall just as easily as it could rise. This balance of probability tells us that we must be willing to trade both long and short. Most individual investors are one-sided, but almost all professional traders are willing to switch from one side to another when the market calls for it.
In my opinion, the market is telling us that we should be willing to trade both long and short for the time being. ...

The American Empire Is Bankrupt

Published on Monday, June 15, 2009 by TruthDig.com

by Chris HedgesThere are three categories of the balance-of-payment deficits. America imports more than it exports. This is trade. Wall Street and American corporations buy up foreign companies. This is capital movement. The third and most important balance-of-payment deficit for the past 50 years has been Pentagon spending abroad. It is primarily military spending that has been responsible for the balance-of-payments deficit for the last five decades. Look at table five in the Balance of Payments Report, published in the Survey of Current Business quarterly, and check under military spending. There you can see the deficit.

To fund our permanent war economy, we have been flooding the world with dollars. The foreign recipients turn the dollars over to their central banks for local currency. The central banks then have a problem. If a central bank does not spend the money in the United States then the exchange rate against the dollar will go up. This will penalize exporters. This has allowed America to print money without restraint to buy imports and foreign companies, fund our military expansion and ensure that foreign nations like China continue to buy our treasury bonds. This cycle appears now to be over. Once the dollar cannot flood central banks and no one buys our treasury bonds, our empire collapses. The profligate spending on the military, some $1 trillion when everything is counted, will be unsustainable.

“We will have to finance our own military spending,” Hudson warned, “and the only way to do this will be to sharply cut back wage rates. The class war is back in business. Wall Street understands that. This is why it had Bush and Obama give it $10 trillion in a huge rip-off so it can have enough money to survive.”

The Joy of Sachs - Paul Krugman

Op-Ed Columnist - The Joy of Sachs - NYTimes.com: "The huge bonuses Goldman will soon hand out show that financial-industry highfliers are still operating under a system of heads they win, tails other people lose.

.....The business of moving money around, of slicing, dicing and repackaging financial claims, has soared in importance compared with the actual production of useful stuff. The sector officially labeled “securities, commodity contracts and investments” has grown especially fast, from only 0.3 percent of G.D.P. in the late 1970s to 1.7 percent of G.D.P. in 2007. ...

The bottom line is that Goldman’s blowout quarter is good news for Goldman and the people who work there. It’s good news for financial superstars in general, whose paychecks are rapidly climbing back to precrisis levels. But it’s bad news for almost everyone else."

Norton's comment: So we haven't broken out of the same good old boy network that is running the economy for their own corp. benefit with the rest of us picking up the scraps on Main St. Get ready for a prolonged depression and slow recovery still leading to another bubble.

Waiting for TARP bailout to hit Mainstreet USA..

Need I say more? Well, they must be packed for a ride on the FREE yacht, waiting for Hank paulsen to give them a taxi ride to the pier........Norton .........hmmmm.

No that is not it! They are waiting for TARP funds to hit Mainstreet!

How to Get a Free Yacht

All is not lost even in this economic turmoil!

How to Get a Free Yacht: "Intro How to Get a Free Yacht. Sound impossible? It's not.

Before long you'll be giving them away yourself.
Here's the table of contents of the whole saga:
Chapter 1: How to Get a Free Yacht
Chapter 2: Maiden Voyage of the Free Yacht
Chapter 3: Fix Broken Stix and other Trix
Chapter 4: Outboard Motor Mutilates Foot
Chapter 5: It's sinking and it's on Fire.
Chapter 6: How To Give Away a Free Yacht
Chapter 7: Get an Even Better One and Fabulize it.
Chapter 8: Celebrate Freedom
Chapter 9: Technicolor Dreamboat
Chapter 10: Privateer Knot
Chapter 11: Dismasted!
Chapter 12: Kiteboat!"

CLICK FOR DETAILS How to Get a Free Yacht:

norton's comment: Aha! Voila! My new motto:
"living high on living low!"

Hyperinflation Special Report - shadow statistics

UPDATE — COMMENTARY - Hyperinflation Special Report - June 2nd, 2008

"Have you ever wondered why the CPI, GDP and employment numbers run counter to your personal and business experiences? The problem lies in biased and often-manipulated government reporting. ...
How has the hyperinflation outlook changed since the Hyperinflation Special Report was published in April 2008?" Such is the most frequently asked question I receive these days.
The answer is that the outlook is little changed, since the following report outlines the basic issues and limited options for the U.S. government that were in play well before the current crises broke. The actions taken since by the federal government, U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve, in response to the still-deepening recession and ongoing systemic solvency woes, just exacerbated the long-range problems described in the report. The official actions likely have advanced the timing of the hyperinflation to the much nearer future, perhaps within the next year or two. Since September 2008, the Federal Reserve has been attempting to debase the U.S. dollar at an extraordinary pace, and such now is recognized widely among the major U.S. trading partners.
The current issues are discussed regularly and those analyses are available to subscribers in the Shadow Government Newsletter and related Flash Updates and Alerts. An updated Hyperinflation Special Report should be posted in the next several months....Printer Friendly (PDF) Version

The Story of STUFF!

Recession prompts Americans to embrace the simple life

"...Pastor Eric Dykstra, of Crossing Church, in Elk River, Minnesota, read a book by Julie Morgenstern, called Shed Your Stuff, Change Your Life, then found a blog by Dave Bruno of San Diego called the "100 Thing Challenge" where he encourages people to pare down their personal possessions to only 100 items. Bruno says he reduced his own possessions to fewer than that.
Dykstra started to encouraged the members of his church to follow Bruno's example, and people began donating a lot to charity, including boats, furniture and snow blowers, until they had filled a warehouse. He, himself, went from five suits to one, and from a dozen ties to two.

The Northwest Earth Institute in Portland, Oregon offers "voluntary simplicity" courses and enrollment is up 50% in the past year. A 20-minute film called The Story of Stuff has been shown in hundreds of schools and been seen by 6.6 million people online since December 2007. The film shows the environmental costs of consumerism. Websites on living close to nature are also getting more traffic.

People are freeing themselves from the notion that owning a lot of stuff equals happiness..."
article source - USA today

Norton's comment: Yes, this is true. three years ago I moved from a nin room house to a two bedroom apartment. It has taken me three years to whittle down my possessions to fit. Antique dealers, yard sales, Craigslist, Uncle Henrys, donations etc. And I still will try out the 100 items challenge. I have NO regrets! It is a real lightening of pschological and physical load...and financial!

100 THINGS CHALLENGE - CLICK HERE

Gold, the U.S. Dollar, and the Chinese Yuan

Gold, the U.S. Dollar, and the Chinese Yuan :: The Market Oracle :: Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting Free Website: "Commodities / Gold & Silver 2009
Jul 09, 2009 - 05:42 PM

By: Jennifer_Barry
In late April, a Chinese sovereign wealth fund, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, announced that China had purchased 454 metric tons of gold over the past six years. Officials indicated that this increase was accomplished by tapping domestic mine supply and refining scrap gold. As China reported gold production of 282 t last year, the reserves have absorbed about 25% of this output since 2003."

Interactive graphic of the day - economic cycles

Interactive graphic of the day Free exchange Economist.com: "Interactive graphic of the day
Posted by: Economist.com WASHINGTON
IT MAY seem silly to devote an entire post to a link to an interactive graphic at the New York Times, but it won't once you go look at the graphic. It's mesmerising and informative. And it broadly comports with my view of the American economy, which is a bonus."

Norton's comment: Economics for the non-economist. COOL! CLICK HERE FOR THE SHOW

The Car That Makes Its Own Fuel

The Car That Makes Its Own Fuel Renewable Energy:
by noor on July 6, 2009
"The depletion of natural resources and their high prices has forced everyone to look for other alternatives to run cars and other electronic devices. This change of thought has made way to the invention of a new car that can make its own fuel, by an Israeli company. This car uses a unique system that can produce hydrogen inside the car using common metals such as magnesium and aluminum.

" Norton's comment: "Yes we can!" Detroit better grab this and run with it! It's my money of the barrel head.