Tuesday, April 29, 2008

That Rose, Fannie Mae (Musical Tribute)

U.S. Foreclosure Filings Double in First Quarter, Led by Nevada

April 29 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. foreclosure filings more than doubled in the first quarter as payments rose for subprime adjustable mortgages and falling home prices left property owners unable to sell or refinance without losing money.



Special thanks to the people at Versus.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Stag,

From your Bloomberg article:

Almost 650,000 properties were in some stage of foreclosure during the quarter, or 1 in every 194 U.S. households

That's about 1.2% of all mortgaged homeowners. Ouch!

Here's an extrapolation from Bernanke's weak dollar policy & deflation theory. Bernanke claims deflation slows economic activity as people delay purchases choosing instead to wait for prices to fall. If that is indeed the case, then we must assume that foreigners will be delaying purchases of American goods until the dollar stabilizes. In the mean time, Americans will be less able to buy foreign goods.

The fed sure has some selective logic. There is no way any fed policy is going to make our economic pain vanish. It's likely to make things worse.

Stagflationary Mark said...

MAB,

There's always a fatal flaw in perpetual motion machines (monetery printing presses included). Some just take longer to find. Something for nothing has and always will be a pipe dream. Somebody eventually pays.

A Baby Bust Empties Out Japan's Schools
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2548-2005Mar2_2.html

It has happened in part because towns such as Nishiki suffer from a shortage not only of children, but also of eligible women. When Japan's economic bubble burst in 1990, Japanese companies seeking less expensive alternatives to men began hiring women for contract and part-time jobs. Gender roles have changed as a result. With increasing financial independence, more women are avoiding marriage. According to a poll released this week by Japan's Yomiuri newspaper, seven out of 10 single Japanese women say they have no desire to become wives -- a role that in Japan still largely means staying home and raising children.

When you are in inflate or die mode and you can no longer inflate, the ponzi scheme falls apart.

Meanwhile...

Robots seen doing work of 3.5 million in Japan
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUST27506220080408

There are 6+ billion people on this planet, right? That's gotta be disappointing to 1.3 billion Chinese.