-- Posted Monday, 3 September 2007 | Digg This Article
US MARKETS
The underside of the home mortgage market is not very well known, so the size of threat is being grossly underestimated. It is a sprawling, varied enterprise that no one regulator oversees, making it impossible to know how many mortgages or lenders not insured by the government are in trouble. No public records are available to show who holds the trillions of dollars worth of mortgages that have been turned into CDOs and flogged worldwide. Last fall there were 90,000 non-bank lenders. There could be only half that now. These are state licensed lenders who have made 70% of annual mortgages. You hear about Countrywide and Indymac, but not of the others.
We know federally regulated lenders past due loans were 10.6% last quarter at $6.4 billion. What lurks below the surface we do not know, but we do know it is not good.
The Census Bureau reports that median household come rose 0.7% last year, its second annual increase in a row to $48,201. There may have been a five year recovery, but not for the average Americans.
The median household income last year was still $1,000 less than in 2000. In 2006, 36.5 million Americans were living in poverty, five million more than six years ago, when the poverty level fell to 11.3%.
If you figure in an average inflation rate of 8% for five years you find the average American’s purchasing power has been deeply depleted.
Our Comptroller General tells us the truth but our elected officials do not want to hear that they are bankrupting America. Our media makes mention of what David Walker has to say and then you hear nothing else about the matter. In fact, most of the media doesn’t report what he has to say. The media is rigged, politicians do not care, business interests want the truth to disappear and the public is generally in denial.
America has become an empire and with that mantel has come declining moral values, corruption and a political system that refuses to function in behalf of the American people. Our military has to fight wars based on lies for profit, and is over extended in foreign lands. We wallow in fiscal and monetary irresponsibility by our government. We have more problems than Rome did before the barbarians broke down the gates.
We certainly haven’t learned from history because we know so little of history. In addition we think of only tomorrow, not much further. If America doesn’t wake up and use the brains God has given them we’ll not only be broke but we will be a second-class nation.
From a fellow subscriber:
Kudlow Crap for 8/30/07
I sprayed coffee on my computer screen today as Larry Kudlow commented that a rate cut by the Fed wouldn't hurt the dollar because it would stimulate economic growth. Kudlow and his buddy Cramer are pushing HARD for a rate cut "to ease the burden on those poor holders of ARMs". CNBC is quickly replacing Faulty Towers as my all time favorite comedy series. C. Augustin.
GOLD, SILVER, PLATINUM, PALADIUM AND URANIAM
Turkey’s gold bullion imports will set a new record this year, as consumer spending is boosted by steadier world gold prices and positive sentiment. Gold bullion imports are up 42% to 150 tons in the first 7 months of the year. At this rate 275 tons could be achieved.
JAPAN
Broadband service in Japan is 8 to 30 times as fast as in the US and considerably cheaper. They have the fastest Internet connections, delivering more data at a lower cost than anywhere else.
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-- Posted Monday, 3 September 2007 | Digg This Article
