This is my sober analysis of the Wall Street super-colossa-crisis. It goes like this: greedy "fat cats" living on Wall Street bought some homes, but didn't make their mortgage payments, so John McCain is camping out on the White House lawn until they receive a $700 Billion dollar check from America. If the check doesn't get their by Saturday, everything will explode in a fiery inferno.
Por Que? What about the kids?
I know, I know. I don't write anything for months, and the first post out is topical and near political. Well, this is my site, and I've come to terms with my grasp of world affairs... and that three of the 5 people who've visited this site may be infruiated by my wildly fringe views.
So, yeah, I'll talk about this sorta' crap every now and then. Whatever get's me back to writing.
Que Pasa?
Many folks have labored to analyze and explain just what happened to make the world panic in the course of a week. You have to realize, very large banks all over the world with very smart people got suckered into the mess we're in. For some detailed analysis, see this crudely drawn comic that requires a plugin to see. Or don't.
More appropriately, President Bush addressed the nation Wednesday night right before America's Got Talent(who will win $1,000,000 and a Las Vegas show? Only America and B-rate Hollywood producers can decide!). He was to the point, he leveled with common concerns, there wasn't any hint of a partisan agenda in his speech - in short, where the hell was this President Bush in 2001? Articulate, genuine, rational... after 8 years in the office, I found it amusing he's appearing to be the kind of guy I'd vote for.
The one thing I find incredibly amusing is that people are treating this like it was a huge shock. It really puts the situation into persepective when reporters say "no one accounted for a fall in house prices." Brilliant.
The housing bubble was abundantly clear to anyone buying home in any major metropolitan area between... oh, 2003 through 2007. Here in Atlanta, everything shot up to crazy prices. When $250,000 is considered a normal price for a home, you know you've got issues - especially when the average household income is around $40K. If you add to that the crazy musical homes game folks were playing with the adjustable mortages (you have three years to find a new home, or else you're bankrupt), there was no question we were heading for disaster.
Greed: the cause of, and cure to, all of America's problems
Like Homer Simpson sums it up for beer, greed is the theme that brought this mess on. All around. There's no one bad guy here, just many folks complicit in fooling themselves that they can cheat the system.
Buyers thought they could afford extravagant homes outside their means and actually make money on them
Builders got shady firms to front timebomb loans to unwitting buyers
Market wizards packaged bad loans into securities that got a corrupt rubber stamp from risk assessers
The world thought they could get a better deal investing in America through these shaky but slightly higher yielding new packages... that are now worth half of what they were originally
The solution is simple, and it even works for dealing with Terrorism! Consume, shop, gamble and trade like you always did, but with appropriate caution. America bought our way into this mess, and by God, we'll buy our way out of it!
And if someone offers you an interest-only loan on anything over $200,000, walk away.
