freecounterpoint: Sell, AI!! Sell!

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Sell, AI!! Sell!

12 comments:

Tecumseh said...: Two main events have caused house valuations to inflate since World War II. First, the government subsidized housing by relaxing borrowing standards. Prior to the creation of the Federal Housing Authority in 1934 house buyers who borrowed typically put up 40% of the purchase price in cash for a five- to 15-year loan. By insuring mortgages, the FHA permitted terms of up to 20 years and down payments of just 20%. It later expanded the repayment periods to 30 years and reduced down payments to 5%. Today down payments for FHA loans are as low as 3%. Aggressive lenders offer loans with no down payments or even negative ones so that house buyers can borrow the full purchase price plus closing costs. Some require little documentation of income, assets or ability to pay.

That's precisely the shit that got us in this financial mess in the first place. I say, let's dial the clock back to saner days. And ban brain fryers while at it.; 9/27/2008 5:24 PM
Mr roT said...: I agree, AI. It's all Democrat crap but it's getting pinned on W just like everything else is. He should've fixed it but it was impossible with a war on. God damn.; 9/27/2008 5:39 PM
Tecumseh said...: Chickens coming home to roost. Life is a bitch. Damn, just damn.

At any rate, we don't have to dial back all the way to 1933 or something. Even 20 years ago, if I recall correctly, the standard was 20% down for a 30 year mortgage. Not rocket science. Why do we need these guys on Wall Street making $50 million a year or whatever, to invent all sorts of "smart" ways to skirt such basic rules? Just get back to green eyeshades guys making 60K a year, and playing by the book to handle the stupid paperwork, and we'll all be in better shape. And use the savings to invest in something really important, like pure math or theoretical physics. How about dat?; 9/27/2008 6:02 PM
Mr roT said...: AI, you're sepia is coming out. The green shades guys weren't named J P Morgan.; 9/27/2008 6:25 PM
Tecumseh said...: I'm talking about the green eyeshades guys who fill out mortgages at your local bank. Why do we need overpaid masters of the universe at JP Morgan or Lehman Brothers to do this crap, when it can be done on the cheap by anyone who can add and multiply?; 9/27/2008 8:36 PM
Mr roT said...: Barney (Frank, not Smith) would say that those guys with the green shades were all racists. Also, a hell of a lot of banks went under in the Depression. I guess everyone then as now got greedy in stocks and when they went under, couldn't pay their mortgages. Also, I suppose banks got involved with shady stocks and so went under directly that way when they went illiquid.

This nostalgia is not the answer. It is a bit like people that forget that the internal combustion engine cleaned up towns that were full of horseshit. Smog is maybe better.; 9/27/2008 8:48 PM
Tecumseh said...: JJ, JJ, what the hell are you talking about? As I said, I was not talking about Depression-era stuff (and God only knows what Barney Frank doesn't think is racist and/or sexist). I was talking about the way the lending business used to be practiced in the late 1980s--early 1990s (you remember those days, don't you?), before all those fancy-pantsy smartasses on Wall Street got into the act, took a rather straightforward business and messed things up, big time -- laughing all the way to the bank in the process, of course.

Just sickening.; 9/27/2008 9:14 PM
Mr roT said...: What I am saying is that the smarty-pants guys you're talking about have been around a lot longer. That's all. Calm down. Have a brewsky. It's Saturday and Pepe is being quatrolegic.; 9/27/2008 9:24 PM
Tecumseh said...: He's drinking 4 brewskies at the same time?; 9/27/2008 11:09 PM
Mr roT said...: in all 4 holes; 9/27/2008 11:37 PM
Tecumseh said...: Coming through his nose?; 9/28/2008 12:47 AM
Mr roT said...: Kayla tore him a couple more.; 9/28/2008 12:53 AM

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