Archive for December 16th, 2008

The Real Estate Nightmare I Found In Las Vegas

Note, I published this post way back in June. It relates to the post above that I put up this evening. It’s Friday night about 8:00 and I just returned from the IMN Distressed Real Estate Conference in Las Vegas.  I want to give you some initial impressions this evening, basically just a skeleton outline […]

Another Idea To Goose Homebuying

Here we go again. When in doubt pump up the housing sector. Will these guys ever figure this out? The latest proposal is for the Treasury to buy a big bond from the Federal Home Loan Banks (see link for an interesting Business Week article on the risks they entail) at a below market interest rate […]

Best Buy Warns Of A Weak Environment For Some Time

Best Buy reported a steep drop in earnings but still beat analysts estimates. What was more important though was the company’s announcement that it was going to be buying out employees and reducing new store openings. It’s statement spoke volumes about the economy: “We anticipate that companies will be laying off more employees, which will […]

The Road To Economic Recovery?

You can bet that I am not going to be found in a camp opposing restraint on the part of the federal government when it comes to taming this recession. The authorities have one big, mean tiger by the tail and could well get mauled before this is over. I am, however, now and probably […]

The Great Monetary Experiment

Well you can kiss the Fed Funds rate goodbye as a tool of monetary policy. In case you haven’t heard, the Fed announced that its new target rate was 0% to 0.25%. Why they didn’t just say zero is beyond me but I’m sure there is an obscure reason. So now clear the boards for […]

Two Big Events Tomorrow

One more thought before I wander off to the land of Nod. Two big things come down tomorrow. One is pretty much baked in the cake and the other will tell quite a tale. The first is the Fed’s interest rate target announcement. We all know rates are going down the question is by how […]