The New York Times is reporting that the end of the road is near for an American icon. GM is closing its Janesville, Wisconsin SUV plant. If you do the math and if the government doesn’t push up the price of gas (that’s a big if) then buying one of these behemoths actually pencils out […]
Archive for December 23rd, 2008
Posted in 
Tags: 
IndyMac May Be Bought From The FDIC
Posted by Tom Lindmark on December 23rd, 2008
Housing Wire is reporting that the FDIC has found a buyer for IndyMac Bank. No details at this time but, apparently, they have agreed to continue Sheila Bair’s crusade for modifying the bank’s loans. If you don’t know how I feel about this particular regulator, just input her name into the search box and you will […]
Where Does This Lead Us?
Posted by Tom Lindmark on December 23rd, 2008
Blame it on the approach of Christmas, but I find myself just a little sluggish tonight. Nevertheless, these graphs from Jake at EconomPicData.com are intriguing. Jake points out that the highest level of governments’ share of GDP occurred in 1943-1944. World War 2 years, obviously. Others have noted that the Depression didn’t end until the […]
The Real Skinny On The Housing Numbers
Posted by Tom Lindmark on December 23rd, 2008
File this under posts I wish I had written. Calculated Risk has a new post that adjusts home sales for population. It is must reading. A few people have noted that all of the worst since … articles have understated the depth of the problem. The problem in comparing worst, say existing home sales to […]
More Bad Housing News
Posted by Tom Lindmark on December 23rd, 2008
The news on housing can best be described as terrible. From the WSJ, here is all you need to know about the numbers: Sales of existing homes tumbled 8.6% in November from the prior month to an annual pace of 4.49 million units, the National Association of Realtors said. The figure reflects contract closings, which […]
Stimulus For Everyone
Posted by Tom Lindmark on December 23rd, 2008
The list of industries that are lining up for relief under the Obama stimulus plan gets longer and curiouser. It seems as if no group believes that it shouldn’t get direct relief from the government. We already know about the homebuilders and the real estate industry in general lobbying hard for mega-relief. Last night I […]
