market analysis

Congratulations!  We are now the future proud owners of $700 $810 billion in the most toxic, putrid, rancid, and horrific mortgages that humankind has ever encountered.  On Friday as the Congress went through their Broadway-like charade of actually debating and acting like they care about middle America, the bill which was just rejected on Monday […]

“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.”
-Mark Twain
There is no question that the current $700 billion USA Housing Motherland Bailout is the biggest story going around.  The magnitude of the bailout has quelled other big stories that would have been the day’s topic du jour.  For example, Ambac and MBIA were […]

“I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!” -Captain Renault, Casablanca
Many of our elected officials were “shocked” and astounded to realize that the entire economy has turned into a glorified casino.  Ironically, the quote above comes from Casablanca which translated into English means Whitehouse.  How appropriate given the circumstances.  How the […]

Lehman Brothers, an investment bank that dates back to 1850, prior to the Civil War has now filed for bankruptcy.  A storied institutions that has survived two World Wars, the Great Depression, and practically every other calamity in its 158-year history is no longer solvent.  As of 1am on September 15, 2008 the investment bank […]

Today we are going to have a special Real Homes of Genius where we are going to examine five adjacent homes on a tiny block in Santa Monica.  For readers outside of Southern California Santa Monica is one of the few prime cities located in the large county of Los Angeles.  88 cities and 10,000,000 […]

You would think that given the magnitude and sheer size of the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bailout that Americans would at least be more curious about the formula as to how this thing is going to unfold.  [Cue the Crickets].  Instead, the public is focused on the “shiny things” once again like someone suffering […]

Housing is nowhere near a bottom.  Housing is nowhere near a bottom.  Did you get that?  The lovely media spin machine has been digesting recent reports from housing pundits about the decline in overall inventory.  The pundit’s explanation is simple.  Inventory is going down because sales are increasing therefore things are fantastic!  This not only […]

Given the recent positive reading for GDP, some are now doubting that we will even face a recession.  This of course is a misnomer and most average Americans realize that our country finds itself in a very tenuous situation.  It is very easy to brush off the current talk of economic malaise as simply another […]

I was a bit surprised this week when I saw some positive spin being thrown out regarding the Case-Shiller Index.  Even though we have dropped into record territory once again, the new Laundromat spin is that the drop was not as bad as previous months.  This is like telling a person who just jumped off […]

Many of you in middle school had the opportunity to read William Golding’s Lord of the Flies.  The book looks at two boys, Ralph and Piggy who find themselves on an island next to a plane crash site.  Soon they find out that they are not alone on the island.  At first, all is civil […]