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Strategies & Market Trends : The Epic American Credit and Bond Bubble Laboratory -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: mishedlo who wrote (69571)	9/9/2006 1:59:42 PM
From: yard_man	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 110194

what matters ... opinionjournal.com I hate the recent politicizing of 9/11 -- Bush's speech isn't political?? my eye!! MY recent trade journal was devoted to terrorism -- I almost threw the thing in the trash -- but there was a nice article with graphs in there number of people killed annually in terrorist attacks vs. those killed in industrial accidents and natural disasters. The terrorists have won. Just look at the misallocation of resources, ostensibily to make us safer -- first it is a HUGE missallocation -- but we don't reasonably ask what we are getting for these resources so devoted in the narrow confines of "anti-terrorism??" 1) Less stable ME. Untold suffering for those not connected to any real threat to the US. 2) More nuisance and added cost when we travel. 3) More private information in the hands of the government. 4) A greatly increased deficit -- spending not supported by revenues ==> which amounts to government theft of resources from the real economy. Memorials are great. I think we should remember the people killed -- but let us not become captive to the agenda of those who do all the pontificating and use it as a bully pulpit for their own political purposes. While we are at it -- let's remember the people who lost their lives in the hurricanes and other disasters. They were just as much American -- maybe we could extend the remembrance to remember those who lost their lives on both sides of the recent conflict in Israel as well.

To: mishedlo who wrote (69571)	9/9/2006 2:49:19 PM
From: benwood	Respond to of 110194

I think you've thought it through fairly completely. Financing is generally involved, and most of the time, they do want the underlying security (i.e. the house) to be called away. If the deal falls through, they can simply write another one (get another deposit) if the buyer falls through, and they can keep doing that until they seize up from cash flow problems. Yes, Ponzi finance. What they are doing is sort of like me writing covered calls on shares purchased on margin, or perhaps purchased with home equity debt. Lots of ponzi options out there. I drew the parallel with covered calls because as sales plummet, the purpose of the deposits can shift (temporarily) the hope of sales to simply securing a much smaller deposit from speculators in order to keep up appearances -- that is, stave off lowering the prices, which reveals trouble, and get the pending sale on the books, which keeps from revealing plummeting sales trouble. If there's no hope of actually closing the deal, then the deposit (premium) can be fairly low -- keep collecting premiums until things turn up, or delay the inevitable until insiders have dumped their shares. --Ben