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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Steve Lokness who wrote (148188)	10/26/2010 10:34:24 PM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 543150

How to increase demand, as opposed to hiring Frankie da Torch to reduce supply... Foreigners buying Florida Almost 25 percent of foreign buyers seek homes in the Sunshine State BY BILL CORNWELL bcornwell@floridaweekly.com RADDATZ / FLORIDA WEEKLY A perfect economic storm — spawned by a strong Euro, a weak dollar and a depressed American housing market — has made Southwest Florida an enticing location for foreign investors interested in purchasing real estate. The infusion of foreign capital into the local real estate market reflects Florida’s standing as the nation’s leader in that regard. According to the National Association of Realtors, 22 percent of all properties purchased in the United States by foreign buyers are located in Florida. California is the second most popular site for international purchases, with a 12 percent share. The association defines an “international” buyer as anyone who is not a U.S. citizen, U.S. immigrant or foreign born charlotte.floridaweekly.com We will now hear Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band's smash new hit, "Detroit is a hella long way from Eff Ell Eh"

To: Steve Lokness who wrote (148188)	10/26/2010 10:44:30 PM
From: Mary Cluney	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 543150

Arguing With Markets One confusion I often run into is the belief that there’s some contradiction between times when I and others argue that markets are wrong — as I did when diagnosing a housing bubble, and now in questioning the market’s optimistic beliefs about inflation — and my point that low interest rates undermine the argument for immediate fiscal austerity. What people don’t get is that in all cases I’m starting from the fundamentals. It’s the austerity types who are appealing to market psychology to reject those fundamentals — and the point then is that this market psychology is all in their imagination. The key argument against fiscal austerity now is that it’s bad economics: it would depress the economy, while doing very little to improve the long run budget position (and might even make that long-run position worse.) I’ve done the math repeatedly on this blog. But the austerians argue that the numbers don’t matter — we have to cut now now now or the bond vigilantes will attack. And then the question is, where are those vigilantes? I guess they’re suckering us in by lending to the US government at negative real interest rates. So the point isn’t that market are always right; it’s that if you’re going to claim that appeasing the markets trumps rational economic analysis, you really should have some evidence that the markets care at all about what you’re demanding. krugman.blogs.nytimes.com

To: Steve Lokness who wrote (148188)	10/27/2010 12:20:55 AM
From: Little Joe	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 543150

Steve: I do not share what I think is your view that the only problem in the economy is in the housing market. The years of excessive debt have finally come home to roost. Consumers are over leveraged in credit card debt as well as mortgage debt. Most States are unable to balance their budgets due to promises made but which simply cannot be kept. The Federal Government is in a situation where any slight rise in interest rates will set off a tsunami. I believe that at the root of all of this is debt. The reason the inflation scenario is that there is no net money creation. Our money is debt, consumers are tapped out, the States are tapped out, the only thing that is keeping the banks alive is the Fed Kabuki dance at the expense of savers. So we have no one who is credit worthy who wants to borrow. Debt is paid off two ways 1. default and 2 pay it off. In either event it lowers money supply. The net result is deflation. However other countries are experiencing economic growth and commodities are just going up and up but no pricing power in US. So as the US is undergoing deflation while other parts of the world are pushing up the cost of raw materials. This is going to get a whole lot worse. It is really a matter of when and not if. lj