I was astounded to hear a get rich quick infomercial on the radio on Saturday morning. The marketeer was selling his “DVD course” on how to make millions with “nothing down”, investing in residential real estate. Real estate? They’ve got to be kidding. How do you make money “investing” in a declining market? This was the same pitch I heard a year ago, when the market was booming. And he wasn’t taking about about buying foreclosed properties. He was talking about buying houses “in hot markets” to either flip or to keep as rentals while they “appreciated.” I laughed out loud at that suggestion. There are some very naive people that see the current decline in residential real estate as a short term “dip.” I have news for them: This “dip” in prices is just the beginning, and the bear market may last a decade. OBTW, I’ve just coined a new term for people that foolishly “invest” in declining markets: contrapreneurs.
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International political analyst Arnaud de Borchgrave comments on North Korea’s paranoid president for life. Are we supposed to trust Comrade Kim Jong-Il, and feel all warm and fuzzy now that he says that he’s “Sorry” about his country’s recent nuke test?
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Amidst veritable economic collapse in Zimbabwe, Comrade Mugabe will soon move into a newly built $26 Million USD luxury mansion that he can keep for himself after retirement. Oh, but now we hear that he may decide to extend his term in office past 2008, to perhaps 2010. (Depending, I presume, upon his mood and medications.) Gee, I wonder what the price tag for the mansion would be if it was expressed in those hyperinflated Zimbabwean dollars?