Category: Odds ‘n Sods

Stressed borrowers use plastic to delay default    o o o Writing in his most recent quarterly newsletter, economist John Mauldin mentioned: “…at the end of the second quarter, household mortgage debt [in the United States] totaled $10.143 trillion, compared with $4.295 trillion in 1999. Thus, in six and a half years the household sector’s mortgage debt increased by $5.8 trillion, or 136%.”    o o o Chester sent us a link to a hilarious YouTube video on hedge funds, credit derivatives, SIVs, and government bailouts.    o o o Thanks to Eric S. for sending this article: NYSE Eliminates …

Desert T. sent this article from las Vegas: Hot seller’s market shifts into reverse — Upside-down sales picture won’t change soon    o o o The Army Aviator notes: “On Sunday, the US Dollar Index dropped -0.25 to 76.98. What a Sunday! Did you see the Euro go to 1.4498 [ to the US Dollar]? That’s darned near 1.45, huh? What a day.” JWR Adds: The opening bell in the US market on Monday morning should be very interesting. It is also no surprise that the price of gold just spiked in Asia.    o o o Frequent contributor RBS recommended …

Will the house-flipping contrapreneurs on both coasts of the US soon be in Deep Schumer? Reader Charley S. sent us this snippet from The Daily Reckoning: “Two million homes will go into foreclosure in the next two years, if home prices continue to slump, said a report released by Joint Economic Committee Chairman Senator Charles Schumer.”    o o o Jason flagged this one: US lacks enough labs to test for contamination if a ‘dirty bomb’ explodes in a major city    o o o A hat tip to SJC for sending this: Report: Oil production peaked in 2006, will …

Eric Fry from The Rude Awakening penned this about Citigroup’s recent SIV accounting shenanigans: SIV Positive.   o o o Hawaiian K. and The Army Aviator both recommended an alarming piece of commentary on silver storage from Ted Butler: Money for Nothing. My favorite quote from the article: “I found it appalling that Morgan Stanley would claim to store silver that didn’t exist and even have the chutzpah to charge for the storage.” As I’ve often written: there is no safe and sure substitute for in-home storage of precious metals . Any other method–be it shares, or certificates, or “bonded storage”, …

The US residential housing market implosion isn’t over yet. My recent web searches turned up some testimony before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law. In reading it, we learned that the majority of ARM rate “resets” in the US will occur in in the fourth quarter of 2007 and the first quarter of 2008. And specifically, the peak for subprime resets will be in March of 2008, the peak in agency loan resets will be in September of 2008, and the peak in “jumbo” loan resets will not be until April of 2009. Buckle your …

I found Cathy Buckle’s most recent letter from Zimbabwe well worth reading. The ravages of hyperinflation are hard to appreciate except when seen first hand, as related by someone like Cathy.    o o o California Fire Battalion Chief – Whoever Did This Knew What They Were Doing    o o o Alphie mentioned that the October Backwoods Home Magazine e-newsletter is now available.    o o o The Black Swan’s lessons–The value of considering improbable possibilities  

Writing in The Daily Reckoning, Bill Bonner offers this snippet of investing Gloom and Doom: “Foreclosures in the yankee state [Massachusetts] are running three times last year’s level. And losses are working their way up the socioeconomic ladder. Goldman Sachs’ (NYSE:GS) Trust 2006-S3 is a sophisticated investment instrument containing 8,274 mortgages. One out of every six of those mortgages is in default – only 18 months after the thing was put together. When that many people stop paying, it wipes out the entire capital value of the derivative. And since speculators usually take leveraged positions, the losses can go much …

An insider at Cyalume just let me know that because of pressure from the US State Department, infrared chemical light sticks have been reclassified and will no longer be produced for the civilian market in the US. (When activated, these light sticks are barely detectable with the naked eye, but shine with high intensity when seen through “Starlight” light amplification technology night vision goggles or weapons sights. I strongly recommend that you stock up now, while there are still some of these light sticks on the civilian market. You should buy a five year supply for your retreat, and store them …

Does this sound familiar?: Burned by Real Estate, Some Just Walk Away. Meanwhile, with thanks to RBS, here is a housing affordability analysis from Dr. Housing Bubble: A $626,00 Short Sale in Burbank, California    o o o Yet another reason to dislike eBay’s ultra-liberal managers: EBay customers’ cash linked to risky assets    o o o “Kit” sent us this AP wire story on the global SIV fiasco: The credit crisis is far from over, just look at what the new facts show    o o o RBS sent us this article from Alan Farago, posted at the Daily …

From our friends at Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership (JPFO), we learned of the National “Empty Holster” Protest on College Campuses, this week.    o o o Bill in Las Vegas mentioned this article about the lengthy drought in the southeastern United States, necessitating severe water rationing in Atlanta. Bill’s comment: “I can’t get over our Federal Government’s arrogance. When asked about what plans are being made in case Atlanta runs out of water, a major with the Corps of Engineers actually said ‘We’re so far away from that, nobody’s doing a contingency plan’. Incredible.”    o o …

David D. sent a link to a most interesting paper. The abstract begins: “Throughout history, the expansion of human population has been supported by a steady growth in our use of high-quality exosomatic energy. The operation of our present industrial civilization is wholly dependent on access to a very large amount of energy of various types. If the availability of this energy were to decline significantly it could have serious repercussions for civilization and the human population it supports. This paper constructs production models for the various energy sources we use and projects their likely supply evolution out to the …

I recently had a reader in Quebec (who prefers to be anonymous) e-mail me to ask if I thought that the gold market was nearing its peak. The short answer is no. Adjusted for the inflation of today’s US dollar, the 1980 high in the spot price of gold would be over $2,200 per ounce today. I expect the next peak to be somewhere north of $1,500 per ounce. To be conservative and safe, if you have a large position in gold, you should start to gradually cash out once gold passes the $800 mark. Don’t be greedy and try …

McC. flagged this article for us: Japan and China lead flight from the dollar    o o o Reader RBS suggested this article by Captain Hook, over at the Financial Sense University web site: The Panic Window Approaches    o o o RBS also sent us this: Hedge funds: Be afraid of those definitions.    o o o I was recently told about The Utility Belt Blog (aka “Viridari Bushcraft and Preparedness”). This blog has a great mix of posts on outdoor survival, practical shooting, general preparedness, and everyday carry

Thanks to RBS, who sent this from The Times of London‘s web edition: There’s a chance Northern Rock is worth zero    o o o Those of you that have enjoyed reading the entertaining Hillbilly Housewife blog should be advised that they are no longer sharing web space. They bought their own domain name: HillBillyHousewife.com/. (Please update your links and bookmarks.)    o o o The demographic handwriting is on the wall: First Baby Boomer Files For Social Security Benefits. JWR’s comment: My favorite snippet from the SSA press conference: “There is no reason to have any immediate panic…” As …

Mish Shedlock has recently posted some interesting items on his blog about Super SIVs and troubled Countrywide Financial’s ) CEO Angelo Mozilo bailing out of his own shares in the company.   o o o SHTF Daily (one of our daily “must read” blogs) recently posted links to seven sobering economics articles: Mass auction reveals depth of foreclosure crisis, Even the renters now feel the mortgage crisis, Subprime crisis won’t peak until 2009, The dollar era is over: a long, slow collapse and a central bank firesale, Meltdown still has plenty of steam ahead, Global finance leaders gather as economic clouds …