Monday Morning Quarterbacking The Sunday Newspapers
Blogger tells me I've previously assigned the same title to another post, so let's see what happens with this one! I'm focusing on the Albany Times Union Sunday newspaper, in which the economy (real-estate) is a featured topic.
Business writer Chris Churchill asks "To buy, or not to buy, a home" - to which I reply - NOT (now) - because after Wall Street's wimpout last week I think home price will continue to decline, as banks will continue NOT to lend money to homebuyers. I am convinced that President barack Obama cansave his office and get re-elected via implementing a new stimulus plan whereby qualified buyers+++ would be given $20,000 to make the down-payment on a new or existing house.
"indeed, this mortgage mess just feeds the three other big problems undermining U.S. job growth today: weak aggregate demand, structural impediments and an epidemic of uncertainty about what the future holds for everything from health care to the rate of taxation to Social Security and Medicare spending to the availability of credit to the general direction of the economy — the sum of which has people holding back and thus undermining the government’s stimulus."Friedman's ultimate warning: "do not underestimate uncertainty as a silent jobs killer". The TU's "Real Estate" section headline beckons "Why Sell Now?" Why indeed! There's a guy one street over from me, desperate to sell his house so he can move back to Texas where his wife and children and dying elderly parents are waiting for him... even though he's cut the price from $208,000 to $99,000 nobody's even stopped by the place to take a look! My advice was to rent it out, but he doesn't want the hassle of being a "long distance landlord" and he'll stick it out here as long as he can. I'm sure there are others in the same situation.
That brings me to RENT. Not covered in the TU articles, RENT is way too damn high, and now there are many local landlords stuck with vacancies. Problem is, they could be FORCED to rent to some of the people (students) they'd rather not rent to, unless they lower the rent to "reasonable". All of the above landlords will learn their lessons in due time.
Weiner, Weiner, & more Weiner
In my snapshot above you'll also notice an Anthony weiner (#WeinerGate) headline... the embattled politician still struggling to hang onto office, while, interestingly enough, another fellow from the Capital Region who endured his own "fall from grace" draws a headline story all his own. The Weekly Standard article linked above is quite interesting as well:"Consider, for example, Post columnist Dana Milbank’s recent meditation on the Anthony Weiner scandal. Milbank is a curious case: a reporter-columnist whose contradictory stock in trade is (a) smirking accounts of public officials making fools of themselves, and (b) lamentations that the public doesn’t take public officials seriously. The Weiner case fits perfectly onto Milbank’s template: It enables him to poke fun at a member of Congress who sends naked photographs of himself across the Internet and at the same time to complain that the lurid details about Anthony Weiner distract us from pressing issues of greater importance."Hmmmm... a lot of people, bloggers & journalists, have done that.
Back to Wall Street and The Financial World: BARRON'S INSIGHT is recommending Newspaper Stocks, some of which are available at very low rates... Lawmakers are meeting in Washington this week in a round of federal budget cut negotiations... RETAIL SALES FOR MAY will be released Tuesday; inflation figures for the month come out Wednesday.
On his tumblr blog, Robert Reich writes ::: "The real economy is catching up with the financial economy, as it always does eventually. Wall Street is built on smoke and mirrors, while the real economy is based on jobs and wages. Smoke and mirrors can only take you so far – as we learned so painfully three years ago." [Full Article]
The first laptops running the Google OS go on sale Wednesday, the same day PANDORA MEDIA launches an IPO.
Wishing you all a wonderful, blessed week ahead!
+++any family that has been paying rent for at least two years: the mortgage would be equal to or less than but not in excess of $100 above the monthly rent
Tags: #WeinerGate, Wall Street
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