Random Thoughts [Continued]

OK - Wife has been hugged and listened to. She's now on the phone, so I am dismissed.

Random Thoughts

Real Estate - Here in Atlanta, you see a whole lot of "Real Estate investors." You know, people like you and me with regular jobs, yet they think they will make a fortune by "flipping" homes. So they carry as many mortgages as they possibly can, and often live in a home well beyond their means. Thanks to pathetically inadequate screening processes and interest only loans, they are able to play this game just long enough to really get in trouble when the market tanks [which it always eventually does]. Our current predicament is not permanent. We'll bounce back as a nation, and those who lived within their means all along will be generally unscathed. On the other hand, most of these so-called Real Estate investors will find themselves in trouble. While I wish them all well and understand that we all do stupid things, I'm not going to loose any sleep over it either.

On the other side of this coin, people just starting out will now find it more difficult to get mortgage loans. Good! Mortgage loans are serious business and shouldn't be handed out like candy. Had lending guidelines been as stiff as I think they will soon be when I bought my first home, I would have needed to wait a few years while I saved up the down payment. But I also would have appreciated my home all the more when I did get it. People these days have no real investment in their homes,so they'll just surrender it to forclosire when times get tough. The same thing has happened in the business world. CEO's have no real stake in the company. But that's a subject for another discussion.

So. For those of you in dire straights because you got in over you head in Real Estate. Sorry, but learn the lessons that are before you now, less you one day find yourself in an even worse predicament.

Wall Street:

Well, I have to admit, I know nothing about "high finance." But I do know that I've seen these fat, bloated CEO types all over TV lately expaining why Wall Street must be bailed out of their mess. Sory, but even with no training in high finance, I'm just not buying it. How is it possibly good for me to pay someone elses bills, when I had absolutely no say so in the bad decisions they made. As for the government, unless they have some private source of income aside from our tax dollars, they have no business trying to bail anyone out. Besides, the last time I checked, it looked like the government itself was in need of a bailout!

We need to decide in this country whethr or not we really believe in Capitalism or not. I'm tired of seeing th egovernment attempt to manipulate the economy with their tax codes and legislation. If we're converting to Socialism, just say so. Poorly performing companies are supposed to fail in a Capitalist society, no matter how big they are. So what's this "too big to fail" nonsense? I can understand too smart to fail, or too hard-working to fail, but not too big to fail. What kind of sense does that make?

OK - Dinner time

More to come