I just got this in an email from American Express (standard marketing schtick), but found this part particularly disturbing:

WHAT ARE YOU GONNA GET?SM
Use your rebate to reward yourself, your family, or your community. Splurge on something special, like a digital camera, a pair of earrings, or patio furniture. Throw a party and pay for the supplies with your rebate. Or simply use it toward your everyday essentials at Costco. Whatever you choose, make the most out of your rebate!

And people wonder why they are so far in debt, no “Pay off your card!, Use your money wisely” – no it’s “Go blow your money…”

Financial

HAahaha, woot! I always love Mish’s diatribes on the actual market graphs…

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Now playing on Pandora: Alex Reece – Jazz Master
via FoxyTunes

Financial financial, global economic analysis, mish, monoline bailout

Citigroup’s Job Cuts Could Total Over 30,000 – Financials * US * News * Story – CNBC.com
Yes I know that the US is in a recession and this is only going to get worse over the next year and a half, but I’ll be damned if I wouldn’t be out looking for a job if I worked for one the citigroups companies…

Financial, Random Musings

Buyers Who Don’t Want A Buyer’s Agent – Searchlight Crusade

This is another amazing post from Dan Melson of Searchlight Crusade about buyer’s agents. My wife and I have been looking for a home in San Diego (yeah it’s really as bad as they say out/down/over here right now) for a while, we have talked to a lot of different agents, from listing to buying (and some who’ve tried to do both). Fortunately we happened to find one of the only agents in San Diego who actually truly understands the fiduciary responsibility – and really as stated has our best interests at heart. He only gets paid if we buy, and one of the very first questions he asked us was “Are you sure you want to buy right now?”, which is what perked my ears up and what eventually made us choose him as our buying agent. He has been working for 19 years in San Diego, knows the industry and state of things here, as well as the agents to use, banks to use, etc.

His site is here so if you’re looking for a home in San Diego, drop him a line and get your questions answered quickly, concisely and honestly. As he is a buyers agent I have no real reason other than personal to support him, as I have no reason to praise him if he sucks, very much like the post from Mr. Melson, if the agent isn’t doing his/her duty, has their fiduciary responsibility in the right place, or is just a yutz, drop’em like a ton of bricks/feathers or whatever floats your boat. Oh and another reason that I back him, as he has gone completely out of his way to accommodate my wife and I and it’s not like we’re spending a metric assload of money, it’ll probably end up around 300K and yes he does get a commission from it, but even that isn’t going to cover all of the hard work that he has done for us (in my personal opinion).

Financial, House Hunting bob wilson, buyer's agent, dan melson, fiduciary duty, real estate, searchlight crusade

Calculated Risk: Walking Away and Reading Delinquency Reports

I do not claim that “just walking away” isn’t increasing; I don’t have enough facts one way or the other. I remain convinced, however, that it’s pretty damned convenient for the mortgage industry to convince you that these folks can afford their loans and are not even trying to get caught up. Blaming it on borrower ruthlessness deflects attention from lender ruthlessness, like the ruthlessness of making loans to people who cannot display any particular evidence that they can afford the payments. I simply refuse to play into their hands here.
-Tanta

I love calculated risk, this is mortgage information that is well written, so well in fact even I understand a good portion of it. This is a post from Tanta refuting one of Mish’s arguments from last week (mind you this response is a couple of days old, just really long and took me a couple of days to get through it). I like both sites and follow both avidly, though Mish tends to lean more toward the *world is coming to an end* side of things, doesn’t mean his insights are any less brilliant (though like anyone, not always correct).

Financial

Mish’s Global Economic Trend Analysis: Credit Lines Dry Up, Homeowners In Withdrawal: The above article is extremely well written. I happen to agree that most americans, including myself to some extent have not been living within our means, and the upswing on housing prices over the last five years has contributed to the aforementioned (in the article) attitudes when it comes to using ones home as an atm (HELOC). I have to admit that a while ago I was in debt, but with the help of someone, I was able to get out via a no interest loan that I have been paying back for the last two years. While my situation my not be the norm, I have learned in the process to be able to live within my means, don’t get me wrong I still have some credit card debt, but not more than I could pay off within a month or two max should it come down to it, and even that I am working on getting out from under. Some may say that I am lucky as I seem to have a lot of opportunities, my brother gave me his beautiful 2001 F150 w/less than 40K miles on it, just a couple of dents an dings, so that helped me get out from underneath my car loan at the time. My mother-in-law was the person who gave me the no interest loan to payoff my credit card debt, as well as being my wife and my general financial adviser and is helping with a gift for our first home purchase. I am forever in her debt not only for the financial help but for the advice she has given us both. The thing that I am beginning to learn through all of this, including my new found interest in financial / mortgage / economic information, is that I have the ability to live within my means and am going to do a better job of it. I still have a lot to learn and would probably get blasted by the likes of mish, but frankly I don’t care, and am taking from him and his advice what I need ;). Yes I am just another ignorant hard-headed american, but at least I can learn from my mistakes.

Financial

Mish’s Global Economic Trend Analysis: Ski Trip Extravaganzas And Housing Advocate Shills

I generally like Mish’s write-ups even if he does tend to lean toward the gloom and doom side. All of his write-ups are well thought out and I happen to love his commentary. I would have to say that I really happen to agree with this write-up as well, I think it is wrong for CW (country wide) to be throwing away money trying to entertain a lot of the same people that got them in this mess in the first place.

Financial

Mortgage Training for Laid-Off Workers In California:

Really is the land of fruit and nuts…this just keeps getting better and better. Don’t get me wrong at this point I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else as I love it here, but doesn’t mean that I agree with everything *read very little* of what the government legislature does, and I just think that this is a little too much. A lot of these people swooped in like vultures to the kill to feed of the fresh kill that were home buyers, and now they’ve fallen on hard times and now we are going to be spending money that we don’t have to retrain them and get them new jobs, what about all the people who are unemployed for other reasons?

-Meh.

Financial