POSTED BY: Brian (March 21, 2008 08:36 AM)
There will be nothing "short and mild" about the unwinding of the largest credit bubble in the history of the universe.

POSTED BY: The Masked Millionai (March 21, 2008 01:45 PM)
You will not see the end of the recession until 2011. The economy is in for some real hard times. The fed won't be able to bail out homeowners. They are dreaming. Even wacking 15% off the balance due on these houses won't make them affordable to the wide eyed idiots who bought them. Most of the people who bought over-priced houses in the last 3-4 years paid 25-50% too much. Enough said. The Masked Millionaire

POSTED BY: john G (March 21, 2008 06:12 PM)
After reading alot of financial news of late, i have come to a few observations; namely, in our supposedly capitalist society, it appears that the gov't has sought to address the problems with socialistic policy. Is this signaling the fact that capitalism does not work,just as the downfall of the soviet union decades ago did likewise to the system of communism.

POSTED BY: Larry Kelly (March 21, 2008 07:41 PM)
Find it ironic the political parties throw the masses peanuts and get away with it. Compared to tax breaks, loopholes, pay backs to thier campaign contributors the people (you know, those they are supposed to represent) are getting the crumbs in more ways than one. Just think what the future holds for "our" country with those who have been appointed to lead government agencies, after witnessing this latest fiasco and bail out. Of, by and for who?

POSTED BY: nunya (March 22, 2008 10:14 PM)
Well, let's hope you know what you're talking about.

POSTED BY: An Average Joe (March 23, 2008 10:03 PM)
The Fed has caved into undue public opinion and hysterical media coverage by drastically triming interest rates, and freeing funds, which will continue to destabilize and add downward pressure on the Dollar. This will cause the cost of foreign oil to remain artificially high due to the continuing weakening dollar. Foreigners who have been major purchasers of US Bonds will continue to look for higher quality interest rate returns, and continue to switch from US green backs, and seek higher stabler interest rates else where. Until our interest rates stabilize. Over 24% of 2005 Subprime loans are late one payment or more. For a long time there has been pressure on the financial industry to increase the number of homeowners by decreasing loan standards,and easing loan practices. This is now coming back to haunt the financial industry. Until recently, the financial industery was charging credit card rates, with hidden fees; and paying out low rates of return accounts. Fund Managers were able to milk their shareholder cows dry, without major SEC intervention into the fee structures. Recently, it was pointed out that many Consumers are using credit cards to pay for necessities. Sadly, the American consumer still does not get it, nor realize they are on the edge of the credit fence. They expect the Government to bail them out and give them a free ride out of their self imposed debt hell. Thank you Congress for the upcoming $1,000 tax gift, it enforces this attitude. Until the American consumer takes a hard look in the mirror, and drastically reduces their Credit Card balances, and borrowings to realistic levels there will be no change in our countrys economic or market conditions, and the "recover"y will be delayed, or short lived. When consumers dfinally reduce their liabilities there will be 4-8 quarters of reduced consumer spending, which will cause additional Stock Market swings, as investors continue to misjudge our economic and busines conditions. Many investors are lookng to the short term to make up in the market what they have lost in their real estate market speculations, this is adding instability to the stock markets. The Markets have not yet shaken out all this speculation, meaning we have yet to see the greatest down day followed by the greatest up day swings on record for the Stock Markets. Hold on to your hats and open your eyes the roller coaster ride is not yet over.

POSTED BY: DH (March 24, 2008 06:00 AM)
So by decreasing the value of the dollar with all this stimulus crap, that is a good thing? Come on it is just a ploy to get the Amero in quicker as our national currnecy in North America!!! This entire recession is fabricated, orchestrated by the Big Boys on Wall Street to line their pockets with even more Billions, while the little guys that make this country run like you and me get screwed once again. The stimulus package is a joke, just a band aid to try to appease the masses, to make it look good, when in essence it does nothing. Until fuel prices are reigned in this country will continue on a downward spiral.

POSTED BY: Kim (April 03, 2008 03:36 PM)
Here we come Japan, deflation. 2011, I hope so, but it may be more like 2018. Hey, it wasn't just homeowners who bought inflated priced homes--it was the INVESTORS who took their cash from the tech bubble burst and sunk it into real estate--bringing the turmoil of the stock market into the real estate market. Some of us who bought a home in 2006 had NO CHOICE but to pay a higher price or keep renting, and rents were rising as well. My house is still only worth about what I paid, it didn't go down, but it didn't go up. I wasn't the "idiot" playing with condo construction to get rich, so watch who you're calling "idiots". The idiots are the ones who think this has not been accelerated by greed of those who saw the way things were going and rode the system until it broke. Where's all those mortgage brokers that sold off bad loans and where's all those who bought them only to see them default? On some island counting their cash. Our economy is based on consumerism--fine if the consumer is overseas, but now we consume more than we produce-- a debtor society that must adapt or will be written off by the rest of the world. Anyone want to buy a house?

POSTED BY: Joe Honick (April 24, 2008 10:55 AM)
After having warned about this inevitable disaster a few years ago, we should not be surprised either by the fact or the comments here. I am confused by the headlined idea of a "glimmer of light for the housing industry" elsewhere in this post. Fact is consumer confidence has been so diminished, even if homes are sold, values are severely impacted. The international financial community has to take responsibility for their greedy involvement as do many of the financial media who trumpeted the idea of all those ARM's and other devices Greenspan warned about as did others.