Hillary Supporters Should Be Worried

[houston]

Originally Posted by Aquila

I was just describing the political climate I've experienced. And yes, I have my grove back. LOL

the housing crisis was all Clinton. thanks for playing.

[Esaias]

Originally Posted by Aquila

Would you rather have your investment portfolio as it stood when Bush left office or as it stands now?

THIS is one of the main reasons America is just about toast. Government's job is to boost my investment portfolio?

Meh, the smart investors are sinking their ever inflating FRNs into beans, butter, bandaids, and boolits.

[Originalist]

It may be the pleasure and the pride of an American to ask, What farmer, what mechanic, what laborer ever sees a taxgatherer of the United States? (Thomas Jefferson)

Our resident socialist thinks that this cannot apply to our century. He has zero clue as to what made this nation great.

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by houston

the housing crisis was all Clinton. thanks for playing.

Bill Clinton played a role. But I think you're forgetting that the Republican controlled Congress under President George Bush refused to tighten regulations on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, even though he had advocated for them. After the Enron scandal, Bush backed and signed the regulatory Sarbanes-Oxley Act. But when the head of SEC (William Donaldson) tried to boost regulation of mutual and hedge funds, he was blocked by Bush's advisers at the White House as well as other powerful Republicans and quit. Plus, let's face it, the meltdown happened on Bush's watch.

And then we have Stan O'Neal, Merrill Lynch's celebrated CEO for nearly six years, ending in 2007, he guided the firm from its familiar turf, fee businesses like asset management, into the lucrative game of creating collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), which were largely made of subprime mortgage bonds. To provide a steady supply of the bonds (the raw pork for his booming sausage business) O'Neal allowed Merrill to load up on the bonds and keep them on its books. By June 2006, Merrill had amassed $41 billion in subprime CDOs and mortgage bonds, according to Fortune. As the subprime market unwound, Merrill went into crisis, and Bank of America swooped in to buy it.

Then we have Wen Jiabao. Think of Wen as a representing the Chinese government.... particularly those parts of it that have supplied the U.S. with an unprecedented amount of credit over the past eight years. If cheap credit was the crack cocaine of this financial crisis (and it was) then China was one of its primary dealers. China is now the largest creditor to the U.S. government, holding an estimated $1.7 trillion in dollar-denominated debt. That massive build-up in dollar holdings is specifically linked to China's efforts to control the value of its currency. China didn't want the renminbi to rise too rapidly against the dollar, in part because a cheap currency kept its export sector humming..... which it did until U.S. demand cratered.

Then we have David Lereah. When the chief economist at the National Association of Realtors, an industry trade group, tells you the housing market is going to keep on chugging forever, you listen with a grain of salt. But Lereah, who held the position through early 2007, did more than issue rosy forecasts. He regularly trumpeted the infallibility of housing as an investment in interviews, on TV and in his 2005 book, Are You Missing the Real Estate Boom? Lereah says he grew concerned about the direction of the market in 2006, but consider his January 2007 statement: "It appears we have established a bottom."

Then there is, John Devaney. Hedge funds played an important role in the shift to sloppy mortgage lending. By buying up mortgage loans, Devaney and other hedge-fund managers made it profitable for lenders to make questionable loans and then sell them off. Hedge funds were more than willing to swallow the risk in exchange for the promise of fat returns. Devaney wasn't just a big buyer of mortgage bonds — he had his own $600 million fund devoted to buying risky loans — he was one of its cheerleaders. Worse, Devaney knew the loans he was funding were bad for consumers. In early 2007, talking about option ARM mortgages, he told Money, "The consumer has to be an idiot to take on one of those loans, but it has been one of our best-performing investments."

And who can forget, Bernie Madoff? His alleged Ponzi scheme could inflict $50 billion in losses on society types, retirees and nonprofits. The bigger cost for America comes from the notion that Madoff pulled off the biggest financial fraud in history right under the noses of regulators. Assuming it's all true, the banks and hedge funds that neglected due diligence were stupid and paid for it, while the managers who fed him clients' money — the so-called feeders — were reprehensibly greedy. But to reveal government and industry regulators as grossly incompetent casts a shadow of doubt far and wide, which crimps the free flow of investment capital. That will make this downturn harder on us all.

And the list could go on and on..... I'll save time by just offering the source.

http://content.time.com/time/special...877342,00.html

Point is.... the housing crisis wasn't "all Clinton". Only the grossly uninformed would think that.

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by Esaias

THIS is one of the main reasons America is just about toast. Government's job is to boost my investment portfolio?

Meh, the smart investors are sinking their ever inflating FRNs into beans, butter, bandaids, and boolits.

I believe in traffic laws. They keep traffic moving in generally a safe and steady fashion. Various laws govern when we can turn and when we can't. For example, you can't perform a left turn on Red here in Ohio. To do so, well, would be dangerous.

Government establishes laws. Laws are designed to protect people, property, and liberty. When it comes to the investment market, there are laws that are designed to keep the market fair, honest, and accountable. When these regulations are removed, the darker side of the market begins to take over. You have corporations colluding to rip off investors, dodge penalties, and bail with billions. For example, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

If you don't realize the government's role in making laws to govern the investment market....please....please....please.... don't invest. You'd better stick to scratch-off lotto tickets. lol

[Esaias]

Originally Posted by Aquila

I believe in traffic laws. They keep traffic moving in generally a safe and steady fashion. Various laws govern when we can turn and when we can't. For example, you can't perform a left turn on Red here in Ohio. To do so, well, would be dangerous.

Red herring. The issue under discussion is the question YOU asked: 'Is your investment portfolio doing better now than...?'

Government establishes laws. Laws are designed to protect people, property, and liberty. When it comes to the investment market, there are laws that are designed to keep the market fair, honest, and accountable. When these regulations are removed, the darker side of the market begins to take over. You have corporations colluding to rip off investors, dodge penalties, and bail with billions. For example, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

If you don't realize the government's role in making laws to govern the investment market....please....please....please.... don't invest. You'd better stick to scratch-off lotto tickets. lol

I have ownership in over 200 residential housing units. I understand the government's role in 'investment markets' better than you do. Here I'll prove it: Did you realise that the legislature is composed almost entirely of investors? Sure, they are politicians, lawyers, poly-sci majors, etc. But just about every single one of them is an investor. And guess what? A L.O.T. of those investments are real property (income producing properties, real estate). And guess what again? They make laws specifically to ensure their investments. Yes, it really is true, rich people ensure laws are passed and regulations enacted in order to secure their investments, especially in real estate.

If anyone's investment portfolio is hurting, it's because THEY did not manage their investments properly by putting their money where the money's actually at. And the best way to figure out where the money's actually at is to pay attention to the legislature, by talking to the lobbyists from various industries.

Every 'new' method of making money in real estate, for example, was being done several years in advance of the 'method' ever becoming publicly known. Take reselling mortgages or notes, for example. Caught on in the 90s, lot of people made a fortune. Guess what? The big dogs and inside connected people were doing that stuff long before.

The investment markets go up and down, cyclically, yet the savvy investors always seem to make money no matter what the market is doing. Why? Because the market is controlled, and the controllers give notice to the legislature what regs need to be passed and what regs need to be dropped for the next cycle of boom or bust to take place.

Handing your money over to a stock broker is not 'investing'. It's handing your money over to a guy who probably makes less than you do, who has no significant investments of his own, who works for a firm who makes money NOT on your 'success' but on transaction fees ('churning') regardless of whether you come out ahead or behind. In other words, it's called 'stupidity', not 'investing'. You have a better chance of coming out ahead by mastering blackjack in Vegas. BTW, blackjack is the ONLY game where the player has a statistically even chance of making money - every single other game at a casino is stacked against you in favour of the house. That tip was for free.

Here's another one, the slot machines are programmed, some to pay out more, some less, the payouts and the times of the payouts can be learned by observation over time. 15 years ago I could have told you which machine to play at a certain hotel in Vegas and exactly when in order to increase your chances of a payout to about 85 percent.

The real purpose of government is to uphold righteousness, as defined by the Bible. It is not to manage your 'market' so you can be financially well off in a debt based usurious system that God calls an abomination.

Make ye friends of mammon... while it lasts, that is.

[deacon blues]

BUMP

[deacon blues]

Originally Posted by deacon blues

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/...his-in-a-week/

TRUMP IS GOING TO WIN. I've said all along that Hillary is an abysmal candidate. Her baggage is far and above worse than any discomfort that the Donald causes voters.

Reminder

[deacon blues]

Originally Posted by deacon blues

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/...his-in-a-week/

Trump is going to win. I've said all along that Hillary is an abysmal candidate. Her baggage is far and above worse than any discomfort that the Donald causes voters.

Called it. Nailed it.