It's been a while since I last posted. I got it. There have been lots of things on my mind, but I have just been watching and waiting as there is a TON of information to digest. Not to mention I have been working on making a buck so I don't have to be a remora and suck off the guvment which seems to be the 'popular' way to go these days. The straw that broke the camels back has to be this f@cking class warfare game that is going on in this country. My compassion meter is bouncing on empty when it comes to people that can't take personal responsibility for their actions, and the guvment that runs to 'buy votes' from these same people. I don't have time to go into every detail of every problem we are seeing right now, but here is my 'Christian Bale' take on things...
- To all the people whining like Barney Frank after losing a cuddle battle with Brad Pitt over Bank of America spending $10 million dollars hosting a week long Superbowl party, get over yourself!! Let me put this in f@cking perspective for you. They got $45 billion of stupid TARP money. Got it. They spent $10 million sponsoring the Superbowl, which is obviously a very 'high profile' event that garners lots of exposure. So let's see what percentage of 45 billion, this 10 million amounts to. $10,000,000 / $45,000,000,000 = .000222 x 100 = .0222%. WOW, so BofA spent .02% of the 'taxpayer' money to advertise at the Superbowl which I am sure garnered them some business. SO, if you want to get pissed off at BofA 'wasting' .02% of their taxpayer money...I would like to see the same outrage when guvment 'wastes' over .02% of taxpayer funds. I would be f@cking ecstatic if guvment only wasted even 2% of our money. I don't like it that ANYBODY got guvment money, but they signed the Superbowl contract over a year ago, so let it go. Besides, there isn't a company in this country that is any more poorly run than the guvment.
- TARP: what a joke! So let me get this straight...the guvment, Wall Street, and all of these supposedly smart f@cking people didn't see this coming for 5-8 years, but they can figure out how to fix it in 2 weeks of guvment meetings?? HA HA HA that is f@cking laughable! What they should have done is let the system work itself out, and WAIT and see what needed to be done. We are burning throught billions and trillions of dollars at about the same rate that Brett Michaels burns through groupies on Rock of Love. I admit, the whole banking collapse is a mess, and I think VERY few people actually understand what happened, much less how to fix it. But in typical guvment fashion (like there ALWAYS is), there was a massive budget overrun as their 'projections' were off. When are people going to learn that guvment has not ONCE budgeted for anything accurately in the past 100 years.
- I love it how people are so upset when banks that got bailout money take clients out to nice resorts and nice meals. They are in the 'money' business. So, to court people that still have money, they have to go someplace nice. Trust me, it is hard to get somebody to invest millions at your bank if you are taking them to f@cking Denny's for a grand slam after a night of partying at the Red Roof Inn. If you don't like it, don't buy stock in that company. If you are just envious, that's cool too! Just start studying for the GMAT so you can go to MBA school and start working your way up on Wall Street. That is the beauty of this country (at least it used to be), you can do whatever you put your mind to. If you don't want to do that, that is totally cool. Just find some other way to add value and stop f@cking complaining!!
- The first round of bailing out the banks only led to every other f@cking business segment wanting to latch on to the guvments teet. Why not? I mean the economy is bad for everybody right? So if momma guvment is going to throw out a boob, why shouldn't you cop a feel too? I never thought it would come to the point where big businesses would act like welfare queens grabbing at free money. I guess my theory on laziness is correct...if somebody else will give it to you for nothing, why would you want to work for it?
- The new stimulus bill? Somebody needs to explain to these f@cking politicians the difference between creating jobs and creating work. Look at this WSJ article about some of the projects and the 'jobs' they supposedly create. Almost $900,000 for a frisbee golf park that creates 4 'jobs'? What the f@ck is that? Why is the guvment using taxpayer dollars to get into the frisbee golf business? And it needs to be clarified that building that course creates WORK for 4 people, not jobs. What are they going to do when they finish building this course? I can't imagine it is more than a few months to get done. So then what? What do they do with their new 'job' that was created? Oh thats right...it wasn't a f@cking job to begin with. Why not give small business a tax break and let the guys in the miniature golf or arcade business start a frisbee golf course if there is money to be made. Sorry, but at a cost of $900,000 that is a lot of frisbee golf that needs to be played to break even. But wait, guvment never has to worry about adding value, I f@cking forgot.
- About the housing bubble that 'nobody' saw coming. Let the system run it's course. Who f@cking cares about foreclosures?!?!? That is the ONLY way you will get to a REAL market value of property. Somebody forecloses, goes and rents, and somebody else buys a 'new' house (the foreclosed one) at a price that is closer to the real value of the home. So what if you have a ton of people forclosing, they have to live somewhere, so that will stimulate the RENTAL market. But what about all those empty homes?? Well, the market value of those homes will come back in line with what rental incomes will dictate. Then the evil 'investors' will purchase these foreclosed homes where the rental income can provide positive cash flow and use these homes as investment properties. As people recover, they will again be able to buy homes that they can afford with REAL fixed rate mortgages at debt-to-income ratios that are in line with historical norms (30-35% DTI) instead of the inflated 50-55% debt ratios used during the 'bubble'.
- Let me tell you this: GREED is GOOD! No really it is. The problem is greed without INTEGRITY! I am all for somebody running a $50 billion dollar fund...IF they are adding the value and not LYING and stealing from people. Personally, I think it all started with Milken. There were no 'real' consequences for crimes of integrity. Sure, Milken did 22 months in prison...but he had a cool BILLION waiting for him when he got out! If that is the case, lock me up today for 2 years if there is a BILLION dollar payday waiting for me when I get out! Heck, I did 4 years at the Naval Academy for a heck of a lot less, and some would argue the Academy is more stressful than whatever white collar country club Milken got to hang out in.
You want to fix this mess. Every single loan application has the names of the people that 'worked' on it. It has the underwriter, the appraiser, the CPA, etc. Start going through all of the foreclosed home loans and making a record of the people involved. I am sure you will start seeing a pattern and a lot of the same names popping up. Start with the people at 'ground zero' for this thing, then just work your way up through the captial markets and the bankers that were lying their assess off to sell these BS loans. Take thier cars, homes, boats, etc. Have a fire sale with it. The same names will be popping up a lot as they were running their businesses on fraud. F@ck them.....make'em pay!
- Those dreaded Wall Street Bonuses. People need to chill out on the 'bonus' stuff. I get it, no really I do. The 8-figure bonuses and golden parachetes for the high level execs that didn't do squat to add value are not good for business or perception. But my answer to that is don't f@cking whine to the guvment about it, just readjust your portfolio. The system ain't perfect, but if the board and shareholders of the company agree to it, then that is enough for me. Guvment intervention almost always makes the situation worse through the unintended consequences of their 'emotional' actions. That said, for a vast number of the people on Wall Street, their 'salary' is in the $90-150k range. I know that sounds like a lot of money to a lot of people, but for the hours they are putting in, their 'salaries' should be at least double what they are. So when a 100k a year investment banker associate gets a 200k bonus, a big chunk of that is merely 'deferred' or lump sum salary that is paid out partly in the 'bonus'. You see, to pay a 'salary' for a job like that, it would probably have to be in the 175-200k+ range for the 75-100 hour weeks the people are putting in. They own you 24/7/365.
I have several friends that are investment bankers, and let me tell you THE JOB SUCKS!! The blackberry rules their lives. We were all back in Annapolis for homecoming and a reunion, and it was amazing the number of e-mails they received over the weekend and while on 'vacation'. Some had to be pulled away for hours at a time to go get on the internet and make phone calls. Even on a 'vacation' weekend the blackberry is being checked every half hour to an hour. They don't have the luxury of disconnecting completely at any time, so that is why they make more than 50k a year. Yes, these people chose that line of work. And they chose to work the hours so they can make the money. But they don't need a bunch of jealous f@ckers whining to the guvment to regulate their pay. I know the guvment 'forced' the bailout on some of the firms. Since the guvment is a shareholder now, if they don't like it, sell the stock. Guvment needs to get their own waste in check before sifting through somebody elses. Besides, as far as I know, Wall Street pays taxes on those bonuses unlike some of our high-level politicians. Oh I know...it was an accident they didn't f@cking know they had to pay their taxes. Give me a f@cking break!
The only good thing about this '500k bonus' thing that was announced today, is that some of the companies that were 'forced' to take money will be giving it back ASAP now that there are new 'strings' being attached. Goldman Sachs is definitely returning it ASAP, and I am sure that Morgan Stanley will too. I know there are some other more complex regulations that were placed on these companies, but the sooner that any private company can get back to being 100% private, that is better for everybody. But again, all goes back to being 'greedy' but doing it with INTEGRITY! And sadly, nobody has given a f@ck about integrity the past decade or so, only the bottom line...whether it was 'real' or not.
So, there you go. I actually feel better dropping a few F-bombs and telling it like it is instead of sugar coating all of this BS. I actually don't give a f@ck that Christian Bale lost his sh@t on that guy. If you still don't know what I am talking about try going to www.google.com and typing in 'christian bale'. Sometimes people do stupid stuff and their BS needs to be called. Maybe that decade in the military softened me to the 'harsh' language that seems to get a lot of panties in a wad. You haven't heard nothing until a 20+ year senior chief reams somebody for acting like a f@cking retard...or should I say moron, I don't want to offend anybody.
Anyway, I definitely look forward to the comments.
Stay f@cking tuned...
SoCalMtgGuy
I know this is a few days late, but I wanted to get a few quick thoughts out on the automaker testimony. I know it has been a while, but I have been trying to decide where to take this blog next. Even though it began as a blog that talked specifically about mortgages and real estate, I think I am going to start talking about all things business and finance related. I enjoy doing the blog, and have been thinking of ways to regenerate my once large audience and get blogging again. The posts will most likely be shorter, but will come more frequently again. Besides, there are more than enough financial issues out there aside from mortgages. I have a few thoughts of my own on our current problems and since nobody knows how to fix this situation, and the people that are offering solutions didn't even see the problem coming, I don't feel too bad giving my opinion on things.
