[coyote]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('armegeddon', '2')007 is looking more and more like the year it all starts happening.

[Euric]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('armegeddon', '2')007 is looking more and more like the year it all starts happening. I dont think life as we know it will be the same in a few years from now. I also cant see the world keep letting the US consume 25% of the worlds energy much longer.

[PrairieMule]

Good article. Solid analysis. Being in the industry I am seeing a lot more originators and salesfolk fiddling while Rome burns. The only difference is the fiddling has a much more frantic and the violin has been replaced with the credit report and debt-to-income ratios.

[Narz]

Could you post a link for that article? Thanks.

[Permanently_Baffled]

Somebody help here - I can follow most things - but derivatives confuse me.

Can anyone give me a quick explanation of what derivatives are please?

Laymen terms would be nice please

[GreyGhost]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Permanently_Baffled', 'S')omebody help here - I can follow most things - but derivatives confuse me.

Can anyone give me a quick explanation of what derivatives are please?

Laymen terms would be nice please

[Permanently_Baffled]

Grey ghost , thank you very much for going to the trouble of writing that post.

Many thanks - that makes a lot more sense!!

[Niagara]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('GreyGhost', '.')..You've heard good things about a company called Super-Hyperdyne-Inter-Technologies.com.

[GreyGhost]

There are alot of very smart people in the world of derivatives trading, but no one seems to ever talk about the ethics of it. Things like this are a cause for concern, if the derivatives market starts to get out of control:

- it's all fake

The investent bank that issues the option has essentially "created" a product out of nothing. It has a value (because people are willing to pay for it), but where does that value come from? It's abstract, as is the case for any other intellectual property. But this "product" doesn't really do anything (like say, software does, or a song) other than to create a vague promise of a transaction that never happens.

- it makes the stock market even more risky than before

By magnifying the risk and also the potential reward at the same time, it means the whole market is much less stable than ever before

- it doesn't reduce risk, it transfers it from one place to another.

If "risk" is the toxic waste of the finance world, then derivatives are the way of pushing that waste around into little collections where it is less noticeable than it was before. But the risk is always assumed by someone else in the end.

[Zardoz]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Narz', 'C')ould you post a link for that article?

[Zardoz]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('GreyGhost', 'T')here are alot of very smart people in the world of derivatives trading, but no one seems to ever talk about the ethics of it...

- it's all fake...

[TommyJefferson]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('GreyGhost', 'I')f "risk" is the toxic waste of the finance world, then derivatives are the way of pushing that waste around into little collections where it is less noticeable than it was before.

[Narz]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Zardoz', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Narz', 'C')ould you post a link for that article?

[kenohio]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ElijahJones', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Zardoz', 'Y')our comments, please:

Housing bubble smack-down

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'i')f we compare our situation to what happened in Japan during the 1990s, we can expect that prices will continue to fall for years to come, perhaps, a decade or more. Many of the slower markets are already showing a decline of 10 percent to 20 percent. This is a trend that is likely to speed up dramatically in 2007 when $1 trillion in ARMs reset. That’s when we’ll begin to see a truly new phenomenon in the US, that is, people who’ve always been solid members of the middle class sliding downwards into the ranks of the working poor.

By 2008, if the present trend-lines persist, housing prices will probably drop to 25 percent to 30 percent of their 2005 value; diminishing equity value by approximately 45 percent to 50 percent for most homeowners.

[Cynus]

"The economy snapped out of a sluggish spell and grew at a faster-than-expected 3.5 percent pace in the final quarter of last year as consumers ratcheted up spending despite a painful housing slump."

Where are consumers getting the money to spend? The country has a negative savings rate, and housing prices aren't going up so they can't be cashing out their homes. Is it all going on credit cards?

[mmasters]

Oil went down, the Democrats got in, the economy is good according to the MSM, the FED is inflation fighting tough! the housing market is good too! why not get extra gifts for everyone at Christmas! The future is so bright I gotta wear shades!

[holmes]

There will be alot more suffering and death in the future than expected. Pass it on! As the industrial sportsman like to say.

[FoxV]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cynus', '"')The economy snapped out of a sluggish spell and grew at a faster-than-expected 3.5 percent pace in the final quarter of last year as consumers ratcheted up spending despite a painful housing slump."

[holmes]

We are still producing things of value and quality in the USA besides crystal meth and gangs? Wow. Did not know that. Its obscene how far we have sunk. Local industry and agriculture? Revitalize the trian system? Buwhaaaaa! What a farce this "economy" is. actually its horrifying if you actually think about. Try not to.