School work and real learning...

My son is off to school this Monday morning with a big report on Will Rogers.

An American icon of his age. An age of strife and turmoil like these past few weeks and months we have been experiencing here in this election/bail-out/lingering war/fuel price/sagging real estate value/job crunch days we are now living in. One of the above probably affects you more than the others.

These quotes seem to have landed in my email this morning with relevance:

• I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.
  - Will Rogers
• I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.
  - Winston Churchill
• A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
  - George Bernard Shaw
• Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.
  - James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)
• Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.
  - P.J. O'Rourke, Civil Libertarian
• The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools.
  - Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher (1820-1903)
• A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.
  - Thomas Jefferson

So will the politicians in Washington DC really learn that it is folly to support Wall Street for failing to properly declare on the financial reports a bit of reality? Is the legislation on the floor that is about to be voted on change anything? Not likely.

The investments being propped up were not properly disclosed as to risk levels. So now the US Government will take on the risk and prop up the financial sector. All due to the investors not willing to do their school work and research the products. The market forces. The implications of bad choices. Or to live with the results of bad actions/choices/risky chance taking.

Like a school kid who gets a D or F grade and wants Mom and Dad to do something to make it alright and the complacent teacher allowing the kid to weasel out of it. That is what this bailout looks like to me.

Real learning takes place when you feel the pain of your bad choice.

IMHO Keith L.

Tell them "No thank you!" to flushing our money

I am so much against this pushing of the problem off onto the average American Tax Payer. The investments they (Wall Street financial rocket scientists) were overvaluing had risk in it. Almost any real estate agent with more than a couple of years experience could see it a mile away. Too many properties with overly leveraged loans packaged up and sold as if they were the old type of fully secured loan.

What any savvy investor would ask about an individual loan they were going to buy these financial whiz kids were unwilling to ask or peek under the hood to see. Even State bonds have a rating system. So why not a rating to the loan pools? Because they wanted to screw the next investor. The buyer beware thing. The US government is the next biggest fool if the buy into this stuff.

Buying stocks has risk in it. Setting sail on a ship has risk in it. If you cannot take that exposure to risk then you buy insurance. And Pay to protect yourself from that risk.

No! The federal government should not take on the risk for no reason.
Please do not make us the Next Biggest Fool.

I'll take my "Bear Mkt"burger with no cheese please

Bull market is about to dump all over us and the Bear Market will eat you up if all you have is stocks. Is the US bailout going to help? Should it even try to help?

In a news email I receive...

"THE PATH TO SUCCESS IS TO TAKE MASSIVE, DETERMINED ACTION." Anthony Robbins. And success in stabilizing the markets and the economy is exactly what the government is hoping will happen as a result of the massive, determined actions they took late last week in response to unprecedented happenings in the financial markets...


I am so much against this pushing of the problem off onto the average American Tax Payer. The investments they (Wall Street financial rocket scientists) were overvaluing had risk in it. Almost any real estate agent with more than a couple of years experience could see it a mile away. Too many properties with overly leveraged loans packaged up and sold as if they were the old type of fully secured loan.

What any savvy investor would ask about a individual loan they were going to buy these financial whiz kids were unwilling to ask or peek under the hood to see. Even State bonds have a rating system. So why not a rating to the loan pools? Because they wanted to screw the next investor. The buyer beware thing. The US government is the next biggest fool if the buy into this stuff.

Buying stocks has risk in it. Setting sail on a ship has risk in it. If you cannot take that exposure to risk then you buy insurance. And Pay to protect yourself from that risk.

No! The federal government should not take on the risk for no reason.

That is My Two Cents.

The Political reaction that "Something Must be Done" is hogwash.

I'll take my "Bear Mkt"burger with no cheese please. Give it a Reality Check!

I recommend the "risk" of a 10 to 20 % temporary dip in real estate values to the big time losses that many are experiencing in wall street stocks. Sorry for your loss and pain. May I offer you a dependable income property to ride for long term security?

Call me to talk about an Income Property with a dependable rental stream to support your retirement over the long term future.

Keith
310-391-0821

Market is not a big Train Wreck

"Treasury Secretary Henry “Hank” Paulson on Sunday: no more federal bailouts...
Finally, someone has hit the brakes where they need to be hit. The federal government and taxpayers such as you and I can’t go bankrolling or brokering the mistakes of Bear Stearns, Countrywide Financial, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac."

OK, so as long as lenders can make a real loan to a real client and the terms are not outrageous we are going to have support for real estate values.

So relax a little. Do not think that you must have a heart attack. Take a bigger view of this correction.

Buy in if you plan on holding 3 or more years. If you are a flipper... Well then you had better be able to do it cheaper and better than the stuff on the market.

If you are a small family there are deals! Probate and REO properties that are there for the fixer upper type family. And some are over here near the beach! It is easy to get them in areas where the market is in the tank. (riverside down 20% or more) Here in the West Los Angeles areas like Marina Del Rey, Palms and Mar Vista there is little downturn in value as the market still has demand and workers/executives earnings are still holding.

Today on broker caravan is a probate for $775,000 in a area surrounded by homes well over $1,000,000 to $1,800,000. But who can support living in a $775,000 home while fixing it up?

If that is you... Call me quick. It may not last long.

Keith L. <"><
310-391-0821