Recent Posts At Straight Talk

• Housing Prices in Michigan March 9, 2010
  I found this chart in the Detroit Free Press.   It illustrates the challenges that we’ve got in Michigan….. Related PostsMarch 9, 2010 -- How to Fix The Water Problem….November 24, 2009 -- 23% Underwater – your results may vary…..January 14, 2009 -- Region’s home sales on the rise – The Detroit News […]
  Kenny
• Uhhh….. No kidding? March 9, 2010
  Okay, call me Captain Obvious, but does anyone else think that this is one of the most obvious statements?   Consumers didn’t understand the mortgages that they took out?    Yep, the consumer didn’t understand what they were getting.    And let’s look at why that might be: Because so many people in our country are basing all of [...] […]
  Kenny
• How to Fix The Water Problem…. March 9, 2010
  What?  Are we now talking about plumbing problems here on Straight Talk?   Nope. We’re talking about underwater mortgages.    You know, the situation where people owe more than what their house is worth. So what’s the scoop and how do we deal with it? The scoop – the property values were vastly over inflated by the housing bubble of [...] […]
  Kenny
• Post Traumatic Shock Syndrome – What does that mean? March 3, 2010
  Fed President Fisher made some interesting comments today about interest rates and the overall economy.   A couple of main points: I like his description of post traumatic shock syndrome.   I think it explains quite well what we’re in.   The fall of 2008 was the worst of it all.    Now we’re dealing with the issues that are [...] […]
  Kenny
• Let’s Call It What It Is – Sovereign Risk March 2, 2010
  So who is this Mohamed El-Erian?  He’s the CEO of PIMCO.    Who is PIMCO?   One of the largest institutional investors in the bond market, that’s all. What’s he talking about when he says that Sovereign Risk is the key issue for this year? Plain and simple, it’s the concern over whether any countries are going to default [...] […]
  Kenny
• Now I’m not saying it’s true….. March 1, 2010
  but this story reminds me of the John Grisham novel, The Rainmaker.   Why?   Let’s just put it this way:   The insurance company in the Grisham novel made a practice out of denying every single claim that came in, no matter how valid they were. Am I saying that the PMI companies are doing the same thing?   [...] […]
  Kenny
• Home Prices Going Up? Don’t Hold Your Breath! March 1, 2010
  Housing Wire has the story about how analysts from Barclays are predicting only another 4 to 5% drop before things stabilize.   But they are also predicting that we’ll see basically zero appreciation for several years.    Why?    A couple of things: There are a LOT of foreclosures that have been temporarily stalled due to loan modification programs [...] […]
  Kenny
• Existing Home Sales – a Mixed Bag…. February 26, 2010
  Okay, this is another one of those “mixed bag” reports: The market was clearly expecting some pretty good numbers.   The report came in well below what the market expected and down 7.2% compared to December’s sales. This tends to lend credence to what happened with the cash for clunkers.   What happened?  It appeared to be a success, [...] […]
  Kenny
• AIG and the USA February 26, 2010
  A couple of important things to note about this report on the $9 Billion loss that AIG experienced in the 4th Quarter of 2009: The loss that they experienced in the 4th quarter of 2008 was a little over 7 times larger than that amount.   That would create a pretty solid case for the fact that [...] […]
  Kenny
• Banking Reform….. February 22, 2010
  I’ll be the first to admit that there’s almost always more to the story than what is reported on CNBC, but I have to say that I like this idea.   Let me lay it out briefly: If you are a bank that either gets FDIC insurance or gets any sort of Federal support, then you can’t [...] […]
  Kenny