Cknolls

2009: Cook County Board reaches last minute budget deal avoiding shut-down of gov't. Reason for tax increase: estimates from 2008 tax increase fell far short and 4000 more civil servants will be sucking the teat of Cook County.

BTW Fed funds are pricing in 62% chance of a 75bps, with a 50bps fully priced in.

I just have to laugh at Vallejo. These people are really brilliant. Property values can never go down.

How should I describe the CDS market then? Put a value on it.

You guys probably expected mortgage debt to affect muni bonds too, right?

Muni bond funds are being decimated, especially closed end funds. So much so that sell signals are being generated on some:Blackrock Muniyield Quality Fund, Blackrock Long-Term Municipal Advantage, Blackrock Strategic Municipal Trust, Eaton Vance Municipal Bond Fund, and Nuveen Premium Income Fund. Also, get ready for more writedowns. The problem is the garbage these financials have on their balance sheets are starting to trade...much lower. And liquidity and Fed intervention cannot stop it. Let the unwinding begin..... Good Luck BOOM BOOM. Nearly $50 trillion CDS CDO and levered loans out there. Try to avoid the boulder folks.

http://www.nbc11.com/news/15345539/detail.html I believe this could be a good thing for other cities,counties and states facing the same problem. If pols had the b***s they would amend the constitutions so the necessary changes could be made to alleviate this gigantic drain on the respective budgets of the govt's. The biggest change that could be made here in Illinois: You get 1 pension. Not 1 pension for every gov't you serve.

Here is another ridiculous item in FNM's 10-k filed yesterday. The company lends unsecured on a delinquent payment to circumvent mark to market consequences. It is a deceptive way to make delinquency rates better than they really are. The question that should be asked is, "where is the regulator on this after just yesterday allowing them to raise their cap on loans?" Could "they" be complicit in this?

Where is Franklin Raines? And why is his ass not in front of Congress explaining what the hell was going on at FNM?

QUOTE(StrangeSox @ Feb 28, 2008 -> 08:33 AM) The fed keeps cutting rates, but I've been watching mortgage lines lately and 30 year FRM are up almost a point since January. Why are they moving up while the Fed is moving rates down? Because they are more closely tied to the 10 yr bond not fed funds. Usually a good barometer for 30 yr mortgages is somewhere in the area of 1.5 -2.0% over the 10 yr bond.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Feb 28, 2008 -> 07:52 AM) In all seriousness, this might be the worst economic crisis since 1929. I'm not being a smart ass, either. Unless something drastically changes, and quickly, we could be in a LOT of trouble. The credit markets need to get moving again, and if that doesn't happen, the Fed could lose control of the whole damn thing. How long does everyone believe it will take before FNM and FRE are nationalized? Hell, we're half-way there already. And that is NOT GOOD.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Feb 28, 2008 -> 07:48 AM) Corn-All time high Wheat-All time high Crude Oil-All time high Heating Oil-All time high Gasoline-All time high Gold-All time high Euro Currency-All time high Yup, no inflation there... Dollar all time low too!

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Feb 27, 2008 -> 06:43 PM) can anyone say S-T-A-G-F-L-A-T-I-O-N? signed, cknolls.

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=M...TE2MTYxOWZkZjc= Rest in peace!

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 27, 2008 -> 09:07 AM) Ethanol is fine as a bridge technology on the way to other things. But its certainly not any sort of long term solution, and its got its limits. But the biggest reason ethanol is a "boondoggle" is the insistence on using corn. Right now of course, that's what's available. But other countries have made much better use of much more energetic biomass, and if you are going to have ethanol be part of the picture, you need to use those other crops. Using corn, its ineffective and causes all sorts of economic problems. Totally agree. Any alternative energy that uses a food source as its main ingredient will do long term damage to the economy, i.e. inflation.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 27, 2008 -> 08:37 AM) Oh and, I forgot to add another political dimension, and this is actually good news... Obama, Clinton and McCain all have significantly better and more consistent records in protecting the environment than BushCo. And they all have made statements about getting serious on alternative energy. To what extent they can actually make changes we'll have to wait and see, but, ultimately, they'll likely to a lot more than has been done the last 8 years. And that should help pay off economically in a big way - job creation in young industries and lowering demand for oil. I hope their ideas are as good as ETHANOL. BTW. Why don't these moderators ask the candidates about the boondoggle called ethanol. Obama wants to end famine in the world? Hey Barack, how did you vote on ethanol?

QUOTE(YASNY @ Feb 25, 2008 -> 04:34 PM) Anything that makes the Democratics furious, I'm all for. Giving Nader a

1.) http://www.verumserum.com/index.php?s=moto...p;Submit=Search 2.) http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/...1715527,00.html WHAT MEDIA BIAS?

QUOTE(Texsox @ Feb 23, 2008 -> 04:48 PM) Instead of talking about people you "see", let's look at the numbers, Here, the average salary is less than $7 per hour. This could be someone just off public aid. Medium skill worker. They will not qualify for Medicade or Food assistance. $14,000 annual salary. After taxes like Social Security, etc. they will clear about $12,000 then a decent rent on a one bedroom here will set them back about $6,000 per year leaving $6,000 then electric, water, heating, telephone will set them back at least $2,500 per year leaving $3,500 then let's eat some food, buy some cleaning supplies, another $40 per week or $2,000 leaving $1,500 now let's fill up the tank on the car once a week, $30 x 52 week or $1,600 oops I guess this is where they buy the nice car, clothes, get their nails done, and pay for health care. This is the challenge that people face who want to stop having the government pay for everything. This is the challenge that people have who are trying to do the right thing. They don't magically jump to $25,000 jobs. You forgot to mention their income tax refund. How big would that be? Anyone making the salary you quoted would not pay ANY taxes.

QUOTE(Rex Kicka** @ Feb 23, 2008 -> 07:51 PM) I'm not defending the story at all. I'm just asking how valid a bias claim is when the article is allegedly withheld throughout the political process until it won't affect the nomination process. Wouldn't it make sense, if this was a bias hit piece to print it when it might actually have an effect on the process - say at convention time or a couple weeks before the general? And wasn't this the same New York Times that allowed Jon Corzine's ex-wife pen an Op-Ed piece the weekend before the election that basically said because he was a horrible husband, that he'd be a horrible governor? The truth is that there are plenty of hit pieces that run on Page 1 about the Dems in the NY Times too. It's just Democrats don't cry bias every time a bit of negative news hits their side. You are going to compare the McCain NEWS piece to an OP-ED by a DEM candidates wife in the state of NEW JERSEY? This state would elect a Dem if there was no Dem in the election. Sorry, but they are not comparable. Why did Keller change his mind?........

Clinton accused of raping woman. NY Times= No front page coverage. NANCY REAGAN alleged to have cheated on her husband with Franky. NY Times= Front page headline with attribution to Kitty Kelly's book. John McCain ? Ny Times = Front page story attributed to two staffers. Not McCain staffers, two staffers. Could they be Democratic staffers? Maybe. But the article doesn't say.

Another vote for Lilly. Good Luck!

Anyone read the story about Obama advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski travelling to Syria to meet with Assad........ Of course not, because the unbiased media has more important issues to cover. His daughter is on MSNBC every morning with Scarborough..I am sure the lack of coverage was an oversight. He meets with a leader of a terrorist supporting gov't. a day after one of the most wanted terrorists is blown to bitsy(NICE!!!) by a car bomb. Also one of Hillary's national finance chairmen left Damascus last night after a visit with the same delegation fron RAND Corp.

I think she should sue AUTONATION for selling the car and BMW for making the car. Maybe John Edwards can represent her. He is pretty good at making up arguments to win cases for clients and he has some time on his hands.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Feb 13, 2008 -> 12:51 PM) And lets not forget about the 12 million or so squatters who are still going to hospitals shockingly just in time for their anchor baby to be born here. Its not like they are paying one dime for healthcare. So insensitive!