Prime farmland destroyed, so they can have their ticky-tacky boxes (with swimming pool). Welcome to indentured servitude, 21st century style.
I listened to an old Mike Ruppert interview, made back in 2005. He was frantic, telling people “Sell your house, while it still has value, buy gold, do it NOW.”
This was well before TSHTF – gold was ~$500, and the property bubble had about a year left. Anyone who followed his advice would have done very well, as opposed to the suckers who trust the conventional wisdom.
Those of us who read sites like cryptogon.com, fromthewilderness.com and lifeaftertheoilcrash.net have been warned about this clusterf*ck, YEARS in advance of the herd.
The line in the clip “It’s a tragedy” made me laugh. Iraq is a tragedy; Rwanda is a tragedy; the Turkish invasion of Northern Iraq and WW3 will be tragedies. A silly consumer buying a house at the top of the market is an object lesson in the dangers of greed and willful ignorance.
Somewhere in his subterranean crypt, James Howard Kunstler is laughing maniacally…
What is really a hoot is the bankers’ present prtotestations that this is a crisis “no one could possibly have foreseen.” Hell, half the internet has been buzzing about the coming crisis–now upon us–for several years. The only ones who couldn’t see it coming were the people in the banking and investment sector.
Is a failed real-estate development a tragedy?
Not for me.
I live in a real-estate development that failed in the late 70s or early 80s. It’s a rural “lake community” or “resort community.” The developers sold around 1,000 lots for thousands of dollars each, and then folded their tents and disappeared, taking cool few million with them.
I don’t know who got burned on this deal besides the original buyers of the lots. (The bankers who backed it perhaps?) But I do know that the area became a poor person’s paradise (sort of) in the decades that followed and property values plummeted.
The downside was, the roads were not even maintained. Houses and mobile homes sat vacant or were rented out cheap. Properties were vandalized or trashed–or burned down by meth-cookers. Over the decades, property values fell lower and lower. So low, in fact, that even I was able to buy a house. Vacant lots were literally worth nothing, and were regularly offered on the courthouse steps without getting any takers.
Finally, the area incorporated as a city and the landowners’ association regrouped, and between them they were able to maintain the roads in passable condition, and keep sand on the swimming beach.
The recent real-estate bubble even allowed some property owners to sell without taking too much of a beating.
With the bursting of the real-estate bubble, property values are again in decline, but the area now has a thin but stable population of mostly poor people who–thanks to the failed real-estate development scheme–own modest homes.
How long did it take for this to play out? Over 30 years.
The banks hope their SIV scheme will buy them time. Yet the situation re the current real-estate collapse brings many of the same factors into play, as played out here: Suburban communities are likely to lose viability and become about as undesirable as our exurban lake community. There is a vast surplus of this undesirable housing. Incomes are generally in decline vis-a-vis inflation. Vacant properties deteriorate. If they are rented out, the deterioration is often worse.
The banks would be wise to sell cheap and take their losses–rather than pay taxes and insurance on deteriorating vacant properties for the next 20 years. Especially considering that the properties will be worth far less in 20 years.
Of course, they could engage in the time-honored practice–familiar to everyone who owns a property they can’t sell–of burning them down for the insurance.
Now that I think of it, that’s probably what the banks WILL do. I’ll certainly be watching for the mysterious destruction of entire suburban developments, due to mysterious fires supposedly set by “squatters'” and their “meth labs.”
Now that I think of it, maybe it’s a little premature to start burning down whole suburbs and urban neighborhoods.
Have to make it look like the situation is under control and the SIV scheme is working–and THEN burn down whole neighborhoods for the insurance. Mustn’t have it looking like the banks are the parties most motivated to arrange for vast conflagrations.
Why, the conflagrations can even be blamed on the lawlessness of the populace. Then you can have martial law.
Well–stop the presses! SOMEONE is burning down some of the wealthiest suburbs in the US. I wish I could say this was prophetic on my part, but I saw the news about the Southern California wildfires about ten minutes after posting the above.
Here’s a link to absolutely the latest and greatest info on these fires–many of the people posting are in Southern California:
The reason I’m showing the IP address of the whole forum is, there’s lots of other great stuff in there–and some of these threads are better than a stand-up comedy routine–not only good info, but a chance to brush up your smart bon mot and witty reparte.
On page two of this thread, the possibility (certainty) of arson is discussed–apparently a regular thing in SoCal, just as the Santa Anna winds start to kick up. It’s noted on page two that some of the people involved in arson fires of previous years were pretty highly placed–though others on the thread comment that there is an element out there that just likes to burn down fancy suburbs for the pure amusement.
I WOULD note that SoCal is one of the regions hit hardest by the real-estate bust.
Defense.gov News Photo 110426-A-7597S-183: U.S. Special Operations service members with Special Operations Task Force South board two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters following a clearing operation in Panjwa'i district in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, on April 25, 2011. Source: Wikimedia.
I can’t feel any sympathy for these idiots.
Prime farmland destroyed, so they can have their ticky-tacky boxes (with swimming pool). Welcome to indentured servitude, 21st century style.
I listened to an old Mike Ruppert interview, made back in 2005. He was frantic, telling people “Sell your house, while it still has value, buy gold, do it NOW.”
This was well before TSHTF – gold was ~$500, and the property bubble had about a year left. Anyone who followed his advice would have done very well, as opposed to the suckers who trust the conventional wisdom.
Those of us who read sites like cryptogon.com, fromthewilderness.com and lifeaftertheoilcrash.net have been warned about this clusterf*ck, YEARS in advance of the herd.
The line in the clip “It’s a tragedy” made me laugh. Iraq is a tragedy; Rwanda is a tragedy; the Turkish invasion of Northern Iraq and WW3 will be tragedies. A silly consumer buying a house at the top of the market is an object lesson in the dangers of greed and willful ignorance.
Somewhere in his subterranean crypt, James Howard Kunstler is laughing maniacally…
What is really a hoot is the bankers’ present prtotestations that this is a crisis “no one could possibly have foreseen.” Hell, half the internet has been buzzing about the coming crisis–now upon us–for several years. The only ones who couldn’t see it coming were the people in the banking and investment sector.
Is a failed real-estate development a tragedy?
Not for me.
I live in a real-estate development that failed in the late 70s or early 80s. It’s a rural “lake community” or “resort community.” The developers sold around 1,000 lots for thousands of dollars each, and then folded their tents and disappeared, taking cool few million with them.
I don’t know who got burned on this deal besides the original buyers of the lots. (The bankers who backed it perhaps?) But I do know that the area became a poor person’s paradise (sort of) in the decades that followed and property values plummeted.
The downside was, the roads were not even maintained. Houses and mobile homes sat vacant or were rented out cheap. Properties were vandalized or trashed–or burned down by meth-cookers. Over the decades, property values fell lower and lower. So low, in fact, that even I was able to buy a house. Vacant lots were literally worth nothing, and were regularly offered on the courthouse steps without getting any takers.
Finally, the area incorporated as a city and the landowners’ association regrouped, and between them they were able to maintain the roads in passable condition, and keep sand on the swimming beach.
The recent real-estate bubble even allowed some property owners to sell without taking too much of a beating.
With the bursting of the real-estate bubble, property values are again in decline, but the area now has a thin but stable population of mostly poor people who–thanks to the failed real-estate development scheme–own modest homes.
How long did it take for this to play out? Over 30 years.
The banks hope their SIV scheme will buy them time. Yet the situation re the current real-estate collapse brings many of the same factors into play, as played out here: Suburban communities are likely to lose viability and become about as undesirable as our exurban lake community. There is a vast surplus of this undesirable housing. Incomes are generally in decline vis-a-vis inflation. Vacant properties deteriorate. If they are rented out, the deterioration is often worse.
The banks would be wise to sell cheap and take their losses–rather than pay taxes and insurance on deteriorating vacant properties for the next 20 years. Especially considering that the properties will be worth far less in 20 years.
Of course, they could engage in the time-honored practice–familiar to everyone who owns a property they can’t sell–of burning them down for the insurance.
Now that I think of it, that’s probably what the banks WILL do. I’ll certainly be watching for the mysterious destruction of entire suburban developments, due to mysterious fires supposedly set by “squatters'” and their “meth labs.”
Now that I think of it, maybe it’s a little premature to start burning down whole suburbs and urban neighborhoods.
Have to make it look like the situation is under control and the SIV scheme is working–and THEN burn down whole neighborhoods for the insurance. Mustn’t have it looking like the banks are the parties most motivated to arrange for vast conflagrations.
Why, the conflagrations can even be blamed on the lawlessness of the populace. Then you can have martial law.
Well–stop the presses! SOMEONE is burning down some of the wealthiest suburbs in the US. I wish I could say this was prophetic on my part, but I saw the news about the Southern California wildfires about ten minutes after posting the above.
Here’s a link to absolutely the latest and greatest info on these fires–many of the people posting are in Southern California:
http://www.tickerforum.org/cgi-ticker/akcs-www?forum=Breaking
Click on San Diego fires.
The reason I’m showing the IP address of the whole forum is, there’s lots of other great stuff in there–and some of these threads are better than a stand-up comedy routine–not only good info, but a chance to brush up your smart bon mot and witty reparte.
On page two of this thread, the possibility (certainty) of arson is discussed–apparently a regular thing in SoCal, just as the Santa Anna winds start to kick up. It’s noted on page two that some of the people involved in arson fires of previous years were pretty highly placed–though others on the thread comment that there is an element out there that just likes to burn down fancy suburbs for the pure amusement.
I WOULD note that SoCal is one of the regions hit hardest by the real-estate bust.