Bank Heist of the Century - Congress, Bush, Obama, the NAR, Fannie and Freddie conspire to steal $400 billion from US taxpayers

We said for years that Fannie and Freddie would fail.

We were wrong.

They didn't fail.

It all went according to plan.

Damn, those grifters were good. Real good.

That's $1200 per citizen, if you're keeping score at home.

U.S. to Lose $400 Billion on Fannie, Freddie

Dec. 31 (Bloomberg) -- Taxpayer losses from supporting Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will top $400 billion, according to Peter Wallison, a former general counsel at the Treasury who is now a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

“The situation is they are losing gobs of money, up to $400 billion in mortgages,” Wallison said in a Bloomberg Television interview. The Treasury Department recognized last week that losses will be more than $400 billion when it raised its limit on federal support for the two government-sponsored enterprises, he said.

IranPANIC

My hope in 2010?

They kill the mullahs.

Then they take on the basiji, and string them up one by one.

Happy New Year brave Iranians.

Catherine Reagor, the Arizona Republic's laughably incompetent real estate 'reporter', has another gem today. "Nobody saw it coming" she tells us.

"No one guessed then that housing would lead Arizona's economy into a recession"

-Rolodex of Realtors Catherine Reagor, Arizona Republic, December 29, 2009, writing about the Phoenix housing crash in 2007

Strange thing to say now though, since she knew very well about HousingPANIC, Housing Doom and TheHousingBubbleBlog, all out of Arizona, all posting about the shit-storm that was hitting Phoenix and the world.

Guess all she remembers now though is what her rolodex of realtors was telling her, over nice dinners and martinis no doubt.

Phoenix? Vegas? Dubai? Detroit? No, this ghost-town of empty skyscrapers is where you'd least expect. It's China

Remember when we thought Japan would take over the world?

Me gettin' some serious deja-vu all over again.

Anyone want to buy some land or investment condos in China?

2000 - 2009 was the worst jobs decade ever for America. And the worst stock market decade ever. Thank you Republican Party!

And some people still support these jokers why?

Seriously, with that pitiful record, how stupid would you have to be to call yourself a Republican? You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can fool a Republican all of the time it would appear.

Keep hating the fags. Keep stressing about abortion and flag burners.

Meanwhile, you're jobless and broke.

(UPDATE - P.S. - THE DEMOCRATS SUCK TOO. But for pure negligence, corruption and incompetence, the GOP takes the prize - worst of the worst. 2010 recommendation - vote 3rd party and anti-incumbent. 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018 - repeat.)

Stocks ending their worst decade ever

Worst Ever Decade For Jobs

Not one more thing from China. Not one. Anyone want to join the 100% boycott of Chinese goods? Anyone? Anyone?

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a new foe.

China.

An oppressive, evil regime. Afraid of her people. And now a documented enemy of Planet Earth.

But hey, enjoy your cheap Chinese sh*t from Wal-mart. Keep enabling them. Keep looking the other way.

Your children will come to hate you.

It's safe to say that that Nouriel Roubini screwed the pooch something royally in 2009. And that's why you should never listen to a perma-anything

Nothing lasts forever.

What goes down must come up.

What goes up must come down.

And if you listened to Nouriel Roubini in 2009, you were as screwed as those who listened to Lawrence Yun in 2008, or Greg Swann in 2007.

Here's Roubini, being spectacularly wrong a year ago. Guess he didn't read Manias, Panics and Crashes either.

For those of you who did, please feel free to chime in with your 2010 predictions here. And make sure you put Roubini in the "never to be listened to again" file.

8 really, really scary predictions

"For the next 12 months I would stay away from risky assets. I would stay away from the stock market. I would stay away from commodities. I would stay away from credit, both high-yield and high-grade. I would stay in cash or cashlike instruments such as short-term or longer-term government bonds. It's better to stay in things with low returns rather than to lose 50% of your wealth. You should preserve capital. It'll be hard and challenging enough.

"I wish I could be more cheerful, but I was right a year ago, and I think I'll be right this year too."

- Nouriel Roubini, December 2009

Incompetence and Corruption, In Full Bloom

For those of you keeping score at home, we're in "Relief" now. After being in Despondency in February.

Once again, this one single chart told us everything we ever needed to know.

If only it had been so obvious at the time.

It is what it is. Trillions in government cheese got us there.

Deal with it.

And yes, Optimism is around the corner in 2010...

(no, still not back. just checkin' in)

From Ireland: "We're screwed as a country because of the wrongdoing of others". Oh, and an F bomb too.

Too bad no US congressman has the guts to get up in the face of Barney Frank or Chris Dodd or any of the others who were on the take from the REIC during the Big Housing Ponzi Scheme, and call a spade a spade.

"You lie"? Nah. A big ol well-placed F bomb, that would do the trick.

Or then again, gotta love it when they slay 'em with the Queen's english too..

Party back on?

0% interest rates with no end in sight - check

Asset bubbles forming everywhere - check

Massive government overspending - check

Nobody gets arrested for the last bubble debacle - check

Party back on?

Can you cure a hangover by drinking?

Shatner. Just because.

Some listened to blogs, and common sense. Others listened to the NAR and realtors. Nuff said. "U.S. Homeowners Lost $5.9 Trillion Since 2006 Peak"

Seems like this one ties it up with a bow.

What a clusterf*ck.

Too bad. The real information was out there. If only they had listened.

(Sorry folks - still not back. Just had to post this one, to cross that t and dot that i)

Dec. 9 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. homeowners have lost about $5.9 trillion in value since the housing market peak in March 2006 as mounting foreclosures and the recession weighed on prices, according to Zillow.com.

Almost half a billion dollars was wiped out this year through Nov. 30, as the market headed for a third straight annual decline. New foreclosures and higher mortgage rates in 2010 may hinder a rebound, the property data service said today in a statement.

“A phenomenal amount of wealth has been erased since the housing bust,” Stan Humphries, chief economist for Seattle- based Zillow, said yesterday in an interview. “For many households, most of their wealth is tied up in real estate.”

"Although a policy of intervening to affect the exchange value of the dollar is nowhere on the horizon today, it's worth noting that there have been times when exchange rate policy has been an effective weapon against deflation.

A striking example from U.S. history is Franklin Roosevelt's 40 percent devaluation of the dollar against gold in 1933-34, enforced by a program of gold purchases and domestic money creation. The devaluation and the rapid increase in money supply it permitted ended the U.S. deflation remarkably quickly.

Indeed, consumer price inflation in the United States, year on year, went from -10.3 percent in 1932 to -5.1 percent in 1933 to 3.4 percent in 1934.17 The economy grew strongly, and by the way, 1934 was one of the best years of the century for the stock market. If nothing else, the episode illustrates that monetary actions can have powerful effects on the economy, even when the nominal interest rate is at or near zero, as was the case at the time of Roosevelt's devaluation."

-Ben Bernanke, 2002