IS IT TRUE: March 20, 2012

IS IT TRUE: March 20, 2012

IS IT TRUE

that the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Wall Street firms are now lining up to become landlords by bidding on pools of foreclosed properties that are being sold in packages by Fannie Mae?…that while it is certain that getting distressed properties off of the market is something that will serve to form a bottom for housing prices there is something about this that stinks?…that there is a rule called the “prevention clause” in some transactions that makes it illegal for a person or business that causes a hardship to benefit from the hardship that it created?…that to see Wall Street firms now picking up residential housing for something like 20 cents on the dollar when it was the practices of Wall Street firms and banks that precipitated many of the conditions that caused both the housing bubble and the housing bust in the first place?…that we are sure that SNEGAL(sneaky but legal) is involved here but it really does not sound well for the firms who created the destruction of wealth to now be buying the basis of the wealth that was destroyed for pennies on the dollar and renting the houses back to the people that were foreclosed upon?

IS IT TRUE that gasoline prices have the whole country by the throat again and this time even people of means are having their lives impacted?…that people with trucks and gas guzzlers are reporting costs of over $100 to fill up their vehicles when only a few short years ago the price to do so was under $50?…that most people seem to have lives that involve one fill up per week?…that no matter how you run the numbers the whole “buy a new $40,000 car that gets better mileage” argument just does not translate into good financial sense?…that when buying a new car there will be a 7% sales tax charged, the insurance will increase, and the annual license fee to the BMV will increase dramatically so getting rid of a reliable clunker will never make financial sense unless of course gas prices go up by another 100%?…that the other hidden costs are added to everything that has to travel to market like FOOD, CLOTHING, CAR PARTS, SERVICES, ETC. ETC. ETC.?…that energy prices are truly the Achilles heel of modern society?…that when calculating the COST OF LIVING increase the federal government intentionally leaves out the costs of ENERGY and FOOD in hopes that the huddled masses will not have the good sense to realize the reality of just how much energy prices affect our day to day life?

IS IT TRUE that if the gas prices continue to climb or even stay where they are now that there is a CAR BUBBLE on the economic horizon?…that first there was a STOCK BUBBLE, followed by a HOUSING BUBBLE that poor public policy and speculators drove that is about to repeat itself with AUTOMOBILES?…that you ask how such a thing could happen?…that suppose for a moment that you are the owner of a GAS GUZZLER that you bought in 2009 for say $35,000 that you still owe $22,000 on?…that in normal circumstances you may have some equity in your vehicle by now?…that lets further suppose that you want to sell your GAS GUZZLER and NO ONE WANTS IT?…that in such a case you are as stuck with that GAS GUZZLER and a homeowner in an “underwater” house is stuck with the house?…that the current gas prices have already started negatively effecting the used car market for gas guzzlers and that this negative effect will start to accelerate rapidly in a couple of months during the travelling season?…that if no one wants your GAS GUZZLER that the value will plummet to a small fraction of what you owe on it?…that is exactly what happened to stocks and housing and the result was massive defaults and the destruction of wealth?…that in times like these WHEN ENERGY PRICES INCREASE THE VALUE OF NEARLY EVERYTHING ELSE THAT IS TANGIBLE WILL DECREASE?…that we at the CCO do not pretend to have the answers but we do acknowledge the magnitude of the problem?

IS IT TRUE that speaking of energy companies the Mole Nation reports that Vectren Corporation seems to have a new employee?…that former Indiana State Senator and Director of the Metropolitan Evansville Transit Authority was reported to be working in the booth at last weekend’s HOME SHOW handing out brochures?…that people are beginning to wonder if Vectren is the last resting place for politicians who have reached the end of their time as an elected official?…that we wish Bob well in his new career at Vectren?