During the brutal reign of Pol Pot in Cambodia the massive amount of genocide and the poverty of the regime led to an ammunition shortage. Necessity being the mother of invention the Cambodians lined the prisoners to be executed up and gave them each a hammer and instructed them on command to strike the prisoners in line in front of them. When I first read about this my blood ran cold and I thought, hell I wouldn’t do that I’ll make you use a bullet on me its a small gesture I know, but if its all that you have. A bad horse trade is still better than having your horse stolen.
Yesterday while watching the financial news they were discussing the sub prime mortgage market crisis and its accompanying coming soon to a neighborhood near you the adjustable rate mortgage crisis. One of the analysts calmly explained that between the two we would probably see 1.1 million US foreclosures this year. The panelist asked “How will that affect the mortgage market overall?” Pass me a hammer! There are one million homes in some degree of foreclosure in America now and they are predicting 1.1 million more?
I accept that I’m not the best businessman in the world, and silly me I keep thinking of silly non-essential details like 2.1 million homes foreclosed with and average of four family members each is 8.4 million people out in the street! A population larger than many states in this country is losing or will lose their home in the next twelve months.
We see this as a long term problem but the losses are spread throughout the market so while we expect to see a down turn we think the market will recover in the next eighteen months, pass me a hammer please.
No concern or interest at all in men women or children or the marriages that will fail or the cost to society overall and believe you me there will be a cost. However a down turn in the economy might just prompt the fed to cut interest rates and that would mitigate the adjustable rate mortgage crisis. (panelist laughs) But if the economy turns down they’ll lose their job and not be able to pay the mortgage anyway! Pass me the hammer! Boy oh boy nothing funnier than people losing their homes.
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