1. Amidst the housing bust portion of the boom-bust cycle, brought on by extremely loose monetary policy engineered by “Easy” Al Greenspan and continued by “Helicopter” Ben Bernanke, underwater home “owners” are now setting fire to their houses (and even cars) to attempt to gain insurance settlements on an impaired asset. This sort of activity by clearly spoiled folks who made bad decisions, is another indication that no one should be bailed out by taxpayers in the housing “crisis”. Let the market play out and let those who lived within their means secure the fruit of their well reasoned decisions. Don’t punish good choices at the expense of everybody.

2. A friend of mine, Adam Yamauchi, turned my attention to this very solid interview in the Rich Dad, Poor Dad series. The video encompasses metals, real estate, Federal Reserve policy and other critical issues. It is a definite good watch.

3. Across the country, reckless speculation based on easy money helped spur a ridiculous housing bubble. Now that the false boom has led to its inevitable bust, ghost towns are sprouting up across the country related to a huge increase in foreclosures.

4. I will state right now: establishing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was a TERRIBLE idea on the part of the out-of-control federal government. These market disrupting organizations, which are assumed to have an “implied government backing” helped significantly lower the cost of capital in relation to purchasing homes in the U.S. The problem is, most people now cannot afford the average home in their area. And to add total insult to injury, there is growing speculation that the American taxpayer may indeed be bludgeoned yet again to bail out these nonsensical entities. The nonsense and blatant plunder-filled nature of such activity is so morally reprehensible that it is hard for me not to cuss out loud at the prospect. Socializing losses is one of the greatest paths to societal failure known to man.

5. People are walking away from contracts to buy new homes at an amazing rate, nearly one third of all contracts signed. Desperate builders are doing everything in their power to keep as much money from the walk-aways as possible.

6. Mish analyzes one of the most pressing debates in the environment of diligent market observers: can there be a deflation in a fiat money environment?

Filed under: Politics, Social Mood, Economics, Six Packs, Current Events