I knew it! Walt’s pissed off the Colombians.

You just don’t mess with these guys. You’d think even Noel knew that.

Home heating costs stay high

Gasoline’s down (I paid $1.56 in Massachusetts yesterday and I hear New Jersey’s down to $1.35) but natural gas and electricity bills are still high. It seems that utilities locked in supplies at higher prices, which is reasonable, but relief won’t come until next winter, if it comes at all.

Really?

Investment bank economists predict rosy future. They base their optimism on the prospect of the trillion dollar spending bill planned by Congress. I suppose we’ll soon find out whether economic conservatives have been wrong all this time. Having watched the performance of other collectivist societies like the USSR and Cuba I don’t share these banker/economists’ enthusiasm for federal usurpation of our entire economy, but I realize the politicians are going to love it. I just never realized that the master minds of Wall Street were closet Keynesians all this time. Who knew?

Silver lining department

Neat freaks needed to live in vacant, unsold mansions.  I’m not qualified.

Bursting housing bubble pulls Irish economy down with it

Ireland’s a mess, again. 

Catskill Second Homes Tank

No action, sellers and buyers can’t agree on value. Sounds familiar, somehow.

Fraud? No way!

Shack appraised for $130,000, mortgage rated Triple A by Moodys, sells for $18,000 out of foreclosure. And I think it’s safe to say that mortgage was leveraged 30 to 40X, so there’s a whack to someone’s portfolio. Full Wall Street Journal article here:

 

credit: Wall Street Journal

Manhattan Commercial Property languishes

Transactions for last quarter 90% off last year’s.

It’s not just real estate, of course. Warren Buffet’s down 32% for the year. I’ll bet Berkshire Hathaway comes back before real estate does.

We should all do so well

The Mars Rovers, predicted to last three months on the surface, celebrate their fifth year anniversary.