The Great Depression, We Have Arrived!

Gun Enthusiasts – Let Your Voices Be Heard

I was reading about Janet Yellen the other day and unfortunately didn’t note the article. It referred to our present economic place in time as that akin to 1937. I’ve read from several sources that the Great Recession of 2007 ended years back and that people are afraid we might sink into a new recession. I’m of the opinion that we have never left the last recession.

There’s an election coming up and a person by the name of Donald Trump is upsetting Congress to no end. They are worried that this guy is not into smoke and mirrors and all their hard work sweeping the mess under the rug will be exposed. They are claiming he is unqualified to be President. The only requirements I know of; are to be over the age of 35 and be a US citizen. Whereas the minimum requirements to qualify for a job to clean toilets on a school campus might be greater than those needed to run for the political office of President–go figure.

When will this house of cards fall down? With interest rates at zero, the only investments that make sense are real estate rentals, credit card loans, and student loans.

On the books, a 6 % return on rental real estate looks good, but if you have ever been a landlord, you would demand 15 %. Until the reality sets in as to how a renter can destroy rental property, housing prices will stay artificially high. There is a place a few blocks down from us with three story condos, maybe about 400 of them. Asking rental is about $2,500 for a two bedroom. Detached houses in this area are renting for about $2,200, I can’t quite figure that out, on a cash flow basis for the condos. The loud parties, music and crying babies, I don’t see anyone moving into them.

Student loans are still a big draw, but most now recognize them as sucker loans. I expect this institutional program to be ripped from ear to ear with fraud. You can probably register for Cocaine University and get 40K a year from the government if you can sober up enough to fill out the forms correctly.

Credit card debt is a real walk in the dark. During our working years most people are a good risk on credit cards. What happens when you get to be 75 years old and a card holder with great credit? I’ve heard of people 30 years old being told they have a terminal condition and go and rack up 200K in bills. only to be told later, they were misdiagnosed and weren’t going to die any time soon. 75 going on 80, go ahead max it out on all 10 cards, they can’t garnish your wages.

We need to realize that zero percent interest rates is an upside down process. Low rates imply there is very little risk (how does that reasoning work?). We see all of these companies moving out of the US and at the same time the unemployment figures get better? The newspapers report, what they are fed. I get a little irate with people that quote print without reading between the lines.

The stock market is the key; will it collapse before the election or after it? At some point Congress is going to have to acknowledge the Great Depression we are in. FDR did it after the election in 1933. Only then did Congress begin to march to a different drum beat.

That will be the turning point, where we move from Wall Street for our earnings, to Main Street for our paychecks and the construction of badly needed infrastructure. It sound rather innocuous, but when Wall Street’s hypothecation hits a brick wall, we are talking about a financial Train Wreck. If you have no savings it will be painless. Otherwise your massive heart attack is only one bank statement away.

Gun Enthusiasts – Let Your Voices Be Heard