Odious Solicitations

I received a large beige envelope that was sent from a P.O.
box located somewhere in Richmond, Virginia- how mysterious!
The bland-looking package didn’t have the screaming signals
that it was junk/solicitation mail, so it made the cut and landed
on the kitchen table.

What’s in Capital One’s Wallet?

“What’s in your wallet?”, the fierce looking Viking asks at the end of the Capital One commercial. Now, Wall Street investors are asking the same question of the creator of this amusing advertising spot.
As the headlines scream about the collapse of the subprime mortgage market and the relentless meltdown of real estate prices, far too [...]

Banks Bounce Back from the Dead

Bank shares are back in style. Even after staggering losses were announced by the likes of Wachovia, which registered a $8.9 billion loss in the second quarter, and Washington Mutual, which posted a $3.3 billion stain of red ink in the same period, their shares traded up by 27 percent and 6 percent, respectively.
The share [...]

The credit bubble blew up in ‘05

Sales of new homes fell 2.8 percent from December’s levels, and the median price of an American castle dipped to $215,000, which amounts to a 15 percent decline from year ago levels. I am actually tired of writing about the continuing dismal saga that is this nation’s housing market.
I wrote a rather long-winded essay in [...]

Debt leads to families living in boxes

Take my house, please!

The housing market has been cooling off as of late. The sale of single-family homes declined 5 percent from June to July, and are off 11.4 percent from a year ago. Although the national median home price rose 1.5 percent over the past twelve months, there are signs that the frothiest coastal markets are [...]