Retail Sales Surprise on the Upside
Feb. 12 (Bloomberg) — Sales at U.S. retailers unexpectedly halted a record six-month slide in January, reflecting higher gasoline prices and more spending on items such as clothing and food. The 1 percent increase followed a revised 3 percent drop the prior month, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. Purchases excluding automobiles gained 0.9…
Feb. 12 (Bloomberg) — Sales at U.S. retailers unexpectedly halted a record six-month slide in January, reflecting higher gasoline prices and more spending on items such as clothing and food. The 1 percent increase followed a revised 3 percent drop the prior month, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. Purchases excluding automobiles gained 0.9 percent. Consumer spending, about 70 percent of the economy, is likely to resume shrinking as the year progresses, according to a separate monthly Bloomberg News survey, capping the longest slide on record. Lawmakers are aiming to shore up the economy with a $789 billion stimulus package that’s designed to create 3.5 million new jobs.
I never really watched Cramer’s show so I can’t blame him
Dibs – what sort of Push was he doing?
There is a lot of blame to be shared by the media on this, especially in the stock market. I’m surprised no one ever attacked Cramer.
and finally (now it’s a rant I guess), “losing your home” does not mean “becoming homeless”. the media seems to forget this distinction. rentals are so cheap now in foreclosure areas that people can actually trade up.
let me add one more thing to my last post. how many home buyers at any income level do you think didn’t consider the potential for profiting from the price of their home? everyone else was. there were TV shows about it. as long as they were willing to accept that upside, why do we cry for them when they mail in the keys, move across the street, and rent a similar place for half the monthly cost?
if I lend you 1000 bucks to buy a used car, and you give me back the car instead of the money, aren’t you screwing me?
Mopar – very true
but I also feel that the masses got swept up in the media’s frenzy of: “Just follow the American Dream and buy a house – it’s the best investment you will ever make, take advantage of low rates, and willing banks looking to loan now,now,now”
It wasn’t just poor folks who didn’t speak English who got screwed. I am college educated and with common sense and I admit I didn’t fully understand what my mortage broker told me about the mortage I was trying to obtain 5 years ago. Luckily, I have some sense about things and I didn’t get looped into some crazy ARM or Interest only mortgage and have a sensible mortgage – but still there were plenty more who did get swindeled(sp)
mopar — I think you get to the heart of the blame argument — it’s really hard to ever know who was tricked and who was willfully blind. I’m not saying people knew they would default. Everyone, from their own perspective, looked at two kinds of houses, crappy and awesome. if you take a 30yr fixed rate mortgage you get the crappy one; take the weird mortgage and get the awesome one. as long as prices are going up you can refinance anyway. so who cares, prices always go up. worst that can happen, you move out. Take the awesome one. To me this is clear as day. It’s not a fraud, it’s just the natural mentality in a speculative boom.
ALL of the sub-prime borrowers had failed to pay bills in the past, or they wouldn’t be labelled sub-prime in the first place. Plus, the downpayments were usually very close to zero, and often the buyer actually got cash at closing.
Admittedly there were some fraudulent re-fis, but I think they’re way out of proportion in the news.
Yes, mopar, that’s the worst part of it all. I have a lot of sympathy for them.
Homeowners got screwed, they were victims of fraudulent mortgage brokers who targeted certain groups for subprime loans, amazing numbers of them speak zero English, they lost down payments and closing costs.
Only a tiny percentage of people would have knowingly bought a house they knew they would default on later — probably the same group that rents a house with the intention of never paying the rent and staying until dragged out by the sheriff.
Go to hell, Whuh. And STFU before you get there. Nothing you post ever makes any sense.