End of the World (Or Maybe Not) Party

“But really, don’t you (or What) have anything else going on in your life? Or do you really reduce everything to stock and real estate values?”

I can’t speak for The What. I have a lot going on (great marriage, beautiful baby daughter, satisfying career, God’s blessings, etc.). I used to be oblivious to the markets yet drawn to the allure of brownstones. But when I started shopping for a brownstone in Bed Stuy back in 2004, it didn’t take me long to realize that we were in a bubble (standoffish brokers, bidding wars, shifty offer acceptances, etc.). Having took an L in Nasdaq 2000, I vowed not to participate. I could have made money but hindsight is 20/20. I expected the bubble to burst in ’05 or ’06. I was wondering where the hell people were getting all this money from to bid so high on all these listings. So I did a little digging and came accross a few doom and gloom blogs (thehousingbubbleblog, stock-market-crash.net, etc.) that spelled everything out for me. It was all a pyramid/ponzi/number’s racket mathematically destined to fail like all other bubbles throughout history. I refused to participate. I was hellbent, and still am, on saving, waiting and striking during the fire sale.

I like true crime. I especially like true white-collar crime like scams, swindles and mutant asset bubbles. The psychology of crowds, sheep herd behavior and greed is extremely fascinating to me. It’s like those MLM rallys. So that’s why I became so obsessed with the markets, their history and their fraud. We never learn.

But the same can be said about you. Do you have a life outside of brownstoner? You’re always here. I have a 9 to 5 and can only comment during breaks or at home where I have another 9 to 5 (raisin’ the lil’ crumbsnatcher, time-consuming like a 9 to 5 even with the working wife).

I’ll continue to rant (now laugh because Armeggeddon is closer and closer) about the markets and RE prices until I finally purchase a brownstone for what I think it’s worth, not what the Jones’s are paying for them (or if I can no longer hold off wifey). Then we can talk about crown moldings, wainscotting, etc and the nabes they define. But you read a off-market comment from me every now and then. I comment about the restaurants of the days.

So you like that video, huh? Biff’s get-together is very reminiscent of the end of that clip. Everybody just partying away, oblivious about what’s to come. Like What says, “they don’t see that bat approaching their dome piece”, or something to that effect. Not saying people shouldn’t get together to celebrate life day to day, but the mockery of this “End Of The World” reality (not the end per se but definitely the end of our comfortable standard of living for quite some time) invites my teasing.

Have fun tonight! I have an awards dinner to attend but I might sneak by afterwards to spy on ya’ll. Describe yourselves, all of you.

“The world has not come to an end but out way of life has……”

My way of life has not come to an end and there aren’t too many circumstances that would make it come to an end. My way of life is about living in Brooklyn and raising my kids and seeing my friends. Nothing that happens in the economy will change that.

And 7andFive–I don’t think you answered my question. Insulting, threatening and demeaning is not “lack of social skills” it is psychopathic, dehumanizing vileness. Don’t excuse this behavior because he made some good predictions. I will continue to comment that it is obvious that What was quite insightful about the banking system but this in no way excuses or invalidates the way that he has used this information to threaten and demean other readers on this blog. comment about that if you will.

Darkstar: You are right. He did change his POV as the circumstances changed.

7andfive: One thing you (and What) don’t address is the What’s own involvement in the housing market. The What readily admits he was part of the “system” that gave out home loans. If we believe what he says, he made it possible for people to buy into the mutant bubble (real estate or otherwise). He nows says it is all over and everyone will be ass-raped.

When I call him on his enabling behavior, he says no one he helped is underwater. Nice try, but if we are to beleive him, the What – soothsayer of all things finance related – knowingly sold people assets/real estate that he knew would have no value in the coming end of the world as we know it.

There is no way to reconcile that fact that he made a living from the mutant bubble run up, knew all along that it was a sham and now stands on the sidelines and says we all deserve it. Was he an evil person while he was selling home loans? He probably doesn’t think so and he may not have been. But he was part of the problem and now he takes no responsibility. You can’t have it both ways.

7andFive–sorry I must have missed your earlier response.

cobblehiller–there are definitely shades of grey, something I have tried to point out many times in re What’s reductionist rantings. I should have been more careful in my wording perhaps as I am not trying to get people to choose sides so much as look at the sum total of what What says and see his social theorizing as the ridiculous bullshit it is. I very much respect your ability to appreciate the What on his predictive level but I suspect you must agree with me that there is much more to life than what he writes about, and certainly more to people than the value of their houses or stock portfolios. DOW8000 is an especially heinous poster in that he seems to go out of his way to goad and twist the knife and I was trying to get him to articulate what else he cares about in life.

Am I the only one smart enough to call The What on his bullshit? He blabbed about a “Mutant Real Estate Bubble” for months, but only when the stock market started tanking did he start talking about a “Mutant Asset Bubble”. It’s good to follow the market What, but don’t act like you were predicting armageddon when the housing market was tanking and the stock market was still soaring.