tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7806136543904112143.post8400306528310228958..comments2023-10-30T09:23:42.803-05:00Comments on Some Assembly Required: SAR #10205Charles Kingsley Michaelson, IIIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04364694465614330540noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7806136543904112143.post-69137522387527726932010-07-26T01:09:58.871-05:002010-07-26T01:09:58.871-05:00The fact that the planet is reaching its carrying ...The fact that the planet is reaching its carrying capacity, with respect to humans, is starting to become painfully obvious. A sobering exercise is to treat the world population as a dependent function of aggregate petroleum consumption, which it ultimately is. As we slide down the oil peak, the required decline in population is dramatic. Barring a new green revolution or a reversion of the first world to third world consumption patterns, this rough estimate will likely prove itself out. <br /><br />Now, if you buy the above, remember, the gov't, the oil companies, and banks have been looking at the real oil consumption/production numbers for years. How much of their behavior and policy today is dictated by the knowledge of what's coming tomorrow? Quite a bit, I'm afraid.OSRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09454944574511999653noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7806136543904112143.post-16591451599416825632010-07-25T10:13:35.231-05:002010-07-25T10:13:35.231-05:00CKM - Wonderful note.
Respectfully
VitusCKM - Wonderful note. <br />Respectfully<br />Vitusibillnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12393569935967702940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7806136543904112143.post-68949982690484252532010-07-25T07:32:59.229-05:002010-07-25T07:32:59.229-05:00Vitus - Long story: The general myth is that the...Vitus - Long story: The general myth is that the Great Depression was ended by WWII, but in many rural areas – certainly the one I grew up in – the Depression was only interrupted, not ended by WWII. When 'the boys' came home” they came home to the same general situation they left. Farms were farms, small towns were small towns. The few factory jobs that sprang up in the local area had been war production related and went away quickly.<br /><br />There was a bit more money around, but most of it was spent buying stuff made elsewhere – and rural America continued to be rural America. The rural America that was still living the lessons of the Great Depression.<br /><br />Children who grew up there, then, tended to learn the same lessons their parents had in the 1930's – about credit, about fiscal responsibility. And those few (born in the 50's more or less) who got a job at the local bank grew up to become conservative bankers with depression era scars. If their bank was not gobbled up by Engulf & Devour Bankholders, Inc. of Atlanta, they are still at it today, making careful loans and happy to be comfortably rewarded for providing a community service.<br /><br />Sounds like science fiction, except I'm talking about – among others – my brother-in-law.<br /><br />ckmCharles Kingsley Michaelson, IIIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04364694465614330540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7806136543904112143.post-20590418407027023182010-07-24T15:24:47.395-05:002010-07-24T15:24:47.395-05:00We're out fiddling, the world teeters toward c...We're out fiddling, the world teeters toward conflagration on multiple fronts, and this lil' Kim "mini-me" fellah threatens to take the entire doomer punchbowl away in one go:<br /><br />"North Korea Vows Nuclear Response If US-Seoul Drills Happen This Weekend"<br /><br />http://www.businessinsider.com/north-korea-vows-nuclear-response-if-us-seoul-drills-happen-this-weekend-2010-7<br /><br />Jes' when I had my heart set on whimper he blows his l'il whistle and orders everyone outta the pool...<br /><br />--aitraderAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7806136543904112143.post-87101264832116918632010-07-24T14:20:18.130-05:002010-07-24T14:20:18.130-05:00Ok, that's two known banks who keep their loan...Ok, that's two known banks who keep their loans on their books.<br /><br />Why is it that all such banks are out "in the sticks"? Random blather about this stuff at http://goo.gl/QPTlibillnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12393569935967702940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7806136543904112143.post-46275642820038642282010-07-24T09:26:03.534-05:002010-07-24T09:26:03.534-05:00Vitus - Good point. I hadn't realized it un...Vitus - Good point. I hadn't realized it until just now, but banks don't actually loan (their) money these days, all they do is act as a broker between the borrower and the buyer of the note.<br /><br />And I know a bank in Upstate New York that keeps 100% of its mortgages. Makes them real careful about the ones they write, gives them few if any losses. They may not make as much money as the churn/brokers, but they don't lose as much, either.<br /><br />ckmCharles Kingsley Michaelson, IIIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04364694465614330540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7806136543904112143.post-15268952834503227992010-07-24T09:10:37.861-05:002010-07-24T09:10:37.861-05:00"Fannie and Freddie...are the entire housing ..."Fannie and Freddie...are the entire housing market... US housing doesn't work without them."<br /><br />A true fact, as we used to say in sixth grade. If you want to pick a salient idea to discuss to illustrate the "new normal" this is it. <br /><br />Pet peeve: The why banks aren't lending issue. They haven't "lent: for years. Since the late 80's, it's been originate and sell. It's still the mode, except the only buyer is the government, ie, Fannie/Freddie. <br /><br />Rumor has it that there is a bank somewhere in North Dakota which does keep loans on it's books.Vitushttp://vituscapital.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com