sound money

“3% Down” Mortgages: They’re Back!

"With the Federal Reserve System buying half a trillion dollars worth of Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac IOUs a year, the mortgage market is flooded with newly created money. Lenders are now offering 3% down payment mortgages. Why, it’s 2006, back from the grave. There is a problem here: the number of mortgage applications has remained flat for three years. So, the recovery is nowhere near a bubble. Not enough people can qualify for loans. The rates are great, but only if you qualify. The time to buy an income-producing rental home is sooner rather than later. But don’t pay retail. Shop." Continue reading →

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Obama Administration Wants to Subsidize Banks to Make More Dodgy Loans

"The Obama Administration is proposing to once again put the economy at risk by subsidizing banks to give mortgages to people with poor credit. Even though we’re still dealing with the economic and fiscal damage caused by the last episode of government housing subsidies! Brings to mind the famous saying from George Santayana that, 'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.' But what’s especially amazing – and distressing – about this latest scheme is that 'the past' was only a couple of years ago." Continue reading →

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QE 3 Moves to Japan

"The Bank of Japan has announced a quantitative easing (mass inflation) QE program that matches Bernanke’s: $75 billion a month in purchases of Japanese government bonds. This is just under $1 trillion a year. But Japan’s GDP is only $6 trillion — 40% the United States’ GDP. This is way beyond Bernanke. For the Bank of Japan, this is QE1. But it is QE3 in the United States. It’s the same policy. The government of Japan has always been Keynesian. Now it has adopted desperation Keynesianism: just like the United States and the eurozone." Continue reading →

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Jeff Berwick on FOX Business: Varney and Co. talking Bitcoin ATM

"Jeff Berwick is on FOX Business: Varney and Co. discussing the value of Bitcoin and his recently announced BitcoinATM project set to launch in Cyprus very soon. Read more about BitcoinATM at www.BitcoinATM.com and read the original press release at The Dollar Vigilante: http://dollarvigilante.com/blog/2013/3/25/worlds-first-bitcoin-atm-is-announced-first-location-cyprus.html " Continue reading →

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Colleges attempt to avoid tuition cost scrutiny by piling on student fees

"Student fees have for years been often criticized as a kind of stealth, second tuition imposed on unsuspecting families. But such fees are still on the rise on many campuses. And though their names can border on the comical - i.e., the 'student success fee' - there’s nothing funny about how they can add up. At the University of California Santa Cruz, where tuition runs to nearly $35,000 for non-residents, students every year pay more than 30 additional fees 2014 including a small charge for what’s billed as 'free' HIV testing. Students at Oklahoma State University are responsible for covering 18 different fees, including a 'life safety and security fee.'" Continue reading →

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The Collapse of the Value of a College Education

"The college system is far from a free market profit oriented system. Almost 100% of colleges take money from government or accept students who receive government loans. This results in colleges being required to meet government guidelines which have dramatically dumb downed the system. The Chinese government has created 60 million vacant apartments through its central planning policies, while the U.S. government through its intervention in the education system has created tens of millions of college graduates with vacant minds." Continue reading →

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NYC Apartment Rental Market; A Shoebox for $2,000 per Month

"I moved to NYC in February of 2011 and found a studio in the East Village for $1,550. A year later the landlord and I agreed to a 4 month lease at $1,650. After 4 months I had not found a new place so signed a one year lease with the hope of moving out and subletting. The new amount was for $1,725. I moved out a month later. She quickly found a new tenant willing to pay $1,900. Let me again state that this is a studio apartment. The room is 11’x13’ with a kitchen and bathroom attached that combined are 10’x7’. The term ‘shoebox’ would be generous. This is a SMALL apartment that is going for nearly $2,000 dollars! In two years the rent increased by 22%." Continue reading →

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Fast food workers stage surprise strike in New York City

"The coalition of striking workers includes employees of McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Pizza Hut, KFC and other major chains, as well as community and clergy groups dedicated to improving the lives of low-wage workers in the mostly non-unionized field of restaurant work. One of the main organizing groups behind the strike told CNN that dozens of workers walked off the job at the Times Square McDonald’s and that the Flatbush Avenue Burger King in Brooklyn barely opened its doors on time Thursday morning. The workers are asking for a minimum pay of $15 an hour and the right to organize and collectively bargain without fear of firing or retaliation." Continue reading →

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