I am a little suprised that the value of rental property has stayed so flat and that prices for rent have not moved much either. I would seem to me that many will sell their homes, pay off their debts and move into a rental home for a little while, until things settle down a little. Perhaps everyone is bracing for a huge fall, cannot sell their homes if they even tried or they could even be taking advantage of the new interest rates on homes. I just heard about a couple getting 4.7%, now that is like giving money away! I just cannot believe that with that interest rate more people are jumping on top of this. Sure the world will never be the same but we all need homes, food and gas. Yet again, we need jobs to pay those mortgages and get approved for them in the first place.  I just read that the UK may need to go bankrupt like it did in the 1970′s by excessive spending, encouraging people to buy homes they could not afford and let the price of those homes to go up, and then do not put anything in savings for the rainy day government fund. Wow, that sounds like the typical American these days. I still believe its just a correction and not a collapse.

I just found that forclosure are now up over 80% from last year with Nevada leading the way. I still struggle with what to say in this manner. I just mentioned that no one made anyone sign for their mortgage but perhaps the sway or lure of homes coupled with easy credit and the consistent drive to keep with the Jones lead to the national disaster; the Second Great Depression. What to do? Again, let the market take its course. Newspapers and online news seem only to find the latest bankruptcy or the latest real estate failure. Not to fear, we are just going through a tremendous cleansing of the system and hopefully your soul! Move forward with the resolve this year to live within your means and on budget. It can happen. These companies could not do either and hence the closing of so many and a great variety of stores. Next…the farewell address of President Bush. Stay tuned.

This is so far out of my league, but I want to give it a try. I read about that in the 1800′s we are put on a Gold Standard for our dollar. Today, that is no longer the case. Our dollar is backed up on the credit worthiness of our country. Would it be more wise to actually have our worth in Gold, where you could actually turn your dollar in for something very tangible; GOLD? Why did we ever leave this standard. When we suffer times like today, there is debate on the possibility that we cannot pay back our bills. Hence, people are taking their investment dollars and turning to other countries, then our dollar suffers and goes down in value. What ever happened to the line, “Who has the Gold makes the rules”?  Perhaps we need to gold. Then I look at the paper and see that copper is more expensive than gold. Dont we use more copper in wiring etc than that we use in Gold. So now we need a Copper standard. Ok, I am a litte crazy here but we need a solid value to fall back on. Just because we are America may not mean we have all the answers for the world.

This story intrigued me from the WSJ because how should we treat international companies doing business with firms and other countries that do not operate with our norms. The article does not list a single American company, but the US District Attorney is involved so I must assume there was a crime with the USA. The $800 million dollar fine is huge! At any rate, Siemens used bribes to get contracts with China and Russia. Is that not the way business is always done in those countries, especially Russia? Are we to expect the Germans to impose their thought process onto Russia? Once you hit their territory its their rules. Perhaps I am just a novice and since we have WTO etc maybe there is a level playing field. Is the US involved because they are traded on the NYSE and hence the SEC can impose such fines? Too bad this rigorous investigation looked over the Madoff ponzi scheme. So, the question is when is Rome….Do we do business on the terms of the foreign government and their culture or ours? What’s really crazy is that OPEC is a larger scandal than Siemens will ever be. Im sure there is no bribery or corruption there…ha ha.

I have had a hard time coming to a solid opinion on this topic. I really struggle with liberty and my Christian beliefs. It appears the State of Washington has allowed a sign from the freedom from religion organization to post a sign in the Capital Rotunda stating that Christmas and Christianity is a hoax and superstition. It really hurts me to read this. However, it is a public building so can everyone post anything thing they want? Perhaps we should just take down all Christmas decorations and say no one can post anything. If we let one in we have to let them all in. Bill O Reilly was very upset and called our their Governor last week. Again, I do not have a solid opinion yet. I would rather there be nothing than for my children to see Christmas decorations on side and the superstition sign nearby. Just how far should we go. Now we are really going South if you know what I mean.

Government to the rescue……Not again. Let the Auto makers fail for crying out loud. Let the Recession takes its course. Let the market decide if they want these cars. You might be GM but that does not mean you rule the world so much that we have to bail you out. Then again, its not about cars it is about jobs. So now yet again, our government will get to decide which businesses fail and those that will succeed. Ok, so you make a product that nobody wants, that does not last, looks like a joke, runs like a joke and then you come with your tin cup for more cash. Should we be surprised. The market has decided! You make a truck and a Cadillac…thats it. Get over it, no one wants your car! The House of Representatives has approved the plan. The Senate must stand and say sorry, but no go. You are in this with everyone else. Go bankrupt, clear cut your operation and start again. Better yet, get in line with the Venture Capital guys oh you would have so much fun there!