Monday, January 05, 2009

The Tale of Three Januaries

Jan '07 Fed Funds Rate 5.25%, 30yr conforming mortgage 6.1%, ∂ 0.85%
Jan '08 Fed Funds Rate 4.00%, 30yr conforming mortgage 5.9%, ∂ 1.90%
Jan '09 Fed Funds Rate 0.25%, 30yr conforming mortgage 5.1%, ∂ 4.85%

This is near criminal. The Fed collectively forced rates down for one reason alone; to stimulate lending. Talk about unintended consequences. The picture is of course Janus for whom January is named. Fortunately my exaustive search of the intertubz reveals there is another Janus worhy of note; Samantha:


By demand another example of January:

12 comments:

H Simpson said...

first to call a liar

http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/05/real_estate/Lereah.moneymag/index.htm?postversion=2009010510

Property Flopper said...

Rob -

I must protest! Normally I love your photos, but how could you not find January Jones worthy of the front page honor? (it's even her b-day today)

Rob Dawg said...

You are correct and the oversight is fixed.

Akira said...

Please.
Enough Ovid for one night.

H Simpson said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
H Simpson said...

2 items

The big three talk doom and gloom about December sales versus a year ago. What they will not tell you is that December is lousy time to sell cars, as people like to wait for spring. The people who traditionally buy in December are independent business owners and contractors who are trying to run up some expenses to offset profits before the tax year ends.

Seeing how this has not been a stellar year, most do not have such a "problem" with excessive profits, so they are less inclined to buy. But the media machine wants to make things look as black as possible so the new administration can look like super heroes. I am not saying all is well, but I think the media is playing fast and loose with facts.

On the good news you can use dept, Looks like the crash in crude oil prices is fixing the wagon of old Hugo Chavez. To the point he had to reneg on the promise to Commie Joe Kennedy to provide free fuel.
www.whdh.com/news/articles/business/BO100459/

Both will get hit with a black eye as they counted chickens before they hatched. This should also slow down the problems in South America Hugo has been causing, which is a secondary benefit for America.

H Simpson said...

Am hearing the tax authorities are calling independents on the carpet about not mailing in their quarterly taxes.

Seems they have not been watching the news. Many of these folks got hammered in q4 and have already overpaid for the year, as their annual income is far less than originally calculated.

Maybe we ought to send these officals some links to the meltdown currently underway.

h.

Mr. Outspoken said...

Your reasoning on December is way off.

1)Toyota and Honda led the sales decreases. Honda doesn't even make contractor vehicles.

2)December was in line with October and November.

3)Do you really believe Q1 will be some V recovery?

4)If companies are not reinvesting profits, that is a significant factor cause, not a statistical aberration. It may not go away soon.

5)If companies recover and start investing, who SHOULD get the credit?

Lou Minatti said...

1)Toyota and Honda led the sales decreases. Honda doesn't even make contractor vehicles.

Yes, that is the bigger symptom. Chrysler is the walking dead, so their drop is to be expected.

As I said the other day, now is a great time to buy a car if you have your financial act together.

Son of Brock Landers said...

Thanks for the cheesecake Dawg. Something needs to lighten the mood amidst the economic carnage.

my quarterly is going in a little lighter than the govt is anticipating for my spouse and i. we learned a while ago that it didnt matter how much was sent, just that something is sent as they are estimates.

Lost Cause said...

Re: photos

How come I am never depressed when I read your blog?

Akira said...

Whatever. I am.
Good night!