Peter Schiff Was Right 2006 - 2007 (2nd Edition)

Peter Schiff (Euro Pacific Capital) pointed out obvious issues as a sign of recession risk and no body listen to him.

• too much consumption and borrowing, he recommended to stop consuming and start producing again as cure to stop recession.
• home prices completely unsustainable, temporary low of adjustable mortgage rate (ARM)
• foreigners around the world lending us money for years, we can't afford to pay
• it is not just subprime it's entire mortgage market
• next financial mess: auto loans and credit card debt

Arthur Laffer of Laffer Investment, "he bet that Peter Schiff is WRONG", "you just way off based, there is nothing out there".
Tom Adkins of Remax Fairlawn, will increase 10% home value opposite to Peter Schiff assessment.
Mike Norman of BizRadio Network Host, "have no idea what Peter Schiff is talking about" and he agree with Tom Adkins 10% increase assessment. And he continue to laugh while Peter Schiff address the questions.
Ben Stein, suggested "perfect storm for buyer", said "a subprime problem is a tiny problem"
Charles Payne of WStreet.com, said "the worst is over"

At least we know now that someone (Peter Schiff) identify these obvious signs years ago and no body listen.

Foreclosure Statistics

This is a very disturbing foreclosure statistics courtesy by NeighborWorks America. I would like to share to our readers.

Homeowners Facing Foreclosure

• 1 out of every 200 homes will be foreclosed upon. For a city like Washington, D.C., that translates to 3,000 Washingtonians losing their homes to foreclosure each year. - Mortgage Bankers Association
• Every three months, 250,000 new families enter into foreclosure. - Mortgage Bankers Association
• One child in every classroom in America is at risk of losing his/her home because their parents are unable to pay their mortgage. - Based on information from the Mortgage Bankers Association.
• A slower real estate market can translate into falling prices and home values. As a result, homeowners who opted for adjustable rate mortgages may now find that as their mortgage rate adjusts higher, their home value is lower and therefore refinancing is no longer an option.
• Six in 10 homeowners wish they understood the terms and details of their mortgage better.  - Freddie Mac/Roper poll of 2,031 U. S. homeowners, conducted 2005.
• More than 6 in 10 homeowners delinquent in their mortgage payments are not aware of services that mortgage lenders can offer to individual having trouble with their mortgage. - Freddie Mac/Roper poll of 2,031 U.S. homeowners, conducted 2005.

Continue reading here: http://www.fdic.gov/about/comein/files/foreclosure_statistics.pdf

Top 10 Banks in the US

Just in case you are looking for the Top 10 Banks in the US, here's a list courtesy by National Information Center website.

1. Bank of America Corporation - Charlotte, NC - $2,340,667,014
2. JPMorgan Chase & Co. - New York, NY - $2,135,796,000
3. Citigroup Inc. - New York, NY- $2,002,213,000
4. Wells Fargo & Company - San Francisco, CA - $1,223,630,000
5. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. - New York, NY - $880,677,000
6. Morgan Stanley - New York, NY - $819,719,000
7. Metlife, Inc. - New York, NY - $565,566,452
8. Barclays Group US Inc - Wilmington, DE - $427,837,000
9. Taunus Corporation - New York, NY - $364,079,000
10. HSBC North America Holdings Inc - New York, NW - $345,382,871

An excerpt from Telegraph website "the three - Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and JP Morgan Chase - are the three largest consumers-focused banks on American high streets, and as a result are particularly susceptible to changes in the consumer cycle." (Telegraph, 2010). Where you could see this profits for 2010 wipe out.

Reference:

National Information Center Top 50 bank holding companies (BHCs) as of 3/31/2010. Retrieved July, 3, 2010, from http://www.ffiec.gov/nicpubweb/nicweb/Top50Form.aspx

Top US banks face $30bn of mortgage losses, warns CreditSights. Retrieved July 3, 2010, from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/7583342/Top-US-banks-face-30bn-of-mortgage-losses-warns-CreditSights.html

Joining Domain Network

Joining Domain Network.
01. Please connect the computer to the LAN.
02. Login as local administrator
03. On workstation desktop, select My Computer, right click and select Properties.
04. On System Properties, click the Computer Name tab.
05. On Computer Name tab, click Change in "To rename this computer or join a domain" and enter the domain membership e.g. KINGNET . You need the domain administrator and password to join in a domain.
06. A reboot will be necessary to complete this process.

Login to the domain network.
07. Login using network account e.g. username and password. The username profile should have login.bat in the Active Directory profile.
08. Check if the login.bat execute correctly.

Additional tasks for new workstation.
a. Click on Start, Control Panel.
b. In Control Panel, double click on "Automatic Updates"
c. In Automatic Updates, select Automatic (recommended), set to every day at 5pm. This will run the update every day at 5pm.
d. click OK to update.

Install all security and patches to keep the software current.

Optional but useful tool to install Microsoft Security Essential.
e. Visit http://www.microsoft.com/security_
f. Download and install Microsoft Security Essential.
g. Follow the procedure and accept installation by default.

Double Dip Recession is coming?

I read some articles today regarding double dip recession, very scary and I hope we don't go there.

An excerpt from Yahoo Finance News "the Federal Reserve underscored misgivings about the recovery, saying employment is showing only gradual improvement, the housing market is languishing and consumer spending is increasing only modestly".

It doesn't make any sense to "increase the income tax rate from 35% to 39.6%, the dividend tax from 15% to a whopping 49.6%, capital gains tax from 15% to 2-%, and a death tax on estates from 0% to 55%" (2010, Frum Forum) while in recovery stage. If we keep more money from our income, we are more likely happy to spend it. If the government takes it - we can't spend it. And if we don't spend, we are holding back the growth of the economy.

iPad Customers Security Breach

It is always sold out when I tried to buy an iPad, that's the demand of this new gadget from Apple. Will I stop buying the iPad despite of recent security breach from AT&T Network? I don't think so but I will be concern to know on how AT&T will improve their security approach protecting of customer's personal information.

Excerpt from NYPost.com "A security breach has resulted in 114,000 Apple iPad users -- including high-ranking government employees, CEOs and media personalities -- having their data exposed, Gawker Media’s Valleywag blog reported Wednesday. A group called Goatse Security -- in reference to a old internet sicko photo -- managed to exploit weaknesses in the AT&T network to obtain data from thousands of iPad users including New York Times Co. CEO Janet Robinson, ABC’s Diane Sawyer, film mogul Harvey Weinstein, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and others, according to Valleywag."

I would like to know your thought about it. Please post it here.

References:
Security breach exposes data of 114,000 iPad users including several VIPS. Retrieved last June 11, 2010 from NYPost.com

Google search page just like Bing?

I noticed today Google search page is now displaying an image similar to Bing search page. Though when you check the search result, it goes back to the old form of google search results using the blue URL link and black for text.

For the past years, Google are showing variety of Google Logo Designs from basic, kids, playful, sports, holidays and other designs related to a special day but not the main page image design. Today, you have the option to change the background image by clicking the link located at the lower left-hand corner of the Google.com search page.

Bing search background (excellent photos) from Microsoft started this cool image when they re-branded their search product e.g. Bing search and decide.

It would be nice to know your thought about it? Post your comment.