Here is a another CNBC video from this morning. They had Donald Trump on who said that the banks are not lending. His story makes a lot of sense. He says basically that the banks will finance you on a foreclosed home, I presume to get it off of their books, that makes sense. He also says that the banks will not finance people on a home purchase, I presume because those homes compete with the foreclosed homes they have on the books.... This makes rational sense from the perspective of the bank.... and also means that the govt is wasting our tax dollars by giving it to these banks with the expectation that lending will start again. The lending won't resume until the housing bubble collapses and the glut of foreclosed homes works it way through the system. Otherwise, why would the bank lend money to compete against its interests.
To me it kind of like this
You're going to buy a car from a GM dealer but then you have to cross the street to the Ford dealership for financing. Why in the world would Ford finance a GM car for you. That's exactly what appears to be happening. Banks have changed from being lenders to being home sellers. Its a shift that I don't think govt policy has caught on to and banks are taking in tax payer money promising to lend when in fact they can sit on the money, dry up credit and basically form a monopoly on home selling. Can't sell your home, short sale or otherwise, too bad, we'll foreclose and we'll sell it because we're the only game in town.
I think Jon Stewart should have Donald Trump on to talk specifically on this issue... When Trump began spilling the beans, CNBC cut him off after only 30 seconds.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1 … amp;play=1 Trump talks about No lending at 4:19 minutes. He also talks about people looking for work who have lost their pensions earlier in the video. [edit: but it does look like this was meant specifically to be a 5 minute piece. I wish they had more time to go into specifics with him on this issue]
PS I have noticed that CNBC is getting a lot better at interviewing guests on their shows. There is a lot less talking over a guest who is presented a counter viewpoint... Its making the shows way more interesting. I've stopped throwing my foam bricks at the TV when Kudlow is talking.
Last edited by Diesel_dyk (2009-04-23 14:36:48)