Time for contrarian thinking?
I try to be as objective as I can when it comes to real estate and business and I don't think much of current market conditions nor the chances of those conditions improving in the immediate future. But I keep reading articles like this one in today's New York Times that proclaim that our doom has arrived and nothing will ever be the same again. In my limited experience, the more our media espouse common wisdom, the more we hear, "everybody knows", the less likely it is to be true. So if "everyone knows" that Wall Street's goose is cooked, that real estate is falling off a cliff and that we're in for a spiritual revival where the greedy, ambitious folks who brought the region such great wealth are going to retire to monasteries and contemplate their sins, the more a suspicion grows in me that perhaps the contrary will happen: greed won't disappear, the appetite for showy ostentatious houses won't diminish and Greenwich will continue on, unslowed. I don't believe this, mind you, but I'm beginning to wonder.
Posts
4 comments:
"...greed won't disappear, the appetite for showy ostentatious houses won't diminish..."
These are human traits and they have been ever so. Just read about ancient Rome and you will realize that for thousands of years and thousands more to come that human nature has not/will not change(at least until mankind or the sun incinerates the Earth).
HOWEVER, at least for the forseeable future, the number of people that can afford ostentatious houses has diminished.
There will always be people with money, but the free access to credit swelled the ranks of "wanna bes" and that is what drove the economy the last six years. Those folks (and their credit driven spending are gone).
Broken record now turned off...
Retired IB'er
What I find amazing about the media coverage is that they have all adopted the narrative that all is lost. I am in the short-term money markets and I KNOW how close we got to the edge two weeks ago. And we may even be closer today though I am a bit more hopeful.
What I will find interesting is just how long it will take that narrative to shift should Obaman prevail in November? Will they start looking for better news in November or will they wait for the Inaugeration after which The One can deliver us from our fears.
I don't wear a tinfoil helmet but I can't help but wonder if the media coverage would be a bit less negative if Obama were ahead by an insurmountable 20 points in the polls?
Tom
I've complained for years that the mainstream media (MSM) was so determined to get Bush that no good news about the economy was permitted. The NYT, for instance,consistently buried good economic news well within its business section and trumpeted bad news on the front page. The MSM placed the country into a recession at least two years ago, then expressed surprise when polls showed consumer confidence was down. As to your specific question, rest assured that we'll see better news when Obama takes office. I will find the links tomorrow but when unemployment was at a certain rate (5.9%, I think) under Bush, the headlines were, "unemployment rises to highest level in six years". When unemployment was at the EXACT SAME RATE during Clintons administration, the headlnes read, "Unemployment lowest in years". Same thing when the Obama arrives. But it may not work, this time.
I - for one - will just have to keep listening to Mr. Sean Hannity - Mr. Rush Limbaugh - Mr. Bill O'Reilly, Mr. Steve Forbes - Mr. Larry Kudlow - and a few others - to tell me what is really going on in our world.
'Obama' scares the hell-out-me!
Post a Comment