The Smartest Man Online

America is not a place people live. It is a place people work. While America’s lack of family/friends connections and apathy towards other people is probably not a surprise to many, I have just realized how bad the situations is. Currently in my hometown that I have grown up in for the past 20 years, I am now witness to how poorly friendships are maintained. People that I had once considered some of my closest friends, have become an irrelevant part of the past few months here. My college roomate and a “friend” I have known for the past 12 years, has not returned any phone calls, or made any desire to even get together for lunch. While part of me is angry, more than anything, it makes me sad. How is friendship given such a low spot on the totem pole? Is this merely a part of human nature or is it the society we live in that causes such behavior? (more…)

The bottom of the real estate market is near? Are you kidding? The stories by economic journalists who are claiming that the bottom of the real estate market is in sight are pure fiction. They either have nothing else to write or they own a home themselves and are wishfully hoping and praying that their fortunes turn around. Real life is not a fairy tale though, and the economic crisis right now is worse than it has been at any other point. It continues to worsen every day and the real estate market is still in the process of being crushed. (more…)

A media war recently has pitted the former “guru” of central banking against pundits who claim that he is to blame for the current housing crisis. Mr. Can-Do-No-Wrong of the 1990s is now being accused of sacrificing the long term to save the short term crisis that existed when the tech bubble burst. How much of an effect did long lasting low interest rates have on the housing bubble in America, that is now threatening to throw the economy into a recession, or possibly worse? And is Greenspan’s argument that the run-up in housing being a worldwide phenomenon exalt him of any wrong doing in this matter? Those issues are discussed below. (more…)