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Wednesday,
March 18, 2009
(Cont'd from
above)...
Jim (cont'd):
Now I feel like I've
got a fighting
chance to rebuild my
reputation from what
looked like a
reckless call...
Why do I feel more
confident?...
Because, today, Ben
Bernanke has pretty
much given you and
everyone else in
this country a 4%
mortgage... by
putting $1.1
trillion to work in
the bond market...
And sent the stock
market, that was in
a tailspin, into a
90-point rally... as
it sunk in that
housing could, at
last, stop
depreciating, and
maybe bottom, in 105
days...
Now, you knew my
plan... the 4%
mortgage plan for
everyone... Not just
for what some would
call "deadbeats"...
but who I would call
"fighters" trying to
stay in their
homes...
Now, a 4% mortgage
that would put some
umpf... some demand
in the housing
market... that's
what I wanted. But
guess what?...
Bernanke's basically
done just that at
today's Fed
meeting... The man
we trust... the guy
we see as this
nation's economic
savior... the man we
put on the $100
bill... He's
skirting
everybody... he's
taking matters into
his own hands...
He's getting
going... he's
getting you a 4%
mortgage in every
pot...
I cannot believe the
brilliance of this
move!...
You know what I
say?... To heck with
the $100 bill! Let's
put Bernanke on the
G-note (i.e., the
$1000 bill)...
Frankly, I cannot
believe you're
watching me right
now, instead of
filling out the
mortgage papers to
refinance, as I
spent the day doing
it, before the show.
I'm getting in the
queue... I'm going
to buy a house on
the way home
tonight... I'm going
to make a real
statement...
Bernanke is on the
team, man... He's
spending fortunes...
He's not just going
to ignite the
housing market with
this move... he's
not just pouring
fuel on the
Kingsfords... He's
dousing them with
gasoline and setting
up a genuine
economic
explosion...
Bernanke's, at last,
boarding the
helicopter, and he's
showering us with
money... He truly
gets it...
From the very
beginning, I have
said that, no matter
what happens in this
world, until we get
house price
depreciation to
stop, we will not be
able to rid the
system of toxic
bonds that are
poisoning the
balance sheets of
our banks...
But, you know
what?... Suddenly,
these bonds won't be
so toxic anymore...
I'm mean, they're
made up of
mortgages, and we've
got a rally in the
bank stocks that's
gone on for days...
50% up... It makes
sense... It could be
just the
beginning...
Especially with the
return of the uptick
rule, mark-to-market
lite, and the
banning of the
insidious SKF...
that double short
that wrecked so many
bank stocks...
How important is
this?...
Look, in the old
days, I used to run
a hedge fund... of
course, some say I
still shill for
hedge funds which I
find hysterical...
that never watch the
show... and I can
tell you that, if
you want to buy
bonds and make
money, you have to
borrow from someone
to do it... Banks
don't want to do
it... but, just now,
the Fed is starting
a program that will
lend hedge funds all
the cash they need
to buy residental
real estate bonds,
among others...
And I'm telling you,
as a former hedge
fund manager, hedge
funds would be nuts
not to borrow from
the Fed to buy these
bonds... because
Ben's "4% for all"
mortgage rates
should detoxify all
of them. Starting
today, these
mortgage bonds are
being remediated.
The patients are
going "cold
turkey"... And,
instead of a million
little pieces, we
have billions and
billions in big
profits... and,
unlike the book,
it's not phony!...
Now, you'll hear all
kinds of
genuine Wall Street
jibberish
about how this is
going to hurt the
dollar... to which I
say I actually kind
of hope it does,
because the strength
of the dollar has
kind of made our
companies kind of
non-competitive with
the rest of the
world... Make the
dollar weaker, and
cheaper for
foreigners to buy
our exports, and
more expensive for
us to import the
things from the rest
of the world.
Now, you'll also
hear people come on
TV and say that the
Fed has gone
overboard... that
it's going nuclear,
and chemical, when
traditional weapons
would be good
enough... You're
going to hear people
say that Bernanke
has lost his
discipline... you're
going to hear people
say that Bernanke
has lost his mind...
You know what I say,
in all
seriousness?...
I say, my bologna
has a first name,
it's O-S-C-A-R...
and my bologna has a
second name, it's
S-H-O-R-T-S-E-L-L-E-R-S...
That's the only
people who would be
spouting that
nonsense... Better
to do too much than
to do too little...
You're going to hear
that this won't work
either. Forget what
they say and listen
to what I know...
I know that Fannie
Mae is raising the
conforming rates to
more than
$700,000... I know
that there are fewer
homes being built...
some are just
apartments... that's
the number that we
had yesterday... I
know that we had
three years of pent
up demand for
homes... I know that
we can take a 4%
loan, and buy on a
refinance...
I know that
Toll Brothers (TOL)
and
Lennar Corp. (LEN)
and
Pulte Homes (PHM)
and
DR Horton (DHI)
and
Centex Corporation (CTX)
simply aren't
building enough to
satisfy demand, if
we all go to the
bank and get a loan
and refinance...
I know that I want
to get on a plane to
the two hardest-hit
areas, Florida or
California, and I
want to buy a home
right now...
I know, above all,
that the big
embarrassment... the
big worry of my
career... may, at
last, be behind me.
Because Bernanke has
taken my absurd, my
ridiculous... called
shot of a housing
bottom, and turned
it into an odds-on
favorite to be
true...
Don't touch that
dial, but start the
paperwork... The
queue for the 4%
loans will be as the
crowds as the big
spring selling
season will be
large...
Ladies and gents...
It's time to buy a
house.
The bottom line...
▼ ▼
▼ ▼
▼
 The Bottom Line!:
The man on the $1000
bill... that's
right... with
Bernanke on the side
of the homeowners...
with the Fed
basically adopting
my 4% mortgage
plan... Get ready
for house prices to
bottom 105 days from
now... And my
nationally
embarrassing run in
with house price
depreciation may at
last be over.
[verbatim recap]
[end of segment]
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