Scaremongering

The MSM seems to have started a scaremongering approach to the credit pop. Yes, a bunch of the data is troubling, but how about this article I just saw today. Foreclosures increase West Nile Virus risk.

So not only do we need to do something NOW to prevent the entire world economy from collapsing, but we also must act now or face the thread of mosquito born illness. This is the kind of subliminal messaging that the media frequently engages in, but it's so common and innocuous that it's hard to notice.

I think reports like these are going to be more common this year, and I think the goal will be to spur action for a bailout. It's not going to work however, rather it will just cause more fear and move popular psychology closer to the bottom.

Comments

  • Don't forget all the articles about boarded up homes and criminal activity taking roost in foreclosed properties. Then there are the stories of the home-owner-associations unable to repair the club-house pool, or poor municipalities having to lay-off firemen, due to foreclosures.

    The Federal Government had better step in fast to prevent a further collapse in housing prices or the whole nation will disintegrate in chaos with no fireman able to douse the fires started by crack-heads squatting in unoccupied McMansions.
  • Geez, you would think they would be happy with just saying how much the neighboorhood comps and/or property values would be affected by foreclosures.

    The degree of scaremongering seems inversely proportional to the fear of the money mongers that they won't infact have a soft landing.

    Can we make an index chart out of that for further evidence? :wink:
  • sniglet wrote:
    the whole nation will disintegrate in chaos with no fireman able to douse the fires started by crack-heads squatting in unoccupied McMansions.

    Isn't that a self-solving problem? City has too many unoccupied homes, crack-heads move in, crack-heads destroy home and kill themselves in a fire. End result: city has right number of homes and fewer drug addicts. And besides, you destroyed a McMansion...not a house with any character.
  • Not to mention, allowing a house to burn reduces supply which causes prices to rise. I think we've found the real solution to prop up prices. Maybe we should pass a law that make some action punishable by burning down the building the crime was committed in. Hmm... what could we make illegal? Oh! I know! Possession or use of books is punishable by firemen coming to your house and burning it down! But I think we can safely exclude comic books from that law.
  • In the original version of the story it was ok to possess books, you just couldn't read them. The Fire Chief had a fully stocked library of books he had never read and proudly displayed them to the main character.
  • What are you talking about? Do I need to send the firemen to your house?
  • They'd never stand for that in the City of Seattle. House burning is not carbon neutral.
  • What are you talking about?

    Fahrenheit 451. What are you talking about?
  • Is that some sort of book? Did you actually read it?

    I repeat, do I need to send the firemen to your house?
  • I just own books, I don't read them.
  • Ha! Who would read a paper dinosaur (as we call them in my house) when you can read an e-book instead? Haha!

    I've got a much better solution. Anyone who is heard grousing about the rain gets their house burned down. If you don't like our weather, you don't haven't to live here. I suggest we place cameras in all personal electronics and stream the videos to a centralized authority which determines whether or not a person is grousing about the weather.

    Even better, we will analyze every citizen for thoughts or opinions which denigrate the weather. The first offense gets your home burned down. The second doesn't every happen.
  • Thought police. That's a different book entirely. Doubleplus ungood.
  • "The MSM seems to have started a scaremongering approach to the credit pop."

    Gee, isn't that a "conspiracy"?

    Where is FreedomLover when you need him/her/it? :mrgreen:
  • "The MSM seems to have started a scaremongering approach to the credit pop."

    Gee, isn't that a "conspiracy"?

    Where is FreedomLover when you need him/her/it? :mrgreen:

    Perhaps I (intentionally) used a stronger term than I really believe, but you'd have to agree that a number of topics are now being linked to the crash. And I personally think that one of the motivations for that (in addition to ratings) is to scare people into action based on the far reaching effects of a full blown credit crash.
  • Thought police. That's a different book entirely. Doubleplus ungood.

    Huh?!? I was suggesting a solution, so unless you are referring to a history nonfiction book written in the future, I'm not sure what you are talking about.
  • Huh?!? I was suggesting a solution, so unless you are referring to a history nonfiction book written in the future, I'm not sure what you are talking about.

    Yes, let's call it 2084.
  • "The MSM seems to have started a scaremongering approach to the credit pop."

    Gee, isn't that a "conspiracy"?

    Where is FreedomLover when you need him/her/it? :mrgreen:

    Oh I'm here when everyone needs me to add fuel to the scaremongering fire. Great Depression 2.0 here we come!~ :P :P :P :P
  • Oh I'm here when everyone needs me to add fuel to the scaremongering fire. Great Depression 2.0 here we come!~ :P :P :P :P

    Speaking of conspiracies! FreedomLover, 3 tongue-sticky-outies should be enough for anyone. Do you expect me to believe that you are sure enough about Great Depression 2.0 to do 4 Bronx Cheers? I'm flabbergasted.
  • Oh I'm here when everyone needs me to add fuel to the scaremongering fire. Great Depression 2.0 here we come!~ :P :P :P :P

    Speaking of conspiracies! FreedomLover, 3 tongue-sticky-outies should be enough for anyone. Do you expect me to believe that you are sure enough about Great Depression 2.0 to do 4 Bronx Cheers? I'm flabbergasted.

    Oh every thing's imploding. Finance, retail, tech-sector. It's all going down man. Didn't you read the story that food stamp applications at an all time high? Prepare for soup kitchens and shanty-towns. Aka Bush-villes. What we need is MASSIVE investment in infrastructure(mass transit, green power).
  • Oh every thing's imploding. Finance, retail, tech-sector. It's all going down man. Didn't you read the story that food stamp applications at an all time high? Prepare for soup kitchens and shanty-towns. Aka Bush-villes. What we need is MASSIVE investment in infrastructure(mass transit, green power).

    Finance is actually beginning to show signs of strength as the banks a doing good evaluations on new clients and current clients are getting a break when they can.

    Food stamps is such a good indicator of economy, makes me want to just wear a tin foil hat and sit in front of all of these indicators.

    Lets just all get our clogs on, grow our hair, and get on mass transit with green power ASAP.
  • Speaking of scaremongering, check out recent "tenant terror" arrests:
    http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/23/BAIU10ALDM.DTL&feed=rss.bayarea
  • One day, Morrow noticed the blade of a saw come through his living room floor, his attorney said. He and a friend managed to bend the blade, which had cut a 2-by-4-foot hole in the floor.

    WTF is this, a Tom & Jerry Cartoon???
  • One day, Morrow noticed the blade of a saw come through his living room floor, his attorney said. He and a friend managed to bend the blade, which had cut a 2-by-4-foot hole in the floor.

    WTF is this, a Tom & Jerry Cartoon???

    Can't be. That situation actually sounds funny.
  • Here's a new take on scaremongering, and it's local too!

    Seattle luxury-condo complex Escala will raise prices

    So what's their plan?
    Developer Lexas Cos. said this week that on June 5 it will raise the asking prices 3 to 7 percent for about 70 unsold units that have been on the market since last spring.

    That's right, units that couldn't sell at lower prices are not having their price raised. And Escala is quite clear about their intentions.
    Lexas principals John Midby and Eric Midby said prices are going up partly to send a message to prospective buyers: If they're waiting to buy until prices drop, they're reading the local market wrong.

    This summarizes the entire article. Local builders realize that people have figured out real estate is a falling asset. Their newest machination is to create a temporal wrinkle where if you buy now it's for a lower price than if you buy tomorrow. Essentially, they are trying to use fear of a higher price tomorrow to drive demand today.

    But didn't we already try this? It was called THE HOUSING BUBBLE. And these are expensive units $500k-$5M. Do the people shopping for $2.5M condos really fall for this kind of ploy?

    If anyone out there is seeing this article and decides they need to buy now. Don't! If you do, you are a sucker. And I have a bridge to sell you. :wink:
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