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Oct. 7th, 2005 09:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickI'm going to make less money in interest this year than I did last year. That sucks. It's not because I've been unthrifty... more like the bulk of my debtors are paying me back at a hell of a clip. Yay! But, er, since they're paying me back, my money is going from a relatively lush and amusing 7-9% to an annoying and less-lucrative 4% (at the moment, from emigrantdirect.com) and that takes a big old bite out of my revenue for the year. Also, for yer average self-amortizing loan, the interest part is biggest at the front end, so fresh loans are more lucrative than nearly-paid-off loans. Several of my debtors are going to be paid off around the first of the new year which is good for them and somewhat t3h sux0r for my cash flow situation.
While I'm racking up quite the bank balance (via all the paid-back money), I'm not doing much on the loan-origination front. I don't advertise and I'm not sure I WANT to loan money to new people, even for better interest rates. I don't trust the economy and I don't trust our new Fed chairman that we're probably getting at the end of January, 2006, whoever he or she may be.
Mr. Greenspan may not be the best EVAR fed chairman, but at least he's fairly predictable and doesn't do anything very quickly. He foreshadows during those little statements we get after the FOMC meetings and/or Federal Funds Rate adjustments. While I'm pretty convinced that we're going to hell in a handbasket, we're going there slowly enough for all but the most clueless to see it happening. Beautiful plumage! Anyway, changes at the helm are rarely good and I don't want to be very at-risk while some newbie learns the job or (more problematic) kowtows to Bush for his nepotistic job, flaying what is left of our economy to please the politicians. Since the fiasco of FEMA in New Orleans, I have grave doubts about the ability of this administration to appoint competent people to positions of power. I don't MIND the partisan thing. That's what happens when your party gets the presidency and the congress (55 senate seats, 231 HofR seats) -- it is your time to reward the faithful. D'oh. Politics is all about rewarding the faithful. But... the people who get to have positions of real power need to be able to do their jobs. W has not paid much apparent heed to that annoying little caveat while rewarding the faithful, at least as regards Brownie, and I'm rather concerned that he might do the same with Greenspan's job. (It is possible that there are no competent people in amongst the faithful. Possible, but not entirely likely. I bet there are at least some friends of this administration who do not entirely suck. Pity I can't think of any right now...)
While I'm blindly hoping that we get someone competent, we're still USED to Greenspan. He's been chairman of the federal reserve since 1987, when he succeeded Paul Volcker, and it's quite likely that more than a few of you out there in the studio audience do not have clear memories of any other fed chairman and wouldn't have been able to name Volcker if I hadn't just mentioned him. He's been in office for eighteen years. The financial markets and the people with real money are aware of how he works and reasonably used to it. He's familiar. New is never good in these situations. Never. New is particularly not good now, when we have new bankruptcy regs taking effect, when we have admitted housing bubbles on both coasts, when Merkins have assumed record levels of debt and there are all kinds of wonky refinancing schemes going on and when very few have any savings at all...
Hey kids! Did you know that you can get free comics on matters of finance from the Federal Reserve? It's true. I've sent away for them -- look for reviews in this space as and when my governmentally-funded free financial comics arrive. At least it'll give me something to read while I'm waiting for the 2004 Survey of Consumer Finances to become available online... (should happen in q1 of 2006)
While I'm racking up quite the bank balance (via all the paid-back money), I'm not doing much on the loan-origination front. I don't advertise and I'm not sure I WANT to loan money to new people, even for better interest rates. I don't trust the economy and I don't trust our new Fed chairman that we're probably getting at the end of January, 2006, whoever he or she may be.
Mr. Greenspan may not be the best EVAR fed chairman, but at least he's fairly predictable and doesn't do anything very quickly. He foreshadows during those little statements we get after the FOMC meetings and/or Federal Funds Rate adjustments. While I'm pretty convinced that we're going to hell in a handbasket, we're going there slowly enough for all but the most clueless to see it happening. Beautiful plumage! Anyway, changes at the helm are rarely good and I don't want to be very at-risk while some newbie learns the job or (more problematic) kowtows to Bush for his nepotistic job, flaying what is left of our economy to please the politicians. Since the fiasco of FEMA in New Orleans, I have grave doubts about the ability of this administration to appoint competent people to positions of power. I don't MIND the partisan thing. That's what happens when your party gets the presidency and the congress (55 senate seats, 231 HofR seats) -- it is your time to reward the faithful. D'oh. Politics is all about rewarding the faithful. But... the people who get to have positions of real power need to be able to do their jobs. W has not paid much apparent heed to that annoying little caveat while rewarding the faithful, at least as regards Brownie, and I'm rather concerned that he might do the same with Greenspan's job. (It is possible that there are no competent people in amongst the faithful. Possible, but not entirely likely. I bet there are at least some friends of this administration who do not entirely suck. Pity I can't think of any right now...)
While I'm blindly hoping that we get someone competent, we're still USED to Greenspan. He's been chairman of the federal reserve since 1987, when he succeeded Paul Volcker, and it's quite likely that more than a few of you out there in the studio audience do not have clear memories of any other fed chairman and wouldn't have been able to name Volcker if I hadn't just mentioned him. He's been in office for eighteen years. The financial markets and the people with real money are aware of how he works and reasonably used to it. He's familiar. New is never good in these situations. Never. New is particularly not good now, when we have new bankruptcy regs taking effect, when we have admitted housing bubbles on both coasts, when Merkins have assumed record levels of debt and there are all kinds of wonky refinancing schemes going on and when very few have any savings at all...
Hey kids! Did you know that you can get free comics on matters of finance from the Federal Reserve? It's true. I've sent away for them -- look for reviews in this space as and when my governmentally-funded free financial comics arrive. At least it'll give me something to read while I'm waiting for the 2004 Survey of Consumer Finances to become available online... (should happen in q1 of 2006)
