HEMI6point1
Nitro Member
Subject 1: The housing market
What most people were saying/thinking: Great, I can move into this house and move out 3 years later and make double profit!
What I said to just a couple of years ago: Over time, when the “real estate craze” was picking up there were houses I personally would refuse to pay over $250K for going for $400K, then $500K, then $750K. Condos which are basically “glorified apartments” which seemed overpriced already at $100K ballooned to as much as $300K or more. Soon, people are going to get smart and refuse to pay what’s being asked for these ridiculously overpriced homes. Afterwards, people will get greedy and demand an even lower price for the homes, forcing home owners to sell at a loss.
What a typical response was: You know nothing about the housing market so shut up! And even more grating was “you’re just jealous that other families can actually afford a house!” (Yes, that was actually said to me.
)
And now….
Looks like I wasn’t too off-base. Houses which were once pricey are now being reduced in price by $50K to $100K chunks, in order to look like a “bargain,” but they still don’t sell. Why? Just like I predicted: people got smart, then greedy. However, many times these price slashes mean the home owner has to sell at a loss. Rather than doing that, many home owners would rather let the house go into foreclosure and ruin their credit. That’s why the housing market is in the toilet right now, rather than taking a loss (it’s still something) people would rather let their credit take a dump and just “walk away” and get nothing. And to make matters worse, even the foreclosed properties are still overpriced, IMO.
Subject 2: Iraq
What people were saying/thinking: We’ll go into Iraq and the people will welcome us with flowers and boxes of chocolates!
What I said when the war started: These people are obviously clueless about Arab countries and Arabs in general. When 9/11 hit, a man with a video camera videotaped a bunch of Arab children celebrating…. In the streets of Iraq. After airing only once on the main news networks, the video was pulled, never to be seen again. And these are the same people the many of my fellow Americans thought would be welcoming us with flowers and chocolate.
The biggest issue is that arabs have the damn Kuran stuck in their heads. I know Islam is supposed to be “the religion of peace” but it’s actually far from it. Arabs believe in solving problems by using bombs and quoting Allah, and will be your friend one day then stab you in the back the next, all in the name of Allah. Many times they will go into Israel and blow themselves up, killing innocent people. Oh and these are the people that believe it’s still in fashion to do “honor killings.” The two most infamous ones? Several years ago, an Arab girl living in America for almost all her life visited Iraq to see her family there. Upon seeing her, they took a secret vote, and had her brother beat her to death for “shaming her family.” Her crime? Wearing a skirt a couple of inches above the knee. More recently, a young sunni girl was stoned to death for…. dating a man of a different religion. Yet many arabs feel “this is their culture” and actually think it’s superior to the US. Which is why we are having so much trouble over there: do you really think that those people are going to like what we’re about? Hell no! And it’s not just Iraq, ANY arab country you would have the same problems in!
What the responses were: You’re just being an ignorant racist!
And now….
First off, ignorance is thinking arabs are a race when they’re actually caucasian. Secondly, 3,500+ American soldiers dead. Iraqi people (on video) wishing Saddam was still in power. Recently, an Iraqi soldier was traveling with 3 American troops. The Iraqi, waiting for them to stop, took his rifle and shot and killed the 3 American soldiers. His answer? Allah told him he needed to do it. And as far as the republicans saying “there is a huge terror presence in Iraq,” well there has only been a “huge terror presence” since we invaded! Why? Saddam may be been an a-hole, but he would not stand for ANY other entity entering his country. When he was pushed out of the way, the floodgates opened so to speak and terrorist were no longer afraid to enter Iraq and crowd the place. And there IS a civil war going on there, pulling out would make no difference, Sunnis and Shiites have been fighting for the last 1000 years they’ll be fighting for the next 1000 more!
And by the way, when the great blackout of 2003 happened, and when the bridge in Minnesota collapsed, it entered many people’s minds that it might have been the result of arab terrorism.
What most people were saying/thinking: Great, I can move into this house and move out 3 years later and make double profit!
What I said to just a couple of years ago: Over time, when the “real estate craze” was picking up there were houses I personally would refuse to pay over $250K for going for $400K, then $500K, then $750K. Condos which are basically “glorified apartments” which seemed overpriced already at $100K ballooned to as much as $300K or more. Soon, people are going to get smart and refuse to pay what’s being asked for these ridiculously overpriced homes. Afterwards, people will get greedy and demand an even lower price for the homes, forcing home owners to sell at a loss.
What a typical response was: You know nothing about the housing market so shut up! And even more grating was “you’re just jealous that other families can actually afford a house!” (Yes, that was actually said to me.
)And now….
Looks like I wasn’t too off-base. Houses which were once pricey are now being reduced in price by $50K to $100K chunks, in order to look like a “bargain,” but they still don’t sell. Why? Just like I predicted: people got smart, then greedy. However, many times these price slashes mean the home owner has to sell at a loss. Rather than doing that, many home owners would rather let the house go into foreclosure and ruin their credit. That’s why the housing market is in the toilet right now, rather than taking a loss (it’s still something) people would rather let their credit take a dump and just “walk away” and get nothing. And to make matters worse, even the foreclosed properties are still overpriced, IMO.
Subject 2: Iraq
What people were saying/thinking: We’ll go into Iraq and the people will welcome us with flowers and boxes of chocolates!
What I said when the war started: These people are obviously clueless about Arab countries and Arabs in general. When 9/11 hit, a man with a video camera videotaped a bunch of Arab children celebrating…. In the streets of Iraq. After airing only once on the main news networks, the video was pulled, never to be seen again. And these are the same people the many of my fellow Americans thought would be welcoming us with flowers and chocolate.
The biggest issue is that arabs have the damn Kuran stuck in their heads. I know Islam is supposed to be “the religion of peace” but it’s actually far from it. Arabs believe in solving problems by using bombs and quoting Allah, and will be your friend one day then stab you in the back the next, all in the name of Allah. Many times they will go into Israel and blow themselves up, killing innocent people. Oh and these are the people that believe it’s still in fashion to do “honor killings.” The two most infamous ones? Several years ago, an Arab girl living in America for almost all her life visited Iraq to see her family there. Upon seeing her, they took a secret vote, and had her brother beat her to death for “shaming her family.” Her crime? Wearing a skirt a couple of inches above the knee. More recently, a young sunni girl was stoned to death for…. dating a man of a different religion. Yet many arabs feel “this is their culture” and actually think it’s superior to the US. Which is why we are having so much trouble over there: do you really think that those people are going to like what we’re about? Hell no! And it’s not just Iraq, ANY arab country you would have the same problems in!
What the responses were: You’re just being an ignorant racist!
And now….
First off, ignorance is thinking arabs are a race when they’re actually caucasian. Secondly, 3,500+ American soldiers dead. Iraqi people (on video) wishing Saddam was still in power. Recently, an Iraqi soldier was traveling with 3 American troops. The Iraqi, waiting for them to stop, took his rifle and shot and killed the 3 American soldiers. His answer? Allah told him he needed to do it. And as far as the republicans saying “there is a huge terror presence in Iraq,” well there has only been a “huge terror presence” since we invaded! Why? Saddam may be been an a-hole, but he would not stand for ANY other entity entering his country. When he was pushed out of the way, the floodgates opened so to speak and terrorist were no longer afraid to enter Iraq and crowd the place. And there IS a civil war going on there, pulling out would make no difference, Sunnis and Shiites have been fighting for the last 1000 years they’ll be fighting for the next 1000 more!
And by the way, when the great blackout of 2003 happened, and when the bridge in Minnesota collapsed, it entered many people’s minds that it might have been the result of arab terrorism.
