Crashola #5:
In Britain, new home purchase mortgages are getting to be a nightmare to obtain; banks are demanding a 40-50% down payment for starters.
Nearly a third of housing sales in the US are now either short sales (the bank agrees to take a hit because the value of the house is less than the mortgage amount) or foreclosures, and the rate is far higher in areas where the new house market is considerably overbuilt (like Merced, California and Las Vegas).
The Chinese are starting to move their assets out of the country and buying up gold and hard value items. Can’t imagine what’s going on. Can you? Me neither.