"Mostly" cogent? You mean my disdain for NObama? I've got cash for trading and gold... scared of both. "Real" assets will be critical at the time of the great inflation... might suffer big deflaionary decline first, though.
"seemingly," not "mostly." I've learned the hard way that what seems at the time, sometimes doesn't in retrospect. (definitely no offense intended). In our disdain for NObama we are brothers. BTW, I am long cash and (physical) gold too. Am starting to look at snapping up some more neighborhood properties, as I am worried our fearless leaders may print the dollar into oblivion. Houston Real estate is not as ridiculously inflated as the coasts, and rents currently significantly exceed cost of capital.
Don't worry guys - all the problems we've suffered in equity, real estate, retail and just about every other area is due to too much credit, and too much credit alone. Jobs - you know, those things that people used to get a paycheck in return for, aren't relevant anymore. Even with home prices tanking, and people unable to pay their mortgages, let alone extract equity to pay their bills as they did over the last few years, job creation won't be needed, and in fact, millions of Americans can continue to be laid off. Such a relief to know that the underemployed and unemployed will be spending tons of cash on everything from cars to homes to clothes and electronics because credits spreads are narrowing and LIBOR is coming down.
gnome, what about going long cement? if the situation is real dire, like Mad Max type stuff, we'll all need cement to build underground bunkers
I built my new home 18 months ago from ICF (Insulated Concrete Forms). My walls are 14 inch thick solid concrete with 2 3/8 inch foam on either side. The few neighbors I do have giggled as we were building it. I've now had over 100 people come by the house to see how energy efficient and solid it is. This Spring we are going to install the solor panels and wind generator.
Where are you located? Your house sounds interesting. I am very intrigued by green building techniques and living off the grid as much as possible.
if your going to build like that dig down an extra 4 feet and bury a 3 ft concrete sewer pipe under your house with the 4 corners enclosed in a 90 degreee loop leaving to upward openings,draw your furnace and ac air thru the ground first,its always 45-55 degrees temperature below frost line,which would preheat or cool your air before it reaches the hvac unit