Wall Street Blues

Apologies but I need to get a little political today. It must be something about being in the midst of it all here in New York City. Man it's just damn depressing.

With all the reports now coming to light, where were these investigations when all those good people on greedy Wall Street were lining their deep pockets with huge bonus money, were we really all that blind? Brings me back to an image I took back in '99... the other side of wall street.



These people don't give a rats ass about anyone but themselves and they showed that in the first bailout to pay yet more bonuses. I think there is plenty to blame for the state of the nation and after viewing a 60 minutes report on the World Savings Bank, it's simply disgraceful how they were allowed to continue to put these uneducated and poor people into more and more debt they knew they could never dream to pay off.

Also business or lack there of currently across the globe has to be looked at very closely, I for one was and am still not a strong believer in this whole Globalization ideal, this term in my mind is only to the advantage of corporations to outsource services that should have been offered to local business. Oh why would they do that if they could simply take advantage of smaller poorer countries and pay them well below the poverty line and forget about any mention of medical allowance. Now they come crying to the American people for bailouts for their corporations ...Shame on them!!

While I put finger to keyboard in the background we have a Presidential address to congress on the economy. Below is a visual of what I am watching on TV.



I think I can hear the cries in the street far below "show me the money..."

Those interested in reading more about the under handed dealing of World Savings Bank check out his blog at fund my mutual fund.

StimuUS

I have been reading many reports in respect to the state of the US economy and also the fragile situation all over the world, and I must say it makes for very depressing reading. I only have to walk a couple of blocks around my neighborhood here in Chelsea to be made well aware of how it has a flow on effect to local business.


Local retail stores are having endless sales to encourage shoppers although it really doesn't look like it is working very well. It seems every corner you turn there is a "sign of the times" – recent reports have the current commercial vacancy rate hoovering around 14%, this of course in my view is a very conservative estimate of the real situation.

The other night I called my local Indian restaurant for a delivery and there was no answer, the next day I found the reason why, the building was vacant due to lease increase. Talk about kicking them while they are down, it seems no matter the economical climate or vacancy rate stats, rather than supporting a good tenant some would rather have the space vacant until the upturn.

This sort of behavior is not new to the mindset of developers and wealthy landlords, in the past it was called "warehousing". Empty buildings stood vacant for years while their owners waited for the market to improve, rather than reducing the rents. One wonders how deep their pockets are to keep this kind of practice going. Maybe Madoff left some with a few extra dollars to get through the hard times after all.