Kona Kohala Blog

Remember that old simple definition of insanity, "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."  It doesn't take a large economics trained brain to see that what's been done for the last 18 months isn't working so why oh why are we trying to do more of it?

Him majesty, the president, wants another $50 BILLION in stimulus money for what?  The last $700+ BILLION hasn't helped.  If anything, it's only slowed recovery, it put off the hard decisions that need to be made until now.  The additional money will only put those decisions off a little longer but at the same time, put our country way deeper in debt.  At what point does someone comment that the king has no clothes, this isn't working as planned folks, let's move on to another idea.

As an aside, this president has a major set of you know what's.  First he socialized the financial sector, then the auto sector, at least Chrysler and GM.  Now he's done it to BP, a foreign entity has just been gobbled up by the United States government.  All this money BP has promised for everything from capping the well to cleaning each and every blade of grass in the Everglades is secured by a lien on the company.  Any default and guess who takes over control of British Petroleum?

Obama has taken no responsibility in this mess, zero.  This has all taken place under the direct purview and control of the U.S. government.  It took place on government land, on an operation overseen by a number of agencies of the U.S. government and allowed to rapidly expand because the U.S. government failed to approve any of the immediate measures urgently requested by the governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jingle.

Remember Truman and little plaque that said, "The Buck Stops Here."  I suspect Obama has a similar plaque presented to him by BP and Morgan Stanley and some of the other major contributors to his campaign that says, "The Buck Goes Here."  No recovery in this country until people begin taking responsibility for themselves and their actions (or inactions).

In real estate, we're seeing a little leveling off of the mini recovery we were seeing in lower priced properties.  Prices have begun to stabilize and sales activity right along with it.  The only buyers out there are the ones looking for very good deals and if prices begin easing north again those buyers will disappear quicker than a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.

Don't give up though, prices will go up and down for the foreseeable future.  Everything rests on a sustained jobs recovery and from the looks of things, that's not coming any time soon.  Stay tuned into the real estate market because there will be lots of good deals in the coming days.  We've gotten used to all the foreclosures and short sales out there and now we can expect to see other types of property come on the market.  These are people who for one reason or another have to sell at this time.  Many retirees are looking to minimize their holdings, others have realized that they're not coming back to Hawaii and for what ever reason feel the need to down size.  All of this makes for some very negotiable property transactions.