@bubba: Bubba, you don't have to go the Fox News bs re: Obama's credentials–just let that sh*t go–it's stupid and disingenuous. It's okay to mistrust Obama on his merits…I'm a proud liberal and I think the guy is bought and sold, just like any Republican. That's the real issue, we have a captive U.S. government, captive on both sides of the aisle to Wall Street corporate influence, whose aims are not at all supportive of Main Street or middle class people.

I don't know where you saw that number, Paul was away last week and I hadn't seen a total inventory figure between the end of July and today.

Check here: http://vancouvercondo.info/forum/topic/july-2011-…

I think my mistake was thinking things would get better , or at least get back to normal after the us debt ceiling debacle was sorted. How naive!

So@Best place on meth:

Sorry that last post was mine.

Yah but a few days ago we were at 16350. I thought about end of month expiry but that was 8 days ago now. That's why I'm a bit perplexed about the non rise in inventory.

@Anonymous: #98

End of month expired listings always knock inventory down a few hundred but we're about 250 higher than we were this time last month.

"Anyways, I don’t have any RY, but I did stock up on income (preferred and income trusts) back in mid- late-2009, so the yield on my cost basis is quite high. Capital gains are still nice, and I did reduce my position a little bit, but I’m still holding on to those for as long as low rates in the bond market prevail."

I'm hanging on to all my dividend stocks as well, mostly purchased in 2009 and early 2010. Big companies that will hopefully not have to cut their dividend in these crazy times……fingers crossed.

I can only hope that 5 years from now I'll be happy I didn't panic.

Unlike real Estate I don't believe the companies I own are overvalued right now, they've all reported stellar earning and many have increased dividends in the last year.

Well this is funny because I took the plunge last month and opened a trading account .. bought my first Etf in July. Yes once again my timing is impeccable! Actually would be in good shape if o hadn't sold TVIX last Wednesday at $23 .. it has doubled since then ! Not gonna do anything this week but will be buying more corporate bonds and cheap oil companies soon

"When markets collapsed in 2008 they took real estate markets with them…"

Housing collapsed when the flow of cheap credit shut off abruptly. The flow of credit ended when it became obvious the assets backing the credit markets – bundled mortgages – were over-rated and over-valued. It can't be repeated enough: the markets collapsed when the curtains were effectively pulled back on the housing/mortgage market, not the other way around.

@Best place on meth: I don't know about angry. Needlessly colorful, yes. Maybe it is you who is taking his missives too literally at face value? He's been writing the same blog entry for two years, he's gotta keep spinning it to keep people coming back.

@vangrl: woops, my apologies, I pulled up the common shares chart That would explain it 😉 Today was a mixed bag for financials preferreds. Some were up a bit, some were down sharply, to various degrees ("sharply" being very relative). Even within the same company, some preferred series were down much less than others, like RY.PR.A vs RY.PR.C. With such drops, you now have to ask yourself why they dropped? Why those, and not others? What will happen next? Holding what you have if you like the income is certainly an option. Some people just need income from their investments, they're not interested in liquidating their capital base to put food on the table. Anyways, I don't have any RY, but I did stock up on income (preferred and income trusts) back in mid- late-2009, so the yield on my… Read more »

@Devore:

You seem to be missing his angry tone when he speaks of "a posse of bond vigilantes, greedy shorts and glassy-eyed retail investor", in other words all the people who are ruining his business.

His new entry is out, another pathetic "you're all a bunch of damned fools for selling, how can you be so stupid" rant.

What a sad, cranky old salesman he's become. Oh well, let him twist in the wind.

Oh well, let him twist in the wind

@Best place on meth: I don't see any change in his position between those two excerpts. In the first one he's saying it ain't right what they're doing, the second one simply says they will do it again (right or wrong). As an investor, you need to keep an eye on what is probable to happen, not what you think should happen. If in the first case you bet on the "right thing" being done, you got taken to the cleaners. Hopefully you also learned a lesson.