paying down the mortgage debt

Sounds logical. De-leveraging into an environment of declining asset values is very rational. Leverage is a killer in a down market.

Symtpoms of Keynsian failure according to Chris Whalen....

ZIRP, which stands for the "zero-interest rate policy" maintained by the Fed. We also refer to it as post-Keynesian flailing, but whatever. In past issues we've spoken about the pernicious effects of the Fed's low interest rate policy, a trend that is now visible in the shrinking NIM visible in the financial statements of banks, funds and anybody else who is interest rate sensitive. Going back to the days of President Abraham Lincoln, the only reason to hold fiat currency was the old fashioned notion of earning a rate of interest above the rate of inflation, something the Fed currently prohibits c/o the ZIRP zombie NIM drip for the banking industry. Big picture, the carry trade enhancement from ZIRP is a subsidy for credit losses by banks that comes out of the pockets of savers.

http://us1.institutionalriskanalytics.com/pub/IRAMain.asp

I don't understand how discouraging saving is a Keynsian failing. It's a goal of Keynsian monetary policy to discourage saving. (There may be an argument that this isn't the right strategy, but to act like it's a big surprise that a policy discourages the thing it's designed to discourage is either dumb or dishonest.)

Too much spending....

and now according to Chris Whalen we have a lost of confidence in debt, driven in part by zero interest rate Fed policy. The Keynsian flailing(not failiing) was from his website.

This is a great article quote..

We remind our readers of the common political roots of all zombies because central banks and other GSEs are fascist constructs (see Yahoo Tech|Ticker "Fascist" Fed Will Put the Squeeze on GE Capital"). The lack of accountability and corruption so visible in the handling of the financial crisis in the U.S. and around the world, to us, simply proves that many of our financial and governmental institutions are becoming more and more fascist -- this because they follow an authoritarian form of governance, as opposed to democracy or classical liberalism. For example, when the officials who run the Fed oppose public audits of their operations, they reveal the fascist, authoritarian tendencies of the central bank for all to see. A monetary authority in a democracy that truly serves the public interest has nothing to hide. But instead concealment is the current priority for central banks from Washington to Beijing -- both because of the excess of debt and the paralell growth of official corruption.

seems to me this is the time to borrow more money in a refinance...

oddly enough, I am refinancing and lowering my principal amount by a small amount lol.

gcondo, that's very difficult considering the current underwriting environment. Cash-in's are more popular than cash-outs. People are putting up cash to qualify for a rate reduction in those instances where home values are a problem for LTV thresholds...

gcondo, the problem with taking money out, is that anything you invest in will earn less than the mortgage rate, unless you take on risk..

I have not had much problem yielding more than 4% this year. Sure, there is more risk, but 4% is not difficult.

Anyway, with all this talk, I too have lowered my principal amount, so wtfdik

GCONDO, Mortgage current coupon is 3.6% which implies a mortgage rate of around 4.25.
If you are doing an equity take-out then the tax deduction is limited to 100K. So if we ignore the 100k,
which really was intended for home improvements one would need a return after tax of 4.25. I don't see it..But certainly interested in what investmetns you believe meets the test.

if you like equities... MO is currently yielding over 6% with a decent long-term uptrend going.

I like natural gas long term.

risk? sure - reward, probably.

And more

truth, making it easy for you

columbiacounty ,you seem upset. Is it because aboutready wished us farewell? Conveniently timed the morning she was going on vacation?

She'll be back. She wished streeteasy farewell two years ago. Jsmith posted the link to her farewell, didn't you see it?

rs

cc