Private Skidmark

I'm looking forward to the day when I can use my negative interest rate credit card to buy negatively priced gasoline. I'm guessing there would be supply issues and probably other issues, like widespread cannibalism, before then.

What does that even look like on a futures trading platform? Can you actually enter a negative bid/offer?

Looks like May WTI closed at -$37.63.

Where do I sign up to get paid $40 to take a barrel of oil? Am I understanding correctly people are willing to pay $40 to not have tanker trucks rolling up to their front lawns and unloading?

I haven't been able to convince myself of a good reason the ethics for an individual should be any different than those of a business. I can still pay my mortgage. But CARES says I can give notice to my lender and stop for 6 months, maybe even 12, without bad credit reporting, and without demonstrating any hardship. But other than adding my weight behind pushing the system over the cliff, I don't have a good reason to stop paying. I guess I'm both not creative enough and not malicious enough. Fatal character flaws in the neo-feudal plutocrat panopticon pigpen.

Some time around 2008 they made it a capital offense to use the "D" word. They're allowed to call it the "deepest recession on record" or "five times more severe than the post-war average" or "a recession unlike any other", but calling it a depression is a bridge too far. Guess we can't handle the truth. I suppose it's in keeping with the times. Just like how WHO wouldn't call it a pandemic until it was obvious to every third grader.

Fed announces unlimited QE. The Federal Reserve just pledged asset purchases with no limit to support markets Federal Reserve announces extensive new measures to support the economy.

Braindead headline of the day from Barron's/MarketWatch: The Indicator That Has Predicted the Past 3 Recessions Is Flashing a Warning Sign. Let me get my wallet out to subscribe. 😀

More mortgage market insanity. Last night my lender (I locked a refi on 3/6 and am still watching out of morbid curiosity) quoted a 30-year fixed rate of 5.25% with no points. Around mid-day today they quoted 3.675% with no points. Now they quote 5.625% WITH 2.875 POINTS! Or you could buy down to 5.375% for only 3.75 points! Somebody needs to put a cap in it.

My bank is now quoting a 5.25% mortgage rate. Up half a point from a few hours ago. Up 2.25% from 3/6. Broken.

Holy shit, I locked in a refi over a week ago and have been watching mortgage rates. My lender is now quoting 4.75%. They were at 4% yesterday. 3.5% two days ago. 4% 3 days ago. 3% a week ago. Market is totally broken. The 10-year went up like 15-20 basis points today and the 30-year mortgage rate jumps nearly a full point.

This chump incurred the debt but worked his ass off to pay off around $70k for undergrad and grad. It took me around 10 years. Today's stratospheric college tuition cost is as big a national disgrace as healthcare and the gateway to modern indentured servitude. No question kids should have to work but ass reaming them $20-50,000/year of school is unconscionable.

And it proposes a temporary ban on stock buybacks and dividends.

Also proposes $370 billion of student loan forgiveness, with "a minimum of" $10,000 forgiven for each of the 37 million Americans with outstanding student loans.

Holy shit. At 210 million adults and 110 million under 18 years, that would be "at least" $530 billion/month. That used to sound like a lot of money.