Mortgage Commentary

[CO Hummer]

Originally Posted by Adam in CO

Overall, I think we will see the most movement in mortgage pricing this week tomorrow or Wednesday due to the release of the inflation related indexes and Mr. Bernanke’s testimony Wednesday.

Hmmm. Bad news for brokers. Thinking about this made me realize that most suicidal people are undecided about living or dying, meaning that one state doesn't appear to have any significant advantage over the other. Suicide can seem to be the only way out of problems, the ultimate solution and what is suicide but an exit? Individual suicides preceded by such thoughts are fairly common events that affect all socio-economic groups but mass suicides are typically thought of as rare and affecting only brainwashed dupes belonging to strange cults. In fact, mass suicides are much more common than most would expect and when the scope and chronology is extended to encompass entire societies then the prevalence of mass suicides is nothing short of a pandemic of global proportions.

The basic requirement for a mass suicide would be three or more people killing themselves together with a common element or interest and all or most of the members going along with the suicide willingly at the same time. Mass suicide comes in multiple forms, it can be politically driven, by dictators for instance. It could be argued that regardless of the motives behind World War II the practical outcome of that horrific conflict was to nearly drive the German people to mass suicide / extinction and the Russians were a close second. So war is often another form of mass suicide and one with millions of eager participants thus making it the largest form expressed.
Mass suicide can also be seen in the case of archaic cultures around the globe, just like the languages that go with them, dying off by the thousands. These cultures have been suddenly exposed to radically foreign influences and the whole panoply of Americanized cultural expectations brought to them from Hollywood via TV, movies and radio. This quickly generates cultural perversions and self-destructive demands; instead of farming, fishing or handmade crafts they want movie star fame, fast food, gold-tone watches and big screen TVs. But whether it's a sudden death or a slow die off, it really only matters for the newspaper headlines because the end result is still a mass suicide.