Party photos

Ok, I know I'm late. But they're here! We had a lot of fun. Two dozen attendees. What amazed me is that the whole group was upbeat and the type of people everyone would enjoy hanging out with. None met the stereotype of a "perma-bear."

Edit 3:00pm 10/15/07:

I was asked to go over the conversations and discussions of the event. Quite a bit of the discussion was focused on where to put one's money during the period of inflation that is coming. To say the least, the metals crowd got their word in. ;) We also discussed low cost investments in "sin." E.g., cigarettes, alcohol, and other businesses that do well in downturns.

A side conversation I had during this meeting was about why I still believe recession versus depression. To say the least, I was in the minority. Many thought the banking system and real estate would result in too sharp of a contraction to avoid depression. I debated back why deposit insurance (FDIC), technology growth, and a few other industries would keep us only in recession.

We also talked about how we arrived at this point. How could we have gone away from down payments on homes. I think we talked 45 minutes about the banking system. Probably every aspect of what should be regulated and what shouldn't.

Another side discussion was how long had people been waiting to buy a home. What did people do for a living and why were they safe/not safe from layoff.

I know there were a dozen conversations going on that I couldn't participate in, so I invite the attendees to put their memories in the comments section.



So to the photos! Yes, the eye bars are silly, but I think as this downturn gets momentum... people will be angry. Many thanks to Mike for these photos! If you have photos, send them to wannabuy3@gmail.com. I'll happily send photos to participants sans the eye bars.

Good food and good fun:





























Hope to see everyone at round 2 in a few months.

Got popcorn?
Neil