Bits Bucket For June 3, 2009
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The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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Company Focus6/3/2009 12:01 AM ET
Coming: A 3rd wave of foreclosures
The next group of Americans to lose their homes seemed to have good credit and affordable loans. But those families have been walloped by the recession.
By Michael Brush
MSN Money
There’s a simple reason you shouldn’t get too excited about the “green shoots” of an economic turnaround.
In the housing market, a lot of prime mortgages are becoming subprime as a new wave of foreclosures begins to hit. Mainstream homeowners — those previously “safe” borrowers with sound credit who have conservative, fixed-rate mortgages — are getting into trouble at an alarming rate.
In the first quarter, the percentage of these borrowers who were behind on their mortgages or in foreclosure had doubled from a year earlier, to nearly 6%. For the first time in the housing crisis, these homeowners accounted for the largest share of new foreclosures.
Job losses are a major reason once-safe borrowers are falling into trouble. With unemployment likely to rise, the problem will only get worse. So the core challenge at the heart of our economic crunch — a poor housing market that infects banks and the whole credit system — is not going away soon. That’s bad news for the stock market and the economy in general.
“A couple of months ago, a lot of people had hoped that the housing collapse was about over,” says money manager and forecaster Gary Shilling, a well-known bear who called the housing problems early in the cycle. “But it was more hope than reality.”
The 3rd wave of woe
Economists call rising delinquencies and foreclosures among prime borrowers the third wave of trouble. The first two waves were housing speculators going bust and subprime borrowers — those with poor credit histories and some version of no-down or low-down adjustable-rate mortgages — getting into trouble.
Mark Zandi, the chief economist for Moody’s Economy.com, calls the third wave a “significant threat” to the economy. “It is gathering momentum,” he says. “The problem is now well beyond subprime and deep into prime.”
It will cause at least three problems that could shrivel the “green shoots”:
Mounting foreclosures among prime borrowers will destroy their credit ratings, making it tough for them to contribute to growth by spending on credit.
Rising foreclosures will add to an already high level of housing inventory on the market, pushing down home prices even more. That will make people feel poorer, so they’ll spend less. It also will tempt more people to walk away from mortgages, adding to the problem.
Foreclosures will mean more loan losses at banks, deepening the problems in the financial system.
last 2 parts yesterdays bits late
“Foreclosures will mean more loan losses at banks, deepening the problems in the financial system.”
Yep. And cash will continue to rule.
Cash will continue to spew forth from the Fed, that much we do know…
The time has come when no equity is worth a helluva lot more than negative equity…Sing It !
“These boots are made for walking, and that’s just what they’ll do. one of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you…”
mikey,
OT, if you’re really interested in who originally wrote that for Nancy, the guy’s name was “Billy Strange” and he was a big part behind the scenes of the 60’s music scene!
He collaborated w/ a LOT of people including the Beach Boys and the Ventures. Very cool music “missing link”.
…very strange
I have a friend with that last name, and her answering machine says,
“If you want to speak to a Strange person, leave a message and someone Strange will return the call”.
I love that!
Wall street was really counting on those Strawberry Pickers. So sad!
O.K that was a cheap shot, funny… but, cheap!
“Mounting foreclosures among prime borrowers will destroy their credit ratings, making it tough for them to contribute to growth by spending on credit.”
So that’s how “growth” happens, huh? Just more spending on credit and everything would be fine. Does this person even realize how stupid that entire line of thought is?
Sadly, the last almost 3 decade’s prosperity has been founded on credit expansion. Now we get to make up for it. Sounds like fun!
Its truly amazing that the PTB thought that consumers could borrow into perpetuity, with ever increasing balances. Now that the credit train has derailed its becoming painfully obvious that the consumer has no clothes and that personal income does matter (I always wonder why corporate net income always mattered when it was ok for individuals to get into hock at unprecedented levels).
It’s even funnier that they thought consumers could do this based on shrinking wages and disappearing jobs.
You know a nation is in trouble when the aristocracy gets this stupid.
Only a few people in Trader Joes today, and NO ONE in Vons.
Clerk at TJ’s said, “thanks for shopping today and giving me job protection”. WOW.
yikes.
Only a few people in Trader Joes today, and NO ONE in Vons.
Which desert? Phoenix?
VONS is Kalifornia.
VONS is Kalifornia.
They have ‘em here in Vegas, too.
Yes, that was quite a pathetic line, but in reality lenders are going to have to loosen credit requirements or face dwindling business. Credit scores are taking a beating, more so than ever before I’d imagine.
…but in reality lenders are going to have to loosen credit requirements or face dwindling business…
They will, as long as Uncle Sap continues to give them endless amounts of free (or near-free) cash……
The 4th wave will be prime walk-aways, people who can afford to pay the mortgage but who finally realize that they are so far under-water they will never surface. It will also be the biggest wave.
Could be, but alot of those loans are recourse loans. In normal circumstances, banks don’t usually try to get a difficiency judgement because the FB doesn’t have enough assets to make it worth the cost. But the well-off probably DO have enough to make filing worth the cost, especially when you add the deterrent effect.
difficiency judgment ??
Cali is non-recourse on primary residence purchase money first D/T…
I wonder if any of us can produce statistics on approximately what volume of existing mortgage loans are non-recourse. Certainly a lot of pretty well-off people did refi’s to lower their interest payments, so they’re in the “recourse” category. Arizona is non-recourse too, but again I don’t think it applies to refi’s.
True, but it’s not in bubbly Florida. The deficiency judgement will be coming here.
Also, in most non-recourse states, only the first mortgage on a primary residence are exempt.
Think about all the HELOCs, 2nd and 3rd mortgages, and flipper/specuvestor loans out there.
The debt collection law firms are going to be busy for a long, long time.
“The debt collection law firms are going to be busy for a long long time”
Trying to squeeze blood from turnips.
Which brings up the next “unintended consequence”….
Do these guys get to a point where it costs more to squeeze the turnips than the turnips are worth?
I think I should change my name, to something like “General FUBAR”.
Here is a Hint…….
Most collection agencies use an auto dialer set to 4 rings which is the default in most answering machines…
so set yours to 5
How many of those Prime mortgages were really cash-out refi’s on the home the FB had already owned? Aren’t refi’s automatically recourse?
So, they take the house (with granite) AND the Escalade…
“I wonder if anyone can produce statistics…..”
“How many of those Prime mortgages were really cash-oput refis………?”
My guess is that there are NO stats on any of this, because they really DON”T WANT TO KNOW.
“There’s always a Arquillian Battle Cruiser, or Corillian Death Ray, or an intergalactic plague that is about to wipe out all life on this miserable little planet, an the only way these people can get on with their happy lives is that THEY…DO…NOT…KNOW…ABOUT…IT.”
people who can afford to pay the mortgage ??
I know a Fire Fighter who did this…Rented his house, made a great deal on a foreclosure and then sent the jingle mail to the lender on the original home…
Seems like a dangerous move for someone in a “public trust” position, a Fire Fighter.
There is a guy from TSA who told me he did something similar. Isn’t TSA part of DHS? Shouldn’t a person who’s a law enforcement professional be held to a higher standard?
I thought it was here on the HBB were it was explained that TSA is a *rule-enforcement* agency, not *law* enforcement
RE: Shouldn’t a person who’s a law enforcement professional be held to a higher standard?
In the town next to me, 8 out of 12 man department falsified their EMT and CPR certifications, meaning they, with the chief’s complicity signed off as taking the appropriate re-cert classes when they didn’t.
So for like 3 years the ambulance service which was run by the cop department didn’t have certified responders.
Then, during the investigation it was subsequently discovered the recently “retired” chief along with a sargent never purchased a computer for which the dept. received $6k in Homeland Security Funds.
Whistleblowers got ignored.
Nobody has since been fired.
Townspeople refuse to get involved because of the fear of retribution.
But if your persons value system lets them lie about their state mandated work requirements, do ya think they might just have a tendency to lie on the witness stand when the situation warrants it?
Higher courts are now debeating the issue…
So to higher standards exuded by law enforcement personnel, here’s a big middle finger to the Hamilton Mazz boyz in blue.
But you just know they’re far more qualified to be flagmen than…well, flagmen!
Amen hd…
Townspeople refuse to get involved because of the fear of retribution.
Sounds like a heck of a place!
The 4th wave will be prime walk-aways, people who can afford to pay the mortgage but who finally realize that they are so far under-water they will never surface. It will also be the biggest wave.
—————————————————————————-
Americans have to keep up with the Jones’s. damn it…if ole jonesy ain’t gonna pay his mortage and walk I’ll be damned if I am gonna stay in my POS house and take it in the shorts. I’m walking too and I don’t give a damn what anybody else thinks.
But First they have to ‘get’ that the prices on their homes isn’t coming back, and most of them believe, “all homes keep going up”
paraphrasing..
What happened to the Alt-A wave? I thought we were just waiting for them to really get going. Are the primes with job losses jumping ahead in line? Didn’t they learn in kindergarden that they shouldn’t do that?
polly, there’s a great chart showing the default-rate ramp by loan-type; think it was posted yesterday.
I’ll dig it out and repost shortly.
third chart down on this page:
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/05/29/56408
To summarize, Alt-A and Option-ARM have spiked up hugely; prime still looks like it has barely started. But the tiny up-tick in prime seems to have garnished more headlines.
Does anone know if Canada is recourse or non?
Its at times like these when having multiple passports can come in handy.
Websites I checked suggest that deficiency judgments are available in all Canadian provinces, and that non-recourse loans have always been difficult to obtain.
My dear gf is nesting. About to pull the trigger on a $200K ranch in Ontario, 95% financing and all. Not sure what the rules on domestic partners are, but I suspect I am close to the line. I’ll have to watch my step to avoid being involved in this debt.
At least my bachelorhood is in no danger!
I’m the one with cash, and it will stay in the US. We agree on all things in the bedroom and kitchen, but little about the economy. It’s different in Canada, ya know.
Blue Skye
Soon to be known as Blue Cabana Boy.
Blue Cabana Boy
Can you really stumble into official domestic partnerdom when she lives in Canada and you live in the US? That seems a bit weird. Or do you have residence there and citizenship in US?
“Can you really stumble into official domestic partnerdom when she lives in Canada and you live in the US? That seems a bit weird.”
Yes, very odd indeed. It doesn’t make any sense.
I do not know what the rules are in Ontario, but in NY you can do yourself in if you are not careful about your name being on household bills. I expect to winter there in future, so it’s a consideration. Have to limit it to six months if I’m to avoid the tax man. Hardly a consideration though once I’m fully retired. If the US goes VAT, it won’t make any difference.
Partnership would also give me health benefits. It’s a consideration. Of course her tact is marriage, but I’m slippery that way.
I’m just a scardey cat, scared of debt, scared of remarriage, scared of taxation, etc.
Blue Scared Cat Cabana Boy. Oh Boy.
Hahahaahah!
Oh, dear, dear Blue Skye….I love a good drama…
this is gonna be funny. I hope.
General Rule of Thumb……NEVER “move in” with the G/f, or visa versa.
Besides the “domestic partnership” issues, there’s the “domestic violence” implications.
Seems that if there is ANY evidence of “violent behavior”, it’s considered “domestic violence” if you are co-habitating; but have a slap-fest with your g/f, it’s “battery” if it is between a couple that live in seperate households.
In a common sense world, common sense would apply, but it seems that the police would rather wrongly charge a million guys with “domestic violence” and haul them off to jail, than make a once in a million error on a judgement call.
So,
-Any bruises/bleeding, guy goes to jail.
-Any damage to property, guy goes to jail
-Any damage from objects being thrown at ANYTHING, guy goes to jail.
True story……g/f gets into argument with b/f in the garage, he gets p/o’d and throws his hammer onto the workbench, knocking a hole in the sheetrock behind the bench…..g/f “has fear for her safety”, call the cops. Guy gets hauled off to spend the weekend in jail for “domestic violence”.
Disclaimer: I’ve never been accused or convicted of any kind of violence, but I’ve been known to throw a tool when I’ve been po’d at something (usually the corroded piece of crap I’m working on).
It sounds to me like you guys disagree on more than just the economy. Might think about telling her, ya know?
RE: Seems that if there is ANY evidence of “violent behavior”, it’s considered “domestic violence” if you are co-habitating; but have a slap-fest with your g/f, it’s “battery” if it is between a couple that live in seperate households.
On the Federal BATF gun transfer form, you have to answer whether you’ve ever been arrested-that’s arrested/NOT CONVICTED on a charge of domestic assault.
Answer yes-and you can kiss your 2nd Amendment right to purchase a firearm in a licensed gun shop good-bye.
So be sure to take that lugie in the eye with a great big smile and nothing else!
Haha GSFixer, I’m not likely to loose my temper in the garage, but I hear you. I’d just claim to be an illegal alien domestic servant.
X-GSfixer is a tool thrower when annoyed at corroded pieces of carp? Do you also use colorful language when throwing said tools? That’s what I do.
There’s nothing quite like a well-launched expletive when tossing a crescent wrench across the shop.
Actually Polly, she needs to do what makes her happy, and I need to keep my trap shut and enjoy the companionship. It is no good to try to talk someone out of house lust.
I’m just frustrated because I found debt free living in a rental more attractive than I think I will find debt prison visitation.
The mania is pervasive.
I’m not likely to loose my temper in the garage, but I hear you.
Shoots, IIIIII am.
I love to fiddle with machines and gadgets and make shelves and tables and stuff, just tinker around—except not electricity, because that’s magic and not comprehensible to me–and EVERYONE knows that when you fiddle with tools and machines and stuff you sometimes have to bellow profanity and fling tools around and get dramatic.
That’s how the machine knows you mean business! What sort a candy-a*ss confronts a balky situation with dainty little murmurs of ‘Oh, shucks’?
*makes dismissive gesture *
Also, I must say, X-GSfixer, we already know your ex was, and surely still is, a total psycho. So that’s a more narrow example than most of us have to deal with. (I hope.)
Like Toco Bell used to say…
“RUN for the Border!”
Hahahaha
I was thinking more about the implication that she thinks you guys are going to get married and you have no interest in going there. You would be amazed at how deluded some women can get about that sort of thing.
Of course, it could just bring to the present an unhappy scene you would rather leave in the future, but I am generally in favor of women not deluding themselves. Men, too, of course, but you aren’t the one who may be deluded here.
Just a warning, NY law residence law used to be a lot more complicated than not being in the state at least 6 months of the year. There were all sorts of rules about residence being established if you were there more than 30 days a year if you had access to a place to stay during other times. Might be worth a quick chat with an accountant to get the low down on the current situation.
Pollly, just so you are not overly concerned about personalities, we’ve had the frank talk. I tell the truth, I was married 32 years to an untreated mentally ill woman and it just about killed me. I stuck in it and God help me she left me and the kids while I was still breathing. I sometimes wake in the middle of the night, drenched in sweat, from a dream that I am still married to that woman. I can love her, and I can do it well, but the marriage isn’t in me. She hopes, but not unrealistically so. Happy part time she says is better than miserable full time, and she has the experience to judge. In the meantime, I’m in therapy and loving it. We are able to talk quite well. Both been around the block a few times.
I’m still miffed that she will drop the pen on a mortgage, but I suppose if she bellies up and I loose my mind, I can bail her. Just seems a waste.
Then again, she may turn out to be crazy too and I will run like hell.
Disclaimer: I’ve never been accused or convicted of any kind of violence, but I’ve been known to throw a tool when I’ve been po’d at something
Stopped golfing with guys like you, throwing clubs and such over a GAME. Just no fun.
“-Any bruises/bleeding, guy goes to jail.”
Please tell me I’m not the only one who read this and thought that if someone is bruised or bleeding, it’s probably a good thing that someone goes to jail.
Please tell me I’m not the only one who read this and thought that if someone is bruised or bleeding, it’s probably a good thing that someone goes to jail.
+100
Please tell me I’m not the only one who read this and thought that if someone is bruised or bleeding, it’s probably a good thing that someone goes to jail.
I think the issue is that by default, the *guy* goes to jail. Of course I am speculating here…I imagine domestic violence issues are heavily weighted in favor of the woman, just like family court. Even if the female instigated the violence, there’s a large bias against guys because they’re ’stronger’ and ‘meaner’.
Not that I condone violence in any way. And I understand how the biases came to be. But they’re unfair, and a lot of guys get screwed as a result.
Anyway, that’s my guess as to the significance of his comment.
By the way, I’ve dated girls who would punch me and think it was “cute”. Hell, my live-in g/f (at the time) gave me a good solid punch to the spine out of frustration - not at me, mind you, but for some reason she felt the need to punch me.
My experience has been that the women don’t think much of it…meanwhile, if I had done the same, I’d likely be in heaps of trouble.
Are the primes with job losses jumping ahead in line?
Yeah. Alt-A’s going to be the 4th wave.
Blueberry smoothie this morning! (never understood the coffee cult.)
Folgers: Breakfast of Champions.
Just put a pinch between the cheek and gum, and you are good to go.
never understood the coffee cult
It’s a junky thing. Coffee in the morning, beer in the afternoon.
That’s the way!
Vice versa works too.
+ 1 Lavi….
+ 100 Blano…
Back in college, I discoverd just how nice a little Captain Morgan’s Spiced Rum is in your morning coffee. It makes the morning commute ever so much more…relaxed. I quickly decided that this would be a BAD habit to fall into.
*Great*. Now I’m going to have to give that a try….
I quickly decided that this would be a BAD habit to fall into.
See, this’s where you and me’s different.
Went through a period when I was caffeine-free, vegetarian, never ate white flour or white sugar. I was incredibly healthy and thin.
And then I fell off the wagon.
Now I limit coffee to one cup a day, this morning I thoroughly enjoyed my Deflating RE Bubble Blend.
3rd wave of woe. woah!
‘…when I was caffeine-free, vegetarian, never ate white flour or white sugar. I was incredibly healthy and thin.
Goodness, phillygal! You probably would have lived for forever, had you only stayed on the wagon!…*
*Although why would you want to live for forever, if that’s what it took?
No meat, coffee, or sugar? Jeeze, man, kill me right now.
Hurry! Hurry!
She said no white sugar. Have you tried the natural cane sugar? It’s all brown and crystally and DELICIOUS! Also, chewing on sugar cane let’s you skip one more step. I warn you, though, trying the crunchy goodness of unprocessed sugar will make you start slapping people who try and hand you a sweet’n'low.
…will make you start slapping people who try and hand you a sweet’n’low.
I normally do that anyway. But I’d love a valid excuse for why I do it.
…yes, I’ve tried natural cane sugar, and it is good. You know what I love, is the little piloncillo sugar cones! You know, panela cakes, that they have in Mexico. I wish I had a cake right this minute. I could peacefully gnaw on it, here on this sunny still afternoon in the green-colored Pacific northwest.
People who like sweet’n'low should be slapped.
People who like sweet’n’low should be slapped.
Which is what I said in my post, which had not appeared yet.
This makes me grumpy—so I’m gonna go slap someone.
…will make you start slapping people who try and hand you a sweet’n’low.
I normally do that anyway. But I’d love a valid excuse for why I do it.
HAHA Just got myself some real sugar, and may go taste. No one to slap around, yet..waiting waiting waiting!
HAHA Just got myself some real sugar, and may go taste. No one to slap around, yet..waiting waiting waiting!
Oh, I’m sure someone will shortly appear who deserves a slapping.
…but then you won’t slap them, since you’re all mature and not high-strung and golf-club-flingy and stuff.
you see….there were these guys who dressed up as indians in boston and well…the rest is history.
otherwise it would be a tea cult.
well there are those silly pols who thought ‘teabagging’ was very interesting tactic. If only they knew.
Never understood the smoothie cult.
Treasury Secy Geithner bought his home for $1.6M, tried to sell it for $1.575M, ends up renting for $7500/month, not enough to cover mortgage and taxes.
http://www.wbbm780.com/Treasury-Secy-Geithner-can-t-sell-his-home-even-pr/4520697
7500/mo tells me that this home is worth, AT MOST, 1M dollars. Probably more like 750K. Rent X 100 is the rule that I typically use in FL, but that’s partly because our carrying costs are so high (typically 3-4% of purchase price per year on insurance/taxes).
Far less because of the steep property taxes $27K p.a. = $2,250/month in just taxes.
Please also note that they paid $1.6M for it. So they’ve already lost most of their deposit at this point.
When, this is all over, it’s gonna bottom out in the high-600’s to mid-700’s.
And this man is the Secretary of the Treasury! And he can’t run an Excel spreadsheet.
Property taxes of 1.6% are pretty cheap compared to some states ( like Texas ).
When you add in a large state income tax and substantial sales tax, if winds up being a substantial overall tax burden.
Yes, but can’t TTT cheat on his property taxes somehow?
And let’s recall this is the guy who couldn’t figure out how to pay his taxes.
In Fla we don’t have an income tax. Just property, sales (6%), gasoline excise, and about 1000 hidden fees on just about everything you do.
Not to worry, Geitner and the rest of this Administration are getting their cut of the TARP money. He, like Obama, will retire a multi-multimillionaire.
Obama is already a multi-millionaire from his two books.
LOL!!Geithner paying income taxes!
Hi there, SickOfFlorida. Hope you are not related to that other former HBB poster who called himself “Bye FL.” He was always raving about how wonderful things were going to be in (get this) northwestern Pennsylvania. HBBers scoffed a little (”Three words! Lake effect snows.”) but mister Bye FL was like a broken record. Until he was so thoroughly derided that he disappeared. You at least seem to have something amusing to say.
Far less because of the steep property taxes $27K p.a. = $2,250/month in just taxes.
Please also note that they paid $1.6M for it. So they’ve already lost most of their deposit at this point.
No problem he’ll get his turn at Goldman Sachs or like Sumners he’ll get 5 million a year for giving montly lectures.
100X rent doesn’t work in most major markets. I’d say a minimum 120X, and oftentimes much higher historically. In Seattle, pre bubble, you’d still see an easy 175x on a very underwhelming bungalow.
I pay $3500/mo rent in Los Altos, CA. Our landlord has put the property for sale for 3.5 million.
LOL. Those numbers are insane.
You should talk him into raising the price the 35 billion.
If you’re gonna hit the bong, you might as well pack it with the good stuff.
Yeah, 1000x rent is pretty insane. There is a second house on the property though, which is currently vacant.
Our lease just expired and we’re now on month-to-month - pending a sale, I guess. Property has been on the market over a month and we’ve had ONE prospective come in to have a look. I enclosed a letter with the June rent asking for a rent reduction to $2500/month going forward. Let’s see what he says/does.
The house across the street is being remodeled (new kitchen appliances, second bathroom is being totally redone) before renting it out for the first time. Same size as ours (approx 2000 sq feet), 3BR 2BA but a much smaller lot. They are going to be asking $4500/month. That’s still on the lower end for a North Los Altos SFH.
We moved here for the schools (cue wife in the Suzanne commercial). Sometimes wonder if it was worth it. Beautiful area though, and our yard is literally a park.
“In Seattle, pre bubble, you’d still see an easy 175x on a very underwhelming bungalow.”
I actually suspect that means the market was over-priced in Seattle even “pre”-bubble. In other words, the bubble started here earlier than we realized.
BTW, my little POS rental probably would have sold for 300x rent at the peak (Zillow said 350x at the peak but I didn’t believe it; it says 240x now).
Bantering, I think you’re defining “pre-bubble” as the mid 1990’s. But I assure you in the 60’s and early 70’s there were plenty of places you could buy for 100x monthly rent. Despite Shiller’s chart showing the “bubble” didn’t happen till 1997+ , I am betting a price/rent bubble started much earlier.
You’re right, and you’re right, and you’re right. You’d have to go back to the sixties when my father bought our first house in Kirkland to find any sane ratio like 100x monthly rent in that area. Houses have been overpriced for eons.
BURNED!
Also, who the heck rents something for 7500? I see the prevailing rents in the Bay Area, and they’re expensive. But then I see some Atherton house or whatnot for rent for 8-12k a month and I can’t help but wonder who is that stupid.
I dunno.
Suppose you were wealthy enough to want a nice place but rational enough to realize that owning was a sucker’s game, you might rent one of those things.
Surely there are some wealthy and smart people out there!
On an unrelated note, what’s so great about Atherton? The streets are pitch dark, and you can’t even get a pizza there after 9pm. You have to drive over to Palo Alto for that. What’s the fascination?
Here are a few reasons;
Median resident age: 45.3 years
California median age: 33.3 years
Estimated median household income in 2007: over $234,709 (it was over $200,000 in 2000)
Atherton: over $234,709
California: $59,948
Races in Atherton:
• White Non-Hispanic (83.7%)
• Chinese (5.2%)
• Hispanic (2.8%)
• Two or more races (2.6%)
• Japanese (1.1%)
• Asian Indian (1.1%)
• Other race (1.0%)
• Filipino (0.8%)
• Other Asian (0.8%)
• Black (0.7%)
For population 25 years and over in Atherton
• High school or higher: 96.7%
• Bachelor’s degree or higher: 76.2%
• Graduate or professional degree: 40.2%
• Unemployed: 2.0%
For population 25 years and over in Atherton:
Percent of Atherton population that sits around a wilderness campfire 2x a year: .0001%
“• Black (0.7%)”
That’s Jerry Rice.
Exactly right, Hwy.
Saw two Maserati there yesterday over the course of five minutes. They might want to curb ostentatious displays of wealth in the near future…
scdave just perfectly illustrated the reasons why I would NEVER want to live in Atherton. Of course, I’m sitting around a campfire a several dozen times a year at the minimum.
Just responding to FPSS question…Not my cup of tea either even if I had the dough….
The streets are pitch dark,
I actually like places where you can see the stars at night. Of course if it’s crime-ridden, that might not actually be a bonus.
Really nice places can be had in the bay area for 4k or less. These are estates/etc being rented out. And being posted on Craigslist, for crying out loud. I’m sure there is a small market for renting estates for visiting royalty/etc, but I’m pretty sure they don’t scour Craigslist looking for them.
Places like that are probably much safer (less crime) than most neighborhoods
This got me thinking that giving sweetheart home loans to politicians and other people of influence is more than just quid pro quo.
The REIC wants all the decision makers to be “home-owning” mortgage slaves, so that it will be next to impossible for them to think objectively about the overleveraged housing market. It seems to have worked, swimmingly.
Well give that boy a cramdown!
Looks like the HBB has found the smoking gun behind the government’s efforts to prop up house prices.
And, since I’m in such a cheerful mood this morning, would anyone care to join me in the Terrible Trio Betting Pool? It would involve some enjoyable speculation on when Bernancke, Geithner, and Summers depart or are booted out of the Obama administration. My picks:
Bernancke: Will announce that he will return to Princeton economics faculty, starting with the winter 2010 semester. Look for the announcement by the end of September 2009.
Geithner: By the end of September 2009.
Summers: Will announce that he wants to spend more time with family. Look for the announcement just before the start of the 2009 holiday season, say, in October 2009.
Wow AZ that is some pool to bet.
Gosh, everyone wants to “spend more time with the family”, only after they are in a pickle and not one day before.
Does anyone know if he bought or rented in DC?
This is actually fascinating. Surely of all the people in the world, Mr. Geitner is aware that when mortgage rates go up, housing prices have to go down and that mortgage rates could not possibly stay as low as they were this spring long term.
OMG, our _Treasury_Secretary_ is an FB!
This is priceless. Almost too much to bear. I shudder with delight.
The schadenfreude is palpable.
Shouldn’t the administration have found someone to oversee the cleanup of the debacle who was SMART ENOUGH or able to do enough independent THINKING not to get sucked into the mania????
I could see in 2002/3 that 20% gains were not sustainable; when they kept ocurring, I knew shortly thereafter that this would not end well. Geithner, at the center of the financial universe (NY Fed) apparently didn’t notice.
If all else fails, I’m sure the NY Fed will give him a personal bailout. H*ll, maybe that’s who is renting his house for $7500/mo! Enough to keep him afloat, not so much that something is obviously amiss. Hmm…..
H*ll, maybe that’s who is renting his house for $7500/mo!
It’s sad that was my thought as well - that either the fed or some gov’t entity is “renting” his house.
I’m a cynic by nature, but I find it hard to believe that anyone has faith in and trusts our gov’t these days.
I wouldn’t be surprised. Now, if only there was some way to make sure the government entity was one that provided halfway homes for crazies/newly released ex-cons.
Section-8 housing in Timmy’s house?
Hopefully the PPT will hurry up and reflate the housing market, so Timmy can pay off his underwater mortgage.
Did somebody rent from Timmy?
Geithner, Facing Sluggish Market, Rents His NY Home
By: AP | 03 Jun 2009 | 09:11 AM ET
The real estate market’s troubles are hitting close to home for Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.
Real estate agents say Geithner recently rented out his Westchester County home after it didn’t sell _ even though he reduced the price to less than he paid.
Geithner put the five-bedroom Tudor near Larchmont on the market for $1.635 million in February.
Agents Scott Stiefvater of Stiefvater Real Estate and Debbie Meiliken of Keller Williams Realty say the house was rented for $7,500 a month on May 21, a few weeks after the asking price was dropped to $1.575 million.
Neither was directly involved in the rental. Treasury Department representatives didn’t immediately return calls.
“Hi Sec. Tim, it’s your tenants, the Jones family.”
“Look, the diswasher started leaking last night while we were asleep. Could you come by and take a look?
And while you’re here, the lawn hasn’t been mowed in a couple of weeks, do you think you might be able to cut it while you’re here?”
Hey Tim, The neighbors dog just took a dump the size of a smoked ham on the deck. Send a backhoe and an operator over and get it cleanup. And by the way, the gutters leak like buckets on my head. Get’em fixed. I really don’t like the level of humidity in this place either. Worse yet, it’s blistering the paint in every room. Lets get it knocked off and repainted. And while your guys are here I’ll have a punch list of items that needs to be addressed. I estimate roughly 120 manhours. Be quick about it. Thanks Tim.
It’s a Sunday and little Timmy is taking some time off from lying, cheating and ripping off the American people. He decides to check up on his rental property up in Snobsville, NY.
Tenant: “Timmay, we need to talk about something.”
Timmay: “What is that?”
Tenant: “Well, I think I better show you. It’s in the backyard.”
The two men walk to the backyard. Timmay’s tenant points out a huge scattering of droppings that have accumulated in the backyard.
Tenant: “That is the problem,” he says as he waves his hand across the mess in the backyard.
Timmay: Getting angry he states bluntly, “damn those neighbors. I’m going to do something about their dog.”
Tenant: Looking puzzled. “The neighbors don’t have a dog.”
HAHAHAAHAHAHA!
Ahhhh…
thank you.
The story would have been SO much better if it had been dead bodies washing up under the floorboards after the sewers backed up from last night’s rainstorm, having washed in from the Atlantic.
You should take some lessons in writing fiction. Everyone knows that any story of quality begins with “It was a dark and stormy night…”
Lol.
well there you go. To understand govt stupidity, you have to understand they’re all FBs in denial too.
Where is Timmy living now? Is he renting? Does he even pay for anything anymore? Is he even human or have we invented a lying mannequin without the public’s knowledge?
Maybe he is living rent free in a converted condo where they used to keep the gold. Nah, those condos will be in Fort Knox.
But the realtor add will read.
Great condo
Within the building is a two level steel and concrete vault that is divided into apartments. The condo door weighs more than 20 tons. No one person is entrusted with the combination. Various members of the HOA staff must dial separate combinations known only to them. The condo casing is constructed of steel plates, steel I-beams and steel cylinders laced with hoop bands and encased in concrete. The condo roof is of similar construction and is independent of the condo roof. Between the corridor encircling the condo and the outer wall of the building is space used for offices and storerooms.
The outer wall of the condo is constructed of granite lined with concrete. Construction materials used on the building included 16,500 cubic feet of granite, 4,200 cubic yards of concrete, 750 tons of reinforcing steel and 670 tons of structural steel.
ROTFLMAO
you forgot to add “vintage”
funny stuff
I almost fell for it but you spelled everything correctly and didn’t use enough !!!!!!!!!!!!! You failed the realtor test?
Isn’t it amazing how many spelling errors you can find in the MLS blurbs. One paragraph, $thousands in potential commission, and you can’t spell check?
Please. Nobody knows how to spell any more and even if they did all their written correspondence is via texting, where abbreviations prevail. Trust me, few if any readers of that ad caught the mispelling.
Misspelling.
Hahahahaah!
You lose me when you use the language so loosely -
IF he was smart, he would be renting with others, a cheapo place. As an example of becoming smart with his income.
IF he was smart.
“even though he reduced the price to less than he paid.”
Are you serious? Even though he dropped it a whole 25 grand less than he paid? These arrogant buyers, I tell you .. people have no respect these days!
What’s the bet that a GS employee is renting the place and GS is subsidizing the rent? How can we find out about the tenant?
A nice cup of fresh brewed coffee with a hot muffin,
right out of the oven with butter melting through it.
Rough life.
Question: Does anyone work? I make a comment
and then maybe five or eight hours later come back to see a gazillion posts with crazy threads all over
the place. How do you guys (and gals) do it?? I’m out to the garden and landscaping again so everyone enjoy..
I’m in a lab most of the day with no internet access, no cell phone access. I have to walk downstairs to my office to get online and mostly when I do that is to check the stocks or Kitco.com for metals. It’s hard for me to post all day. But yes you have a good question. Are most of you all posting from your office instead of working?
I’m on my headset and have another desktop for trades/business etc. Like dad always said, If you can only do one thing at a time ( you’ll never make any money! )
I will say though, gardening uses a whole… other set of muscles! You could have Lance Armstrong do your garden and the next day he’d wake up sore as hell.
I load ink into a printing machine all day. I work for the Fed and dump 55 gallon drums of ink with a forklift into the machine fuiously as fast as I can pour them. Sometimes one spills on the floor and they have to shut the printer down. Any time this happens the stock market dips a few points and I get yelled-at. I hate my job.
“Any time this happens the stock market dips a few points and I get yelled-at.”
LOL!
Good one…
Jack…Where you been ??
The wife and I moved to Marin, and as a result I’m doing more bike riding and trail running than in the past… lots of skiing this past winter, too.
And more time volunteering in the last year.
Make no mistake about it, the downside to living up here versus The City are the snotty people. Thankfully, it’s not all of them, but for those with the affliction the attitude adjustment began in October and it’s been getting better ever since.
The average person is probably a bit more stressed out, but at the very least they’re more human!
I do miss The City, as I make it in for Giants games and such, but realistically, I’m not sad about it… the place is just so poorly managed.
Got it…Thanks…
And more time volunteering in the last year.
Whatcher volunteering at? May I know?
I volunteer too, as time permits, is why I ask.
Gotta pick the worthiest causes, though, which isn’t always easy.
“Are most of you all posting from your office instead of working?”
Exactly!
It’s become my #1 adiction. Many times I’ll open up the HBB to pass the time while stuck in some pointless and interminable conference call. Cummon, you all do it. Admit it!
I need a 12 step program.
I post from my recliner. When I work I’m very busy.
Bill, from one contract techie to another -
Don’t you ever do work off site? When I’m on-site doing installation and testing, I refrain from using my client’s computers for this kind of stuff. Then when I’m back in the office for extended periods, I have the liberty of choosing my work times and breaks. And when you live way under your means, the pressure to pile on the billable hours isn’t there.
I used to read the site with a web browser called lynx. This way it was a bit less obvious :-). When there is work I do it. When there isn’t I check out the HBB. Company has downsized, there are hardly any coworkers left. Office is mostly empty. Work load is like a roller coaster. I was up at 2:30am checking on a server issue.
can you still get lynx? I wish all web sites were plainer B&W printy looking things…like Word documents. LOL
Lynx, xterm, vi. The Korn shell. The good old days. Ever try to move 200,000 stored documents from one MS SharePoint farm to another? Trust me, it sucks.
You mean you can’t just robocopy them?
Prime, you just set up a virtual directory link and hope nobody notices before you cash your bonus!
Wait, you mean tech workers can’t use the work ethics of bank CEOs?
LOL!
I’m old and retired so I can post whenever the mood strikes me.
No hot muffins at my house, although there are plenty in the cow pastures around here.
Well, there’s no reason to melt butter on those!
mmm, the smell of butter melting on meadow muffins!
Served with road-apples.
DennisN-
When I used you as an example in my post about equity locusts, I was strictly referring to the fact that you sold a CA house for buckets of money, and moved to a less expensive market where you paid cash. I was not trying to insinuate that people in ID dislike you. It seems you may have taken it that way so I wanted to clarify.
…even if it’s true. In all fairness, the natives who are selling the family ranchland for development love the locusts.
The big landowners are the top 1% er’s. They aren’t the people I was talking about.
Nobody hates this year’s equity locusts more than… last year’s equity locusts.
I tend to hit this bucket heavily when I’m making prospecting calls. Something with which to pass the time while listening to all those phones ringing and voice mail kicking in.
Arizona Slim,
Exactly… If you’ve done (1) call, you’ve done a million! It’s just a way to keep your sanity while performing redundant tasks. If you have ADD ( and who doesn’t? ) just the thought of being constrained to doing one thing at a time would be like… doing nothing?
When I was in the service I worked in Flight Deck Control and Pri-Fly ( the control tower on an aircraft carrier ) and it was just expected you’d maintain the status board, talk on the radio, phone, monitor the flight deck AND get the officers fresh coffee!
Damn yellow shirts!!!!!!
I work for the government.
Are you here to help me?
No you just get paaaid while hanging out. Well, some people do. Others get overloaded. Used to work for contractors. They will staff up just to have the people, when we really didn’t need em. I couldn’t stand sitting there doing nothing all day so I took the first good opportunity to work for a small tech startup. It was more rewarding but they fail. Southeastern Virginia is not Silicon Valley. Heh.
Oh, they fail in Silly Valley as well
Yes, but there *are* a few success stories in Silly Valley.
Lots of doing nothing, although I actually happen to be busy this month.
I took the job b/c I was taking 12hrs per semester of grad school and I got a tuition discount. I get a good salary still, took a pay cut but it was more than offset by the tuition discount. Been here a year now, got 6 months till I graduate, then I’m gone. I am usually able to do some homework/studying during work hours if I need to and all the school stuff I meet need is always readily available.
A university is a great place to work if you want to pursue education.
New FAA motto:
“We’re not happy until you aren’t happy”
“How do you guys (and gals) do it?”
I work from home. I have criteria for my job that allows me to arrange my day any which way. I basically do a little of everything from when I wake up (5:30am) to when I go to bed (9:00pm or so). There is no work/play distinction for me… it’s all one big blur.
I post from my personal laptop, and work on the company laptop.
Muggy,
After years of working from home, I just couldn’t take it any more. In addition to all the plate spinning I was ‘already’ doing I was expected to handle everything from the bills to the insurance guy, and “hey could you put that load in the dryer?”
Just having an office a block from “home” made a fair amount of difference. I’ve long rued having signed a lease in ‘this’ economy but if things -were- to get even worse, I suppose I could always break the lease and go back to working at home? Uh… can the building’s owner say the same thing? ( Yes believe it or not I still get people asking me if I’ve any plans to “own” the building!? ) As in you’ve GOT to be kidding me!
My job is mainly monotonous bookkeeping and paper pushing that takes nowhere near 8 hours in a day to keep up with, even during month end.
“Are most of you all posting from your office instead of working?”
Hey! Ssssshhhh!
My job is reading the HBB and keeping track of what you’re all up to.
I get paid by the Feds. Bernacke works for me. I figure out from reading you guys what makes the most sense, then I tell him to do the opposite.
I’m kind of like the master shepherd and Bernacke’s like the Border Collie who keeps the herd of sheep together. The Fed’s the pack of wolves waiting at the bottom of the cliffs.
PB probably incorporates his HBB posts into whatever economics lectures he gives at whichever institution of higher ed employs him. Else how would he manage to inform us so frequently.
For myself, no, I don’t “work.” My mortgage biz requires, I don’t know, maybe 12 hours a month on the average. Not counting HBB time as part of the biz.
az_lender,
Oh very definitely part of the biz. Mortgage/Bank/HF Implode along w/ Mish and Seeking Alpha ’should’ be part of anyone in finance’s day?
Sharing things w/ clients and prospects that they’re*not hearing on CNBC is a huge edge. I can’t imagine how others in the field “function” when 100% of their info comes from MSM? IMHO.
The main thing I got from HBB, for which I remain grateful, was the impulse to sell my own gahdam house summer 2006.
Until I had spent several mos reading HBB, I was thinking it was Different Here (Deer Isle). It’s not.
RE: I was thinking it was Different Here (Deer Isle). It’s not.
Whattsa matter az_, gettin’ up Caterpiller Hill in a snowstorm when the state salt truck don’t show, got ya down?
The way the business tax base is leaving Maine, you better go grab a set of tire chains just in case.
The way life should be!
“Sharing things w/ clients and prospects that they’re*not hearing on CNBC is a huge edge. I can’t imagine how others in the field “function” when 100% of their info comes from MSM? IMHO.”
OR 100% from Faux news.
Omg, folks are clueless on options, knowledge that will, maybe, help them make future decisions. Just one dopey side of things and lots and lots of Dra Ma.
The only time I even have time to be ON a computer is at work. At home, I’m running around doing laundry, cooking, cleaning, going through mail, fixing stuff, putting stuff away, etc etc. Weekends are for gardening, errands, and occasionally ‘leisure time’ activities.
Rancher:
A nice cup of fresh brewed coffee with a hot muffin,
right out of the oven with butter melting through it.
Rough life…
Question: Does anyone work? I make a comment
and then maybe five or eight hours later come back to see a gazillion posts with crazy threads all over
the place. ..
I’m near a computer lots of the time.
What I do is, I put on my ’serious thinky-big word face’ (which I have practiced in the mirror), and I sit there pretending I’m working when really I’m seeing what hijinks Lindsey Lohan is up to nowadays and obsessively poring over the HBB.
Are your famous Mexican midget wrestlers on a small strike for higher wages Olygal ?
Gosh, I hope not! The horror!
You got inside information or sumpin?
when really I’m seeing what hijinks Lindsey Lohan
Not really. Jeeze! Did you believe me?!
I look at many frogs and moss pictures. Very exciting. My hands shake and my pulse races and everything….
Folgers: Breakfast of Champions.
Coffee is for closers.
Flipper leaves government on the other side of the pond.http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6421599.ece
“Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.” ~
Frédéric Bastiat
I think you will find that Somalia, which has no government, has an awful lot more people who endeavor to live at the expense of everybody else than countries like Germany or Singapore.
If you have no government you have no property rights or any other rights. The guy with the most guns gets what he wants.
IF you have a government the guy with the most guns *is* the government (backed by the mob manipulated by media owned by the bankers).
We don’t exactly have property rights in this country. Sales tax, income tax, property tax, etc all violate property rights.
When there is no government, you can defend yourself from gangs. But how in the world do you defend yourself from the monster that is the modern state?
But how in the world do you defend yourself from the monster that is the modern state?
The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch?
That’s for after you run out of IED materials.
Without government you just return to tribalism. Tried and true system for thousands of years. You may lack the material comforts of modern society and you may need to reduce the population a bit, but it is very doable.
You can have tribalism with a robust modern economy and population.
All that is required is to remove the territorial monopoly of governments.
Without government you just return to tribalism. Tried and true system for thousands of years … it is very doable.
You may reduce the average lifespan from 78 (USA, both sexes) to below 35 (pre-Columbian North America or feudal Europe, take your pick) and radically increase the probability of death due to violence, but what the heck, it sounds “doable“.
I don’t think he was implying that it was a good idea, just that it was doable.
“Sales tax, income tax, property tax, etc all violate property rights.”
Out of curiousity, VTDan, what kind of taxation would you view as not violating property rights?
voluntary taxation, I would think.
Anything taken by pointing a gun at someone seems to violate property rights, no?
Lots of Green Shoots out there.
So how far are we in getting through the adjustment away from the consumer debt and asset price bubble-driven false economy?
Housing prices are down, though perhaps not enough, lots of stuff has been written off, and the savings rate is up to 5.7%.
But all the debt is ending up on the federal government’s balance sheet, and I fear a federal, state and local budget crisis driven by past obligations (debts, pensions) is the next disaster. A dollar crisis is another possibility.
Successful workout, or new Black Swan?
“… I fear a federal, state and local budget crisis driven by past obligations (debts, pensions) is the next disaster.”
Agree. The only solution lies in reducing these obligations, IMO. The money just isn’t there.
Can Obama, Bernanke, and Geithner actually get blood from a stone? Well… Barry can walk on water, Ben can make clouds rain money, and Timmy…ummm…uhhh…he must know something about a pot of gold somewhere as do all elves.
I’m wary of the current runups in stocks since March 9, and also of the runup in gold (up 10% over the last 12 months).
The prudent thing to do is balance it all out in cash equivalents such as T-bills.
I’m suspicious of all things that have too good to be true gains ever since January of 2000!
Gains relative to what? Your *fixed* measure of value is the dollar… big mistake.
The only solution lies in reducing these obligations, IMO. The money just isn’t there.
“The only solution lies in reducing these obligations, IMO. The money just isn’t there.”
California’s (state, county, and local) first up and it’s not yet even under discussion for cuts among the political “leaders”.
I’d like to see a referendum on the Cali ballot removing gov’t pensions with CALPers to be canned, the pension liquidated and distributed to past and current employees based on how much they contributed, and the creation of any taxpayer guaranteed retirement plan made illegal. This whole concept of the taxpayers being on the hook for shortfalls in a pension payouts is ridiculous.
Ridiculous yes. But you could vote with your feet, or I should say, your moving van. I highly recommend it.
I think a one day police strike in LA would take care of any hope of that bill passing.
The money just isn’t there ??
Oh yes it is…They are just trying to figure out how to get it…The Tax Man cometh to your town soon…They are raising fees like crazy on things you need (water, garbage collection, natural gas etc.)…Tax revenues are in a death spiral in California…I think the numbers are so disastrous, that nobody is willing to tell the truth about where we are headed…
scdave,
Don’t laugh, even in our rinky-dinky OR town they are already jacking up our W&S bills. Mind you we just had fairly substantial rate hikes just a year or so ago.
You’re right, they fully intend to get you one way or the other and we’re already known as “The City of Brown Lawns” due to our outrageous fees.
DinOR, time to start yourself a Xereoscaping company! I know you can get a bunch of cheap workers from the hispanic supermarket just down the road from my place. I’m sure they won’t mind relocating.
Regarding that savings rate (5.7%)…are people really saving, or just getting around to starting to pay off yesterday’s purchases?
edgewaterjohn,
I consider any reduction in MEW-extractions to be an increase in “savings”.
That’s kinda what I’m thinking too.
One can drown just as easily one foot below the water’s surface as fifty feet down.
I agree that this ’savings’ is probably ‘paying down debt’.
My wife’s and my savings rate is over 20%, and it was when the national average was negative. You gotta have some CRAZY debt suckers to counteract the rational people maxing their 401/IRAs and saving on top of that.
If people are like me, the answer is both! I buy 52-week T-bills every month and I’m still paying down debt. It’s a warm, fuzzy feeling.
Ditto here except that all the cash is 30 day…
The problem with buying T-bills is that you are FUNDING THE GOVERNMENT. Stop it! Cut them off.
Nice and noble, but if I take myself off the list of buyers, there will always be another to replace me. Also gold will not go up forever. T-bills are the smart way to diversify relative to gold and wait for the LT rates to go well north of 10%.
You may as well advise me to earn zero income because then I would not be paying taxes, which also fund the government. In fact, I paid far more in federal taxes over the last 24 years than I put into T-bills and savings bonds. Probably well more than double what I invested in government securities.
You may as well advise me to earn zero income because then I would not be paying taxes, which also fund the government.
Well, someone who’s extremely principled might well do that.
I think VTD makes a good point - one who buys treasury bonds is being an enabler of US Gov’t spending. Perhaps there will always be someone else…but at least you know that you yourself aren’t contributing, or are contributing as little as possible.
“Regarding that savings rate (5.7%)…are people really saving”
It would be easy to save $ if you were not paying your mortgage.
Regarding that savings rate (5.7%)…are people really saving, or just getting around to starting to pay off yesterday’s purchases?
“Regarding that savings rate (5.7%)…are people really saving, or just getting around to starting to pay off yesterday’s purchases?”
My guess is there is no savings. The reduced spending on consumption is just going into debt service. I’m getting really irritated at the media for referring to this reduced spending as “savings” because it most likely is not.
Regarding that savings rate (5.7%)…are people really saving
The people who were saving all along are still saving, and the people who were borrowing are borrowing less because they have no other choice.
Add those up and you get an increase in the savings rate.
Just tell me when SD ppsq goes under 150.
WT Economist,
Right, and for as much conviction as I have that pension obligations can and should be amended ( read lowered to sane levels ) they won’t go quietly!
They’ll strenuously object, drag their heels every step of the way and we can’t rule out strikes…/violence. It should be noted that in spite of broad coverage in the SFChron, Drudge and others, the avg. CalPers recipient isn’t doing nearly as well as “Special Nureses” getting $350k a year in retirement. I believe the avg. was more like $26k a year.
Try… “Nurses”?
D*mn. I was hoping that “Special Neuroses” would qualify for big bucks…
And why not!? Darrell in Phoenix loves to remind us that “disability is the new welfare” ( and I think he’s right! )
DinOR,
I think it got to that point when being fat was ruled a disability.
SSD/SSI is the friggin’ Holy Grail for the fat diabetics you see at WalMart. Then they get Medicare, food stamps, Section 8…but I repeat myself.
Eat your way out of having to have a real job!
they won’t go quietly!
They will fight to the death…Thats why it must go completely broke before any “real” solution can be achieved…The next big shoe to drop for California will be a reduction in the credit rating for the bonds…That will then trickle down to the county and muni’s…
scdave,
( From portly and soon to be filing for “disability” DinOR )
Yeah, I sure ‘hope’ it doesn’t come down to that? But with an ever eroding economy all around them, I can’t see how it won’t? Their take will be that the needn’t even be logical about their position. They figure being loud should be enough to drive the point home.
Got some friends who are “special neurses” ie: nurses and they do Not get $350k from retirement. I called em and they WISH they could make that much. It is more just under the $100,000. And that is traveling their way around the US. A TRUE HBB er if ya want to know. Now if you count the fact that their rent is paid by the employer as their Total…but they retire and have to live somewhere on their own dime.
O.K., Anyone still interested in an impromptu HBB brewski gathering along the San Diego coast today? We need a watering hole & time: Encinitas / Carlsbad Village…
Here’s the place Ben was at when he visited Calif:
1. Pizza Port
571 Carlsbad Village Dr
Carlsbad, CA
Outdoor patio area:
Encinitas:
2. Robbie’s Roadhouse
530 N. Coast Hwy
Encinitas, CA
Hwy, I’ll come if you can give me a ride.
Looks like Hwy’s gonna be drinking/thinking alone…Oh, well Mr. Cole & I will enjoy the train ride with an ocean view.
Hey Losty, cache a few Squatter’s brew would ya, I’ll try to find ya ’bout this time next month.
That’s a Big Can Do.
I may be in Montana by then, you gonna swing up that way?
Hey Losty, everything at this point is very tentative…depends upon what National Terrorist Flag alert color is flying from day to day…Idaho & Montana at least have Canadians as a fall back reinforcement & all those trees to hide amongst
Carlsbad is a tad far, but I could make it to Encinitas. What time?
Encinitas works…6:30? What’s the weather like? …Melancholy atmosphere, with small lighting & occasional thunder in “The O.C.” today…
Anyone else?
I’ll be driving past encinitas about 5:30.. just let me know where to stop in, and I’ll be there.
Anyone still showing up? I need to decide which way to get on the 5 in a few minutes…
Miami-Dade set to raise the taxation mill rates to “make up” for the lost revenue from the collapse in home prices.
Yeah, I’m shocked, just shocked I tell ya.
http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/broward/blog/2009/06/miamidade_tax_hike_likely_how.html
(insert hearty FPSS laugh here)
And does everyone remember all those endless “silver lining” stories about falling assessments? All those FBs who rationalized their plight with the elusive promise of falling property taxes?
Yeah, there’s gotta be some serious social upheavels before any FBs aggregate tax burden is reduced. Suckers!
BWAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHHHHHHHHHH!!!
China parts company buying Hummer = Yuan’s well spent
Hummer spare parts from China =
BWAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHHAHAHAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! (fpss™)
(Hwy wonders if there any Hummer’s left in America with Chenny-Shrub bumper stickers?)
How long will a Chinese a/c compressor,or a Chinese starter, or a Chinese water pump last? You might as well just put your Hummer out by the curb now with all of your other less-than-year-old broken, prematurely rusted Chinese crap.
In the 1980’s the Soviet union was desperate for cash, so they sold their technological achievements all over Europe, latam, and Africa. To this day you can still get the likes of a Lada Riva or a Moskvitch, and most of the times it will be on the side of the road… dead.
Anyway commuism has never been able to produce a decent product (and China is no exception), they might be cheap, but they are not good, and they will not last.
If you want to get a really good laugh, check out the Chinese car crash tests.. I would not get in one of those things after seeing them…
Kia used to be considered a cheap econobox. But now they’ve supposedly improved.
Over time, things can change as they refine their engineering and manufacturing. Japanese built stuff used to be considered horrible, no?
“…But now they’ve supposedly improved”
Is a KIA NASCAR with soy sauce sponsor a lagging indicator?
True, but Chinese stuff has been of poor quality for twenty years and going- The Chinese have practically branded unreliable products as their own claim-to-fame. Japanese quickly got their act together and consequently quality improved dramatically. However prices increased along with the quality improvements. If China built quality products, Americans could not afford them and would buy something cheap from another third-world source. Americans are addicted to cheap, glitzy, gimmicky crap that Chinese have perfected manufacturing and marketing and the Chinese know it. Quite simply it is a catch-22.
Ahem, not to say this stuff *isn’t garbage but what I learned after years of being stationed in the orient is that ‘they’ are typically forced to by that stuff too!
The difference is, they -will- make that umbrella/purse/whatever LAST! ( They have to ) Unlike us where we just go down to BoxMart every spring for new lawn chairs etc. they at least try to make it last!
I tried an experiment w/ a Chinese-made hammock. I carefully took it apart each fall, wiped off the surface rust and lovingly stowed it away for the winter. It still looks perfectly new. NOW, my wife asked if daughter #1 could have it and they’ll let the dogs jump on it, leave out in the rain and it probably *won’t last?
You do realize next year after the retirement of the Space Shuttle that the US will be 100% reliant on former Soviet Union designed and built (Soyuz) to send our astronauts to and from the International Space Station?
Hey I’ve got a Bulgarian Makarov, a Polish TT33, a Romanian TT33, a Chinese SKS, a Chinese (semi)AK, a Czechoslovakian CZ 82, a Russian M44 and all go BANG when I pull the trigger. And each and every one shoots the oldest and crappiest ammo you could ever run through a gun. The Commies were very good at producing some items.
A friend has a Vickers gun. Arguably, it has the maintenance requirements of an old MG. But since there’s no Lucas electrical parts, it has no problem starting on cold mornings.
Nothing like the sound of a machine gun warming up on a cold morning.
Pop…Pop..Pop.PopPopPopopopopopopopop
To be clear in the above post, I was comparing the gun to the car.
Yeah, I knew that :-). Still made me think of warming up a machine gun, though…
Anyway commuism has never been able to produce a decent product
Except weapons. Not high tech. Not the best in the world. But they work and they work well.
Q: I need a gas cap for my Yugo.
A: Sounds like a fair trade to me -
Yuan been had!
“I think all Hummer-owners in China will think their cars are downgraded,” said Jun, who bought the H3 through a specialty importer last year for 900,000 yuan ($130,000).”
Good night Sweet Baby James:
“Hummer’s CEO, James Taylor, said the company wants to launch an “aggressive global expansion.” The company said it expects to expand its dealer network, including to China.”
Hummer’s Chinese buyer a newcomer to auto industry:
Joe Mcdonald, AP Business Writer On Wednesday June 3, 2009
Are they planning on using them as buses or something? I mean, why would ANYBODY buy a hummer, let alone millions of chinese? Are they falling for the ‘bigger is better’ line that Americans have been gobbling up for years?
Bigger is better in cars when :
You are hauling something that weighs more than the vehicle.
You plan on driving through some sort of semi permanent structure repeatedly.
Pilosi must have talked them in to buying Chummer.
Pelosi Hopeful About Climate Change Cooperation with China
By Stephanie Ho
Beijing
28 May 2009
Nancy Pelosi speaks at Tsinghua University in Beijing, 28 May 2009
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told journalists in Beijing her meetings with Chinese leaders this week focused mainly on the urgent issue of climate change.
“The impact of climate change has a tremendous effect, in the United States, in China and throughout the world,” Pelosi said. “We do not have that much time or margin for error. We must come to agreement. We must act.”
High-level meetings
Speaker Pelosi is the third-highest ranking person in the U.S. government. The Chinese leaders she met with this week included President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao.
Democratic Congressman Ed Markey said he is optimistic the United States and China will be able to work together before a global climate change summit in Copenhagen at the end of the year.
“We leave here encouraged that progress can be made, heading towards Copenhagen,” Markey said. “And we hope that in the months ahead, we can work cooperatively together, in order to bring the world to a point in December where we can achieve the agreement which will help to reverse the catastrophic consequences of climate change.”
Yup Nancy we are with you on climate change, and we will prove it by buying HUMMER!
Yup Nancy we are with you on climate change, and we will prove it by buying HUMMER!
Funny. Most oversize SUVs and gigantic lifted pickups I’ve seen usually have NRA/Bush/McCain stickers on ‘em.
Funny. Most oversize SUVs and gigantic lifted pickups I’ve seen usually have NRA/Bush/McCain stickers on ‘em.
Hahahaah! True in my observation, as well.
Hummers are pro-life, doncha know? Their sales hook: they can mow down smaller cars, and therefore enhance the ego of their girlyman drivers.
Chinese Hummers ?
I find it hard to imagine anything more dangerous than some 4′ 10″, really pissed off Chinese Hummer driving RE agent/soccer mom with a grudge, doing 90 mph on bad roads eating her Big Mac and talking to her Wall Street broker, all while the kids are yelling.
Then again, she might help slow down Walmart’s production line a little.
Scenario #2: Maybe she’s on the bluetooth thingy with a client that says: “I have excellent credit, x2 a Gov’t pension’s & 30% cash down…how fast can you meet us at the house?”
Oh, great. Billions of Chinese driving 9 mpg Hummers. The good news is that Americans won’t have a choice but to drive fuel efficient cars in order to subsidize the China syndrome.
The good news is that Americans won’t have a choice but to drive fuel efficient cars in order to subsidize the China syndrome.
Say goodbye to that snowmobile, dirtbike, ATV and PWC while you’re at it.
file that under the category of “disposable consumption”
RE: How long will a Chinese a/c compressor,or a Chinese starter, or a Chinese water pump last?
You bring a legit point, PBB…
For the first time in like 25 years of Stihl power tool ownership, I have had a chainsaw FAIL to start, and the on/off switch on a new weedwacker shite the bed.
This is powertool blasphemy. Stihl’s ALWAYS start-and NEVER break!
Methinks parts suppliers are now heavily into the Chinese to the extent that what was bulletproof; is now suspect.
Now if only the Chinese will adopt all the Hummer owner’s pit bulls!
Yes, I saw a Chummer the other day with a Bush bumper sticker. It was next to a Kia with an Obama sticker.
“…It was next to a Kia with an Obama sticker.”
Delivery vehicle for Rash Limpbaughhs “Meds”
“Delivery vehicle for Rash Limpbaughhs “Meds”
I am in South Florida maybe it was.
That is funny.
They will need the Hummers for their peeps who are driving for the first time in their lives.Their crash rates are extremely high. They haven’t driven as long as we have, nor really seen it in tv etc. So, on Japanese tv they keep showing all the crashes that the chinese are involved in on a daily basis. Some frightening stuff.
Link. Please!!
Moody’s is now stating that WA, OR, ID, CO, and TX will be leading the country out of recession. This link has the story and also an interactive map.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30991972/
Very few ppl have in intimate knowledge of the economies of all States. Accordingly, when doing state surveys/comparisons, they pick a few variables they “think” are important, and, missing the complete picture, come up with skewed results. The Denver bust is just beginning.
Any article that says that TX didn’t participate in the bubble is pretty much prima facie not even useless!
The same is true of Colorado. It is pretty obvious that that they did not do much due diligence. For a City of its size, Denver is currently one of the most highest priced areas for housing in the US. My office is surrounded by $500+ per square foot condos.
I read about bidding wars in Thornton the other day. Insane.
Denver (and Colorado in general) is overpriced considering average wages here.
…is overpriced considering average wages here.
When, oh when are the economists, MSM and government officials going to get this rather simple concept?
And yet you would trust Moody’s to evaluate the risk of investments?
I wouldn`t trust Moody`s to evaluate toilet paper.
They’re already in the toilet paper business- just look at their reports.
When I have rated deals, they typically have some recently graduated frat boy calling asking me questions from a checklist. None of which seem that relevant based on my experience and knowledge of the specific deal. If it’s on the checklist, regardless of how relevant it seems, it’s a big issue to them. Sometimes I ask if there is anything else they would like to discuss such as how the collateral and security works for this specific deal which is different than normal or about other deal specific risks, they usually say - “No, its not on the checklist.”
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. The infrastructure to actually evaluate credit risk doesn’t exist anymore. When I first said it I was referring to ability to evaluate home loans beyond scoring someone on their credit score, but it seems that it extends to securitized bonds too.
All sacrificed on the altar of productivity. Hey, guys, if it is important and complicated it isn’t supposed to be cheap and easy. If it used to require 20 well educated people with years of experience, you can’t do it with 5 mouth breathers who couldn’t remember high school algebra if they tried.
If that’s the case, then you have found a niche market and you can make some money!!!
Tim
“Sometimes I ask if there is anything else they would like to discuss such as how the collateral and security works for this specific deal which is different than normal or about other deal specific risks, they usually say - “No, its not on the checklist.”
seems that they aren’t taught to think. Either for themselves, or outside of the box they are put in. And this is the future of our economy and the US. Yikes.
They aren’t ALLOWED to think. Might make the boss look bad, ya know?
In my experience, companies pay only lip service to efficiency and quality. They really DON’T want to find a better way and they sure don’t want to give anyone else credit for it either.
NIH. (not invented here)
We are now experiencing the result of this mindset.
Rating agencies are exercising their free speech, and therefore they can’t be sued for collusion with the ones they serve. Right.
Research materials:
1. one U.S. map
2. one handful of darts
3. blindfold
(and since Tayhos is soooooooooo BIG, your odds of hitting is spot is much better)
People have such weird ideas about other states. Our paper ran another thumbsucker about a food bank opening in a bedroom community 30 miles away..focusing on some couple who came here from San Diego because they heard there were jobs. WTF??
http://missoulian.com/articles/2009/06/03/news/local/news03.txt
(choking, gasping for air) WHAT?!! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAAAAAAA!!!
Um, take a look at this interactive map of pain, and then talk to me about WA and OR.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/files/specials/interactives/_national/stress_index/index.html?SITE=YAHOO&SECTION=HOME
PS- Very safe link, spam filter, be nice.
They thing folks in WA and OR aren’t as leveraged simply because the housing bubble and subsequent collapse lagged up here. Home prices started falling a year or two later, but they are making up for lost time. Let’s see what Moody’s has to say a year from now.
Green Shoots, Red Ink, Black Hole
Truly terrifying data about the real state of the U.S. economy.
By Eliot Spitzer
Posted Wednesday, June 3, 2009, at 7:23 AM ET
I have an unfortunate sense that the “green shoots” in the economy that everyone is talking about are nothing but dandelions. Sure, forcing $1 trillion of taxpayer money—in direct capital, guarantees, and diminished cost of borrowing—into the banking sector has permitted the major banks to claim solvency for the moment. Yet we should not forget that this solvency has come not through a much needed deleveraging of the banking sector but rather from a massive transfer of the obligations of private banks to the public, with the debt accruing to future generations. And overall loan quality at U.S. banks is still the worst in 25 years and deteriorating at the fastest pace ever…
Read rest of article at slate:
www (dot) slate.com/id/2219599/
Hey Eliot, how about that bill you signed allowing NYC teachers to retire at 55 instead of 62 just before you resigned?
Perhaps if you were terrified back then, you wouldn’t have decided that the unfunded deal wouldn’t be a problem for NYC’s schoolchildren, taxpayers, or both.
The man is hardly an economic wizard.
I’m wondering how he got the writing gig after his less-than-gaceful downfall…but he does make some valid points, now that he doesn’t have to worry about getting elected!
Now he can point out the obvious without worrying about a job.
And others will just hide after he points out the who/what/where/when. Yep he had his comeuppance, but sometimes those who are down can be the noisiest cog.
My favorite bit from yesterday’s Bits Bucket, courtesy of Professor Bear:
Hallelujah! For the virtues of second-home ownership were not something I ever grasped. I grew up in Michigan, where many of our neighbors had a cottage or cabin “up north”—the vast stretch of the state where it was even colder than it was in our neck of the woods. These primitive structures could be used for summer pleasures like swimming in freezing lakes and swatting away flies the size of hummingbirds, and for utterly mystifying winter pursuits like ice fishing and cross-country skiing. My parents were displaced New Yorkers. Our primary winter sports were reading and brooding.
Those last 2 sentences are particularly delightful.
Back from a nice visit with family in western MI, aka Land of the Lost Job–GM closed its Wyoming (suburb of Grand Rapids) plant while I was there. My niece was her HS valedictorian and one of the GR Press’ top 100 HS seniors. It was amazing to me how many of those top 100 listed “Undecided” as their college choice. Waiting to hear on financial aid, perhaps?
There is absolutely no building going on anywhere that I could see in that area. This is not a bad thing. For too many years, beautiful farmland around GR has been converted into cookie-cutter housing developments. I love driving down a country road lined by farms.
I forgot where your family was…..in GR itself, or outside it somewhere?? I grew up outside Muskegon.
Formerly in GR, now scattered around SW suburbs. My mom grew up in Muskegon Heights. That was a long time ago and I know it’s changed, a lot.
Boy, has it ever. A little Detroit.
Might do a road trip up to Wyoming next weekend, but doubt I’ll make it to the farm.
My health insurance nightmare is over. I picked up the paperwork from the Doctor’s office this morning. It sounds like they’re in trouble for they way they handled this. I guess what they did to the account is against the provider contract.
I still have the collector’s number. I might call that asshole a few times a day for the next few weeks just to “check in.”
BTW, does anyone know if this will this be on my wife’s credit report even though it was a mistake and deleted?
Depends on when the reported it and wheter the credit agency bothers to do the deletion. Wait until it is all resolved (including the insurance paying up, etc.). Wait another month. Then start checking in with the agencies. Check all three. If it got on her report and isn’t deleted, protest.
Interesting that the doctor’s office is in trouble with the collection agency. Does it show how dependent they are on the agency for their cash flow? Very interesting.
I took it to mean they are in trouble with the insurance provider…
“I took it to mean they are in trouble with the insurance provider…”
Correct
A friend setup a computer running a complex but free open source telephone system called Asterisk. He proceeded to purchase wholesale connectivity to the phone network. The last telemarketer that called him, he shut their operations down in a matter of seconds. All incoming calls got “We’re sorry but due to technical difficulties we are unable to take your call.” He called the business office and said if they call him again he will do it all day. They were freaking out, and kept saying if he gives them his number they would remove it from the list. He said no, they do not get the number. Very funny. It cost around $2 to use 85 outbound lines at once, total of 850 minutes of talk time. Another call center was more advanced and blocked his forged Caller ID information, but it would be easy enough to randomize it.
I like your style, VaBeyatch, in case I never told you.
VaBeyatch, does your friend do any free-lance consulting? I’ve made some feeble efforts to set up Asterisk, but never gotten it quite right.
Deflation vs. hyperinflation: either scenario possible, but the author puts the odds 3-1 in favor of deflation.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/hyperinflation-or-deflation-your-pick
Not because that’s what the government wants. “Deflation in a fractional reserve banking system means policymakers have, for all intents and purposes, lost control of the economy.”
Inflation would hit the have nots harder, according to the author, while deflation would be harder on the rich.
Consider the source, marketwatch, a government propaganda outlet.
The truly rich have no debt and an increase in the value of the dollar should help them.
The have nots have a ton of debt, inflation would wipe it clean.
Deflation always proceeds hyperinflation… deflation means the government defaults on its debts and foreigners lose confidence in the dollar.
We are rapidly approaching the end of the deflationary flight to safety and people are starting to dump treasuries. This means the market is expecting inflation.
If you assume deflation then tax revenues will fall even more, thus the deficit will be even greater. Soon the interest on the national debt would be greater than tax revenues.
Hyperinflation is the end game and will be starting sometime within the next 3 years, possibly the next 6 months.
VTDan, your posts always freak me out the most.
Inflation would hit the have nots harder, according to the author, while deflation would be harder on the rich ((Not the cash rich))
My take is inflation deflation or stagflation housing is going to fall. I still doubt that massive broad inflation can occur. A falling dollar and rising interest rates are powerfull caps to inflation. Gradual inflation might help debtors but rapid inflation will destroy the banks before printed money get’s into the consumers hand. ie prices for food and energy along with interest rates rise long before printed money ends up in Joe 6 packs hand and changes his perceptions on spending and debt. I’ll stick to short term treasuries and fdic insured cd’s, even if I loose to inflation in terms of food,gold,energy,travel I’ll gain ground in terms of housing.
From Bloomberg
June 3 (Bloomberg) — Applications to refinance mortgages have tumbled since fixed, 30-year mortgage rates began moving up from a historic low at the end of April as the recession showed signs of easing.
“The window was there, and it’s closed,” said John Herrmann, chief economist at Herrmann Forecasting in Summit, New Jersey. “Rates won’t be an incentive for refinancing for the rest of the year.”
The CHART OF THE DAY shows a four-week moving average of the Mortgage Bankers Association’s index of applications to refinance fell
37 percent to 4056.75 in the week ended May 29 from the week ended April 10,
while fixed 30-year loan rates rose to 5.36 percent yesterday from a low of 4.85 percent at the end of April, according to data from Bankrate.com.
37% drop in refinance activity with a .5 increase in rates. What happens if rates go to say 8%??
“deflation would be harder on the rich ((Not the cash rich))”
Any rich who are short of cash have another think coming about their richesse.
“Inflation would hit the have nots harder, according to the author, while deflation would be harder on the rich.”
I thought the policy objective was to use massive monetary stimulus to ‘accidently’ inflate the stock market. Since only deep pockets have money to invest in the stock market right now, while many of lesser means are owed fixed dollar obligations (e.g. elderly on fixed income pensions), the ‘accidental’ result of massive monetary stimulus is to pump up the stock market for anyone sufficiently wealthy or flush with TARP/TALF/LAFF/GAFF etc funds to be plowing it into the stock market at fire sale prices, while diluting away the value of dollar denominated payment streams.
China the global gift that keeps giving globally :
“…ChemNutra, which imports ingredients from China to the U.S. for the feed and food industries, and the Millers were charged with 13 misdemeanor counts of introduction of adulterated food into interstate commerce, 13 misdemeanor counts of introduction of misbranded food into interstate commerce and one felony count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.”
“Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co. and Suzhou Textiles, Silk, Light Industrial Products Arts and Crafts I/E Co. were also indicted.
The indictments alleged that Suzhou Textiles, an export broker, mislabeled 800 metric tons of tainted wheat gluten manufactured by Xuzhou to avoid inspection in China. Suzhou then did not properly declare the contaminated product it shipped to the U.S. as a material to be used in food, the indictment said.
According to the indictment, ChemNutra picked up the melamine-tainted product at a port of entry in Kansas City, then sold it to makers of various brands of pet foods. The indictment alleges that Xuzhou added the melamine to artificially boost the protein content of the gluten to meet the requirements specified in Suzhou’s contract with ChemNutra.”
Couple to plead guilty in toxic pet food case:
finance yahoo news June 3rd 2009
It’s a start…
I think Obama gets Botox.
Because he has no undereye bags?
I noticed that too.
he dyes or had dyed is gray hair, botox would not surprise me. The question is was the gray dyed in or out during the campaign?
He started turning gray during the campaign. The process has accelerated since he was inaugurated.
If so, then why-oh-why doesn’t he do something about that mole? You know, that one that’s just to the left of his nose.
He needs to get his ears pinned back.
I have a niece that had hers done, stuck out way to far, created wind resistance when she ran, like little drag chutes!
wmbz. That is Horrible. ( a disturbed laugh escapes my diaphram)
You guys are ruthless. Hate to see you around the carcass, a bunch of hyenas, but that mole…
Can’t get much more OT than that.
Does anyone on the blog know how to get rid of acne on the buttocks?
That’s wayyyyyy more info then even i want to know!….lol
Rebuilding a house in San Diego I lost in a 2003 wildfire… kinda late but waited for technology and fab-prefab to be somewhat affordable.
What a year makes a difference visiting the county offices!!! Last year waited 3-4 hrs to go see a septic inspector and a design engineer (gave up rebuilding then). Yesterday the whole procedure took 30 min. And the place is a desert!
Was it a paid off house? Or did insurance pay off the mortgage? Building now has to be way cheaper and hassle free. I bet you can even insist that a good job is done.
Yeah insurance paid off the mortgage and then some but not enough to rebuild decently then, at a time when contractors was as ass**** as sellers and would get “offended” for any job under 300k.
Things have changed a bit there too…
Well good for you for not ponying up a fistful of green to get them to bestow their presence upon you.
Run ‘em up against the wall on quality. Make sure it’s built right.
News from behind “The O.C.” curtain:
Chancellor’s live well in “The O.C.” …that 5% cut must really smart!
“…So, UCI has about 20,000 workers, making it the county’ s largest employer. At least, that’s the case for the moment.
One other clarification: We were told on Monday that Chancellor Michael Drake’s salary $378,791 and that Executive Vice Chancellor is paid $280,241. UCI sent an email this morning adjusting those figures. Drake makes$392,900 and Gottfredson makes $301,500. But those figures will fall by 5 percent because the president of the UC system has cut the salaries of most senior managers.
And, a note to readers … The Register has had a series of lay-offs over the last 18 months that’s left us short-staffed in some areas. Higher education writer Marla Fisher now writes the Deals blog. And I’ve taken over her College Life blog. So, if you see my stories in two places, that’s why.”
June 2nd, 2009, OC register by Gary Robbins, science writer-editor
This morning, for reasons that need not concern us here, I was looking for some of those “top ten” lists of good places to live in the USA. One quite recent list included Irvine. WTF?
Hwy would like everyone who spouts out about those “crappy” US made auto’s to disclose the type of vehicle they drive & the first vehicle they “made out” in!
Why didn’t the journalist reveal the type of car he was driving to DC?
“…The president’s instruction to us was that we had to come up with a solution that would work on a commercial basis, that didn’t involve indefinite federal financing,” Mr. Deese said. “But we didn’t want liquidation, which would have even worse effects. So the question was how do you design a very substantial restructuring, and do it fast.”
“I slept in the parking lot of the G. M. plant in Lordstown, Ohio,” he recalled. The giant plant, opened during G.M.’s heyday in the mid-1960s, is where the Pontiac G5 is produced. Under the plan Mr. Deese worked on when he arrived in Washington, Pontiac will disappear.
“I guess that was prophetic,” he said, shaking his head.
The 31-Year-Old in Charge of Dismantling G.M.:
NY Times
by David E. Sanger
Monday, June 1, 2009
Well, I don’t spout about crappy US cars but:
First made out in a ‘60 Chevy Wagon. Sweet Pam.
Joy was steamy in the Chevy Caprice (got busted naked in the cemetary at midnight) but she left me a virgin.
First made love to woman I married in a Ford LTD.
First made love to Barbie in a Chevy custom van.
First made love to Martha in a Tahoe.
First made love to the Fox aboard my cruiser (twin Chrysler Marine 318s).
Those are the vehicular highlights anyway. I’ve always tended toward vehicles you can lay down in for some reason.
See how easy it is to “out” a true American spy, Cheney are you listening?
You got me. I forgot about the ‘70 firebird! How could I forget the Firebird? Probably cause I’m too old to do that now.
“See how easy it is to “out” a true American spy, Cheney are you listening?”
No need.
‘Embarrassing’ mistake puts US nuke list onlineJune 3, 2009 6:16 PM ET
All Associated Press newsWASHINGTON (AP) - The government’s inadvertent and red-faced Internet posting of a 266-page list of U.S. nuclear sites provided a one-step guide for anyone wanting details about such sensitive information. Obama administration officials said Wednesday the document contained no classified material about nuclear weapons. They contended the locations and other details already were available from public sources. (OK)
Energy Secretary Steven Chu said “a snafu” led to the online posting. “A little embarrassing,” he acknowledged.
The document, stamped “highly confidential safeguards sensitive,” made it onto the Government Printing Office’s Web site — and why that happened was not immediately clear. A newsletter that focuses on government secrecy quickly picked up on it. The printing office removed the document when informed “about the potential sensitive nature” of the list, the agency said.
I had a Chevy Corvair and a Ford Mustang II. I thought they were great… It was the mechanics who bitched when I showed up in ‘em.
The cars I have soiled :
1980’s Subaru
1969 VW Bug
1984 Toyota Diesel
1994 Ford Ranger
1999 Honda Civic
2001 Toyota Tacoma
2007 Toyota Tacoma 4-door (For haulin’ kids and toys!)
The ranger was the only car I bought new. I like the taco better.
Came from a family that always bought Fords. Have always bought Fords myself. Occasionally I look at something else, then I think nope, the Ford is cheaper. Of course the Ford only goes 100K miles, but knowing that up front is an advantage.
Drive now: Mazda P/U
First makeout car: 65 Ford Fairlane (2dr)
2nd car (same girlfriend): 65 VW Bug.
Karmann Ghia back seat fold out.
Lots of things were done in that car.
395 and 5 fwy you could see a surf board
out one window, or late at night, feet.
Made that up!
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/orl-bk-fema-foreclosed-houses-060309,0,2947002.story
Article on putting future people displaced by hurricanes into foreclosed homes.
What happened to all those trailers we bought?
Oh, that! Those trailers got completely trashed by the, um, refugees. The displaced people will promise to take really good care of the foreclosures. This time will be different.
Howdy, everyone! Slim with the Daily Water Line Update!
You may recall that my lovely lying neighbors (probably at the urging of their shady electrical contractor) have filed an Arizona Registrar of Contractors complaint against the company that did my water line replacement. Yesterday, an AZROC inspector came out to look at the job, and to hear what my contractor, the neighbors, and their electrical contractor had to say.
Slim, deciding that discretion would be the better part of valor, stood there with The Troublemaker (aka my mouth) closed. I figured that it would be best to keep my ears and eyes busy and save The Troublemaker for later.
This morning, I called the AZROC Tucson office and left a message for the inspector. I felt the need to share the following info about Tucson Electric Power and my neighbors’ power outage:
1. During the 7 a.m. hour of Monday, May 11, one of the neighbors came over to my house to tell me that there was no power to run his swamp cooler. At 7:13 a.m., I called TEP Customer Service so I could report the outage. During that call, the customer service representative told me that TEP was aware of the issue. The rep said that it involved a blown fuse on the neighbor’s property.
[A blown fuse would be consistent with the neighbors only having one leg of power. Not to mention the fact that I heard a loud popping sound on the afternoon of Saturday, May 9.]
2. During the 7 p.m. hour of Tuesday, May 12, I saw a Tucson Electric Power bucket truck parked outside of the neighbor’s property. I don’t know what the truck was doing there, and no one from TEP came over to talk to me.
3. During the middle of the day on Wednesday, May 13, a Tucson Electric Power pickup truck parked between my driveway and the neighbor’s property blocked the city recycling truck’s access to my blue bin. The city recycling truck driver had to do some serious horn honking before the TEP truck got moved. Once again, no one from TEP came over to talk to me.
I shared all of the above with the inspector, and I also said when your line gets cut, you aren’t left with just one leg of power. You lose all of it. Which negates the neighbors’ assertion that my contractors’ work left them with partial power.
Same thing happens when trees fall on overhead lines, something I had personal experience this past New Year’s Eve. During an eastern PA windstorm, my parents lost their power — all of it.
The inspector said he would add what I said to his notes. And I gave him the number for TEP’s Customer Service so he can verify what I heard on Monday, May 11.
I’m tempted to contact an attorney so that he/she can start a restraining order against harassment. Or some other form of legal notice not to mess with me. (Any lawyers care to weigh in?)
I’m afraid that if the AZROC rules against my neighbors’ complaint, that they’ll start coming after me to cover their electrical work. And, sorry, folks, that ain’t gonna happen.
Un..bee…LIEvable.
Slim, please accept my condolences on the occasion of having neighbors who are dumb as a box of rocks, and nasty to boot.
If nothing else, they’re about to learn that messing with me is a very bad idea. I’m calling the Lawyer Referral Service this afternoon.
Slim, it is theoretically possible to cut just one of the two 120 Volt lines coming into the house. The result would be that none of the 240 Volt equipment (central air, electic water heater, electric stove) would work, and only half the house’s lighting and outlet circuits would have power. Blowing one of the two load center main fuses (in an older load center, before circuit breakers) would have the same effect.
Have these people been living with just half power for what, several weeks now?
Only trouble with the cutting the line theory is that Blue Stake marked out where my water line trench was to be dug. Although they found active gas lines (which were marked in yellow) and water lines (which were marked in blue), the Blue Stakers found zero electric lines. That’s right: zero.
My money’s on the blowing of one of the two load center main fuses. That would be consistent with the loud popping sound that I heard two days before my call to the power company’s customer service line. During that call, Tucson Electric Power informed me that there was a blown fuse at the neighbors’ place.
BTW, the neighbors have tapped into the power of the house that’s directly north of theirs. So, yes, they do have power. (I’m directly to the east of them, and no way would I ever let them jack into my power. Reason: I don’t trust them. Bet you can’t guess why.)
I did have trouble imagining how the Blue recycle bin entered into the murder mystery, but I am sure it is an insidious clue.
AZ, this really isn’t a problem for you. Smile nice at your neighbors. Eventually they will figure out what their problem is. If they can prove your contractor cut their line (and they’d have to dig to do that) you can assure them that your contractor has insurance and let them give a go at that. Stay detached.
Eventually they will figure out what their problem is.
Permit me to suggest that the problem is the excess consumption of alcohol. Recall my earlier posts, back in May, when the neighbors first suggested that the contractors cut the electric line. Those neighbors were very much under the influence. And, as the day wore on, they became even more inebriated.
At one point, the neighbors got into it with my plumbers, and the police were called. I’m going to request a copy of the police report the next time I’m downtown. I do hope that the officer wrote the words “appeared intoxicated” in it.
BTW, my plumbing contractor is licensed, bonded, and insured.
BTW, my plumbing contractor is licensed, bonded, and insured.
Wasn’t it already determined that their electric lines are aerial?
Their NEW electric lines will be aerial. Lord knows where their existing line is. And, truth be told, I don’t think they do either.
Their NEW electric lines will be aerial. Lord knows where their existing line is. And, truth be told, I don’t think they do either.
If they’re blowing fuses, there must be something in the house that’s drawing too much current. Wonder what the chances would be of a ‘lectric fire if somehow that fuse got replaced with, oh, I dunno, a real copper penny?
And then, I wonder how drunk you’d have to be to not hear the smoke detector?*
Oh well, more likely they’ll get their line fixed, it will get paid for somehow and then they’ll decide they want to live somewhere else and they’ll move.
*Probably bad karma to ask - I have been known to tie one on occasionally.
Grow Lights draw a lot!
I did have trouble imagining how the Blue recycle bin entered into the murder mystery, but I am sure it is an insidious clue.
Maybe she’s gonna ‘recycle’ them, and this is an exciting lead-in to her plans.
Now, remember, Slim—make sure all the funny looking plastic-wrapped bits fit neatly under the lid of your recycle bin. Nothing ruins a morning coffee break like a spare- neighbor- leg plopping out onto the sidewalk as the kiddies walk past on the way to school.
AZ, this really isn’t a problem for you. … Stay detached.
Good advice, blue!
Although, Slim, I think it’s cool you had a dated log you could provide the inspectors. And it was very smart to not open ‘The Troublemaker’*.
But yeah, don’t let them fash you. Let the w*eenies stew and fret, like a yucky Mulligan Stew.
But if you DO get aggravated and un-detached, remember this: Nothing annoys w*eenies more than seeing you sitting there on your porch enjoying life, and looking unconsternated and peaceful. Serious, it makes them go ape-p0*op. And that’s funny.
*Wow! I have one of those, too! Hahahah!
Looking unconsternated and peaceful? Why, that’s my game plan!
In fact, I’m trying my best to not burst out into big grins when I look to my next door neighbors’ place. For some reason, I keep thinking about that John Wayne quote:
Life is tough, but it’s tougher when you’re stupid. (Take that, neighbors.)
BTW, I called the Lawyer Referral Service. Got referred to a law office where the receptionist was utterly baffled by the switchboard. Bzzzt! She lost my business after I sat on hold for about five minutes.
But I think that I’ll save that referral for a review of a couple of business contracts I’ve drawn up. If nothing else, I can use those contracts as my plan to build up my business pans out.
“I’m tempted to contact an attorney so that he/she can start a restraining order against harassment.”
Too bad you don’t live in FLorida. You could wait for one to stumble over the property line and put ‘em down like a one-legged dog.
Don’t think I’m not tempted. But Ole Bessie would feel very insulted if she were brought out of her nice, safe hiding place for such a thing.
Besides, I don’t think that the neighbors are worth jeopardizing my CCW permit over.
One of the reasons I hold the NY times in extremely low regard, from K. Denninger:
“The NY Times, the supposed “newspaper of record” in NYC is running the following line of crap in their Business Section:
MESA, Ariz. — She had seen the advertisements for the new government program offering relief. She had heard President Obama promise that help was on the way for homeowners like her, people who had lost jobs and could no longer make their mortgage payments.
But when Eileen Ulery called her mortgage company — Countrywide, now part of Bank of America — the bank did not offer to alter her mortgage. Rather, the bank tried to sell her a new loan with a slightly lower monthly payment while asking her to pay $13,000 toward the principal and a fresh $5,000 in fees.
Sounds like a hitpiece on the banks, right? Well, it is. Let’s keep going:
Ms. Ulery, 63, is the face of the latest wave of troubled American homeowners, a surge of people in financial danger not because of reckless gambling on real estate, but because of lost income.
Far from being one of those who used easy-money loans to speculate on homes proliferating across the desert soil of greater Phoenix, she has lived in the same modest, stucco-sided condo in suburban Mesa for a dozen years. She bought the two-bedroom home in 1997 for $77,500.
That’s a lie, and a lie that they “bust” themselves on almost immediately! Oh sure, the original purchase was quite prudent, but look at what happened NEXT!
Like tens of millions of other American homeowners, she added to her mortgage balance as the value of her condo swelled, at one point exceeding $200,000. She refinanced to pay off some credit cards and settle into a 30-year, fixed-rate loan. Later, she took out a home equity line of credit to buy a new Hyundai. She refinanced again in 2007, borrowing $20,000, mostly for a new roof.
Ah, so now the truth comes out! Her house is now worth $122,000, or nearly double what she paid for it in 1997, but she used it as an ATM machine to live extravagantly, running the mortgage balance up to a clean double, or $143,000.
That is, this “responsible” woman spent, over ten years, more than $70,000 in excess of what she made!
…The New York Times is holding you forth as a paragon of virtue, and a “victim” of the evil banking system.
It sucks that you’ve got an employment problem Ms. Ulery, but that’s not the reason you’re in trouble and about to lose your house.
No, the reason you’re about to lose your house is because you treated your home as a permanent and inexhaustible ATM machine - a demonstrably unsafe, unsound and FRAPPING IDIOTIC act.
Now you want to whine about the just and expected outcome of your choices - your credit card being paid off from that ATM machine that allowed you to live beyond your means, your new car (instead of a used, far cheaper car) and your lack of saving for that new roof (you blew the money on your credit card instead!)
IMHO you, Ms. Ulery and The New York Times, are the poster children for the puerile and outrageous behavior that CREATED this mess, and your whining about it deserves to be met with derision, loud jeers and permanent unemployment - absolutely NOBODY should employ anyone who is this stupid - ever. Nor should they buy or advertise in The New York Times.”
IMHO you, Ms. Ulery and The New York Times, are the poster children for the puerile and outrageous behavior that CREATED this mess…
Your anger warms my heart. Nice rant.
Yeah, I feel nice and cozy, too. Thanks, azure person. You’re like a fresh-from-the-oven Rage Muffin.
fresh-from-the-oven Rage Muffin.
I am absolutely stealing that.
Oooh, lavi, I’d feel so complimented if you do!
These phrases just come to me, you know.
(Especially when I have 3 martinis at lunch.
)
It torques me off too, but I find immense solace in all that lost purchasing power. That’s $7,000/yr. less in consumer spending from just one person - heaven knows I won’t be stepping up to fill that void in consumption.
Multiply that $7k by the number of people you think did that exact same thing and that is the reason a bottom is still a ways off.
And even after the bottom, the new normal will be nothing like the old “normal”.
The New York Times is the one with the economics reporter who is now facing foreclosure, right?
For god’s sake cobalt, send an angry email to the NYT. While they publish only a tiny %, they are MOST likely to publish something pointing out actual contradictions. This qualifies.
A Hyundai and new roof are “extravagant?”
Who knew?
Jim Cramer: Buy A House Now, Calls Housing Bottom
link at: (http://)
link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1079049304?bctid=25028858001
Thanks for the link. I’ve never felt better about renting.
If I had a house I hadn’t already sold, this would convince me I better sell now before the next leg down.
I think it’s time for Jon Stewart to skewer Cramer. Again.
Jim Cramer: Buy A House Now, Calls Housing Bottom
Why stop at 36 such calls? Eventually, that moronic baboon will be right. This guy is a sorry excuse for a human.
Sounds like someone wants to dump some investment properties during this little bump.
In the interview he said he was buying. Assuming he isn’t lying, I expect he’ll be wearing a little post-it note on his forehead this time next year.
More deflation / slow consumer spending. JP Pauls a nice / mid range restaruant / pub on M Street the main drag in Georgetown (Washington DC) just emailed their happy hours specials - $1 draft beers and $5 cocktails. Monday to Friday nights. The times are beyond the traditional 5 - 7 happy hour. This place is not some dive bar.
One buck drafts? Well, dadgummit, that sounds like my kind of place.
Hmmm, it’s time to drum up some business in DC so that I can justify the cost of going there…
Oh, where art thou $1.75 per gallon?
“…Huge inventory levels earlier in the year had pushed energy prices to five-year lows.”
Low demand + high supply = “continued upward price pressure”… at least until Opie gets back from Saudi Arabia, and China widens their roads for CHummers.
Energy prices slump on surplus of oil in storage:
Week long energy rally stumbles with latest report on a big surplus in oil :
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) Yahoo Finance June 2rd 2009
My USO got stopped out this AM. 30% profit, non taxable as it was in DD’s Coverdell. I’m going to let the cash sit for a while.
My DBO got stopped out today as well. I’ll take it and run…
Fed chief has sense of humor!
ITEM: Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has warned that rising U.S. debt is feeding a spike in Treasury rates, and he told lawmakers this morning that now is the time to start reining in deficits.
The DOW just cut it’s losses in half in the final few minutes of trading; an outstanding effort by the PPT.
It’s such BRILLIANT use of our tax dollars - chase the retail shorts out of the market so the Megabank can sell into the buying wave later, and decimate the new retail longs.
Unbeatable strategy, made possible by the fact that they are the only ones with unlimited funds and have the only copy of the playbook in the game they’re running.
“Don’t fight the Fed” is still great advice, I guess! Heads they win, tails we lose.
“It’s such BRILLIANT use of our tax dollars…”
Technically, if the monies came fresh off the Fed’s virtual printing press, then there were no taxes involved, right?
It’s OBVIOUSLY because they announced a delay in the ‘bad bank’ program. Sure, that’s bad news for banks, but in today’s economy all news is good news, right?
Geez Mr. Bear, you have a fellow “True Believer” …however he’s kinda weak on providing mathematical models for his beliefs…
Ever watch how a dog gets all the meat off the bones…chew, chew, chew!
“…Daurio says he expects the volume of troubled mortgages to grow and real estate values to continue to drop by an average 1.5% a month or 20% a year.”
“The discounts I’m paying for loans is growing, but less fast than home prices are falling,” Daurio said.
Kondaur was started in 2007 and now employs 268 people. It is located at the former headquarters building of Ameriquest Mortgage Corp.
Will fund scandal hurt O.C. investor?:
May 28th, 2009 OC Register by John Gittelsohn
This from a company who insisted that 98% of global business must master “user friendly DOS” or suck Gates pickled eggs.
“It makes U.S. jobs more expensive,” Ballmer said in an interview. “We’re better off taking lots of people and moving them out of the U.S. as opposed to keeping them inside the U.S.”
Ballmer Says Tax Would Move Microsoft Jobs Offshore:
By Ryan J. Donmoyer June 3 (Bloomberg)
Sounds great Mr. Balmer
US response, how about a break up of the microsoft monopoly. They can offer an open operating system alone and it will be regulated like a utility. Other software producers can form a board that votes on what features the opperating software can have. Office and all of their other software must be sold off.
And, to add insult to injury, you don’t even have to buy Office anymore. Ever heard of Open Office? Great software and it’s free.
Oh, and Web browsers? Sorry, Internet Explorer, but Firefox left you in the dust years ago. And, no, MSIE 8.0 is not going to turn things around.
So, tell me again, why is M$ still in business? Windows Vista? Gimme a break!
So, tell me again, why is M$ still in business?
It’s late, and you probably won’t see this, but I’ll tell you.
Primarily, it’s extortion of the PC sellers. In order to get competitive prices on MS software, sellers (Dell, Gateway, Compaq, et al) must toe the MS line. Woe to the retailer who offers an “alternative”.
Secondly, most people know Windows, most people have Windows and so they expect Windows.
That said, it turns out that Microsoft’s biggest competitor is… old versions of their own software. There’s a deliciously ironic treat there.
Slim…did you see the link I posted to the userguide yesterday? (two days ago?)…you were the one suggesting that, right?
I am embarassed to hang on to this stock since my ex-financial adviser bought it for me in ‘02. Increased dividend, but why should I stay?
“We’re better off taking lots of people and moving them out of the U.S.”
Sheesh, at least come up with a DIFFERENT empty threat than the one you use every time someone suggests curtailing H-1B visas.
I wish he would move everyone out of the US, including himself. More room for Linux developers.
Dear Mr. Ballmer,
Consumers need money to consume… your products.
Sincerely,
ecofeco
First for GMAC
GMAC plans to sell $4.25 billion of three-year fixed- and floating-rate notes, according to a person familiar with the offering. The debt will be the first sold by the Detroit-based company to be backed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., said the person, who declined to be identified because terms aren’t set.
Ameriprise’s 10-year notes may yield about 375 basis points more than similar-maturity Treasuries, said the person. The notes may be rated A3 by Moody’s Investors Service and A by Standard & Poor’s, the person said.
Proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes, which may include paying down senior debt maturing in November 2010, said Paul Johnson, a company spokesman.
“We think that the market conditions remain favorable and we’re taking the opportunity to further strengthen our capital position,” Johnson said today in a telephone interview.
MetLife is marketing $1 billion of five-year notes that may yield about 280 basis points more than Treasuries, and $400 million of two-year notes that may float about 190 basis points above the London interbank offered rate, according to a person familiar the offering.
GMAC notes backed by FDIC? How bizarre. Basically like having a 3-yr CD in an FDIC bank, right? I’ll get some if the rate looks OK.
OT: even the Amish have their OJ’s:
http://www.buffalonews.com/437/story/691038.html
“…was charged with overdriving of animals, reckless endangerment and obstructing governmental administration.”
Ha, we produce damn good prosecutor’s in America these days don’t we?
All that money & seminars & training and they still couldn’t catch’em? Bet they had more than x2 Dodge Chargers with V8 Hemi’s as well.
Chester: “…I’m a comin’ Mr. Dillion”
Something I’m noticing…….
A lot of “project cars” have been popping up on Craigslist in the past month or so. A few of them are getting semi-close to reasonably priced, vs. the crazy prices of 1-2 years ago.
I like working “projects”, but won’t start one, unless I can finish it and come close to break even. Which means that I haven’t bought one in about eight years.
Finished, average, drivable, low#2-#3 cars are still doing okay, but they didn” have the crazy price run-ups like the “rotisserie-resto”s.
It’s early yet.
I’m keeping my eyes peeled for a 67 or earlier VW bug. Prices are definitely trending down.
1960’s R50 BMW MC. They are getting there.
Roidy
Those old BMWs will keep going forever. I had a newer one for about a decade. Sweet bike. R1100RT.
Looks like Arnie and CA need to refi the farm:
Tuesday, June 2, 2009, 12:21pm HAST
(From Pacific Business News)
The state wallet is empty. The bank closed. Credit has dried up, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told lawmakers in a special Tuesday morning address at the Capitol.
“California’s day of reckoning is here,” he said. With no action, the state will run out of cash in 14 days. Three months after the state budget was approved, California faces a $24 billion deficit.
Schwarzenegger has already proposed massive cuts to education, health care and prisons. Now he’s looking for structural reform to make government more efficient and stretch taxpayer dollars.
He’s asked the State Board of Education, for example, to make textbooks available in digital formats — a move that could save millions.
In 2004, the governor talked about blowing up boxes and consolidating agencies, but the initiatives never gained traction.
They’re back.
Schwarzenegger is proposing once again to eliminate and consolidate more than a dozen state departments, boards and commissions. This includes the Waste Management Board, the Court Reporters Board, the Department of Boating and Waterways and the Inspection and Maintenance Review Committee.
Earlier this year, the state began consolidating information technology departments.
Now Schwarzenegger wants to consolidate departments that oversee financial institutions and merge tax collection operations. In July, state leaders will receive recommendations on how to modernize the tax code.
“This will be a tremendous opportunity to make our revenues more reliable and less volatile and help the state avoid the boom and bust budgets that have brought us here today,” Schwarzenegger told lawmakers.
It’s not going to happen in 14 days, he said. But it could happen before the Legislature adjourns for summer recess on July 1.
The state wallet is empty. The bank closed. Credit has dried up, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told lawmakers in a special Tuesday morning address at the Capitol.
How does someone go about explaining the above situation to thousands upon thousands of non-productive people who have been living just fine on the backs of taxpayers — will they ever “get it?”
Arnold to DC:
“Bail us out now same as Detroit and Wall Street, or all the green shoots will wilt and die in the California desert.”
“SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — San Quentin State Prison. Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The California State Fairgrounds.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s plan to put some of his state’s biggest landmarks up for sale to help erase a $24 billion budget deficit is fraught with questions, chief among them: How can California taxpayers possibly get a good deal in this slumping real estate market?
Schwarzenegger, who has also proposed deep cuts in education, health care, welfare and parks, wants to sell off some property outright, sell office buildings and then rent them back from the new landlords, and lease some state land to developers.
“Everywhere I go, I hear stories about families selling off their boats and motorcycles to make ends meet. They have garage sales and yard sales,” he told the Legislature this week, offering his rationale for selling assets. “They know that you don’t have or keep a boat at the dock when you can’t put food on the table.”
The governor said California could generate $3 billion from selling seven landmarks and 11 office buildings scattered around the state.”
This must be nearly the worst time in history to sell real estate in California. Doesn’t Arnold pay attention to those CAR stats that show CA real estate prices off by 40 pct or more?
This must be nearly the worst time in history to sell real estate in California.
I’ll write Arnold a $100K check for that LA Memorial Coliseum. SOLD!
PB, are you trying to tell us that it’s the best time in history to buy in CA?
Not at all. Just because it is the worst time in history doesn’t mean it can’t keep getting worse.
And the other $21 billion is erased…….how???
Best and Brightest?
‘Embarrassing’ mistake puts US nuke list onlineJune 3, 2009 6:16 PM ET
All Associated Press newsWASHINGTON (AP) - The government’s inadvertent and red-faced Internet posting of a 266-page list of U.S. nuclear sites provided a one-step guide for anyone wanting details about such sensitive information. Obama administration officials said Wednesday the document contained no classified material about nuclear weapons. They contended the locations and other details already were available from public sources.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu said “a snafu” led to the online posting. “A little embarrassing,” he acknowledged.
The document, stamped “highly confidential safeguards sensitive,” made it onto the Government Printing Office’s Web site — and why that happened was not immediately clear. A newsletter that focuses on government secrecy quickly picked up on it. The printing office removed the document when informed “about the potential sensitive nature” of the list, the agency said.
Every day, in every way, a little bit further into the Total ObamaNation.
Remind me again who was the president when those nukes took a little vacation from Minot? You remember? And the one they still haven’t found?
So that makes posting of a 266-page list of U.S. nuclear sites stamped “highly confidential safeguards sensitive,” OK
Well thanks I feel better now.
Every day, in every way, a little bit further into the Total ObamaNation.
Why in god’s name did the republicans set things up like this? What were they thinking during their six years of golden opportunity? Surely they didn’t spend all that time conspiring to fuck up so royally in order to hand the country over, lock, stock and barrel to the heathen democrats???
What went wrong?
For all the history buffs, and Turbo Tax Tim, too:
Treasury Secretary, Henry Morgenthau, angry at the Keynesian spenders, confided to his diary May 1939: “We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work. And I have just one interest, and now if I am wrong somebody else can have my job. I want to see this country prosper. I want to see people get a job. I want to see people get enough to eat. We have never made good on our promises. I say after eight years of this administration, we have just as much unemployment as when we started. And enormous debt to boot.”
“We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work” - and it won’t this time either.
Luckily Gentle Ben has studied all of what you write, and is using the sledge hammer of ongoing monetary stimulus so massive that it will work, no matter how dire the situation appears.
Then came September 1, 1939. By that time, it was pretty obvious that U.S. neutrality vis-a-vis WWII was coming to an end.
No arguments with the substance of the comment– but why does he say eight years? Wouldn’t it be six years and a few months as of May ‘39?
1939-1931 = 8?
Let me restate that:
1 1932
2 1933
3 1934
4 1935
5 1936
6 1937
7 1938
8 1939
Given that US and UK politics are connected at the hip, I am wondering what implications the Gordon Brown saga have for the Obamanites?
More Woes for Brown as Fourth Minister Resigns
By Kevin Sullivan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, June 3, 2009; 1:25 PM
LONDON, June 3 — Prime Minister Gordon Brown faced a political nightmare Wednesday with the resignation of his fourth government minister in two days on the eve of local and European elections in which his Labor Party appeared headed for perhaps its worst defeat in history.
Political analysts said Brown’s predicament is so severe that he could possibly be forced out, after months of anemic popularity ratings and more recently a parliamentary expense-abuse scandal that has reached the highest levels of his cabinet.
“We’re in an unpredictable, muddled, confused world, and no one knows what will happen in the next 48 hours,” said Peter Riddell, a political columnist and author of several books about British politics.
You’ve got it backwards. This is the fallout from the Repubs legacy.
Checkout the ongoing Parliament “expenses” scandal and it’s American connection as well.
Feinstein routes government money to firm doing business with husband posted at 9:28 am on April 21, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
The Washington Times reports that Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) took unusual steps to route government funding to an agency that usually works from a separate stream of revenue just after the agency awarded her husband’s firm a lucrative contract. The FDIC gave Richard Blum’s firm, property management firm CB Richard Ellis, contracts to handle residential foreclosures at a higher rate than normal market price, even though CBRE had less experience in that market than other competing firms. And Feinstein got the FDIC the money even though she has no connection to the Senate Banking Committee, the body that normally deals with the FDIC:
On the day the new Congress convened this year, Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduced legislation to route $25 billion in taxpayer money to a government agency that had just awarded her husband’s real estate firm a lucrative contract to sell foreclosed properties at compensation rates higher than the industry norms.
Mrs. Feinstein’s intervention on behalf of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was unusual: the California Democrat isn’t a member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs with jurisdiction over FDIC; and the agency is supposed to operate from money it raises from bank-paid insurance payments - not direct federal dollars.
Documents reviewed by The Washington Times show Mrs. Feinstein first offered Oct. 30 to help the FDIC secure money for its effort to stem the rise of home foreclosures. Her letter was sent just days before the agency determined that CB Richard Ellis Group (CBRE) - the commercial real estate firm that her husband Richard Blum heads as board chairman - had won the competitive bidding for a contract to sell foreclosed properties that FDIC had inherited from failed banks.
About the same time of the contract award, Mr. Blum’s private investment firm reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission that it and related affiliates had purchased more than 10 million new shares in CBRE. The shares were purchased for the going price of $3.77; CBRE’s stock closed Monday at $5.14.
In other words, Richard Blum bought 10 million shares at the same time his wife arranged for an unusual and extremely large chunk of taxpayer money to go to FDIC. Blum must have been an investment genius to guess that his wife’s intervention would coincidentally precede the FDIC’s award, making CBRE stock more valuable. Blum’s investment made a $14 million profit for Blum and Feinstein and their partners.
But of course, that’s all just a coincidence.
“Mrs. Feinstein’s intervention on behalf of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was unusual: the California Democrat isn’t a member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs with jurisdiction over FDIC”
She and her husband worship at the same franchise.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation indefinitely postponed a central element of the Obama administration’s bank rescue plan on Wednesday, acknowledging that it could not persuade enough banks to sell off their bad assets.
In a move that confirmed the suspicions of many analysts, the agency called off plans to start a $1 billion pilot program this month that was intended to help banks clean up their balance sheets and eventually sell off hundreds of billions of dollars worth of troubled mortgages and other loans.
GOOGLE: “For the ‘funemployed,’ unemployment is welcome”
By Kimi Yoshino, LA Times
7:35 PM PDT, June 3, 2009
Don’t count on today’s youth to support you.
An updated version of a graph I’ve previously posted - residential mortgage debt as a percentage of GDP. I added pre-WW2 data from the David Wheelock (St. Louis Fed guy) paper done last year.
It’s interesting to see the history, and correlated it with 20th-century events. Mortgage debt went quite high during the 1920’s - rising much faster than the also-rising GDP. In the early stages of the GD, mortgage debt remained fairly flat, but GDP plummeted, thus debt as a percentage of GDP continued to rise - then eventually fell due to foreclosures and to GDP recovery.
As can be expected it dropped a lot during WW2 (keeping in mind that GDP was strong, though it was war-driven GDP) - but then since then has risen in large steps, culminating in the huge step up since the late 1990’s. It’s interesting to me also that during the 1990’s even though prices were flat and even falling to some extent - that mortgage debt was rising - keeping pace with GDP. We are definitely becoming a nation of borrowers, and it very much transcends economic cycles.
The thing most worthy of note though of course - the scale of the bubble level compared with the pre-GD level is… ominous. Also that we haven’t even begun to reduce it, at least relative to GDP.
Biggest and longest-lasting bubble, ever: The post-WWII buildup in US mortgage debt as a share of GDP.
1946 = 8%
2009 = 78%
This bubble is toast, and will go away with all the other components of the credit bubble.
Now to shift the blame to Congress, where it rightfully belongs…
Financial Times
Bernanke warns on deficit
By Krishna Guha in Washington
Published: June 3 2009 15:50 | Last updated: June 3 2009 22:22
Ben Bernanke urged Congress on Wednesday to act now to bring down long-term budget deficits, warning that a failure to do so might lead to a future debt trap.
The Federal Reserve chairman said the recent sharp increases in bond yields “appear to reflect concern about large federal deficits” as well as improved optimism about the economy and other factors.
Since late April, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note has risen from below 3 per cent and peaked at 3.76 per cent last week, its highest level since November.
Mr Bernanke said large deficit-funded actions to fight the crisis were “necessary and appropriate”. But he said “near-term challenges must not be allowed to hinder timely consideration of the steps needed to address fiscal imbalances”.
Warning of the risk of a future debt trap, he said: “We cannot allow ourselves to be in a situation where the debt continues to rise. That means more and more interest payments, which swell the deficit, which leads to an unsustainable situation.”
The Fed chief’s warning came as he reiterated his view that he expects to see growth “later this year” with “some stabilisation in final demand including consumer spending”. However, he remained cautious with numerous caveats.
Financial Times
US companies cut 532,000 jobs in May
By Sarah O’Connor in Washington
Published: June 3 2009 15:45 | Last updated: June 3 2009 15:45
US companies cut more than half a million jobs last month as the recession continued to chip away at the country’s labour market, while the service sector shrank more than expected.
Private companies cut 532,000 jobs from their payrolls in May, according to a survey by ADP Employer Services. Although that was fewer than the revised 545,000 jobs slashed in April, the number was worse than many predicted and pushed shares lower on Wednesday morning.
“This is a weak report [but] you could argue at least it was better than it was a few months back,” said Joel Prakken, chairman of Macroeconomic Advisers, which jointly produces the ADP survey. Earlier in the year, payrolls were consistently being cut by more than 600,000 each month. “That improvement, if it sticks and even improves further, is consistent with a notion that a freefall in the economy is likely over,” Mr Prakken added.
Holy catastrophe! The folks who left behind a huge dung heap for the Obamanites to shovel down to size are already stepping in to try to shift the blame forward for the disaster that occurred on their watch. How about taking a little credit where credit is due, W and friends?
Wall Street Journal
* OPINION
* JUNE 4, 2009
It’s the Economy, Stupid
The Obama presidency will rise or fall on results.
By KARL ROVE
Tomorrow will likely bring more bad news for President Barack Obama on the number one issue for voters — the economy. The Labor Department’s monthly job report will almost certainly show unemployment topping 9%, with a couple hundred thousand more jobs lost in May.
It will get worse before jobs get better. Congressional Budget Director Douglas W. Elmendorf recently predicted that unemployment will continue rising into the second half of next year and peak above 10%.
Mr. Obama has an ingenious approach to job losses: He describes them as job gains. For example, last week the president claimed that 150,000 jobs had been created or saved because of his stimulus package. He boasted, “And that’s just the beginning.”
Recovery hopes dented by data, rising bond yields
Thu Jun 4, 2009 12:16am EDT
By Burton Frierson and Stanley White
NEW YORK/TOKYO (Reuters) - Hopes for an imminent and self-sustaining recovery in the global economy took a blow on Thursday after data showed the U.S. jobs market remained weak and Japanese capital spending fell sharply in the first quarter.
The weaker data, combined with cautious words from policymakers and rising long-term bond yields, stalled the advance in global stocks that has added almost 50 percent to MSCI’s world index in the past three months.
The recent sell-off in U.S. government bonds, which has driven the rise in yields and higher mortgage costs, may reflect worries over inflation and was a warning to the Federal Reserve to begin tightening monetary policy, a top Fed official said.
“I suspect we are experiencing the first signs of the markets’ concerns in the rising rates and increased volatility in longer-term Treasury markets,” Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President Thomas Hoenig said.
“Starting from where we are today, it is clear that interest rates must rise.”
Gross Says Diversify From Dollar as Deficits Surge (Update4)
By Dakin Campbell
June 3 (Bloomberg) — Bill Gross, founder of Pacific Investment Management Co., advised holders of U.S. dollars to diversify before central banks and sovereign wealth funds ultimately do the same amid concern about surging deficits.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s plan to bring the budget back into balance won’t be successful as consumers shrink spending and the U.S. growth rate slows, Gross said in a Bloomberg Radio interview today. The budget deficit will be narrowed to “roughly” 3 percent of GDP from a projected 12.9 percent this year, Geithner said June 1.
“I think he’ll fail at pulling a balanced rabbit out of a hat,” Gross said from Pimco’s headquarters in Newport Beach, California. “They are talking about — once the economy in the U.S. renormalizes — the move back toward balance or much less of a deficit. I suspect that will be hard to do.”
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