Bits Bucket For June 28, 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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Good morning, Mysterious Flying Miser. There was a problem w/ your last link yesterday. When I clicked to try to read about freelance writer Sue wutzername, I got to a blog w/ an article about Jesus Christ, and scrolling down that blog I didn’t see anything about freelance writer Sue. (I’m technically challenged, so I’m not 100% sure the error was yours.)
Good morning from Afghanistan!
How is everyone doing? I hope you are doing well…
My Sunday is going great..
Are there any good mornings in Afghanistan?
Actually yes,
If you get up about 4:30, you can catch the sun just as it rises above the mountain range. It’s quite peaceful and most cars havent started on the roads yet to kick up dust. And on friday’s, if you listen hard enough, you can hear the call to prayers.
I always like waking up to the call to prayers in Amman. Something almost romantic about it. Or if you end up in some small town with a few mosques that compete you get the call to prayers echoing in stereo…always cool….
I have enjoyed the calls to prayer in Istanbul (when visiting). It always made the city more romantic and mysterious. I wonder if I would like it when I have to hear it every day.
Any morning you don’t step on a scorpion on the way to the showers is good. Of course, if you do, you won’t need any coffee that morning.
Morning Stpn….except it’s evening for you, what is
it, about a 12 hour difference? First cup of brew
this fine Sunday morning, watching the pheasants and the deer out the office window. It’s a rough
life but someone has to do it……
Must be less than that. I thought 12 hours is Thailand, isn’t it?
Good Morning!
Leigh
Hello Leigh,
For those of you who want to know, it’s about 18:30pm (6:30 pm for you civilians):)….
It is 9:52 AM eastern standard…..
“For those of you who want to know, it’s about 18:30pm (6:30 pm for you civilians):)…”
For the FBs, this means both the big hand and the little hand is on the six.
Silly Combo, an FB knows how to tell one time only - time to buy!
If we’re going to be TECHIE, the correct COMBO is, the big hand’s on the six and the little hand’s just as close to the seven as it is to the six. So there.
I’m a bit confused by your time references. If you are working off GMT the minutes should be the same; 6:30 and 9:30, not 9:52. What gives?
Afghanistan time zone is offset by a half hour, plus a little inaccuracy somewhere..
Not if it’s a half-hour zone (which it is, along with Iran, the whole of India and parts of Australia). Interestingly, Nepal has a quarter-hour time zone (GMT+5:45) which is probably unique in that aspect.
People in the US are spoiled by lack of half-hour time zones. When I had to call the patent firm that worked for us in India I always got tripped up by the extra half-hour difference.
Boise is west of Las Vegas. But Boise is on MT whereas Las Vegas is on PT. Try figuring that one out.
BTW,
Anyone know about the housing market in FT. Meade? I dont know what cities are near, but I bet it isnt taking that much of a hit being near a military base and all….
The big city nearby is Laurel MD, with smaller towns like Bowie and Odenton being used by people I knew at the fort. Much of the people working at the fort are civilians.
I have no recent knowlege of the area but recall reading that the area outside the beltway isn’t doing so hot these days.
Ft Meade is basically between Washington DC and Baltimore, but a little further east toward Annapolis than the direct highways connecting the two (95 and 295). Anne Arundel County. Prices have probably fallen a bit despite the military base, but only because everything commutable to DC got so damned high in the first place. It isn’t an easy commute, so probably closer to hitting reasonable than Bethesda or Arlington, but not there yet.
Jim A. may have more insight than I do. I believe he lives in Laurel, MD which isn’t right next door, but is closer than Rockville which is my location.
My daughter lives in MD, and I can honestly say I think the prices are mighty high still there.
FWIW: Just spent an afternoon over drinks with a couple whose older son attended an incoming student orientation program at George Mason U., around Alexandria, VA, I think. Anyway, it was Thurs through Fri; they stayed in a motel 30 miles from campus, and took three hours to get to the program on Thurs or Fri a.m. It apparently was construction delays, a nasty pop-up thunderstorm, and, granted, they were from out-of-town and, thus, didn’t know any good alternate routes. Still, that’s brutal.
The prices are still insane in Maryland.
We’ve fallen 10% to 15% from peak, after more than doubling the price of everything. So, you can get utter junk at absurdly inflated prices all over the central region of the state. Condos, Post-War Shoeboxes - you name it, we have overpriced versions of it. Maryland has a long way to go before it can be considered affordable to any but the ultra rich or DINKS.
Housing is down 20% since peak. Ft Meade/NSA is getting an additional 20,000 employees as a result of BRAC. So far only a few thousand have arrivied…but over one billion dollars worth of military construction is underway. There is more then a normal amount of housing for sale, but not a massive amount. There are two commuter train stops in Laurel that go to Baltimore and to Baltimore. There is a major, $3 billion toll road ( the ICC) under constrution that will connect Laurel to Rockville. Car commuting to DC can be terrible. However if you work for one of the many large Fed agencies in the Laurel area the commute is probably the best in the DC area. Housing prices (excluding the comotose outer Virginia areas) are the lowest in the DC area. The Prince Georges County area of the Ft Meade area has a school problem, the other areas for schooling are OK to very good.
Zip code: 20755
Google maps link:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=20755&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=51.708931,39.726562&ie=UTF8&ll=39.109551,-76.724052&spn=0.20193,0.307961&z=12
You can search on either http://www.apartmentguide.com or http://www.homesdatabase.com/ to get an idea of apartments and houses in that area.
Five Banks Are Seized, Raising U.S. Failures This Year to 45
By Margaret Chadbourn
June 27 (Bloomberg) — Five U.S. banks with total assets of about $1.04 billion were seized by regulators, pushing this year’s tally of failures to 45 as a recession drives up unemployment and home foreclosures.
Community Bank of West Georgia, in Villa Rica, Georgia; Neighborhood Community Bank of Newnan, Georgia; Horizon Bank of Pine City, Minnesota; MetroPacific Bank of Irvine, California; and Mirae Bank of Los Angeles were closed yesterday by state regulators, according to statements from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The FDIC was named receiver of the four banks.
Wilshire Bancorp’s Wilshire State Bank will take over all of Mirae’s $362 million in deposits, and will purchase $449 million of assets, the FDIC said in a statement.
Sunwest Bank of Tustin, California, acquired most of MetroPacific’s $73 million in deposits and $80 million in assets, the FDIC said. Stearns Bank of St. Cloud, Minnesota, bought Horizon Bank’s $69.4 million of deposits. Stearns will purchase $84.4 million of Horizon’s assets, the FDIC said.
The FDIC didn’t find a buyer for Community Bank of West Georgia, and said it will mail checks to reimburse insured depositors. The bank has deposits of $182.5 million. Charter Financial Corp.’s CharterBank will assume Neighborhood Community Bank’s $191.3 million of deposits and purchased some assets in a loss-share agreement with the FDIC, according to the agency.
“The loss-sharing arrangement is projected to maximize returns on the assets covered by keeping them in the private sector,” the FDIC said. “The agreement also is expected to minimize disruptions for loan customers.”
Regulators have seized the most U.S. banks this year since 1993. The U.S. economy has shed about 6 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007. Foreclosure filings surpassed 300,000 for the third straight month in May, according to RealtyTrac Inc.
Thank God for the HBB- due to the obsessive reporting on the washed up singer turned child molester nothing like this makes the local news out here- Oh they did do a short piece on Chris Brown and Rhianna (sp?) of course…. Its scary how many people out there claim Jackson was such a influence on their lives- if thats true this country is doomed. Perhaps we’ll get back to normal after the next circus leaves town (which will be his funeral) - can’t wait for that zoo!!
Sorry, MJ, but Farrah’s swimsuit poster had way more influence on my adolecent life than anything you ever did…
And Billy Mays died today.
No more ka-boom…
Less competition for Mr. Sham-wow.
Mr Sham-Wow is quieter since his jail bit after being pounded, so to speak, by a hooker.Apparently he didn’t pay? KA POW!
More Brown Squirts…
Personal bankruptcies surge in Southern California
The region had the nation’s biggest percentage jump in 2008, and the number this year through April is up 75% despite a 2005 rule overhaul aimed at curbing filings by those who would benefit unfairly.
By David Colker
June 28, 2009
Going legally broke has made a big comeback — especially in the Los Angeles area — despite a mid-decade revision to the U.S. Bankruptcy Code intended to curb filings.
The number of Southern Californians seeking bankruptcy protection nearly doubled in 2008 from 2007 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court’s seven-county California Central District, by far the biggest increase in the nation.
I guess they learned a lttle something from donald trump.Rack up your debt, transfer your assets and then file bankruptcy.It is the american way now.
“When Did Your County’s Jobs Disappear? An interactive map of vanishing employment across the country, updated with the latest figures.”
http://www.slate.com/id/2216238/
That’s a mighty impressive ( and depressing ) map, Muggy. What a cluster—-. I can’t even show it to my husband because it will depress him even further. He still blames himself for not being able to find a decent chemist’s job even though he’s on S.S. disability.
But, his health’s improving and many days I can tell that he’s feeling better overall, including his mental health status. If I show him this, it would set him back at least a month or two. I’m glad that you found that map, though. It shows what’s really been going on. I don’t think we’re “turning the corner” in any 2010 or 2011.
Well, it’s Sunday morning, which means I scour my hometown newspaper for stories of denial. I hit paydirt today, with this whopper from, get this, Steve Sink.
“Rochester escapes worst of recession”
http://tinyurl.com/nlfvsx
Rochester was 11th-best in maintaining its job base, 10th in the stability of its housing values, 14th in having the fewest properties go into foreclosure.
“The region scored poorly by one measure: average wages, which fell 2.3 percent from the fourth quarter of 2008 to the first quarter of 2009.” Howard Wial, one of the authors of the study, said Rochester’s wage drop might have been a fluke (most metro areas saw their wages go up).
I won’t suggest that Rochester has been immune to this downturn, its duration now 19 months. But we can take solace in this: It could have been a lot worse.”
So there you have it: it’s all behind Rochester even though wages are falling there. Bravo, Sink! Bravo.
So there you have it: it’s all behind Rochester even though wages are falling there. Bravo, Sink! Bravo.
In the Rust Belt you gotta take good economic news where you can find it, even if it means ignoring some glaring issues.
The best news for Rochester is that you can work at McDonalds and own a house in an o.k. ‘hood as long as you can navigate the city school system. It’s something always on my mind.
I’m still trying to convince to my unemployed friend in Boston that he’d be way better off being gainfully underemployed in Rochester.
BTW, ET, don’t tread on my schadenfreude, dammit.
Mostly because Rochester already took some big hits in the past decade. The big employers there used to be Xerox and Kodak and GE and IBM. Kodak has closed the film lines, Xerox went through some big downsizing. GE is still okay and IBM, well, we all know that story.
That is exactly it PatB. When you’re already at the bottom of the barrel, how far can you really fall? I dispute the comment on GE. They’re not “okay” but in fact are much like the rest of the upstate NY area…. they’ve slashed and cut and slashed to the point there is nothing left but a hollowed out carcass of a company.
But generally speaking, the upstate economy will resume it’s low slow descent into post-industrial depression now that housing is collapsing.
I know a lot of Nor’easterners down here who are here because the whole NE is going down the drain.
BTW, click my moniker.
I’d love to click your moniker, Eco, but I’m already married
Thanks for posting that, eco. I’ve been trying to find it online for several days, but Wenner Publications pulled it. Tee hee.
“Congressman, did you actually READ that complicated bill you passed Friday?”
“Uh…well, no. But my staff briefed me on it. They’ve been closely following the media discussions about it.”
WASHINGTON — The fate of the so-called “Global Warming bill is not certain in the Senate. Hours after the House passed landmark legislation meant to curb greenhouse gas emissions and create an energy-efficient economy, President Barack Obama said:
“My call to every senator, as well as to every American, is this,” he said. “We cannot be afraid of the future. And we must not be prisoners of the past. Don’t believe the misinformation out there that suggests there is somehow a contradiction between investing in clean energy and economic growth.”
(Dear Barry: We have every reason in the world to be afraid of the future. That “Cap and Tax” bill squeaked through the House of Representatives yesterday with most house members never having read it. The “misinformation out there” comes chiefly from your own political party which is hell-bent to tax us into a living standard not suffered by the masses since those bleak years of the 1930s. We hope the U.S. Senate shoots it down.)
As the Wall St. Journal pointed out… “Americans should know that those Members who vote for this climate bill are voting for what is likely to be the biggest tax in American history’.
Even Democraps &Republicants can’t repeal that reality.
The poor dimwits that voted in the current turd occupying the white house, think this massive tax will be on the evil rich and corporations, and it will be(along with you).
Windmills will spring up across the land along with solar panels, and all will be right with the world. Guess again suckers, even the CBO estimates that by 2030 the increase in taxes this bill will bring about could be as high as $6000.00 per year, per family! Don’t believe that, do some research, the gubmint ran the numbers. Does Barry tell his faithful that? Of course not, it’s about power and control, and “they” hate liberty, you are to stupid to handle your own affairs.
Get poor and avoid the rush…
Who cares…I hated Buush (or was led to hate Bush, after all he is a really nice guy on personal level).
Anyway, the Middle Class has ALWAYS been where the money is, and the problem for government, particularly the party in power now, has been how to STEAL it from them without getting blamed. Right now, half of the Middle Class pays virtually nothing in federal income tax, and the other half (even families making over 100K) pay very little - maybe 10% at most, after all of the marriage and kiddie deductions.
Global Warming came to the rescue!! Apply MASSIVE tax increases on business, and let them pass it on to the middle class. The middle class, will, as usual blame big business, particularly the EVIL oil companies (and electric utilities - when they see their bills double or triple), but will never blame those guys in power. Meanwhile, the country sinks while those in power enrich themselves and their friends.
…but I hated Buush so much.
Anyway, the Middle Class has ALWAYS been where the money is, and the problem for government, particularly the party in power now, has been how to STEAL it from them without getting blamed.
The middle class can’t be where the money is if there is no middle class.
There has been one political ideology trying to remake America into a globalized, “unfettered,” Latin American-style two-strata system for some time by giving corporate entities and their owners all the power. Perhaps you approve of those efforts?
“The middle class can’t be where the money is if there is no middle class.”
I agree…but right now there is a HUGE Middle Class being taxed very lightly. There may not be much of a Middle Class when the people in power get through punishing us for electing them, but there is still one now.
Today’s Middle Class may feel poor, but it’s usually due to bad decisions (like too much house, or car, or plasma, or vacations, for example), but they could (or could have) lived a very nice lifestyle, if they had made the right decisions, rather than accepting money from anyone who would loan it to them.
As to Globalization, I actually would support it if it were on a level playing field, because I think that we could win…at least most of the time, even against Third World countries. But when the people in power tie both hands behind our back, we don’t have a chance. Examples of what they do include racial mandates, excessive environmental mandates and reviews, labor laws (particularly the laws that allow the UAW to put any company they want out of business, or at least into BK, whenever they feel like it), excessive safety laws, and especially now our HUGE Carbon Tax.
So, at this point, I don’t even think that Globalization will be an option for us much longer. The people in power have decided that we need to go down a few notches and are well on their way to making sure we get there. When that happens, we will be Third World, without a doubt, as our dollar will be worthless and imports will be so expensive as not to be available to us. We will have been bypassed by the First World (probably including China). At that point we will have to start producing out own goods, although they will be VERY EXPENSIVE (think about basic lawn mowers being $1000 - even without taking inflation into account, due to having to pay union wages and all of the other expenses mentioned above)…but they will STILL be cheaper than Chinese imports…due to our worthless dollar.
Bottom line - we will be a VERY POOR country, with or without Globalization. That debate is now behind us and was a total diversion from what we should have been debating (i.e., whether to tie both hands behind our back when trying to compete).
Got bad news for you.
When it comes to our standard of living, we got passed a long time ago by the other industrialized nations. (excluding Russia, India and China)
Our military, financial sector and R&D are the only things keeping us in the race…. and we just screwed the financial sector. Our military and R&D spending really only benefit a select few. (Don’t get me wrong, I’m for a strong military. We’re gonna need it.)
“but right now there is a HUGE Middle Class being taxed very lightly.”
You’re deluding yourself my friend. There is far more untaxed income in dollar volume at the top end than there is anywhere else.
When the wealthy elite begin to payback what they’ve stolen over the last 30 years, your statement will be true. Until then, it is false.
“You’re deluding yourself my friend. There is far more untaxed income in dollar volume at the top end than there is anywhere else.”
Nope, sorry. There simply is not enough people at the top end to provide the dollar volume that would fund these pipe dreams. There is still a lot of untaxed money (i.e., they people at the top pay, maybe, 25%), but there simply are not enough of them.
Why else would the Middle Class be in the cross-hairs of those in power (i.e., talk of a VAT, talk of taxing health care benefits, the Carbon Tax, etc.)?
The guys in Washington may have you (and millions of others) fooled with their “rich don’t pay enough” rhetoric, but they are now TARGETING the Middle Class. So, what you think does not matter, it’s what those in power, with access to numbers rather than propaganda, think that matter - and they are CONVINCED that now is the time for the Middle Class to bend over and take it.
“The middle class, will, as usual blame big business, particularly the EVIL oil companies (and electric utilities - when they see their bills double or triple), but will never blame those guys in power.”
Bullseye!
Thanks, actually it’s a EASY TARGET, as it has played out over and over again.
Well that’s just the thing. One can hate what Bush did to the country and still hate what Obama is doing ot the country. All too often the justification used for Obama’s actions is “oh yeah well look at what Bush did!” as if any criticism of Obama must automatically also be praise for Bush.
Democrats aren’t the problem and republicans aren’t the problem. Democrats and republicans are the problem.
+1
Got Rocks,
Yeah you’ve got rocks…in your head - if you believe the Federal tax bite for the middle class is less than 10%. You obviously are not one of the 65MM households that make up this group.
“Kiddie tax and Marriage” deductions represent less than a 6% savings from the $28,000.00 federal obligation for dual income households earning 100k.
The middle class as a percentage is the most overburdened group from a tax standpoint.
SHEESH
Get poor and avoid the rush ??
Interesting concept….
Get poor in traceable assets and collect medicaid….then “find” those assets when you get a job that has paid health care
BEN…I do believe that it’s time AGAIN for you to put your moderating foot down on this thinly disguised, agitating rabble rousing BS stuff before this blog turns into a full blown political soapbox and foodfight the 1st thing in the mornings.
Whether the politically minded discontents with an agenda here like it or not, this nation has spoken through the vote, Obama is the President, it’s the Democrats turn and we don’t need these wannabe Fox type news commentators setting THEIR proselytizing political tones UNDER the guise of comments on the Housing Bubble Blog.
“The poor dimwits that voted in the current turd occupying the white house, think this massive tax will be on the evil rich and corporations, and it will be(along with you”
“Windmills will spring up across the land along with solar panels, and all will be right with the world. Guess again suckers…”
“Don’t believe that, do some research, the gubmint ran the numbers. Does Barry tell his faithful that? Of course not, it’s about power and control, and “they” hate liberty, you are to stupid to handle your own affairs”
They can read and comment on FIRE without sneaking under your radar and slyly calling non-aligned HBB members “dimwits”, suckers and the President “barry” or worse.
Either put a STOP to THIS CRAP or expect people to start firing back and have a political free for all mess on your hands .
OK.
Stop it everybody.
As you were.
Damn…
I love a good food fight first thing in the morning.
We never get to have any fun around here.
Seconded, mikey.
third mikey.
Yeah - cause I remember when it was stopped when all the political Bush bashing was going on….not.
Feh. When will folks realize that all this partisanship is deliberately engineered and encouraged by elites who control the airwaves, the monetary system, the means of production and the political system, etc.? It’s meant to keep people fighting each other and all tangled up in crap while their pockets are picked and their souls deadened. Not for nothing do we have the country splitting into ethnic and cultural and religious groups opposed to each other. Now, if all the people were suddenly to realize this and unite against the real enemies, and construct on their ashes a civilization truly based on humanitarian ideals, THAT would be something.
yep, that is exactly what my corp does to all of us, all the time, Divide and conquer.
So, if ya’ll would just agree to disagree and vote your idiot and mine outa office, the congress critters, then maybe we could start to fix some things, but as long as ya’ll think it is the head guy completely in charge and not the idjuts that are congress making this mess, then we will stay mired in crap and sinking.
ps. remember that those idjuts you and I keep voting in have all their insurances, with or without pre-existing, and their pensions that go to their spouses. If they have theirs and keep voting things against our US…
Exactly palmetto. Exactly.
Something else to remember. The government is only a front for the large banks and corporations. Has been since the Medici made an art out of it.
Click my moniker to see behind the scenes.
While I agree, Mikey, I really think it’s a shame that there are people on this blog that are so partisan and can’t discuss the *issues* in a polite and mature way.
Name-calling and bashing is stupid. But discussion of the issues is a good thing. If only everyone here was capable of having mature discussion…
Luckily, I just have those people on ‘ignore’
Perhaps the anti-Obama stuff is a reaction to alot of the anti-Bush/anti-republican posts that other posters are prone to.
Was it not the supply side lie instituted in 1981 that got us into this mess? Was it not the GOP and Raygun that marketed the supply side lie? Was it not Raygun who increased the tax burden on the middle class and lowered it on the wealthy elite? Is the borrow and spend mantra not a fundamental of the supply side lie?
Was it not Bush who made the housing mania the centerpiece of their pathetic domestic policy? Click on my moniker to see and hear the truth… otherwise go on attempting to re-focus the blame.
“Perhaps the anti-Obama stuff is a reaction to alot of the anti-Bush/anti-republican posts that other posters are prone to”
Perhaps we need to ask Ben to Formulate and Post some basic Kindergarden Common Courtesy Ground Rules along with General HBB Standing Orders over the blog door stating that we DON’T kick, bite or scratch while personally insulting each others intelligence with our self-serving homemade political ideologies and agendas .
Or, perhaps…we might just grow up a little and try to do what he said… and just stop it !
“and the President “barry” or worse.”
Oh no! It would be awful for anyone to call the President names. At this point between dems or repubs it`s an argument over who is the taller midget. But when it comes to calling the President names “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander”
A voice of civility, Mikey. Thank you.
you are to stupid to handle your own affairs.
Given what we’ve seen of the banks, the FB’s, and management of GM and Chrysler, maybe we ARE too stupid to handle our own affairs.
Nor do I see how the middle class is “where the money is.” Isn’t it the middle class where all the DEBT is? If you want to find the money, look at the Fortune 400 richest families, beginning with the almighty Waltons.
Given what we’ve seen of the banks, the FB’s, and management of GM and Chrysler, maybe we ARE too stupid to handle our own affairs.
No, all that proves is *THEY* are possibly too stupid. I really hate being grouped into this “we”.
People make stupid decisons. They always will. Just because there are stupid people in the world doesn’t mean that we should legislate to the lowest common denominator and hamstring those of us who aren’t stupid.
It’s like teaching a class to the slowest/least-smart person in the room. Sure, it puts everyone on equal footing. But those who grasp and already know the material being taught are being held back.
Those of use who are capable of making good decisions should be allowed to. Those who aren’t should be allowed to fail. There will be fewer of them, and they’ll eventually learn to make good decisions..or not be in a position to make any decisions at all.
What people read in the NY Times or on the Daily Kos has been carefully prepared to give the appearance that some social justice comes out of the current Administration.
Nothing could be further from the truth. What has taken place so far, will make the rich much richer, and the poor much poorer. In a couple of years, the so-called middle class in this country will have shrunk by 95%. The biggest industry in America is now the political rape and impoverishment of the masses. Americans have been so dumbed down and misdirected by the MSM and Government propaganda that they now cling pathetically to the belief that the Government somehow will make their lives better. It won’t. It will give 1/10 of 1% of the population fantastic control over the other 99.9%. Many people now suspect something very bad is happening, but desperately want to believe that because it’s not “Bush”, everything will get better. It won’t. Unemployment will spread like cancer as more and more jobs vanish or move overseas. The average tax and hidden tax burden will become like a millstone around the economy’s neck. The dollar will drift into previously uncharted depths. More and more businesses and people will seek bankruptcy protection. Most will become wards of the state. The overall quality of life will deteriorate for the masses and the super-rich will simply buy the political protection they want. In many ways the America of the future will resemble the America of plantations, slaves, and sharecroppers of years gone by. And of course the MSM will insist that no one could have seen it coming; or if they did, nothing could have been done to prevent it.
cling pathetically to the belief that the Government somehow will make their lives better
It will as long as you work for the Government…
“cling pathetically to the belief that the Government somehow will make their lives better”
Well everyone in LA who got electricity from LADPW did a lot better then everyone else in California who bought market electricity, courtesy of Enron.
It was the Feds who built those Interstate Highways.
It was the Feds who electrified the south, and
it was the Feds who defeated the Nazis.
We tried free market war in Iraq, it sure didn’t work.
It was the Feds who hired private contractors to design and build those interstates.
It was private inventors that figured out how to make electricity. And private companies built the power plants, installed the lines exc.
The Feds defeated the Nazi’s with the help of equipment built by us warmongering private industrial complex firms.
Free market war in Iraq? The bulk of our strength comes from our Navy and Airforce. That’s what allowed us to roll Iraq in a couple of weeks. Also built by government contractors.
You want bad engineering? Take a look at a lot of the ACOE stuff. See New Orleans. OK. That probably isn’t fair to the ACOE who wanted to fix things.
Everyone is becomming more extreem. I expect most democrats to become more so as Obama fails to stem the tide of what is comming.
Anyhow, government does an OK job routing money to various clear needs. Any big solutions are going to come from all of us. I don’t understand the cap and trade regulations. Sounds like BS shifting the problems from one area to another.
And whom do you think pays those government contractors?
It comes from watching too many movies.
As is so often quoted here: hope in one hand, sh*t in the other…
I don’t notice a huge number of companies and rich people relocating to Mogadishu in Somalia.
The tax rate there is zero and you don’t have to worry about any pesky environmental laws. Its a capitalistic paradise!
skroodle, I think that’s a strawman that’s brought up over and over regarding an “unregulated market”.
It’s possible to have a place where the ‘rule of law’ prevails and to also have a “free” market, or at least far freer than we have here in the US at the moment. But for any of that, you need the rule of law and enforcement of contracts and private property rights.
Why would they skroodle when they have the Caymanns!
But drumminj, what could be more free than bankrupting your company to the tune of billions, while destroying the pensions of million as well as states budgets and getting a government handout?!
I’d say that’s the very definition of “free.” Free to screw everyone in sight and get away with it!
Hooray!
I’d say that’s the very definition of “free.” Free to screw everyone in sight and get away with it!
Well, look at why they can ‘get away with it’. A lot of that is due to gov’t meddling. Corporate personhood is a big part of that. Two individuals can perform exactly the same act - defrauding others, losing money, malfeasance, etc - and one will be prosecuted and face all sorts of civil suits. The other will walk away scott free? Why does the latter get to do that? Because all those actions were performed while ‘working’ on behalf of a corporation.
You can pile more and more regulations and legislation on top of the mess to try to patch the holes…or you can look at the faulty assumptions it’s all built on top of and try to fix those. I vote for the latter.
I can agree with that.
On the other hand, many of those regulations were put there on behalf of some businesses trying to cripple their competition. Other rules were put in place because the businesses were not just ripping people off, but hurting or killing them. The rest are just plain outright taxes masquerading as “fees.”
It will give 1/10 of 1% of the population fantastic control over the other 99.9%. Many people now suspect something very bad is happening … In many ways the America of the future will resemble the America of plantations, slaves, and sharecroppers of years gone by.
You regularly disparage any thoughts/news/ideas from the center or left, but the right in this country is hell-bent on creating just the economic scenario you predict, minus any assistance for the poor “99.9%” of citizens, plus a little religious mind-control and backwards-looking racial policies thrown in for good measure.
So: What is your solution?
So: What is your solution?
Well, I’m not on the right or the left, but here’s my solution:
KEEP GOVERNMENT OUT OF IT!
Shrink the size of the federal government. Move decision-making and legislation to the local level. Give people a reasonable option of “opting out” of stupid (local) government policies, and voila, those that have sound policies will flourish, those with unsound policies will fail (like California should do, if fed gov doesn’t come to their aid).
End all the gov’t meddling in the economy. Stop all these special tax rules, exemptions, etc. Stop social engineering via the tax structure. Stop bailouts and ‘too big to fail’. Stop taxing at a federal level and re-distributing to states/local municipalities with strings attached.
Get rid of the Federal Reserve and go back to some form of ‘hard money’.
Give people back their freedom and the responsibility for their own lives.
“So: What is your solution?”
OK, here’s my start of a solution:
1.Confiscate the assets of the Federal Reserve and disenfranchise them. Arrest its leaders for treason, and other high crimes. Convict them in a fair and speedy trial and sentence them harsly.
2. Stop all “bailouts” immediately and declare null and void any such agreements that were recently engineered through the Federal Reserve and/or Treasury.
3. Deport all illegal immigrants immediately. Employ actual citizens to build a secure border system for the USA.
4. Bring our troops back out of Iraq, Afghanistan, South Korea, Europe, etc, etc, and redeploy enough of them to defend our new border system as in #3 above.
5. Repeal the Patriot Act, disband Homeland Security, and remove from office any so-called “czar”.
6. Declare all EMTALA (Emergency Medical Treatment) regulations rescinded.
Encourage medical schools and hospitals to accept uninsured or indigent emergency cases subject to direct reimbursement from the SSA.
7. Call for a Constitutional Convention to restore to the States all rights and powers not specifically granted to the Federal Govt. by the Constitution.
In short and in general, reduce the size and scope of Federal control and power over the individual lives of Americans.
Grab this monster known as the Federal Reserve, cut off its head and drive a stake through its heart, before burning it to ashes in the public square.
Arrest its leaders for treason, and other high crimes.
I wonder when the last time someone was charged with treason was? Found guilty?
Was John Walker Lindh? (I think that was his name). Really, I think treason charges should be far more common. Many actions of Congress could (and should) be considered treasonous. I think a good hanging or two would do some good towards getting Congress back in line, acting in the interests of the people.
8. Re-establish the Usery Laws in the United States at no more than 6-12% maximum for all businesses in the US .
9. Cap Corporational Gross Profits above 10-12% per year with a High Tax for 6 years to include everything from Executive pay to labor unless it is shown spent on legitimate Capital Business Expense, Investments, Improvements or related jobs in the United States proper.
10. Implement a basic National PREVENTATIVE Health Care System and Emergency Medical care starting with phases using General Practitioners MD, PA’s, Nurse Practitioners and RN’s as the cornerstones and screeners.
a. Expectant mothers and infants of need 1st.
b. Young kids to college students of need next.
c. All working/able bodied adults of need next.
d. Continue PREVENTIVE Medicare/Medicaid for
seniors.
e. Include and make it available for all US Citizens.
11. Have a coup, depose mighty mikey and send me (plus a pallet of 100 Dollar bills) to live and play with my Commie Buddies in exile in Costa Rica
I vote we jump straight to 11. All those in favor?
I got back to my ‘puter rather late today.
Thanks for the thoughtful answers!
I vote for political assasinations.
lol….What are HBB “friends” for anyway ?
Do I STILL …get the money ?
No matter which side of the political spectrum, one has to wonder why all of these bills have to be passed RIGHT AWAY, before anyone has a chance to read them. The democrats will still be in power a couple of months from now, so why the rush? Supposedly the provisions of this bill don’t start for years anyway.
Whenever a salesperson tells me I have to make a decision right then and there, it’s almost always a bad deal for me.
It makes me very suspicious that either 1) something very bad is going to happen to the economy this Summer, or 2) these bills are so full of corruption they don’t want anyone to read them.
Agreed, SFC. I forget the organization now, but I liked the idea of getting a bill passed (or const. amendment) that would require all bills to be read in their entirety before being voted in. Additionally, there’d be no more such thing as “riders”. Each bill could only address one issue.
My Democrat congressman, Walt Minnick, voted against it, I’m guessing since he didn’t get a clean draft to review.
From the Washington Examiner right before the floor vote:
By all appearances, the House is about to vote on a very long bill of which it has no completed official copy.
Texas Republican Reps. Joe Barton and Louie Gohmert have just asked the chair whether there exists a complete, updated copy of the Waxman-Markey carbon-cap bill.
“If a bill for which there is no copy were to actually pass this body,” Barton asked, “could the bill without a copy be sent to the Senate for its consideration?”
Through a series of parliamentary inquiries, the Republicans learned that the 300-plus page managers’ amendment, added to the bill last night in the House Rules Committee, has not even been been integrated with the official copy of the 1,090-page bill at the House Clerk’s desk, let alone in any other location. The two documents are side-by-side at the desk as the clerk reads through the instructions in the 300 page document for altering the 1,090 page document.
But they cannot be simply combined, because the amendment contains 300 pages of items like this: “Page 15, beginning line 8, strike paragraph (11)…” How many members of Congress do you suppose have gone through it all to see how it changes the bill?
Again, the Cap & Trade is another bubble being created by Goldman Sachs.
Enron was the last ones to try this.
Exactly.
The Carbon Credit scam will make the Housing Bubble look small. Just imagine a scam based on nothing at all - phony “carbon credits” vs. crumbling stucco boxes - that can impoverish everyone vs. just the f’d buyers! It’ll be great for Goldman and Cronies!
NYChk, thanks for reminding me I live by the beach. I just got back from a morning swim in the Gulf. I feel great.
No sharks?
“No sharks?”
Naw, Countrywide hasn’t been in Pinellas for about a year.
80# bag of cement at Home Despot $2.98
Working on Mr. Cole’s Amtrak caboose…been watching the the density numbers for dwelling occupancy and local crime rates continue to rise in the valley of fruit & plenty…little in the way of internet access this last week…but, did get to re-watch Henry Fonda in the “Grapes of Wrath”…Thanksgiving dinner is coming fast!
There’s that word again: South Carolina!
BWAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHHHHHHHHH!!! (fpss)
doesn’t it cost more then $2.98 just to ship that bag from the plant?
I noticed the price of an 80# bag of concrete mix at HD too - something like $2.60. Wasn’t it double that price a couple of years ago?
Wow, I am studying four municipalities in Pinellas = avg. median household income around $40k.
Million Dollar Condos!
“…avg. median household income around $40k”
Mr. Bear, there must surely be a “proven theory” on the effects of “gravity” in relation to house prices right?
You go Alaska! Palin / Shrub III… in 2012
Gov’t workers = 9
Jx6pk = -3
Next game:
Medical workers vs Jx6pk…sponsored by Pabst Blue Ribbion
Nationwide, incomes were down 0.5% in the first quarter after falling 0.4% in the last three months of 2008.
BLS analysts attribute the overall drop to job losses, lower interest rates, and smaller corporate dividend payments. The decline was moderated by rising unemployment insurance benefits for laid off workers, cost of living adjustments for retirees, and pay raises for government employees.
Quarterly change in Calif. incomes Quarter Q/Q change
Q1′08 -0.1%
Q2′08 1.7%
Q3′08 0.2%
Q4′08 -1.3%
Q1′09 -0.8%
California’s first-quarter decline placed it 40th in the nation for the change in personal income. Hawaii ranked first, with a 0.8% increase thanks mostly to its large federal civilian and military sectors, says the BLS.
The worst decline was in Alaska, which saw personal income plummet 3.2% from the last quarter of 2008 to the first three months of 2009. But that was an anomaly because Alaskans received a special $2,000 per person payment from the state’s Alaska Permanent Fund last year.
In terms of sectors, Californians in farming took the biggest hit, with personal income down 20.76%. Construction workers saw their incomes drop 5.95% and the finance sector fell 4.1%.
The big winners in California were military personnel, who saw their incomes increase 6.35% in the quarter. Federal government workers ranked second, up 5.36% and utility workers’ pay rose 3.49.
California incomes decline — again
June 24th, 2009, OC Register by Mary Ann Milbourn
From Yahoo News…
Police in Florida say TV pitchman Billy Mays found dead
There goes part of the TV garbage gadget sales economy.
Whoa — Billy Mays was on the flight that blew out a tire yesterday at TPA and apparently he was struck in the head by something.
All of the bad aviation news lately has a Tampa connection.
*wipes sweat off brow, considering the wifers/littleman pending return flight this week.
Weird. He may have died from the same complications that affected Natasha Richardson when she suddenly died after hitting her head after a spill on the slopes. Guess we all need to be wearing helmets.
“Guess we all need to be wearing helmets.”
Inappropriately LMFAO.
HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY (Bay News 9) — Mays was a passenger on the US Airways 737 aircraft that took a hard landing at Tampa International Airport on Saturday, an airport spokesperson has confirmed.
Luggage had fallen on Mays’ head during the incident, and his family said he was not feeling well when he went to bed later that night, said police spokeswoman Laura McElroy.
Is this why you’re supposed to not go to sleep when you have a concussion? I never understood why that was the case…
why you’re supposed to not go to sleep when you have a concussion? Back in the bad old days before decent brain scans were invented, the only way to detect early bleeding inside the cranial cavity was to frequently check pupil size, reactivity, vital signs & neurologic performance for any evidence of a rapidly increasing mass in there (taking place over minutes to hours, the only thing that can do this is bleeding in a confined space like the skull). Basically impossible to do that in a someone who is sleeping. (Somehow that got turned into “Don’t sleep after a severe head injury.” ) When the surgeon got suspicious enough, he explored the situation further with a scalpel and a drill into the skull. Fortunately techniques have improved a bit, but for the worst injuries, time is still of the essence.
That’s a big Ouch! Too bad about Billy Mays. I figured it must have been a heart attack, but if you are right, it must have been the hit on the head. I tend to take window seats on my flights. Some lunkhead removing a bowling ball from the overhead compartment above me and…oops! That’s the end!
That case will settle. Causation issues up the ya ya. I wouldn’t file it…Wait, yes I would!
In the old days, I also used to bug my patients with normal orientation questions as to time, place, space and speech a lot as well. Frequently, they confused me, the nurses and the residents. The ICU nurses used to joked I even explained my intentions and proceedures to the artifical flowers in a vase on the nursing station desk.
If they didn’t or couldn’t wake up or if they told me it was 3:20 am and were were still at some party in Pittsburg, one of us was generally lost again and we could be in for a little brain trouble if this wasn’t explainable med, drug, illness or normal hospitalization/tramua/confusion .
I’d then order 2 BLT’s on toast and 3 chocolate milks STAT, just to be on the safe side, as it was might be a long night in ICU or surgery. Then again, if you just woke up in the dark and heard a bunch of lost, love starved residents and ICU Nurses quietly giggling, joking and talking, you just might think in good faith, that you were still at that wild Pittsburg party before you fell on your head.
The experts say that hearing is usually the last thing to go, so it’s always wise to be careful what you say to and do around the a seemingly unconscious or comatose patient. Be as courteous, professionally and respectful as possible.
Seemingly unaware Granny might cut you out of the Will or uncle Harry might think he has reasons to sue if the sleepy anesthesiologist was the real one in a coma.
I’ve had a few people that felt that they had Near Death Experiences, who remembered me and my little friends shocking, intubating them or pounding on their chests. They also remember hearing greedy loved ones arguing about their property and money.
In the final analysis, It ain’t really over until the Fat Doctor in charge sadly shrugs and says says it is !
RIP Billy. His widow probably has a case and will get millions from the airline if he died of a concussion.
Now we have to suffer with more infomercials from that creep who slapped his troubles away.
If Billy Mays died of a head injury, it wasn’t a concussion. I saw the video of the interview with him just after the incident. He clearly said something fell on top of his head from the overhead bin during the landing. He looked & acted normal (although not as hyper as he usually is during his infomercials). Someone else was then interviewed, who had called Billy a few hours after the incident. He said, “He sounded a little groggy, a little tired.” This is consistent with bleeding into the head, which would be hard to miss as a cause of death during an autopsy. The late Natasha Richardson died of intracranial bleeding. She was OK for a short time after her fatal head injury, then rapidly deteriorated & passed away within a few hours of it.
Does anyone, anywhere, really truly understand how small the market is for “million dollar condos”? First off, to buy a million dollar condo, you need an income >300K (at least). That means that you’re already down to 1 in 100 people who can possibly even consider a 1M dollar condo (1% of the population has the necessary income).
Now, of the 1% that has the necessary income, almost all of them already own homes (SFHs). Therefore, to buy a 1M dollar condo, they have to sell their home (not likely at all) or make enough to support their existing home AND the 1M dollar condo. If you are looking for people who can keep their existing home AND the 1M dollar condo (the rich snowbirds that we heard about ad infinitum in FL), we’re talking people with incomes >500K+. The numbers get scarce here, but I’m guessing about .5% of the population is in that situation.
In absolute numbers, there are about 1M households in the entire United States that could possibly afford a 1 million dollar condo (kind of convenient, huh)? Since the housing boom, condos have shot up everywhere across the country. So, of those 1M people with the income to support such a property, how many are looking in Pinellas county? My guess is < 10.
That’s the thing with these condos in Pinellas (or in the mall parking lots, or on the edge of the Sawgrass, etc), there’s simply NOBODY to buy them. At 50K, maybe. But at 1M dollars? You’d have to sell me the entire building for me to even consider it. There’s NO DEMAND, and NO SUPPLY of buyers who have the necessary income (so no way to manufacture demand).
A “million dollar condo” is such a niche product that the entire concept should be foreign to almost everyone in this country. Kind of like the idea of 5K handbags and 100K weddings (although, as we know, now people with 50K incomes are carrying LV/Gucci/etc bags and having 100K weddings; a BIG PART of the problem), they are for the very rich, and simply not something that the “normal” consumer should even THINK about.
Manhattan is the only place I could ever imagine there would be a place for $1 million condos. Dallas? No way!
What about LA, San Francisco, Chicago, even Miami?
How about Coeur d’Alene, ID? There is a whole building of $5M condos overlooking the floating 14th green…
Hey Michael, Miami gets a lot of condo attention on this board (deservedly so), but I think y’all would be blown away by the Waterfront in St. Pete.
The “Build it and they will Come” philosophy which seemed to work so well in the feel good movie appears to be striking out big time in RE real time for sure.
Oh well…they had one helleva run while their money making Fields of Dreams game lasted
I just checked out rentals in orange county and was astounded by the prices and the number available for 3bds. Most were tricks to buy foreclosures.
If I wait another year or two i could rent a stunner for 1800.00 like in the day.
Rents aren’t cheaper, yet. Unless you want to live in the outer areas. I see lots to rent, but not cheaper prices.
Good luck in OC, sweeping changes.
Got a friend who desperately wants to buy now, in OC.. ‘just say no’.
From what I can tell, they haven’t sold any of these million dollar condos since they were put on the market earlier this year. I copied this from a local real estate blog:
“The Lofts at Moonlight Beach are located at the edge of downtown Encinitas at the corner of Encinitas Boulevard and the Coastal Road/Route 101. These town homes are located on floors 2 and 3 of the complex (the commercial units are on floor 1). 18 units are available (one currently reserved but they are taking back-up offers). All units will have indoor parking (either a 2-car garage or a 1 car garage plus a parking spot in the below-ground-level garage).
The Encinitas real estate market offers a wide range of housing (e.g., the master planned community of Encinitas Ranch, the funky eclectic surfer community of Leucadia) but finding something brand new near the beach is rare. These Encinitas homes range in size from 1581 SF up to 2561 SF, all with 2 bedrooms and 2.5 baths. Some have additional dens, family rooms and/or reading rooms. A number of the units will have roof decks and all have multiple balconies.
Prices for these Encinitas homes range from $1,422,900 to $2,521,975 for the largest unit. HOA fees have not been firmly established but are reported to be below $500/monthly; there are no Mello Roos to pay.”
Encinitas architect friend from hs, word up ” biz is down”.
2 things,
1-qvc/hsn,shopnbc etc all offer payment options for those expensive things. Now if they didn’t, many of their high volume sales would be down. Those are the kinds of things that make the middle class believe they too can have all the things the celebrities have (that are given to them for free). If all sales were in cash total due now, perhaps…it is all marketing.
2n-”(the rich snowbirds that we heard about ad infinitum in FL)”
we have lots of those folks in AZ and Indian Wells/La Quinta etc.
Oh guess what, 3rd thingy, Nordstroms isn’t going into the desert at all. Market reasons given.
IMO, anyone who buys a $1 million condo should either have a net worth of $6,000,000 or he’s nuts. How much is the HOA on that monster? What guarantees would such a condo owner have that his HOA fees never increase by any more than x% per year?
Hey Muggy and X-GS,
Do you think the reason there are so many of us aircraft guys on here is because we have always had to be frugal due to the fact we were so likely to be out of a job tomorrow? All the GA mechs I have ever worked with have always had cash reserves for that inevitable layoff ( in fact that’s where I learned my fiscal management). I think we were all drawn to the common sense of this blog. FYI, they just did a 49 person layoff at our plant this week. I dodged the bullet, but am still on the sporatic work schedule….
I dunno. Maybe it’s because you guys are thorough and plan like mad? Flight plans, instrument checks and so on… the consequences of not doing your job are immediate and dire. Perhaps it’s in every aviation dude’s brain to quadruple check everything before taking off.
Naturally, buying a house never added up.
Not just in avionics (I was in avionics for over 15 years). I met many contract engineers, but only one of them spent money lavishly (Mercedes Benz, Dodge Viper). The rest of us have cars that are much more modest than those of the direct hires half our age. Yes, most of the ones I met are preparing for their next layoff as soon as they get settled into a new engineering gig. We tend to be realistic and very conservative with our money. There are times when some of us are out of work for several months. I knew engineers in that situation back in 2002.
Last week corporate-wide, there was a layoff of 3% of the workforce of my client. We’re (directs and contractors) thinking that is not the last layoff nor the smallest layoff this year.
I used to be on the CJ Hunter blog in the early part of this decade. Many people were “pipe fitters,” whatever that is. Most of the people were whiners. I was surprised. However, one contract engineer spent his idle time in Thailand while waiting for a job. But he was not whining. One poster had a signature I stole: “Save in the good times so you can spend in the bad times.”
My uncle was a retired Ford corporate pilot from the 1960’s on. He ( according to his older brother, my father ) was one of the first to shed his Ford stock in his retirement plan, and start to follow the stock market, trading in and out of mutual funds daily or weekly. He was one of the people that got that kind of trading banned. That being said, he retired with about $6m in his portfolio, plus his generous Ford retirement. He was scrupulous, almost fanatic, about keeping records on trades, a la his pilot logbooks and flight checks. He very seldom lost any money. He died too young, at the age of 70, after playing 6 games of tennis with men much younger than he was, at his tennis club. He evidently had opened up an brain aneurysm by overdoing it, even though he was Air Force fit at that age. He went to bed complaining of a headache, and never woke up. My dad misses him very much.
Sad. At least he died playing the game of tennis that he must have loved.
I think a person’s body sends signals as to how much is enough. But we mostly ignore them. I think when I get into my 60s I will focus more on the cardio machines, which give you a target heart rate for your age, and swim less.
In the 1990s I was swimming a modest 4 miles a week. About three years ago I was swimming 10 miles per week. Now I’m barely under 8 miles per week. The swims involved 24 reps of 100-yard sprints on Tuesdays in the main set or six 400-yard sets. Or an all out 900 yard for speed on Saturdays. Now I’m in the mindset that I can just eat less and work out less instead of killing myself with too much exertion.
Be glad that you don’t lap swim at my Y Bill.
I’m kind of busted up a little with spinal/hip fractures, plates and missing discs with lots of nerve damage. I swim one speed, one stroke and very slow. I could go for ever like a little fat whale but that’s not fair to other real lap swimmers. I don’t even breathe hard and could swim several miles if I wanted to. I just like the cruising in the water. I save my snorkling equipment for the ocean or my mom’s lake in the summer.
Friday, a sweet 5 yr old girl would smile and wave “bye bye” at me each time I swam up in front of her during her little kid, group pool safety orientation. My poor swimming technique always appears like I am struggling.
I thought she was just thoughtful and trying to encourage me, my lifeguard friend laughed and said she probably had big money riding on me that I’d drown before the next lap.
I drive everyone nuts by doing 750-1,200 yds several times a week, then hobble for my life the heck out of there for home and strawberry shortcake with half and half.
Screw it…I’ve been declared dead before by an idiot doctor when I drowned as a little kid.
Still alive n’ kicking, eating deserts and fooling them all when and where I can !
I think a person’s body sends signals as to how much is enough. Sometimes it does, but don’t count on it. Death is just nature’s way of telling you to slow down…
tresho…Why in the hell would I ever worry about Death ?
I’m 99.99999999…% certain I’ll BE DEAD when it happens and afterwards I’ll be kinda busy with the autopsy, funeral service and stuff !?!
Hard not to consider moving back to AZ with the way prices continue to plummet. I would have never thought I would be in a position to pay cash for any place in the Circle G neighborhood (
For those who are not familiar, the Circle G ranch neighborhoods, generally are custom homes on 1 acre lots) that was just east of where I lived in Chandler. Notice the sales history of the house below. This home sold for a 30% discount (rough figure) off of the 2003 and price. Just as it was unbelievable to me how fast and high the prices were in 2005, it is still a bit shocking to see how low the prices are now with no relief in sight. Even though I placed my bet that home prices would drop, I am still in a bit of unbelief as to how low they are now in such a short time.
2583 E SCORPIO PL
CHANDLER, AZ 85249
05/15/2009 $365,000
03/22/2005 $695,000
08/18/2003 $501,250
Information taken from http://www.azcentral.com/realestate/homes.php
I expect gas prices to be pushed up well over $10 per gallon in a few years by a comination of gas shortages and Cap N Trade taxes. One acre plots of land will be way out of reach of the light rail. But at least the light rail corridors will have cleaner air.
And Arizona is pushing for the 202 completion south of Ahwatukee and South Mountain. They are trying to get 5 lanes each way. The purpose is to divert the I-10 truck traffic around Phoenix metro. Good intentions to reduce the traffic on the freeways around metro Phoenix but will it be another “vacuum that tends to fill” and then raise the pollution in that part of the valley? Or will it be mostly empty when Cap N Trade takes full effect?
The latest turn of the screw on the Madoff saga. This Picower is a real pissant, not only does he profit by pulling out $5 billion bucks from his Madoff “investments”, often netting faux 950% returns, but he immediately shuts down his charities when Madoff is arrested. These charities had “only” received about $250 million over the years, and no one knows where all Picower’s assets are. Though, he was known as a tax shelter expert, so the dough is probably sitting in one of Sir Stanford’s accounts in Antigua.
http://www.propublica.org/feature/madoff-client-jeffry-picower-netted-5-billion
You better believe these guys know each other.
With people like the Picower family running around stealing who needs the mob.
Good grief, between Wall Street and corporate America organized crime has reached new heights.
http://byunews.byu.edu/archive09-Jun-bankruptcy.aspx
Study: Bankruptcy Rates Reflect Policy, Not People
“What do high bankruptcy rates in states like Tennessee and Utah tell us about the people that live in those places? Not much, according to a new 50-state bankruptcy study published in the Journal of Law and Economics.”
I do know that Tennessee was a major textile state as well as tobacco and cotton farming.
Textiles - long gone overseas
Tobacco - being regulated out of business
Cotton - more overseas competition
Hi All. Went house-looking this morning. Saw 4 places. Two in West Sacramento for $95,000 - pretty bad shape, 3 bedroom, 2 baths. Neighborhoods not good. Then looked at two 1300 sq ft 2 bed, one bath older houses in good neighborhoods for $379,000. That’s the way Sacramento is: $100/sq/ft in bad neighborhood, $300+/sq ft in good neighborhood. And people are buying both, though the cheap ones sell faster. Yeesh - there’s still a ways to go.
I’m glad to hear it for my own selfish sake… When CA, AZ, FL bounce we will end our downward spiral and it just started here. We are about 2 years behind the curve but if there is any sign of recovery elsewhere the RE nut balls here will pump it bigger than ever. Do you know how often I hear “Now that we have been discovered…”. I swear one more winter like the last two and the Cali group is going to retreat with their tails between their legs, it is already happening on a bigger scale.
RE, what neighborhood did you see $379,000? $300/ft2 sounds high to me for our little MSA, even in decent neighborhoods.
Although, my landlord did try to sell one of her other properties in Sacramento around 38th and Folsom. A 1400 ft2 3 Bedroom 1 Bath brick single story for $900K. Someone offered her $600K ($428/ft2). I realize it’s East Sac and fab 40’s, but $428/ft2…..shesh. She immediately took it off the market and kept renting it for $1650/mo.