Bits Bucket For August 7, 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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Won’t be long before Fannie is 100% gubmint ‘owned’.
Fannie Mae draws on U.S. support after $14.8 billion loss.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Fannie Mae, the largest provider of U.S. home mortgage funding, on Thursday reported a $14.8 billion quarterly net loss that it said would force it to go to the U.S. Treasury trough a third time for money to stay in business.
The company noted a “significant uncertainty” of its long-term financial health in reporting its eighth consecutive quarterly loss, which illustrates its struggle to make money in the face of rising defaults and pressure to do more to stabilize the housing market.
Fannie Mae and rival Freddie Mac have become more crucial to the nation’s housing system since 2007 as the financial crisis sealed off other sources of loan funding. The government last September seized the congressionally chartered companies to ensure that they would continue supporting housing while taking stiff losses. The government promised to inject up to $400 billion of capital.
Washington-based Fannie Mae said its regulator requested $10.7 billion from the Treasury to erase a deficit in its net worth, bringing total draws under a senior preferred stock purchase program to $45.9 billion.
The $14.8 billion loss compares with a $2.3 billion loss in the same quarter a year ago and a $23.2 billion loss in the first quarter.
The loss came as lingering defaults kept credit-related expenses at a lofty $18.8 billion, compared with $20.9 billion in the first quarter. As the impact of nearly three years of falling home prices has been compounded by rising U.S. joblessness, defaults are increasing on the less risky loans it guarantees, Fannie Mae said.
Worsening conditions are “a result of the stress on a broader segment of borrowers due to the rise in unemployment and the decline in home prices,” the company said.
What’s even better is the plan to strip them of all their bad loans and give THOSE to the taxpayers as recompense for the billions of tax dollars shoveled down their maws while F&F get a fresh start at making money for the executives and share-holders, safe and secure in the knowledge that when they screw themselves over so hard chasing temporary profit that it makes a prison shower room look like kindergarden, the taxpayers will once again volunteer to ‘take one for the team.’
Well said.
Another Hurdle for the Jobless: Credit Inquiries.
NYT 8-7-09
Digging out of debt keeps getting harder for the unemployed as more companies use detailed credit checks to screen job prospects.
Out of work since December, Juan Ochoa was delighted when a staffing firm recently responded to his posting on Hotjobs.com with an opening for a data entry clerk. Before he could do much more, though, the firm checked his credit history.
The interest vanished. There were too many collections claims against him, the firm said.
“I never knew that nowadays they were going to start pulling credit checks on you even before you go for an interview,” said Mr. Ochoa, 46, who lost his job in December tracking inventory at a mining company in Santa Fe Springs, Calif. “Why would they need to pull a credit report? They’d need something like that if you were applying at a bank.”
Once reserved for government jobs or payroll positions that could involve significant sums of money, credit checks are now fast, cheap and used for all manner of work. Employers, often winnowing a big pool of job applicants in days of nearly 10 percent unemployment, view the credit check as a valuable tool for assessing someone’s judgment.
But job counselors worry that the practice of shunning those with poor credit may be unfair and trap the unemployed — who may be battling foreclosure, living off credit cards and confronting personal bankruptcy — in a financial death spiral: the worse their debts, the harder it is to get a job to pay them off.
Employee credit checks for jobs have been happening for almost 2 decades. This is just “fluff” news.
The bad part is that those who have the worse credit are those that desperately need the decent jobs and won’t get them, thus creating an even bigger underclass than we have now.
Oh, and did you know that raises (maybe not yours) are based upon your credit score?
So, you have problem with Corporate Communist Capitalism©®™, comrade?
Maybe time in financial Siberia change your mind, yes?
FICO score is a good measure of honesty and reliability. All else being equal, I would pick the job applicant with the higher credit score.
It should only be used a guideline.
There are lots of folks who for one reason or another, dont’ have superior credit scores. Period.
Guideline only.
Good morning, HBBs. Insomnia strikes again — too early for coffee, even, Rancher!
It’s never too early for coffee.
“Insomnia strikes again”
I hope you’re o.k.
One of the reasons I left NYC is that I would come home so rev’d up I couldn’t sleep. Not good.
5:15a — back to bed. Thanks for your concern!
Also PB, for years I resisted the “Sleep Apnea” thing, but after we had our baby, my wife insisted that I see a sleep doctor. Turns out I was having 50 events/hour and I now use a CPAP and sleep amazingly well. Part of my “insomnia,” wasn’t insomnia at all.
I hope that’s not too much information.
“Turns out I was having 50 events/hour”
If it’s not too personal, can you elaborate on what this means?? Thanks.
Blano,
My brother has the same problem. I believe he means he actually stops breathing.
That’s correct, I would stop breathing nearly every minute. I would basically then have a horrible nights sleep, then fall asleep at my desk the next day in the afternoon, which meant I couldn’t fall asleep early that evening — I thought I was an insomniac, but really I had sleep apnea.
The test measures how many times you “apnea,” or shock yourself awake. This means my airway would constrict and brain would shock me awake. The problem is that it is very subtle, so it doesn’t fully wake you, just enough to get you breathing again, but you never hit REM.
I would be easily dead by 40 if I had not seen a doctor.
“I would be easily dead by 40 if I had not seen a doctor.”
Wifey and I just locked in twenty-year term life insurance policies last fall. Either the underwriter screwed up terribly, or else I have little to worry about for the next two decades…
Yup. My brother would fall asleep in meetings during the day. He was always tired. My sister in law insisted he go to a sleep clinic to find out why he snored so much and was always so tired. The sleep clinic told him he had about 40 events an hour.
“I would stop breathing nearly every minute. ”
Oh, that sucks. I was hoping for something less significant, like waking up 5-6 times a night (my problem).
Well, 5-6 a night still could be sleep apnea, but obviously not severe. Maybe it’s when you sleep on your back, have had drinks, or something like that.
Wow, Muggy.
Glad to hear you figured out the problem before it became an even bigger problem. 50 times per hour??? That’s unreal!
(fellow insomniac here)
Muggy, I hate to hear that, but I am glad you got your machine (CPAP) and are doing better!
What a battle that must have been.
Good Morning Bear,
On my second cup of the morning. Darker than
a well diggers, aaaah, bottom, this morning. Hope
everyone has a good day!
You need to quit hanging out with so many well diggers. Remind me never to ask for coffee when I’m visiting.
“darker than a well digger’s…”
Hope it’s not as cold!
One word: decaf
Works just fine for me!
A builder stabbed himself to death in front of his bride-to-be after receiving a £3,000 tax demand.
Simon Thompson, 44, even hugged fiancée Sally Grigson and told her he loved her before walking into his bathroom and stabbing himself through the heart.
Mr Thompson, who had proposed to Miss Grigson the week before his death, said he ‘couldn’t take any more’ after the tax bill came through the post, an inquest heard yesterday.
Miss Grigson told the inquest in Worthing, West Sussex, that they had just returned from a romantic break to Devon when she realised he had a large bill to pay.
She said that on June 5 Mr Thompson opened his post and admitted the debt to her before giving her a hug and telling her how much he loved her.
She said: ‘He stood up and put his arms around me.
He said “Sally I love you so much”. We cuddled and kissed and I said “I love you too”.’
Moments later Miss Grigson saw her partner standing in the bathroom door covered in blood.
She added: ‘The blood was across his chest and from his waist down.
‘He had a knife in his right hand and said “Sally I can’t take anymore”.’
He was taken to Worthing Hospital where he was pronounced dead from a stab wound to his heart.
Deputy coroner for West Sussex Martin Millward said Mr Thompson had committed suicide while the balance of his mind was disturbed.
Till debt do us part.
Perhaps we should print up a bunch of fake tax bills along with a discount coupon for Chicago Cutlery and mail them to all our American builders, banksters and RE agents and hope for the best.
On second thought..Nah…they wouldn’t take the hint. They’d just use the free steak knife coupons and go on merrily feeding at the trough forever.
Cripes! He should have just sold a kidney.
Cripes! He should have just sold a kidney.
maybe that’s what he was trying to do.
he missed!
you guys are sooooooooo dry today!
Talk about dodging a bullet! When guys snap that way, they often take their families with them.
This girl now has a valid reason to have fear of commitment. We should take up a collection and send her a copy of “So I Married an Axe Murderer.”
That story is beyond wild.
Paying Wall Street bankers with their own toxic concoction? Brilliant! (Of course if ever implemented in the US, the deal would need to be sweetened with some kind of government guarantee, subsidy or other assurance that the toxins would prove to be worth “more than expected”).
Wall Street Journal
* MANAGEMENT
* AUGUST 7, 2009
Bankers Beat Odds in Toxic Pay Plan
BY AARON LUCCHETTI
Credit Suisse Group’s novel plan to pay bankers with a brew of its own toxic bonds and corporate loans has gotten off to an unexpectedly strong start, which could put further political pressure on other Wall Street firms to change how they pay their employees.
Late Wednesday, the bank told 2,000 of its top bankers that a $5 billion fund of soured mortgages and bonds — which it granted as a big portion of 2008 pay — had returned 17% since January, according to people familiar with the matter.
…
“Credit Suisse Group’s novel plan to pay bankers with a brew of its own toxic bonds and corporate loans has gotten off to an unexpectedly strong start, which could put further political pressure on other Wall Street firms to change how they pay their employees.”
Great idea and one that certainly could be refined. Like, paying a meager base wage, plus commissions based on performance. You know, like the sort of jobs advertised extensively on Craigslist.
Amazing. I like this idea. It basically locks them into “don’t sh*@! where you eat.”
Who decides on the price of gold? (I am not ruling out Mr Market’s role here, but find this open discussion of what sounds like collusion to be quite interesting…)
Wall Street Journal
European Central Banks Renew Gold Sales
By REUTERS
Published: August 7, 2009
Filed at 5:25 a.m. ET
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - European central banks have agreed to extend a cap on gold sales for another five years, but reduced the maximum of total gold that could be sold under the agreement, the European Central Bank said on Friday.
Gold prices rose, topping $962 per ounce after the announcement, from $960.20 per ounce immediately before. Gold was trading at $961.20 by 0845 GMT (9:45 a.m. British time), Reuters data showed.
The ECB said the overall cap on sales in the next five-year period would be reduced to 2,000 tonnes from the current 2,500 tonnes. Annual sales would not exceed 400 tonnes, it added.
No new signatories would join the new deal from September, but the International Monetary Fund’s intention to sell gold could be included within the agreement.
“The signatories recognise the intention of the IMF to sell 403 tonnes of gold and noted that such sales can be accommodated within the above ceiling,” the ECB said in a statement.
Analysts said the new agreement did not include any big surprises.
“It is not a surprise at all that there is a new Central Bank Gold Agreement … if only to allow the accommodation of the IMF sales,” said Stephen Briggs RBS Global Banking and Markets commodity strategist. “It is reassuring that the IMF sales will be within the agreement.”
…
See gata.org. Prices are indeed quite manipulated.
So what is gold’s fair price based on utility then?
Every buyer and seller of gold (apart from its producers and consumers - people who use it to plate electrical contacts, etc.) is a speculator, and to claim that some particular party is “manipulating” the price of gold is nonsense. Pot, kettle, black.
So what is gold’s fair price based on utility then?
Very hard to say. Most of its demand aside from currency hedging is jewelry, and that of course is very driven by economic conditions, not by fundamentals. And actually even the line between jewelry demand and currency hedging is blurry in places like India, which do a lot of both simultaneously.
and to claim that some particular party is “manipulating” the price of gold is nonsense
Do you say that after reading the information on gata.org? You seem to separate speculation from manipulation, but the two aren’t necessarily exclusive.
Also I don’t get your pot/kettle comment - are you suggesting that the people who run gata.org manipulate gold prices?
+1, yogurt.
“Every buyer and seller of gold (apart from its producers and consumers - people who use it to plate electrical contacts, etc.) is a speculator, and to claim that some particular party is “manipulating” the price of gold is nonsense…”
When you have 800 lb central banking gorillas with printing presses and the potential for high level
collusioncoordination and the price of gold is denominated in fiat money, there is clearly an unlevel playing field regarding influence on gold prices.LOL.
Yeah that’s another way to manipulate gold prices - just manipulate the currency itself.
Repeat after me. “ALL markets are gamed and manipulated to some degree.”
There never was and probably never will be a pure “invisible hand” in the broad markets.
The “free market” and “market forces” are fantasy and generally code for “we want free reign to screw you over and if we mess up it’ not our fault.”
Gooood morning. Up at 4 am for some coffee and heading off for the gym. Best time of the day.
Up at 4 am for some coffee and heading off for the gym. Best time of the day.
Maybe for heroin addicts.
It’s my wife, it’s my life! Lou Reed
“He’s got the works, he gives me sweat taste…”
sweat taste? Ugh.
Maybe for heroin addicts.
“I’ve even had it in the ear before”
b/4 what lavi?
b/4 what lavi?
Lyrics from an Iggy Pop tune about kicking heroin, “Lust for Life”
Amusing thing about it, the tune has been used by Carnival Cruises and some bank in TV commercials. I’m sure their ad guys had no idea what the song was about.
Cool, lavi, didn’t know… I like Iggy too.
What is the significance of placing the words ‘Tipping Point’ in quotes within the title and content of this article?
Pound Falls After RBS Loss; Bank of Tokyo Sees ‘Tipping Point’
By Anna Rascouet
Aug. 7 (Bloomberg) — The pound fell against the dollar and the euro after Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, the U.K.’s biggest government-controlled bank, reported a first-half loss and set aside more than $12 billion to cover bad loans.
The U.K. currency dropped most against the Japanese yen. Gilts gained and the FTSE 350 Index of British banks slid after RBS chief executive officer Stephen Hester said “performance over the next two year” will continue to be “poor.” Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. said the pound has reached “tipping point” after the Bank of England said yesterday it will expand an unprecedented program of bond purchases to boost the economy.
“RBS shows that there are still vulnerabilities in the banking system and that works against sterling,” said Daragh Maher, deputy head of global foreign-exchange strategy in London at Calyon, the investment-banking arm of Credit Agricole SA. ‘Had it not been for the Bank of England’s decision yesterday, the market would have been more inclined to overlook RBS. Sterling was already on the defensive.”
…
It means the pound sterling is going to go down.
Are you implying that the Pound was artificially run up and is now going to be left to drop? Who would do such a thing? I’m shocked.
It means ‘get ready to have a cheap vacation in England.’
* The Wall Street Journal
* REVIEW & OUTLOOK
* AUGUST 7, 2009
Washington vs. Silicon Valley
Treasury’s financial reform treats venture capital like hedge funds.
Here’s a stumper: In the Treasury financial reform proposal, who comes in for more regulatory retooling: Fannie Mae, or your average 14-man venture capital shop? If you said venture capital, you understand why one of America’s greatest competitive advantages is now at risk in Washington.
As part of their regulatory redesign, Team Obama and Congress still don’t have a plan for reforming the giant taxpayer-backed institutions like Fannie that caused the credit crisis. Yet they’re moving to rewrite the rules for investing in tiny technology companies that had nothing to do with the meltdown. Under the proposed rules, venture firms will be declared systemic risks until they can prove themselves innocent. The typical venture capital (VC) firm has nine principals plus five support staff and doesn’t use leverage. Yet Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner wants VCs to be regulated as investment advisers by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
…
Doesn’t sound much like strong dollar policy, does it?
Seems like small businesses would be hurt, since they are beneficiaries of many VC enterprises.
Seems like CA loses again and again when the east coast central bankers get control of the gubmint.
Those VC must have cut Goldman Sachs out of some sorta deal. This smacks of payback.
It really does, doesn’t it? Wonder if Mr. Potty Mouth laced his demands with expletives?
Agreed.
“Under the proposed rules, venture firms will be declared systemic risks until they can prove themselves innocent. The typical venture capital (VC) firm has nine principals plus five support staff and doesn’t use leverage. Yet Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner wants VCs to be regulated as investment advisers by the Securities and Exchange Commission.”
Sounds like someone wants to get their feet in the door on future deals. Illinois political machine trying to go nation wide.
The VCs haven’t been contributing enough $$$ to the campaign funds of the PTB. This will teach them.
The VCs need to hire some lobbyists and start the wining and dining.
Or tell them to get stuffed. It’s their actual money, unleveraged. I’d sue on the grounds that it is unconstitutional if I were them.
In the ongoing financial meltdown, the VC firms seem to have among the least dirty hands. Why the move to effectively shut them down other than possibly to remove competition from investment banks such as GS? I’m so sure we can expect the banks and investment banks to be forthcoming with competitive financing for firms needing venture capital, firms that might actually create new jobs in the future. We seem he!!bent on killing the future to try to prop up the past.
See above posts. This looks like GS paying back the VCs for having been cut out of a lot of past deals and can now be eliminated from competing with GS
Also, it’s just another indication that GS now runs this country.
Coming soon to a California neighborhood near you: Just-released neighbors. Buy a California home now and lock yourself in tight with your neighbors forever!
Wall Street Journal
* U.S. NEWS
* AUGUST 7, 2009
California Scrambles to Prepare for Inmate Release
By BOBBY WHITE and RYAN KNUTSON
California state and local officials, already reeling from budget cuts and public-safety layoffs, are struggling with a federal order to release about 40,000 inmates to reduce prison overcrowding and bracing for the impact on their communities.
State officials have said they will appeal the decision, but as a contingency are cobbling together proposals to comply with the order. At the same time, cash-strapped local governments in places such as Los Angeles and Fresno are grappling with how to monitor and support thousands of released inmates at a time of scaled-down police forces and underfunded social-services programs.
(View Full Image
California Scrambles to Prepare for Inmate Release
Associated Press
A gymnasium at San Quentin State Prison in California, shown in May, is used to hold inmates’ beds.)
“This is just awful [since] the court’s decision is coming at a time when local public-safety has been slashed drastically,” said state Assemblyman Kurt Hagman, a Republican who is a member of the Assembly’s Public Safety Committee. He dubbed the order “ludicrous.”
…
I love the irony.
People trapped (imprisoned) by their mortgage debt in their homes, while prisoners are set free. Who will probably get a great deal on a rental to boot! And they can move whenever the lease is up…
Good luck on them finding work ….11.8% unemployment in CA. I guess crime will be on the increase then, no?
That’s one way to increase housing demand.
I was thinking it was one way to decrease demand / reduce prices. Who wants to lock themselves into a location if a recently released inmate might locate next door at some point in the future?
Course that’ll only work if other states don’t chime in.
But seriously, a point I think you’ve made before, one thing about buying now is you’ve got to be darn sure the make-up of your neighborhood is pretty darn stable and that your darn stable neighbors don’t have any mentally ill or drug dependent family members that need a place to live.
oh hell they will be busing them all over the US prolly
LOL, you mean like how NYC transports its homeless to other locations, both in and out of the US?
guess the world really does need a pandemic plague. Well, that is what seems what the ptb is working on… flu shots etc..
Yup, fully expect to see them here. I hope we start getting cold winters again. That will help disperse them.
oh hell they will be busing them all over the US prolly
That’s what they should do. They were planning on releasing 27K to save money. Now they have to release 40K. For the money they save on those extra 13K, they should ship them all to Texas, payback for the last 8 years.
Well, they won’t last long here, with the castle doctrine and all. I don’t know what % of the population is armed, but I wouldn’t be surprised if its 50%. If this happened, expect the Texas execution rate to skyrocket, albeit these won’t be state funded.
Mean while, the prisoners who received a life sentence for stealing beer remain safely behind bars.
So true. Sadly.
However, I’ve always thought this sort of thing was a ploy, blackmailing the citizens into paying ever higher taxes. A protection racket of sorts. “Pay us, or we’ll unleash the thugs on you”. Is it really any different?
Pay in the criminal justice system should be commensurate with the ups and downs of crime rates. Less crime, more pay. More crime, less pay. What we have now is more crime, more pay, so where’s the incentive to reduce it?
Exactly. The first gov workers fired are always police, fire, or teachers, so everyone freaks out and agrees to new taxes. They could fire one third of their office workers, and no one would notice. In fact, if they fired the right third, things would work better.
skro
I’ve not heard of any police or fireman being fired. Did that bankrupt city in California ever cut back on those $150k/yr policman?
I should have said “threatened to be fired”. This freaks everyone out and gets their unions fired up, and surprise! we all agree to some new tax increase to keep them retiring at 40.
War against big state and federal government.
Fight nonviolently by buying gold bullion with cash and balancing it out with 52 week T-bills, which have miniscule gains anyway, and municipal bond funds. AAZAX (for Arizona) yielded an average 4% over the last ten years while the S&P 500 index lost 1.29% per year the last ten years.
When long term treasury yields go up above 8% start sellling off bullion and switch to treasuries, maybe also Series EE savings bonds (yield based on 90% of the yield on the 5 year note). Tax avoidance on savings bonds is compounded for up to 30 years or when you redeem them.
I’ve not heard of any police or fireman being fired
Indeed they have been, though it’s a city by city and county by county thing. As for teachers, over 24k (along with teaching staff) were cut loose in CA this year.
And the UC programs furloughed admin for 21 days and -8%.
Know a gal who I grew up next to who is HR for UCla or Irv-I forget which, but she just got her notice last week.
21 day furlough -8%
Since I am still laboring uncer -35% since 03, not to sorry for their cutbacks. They have pensions for SURE,health care and cheaper edu costs at uc .
Desert,
You missed the best part.
Execs still get raises as UC cuts staffing, pay
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/08/06/BASG194N2P.DTL&tsp=1
more crime, more pay ??
Define crime ?? Is a guy on probation drunk in a park a “crime” ?? Thats the whole purpose of probation, particularly long probations… You’ve lost all your civil rights to “search & seizer”…The whole criminal justice system is rigged to re-incarcerate people for trivial offences…Its about MONEY !!!!
Agreed. Release the non-violent minor offenders and send the non-citizen ones to their home countries.
The whole criminal justice system is rigged to re-incarcerate people for trivial offences…Its about MONEY !!!!
Indirectly. I think it’s more about getting re-elected by being “tough on crime”
But but but… the prison industry would make a lot less money then.
Can’t have that. Have to threaten to release people like Charles Manson, not send home Juan the pizza thief.
Pizza theft is a crime. Being a “john” or a hooker or a dope smoker or dope dealer is not a crime. There is a distinction between violating one’s right to obtain and own property versus voluntary consent.
I don’t think Dennis Wilson can make bail, yogurt.
“Pay in the criminal justice system should be commensurate with the ups and downs of crime rates. Less crime, more pay. More crime, less pay. What we have now is more crime, more pay, so where’s the incentive to reduce it?”
The criminal justice system has nothing to do with crime prevention. They only get involved only after criminal activity has happened.
If you want to reduce crime then legalize drugs, prostitution & gambling. That takes away the premiums for being involved in those activities. Then provide an economy that can provide decent jobs to would be criminals to give them a lucrative way to spend their time.
My car was burglarized last night. They stole all the change, and tried to pry out the nav unit. Damaged the DVD drive in the nav unit, tore up the dash, etc. Probably a fiend looking for drug/alcohol/tobacco money. Those that say drugs are harmless to society are wrong.
VA:
We will Never legalize the possession of drugs…too much money being made by Lawyers….and the justice system
Imagine a politician advocating laying off 100,000 police officers for lack of crime
I agree, VA. Several of my family members had severe drug problems. Matter of fact, I’m surprised that one of them is still alive.
Have been doing a bit of thinking about this issue lately, and I’m coming around to the notion that drug courts might be more effective than incarceration.
Probably a fiend looking for drug/alcohol/tobacco money. Those that say drugs are harmless to society are wrong.
If you could buy your heroin at the drugstore for the cost of a bag of recyclables, this particular “harm to society” would disappear.
Streets would be cleaner, too.
My car was burglarized last night.
PS. Sorry about the theft. Didn’t mean to make light of your misfortune.
Yrs in NYC, I had and parked on the streets untouched a
1979 VW Rabbit, white with one brown door, hood bungie corded down, wires pulled from where a radio would be, and doors unlocked.
Never ever bothered. Who would want ‘Bugs’? Bugs was such a great ugly car.
Sorry about your Nice car and damage.
Get an ugly car next time. Safer that way. AND no on parks next to you for fear you don’t care what happens to ‘Your’ car.
If I had it here, I would park RIGHT NEXT to the new fancy cars to BUG em!
My “Bugs” is Pricilla, but I gotcha! Still, it is bad to be violated like that.
life sentence for stealing beer remain safely behind bars ??
Classic “self serving” legislation for the unions…
Classic ’self serving’ legislation for the unions…I HIGHLY doubt that this is by and for unions. The prison system is Private corporate business which gets funding from gov. Prison Corp Lobbyists, another multi million dollar lobby. Greaaaaaaaaat.sheesh
I HIGHLY doubt that this is by and for unions ?
Are you fricken kidding me !!
Name EVERY orginization in the “food Chain” of
crimilinazation…They are ALL unions…You point to the “private building” of prisons…
That is just a “speck” of the costs of our crimminal justice system…
NO scdave. I am not fricken kidding you.
The amount of unionization in the US is at an all time low of around 11% or less, IIRC.
So, no, I am NOT fricken kidding you.
It goes back to corporatization, monopolization, and ‘personhood’ of corporate companies etc.
The Dept. of Corrections in CA. has a tremendously powerful union. Got Arnie by the balls anyway.
The Dept. of Corrections in CA. has a tremendously powerful union. Most state governors have unrestricted powers to commute or pardon prisoners. They don’t ever seem to use this power just to decrease the prison population. I don’t think unions have any say in that part of the situation.
The amount of unionization in the US is at an all time low of around 11% or less, IIRC ??
Desertdeweller….Unfortunatly you “morphed” into a national discussion….Nice try…
Go back up a read it…It started with Pbear;
“California Scrambles to Prepare for Inmate Release”…
Then Skroodle;
“Mean while, the prisoners who received a life sentence for stealing beer remain safely behind bars”…
And my response;
Classic “self serving” legislation for the unions…
And that is absolutely correct….Three strikes law was for the benefit of the unions in California…
The three strikes was passed to benefit both the unions and the prison industry.
However, it was also passed because even as far back as the 80s, they knew that decent jobs were going to be harder and harder to come by as well as the ongoing devaluation of the dollar and this was going to lead to hardship for J6P.
(There were various university studies back then which may be available on Google. I actually read the newspapers at the time that printed excerpts from the originals)
Fear not…..our great governor is trying to take some off your hands…..for a fee of course.
“…for a fee of course.”
Well, for an IOU anyway, since we’re talking about Cali here.
I was thinking that’s what’ holding it up.
Gov. Jenny better hurry up and decide or we’re gonna end up with Club Gitmo North here.
Gov. Jenny better hurry up and decide or we’re gonna end up with Club Gitmo North here. I thought the locals were all for it.
If the releases are done with some care, releasing non-violent offenders and elderly with health issues, the impact could be less than feared.
The greater impact might be to swell the number of unemployed, not the U3 of course.
Great! they can release Bernie Madoff in a couple of years. He’s a non-violent offender.
I really think he may not want to be released. Much safer for him to stay in prison.
Much safer for him to stay in prison. I too think he’s better off accepting judicial punishment than to run the risk of extra-judicial punishment.
Is the current crisis playing out differently than the early-1990s crisis played out in Japan?
Financial Times
The liquidity pipes remain clogged
By Gillian Tett
Published: August 6 2009 17:10 | Last updated: August 6 2009 17:10
A decade ago, I was working as a reporter in Tokyo when I was asked to investigate the impact of Japanese-style quantitative easing. Back then, the Bank of Japan was pouring gazillions of yen into the money markets and politicians were angrily exhorting the Japanese banks to lend.
Indeed, at one point, the Tokyo government even created quotas, which stipulated that banks should make a certain level of loans to worthy small enterprises to combat a pernicious credit crunch.
But, when I examined what the Japanese banks were actually doing, the results were almost comical. In public the banks claimed they were lending to small enterprises; in reality some were only meeting the targets by lending to subsidiaries of Toyota.
Faced with a political order to lend, in other words, Japanese banks were ducking round the rules – and the liquidity was notably not ending up where politicians (or central bankers) had hoped.
Sound familiar? I am increasingly tempted to think so. In the last six months, European and US central banks have poured dizzying sums into the money markets and politicians have put pressure on the banks to lend. Last week, for example, Alistair Darling, UK chancellor declared his readiness to “get tough” with banks that were failing to lend. On Thursday, the Bank of England triggered surprise by announcing an expansion of its quantitative easing scheme.
But as I look at these endeavours, what springs to my mind is a vision of a plumber trying to force water into a domestic waterflow system whose pipes are badly clogged, if not broken. To be sure, liquidity is entering the banking pipes. Some is also trickling out at the end: banks still seem willing to lend to big, reputable companies (the Western equivalent of Toyota, as it were.)
However, numerous small or risky corporate ventures in the west currently complain that they cannot get loans. Consumers are facing rising borrowing charges too. Thus, in the West, as in Japan a decade ago, the liquidity is still not necessarily flowing to those who need it most. Those pipes remain clogged, even as water is forced in.
…
Sounds like the pigmen are going to explode if they don’t take some laxatives soon.
Comment by packman
2009-08-06 19:56:58
Thus, in the West, as in Japan a decade ago, the liquidity is still not necessarily flowing to those who need it most.
One thing that never ceases to amaze me is how people just don’t understand the risk equation. The problem is this - those that need it the most are those that are in the most dire straights - and therefore are the ones who are the most risky! And - duh - why would the banks want to loan to the most risky customers during an overwhelming downturn?
It’s called financial evolution - survival of the fittest, and it’s a good thing. Those that live by the sword (debt) will die by the sword (lack of debt).
It ain’t that hard to understand.
Mark Twain sure understood:
“A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining, but wants it back the minute it begins to rain.”
The lesson is - don’t borrow umbrellas from the bank. Buy (or make) your own.
a bummed bumbershoot is a bummer
It’s called financial evolution - survival of the fittest, and it’s a good thing.
I don’t disagree with you, however, the point remains that many perfectly viable businesses that require credit for their day-to-day operations are not getting it. Think of a small fabricator that needs credit to buy materials for a job with terms of net 60 or 90 on delivery. No credit, no business, no jobs. Maybe they tighten their terms to COD or require a larger deposit up front, but that just moves the noose of tighter credit further down the chain.
There has always been risk, only now the banks are reeling from years of underpricing risk so they are pulling too far back and choking off viable businesses. Given all the support taxpayers have provided to the banking and financial sector, the fact that they continue to reign in credit and increase fees, putting pressure on the very people who are bailing them out is ludicrous. If the banks no longer work, then let them fail and create new banks to beging lending again… it’s that simple.
I think bankers need to feel failure and experience unemployment to understand the conditions under which the average person or small/mid-size business is operating in this recession…
The problem with your argument is the assumption that the fabricator is going to be paid by his customers. The bank believes he will not be, so it makes perfect since to withhold the loan. Creating a new bank doesn’t necessarily change that equation. The risk has grown substantially.
+1
It’s that businesses that need credit for everyday transactions can’t get it right now - it’s that *risky* businesses that need credit for everyday transactions can’t get it.
I would challenge anyone to show me a business that had their credit cut off before their revenue went down significantly, such that the revenue loss was a direct result of the the credit loss and not the result of just being in a risky business (e.g. one that’s susceptible to significant revenue loss during downturns).
I could see loss of a given credit account in the case of a failed bank, e.g. CIT - but if a business uses them for credit and is a stable business, they should have been able to obtain a replacement account t elsewhere.
Otherwise - why then hasn’t all business come to a complete standstill?
Meant to say:
“It’s not that businesses that need credit…”
Then raise the interest rate to offset the increased risk of default, don’t cut off the credit completely. The bottom line is that underwriting in this environment has to be done on a personal, individual basis, but that would go against the grain of “productivity” for the banks… the need to hire too many loan officers for personal review of credit requests instead of just using some software algorithim to automate the underwriting and approval process.
I’ve taken some liberties above, but I think I made my point. This is about jobs, plain and simple. Choke the credit and the jobs disappear. The banks got fat during the boom years and bailed out during the bust. Now it’s more profitable for them to sit on the money they have then to loan it out and keep businesses and the jobs they generate alive.
I would challenge anyone to show me a business that had their credit cut off before their revenue went down significantly
The beauty of the internet: do a google search of “small business credit cut” (without the quotes). The first five or six search results are articles on small biz getting squeezed by credit cuts… articles from Businessweek, NY Times, and CNN.
Also, a statement like “had their credit cut before their revenue went down significantly” is a non sequitur as any business can and will experience variability in their revenue and collections, especially small and mid-size businesses, in the current economic climate. That’s what underwriting is about… managing risk. If you can’t figure out how much to lend and at what rate in order to earn a profit in aggregate, then maybe you don’t deserve your bank charter, or at least don’t deserve to be bailed out by taxpayers…
and is a stable business
Define stable business? Is it a business that is directly supported by the Treasury or Fed, like GM or Fannie? Is it Goldman Sachs? Is it Berkshire Hathaway? Is it AIG?
How about this for a business model? Link here
Dealers for decades have relied on a form of inventory financing called “floorplan” funding that allows them to buy cars from the manufacturer on credit and pay back the debt only after the cars are sold. Without a floorplan agreement, a dealer can’t operate. Franchise contracts require one.
But with capital scarce and the average dealer’s finances under severe pressure, floorplan lenders are cracking down.
Nothing like making floorplan financing a requirement of franchising, hence the business model, then yanking that credit when needed most…
Otherwise - why then hasn’t all business come to a complete standstill? By the same reasoning, if lending money to small businesses (who can’t otherwise get credit) is such a good idea, why aren’t new banks being created right & left? There’s plenty of capital floating around looking for something to invest in.
The beauty of the internet: do a google search of “small business credit cut” (without the quotes). The first five or six search results are articles on small biz getting squeezed by credit cuts… articles from Businessweek, NY Times, and CNN.
LOL - OK I did just that… here’s what I found right off the bat (NY Times article):
None of the companies mentioned is public, so we don’t know their actual revenue, but looking into it…
- We have a law firm that specializes in financial services (I found by Googling the internets) - these are very much in general doing very poorly these days - there have been several articles on law firms struggling due to the downturn. Plus - what the heck kind inventory management does a law firm need for credit? Next.
- We have a home decor and trinket business - in Florida no less. Next.
- We have a marketing firm - again probably seeing plummeting revenue as are all marketing firms right now due to the downturn. He’s slashing travel - why would strictly a lack of credit cause you to slash travel? Either set up travel accounts directly with the airlines/hotels, or else have your employees pay for the travel and then expense it. Same for meals. And again - why would a marketing firm have inventory problems due to credit. Next.
Sorry - I see no case. There is definitely a credit “squeeze” in that criteria is being tightened and prices/rates are being raised. But I stand by my assertion that companies that are performing reasonably well in a stable business (e.g. grocery store, hardware store, manufacturing of staples, etc.) and that haven’t overextended themselves to be excessively reliant on credit are not having their credit cut off. They may indeed have some more stringent credit requirements - but a prudent business shouldn’t have a problem with that because it shouldn’t be overly-reliant on credit.
It’s the same sob story as is happening with people getting their homes foreclosed on, or having to use food stamps because they lost their credit card. They got too reliant on credit, and then when the tough times came (job loss, divorce, car wreck, housing values drop, whatever) they had their credit squeezed because they didn’t have enough reserves for a rainy day. Well - credit squeeze is exactly appropriate in those scenarios; as is bankruptcy if they can’t handle the squeeze. That’s what it’s for.
My wife and I had a real world “clogged pipe” bonding experience last month while visiting my sister. One of our kids managed to back up the toilet, and soon we were standing in a flood of fresh sewage, mopping it up. I can’t help but think of this image when reading about clogged pipes in the banking system. My favorite cartoon so far during the financial crisis is the one showing Dr Bernanke’s experiment, where he is depicted stuffing copious amounts of dollars down a piggy bank’s throat, confident something good is bound to eventually come out the other end…
Housing price history question: If unemployment is headed to a 26-year high, that brings it back to 2009-26 = 1983 levels. What happened to housing prices in the years from 1983-1985? (I was too young to pay attention or care…)
Economic Outlook
Aug 6, 2009, 4:39 p.m. EST
Unemployment rate expected to rise to 9.7%
Forecast payroll loss of 275,000 would be fewest since August
By Rex Nutting, MarketWatch
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The U.S. economy continued to shed jobs at a furious, if reduced, rate in July, probably driving the unemployment rate to a 26-year high of 9.7%, economists said ahead of the release Friday of the Labor Department’s employment report.
Nonfarm payrolls likely contracted by a seasonally adjusted 275,000 in July, the 19th consecutive month of losses, according to the median forecast of economists surveyed by MarketWatch. See Economic Calendar.
That would be the fewest jobs lost since August, just before the collapse of Lehman Bros. damaged credit markets and sent the global economy spinning into its worst recession in decades. At the peak of the job destruction in January, the U.S. economy lost 741,000 jobs.
Since the recession began in December 2007, 4.7% of all jobs, 6.46 million, have been lost. In percentage terms, the loss is about twice what’s typical in a recession, and it’s the worst in any downturn since 1950.
…
It seems way too early for the stock market rally to end, no?
Indications
Aug 7, 2009, 7:19 a.m. EST
Stock index futures edge lower ahead of U.S. payrolls
By William L. Watts, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) — U.S. stock index futures fell slightly Friday as investors braced for the U.S. Labor Department’s monthly employment report for July.
S&P 500 futures fell 3.1 points to 991.80 and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 3.75 points to 1,597.50. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 22 points.
“U.S. nonfarm payrolls outcomes for July have shown a tendency to surprise to the downside since 2002, and a series of weak employment anecdotes from the ADP, Conference Board and ISM services surveys suggest this afternoon’s NFP result could again disappoint,” wrote Kenneth Broux, market economist at Lloyds TSB, in a daily research note.
…
“It seems way too early for the stock market rally to end, no?”
Of course it is. BTW, did anyone notice how Government Sachs managed to get the job loss numbers before anyone else? They “revised” their estimate yesterday to 250,000 for the month of July, then the numbers, quite conveniently, came in at 247,000. Not that I believe any of this swill, but it’s a slick little game they’ve got going. This whole thing looks more doctored than Michael Jackson’s face.
What happened to housing prices in the years from 1983-1985? (I was too young to pay attention or care…)
14+% interest rates!
What happened to housing prices in the years from 1983-1985? (I was too young to pay attention or care…)
14+% interest rates!
Prices indeed flattened quite a bit (down relative to inflation) while interest rates were high - but that was 1980-1983 timeframe. 1983-1985 rates were still but not quite that hight (12-13%). Housing prices started up some then, though were flat relative to inflation. Then when rates when down to 10% home prices started really going up in the late 80’s.
Just some historical perspective. Here we are with prices falling/flattening, and rates only at 5%. What happens if rates go up to 10%?
“…Then when rates when down to 10% home prices started really going up in the late 80’s”
So I repeat myself…how many house’s in America will sell if mortgage interest rates go beyond 14%+ …and at what prices?
house owning…like jet plane travel…is over-rated.
Those with assumable mortgages will go at a premium.
“house owning…like jet plane travel…is over-rated.”
That’s for sure. I think the TSA thugs should just have people remove their belts …and hang themselves before each flight. The only people I can imagine who enjoy paying for air travel today would be those Bondage, Discipline, Sadism, Maschoism Freaks.
The hastle, standing in lines and waddling around in your socks while holding your pants up reminds me of a TV old fashioned police bust in a bordello. Sheesh…we have to pay high prices for this crapola and pretend to enjoy it ?
“b..b..but we haven’t had one shoe-bomb terrorist attack since rules went into effect !”
Yeah right…even the mad bombers hate the air travel hastles, other peoples stinky feet and seeing the ugly butt cracks drill enough NOT TO WANT TO FLY anymore.
Just booked a sleeper on the Texas Eagle to go see my nieces later this month. No fare shenannigans - even with less than two weeks’ advance purchase. The cab takes me to within 200 feet of the train. Full meals included and best of all….it’s BYOB babyeee! Amtrak even provides the ice!
I’m happy to save the flying for overseas only.
Skip,
I assumed a 9% mortgage when I bought my San Jose house in 1981. Good deal for me since prevailing rates then were IIRC 14%.
Banks didn’t like this. I don’t think any assumable mortgages have been written since that time.
Plus you don’t have to qualify for the mortgage when you assume it.
What happens if rates go up to 10% ??
If ?? More like “When”…
I wonder how many of those seasonally adjusted jobs are in constructions and don’t actually exist this year?
What does the Treasury gain by running a business at a perpetual loss? Even curiouser, what is in it for shareholders to own shares of a company that runs at a perpetual loss? (Guess: Too-big-to-fail cash injections from the Treasury)
Aug 6, 2009, 7:26 p.m. EST
Fannie Mae posts bigger loss, requests $10.7B more in aid
By John Letzing, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Fannie Mae, the ailing mortgage giant under federal conservatorship, said Thursday its net loss increased sharply in the second quarter due to declining housing-market conditions.
The mortgage-finance firm also said a request has been submitted to the Treasury Department for an additional $10.7 billion in aid.
Fannie Mae (FNM 0.72, -0.08, -9.49%) posted a loss for the second quarter of $14.8 billion, or $2.67 a share, compared with a loss of $2.3 billion, or $2.54 a share in the same period last year.
Net revenues were $5.6 billion and fair value gains were $823 million, Fannie Mae said in a regulatory filing.
The mortgage entity said the $12.5 billion increase in net loss in the period was driven by a $13.4 billion increase in credit-related expenses, which “more than offset a $1.7 billion increase in net interest income.”
The results were “adversely affected by the ongoing deterioration in the housing and mortgage markets, the economic recession and rising unemployment,” Fannie Mae said.
Fannie Mae said its request submitted Thursday for an additional $10.7 billion in aid follows a $19 billion infusion from Treasury in June, and a $15.2 billion infusion in March.
It has requested receipt of the additional funds on or before Sept. 30.
“Due to current trends in the housing and financial markets, we expect to have a net-worth deficit in future periods, and therefore will be required to obtain additional funding from Treasury pursuant to the senior preferred stock purchase agreement,” Fannie Mae said. “As a result, we are dependent on the continued support of Treasury in order to continue operating our business.”
…
what is in it for shareholders to own shares of a company that runs at a perpetual loss?
They make it up on volume?
how do we do it? volume, Volume, VOLUME
Votes.
More automotive manufacturing stimulus is on the way. I have to wonder what this program may do to oil demand going forward (I am hoping $0.25/gallon gas is on the way back in…).
‘Clunkers’ program stomps on the gas
Additional $2 billion approved by Congress
By David Espo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
2:00 a.m. August 7, 2009
WASHINGTON – Congress sent President Barack Obama legislation last night with an additional $2 billion for “cash for clunkers,” the rebate program that caught the fancy of car buyers and boosted sales for an auto industry long mired in recession.
The Senate approved the money on a 60-37 vote after Obama administration officials said an initial $1 billion had run out in only 10 days. The House voted last week to add the funds to the program, which gives consumers up to $4,500 in federal subsidies if they trade in their cars for new, more energy-efficient models.
Without action, lawmakers risked a wave of voter discontent as they left the Capitol for recess.
“Cash for clunkers has been a proven success,” Obama said in a written statement issued after the vote. “The initial transactions are generating a more than 50 percent increase in fuel economy; they are generating $700 to $1,000 in annual savings for consumers in reduced gas costs alone, and they are getting the oldest, dirtiest and most air polluting trucks and SUVs off the road for good.”
…
Suspect a few months or perhaps years from now we’ll read stories of how the clunkers never made it to car crusher. Instead, clunkers will either be resold in Mexico, Canada, Etc. or stripped down and sold for parts.
Didn’t we just read about that very thing happening in Germany? The supposedly junked cars were sent to (or were about to be sent to) Africa and Eastern Europe.
Feel free to correct me on the above.
Yep, there was a story on it. And honestly, I think more highly of the ‘criminals’ shipping the cars to where they’re wanted than the politicians who brought us this ‘pay more taxes so idiots will take on more debt’ plan.
Lately, I’ve been a bit more vocal about doing things debt-free. As in, taking vacations without putting ‘em on the credit card and carrying a balance. And doing improvements around this property. All of them have been debt-free.
My reason for doing this? Not so much to brag, but to show others that, yes, it can be done. And if I can do it, so can you.
“I think more highly of the ‘criminals’ shipping the cars to where they’re wanted…”
My thought exactly. Disabling useable cars is wasteful on a similar level to bulldozing houses which won’t sell at the owner’s wishing price. In both cases, real wealth (the fruit of hours of labor used to transform costly production inputs into real capital) is destroyed.
Prbear, that is my feeling exactly. Sell them for cheaper prices, both unused houses, rent them and same with the autos. Lots of other folks would consider these cars
(caveat-if they are working well) perfectly good.
and they are getting the oldest, dirtiest and most air polluting trucks and SUVs off the road for good.”
I am seeing a LOT fewer gigantic pickups on the road around town - they used to be ubiquitous.
But I don’t think it’s C4C. I think it’s unemployed construction workers not going anywhere anymore.
I’m seeing fewer of those behemoths on the roads of Tucson.
No shortage in Texas. I think I’m seeing more newer ones as well.
NYCityBoy. Just read your yesterday article, and wanted to thank you for the nice work. Dylan sounds like a level-headed intelligent, and cool person.
Thanks,
ATE-UP
A friend of mine sent me this deck. I did a google search and found it on the web. It’s a large pdf file and it’s a good collection of the graphs and data that we’ve been discussing on this blog for years.
(*** The pdf file is 152 pages***)
http://www.moremortgagemeltdown.com/download/pdf/T2_Partners_presentation_on_the_mortgage_crisis.pdf
Markets will get a big lift today, on the unexpected jobs report.
I have to say, this just keeps getting more and more interesting.
Since it all unfolds in serial-like installments/episodes it hightens the drama, even though there dull interludes.
From behind “The O.C.” orange curtain:
“…Khater said the foreclosure rate and REO rates have been impacted by government tinkering in the market. He said federal and state efforts have mostly delayed foreclosures, preventing few. The same is true for loan modifications — they fail about half the time.”
So to tune out the noise, just look at the 90-day rate. In Khater’s view it shows “one giant wave.”
Foreclosure wave gathers momentum
August 6th, 2009, by Mathew Padilla OC Register
http://mortgage.freedomblogging.com/2009/08/06/foreclosure-wave-gets-bigger/15037/
Professor Bear and everyone else,
Here’s a nice article that is so heartwarming I had to
share:
http://seekingalpha.com/article/153555-five-reasons-the-market-could-crash-this-fall?source=article_sb_popular
I don’t know where that guy got the idea that people need jobs to buy stuff. Such poppycock!
They can’t be out of money, because they still have checks in their checkbook! (And plastic in their wallet!)
Nice post Rancher…
Had to re-post this from lavi d last night:
Is there anyone in congress - or all politicaldom for that matter - who’s stood up and plainly announced that foreclosures are part of the “cure” and not something that can, or should be, avoided?
Foreclosures are the porcelain-god-worshiping after the big party.
LOL - what a great, great analogy.
Puking in the toilet seems like an awful thing, but sometimes its better than the alternative - puking on the carpet, your bed..
…your girlfriend…
(no, I did not just say that.)
How many have been really really hungover and had to go to the bathroom (the sit-down variety) and throw up at the same time? Of course the only answer is to take a seat, do what you have to do, and throw up in the bathtub. It ain’t pretty but there really aren’t any good options. You clean up the mess later.
There must be a housing analogy in there somewhere.
I used to rent a place where you could do just that, easily. Not that I ever did. At least I don’t recall it.
I used to rent a place where you could do just that, easily. Not that I ever did. At least I don’t recall it.
LOL.
“Hey - who came in here and puked in my toilet last night?!!!”
(”… in my bathtub…”, I should say)
(”… in my bathtub…”, I should say)
Actually, it’s funnier the other way.
Wait until he gets a look in the bathtub…
I actually had a friend who made the mistake of sitting over the bathtub & puking in the toilet. Nasty, nasty mess.
Always keep a small waste basket beside the toilet for such emergencies. This can happen even if you don’t party. If you’ve ever had a rota virus epidemic in your household you’ll know what I mean.
Earlier this year I had a case of what I believe was food poisoning.
In a flash, my alimentary canal declared an evacuation emergency and the waste basket next to the toilet saved me from having an awful mess to clean up.
It was like having an intestinal fire drill.
“Is there anyone in congress - or all politicaldom for that matter - who’s stood up and plainly announced that foreclosures are part of the “cure” and not something that can, or should be, avoided?”
It’s important to realize, and not just as a hand-wringing lament, that most of Congress and other political institutions have long since abandoned their representation of and service to the people. I really don’t know what they are, anymore. Frankly, I think they’re enemies of the people and should be treated as such. The two party, lobby supported system is much like the financial system, kaput.
“Is there anyone in congress - or all politicaldom for that matter - who’s stood up and plainly announced that foreclosures are part of the “cure” and not something that can, or should be, avoided?”
I’m not sure if its been done but after reading this morning that C-span’s youtube videos of Ron Paul have been taken down, I’m thinking the message would be repressed anyway.
You’re right, CarrieAnn. But we can all take heart from the fact that ideas can defeat armies. And Rand Paul is taking up his father’s mantle, so the ideas will not die. He is looking at running for Senator from Kentucky.
“Rand Paul is taking up his father’s mantle”
Didn’t know that. Thanks. I’ll keep an ear out.
FWIW - I have this commentary.
Part of the purpose of a Republic (as opposed to a Democracy) is that the representatives are not supposed to cater to every whim of the people. The idea was that the people would elect people who were generally smarter than they were, and agreed with their general ideals, then when the people demanded things that were in fact stupid and driven by spur-of-the-moment emotion (things like foreclosure moratoriums, and cash-for-clunkers) - the representatives were supposed to be smart enough to convince the people that no - that’s not a good idea, you have too look at the long term picture.
Instead we’re turning into a hybrid Democracy/Oligarchy - where the people get exactly what they want, but only some of the time - when it suits the political winds currently blowing and doesn’t actually effect the oligarchichal system (and in fact can sometimes further it).
As the saying goes - “Be careful what you wish for - you might just get it.”
I do agree with you, packman. Indeed, representative government was instituted to overrided the mob mentality. The problem is that our representatives seem to have become the mob.
Yes, I hate mob rule too.
Look where the “You’re either with us or against us” mentality mob got America.
“Would you care for a little more Boiled Crow with those Freedom Fires Sir ?”
. The idea was that the people would elect people who were generally smarter than they were
Where did you get that? I believe Republics are direct descendants of the Greek Democracies, necessitated only by the reality that it is difficult to gather 300 million people in one amphitheatre.
Being ruled by the smart sounds more like something Marx would come up with.
This is true. “Smarter” indeed wasn’t really the reason - I do have to backpedal on that.
Part of the reasoning as you say was simply logistics - it was just too hard to gather all the people one room and have them vote on every issue.
Now we don’t have *that* logistical problem, since people can pretty much vote online.
However we do still have the problem that the general population just doesn’t have the time to inform themselves thoroughly on the issues. They have other full-time jobs. Representatives however are supposed to devote their full time (outside of campaigning) to delve deeper into the issues they’re voting on than the average person can.
So you’re right “smarter” isn’t really the right term - perhaps “more well informed” is more correct. That’s dangerous too of course, but that’s exactly why we have our system of checks and balances, as well as transparency, to try and prevent as much corruption as possible.
Don’t forget that the Electoral College was also meant to be a bulwark against ‘mob rule’/democracy. If the peeps got so fired up they elected someone the PTB saw as dangerous (to them), they could simply override his/her popular election with their control of the electors.
California, of course, appears to offer a cautionary example of direct democracy.
Solution is controlling campaign contributions, but somehow that’s speech(?)
“…However we do still have the problem that the general population just doesn’t have the time to inform themselves thoroughly on the issues. They have other full-time jobs. Representatives however are supposed to devote their full time (outside of campaigning) to delve deeper into…”
Oh, goody…let’s start an HBB list with that ending…
1. personal sexual conduct
2. personal health care expenses
3. professional self-promotion
4. Gov’t dinner party attire
5.
86. needs of constituents
87. needs of the “republic”
Because we live in a plutocracy doesn’t mean the elites are any “smarter”. More like: born on third base–thought he hit a triple.
I’d venture to say that it’s their hubris that will ultimately take them down. Unfortunately, many of the have-nots tend to get taken down with them, too.
“Solution is controlling campaign contributions, but somehow that’s speech(?)”
I sometimes fantasize about a political system where those running for office are not allowed to spend any money. They are required to write 1000 word essays on the 20 subjects that are most important to them, and newspapers are required to publish the essays.
Under this system, their choice of what to write about would inform me of their values, and their actual essays would inform me of the depth of their thinking.
But we are a primitive society, so I am forced to vote for whomever the PTB decides to fund.
I was speaking of the ideal. Though our physical infrastructure is still technically a constitutional republic, at this point we are pretty much only so in name only - following the letter of the law but not the spirit (e.g. the electoral college being a prime example.
At this point the executive and central bank branches of the government have pretty much usurped the power from the other two branches, as well as from the states.
Representatives however are supposed to devote their full time (outside of campaigning) to delve deeper into the issues they’re voting on than the average person can.
The reality of the current system is that time that should be used to read bills or delve deeper into issues is instead used to raise campaign funds.
The current system ensures that representatives will be more responsive to those that fund them than those that vote or the public at large.
“At this point the executive and central bank branches of the government have pretty much usurped the power from the other two branches, as well as from the states.”
This has happened because our legislature and judicial branch are not doing their constitutional jobs.
Instead we’re turning into a hybrid Democracy/Oligarchy - where the people get exactly what they want, but only some of the time - when it suits the political winds currently blowing and doesn’t actually effect the oligarchichal system (and in fact can sometimes further it).
I’m glad you mentioned the oligarchical component in the system — too often in these parts, the downside of embedded corporatism run amok is ignored or minimized. Too big too fail = grabbing the citizenry by the short hairs.
corporatism
I’ve asked this before though haven’t gotten much response. What is the alternative, from a business sense at least, of corporatism?
Serious question actually - not rhetorical. I’d be curious to learn about the alternative concepts, and examine the pluses and minuses. I’m vaguely aware of the pluses and minuses of our existing corporatist system, but haven’t really studied the alternatives. I would imagine there are books on the subject, but not aware of what good ones there might be.
I’ve asked this before though haven’t gotten much response. What is the alternative, from a business sense at least, of corporatism?
I’m not sure I can address the big picture question of “If not corporatism, then what?”, but perhaps it’s the wrong question to ask (or it’s too broad).
Leaving aside arguments for regulation or deregulation, I think A.) the root notions of the corporate charter and corporate “rights” need to be revisited, and B.) anti-trust measures should be taken seriously and enforced. We’ve given corporations too much power and too many rights in their modern form, and this underlying philosophy encourages their rapacious behavior, their short-term thinking, their urge to grow toward the oligarchical model, their constant attempts to subvert political and legislative processes, etc. Instead of trying to control corporatist behavior reactively, we should change them from conception.
What is the alternative, from a business sense at least, of corporatism?
Corporations were virtually non-existent in America prior to the Civil War, yet manufacturing output grew by leaps and bounds year after year. Please read the relevant chapters of Ted Nace’s book for much more on this subject.
Instead of trying to control corporatist behavior reactively, we should change them from conception.
Yes!! We’re getting somewhere!
Yes!! We’re getting somewhere!
I’m glad we agree that revisiting this issue from the ground up is the best overall solution, but barring that (somewhat improbable) scenario, I believe regulation is the best de facto means available to control corporatism’s excesses.
Corporations were virtually non-existent in America prior to the Civil War, yet manufacturing output grew by leaps and bounds year after year. Please read the relevant chapters of Ted Nace’s book for much more on this subject.
Thanks - been meaning to get around to reading that book (Gangs of America). I didn’t realize it went into that historical aspect.
I’m glad we agree that revisiting this issue from the ground up is the best overall solution, but barring that (somewhat improbable) scenario, I believe regulation is the best de facto means available to control corporatism’s excesses.
The scenario is only improbable if not enough people push for it. Adding ever more pages to the Federal Register diverts valuable energy from what should be the real goal.
Instead we’re turning into a hybrid Democracy/Oligarchy
+5 Insightful
Part of the purpose of a Republic (as opposed to a Democracy) is that the representatives are not supposed to cater to every whim of the people. The idea was that the people would elect people who were generally smarter than they were…
To me, the idea is that you need to make sure all sides of a debate have a chance to be heard and deliberated, in order to forestall rash decisions that might be made in a “pure” democracy.
Nevertheless, justice requires that the popular will prevail in the long run. The people even have the right to make wrong decisions and to learn from their mistakes.
That’s why I favor a system where the legislature merely passes bills, which then have to be ratified by popular referendum before acquiring the force of law. Laws should also expire automatically every 10-20 years, so that they can be re-debated with the benefit of experience.
I’m not so sure.
Consider Max Baucus, the guy who has more influence over the future of our nation’s healthcare than any other legislator. While a majority of constituents in his own district (and a majority across the US for that matter) want a single payer system, Max firmly placed the issue “off the table”.
This blatant disregard for what his constituents want is well understood by the money he has taken from the healthcare industry, and not so much by any sort of superior knowledge of what’s best for his constituents.
Where’s the drama gonna come from?
If the US Gov’t acted rightly “most of the time” (regardless of which party), this is the image that would be reflective of its actions:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Gothic
…now with “instant information” …there ain’t no goin’ back to the pastoral days of responsible sensibilities…it’s…kaput.
Welcome to the modern reality…so much to know…so little to do anything about it…(Hwy, laments the simple days of only having to contemplate the demise of whales & the bust size of the new summer librarian working in periodicals…)
Forgot the painters comment:
“All the good ideas I’ve ever had came to me while I was milking a cow.”
Puking is preferred to alcohol poisoning. It’s a defense mechanism. Prevent the defense mechanism from happening you risk possible death.
Perfect analogy.
A+ The let-the-system-puke analogy. (I was trying to come up with something about huge McMansion bathrooms making it impossible to sit on the toilet while puking in the tub.)
Clearly you have not been witness to “projectile vomiting”. Its quite impressive, as many a new parent can attest.
a.k.a. the Technicolor Yawn
Love the technicolor yawn, and was it just us or do all kids wait until the bottle is completely finished before hurling it all up?
LOL - yep.
As a total tangent - the most heartbreaking thing I’ve ever witnessed is my then-2-year-old daughter getting sick, then throwing up in her crib that night, and then apologizing adamantly to us when we rushed into her room to help her.
Isn’t that what bidets are for?
That’s where you keep your post-puke brewskis.
I live in a one bedroom apartment and I can’t puke into the tub from the can.
A plastic waste basket in the bathroom is a good practical solution to this problem. Rinse out with bleach and water when you are finished, please, to cut the smell.
Polly:
I learn so much from you serious intake inebriates
(no, I did not just say that.)
In response to this from last night:
Comment by beachchic
2009-08-06 14:08:33
I have a question for you smart people. I am a lurker here and as soon as I get some extra dinero, I will make a contribution to Ben’s blog.
My opinion is there is collusion to keep inventory hidden so the supply is limited, thus creating higher demand and bidding wars. The shills on the OC blog said: Silly girl. The banks aren’t colluding.”
Can someone please give me a good argument to counter the shills?
beachchic - show them this graph.
I don’t see the vacancy rate actually going down any yet. It’ll be normal again when it gets below about 12% at best.
Home vacancies always go up (at least since 1979, that is…)
Whether you want to call it colluding or not doesn’t matter much, that banks are restricting inventory is fact, and in some areas the shadow inventory actually exceeds listed inventory.
Here’s a nice chart from Deutsche Bank, estimating shadow inventory:
http://tinyurl.com/nbtec4
Show that to the RE shills and they’re likely to lose their lunch.
Wooo, Tucson! We’re #9 on the Deutsche Bank shadow inventory list!
Wow packman, now that’s interesting. So despite the big push to get everyone into a house, vacancy rates have been going up all along.
Crap, AND THEY KNEW IT!
The young repubicans are yelling and banging in Florida again…everything’s just a day away from disaster…(Hwy thinks it’s time to climb a treetop and look around to see what’s happening elsewhere on the spinning planet…)
Filed under: “buy more chicken noodle soup for the pantry…)
Oh, and Mr. Bear wouldn’t an earthquake actually help California?
“…The index tables the world’s countries according to a set of factors that include the prevalence of natural disasters, infrastructure for dealing with them and their level of preparedness. Two scales are used: one that places countries according to the absolute number of deaths likely to occur from disasters, and another based on the relative death rate.”
“…The report said Bangladesh, China, India and Indonesia were in the “extreme” category for average numbers of citizens at risk.”
“…The United States was among countries where people faced a “medium high” risk. The biggest danger cited was that posed by earthquakes.”
Bradley S. Kapper , The Associated Press , Geneva Mon, 06/15/2009 World
Now would not be a good time for the big one in California….A Hayward fault event would be a knock out blow for SV…No telling how many years it would take to recover…
Sounds like a perfect time, then.
So said a real estate agent to me. Buy after an earthquake.
“So endth the lesson”
It’d really shake things up in the real estate market!
I have no interest in seeing that much pain & suffering…
The economy shed 247,000 jobs in July, less than expected and lowest total of losses since last August. Unemployment rate inches down to 9.4%
247K more people unemployed but unemploment rate down. How is that for creative book keeping? Why even report an unemployment rate at all if it doesn’t measure the rate of unemployment?
(247K more people unemployed but unemploment rate down.)
You mean 247K fewer wage and salary workers, but the unemployment rate down.
I’ve read that in NY they are firing people and then hiring them back as “self employed” independent contractors without health benefits, retirement benefits, payroll taxes, unemployment insurance and taxes.
So if these newly “self employed” don’t pay all those taxes, including the employer’s share, do we throw them all in jail?
“So if these newly “self employed” don’t pay all those taxes, including the employer’s share, do we throw them all in jail?”
The employers will 1099 them.
Eliminating 401K contributions, anual pay raises and health insurance benefits are pretty standard procedure. Hey, don’t like it? There’re ten other people lined up that want your job for a 20% pay cut to boot. Now shut up and get back to work! Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Why had to let some people go and have to play catch up. So why don’t you come in on Saturday and Sunday as well. Remember, we start at the usual time, it’s not a half day or anything. Have a nice weekend.
Lumberg: Ummmm Yeahhhh. Hi, Peter. We’re gonna need you to come in this weekend, okayyyyy?
The thing is, Bob, it’s not that I’m lazy, it’s that I just don’t care.
It’s a problem of motivation, all right? Now if I work my ass off and Initech ships a few extra units, I don’t see another dime, so where’s the motivation? And here’s something else, Bob: I have eight different bosses right now.Eight, Bob. So that means that when I make a mistake, I have eight different people coming by to tell me about it. That’s my only real motivation is not to be hassled, that and the fear of losing my job. But you know, Bob, that will only make someone work just hard enough not to get fired.
I’ve said this before, and here it is again. If your company increases your hours, cuts benefits and literraly screws you over, the solution to this is for all the employees to walk out the door. It boils down to basic self esteem.If a company looses one employees to the cuts good for them, If all their employees walk…their out of business. When are people going to grow a pair? Shut em down!
How can a father and husband, in this sort of economy, even think of such a thing?
It’s called a strike and you really need a union to organize one properly.
Speaking of the hiring ‘em back as indie contractors, one of my local competitors recently did that. Here’s the story.
And, alas, that didn’t help turn things around. Seems that the City of Tucson just gave them a reduction on their rent. And other businesses are very unhappy.
WT:
Prez Bush was the GREATEST prez in creating Underground jobs, so OHbammaH has to follow in his footsteps.
In addition, the employment total from the household survey fell 142,000, but the labor force fell by 640,000 in one month.
This is what I believe long term: we have a labor shortage, as a result of more and more boomers reaching early retirement age expecting to retire and have others support them.
Meanwhile, even with labor force participation rate at an all time high, we had to spend 6 percent more than we produced to live in the manner people expected, borrowing the difference.
Eventually, that is going to fall apart. America’s needs, net, are going to have to be met by American workers, and imports will have to be paid for with exports. That means higher costs for U.S. consumers and a lower dollar: inflation.
“This is what I believe long term: we have a labor shortage, as a result of more and more boomers reaching early retirement age expecting to retire and have others support them.”
I think the much-maligned boomers (a group to which I belong) will surprise us. Most folks I know are already resigned to working in their so-called “Golden Years”, are willing to re-train and haven’t been completely dumbed down. I spoke to a lady the other day who is a nurse in her 60s. Very capable indeed and loves what she does and is incredibly willing to work, yet was laid off in favor of younger nurses, from the Phillipines and India.
I really don’t mind working myself, as long as I can. This whole “retirement” fantasy was engineered for the benefit of “The Greatest Generation” anyway. It’s sort of an anomaly. I see it all around me here in the 55+ community where I live. You want to see a population completely divorced from reality, just go to any affluent retirement community.
Boomers will take care of each other, that’s what I see. Some of us will be more healthy and capable than others and will have to take up the slack.
Let’s hope so. But labor force participation has started going down.
Perhaps members of the 1960s generation who are “willing to re-train and haven’t been completely dumbed down,” “very capable indeed and loves what she does” are very visible but not the majority.
After all, if one looked at the image of the 1960s — friendship over materialism, money can’t buy me love, freedom from corporations, etc. — who would have thought that so many would HELOC their lives to spend like maniacs in their 50s and early 60s?
As for the majority of those coming after, who tend to be poorer (particularly in retirement benefits), work may be a necessity but (given obesity) not an option.
Boomers will take care of each other? Are you sure? Boomer are in charge right now, and are laying off other boomers left and right.
It sure ain’t Gen X and Y firing boomers across the economy, at least not yet.
Boomers will take care of each other? Are you sure? Boomer are in charge right now, and are laying off other boomers left and right.
I think when Palmetto wrote that he meant a different kind of “take care of each other”. It’s like when Tony Soprano says, “make sure you take care of that guy”. Problem solved!
It was one last rape and pillage before the baby boomers move on. E.g. social security, medicare, and now the baby boomer type CEOs sending jobs overseas.
Think of the jobs going overseas as a sort of victory lap.
This whole “retirement” fantasy was engineered for the benefit of “The Greatest Generation” anyway.
My point over and over again. My grandparents - who bore the brunt of the Great Depression - didn’t have a lavish retirement. My boomer cohort won’t - all our employers did away with “defined benefit” plans as we came in the door.
My dad had a lavish pension from the phone company. He bragged that he spent his entire social security income each year on high-ticket booze and wine.
Thank you, Dennis, for confirming what I’ve suspected for years.
And, as for those defined benefit plans, they aren’t nirvana. My father has one from a company that employed him as a research engineer for, oh, ten years. His monthly check is around $200 a month.
My dad had a lavish pension from the phone company.
Ha, so did mine. Pac Tel. His brothers were all Pac Tel retirees too, though they started late, after the Depression, and worked until 65.
Dad ended up supporting my brothers.
I agree Palmy…..
WT Economist wrote:
“Eventually, that is going to fall apart. America’s needs, net, are going to have to be met by American workers, and imports will have to be paid for with exports. That means higher costs for U.S. consumers and a lower dollar: inflation.”
It will mean a very sharp, one time increase in the price of imports, dealing a crushing blow to the standard of living of Americans. But in the long term it is deflation as American workers fight with Chinese workers to see who can live with the lowest wages. We will win that fight because we believe in the free market. The Chinese will demand to eat.
No wages no customers. Marx was right about that.
“This is what I believe long term: we have a labor shortage, as a result of more and more boomers reaching early retirement age expecting to retire and have others support them.”
I have doubts about any future labor shortage. We have an economy that needs far fewer workers than it has, not just short term.
I don’t think the boomers will be much missed from the labor force. What I’m seeing is younger workers that are more than capable of doing any of the jobs the boomers will be vacating, often better.
The much bigger problem will be how to support all of those boomers in retirement, much less the retirement to which some of them feel entitled.
“OFten better”
wait a minute bub. You are joking right?
Lots of hard working ‘older’ workers have a much better work ethic than any youngster has for sure. Unless you are talking about physical labor that requires strength and speed. Then youth might have it over ‘older’ workers.
There was a hot time in the old town yesterday at Tampa’s health care town hall meeting. I watched some of the news clips, it was quite the melee.
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/aug/06/protests-passions-roiling-town-hall-meeting-health/news-metro/
Hey palmy, do you think that is the canary? I do.
When your strategy is to bus in unemployed crazies who have no means of hiding their mental illness, it’s bound to fail. Give them their daily dose of thorazine and put them back on the shortbus and drive off a cliff.
Why waste the thorazine if you’re just gonna drive the bus off a cliff? I suppose you also want to fill’er up at the last gas station before the cliff? Maybe slap some new wheels on the bus?
Do you have any specifics on where these mentally ill “unemployed crazies” were found, and who bussed them to that particular event?
I do know of an instance where the mentally ill being housed at Norristown State Hospital, Building A, Unit 1, were bussed to the polls on election day in 2006 - and directed to vote for the Democrat candidate.
BTW, Dr. Exteter, you’re behind the times on your choice of prescription. Thorazine is so 1972.
The Norristown State Hospital is still open? I thought PA closed them all — I know for a fact that Pennhurst (an inhumane warehouse if there ever was one) and Embreeville did close.
Specifics: Bussing and perdiem for unemployed crazies paid for by Dick “army of dicks” Armey’s “freedomworks”.
Specifics: Bussing and perdiem for unemployed crazies
Minor but humorous correction:
Busing == Moving about using buses.
Bussing == Kissing
(Pedantic Man, where are you?)
His wife Vajayjay Navey volunteered to drive!
Who cares?!
Yet he’ll look at the AFL-CIO union thugs as defenders of freedom (rolls eyes).
It’s all good. Those union and acorn goons will beat those pesky taxpayers to pulp. Who will be Obama’s Ernst Rohm? We certainly can’t tolerate any protest against our new President now can we. Afterwards they can meat at the union hall for a few beers and sing Der Fahne Hoch.
>unemployed crazies<
I watched Sir Paul McCartney on Dave Letterman, and all six songs on the rooftop, three times through, this morning on You Tube. February 7, 1964, was my birthday. Guess where I was, ( and you guys too,). I was watching the Beatles perform on Ed Sullivan.
Sir Paul McCartney, age 67, recently released an anon album. Titled “Electric Arguments” by the Fireman. The song, “Sing the Changes” which he performed on Letterman, in my mind, is the best song he has ever done, and may be the best song I ever heard. At age 67. What a man. What an artist. That will be a loss when Sir Paul McCartney passes.
No offense, ATE, but that’s some of the worst stuff I’ve heard from Paul. It’s worse than the song he did with Michael Jackson. (Say Say Say?) Time to retire, or do something different or experimental. Does he really need another hit?
I say, ‘Thou Shalt Always Kill’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoN6XfyQsr4
Wow, I guess we have a difference of opinion there alpha. I respect your opinion. Opinions are like Oly Gal, one in a million.
It was meant as a (bad) joke response to ‘Sing the Changes’ but I deleted the key sentence. (although I do like Dan le Sac v. Scroobius Pip- check out their appearance on the X-Factor youtube video- classic)
Back to the subject, you think that’s Paul’s best work ever? This Oly thing has really done a number on you.
It’s done a little number, but I waited on my former wife for 12 years. I wouldn’t call it a number, but I would say I would like to meet Oly Gal in a crowd of us.
She makes me smile, so, yes, she has done a number there. No other thoughts than meeting her, and the rest of you guys.
My take on Olygal is one of following…
1. She finally lost the hand to hand battle with the Mother of all geoducks and that was all she wrote for her.
2. She fell off of a table at the greatest dive bar in Washington State while drunk and trying to sing and dance to “American Woman”, broke both of her wings and is unable to currently type or fly.
3. She or her little computer are suffering from a Major Burn Out and one or the other are awaiting spare parts and or lithium in a puter shop or a State Asylum.
4. She found a real live boyfriend that she is entertaining, tormenting, confusing and generally driving him so insane that she doesn’t have time nor inclination to pop up here because she is having so much fun with him.
5. Her head actually did explode. This was not totally unexpected. It takes time to grow a new head.
6. The bicycle chain on her pedal powered dynamo broke and she has no electrity. Chain is from China and on currently on back order.
7. Obama drafted her to run the United States CIA PsyOps War on Terrorism in Afghanistan. She’s busy.
8. She has been in Detox after falling into a vat of beer and is patiently awaiting her release and planning a grand enterance and return to HBB.
Seriously, I am sure Oly is fine, chilling and will return to HBB to say Hi and entertain all when she is good and ready.
I think it was Moby GeoDick who got her. Or maybe that raccoon.
mikey, your comments were funny, and let’s hope so.
Well I really believe Olygal is pouting and that was really to be 1st on my real list.
She really tends to pout a lot but if I started my list with that, she’d either hid in her corner with her bottom lip out forever or leap upon me like a Screaming Meemie.
So I really didn’t say Olyagal is out there “pouting” about something …but I bet she is.
She might be with Lost and running around the Utarrrrrr
zone.
alpha that song is Paul. That is his beauty, and quality. How can you not see this?
I guess I’m blinded by the lame music and lyrics. (I’m a Band On the Run/Venus and Mars kind of guy.) But hey- every opossum has an opinion- I’m just a green shoot pooping sloth.
I guess I’m blinded by the lame music and lyrics.
(Laugh.)
I’ve always been partial to his first solo record, which is lo-fi, low key, and relatively ramshackle, especially for a perfectionist. It seems like it fell out of him when he got up one morning.
Post-Wings highlights, everything he’s done has been over-produced, over-thought, and over-cooked, IMO …
I agree with some of that. Ram was my favorite though.
A new missive from my Friendly Neighborhood Realtor hit my in-box this morning. This is his first-ever reference to “Case-Shiller” (sic), too. His unedited spiel below:
Home Sales Are Gaining Ground!
Chicago’s real estate market has provided homebuyers and sellers with a plethora of unique opportunities in recent months. Thanks to incentives like the first time home buyer tax credit, and record low mortgage rates, buyers and sellers alike have good reasons to celebrate. With motivations like these, it should come as no surprise that our own city’s home sales have increased 1.1% over the last month, one of the best in the nation.
Utilizing Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller Index, a tool that is used to analyze sales activity, economists can report a .5% increase in home sales across the U.S. Experts alike agree that the change in momentum is rather significant, providing additional data which illustrates new home sales up an additional 11% in June. While distressed homes recently accounted for over 50% of the home sales, they have now decreased to a more satisfying 33%*. With improved builder sentiment, and an increase in investor energy, buyers and sellers alike are on the lookout for these incredible opportunities.
Thanks to these extraordinary incentives, homebuyers are materializing all over Chicago’s marketplace. The first time homebuyer tax credit — which is available until November 30, 2009 — provides qualified first time buyers with an incredible $8000 tax refund. With record low mortgage rates from the Federal Housing Administration, homebuyers are provided better opportunities to qualify for home loans, and create personalized payment options. As homebuyers gain access to our diverse marketplace, sellers are better able to market and sell their home for a more attractive price.
As opportunities increase for homebuyers and sellers, it is imperative that you have a professional REALTOR® who can be an advocate on your behalf. Thanks to my knowledge, and expertise in the Chicago marketplace I am confident that we can reach your goals together. Please, don’t hesitate to call me at any time for questions on market conditions, or to schedule a consultation.
I got a calendar from a Chicagoland agent sometime last fall. It hangs, largely unused, on our fridge. Her photo at the top shows a professional, nice-looking, “youthful granny”, if you will.
Recently we got a “sports schedule” from the same agent. In this photo her hair was died and she looked like she had gained 50 pounds.
Pictures are worth a thousand words.
Eating to ease away the pain, perhaps …?
“homebuyers are materializing all over Chicago’s marketplace”
I like that. Substitute Sunnydale for Chicago and it sounds like an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
One of my favorite TV shows.
Hi San Fran Gal!
SFBAG, mine too. I got the boxed DVD collection a couple weeks ago and I’m watching the whole thing again - I’m about half way through season 3 so I guess I need to pick up the Angel collection soon. I don’t like Angel as well - more gloom, mopey theme music, no fun Bronze music.
I got lucky last night - previously unseen episodes. I guess when I was checking the DVDs out the first time I watched the series, I missed one. Hope I find more unseen ones.
Did you watch Dollhouse?
I did. Not one of my favorites by Joss Wheadon. BTVS, Angel and Firefly are my favorites by him.
My sister has BTVS and Angel box sets. We have watched them a couple of times.
Wheadon=Whedon
At Comic-Con they showed the unaired “final” episode of Dollhouse. It was really good although I gave up on the series about five episodes in. I found the idea of people being programmed in such a way, and completely disposable (for a price of course), just way too disturbing.
While I agree Angel is darker it also has some of the funniest moments ever seen on TV - singing “Mandy” and Angel dancing come to mind. Glad I’m not the only BtVS fan out there.
Only big disappointment at Comic-Con? David Boreanaz didn’t show up for the Bones panel.
Like your wife being 34 weeks pregnant is a good excuse!
I agree with you San Diego RE Bear about Dollhouse. After the 4th episode, I found the series too distribuing for me also.
Have you been to other Comic-Cons? I’m still haven’t been to one yet. I want to go next year. WIll you be going next year?
I loved Eliza Dushku as Faith in BTVS and Angel. I just can’t get into her character on Dollhouse.
I also like Amy Acker who played Freddie on Angel. I was glad to see her in Dollhouse.
Ah, this bullishness is useful to me. I am in need of exactly one true believer that can close.
I am in need of exactly one true believer that can close.
That’s all it takes, one True Believer.
Remember, though: “As opportunities increase for homebuyers and sellers, it is imperative that you have a professional REALTOR® who can be an advocate on your behalf.”
This is his first-ever reference to “Case-Shiller” (sic), too.
Ooops, my bad, Mr. Realtor. I thought it was “Schiller.”
I apologize for doubting you …
Real estate is dead, dead, dead in Chicagoland right now. Worse than I had expected, although the asking prices haven’t dropped as much as I anticipated so that’s probably where the hang up is.
Lots of job losses and people still asking too much (for this area).
The realtors are not happy people right now.
And, winter is just around the corner. We’re still in buying season…
True Steve W
A long cold winter with high energy prices and their new and improve property tax bills ought to give some of these stubborn hold out fools a pleasant dose of economic reality shock in Wisconsin and elsewhere in the mid-west.
Wow! I think i wanna buy a house from that guy! He’s gonna help me meet my goals!
But I wish he used fewer big words like “diverse”, “momentum” and “sentiment”. What the hell is a plethora?
I hate having to look up words..
WTF is wrong with these Realtors that think anyone but themselves give a crap about sales!? PRICES! PRICES are what matter!
WTF is wrong with these Realtors that think anyone but themselves give a crap about sales!? PRICES! PRICES are what matter!
That is wickedly precise!
Guilty pleasure that is verging on truly boring..hgtv
yesterday? show had some couple really stick to their guns on house price. Really beat up the re agent, although.., but seriously they kept saying it was the RE’s fault that ppl wouldn’t pay their price.
They held firm.
I thought they were ass es. RE really learned a FSeller lesson.
Oh, Mr. Bear…With enough money dropping…maybe the Gov’t will have something to “crow” about!
“…The birds used the stone-dropping trick spontaneously and appeared to estimate how many stones they would need. They learned quickly that larger stones work better.”
Bird experiment shows Aesop’s fable may be true:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090806/ap_on_sc/us_sci_aesop_s_crows
Those tricksey birds are smarter than you think! Obviously Jurassic Park should have had a scene where a t-rex was dropping cars into a water tower to get the water level high enough to eat the lawyer who was stuck in there.
Crows are scary-smart. One night I stupidly pointed my hand like a gun at a tree full of sleeping crows and said bang! bang! and they all flew away in a mass panic. I went on in to bed and they took a full flock dump on the car I had just parked in a parking lot with several other cars. Their poo covered about 60% of my car, and they totally spared the surrounding cars- great aim! The next morning when I awoke to this thrilling sight, I drove to a self car wash, brushed my car up with soapy lather, ran out of time and discovered there were no more quarters in the machine. I then drove home with suds blowing in the wind and passersby pointing and laughing. (I wondered if the crows were watching.) Do not mess with crows, they’ll getcha back.
Just not smart enough to stay away from West Nile virus. We used to have a ton in my suburban Chicago neighborhood, hardly ever see crows around my house anymore since the epidemic.
That being said, yes, they are real smart and really cool birds.
Still no crow shortage in central KY. Especially when it gets cooler and they fly into town at night to sleep. They’re noisy, but they are cool birds. (Supposedly make good pets, too, and can be taught to ’speak’.)
My parents have to use crow repellent whenever they put the trash out.
Interesting video of Johnny Cash shooting a crow, not killing it, picking it up, carrying it around, singing to it, and reportedly nursing it for a week. Google “johnny cash shoots crow” for some links. I saw the video on a PBS show.
they knew you were an attorney.. ;>
lmao….
Marketwatch front page sez….
“Expose unscrupulous real-estate agents”
http://tinyurl.com/n2×9wb
The D.C. A-Holes just keep pissing away other peoples money…
Congress Gets an Upgrade
$500 Million Slated for Purchase of Eight More Planes as Lawmakers’ Travel Soars.
WASHINGTON — Congress plans to spend $550 million to buy eight jets, a substantial upgrade to the fleet used by federal officials at a time when lawmakers have criticized the use of corporate jets by companies receiving taxpayer funds.
The purchases will help accommodate growing travel demand by congressional officials. The planes augment a fleet of about two dozen passenger jets maintained by the Air Force for lawmakers, administration officials and military chiefs to fly on government trips in the U.S. and abroad.
The congressional shopping list goes beyond what the Air Force had initially requested as part of its annual appropriations. The Pentagon sought to buy one Gulfstream V and one business-class equivalent of a Boeing 737 to replace aging planes. The Defense Department also asked to buy two additional 737s that were being leased.
[Congress travel chart]
Lawmakers in the House last week added funds to buy those planes, and plus funds to buy an additional two 737s and two Gulfstream V planes. The purchases must still be approved by the Senate. The Air Force version of the Gulfstream V each costs $66 million, according to the Department of Defense, and the 737s cost about $70 million.
Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, said the Department of Defense didn’t request the additional planes and doesn’t need them. “We ask for what we need and only what we need,” he told reporters Wednesday. “We’ve always frowned upon earmarks and additives that are above and beyond what we ask for.”
Congress turned harshly critical of companies that fly executives on private jets in the weeks following the government bailout of banks and auto makers last year. General Motors, Chrysler LLC and Citigroup Inc. were among those caught in the cross hairs of angry lawmakers.
“The D.C. A-Holes just keep pissing away other peoples money…”
Other peoples money? Let me see an invoice and then I’ll believe.
They ain’t paying for it out of their own pockets, are they???
And they aren’t paying it out of yours either.
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight! It’s free money.Please enlighten us oh learned one, where does the money come from?
Its not from your pocket and therefore no basis for the sanctimonious hand-wringing.
Why can’t they fly coach? Jerkwads!
“Coach”
Why that’s for the peasants! We are taking about our supreme leaders. Nothing but the best,they love to reward themselves for the shitty job they are doing.
If they want to reward themselves, they can spring for the 5 dollar box lunch in coach!
“Why can’t they fly coach?”
The noise, dear, and the people….
“Why can’t they fly coach?”
Well, maybe if each airline had a “lobbyist class” section they’d at least fly commercial…
“Why can’t they fly coach?”
Well, maybe if each airline had a “lobbyist class” section they’d at least fly commercial…
VERY funny, sdgreg.
I recall a photo of Ron Paul during the Presidential campaign alone in the airport pulling his bag behind him after exiting a budget flight.
A foreclosure property I’ve been observing just dropped 15K.
It’s a lot more fun looking a popular real estate listings from high to low prices.
Don’t Barack that joint, my friend
Here’s an article about today’s employment numbers.
“Things are worsening more slowly”
http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2009/08/07/reich_unemployment/
Nice post SFBAG…..
From the article;
“The structure of the American economy is changing. We will emerge from all this with an economy that looks strikingly different from the one we had in 2007″…
The New Normal….
Colonial BancGroup says feds conducting criminal investigation over accounting irregularities.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Colonial BancGroup said Friday it is under criminal investigation by the Department of Justice over alleged accounting irregularities at its mortgage warehouse lending unit.
The company said the probe involves one year’s worth of financial statements and that it intends to cooperate. The company was notified of the official investigation on Thursday.
The announcement follows a raid by federal agents on Monday at Colonial BancGroup Inc.’s branch in Orlando, Fla., where the mortgage warehouse lending unit is located.
A spokeswoman for the inspector general of the U.S. Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program had said that agents from her office, the FBI and Housing and Urban Development inspector general conducted the search.
Colonial is also the subject of a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation related to its participation in the TARP program and its accounting for loan loss reserves. It has provided documents to the SEC.
The Alabama State Banking Department has scheduled a meeting Wednesday in Montgomery to ask for Colonial’s consent to appoint the FDIC as receiver for the bank if and when the state banking superintendent deems it necessary.
Colonial operates 335 branches in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Nevada and Texas.
Good find wmbz. Here and there I’m seeing more arrests and prosecutions and investigations and tightening of rules and regulations.
Like I’ve said, it’s going to take a long time to clean up this mess.
Here’s one for my fellow Olympic bid Scrooges. Chicago continues to be Chicago:
Chicago 2016 Olympics: Member of city’s bid team has deal to develop land near park earmarked for the Games
By Todd Lighty, David Heinzmann and Kathy Bergen — Chicago Tribune
August 7, 2009
A member of Mayor Richard Daley’s team working to bring the Olympics to Chicago has quietly arranged to develop city-owned land near a park that would be transformed for the 2016 Summer Games, potentially positioning himself to cash in if the Games come here, a Tribune investigation has found.
Developer Michael Scott Sr., an early member of the mayor’s Olympic committee, leads a group planning a residential and commercial project on lots kitty-corner from the proposed Douglas Park sporting venues, a location where land values could jump if the city gets the Olympics.
The plan — which would include a Nike store — already has gotten crucial support from the local alderman, who has set aside the lots for Scott and his group.
The city generally sells taxpayer-owned lots for $1 apiece for affordable housing projects, and in other cases negotiates land prices.
Scott owns Michael Scott & Associates, a real estate development and investment firm. He also serves as president of the Chicago Board of Education, and was in the news earlier this week when he said he was subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury looking into admissions to the city’s elite public schools.
Scott’s designs on the public land are sure to reinforce concerns of residents that it’s the mayor’s friends who would benefit from Daley bringing the 2016 Olympics to the city. The story is a familiar one in Daley’s administration, where City Hall insiders have personally profited from even the most civic-minded of projects, from recycling garbage to building Millennium Park …
They should just keep it up. On local message boards and blogs the mood in this city is getting downright ugly. Granted, since the police went into arbitration I notice a lot more critical posts aimed at da Mayor.
Go Tokyo 2016!
And I’ll betcha that Tokyo will do just swimmingly. IIRC, they did a good job hosting the ‘64 Summer Olympics.
SRS Class action lawsuit brewing. If you had bought SRS recently, go check it out online.
I knew about the tracking error and I am complete idiot and former SRS “owner.”
Thankfully DinOr and Muir set me straight.
Tracking problems aren’t just specific to SRS though.
Yup, someone here the other day mentioned they’d “go long ultrashort.”
That is actually not a good idea, and regular shorting is the only way to “go long” on a declining stock.
Right?
www dot labaton.com/en/cases/index.cfm
I often joke about how the stock market always goes up, but now I am beginning to wonder if this bull can ever be stopped. Can any of the gamblers in the audience suggest the best time to pull money off the table before the next stock market bubblet bursts?
August 20, according to some Gann traders.
Disclosure: I don’t use that trading method. I don’t know how to use that trading method. I can’t attest to its accuracy or inaccuracy. I am just passing along a rumor.
Thanks — I love stock rumors, especially those with dates attached to them (ditto for earthquake rumors…).
While I’m not a fan of the shenanigans, I’m happy for my mother that it’s going up. She took quite a beating, having trusted Mutual of America with her 401k. While she’ll never, at her age, make it all back, it heals the wound a bit.
Apparently both Conrad and Dodd were cleared by the ethics committee DESPITE having taken bald faced bribes from Angelo Mozillo by getting cut-rate special mortgages in the “friends of Angelo” program from Countrywide.
That’s the kind of thing that would get a low-security cleared employee booted from a job, yet if you’re in congress or the senate, you get carte blanche for any and all graft unless the populace catches wind and it annoys them enough to make you unelectable. (If they think you’ll still get elected, they let it go.)
Yep.
As a another example, how the hell did Franklin Raines “lose” $12 BILLION while running Fannie Mae and then have the stones to insist on his full $100 MILLION compensation? And then GET IT?!
His cat probably couldn’t stand him and exacted revenge.
Fla. man blames cat paws for child porn downloads.
Aug 7 01:18 PM US/Eastern
JENSEN BEACH, Fla. (AP) - Florida investigators say a man accused of downloading child pornography is blaming his cat.
Keith Griffin of Jensen Beach is charged with 10 counts of possession of child pornography after detectives found more than 1,000 images on his home computer.
According to a sheriff’s report Friday, Griffin told investigators that his cat jumped on the computer keyboard while he was downloading music. He said he had left the room and found “strange things” on his computer when he returned.
Griffin is being held on $250,000 bond in the Martin County jail. It is unclear if he has an attorney.
That was the best defense he could come up with? He should have stuck with the twinkie defense!
“kitty” porn?
That’s most likely what the cat intended to type, but his paw missed a key stroke. Good news for the cat, his azz ain’t going to jail.
+2
Snort! Thanks for the laugh!
That’s kind of like the “he fell on a knife… 25 times” defense for murder.
Or Brutus’s “Everybody was doing it!” defense.
If it was regular (normal) stuff, we could have a field day with this…
The cat was probably trying to google “canine torture.”
I really enjoyed that Goldman prayer yesterday. Life really is better being part of the all-knowing, benevolent Goldman.
Huzzah!
Congress may extend unemployment benefits.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress will consider extending unemployment benefits after it returns in September to help 1.5 million Americans who risk exhausting them, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on Friday.
“Soon after Congress returns to Washington we’ll need to address this matter,” Reid said. “There is an economic case to be made for extending unemployment benefits.”
The unemployment rate eased to 9.4 percent in July from 9.5 percent the prior month, according to Labor Department data released on Friday. It was the first time the U.S. jobless rate has fallen since April 2008.
But the number of long-term unemployed continues to rise as the country struggles with the longest recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s, and many analysts attributed the dip in July to people giving up the job hunt.
Data ranging from home sales to manufacturing have pointed to an economic revival, but the unemployment rate is expected to remain high, which could lead to an anemic recovery. Obama administration officials say they still expect the unemployment rate to reach 10 percent this year.
As of July 25, 6.31 million people were collecting long-term unemployment benefits, according to Labor Department data.
Some 1.5 million of those people could exhaust those benefits by the end of the end of the year, according to the National Employment Law Project.
“We must help those who are suffering as a result of an economic crisis they did not create,” Reid said.
Duration, duration. duration.
See, now it’s getting interesting.
“We must help those who are suffering as a result of an economic crisis they did not create,” Reid said.
Great! You can send me a check at…
Doesn’t he realize that by extending the benefits, you’re making the numbers look worse? When those 1.5 million fall off the end of gravy train, the unemployment number goes from 9.4% to a more palatable 7.6% (Assuming it’s not at 12% by then, and only retreats to 10.3% or so…)
For those, like me, who think this economic collapse is playing out in a manner similar to Japan’s two lost decades, here’s an interesting link:
Lost Couple of Decades’ Looming for U.S. Economy
Link here
The U.S. economy may be just as sluggish during the next 20 years as Japan’s economy was in the last 20, according to Comstock Partners
Hmm, the link disappeared… anyway, it’s a Bloomberg article, so just google it.
Worse.
Short story is - even though we’re coming off similar asset bubbles, we’re starting off this depression with a *way* worse debt load than Japan started theirs.
Also, Japan had their lost decades while the rest of the world was booming and buying their exports. Now we get to try it while the whole world is in a funk. Unless China can continue its meteoric growth despite having no customers for its exports.
Expect more articles like this to surface as the “Way We Wish Things Were” turns into the “Way We’re Going Down”.
Memries,
Like the corners of my mind
Misty water-colored memories
Of the way we were
Scattered pictures,
Of the smiles we left behind
Smiles we gave to one another
For the way we were
Can it be that it was all so simple then?
Or has time re-written every line?
If we had the chance to do it all again
Tell me, would we? could we?
Memries, may be beautiful and yet
Whats too painful to remember
We simply choose to forget
So its the laughter
We will remember
Whenever we remember…
The way we were…
The way we were…
Thanks SanFranGirl.
Thanks a lot. I so owe you one.
here’s link and see the pdf charts.
http://www.comstockfunds.com/default.aspx?act=Newsletter.aspx&category=SpecialReport&newsletterid=1473&menugroup=Home&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
Baltic Dry Index Has Worst Week Since October as Demand Slows
Aug. 7 (Bloomberg) — The Baltic Dry Index, a measure of shipping costs for commodities, had its worst week since October as Chinese demand for shipments of coal and iron ore slowed.
The index tracking transportation costs on international trade routes today slid 135 points, or 4.6 percent, to 2,772 points, according to the Baltic Exchange. That took its weekly drop to 17 percent, the most since the end of October.
“The Chinese have backed off and it’s starting to show in the number of shipments this month,” Gavin Durrell, a Cape Town-based official at Island View Shipping SA, Africa’s biggest commodities shipping line, said by phone today. “Iron ore and coal seem to be slowing down.”
China’s record coal and iron ore imports in the first half helped the index to advance as much as fivefold this year, reversing some of the record 92 percent collapse in 2008. Demand rose after the country’s government announced a 4 trillion yuan ($586 billion) stimulus package.
Daily rental rates for every class of ship tracked by the bourse declined today, led by a 5.6 percent slump to $20,880 for panamaxes, ships designed to navigate the Panama Canal.
Capesizes, ships most commonly used to haul about 170,000 metric tons of iron ore around South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope or Chile’s Cape Horn, lost 5.2 percent to $45,428 a day. Smaller supramaxes fell 5 percent to $19,242 a day and handysize ships lost 2 percent to $12,051 a day.
That data must be wrong. Apparently the Balticians didn’t get the green shoots memo.
P.S. it’s noteworthy that the BDI very much spiked with the commodities bubble last year. It’s … interesting… that the BDI is still very low right now given that commodities prices are fairly high again.
No, no, no. They didn’t smoke the green shoots.
China’s all stocked up, with nowhere to sell. Now what?
Cash for CRT Monitors /TVs
Cash for last year’s Jimmy Chu’s
Cash for Disney VHS Tapes
Cash for Jean Shorts
Cash for Crocs
Cash for 1st gen iPods
Cash for Beanie Babies
Cash for Osama bin Laden urinal cakes
Cash for any regrettable purchase made between 1/1/2000 and 8/7/2009
C’mon spread those Barry Bux around! Beijing on the hotline Mr. President!
Cash for Brides.
What, with all those extra men over there, they need all the women they can get! And China has TONS of extra ducets just laying around.
I’ve noticed that just about every adopted Chinese baby in this country is a girl. There are going to be some very lonely Chinese men in 20 years.
1st salesman: Cash for the merchandise, cash for the button hooks
3rd salesman: Cash for the cotton goods, csh for the hard goods
1st Salesman: Cash for the fancy goods
2nd salesman: cash for the noggins and the piggins and the frikins
3rd Salesman: Cash for the hogdhead, cask and demijohn. Cash for the crackers and the pickels and the flypaper
4th Salesman: Look whatayatalk. whatayatalk, whatayatalk, whatayataalk, whatayatalk?
5th Salesman: Weredayagitit?
4th Salesman: Whatayatalk?
1st Salesman: Ya can talk, ya can talk, ya can bicker ya can talk, ya can bicker, bicker bicker ya can talk all ya want
but is different than it was.
Charlie: No it ain’t, no it ain’t, but ya gotta know the territory.
Rail car: Shh shh shh shh shh shh shh
I know this from somewhere…
What is it DennisN?
It’s from “The Music Man”
It always cracks me up when people claim “Til There Was You” was an original Beatles song.
Blackstone Calls FDIC’s Buyout Rule a Deal-Breaker.
Aug. 7 (Bloomberg) — Blackstone Group LP President Tony James said the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s proposed rules covering buyout firms’ purchases of controlling stakes in banks would “kill it for private equity.”
His firm, the world’s largest buyout company, is among the investors urging the FDIC to back off guidelines released last month as the agency seeks to clarify takeover rules. The number of failed institutions in 2009 has risen to 64, the most in 17 years, as the financial services industry recovers from more than $1.5 trillion in writedowns and credit losses caused by the global recession.
Blackstone, based in New York, teamed up with Carlyle Group and a group led by John Kanas, the former chief executive officer of North Fork Bancorp, in May to purchase failed Florida lender BankUnited Financial Corp.
“We see a lot of opportunity to potentially acquire other bank assets in that region,” Blackstone Chairman Stephen Schwarzman said yesterday on a call with analysts after the firm reported quarterly results. “We’re excited about the prospects of that investment.”
The FDIC would require banks bought by private-equity firms to keep Tier 1 capital ratios of 15 percent, almost twice the level usually mandated for a startup. Tier 1 capital is a measure of a bank’s ability to absorb losses. Firms also would have to hold onto their stakes for at least three years.
Lawmakers such as Senator Jack Reed, a Democrat from Rhode Island, have asked regulators for rules to ensure that private investors can’t take advantage of government assistance and pit agencies against each other.
FDIC Chairman
“There is significant capital out there that can come in, and we want to accommodate that, but accommodate that in a way that is prudent,” FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair said at a meeting in Washington last month. “We want non-traditional investors in. We want to maximize investor interest.”
You know they’re foaming at the mouth at the idea that their profits might be reduced by enforced lending prudence ON A BANK THAT JUST FAILED. I’d say they’re lucking there isn’t another tier added on for failed banks that sets reserves at 35-50%.
“Some journalists seem to find it easier to beat up on a small-town mayor than to grow the cojones needed to take on the treacherous billionaire bankers chewing up the system. That says a great deal about the bully culture we live in.
~Lila Rajiva
U.S. Consumer Credit Decreased for Fifth Straight Month in June.
Aug. 7 (Bloomberg) — Borrowing by U.S. consumers dropped in June for the fifth straight month as the unemployment rate rose, getting loans remained difficult and households put off major purchases.
Consumer credit fell $10.3 billion, or 4.92 percent at an annual rate, to $2.5 trillion, according to a Federal Reserve report released today in Washington. Credit dropped by $5.38 billion in May, more than previously estimated. The series of declines is the longest since 1991.
A jobless rate near the highest in 26 years, stagnant wages and falling home values mean consumer spending, about 70 percent of the economy, will take time to recover even as the recession eases. Incomes fell the most in four years in June as one-time transfer payments from the Obama administration’s stimulus plan dried up, and unemployment is forecast to exceed 10 percent next year before retreating.
“Consumers just didn’t want to add to their debt burdens,” Richard Yamarone, director of economic research at Argus Research Corp. in New York, said before the report. “You don’t head out to the mall or the auto lot when the economy is hemorrhaging jobs.”
Economists had forecast consumer credit would drop $5 billion in June, according to the median of 33 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. Projections ranged from declines of $11.9 billion to $1 billion. The Fed initially reported that consumer credit decreased by $3.2 billion in May.
Credit Cards
Revolving debt, such as credit cards, fell by $5.25 billion in June, a record 10th straight drop, according to the Fed’s statistics. Non-revolving debt, including auto loans and mobile-home loans, declined by $5.04 billion. The Fed’s report doesn’t cover borrowing secured by real estate.
“Consumers just didn’t want to add to their debt burdens,” Richard Yamarone, director of economic research at Argus Research Corp. in New York, said before the report. “You don’t head out to the mall or the auto lot when the economy is hemorrhaging jobs.”
Ummm, Richard, have you ever heard of paying with cash? Or writing a check? Last I looked, those payment methods still work.
Unemployed realtwhore tries to have her husband iced.
‘Crocodile tears’ of newly-wed who ‘took a hit out on her husband’… and got caught in a police sting operation…
Last updated at 5:47 PM on 07th August 2009 UK Mail.
The 26-year-old could barely stand as a Florida police officer comforted her over the death of her husband of less than six months.
But police claim the grieving widow act was just that - as Dippolito had secretly hired a hit man to kill her husband Michael.
What she didn’t know was that the contract killer was an undercover police officer after detectives had been tipped off about the plot by her lover.
Her 38-year-old husband was alive and in protective custody with police as they waited to spring their surprise.
Authorities had set up a sting operation on an Dippolito after the tip off that she wanted someone to kill her husband.
An undercover policeman posed as the hitman and recorded Dippolito apparently saying she wanted her husband dead.
She provided a daily schedule of her husband’s movements and handed over £800 for the ‘killer’ to buy a gun.
Dippolito was recorded on tape being asked if it was a ’solid deal’ and said she didn’t want any excuses for why the crime wouldn’t happen.
On Monday she met with the hitman and agreed to pay £2,000 for the murder of her husband.
She apparently told the ‘killer’ she would be at the hairdresser when the killing was carried out so she would have an alibi.
When the unemployed estate agent was asked if she was sure she wanted her husband killed, Dippolito apparently laughed before saying, ‘I will be very happy.’
Two days later police in Boynton Beach, Florida, staged a mock crime scene to as part of an elaborate sting operation.
When Dippolito left for a morning workout at the gym they sealed off her street as a crime scene.
Yellow police tape was put across the road and a CSI van parked outside the couple’s £180,000 flat.
Police called Dippolito while she was at the gym and told her to come home immediately.
As she arrived back home she was confronted by more than half a dozen police officers and her home looking like a crime scene.
A police videographer captured Dippolito still wearing her gym gear being gently told her husband had been murdered.
The ‘grief-stricken’ widow sobbed uncontrollably,mumbling her words as a police officer attempts to comfort her.
After several minutes she is led sobbing to a police car with the officer telling her: ‘Please tell us all you can.’
At the police station she met the ‘hitman’ and was then confronted by her husband.
He later said: ‘We had nothing to say to each other.
Police later charged Dippolito with solicitation to murder.
“We had nothing to say to each other” ?!
I would have had something to say to her!
“You’ve been served” would have been appropriate. On multiple levels!
..the unemployed estate agent was asked if she was sure she wanted her husband killed…
..as if a real hired killer would give a rat’s butt..
What a great story.
Sounds like a TV show I’ve heard about…”Punk’d” or something like that.
http://www.schiffathon.com/
Peter Schiff, who has been dead on in predicting the housing bubble and the Fed’s economic follies, is running for Chris Dodd’s Senate seat!
Hey, someone has to keep laughin’…you guys are getting to wrap up in Mr. Bear “Eeyore’s” dismal cocoon
From behind “The O.C.” orange curtain:
“…He called sales at Brightwater “pretty solid,” and added, “One of the reasons we need to modify the loan is to provide more money for construction … once the (economic) tide turns we won’t be able to keep buyers away.”
BWAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHHAHAHAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
“…California Coastal Communities, which is building the 356-home oceanview project in Huntington Beach, said in public filings that sales are not generating enough cash flow to cover loan payments due in December, March and June. In addition to the $57 million in loan payments, it also must pay off the balance of a loan in June.”
“During the last five months (March-July), we generated 20 net sales orders at Brightwater. However, the limited availability of jumbo mortgage financing and excess supply of resale homes over $1.5 million in Huntington Beach continues to constrain sales of the larger Cliffs and Breakers homes.”
O.C. builder can’t make $57 million in debt payments:
August 7th, 2009, by Marilyn Kalfus, real estate reporter OC Register
Fans of the Fab Four are flocking to the most famous pedestrian crossing in Britain for the 40th anniversary on Saturday of the taking of one of the greatest images in rock ‘n’ roll history.
It was outside the Abbey Road recording studios at 11.35 am on August 8, 1969 that the Beatles strutted purposefully from one side of the street to another, for the cover of what would be their final album as a group.
Scottish photographer Iain Macmillan, standing on a stepladder in the middle of the road, had just 10 minutes to knock off six frames of John Lennon, Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney and George Harrison traversing the zebra crossing.
McCartney alone walked in bare feet, out of step with his bandmates, a cigarette in his right hand — unusual for a leftie, perhaps, but enough to feed a generation’s worth of “Paul is dead” rumours.
Re-enacting the walk across Abbey Road is what hundreds of tourists — walking single file, eyes firmly looking straight ahead — come to the well-heeled Saint John’s Wood neighbourhood do every day.
“It’s one of the rare unchanged places in Beatles history, somewhere that we can get an idea of what it was like at the time,” a Beatles fan from California said the other day.
“The challenge is to exactly re-create the picture,” said Christopher, who was visiting from France with his friend Thierry and spent an hour on Abbey Road with their four teenaged children.
“Except that you need a step ladder and to set yourself up in the middle of the street,” Thierry explained.
It might be hard to match the fashions of the day.
Lennon, who would be shot and killed in New York in December 1980, was in head-to-toe white. Behind him was Ringo in black, then barefoot Paul. George brought up the rear in blue denim shirt and bell-bottoms.
“It’s crazy to say that we’ve walked at the exact same place as they did,” said Lucille, 15.
“And so near to the anniversary,” added her brother Paul. “But we told ourselves it would be better to come a few days early, because there are going to be too many people on Saturday.”
Because it is a zebra crossing, with orange beacons atop striped poles flashing at either end, motorists must stop for all pedestrians — Beatles pilgrims or otherwise.
But there are drivers who “honk their horns and shout not very nice things in English” when tourists dawdle too long in the middle of the two-lane street that is, in fact, part of a busy intersection, said Paul.
The nearby Abbey Road studios — the world’s first purpose-built recording facility when it was opened in the early 1930s — merits a visit as well.
The Beatles made nearly all their records there, and in its history it has hosted a raft of other artists — names as diverse as Fred Astaire and Fats Waller to U2, Oasis and Manic Street Preachers.
Propped atop its roof is a webcam (www.abbeyroad.co.uk/visit) that peers down on the crosswalk — making virtual visits to Abbey Road possible from anywhere on Earth
Ate Up:
Hope you are still around.
Click on this link. It will take you to Abbey Road. Scroll down the page until you see the live view of Abbey Road.
http://www.camvista.com/england/london/beatles_abbey_road_webcam.php3
Gal pal and I were there, she is mjr fan, and just after the death of George, she wanted to take a photo. I said, let me take one of you first. she refused several x, so I obliged and stood there.
Funniest sound from a person when they take, what is obviously their last shot and the whirrring starts..
A whimper and the funny look on her face. I couldn’t stop laughing.
Nobody has posted this yet…so here’s FDIC Friday!
http://www.idahostatesman.com/531/story/859448.html
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was appointed receiver of the banks: First State Bank, of Sarasota, Fla.; Venice, Fla.-based Community National Bank of Sarasota County, and Community First Bank, of Prineville, Ore.
Isn’t Prineville right outside of Bend?
It`s the weekly FDIC Friday night bank spank.
Bits bucket: “Post off-topic ideas, links and Craigslist finds here. ”
Ok, here’s one off-topic:
http://www.schiffathon.com/
Peter Schiff for U.S. Senate (Connecticutt).