Bits Bucket For October 1, 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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My littleman — full throttle since 4 a.m.
Ahhhh…..those were the days. Can I get you some more coffee?
Nice…
I remember those days..enjoy them while you can…
For me, it’s been replaced with pimples, IPODS and braces…
I cant wait to get home..
I cant wait to get home..
I wish you a speedy return. I’ve never been to war, but I do know what’s it like to be stationed far from home.
I wish you a speedy return.
As do I. Here’s hoping that the Forever War will someday come to an end.
Such a sweet mix of pleasure and agony…
Ain’t that the truth. I’m going through an agony phase. Hoping it’s over soon.
If you are talking about sitting up with a small child, the agony is only beginning — soon they morph into teenagers!
He’s 5 and has the attitude of a 16 year old girl. Hoping it’s just because he’s started Kindergarten and needs to adjust, but the mouthing off is out of control.
My daughter’s 10 and has been home all week with the flu.
I wouldn’t care if Homeland Security permanently jammed the Disney Channel.
We did have an epic Monopoly game, where a discussion ensued about whether you could sell your houses and hotels for their purchase price if you incurred debts elsewhere.
As for the mouthing, maybe your little one is getting too much sugar at school? They are rife with cupcakes, etc.
“As for the mouthing, maybe your little one is getting too much sugar at school? They are rife with cupcakes, etc.”
Some schools are far worse than others about that stuff, but its probably just a stage. My 5YO fills me in on her classmates’ transgressions, but got an “Oh s–t!” look on her face when parent-teacher conference sign up sheets were posted and I explained I’d be talking with her teacher next week.
BTW, my SIL works at a local public school, and IIUC they’ve decided to forgo parent-teacher conferences unless there is a problem. Apparently the staff is too busy and doesn’t feel their job should include inflating parental egos.
“Hoping it’s just because he’s started Kindergarten and needs to adjust, but the mouthing off is out of control.”
As I recall, the general consensus on this occurance was despite a myriad of changes thrown at them the poor youngins held it together until school was over but then unloaded at home w/Mom where it was safe.
Hang in there. It’ll get better as the school day becomes old hat.
At this point in life my littlemen have their own little men and little ladies. At their own little houses.
Which IMHO makes for Grampa sleeping better circa 0400hrs
Look at it this way……..if we didn’t have our kids, who else would pay for all this government debt the numbskulls in D.C. are generating?
I’d LMAO if some of those on the blog who rag on us “breeders” were on their deathbed, and some guy from the IRS shows up and says “Hey dude, before you clock out, there’s this little matter about your share of the National Debt……”
Helpful hint………if you want him to go back to sleep, strap him in the carseat, make sure the interior is kinda warm, crack the window by his head (to generate “white noise”, and go take a little drive. He’ll be out pretty quick.
Also…….make sure he’s not hungry. Sometimes the girls would eat a light dinner and go run around, then wake up about 2-3am, because they were hungry. He’s a little one,as I recall? Try a little Gerber (or instant) oatmeal, with a little bit of warm milk, and maybe a spoonful or two of Gerber peaches or pears.
You’re exactly right, GS. The way to handle children is to feed ‘em and put ‘em to bed. Works like a charm. Except for those stupid mommies who insist on dragging their kids out shopping and then get all pissed off when the kids start crying and getting upset. They’re hungry and tired, but NO, mommy just HAS to keep looking for that perfect outfit.
I hate to see tired little ones being dragged thru wherever at 10:00 p.m. and hear their parents berate them for crying and/or whining. Their parents = self-centered jackasses.
“Look at it this way……..if we didn’t have our kids, who else would pay for all this government debt the numbskulls in D.C. are generating?”
kids? you mean grandkids.
I’d LMAO if some of those on the blog who rag on us “breeders” were on their deathbed, and some guy from the IRS shows up and says “Hey dude, before you clock out, there’s this little matter about your share of the National Debt……”
My version of this is, when they perfect immortality, the people without kids get the first treatments.
PS:I’d never rag on a “breeder”, hell, I’d never even call someone that - well, maybe Octomom…
All of my friends who have kids are responsible, reliable people and their kids reflect that.
if we didn’t have our kids, who else would pay for all this government debt the numbskulls in D.C. are generating?
Why worry? Invest in overseas markets and hedge it with precious metals bullion and international bonds (fiat currency).
I think given what’s in the pipe, holding foriegn assets of any kind will be remarkably risky.
I think many younger people are moving from the U.S. to China not only for jobs but to escape from imminent greater social security and medicare taxes. They know there is a smaller pool of them to pay for retiring boomers.
Voting with your feet and not complaining is the least violent and most direct approach to increasing your personal freedom.
Equifax: Commercial bankruptcies up in Q2
Atlanta Business Chronicle
Commercial bankruptcies are on the rise and have surpassed consumer bankruptcies, according to data from Equifax Inc.
The Atlanta-based credit reporting firm (NYSE: EFX) said commercial bankruptcies increased by 208 percentage points from the first quarter of 2008 to the second quarter of 2009, while consumer bankruptcies rose by 122 percentage points for the same period.
There were about 58,000 commercial bankruptcies in the United States for the first half of 2009. Equifax said.
The bankruptcy rate for the transportation industry exceeded all other sectors, with 2.4 percent of transportation businesses petitioning for bankruptcy in the second quarter. Construction, manufacturing and retail also showed significant rate increases.
“Our analysis shows that the credit crisis has permeated the commercial market, bringing strong headwinds to nearly every sector of this landscape,” said Reza Barazesh, senior vice president for Commercial Information Solutions at Equifax, in a statement. “With business failures on the rise and more industries sliding toward bankruptcy, commercial businesses must draw upon the industry’s best data and analytics to mitigate risk and better manage their portfolios.”
Saturn Falls Along With Penske Deal
Would-Be Buyer Couldn’t Find A Manufacturer
Roger Penske, perhaps best known for his Indy racing team, had reached a tentative deal to buy the carmaker, but he could not find a manufacturer.
Saturn’s closure carries the weight of 350 dealerships and 13,000 jobs. The GM division, launched in 1985, had its fans, but not enough to keep it afloat.
Fritz Henderson, president and chief executive of General Motors, called the closure “very disappointing.”
General Motors is closing its Saturn business, ending the once-ballyhooed effort to build “a different kind of car company,” as the implosion of auto sales that started last year continues to ravage the industry.
The decision Wednesday to abandon Saturn came after negotiations broke down to sell the brand to Penske Automotive.
The setback follows a massive bailout effort in which the government sought to rescue the industry with aid for GM, Chrysler, suppliers and financing companies, as well as the “Cash for Clunkers” incentive program.
The Saturn closure reflects just how difficult the market remains: Penske balked because it could not strike a deal with another company to take GM’s place as manufacturer. As a result, more than 350 Saturn dealerships are now slated to shut down and 13,000 jobs are threatened.
“This is very disappointing news and comes after months of hard work by hundreds of dedicated employees and Saturn retailers who tried to make the new Saturn a reality,” GM chief executive Fritz Henderson said in a statement.
What happened to their, “we make cars Americans want” ad campaign? They pump a $hitload of money, government money, into marketing this piece of dog crap and then shut it down? Like they didn’t know they were going to be euthanizing this brand. When I try to consider which is dumber our government or corporate America I cannot decide. Oh, wait, they are one in the same. They can all go f— themselves. At least some company over on Madison Avenue got there’s before they took out their little pet doggy named Saturn and put a bullet in its head.
Hello everybody. Have a nice day. The weather is beautiful.
At least they bit the bullet and killed Older Yeller before he infected anyone else. I’m not going to begrudge the government for the price of the bullet.
I saw this last night, and I’m still fuzzy on what they meant by “they couldn’t find a manufacturer.” I thought Saturn was physically self-contained, only under GM’s corporate structure(?), and that Penske was just going to buy the whole thing from GM, plants and all. What am I missing?
I questioned that too. From what I have heard and how I think I understand it, penske just wanted to market a finished product to dealers…I think.
Lane
Saturn stopped making their own cars. The crummy Ion was the last “true” Saturn, with those soft side panels. The Ion was replaced a few years ago by the “Astra” which was a rebadged Opel, as was the second generation Vue (Opel Antara). All other Saturn models have mechanical “twins’ from other GM divisions. (Aura/Malibu, Sky/Solstice, Outlook/Acadia/Traverse/Enclave). Saturn had basically become a marketing and distribution division that sold cars made by other GM divisions.
I’m guessing that Penske was going to “reinvent” Saturn as a distributor of Chinese cars and either didn’t get the deal he wanted from the Chinese, or flat out got cold feet.
Saturn had basically become a marketing and distribution division that sold cars made by other GM divisions.
Thanks for that insight.
THAT explains it.
“…..distributors of Chinese cars…..”
Acutally, he was trying to work something out with Renault/Nissan.
Saturn never made any sense to me, They could just as easily implemented the Saturn business plan with either Oldmobile, Buick, or Pontiac, and saved the money it cost to establish a completely new line of cars.
I was never a fan of the Saturn product line, but it made sense to me that they had to do something that far apart from the rest of GM in order to have any hope of convincing the average import buyer to give them a serious look.
Unfortunately I don’t think it ever worked…they captured a niche market of people who wanted an import but were willing to compromise to support a domestic brand, but I don’t think they ever convinced people who wanted the best they could get and didn’t care who made it. Put any SL-whatever next to the same year Civic and it just wasn’t in the same league, even if the Saturn drivetrain was good enough to go just as many miles.
“…..distributors of Chinese cars…..”
Acutally, he was trying to work something out with Renault/Nissan.
Then I’m not surprised he failed. They’re both too good to be sold as Saturns.
What is GM’s stock symbol?
What is GM’s stock symbol?
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=What+is+GM%E2%80%99s+stock+symbol%3F
One more car I won’t look at when I need to replace mine or help my son look for one.
On the contrary, the fact that used ones may well be significantly cheaper makes it a GOOD car to get for a kids first car. After all, there is a fairly good chance that he will prang it before it needs tons o’ maintenance.
Saturn would’ve been the perfect car to have been Americas hybrid ten years ago but I guess it just wasn’t in big business’s cultural radar to thinking ahead in that way. A lot of us saw it coming much the same way as many here saw the housing implosion coming.
Yup, the right size car for just about all a families or even a dj’s needs.
I still have my 96 ford escort wagon…. I think saturn still had a front bench seat back then…i miss those
—————
Americas hybrid ten years ago
“I think saturn still had a front bench seat back then…i miss those”
Same here! What’s a woman to do, with no place to put her purse when she’s got a passenger?
LOL…….OK i used to drive a lot and not having a console on the floor make it easy to stretch the legs while on cruise control…..Now even after a short 45 mile drive to my moms i am stiff getting out of the car…. But the car is paid for…so i have no choice at the moment
Well my dad is 6′ and my mom is 4′10″, so they NEVER bought a bench seat car. And domestic makers for the most part didn’t DO bucket seats in the ’60s.
The problem I saw with Saturn is they lost their way - when they began they sold a car for reasonable money the entry buyer could afford. Later, they tried to compete with VW, Toyota and Honda and sell a cheaply made car for the same price as those three.
Okay, there was also the problem of bringing out the crossover (VUE) about 5 years late and bringing out their minivan (Relay) 10-15 years too late.
Owned and hated the VUE - but loved the SL I traded it for!
Hey, my 1997 SW2 still runs great. It’s up to 12 1/2 years, and I was hoping for at least 16-18. Hope I can still get parts.
The car could have been better — you have to twist to get into and out of it.
But still, the problem was cultural. A simple car for simple folks designed so people could maintain it themselves, and to last a long time — good idea, bad timing. It’s what America needed then and wants now.
The Relay was a shared design with other GM divisions. Why pay Saturns “MSRP” price when Chevy and Buick sold the same vehicle at a lower price. It also didn’t help that it was a mediocre minivan.
We actually have a VUE. For some reason my wife had her heart set it on it. The only reason I agreed is because it had a Honda powertrain under the hood (2004-2007 came with the Honda 3.5L V6 and tranny). The vehicle is otherwise a piece of junk. It rattles like crazy. The interior is cheap and tacky. It handles poorly, even for an SUV. The amazing thing is that it has held its value. 4.5 years later it would fetch 15K out here (it cost 25K new). Go figure.
“The amazing thing is that it has held its value. 4.5 years later it would fetch 15K out here (it cost 25K new).”
I find that very hard to believe.
It’s easier to live in a minivan than in a coupe!
That’s what they go for out here. For some reason the Saturn VUE is a very popular model on the front range.
Go look on cars.com for the Denver area (100 mile radius). I’ve seen 2005’s with asking prices as high as 18K.
“That’s what they go for out here. For some reason the Saturn VUE is a very popular model on the front range.
Go look on cars.com for the Denver area (100 mile radius). I’ve seen 2005’s with asking prices as high as 18K.”
While I’ll never dispute delusional sellers listing cars for prices they will never in their wildest dreams garner, actual sales are quite another thing. I did just check out craigslist for Saturn Vue’s in your area, and I believe you’re sorely mistaken on your price, as I had suspected. There are 2008 model year AWD Vue’s with ASKING prices, from dealers no less, of $15,995. The idea that your 2005 is going to “fetch” $15k is absurd. Furthermore, used vehicles are not even garnering blue book right now.
Only retards pay Blue Book prices.
I remember when Saturn came out. Unions were fighting it. Internal divisions were fighting it.
They went the politically safe route on a lot of things. Basically going with new technology. Everybody loves new technology and you don’t hit all the coporate minefields.
Just remembering back in the mid to late 80s and early 90s. The K cars still floating around. You’d get a decent DOHC/EFI car standard from the Japanese. Meanwhile the Detroiters were still spilling out rocker arm engines with carborators.
That while claiming the EFI was unreliable.
Fing GM. Remember they were skimping on prototyping so all the modling would be messed up. Always having plastics fall apart? They also decided to skimp on power trains/engine matching. You’d get a car from them with higher horsepower ratings and tourque ratings but it would be slower and less efficient than the Japanese models.
They are a bit closer now. Still lagging behind in quality and reliability over a five year period.
Man, those guys so deserved to go under. And they got a much better deal than they deserved.
Nah, you’re not Penske material!
Of course Saturn went bust. Like so much of America today. The simple truth is the USA is loaded with morons. It explains everything.
As a friend of mine said “…who will resort to violence to protect their ignorance at all costs.”
Greenspan Says U.S. Will Need to Tighten Credit, Raise Taxes.
Oct. 1 (Bloomberg) — Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the U.S. will have to both tighten credit and raise taxes as the economy pulls out of the worst recession since the 1930s.
“The presumption that we’re going to be able to resolve this without significant increases in taxes is unrealistic,” Greenspan, 83, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television yesterday.
The budget deficit this year is forecast to widen to $1.6 trillion, boosted in part by President Barack Obama’s $787 billion stimulus package. Between 2010 and 2019, deficits will total $7.1 trillion, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Greenspan also said the Fed will have to withdraw money from the financial system to avoid inflation. The central bank has doubled its balance sheet over the last year to $2.2 billion as it battled the recession that began in December 2007.
The economy will grow at a 3 percent to 4 percent annual pace in the next six months before slowing in 2010, Greenspan predicted. Growth will be aided by a surge in the stock market and inventory restocking by companies. Share
“… the U.S. will both have to both tighten credit and raise taxes as the economy pulls out of the worst recesion since the 1930s.”
There’s something terribly wrong with this statement.
And Millions have variable interest rate credit cards…what a combination.
Unless the new law forbids an interest rate increase on the old balances. I thought it only applied to fixed interest rates….I cant find any info on this question.
It’s called ‘reality’.
And if it comes to pass it’s also called a ‘Depression’.
Greenspan is totally at peace with this. He timed everything perfectly: He will be dead soon and lived life as a hero by his own design.
And when he’s planted, his headstone marker will be one of those old, tall, floor mounted urinals. Then people can come and pi$$ on his grave.
Or take a Bernanke on it.
Or get some santorum on it?
Oh now thats just nasty.
But then again, so is Greenscam
He’d better pray that there isn’t a God.
LOL at the thought of Greenspan at the pearly gates.
Peter, opening The Book and leafing through:
“Hmm… let’s see….”
….
“Well, I think have some issues here.”
(presses button on the intercom)
“Hey Pops - you ought to come here and see this. And might as well ring up P.O.D. for a delivery while you’re at it.”
(P.O.D. = Prince Of Darkness)
(packman looks up anxiously for signs of dark clouds)
Packman,
I just wanted to clarify something from yesterday about USAA. You said that the bank had to have a relationship with your utility or whatever to do on-line bill payment. That isn’t true with USAA. They seem to have a relationship with nearly everyone I deal with, but not my current landlord. I use the same process as with all my other bills, but give them a few more days of lead time. They send a paper check. No problem at all and no extra cost to me.
Thanks!
You can’t squeeze (much) blood out of a rock. And BTW, while Ronald Raygun was “not” raising taxes in the wake of the early-1980s double-dip recession (remember Voodoo Economics), somebody was working behind the scenes to hike the payroll tax rate in order to temporarily fix the Social Security Ponzi scheme.
Ronnie baby did raise taxes in the 80s.
Yeah, a lot of deductions that helped ordinary, working people were cut.
Those working people should keep their whiny yaps shut!
Lots of the shiny stuff will trickle down from the top 1% of “earners.” The other 99% of us are just superfluous human-like organisms anyway.
Reagan phased out the deductions for non mortgage interest IIRC.
Reagan phased out the deductions for non mortgage interest IIRC.
Yep. Tax Reform Act of 1986 - removed credit card interest at least as a deduction, and I think some others.
FWIW - I have that on my list of “causes of the bubble”, since mortgage interest is the one thing that remained as deductible - it artificially then encouraged people to increase their housing debt relative to other debts.
“pulls out of the worst recesion since the 1930s.”
Heaven forbid, let’s not use the “D” word at this point in time. During the recovery phase though we’ll replace the “R” word with the “D” word so that any signs of recovery will be amplified.
Good point. Only then will the PTB admit how horrid things were.
More taxes? Surely Ben is talking about only the top 1% of earners. After all Obama told me 100,000 times that nobody making under $250K will pay a dime more in taxes.
You guys don’t think that maybe Obama was lying do you?
Sorry not Ben. Allan. To-may-toe, to-mah-to.
I don’t think Obama was lying. I just think he doesn’t know what he is doing. He should hire a subcontracted president while he writes speeches full-time.
Obama’s got to give up on the ‘why can’t we all get along’ school of politics and toughen up. As Gore Vidal said recently he’s got to develop “Lincoln-like chill.” But don’t count on it.
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/09/30-4
Exactly. I keep waiting for the Great and Powerfull O to grow a pair and tell the Banna Republicans to go pound sand but I grow increasingly worried that this is the best were going to get.
The problem with Obama, frankly, is that he’s deaf to anything but hosannas. He seems to be very surprised that congressional Reps didn’t just go along with his plans for health care reform, etc. Even if his ideas for legislation were good/worthwhile (and I feel they’re not, but I digress), did he seriously just expect the opposing party to jump right in and go along with everything he wanted to do without putting up a fuss? At all? Did he think that “bi-partisan” meant “my party lays down the law and all other parties will just hop on the bandwagon”?
He just doesn’t seem to be able to process the idea that other people might take an honest look at America and disagree with his conclusions about how it should be governed.
“He should hire a subcontracted president while he writes speeches full-time.”
What do you think Rahm is there for? Obama’s clueless. Talks a good game, though.
He needs to hire Alan Grayson.
“He should hire a subcontracted president while he writes speeches full-time.”
There’s a great little outfit in India that will take the job.
the only difference between bush and obama’s economic policies is a telepromptor.
Do you mean the ability to read from a teleprompter?
ROTFLMAO
+1000
Yeah, maybe we can get a real president like George W. Bush.
LOL
Hey, at least he was a decider although most of the decisions he made were crap.
The current guy seems to suffer from what we in business call “paralysis by analysis”. Equally bad.
Bush said he would cut taxes, he did.
Obama said he won’t raise taxes. He will.
Say what you will about Bush, he kept his promises on taxes.
Obama….as on all things, his promises come with an expiration date:
We’ll close Gitmo, or we won’t
We’ll leave Iraq, or we won’t
We’ll send more troops to Afghanistan, or maybe not
I don’t want to run GM, or you know what, maybe I do
No illegals will get free health insurance, or maybe they will
I won’t raise taxes, oh what the hell, maybe I will
I won’t go to Denmark and beg on one knee to get the
Olympics for my cronies in Chicago, hey you know what, maybe I will
And when confronted with the lies the standard reply:
“Uhm well uhm it’s Bush’s fault”
Changey Hopey, Hopey Changey
Valid points. But what good of a tax cut without the spending cuts? Anyway, Bush made major blunders with Iraq and Bailout, so he gets no respect from me. Obama seems lost.
May be that’s why they say experience counts……
I kinda feel bad for the guy. It’d suck being president of this place.
feel bad for the guy
Me too.
It’s like life imitating art. You know in movies, black actors most of the time get the raw deal. They are the first to die or be the guinea pig while the white hero gets all the credit and the women.
All the white presidents before him f***** up so badly that we have a black president to clean up the mess.
However, without the mess, he prolly would have never been the president. That’s for another day.
He was in the senate for 4 years during the time “this mess” was created. Can you point me to some of his speeches and or bills that he wrote which tried to stop “the mess” from happening? Surely a man of Obama’s great wit foresaw what was happening and did everything in his power to stop it.
The Fed’s balance sheet has doubled to $2.2 billion? Where are all the Treasuries they’ve been buying? What about the money they’ve lent out?
umm… isn’t that where the 700b bailout came from? I’m not sure how inflationary this is since, at some level, it is replacing the billions that was lent out on RE and will never be repaid.
I believe that is $2.2 trillion. These a–holes spend $2.2 billion on toilet seat covers.
I was just kidding with friends about granite toilet seats the other day.
Greenspan: we needed to slash taxes while my generation was still in the workforce.
Now that we are out, we need to raise taxes forever so future generations can pay for our debts and senior services.
And the, we’ll probably have to take those senior services away, when younger generations are seniors themselves.
Got ALPO? That will be a 20% tax on your supply.
Exactly right, WT. I was out at a flea market yesterday and heard a couple of old biddies rejoicing how the “public option” had been removed from the health care bill. I had to bite my tongue not to say anything, but I wanted to rip them a couple of new ones for their “I got mine” attitude. They have their public option already, with Medicare. But they’d certainly begrudge it to others.
little do they know this whole “reform” effort is really a backdoor attempt to fix Medicare by spreading the “wealth” to more people and kicking the insolvency problem down the road again.
I don’t get it. Can you explain?
Ahh the old “if you don’t agree with a liberal it means you’re not smart enough to understand the issue” argument. At least being called dumb is better than a racist, so that’s an improvement I suppose.
I’m always amused at people who see the public option as a cure all. Government doesn’t belong in the health care of individuals under the age of 65. There is no such thing as ” I can’t afford health insurance”. Its called priorities.
Car payment or health insurance?
3500 sq ft house or health insurance?
Cable tv and internet or health insurance?
Motorcycle or health insurance?
Second home or health insurance?
Second car or health insurance?
Private school or health insurance?
Vacation or health insurance?
Eating out or health insurance?
I could list a thousand bad choices versus health insurance.
I do not want to pay for people”s inability to have the right priorities
Having insurance is almost no better than not having insurance. The industry’s whole gig is to ride the gravy train of premiums, then deny treatment. Gold plated dinnerware on private jets for CEO’s while a mother of 3 is denied cancer treatments. Most people with insurance are one catastrophic illness away from BK, or death, anyways. There’s a special place in hell for the greed and filth at the top of the food chain in this once great country.
Why are you giving people over 65 a pass? Shouldn’t they have been saving to cover their own costs at that stage in life?
Why are you giving people over 65 a pass? Uhh, because Medicare & eligibility for same are pre-existing conditions?
People over 65, do not have a choice, they are automatically enrolled in medicare. Health insurance should be mandatory.
The cost of health care should be born by its users. If you want health insurance costs to go down, put a $3,000.00 deductible on all policies. Insurance is for major problems, not runny noses and colds. If a person can’t afford the first 3k, theres something wrong with this society. As I stated, priorities!
Hmmm, who do I want watching out for my health? The guy who’s out to make a buck and looking out for nobody but himself, or the guy who pays big bucks for research and treatment funding and delivers the good for our military.
Well hell, the guy who’s only looking our for himself, obviously!
People over 65, do not have a choice, they are automatically enrolled in medicare. Enrollment in Part A comes with turning 65, but people can opt out of Part B if they want (and will also avoid its premium).
Greenspan also said the Fed will have to withdraw money from the financial system to avoid inflation.
Very well,
1. Put a freeze on Fonie, Fraudie and the FHA. No more money until your exisiting assets start performing.
2. Take any future bailout money and give it to the FDIC; they will need it.
3. Encourage FB’s to walk Chapter 7.
4. Choke off the juice to AIG. Let the banks fly without a safety net.
5. Any Big Boyz who didn’t unload on Fonie and Fraudie will go down.
That will destroy lots of money really fast.
It’s so true that the bail out money did not stimulate the economy because it was simply paying for loss that is associated with non-performing assets to keep the Banks/Investments banks operating .
Non-performing assets ,like foreclosures ,are a bottomless pit of costs
while those assets become more and more damaged by the day .And all the costs associated with modifications that the borrower ends up walking on anyway is also “black hole loss.”
The parties to these mania contracts ,the Lenders and the borrowers, both created a asset that would even cost more than the crashed value of that asset after everything is said and done .
So,all this money is going to something that has no ability to
stimulate the economy and it’s just loss as if a hurricane came in and destroyed value , while the Insurance Company refused to pay off (AIG for example).
Yeah, that should work for all those people now unemployed. Can’t wait to see how that goes.
Hey! We know they’re holding out and really have more money than they claim!
They’re just eating rice and beans to fool us into thinking they don’t have any money! How dare they!
Drop in Buying Plans Shows Home Tax Credit Fading.
(Bloomberg) — Fewer Americans told the Conference Board in September that they plan to buy a home within six months, indicating the effects of the government’s tax credit for first-time homebuyers may be fading, according to Wells Fargo Securities LLC senior economist Mark Vitner.
The Conference Board, a private New York-based research group, said yesterday the share of Americans expecting to purchase a home within six months fell to 2.3 percent this month from 3 percent in August. The measure was one of the components of the group’s consumer confidence report.
The government’s $787 billion stimulus included an $8,000 tax credit for first-time buyers that will expire at the end of November. Economists have said the incentive, combined with lower prices and mortgage rates, has helped lift sales from the depths of the worst housing slump since the Great Depression.
Buyers are “running out of time to find a home, put it under contract and line up financing so they can qualify for the tax credit,” Vitner said in a note to clients.
Most of the drop in buying plans occurred among those looking to purchase an existing home rather than a new house, Vitner said.
Economists at UBS Securities LLC were among those that said recent gains in home prices may also fade with the end of the first-time buyer credit. A separate report yesterday showed home values in 20 U.S. cities rose in July by the most in almost four years. The S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index rose 1.2 percent from a month earlier.
Michael Moran, chief economist at Daiwa Securities America Inc. in New York, was more sanguine. He said home prices are “in better alignment with rents and income, suggesting that the outlook remains favorable — or at least not negative.”
Not only did they succeed in stealing home buyers from the future, now they stole car buyers from the future. I greatly dislike the people who come up with these ridiculous ideas.
Cash for clunky appliance coming soon to a store near you. Durable goods orders up 15% in Q4, down 20% in Q1 of 2010…..
I don’t see how cash for appliances will help. If my fridge, washer, dryer, etc work fine why would I shell out $$$$ to replace them prematurely? Just to get a discount? I only replace appliances when they break down repeatedly.
I agree.
I have a Kenmore washer and dryer that is about 20 years old and they still do a great job.
If my fridge, washer, dryer, etc work fine why would I shell out $$$$ to replace them prematurely? Just to get a discount?
See Cash for Clunkers. Tons of people did exactly that.
See also, people pay tens of thousands of dollars “more” for an overpriced house to get the $8,000 new homebuyer’s credit.
How many people want those cool “new” front loading washer/dryers in the pretty colors?
Just remember, in general, people are STUPID and can easily be tricked and influenced.
We have a Home Renovation Tax Credit* (HRTC) program here in Canada that allows you to claim a credit of 15% of up to $10K worth of renovations. The first $1k doesn’t count, so it’s a 13.5% credit at most.
I’ve seen 8-10 houses having their shingles replaced on my way to work, but for 3 of them the shingles being torn off had another 5 years or so in them. Big time example of pulling business forward, and waste.
* There have been commercials about the HRTC, and yellow folders being given out to put your receipts in. The catch is the HRTC is part of a budget that hasn’t yet passed. It could be defeated in Parliament, which will also cause an election. The governemt could end up getting the suckers spending without actually giving a tax credit.
I could have used a “Cash for Crappy Spouses” plan about six years ago………
See Cash for Clunkers. Tons of people did exactly that.
At least with a car you get a cool new set of wheels. But a new dishwasher? Ok maybe if the old one was “Avocado green” or “Harvest gold” (in which case it really would be clunker).
au contraire. Those ’60’s colors are coming back along with that formica you just replaced with granite. It’s time to throw out the stainless steel. Porcelain is now where it’s at.
OK, just kidding. So please don’t take my advice.
“in better alignment with rents and income, suggesting that the outlook remains favorable — or at least not negative.”
In “better” alignment, yes.. In historical alignment, still there (and not all that close). I can still rent in Palm Beach for about 60% the cost of owning (it was about 30% at the height of the boom), and rents are dropping as well, further pushing back the point where it makes “sense” to buy. Add in the mill rate increases and uncertain insurance, and, if this is the “bottom”, there’s no possibility that I’ll ever be buying a home in this country. The investment risk is just too high to justify the possible gains, I’ll keep the money in gold/stocks/bonds/cash rather than tie it up in a home that’s historically overvalued (even if it stays that way for a long, long time).
I just don’t see how this situation can continue for an extended period of time; if you can’t buy a home/condo with 20% down and rent it out cash flow positive (or very close, within 10%), then I can’t imagine what would drive investment in the sector.
Anyway, someone wake me up when we got to the correct alignment between rents/incomes and home prices. Until then, I’m just going to watch this with more morbid curiosity.
“if this is the “bottom”, there’s no possibility that I’ll ever be buying a home in this country. The investment risk is just too high to justify the possible gains, I’ll keep the money in gold/stocks/bonds/cash rather than tie it up in a home that’s historically overvalued (even if it stays that way for a long, long time).”
Amen, amen, amen.
Fine, go ahead and live with white walls for the rest of your life.
Really? Last five places I’ve rented I’ve been able to paint the walls. Landlord even appreciated it and paid for the paint, supplies, everything. Didn’t have to repaint it when I moved out.
Try getting someone else to pay for painting the home you own; even more so, try finding a Real Estate Agent (or HGTV host) that says you can sell a house with walls that aren’t white.
Advantage: renters.
Yeah, not having white walls is the driving force behind buying a house. What a ridiculous statement.
I believe Eddie was being sarcastic - if not, then I agree w/ your assessment
White walls or 100’s of K in the bank.. I’ll take the cash, thank you very much.
Frankly, there just aren’t many good/valid arguements for buying over renting (when renting is so much less expensive). The amount you save, year 1, by renting would pay to have the house repainted 1/2 a dozen times (and that’s without figuring in any further depreciation).
Until renting and owning achieve near parity or parity for cost, there’s just not any really good reason to move forward with a purchase. If you want a bigger house, rent a bigger house. We all know that house prices aren’t going to skyrocket up; if anything (best case), we’re in for years of flat (or alternating positive/negative) prices. Why take on the investment risk of buying a home when it’s more expensive (than the no risk alternative), exposes you to far more risk (leveraged investment, damage/problems with the home, need to move quickly for work, etc), and doesn’t have much/any upside? Until we get back to normal ratios between rent and ownership; I just don’t see myself doing anything (and certainly not while the stimulus money is out there!).
Well exactly how much of a premium is ownership worth? Many of us would argue that it is less than 66%*. While the economics normally get better the longer that you own, this seems like a pretty steep price, especially if you have agreed to a HOA’s CCR that takes away many of the rights of ownerhsip.
*If renting costs 60% of owning, than owning costs 2/3rd more than renting, or 66%.
Amen … and I prefer white walls, anyway! My house and others like it in the nabe rent for about $2600. Two doors down they’ve put one like mine on the market, and like the rest of them, they’re asking 650K plus. No way I’m buying that as a good idea, short-term or long-term.
Eddie, are you a used home seller or an investor?
While the economics normally get better the longer that you own
Not in this millennium. The HELOC monster, formerly known as a 2nd mortgage took care of that. That “equity” was just sitting there like a line of coke waiting to be snorted. I just have to think about some friends of ours and realize for most people that rule just doesn’t apply anymore.
1997 purchase price: $179,000
2009 mortgage balance: $400,000 +
Owning used to make people more responsible but in the new paradigm it made them less responsible. Bye, bye economic advantage of owning.
Honestly guys, I think Eddie just really wants to own a home, and not be beholden forever to a landlord as if this were the Middle Ages. He may have been infected with the RE bugs, but he’s not one of them.
And eastcoaster, yes, being able to paint the walls IS a reason — or, it was definitely a selling point. All the condo ads I saw showed young couples painting walls. Sure, it’s a nice dream, but walls painted in HGTV brown are NOT worth $300K, sorry.
From the Wisconsin MLS to Craigslist, I see endless ads, photos and discriptions of 4-7 yr old McMansions to 1900’s “Historic” White Elephants languishing in towns and on lonely country hillsides begging to be sold still at HomeDebtor’s Dream Prices. There are lots and lots of white walls with neutral carpets listed for sale there.
I don’t see a lot of BF and GF snapping them up for the very expensive privileges of painting those white walls purple. With Wisconsin property taxes still rising, maintanence and energy costs skyrocketing and the Merry Xmas snow flakes a’coming, a great many of those will rot on the lots, possibly empty, for another year.
It’s not easy deciding which of the 140 shades of off-white to paint your walls. There’s tan, taupe, blue, olive, green, peach, pink, yellow and gray shades of off-white. Off-white gets a bum rap!
NYCboy, look on the bright side, at least the HELOC crowd got to snort the coke and enjoy the high for a while, those who did nothing saw the wind just blow it away.
Believe me, I want to paint my walls, too - but it’s far from the reason to buy vs. rent. If I really want to paint my walls, I can. I just don’t feel like painting back over them when I move so I leave them be.
We have these things called “paintings” hanging on our walls. They add so much color to our apartment that I forget that the walls are white. Or are they off-white? They might be eggshell. Perhaps they are cream. Oh, damn it. Now I’m confused. I should have just painted the stupid walls red. Or maybe burgundy.
but walls painted in HGTV brown are NOT worth $300K, sorry.
Ah but they are not merely HGTV brown…these walls are privileged to be adorned in shades of “Valrhona Mocha” or “Ghirardelli Suite”…surely you can afford to pay a premium for such marketing goodness.
If any of you renters are just dying to do some painting, then you can always stop by paint my place for me. #&%$ painting!
Back in ‘03 my wife was painting the walls of our new house. I told her I didn’t want to help. She told me I could either help her paint or have a nail driven through my jewels. I was surprised. The nail didn’t hurt as bad as you would think.
Hey Mikey!
Ya know, sometimes I think I’m living in an alternate reality. Shakes head.
I too scan craigslist and other REO sites for giggles, and a few I have kept my eyes on went UP in price!
I reckon it IS different here - ‘cept they’re not selling.
Sigh,
Leigh
aw come on, I’m almost certain Eddie was kidding.
Then again, I assume anyone who talks like that is kidding.
If any of you renters are just dying to do some painting, then you can always stop by paint my place for me. #&%$ painting!
So cranky!
Why, you can paint those walls any color you want. I am Leprechaun Green** with envy. But not envious enough to come over and paint.
** Actual Benjamin Moore color, one shade darker than Sounds Of Nature, but not as dark as Sullivan Green.
The correct name is landlord white.
Our walls are not landlord white. Our walls are a sand color, red, yellow, blue, 2 shades of orange, light purple, blue, hot pink, and 2 shades of green.
I’m a big fan of mossy greens and earth tones myself.
As an architect I, of course, know that there is no such thing as “white” and I have a funny anecdote about that.
A few years ago I was visiting friends in Miami and was invited to a dinner party. At the party I ran into a guy who worked for one of the big paint manufacturers, Benjamine Moore, PPG, something like that and when I mentioned that it often seems like the people in the color department pull the names of new shades out of their asses after passing around the bong a few times he chuckled and said “naming colors is actually one of the things I do and I brought several new samples of white to get some input on” (yes, this was a VERY gay event ;).
after dinner he laid several color samples out on the dining table and asked the assembled group for input on possible names. Without hesitation one of the guests pointed to a swatch and twittered, “Oooo, call that one ‘cocaine’. I all but shot the martini I was drinking out of my nostrils as I supressed a laugh.
Dudes, you need to lay off the espressos. I was kidding. Sheesh. Maybe sarcasm doesn’t flow so well in a blog, but jeez, get a grip.
I don’t have any problem at all with helping my wife paint the walls.
But I draw the line at helping to choose the color.
….Mrs. Riley spreads three bridge hands worth of paint chips on the kitchen table. To Doghouse, every single one of them appears to be a beige-y shade of off white with just a touch of brown in it.
(Mrs. Riley) “All right, honey, which shade do you like best??”
Doghouse feigns deep and careful consideration for ~ 2 minutes, then points at the eleventh chip from the left, picked at random.
(Mrs. Riley, with suddenly crestfallen expression, as if Doghouse had just pulled the wings off a butterfly) “Oh. You really like -that- one?”
In addition to the reason “because I am tired of white walls,” the other excuse to become a severely indebted mortgage slave are: “So I can have big dogs,” “so I can have room for kids,” “so I can grow my food,” …
You can do all but the last one in apartment complexes. It’s arguable that if your patio or balcony faces the right direction you can even have a container garden to grow some vegetables.
My Phoenix apartment has three bedroom units and two bedroom units all with washer and dryer complete in the unit. They allow dogs of all sizes and cats.
And they allow you to make approved changes (such as ceiling fans).
I call BS on any lame excuse that could get you way underwater and turn you into a slave to the banks.
The thing about painting or other improvements isn’t that you can’t do it as a renter. You can paint all day long as long as you paint it back to white when you leave. My issue is I don’t want to invest the money into someone else’s house by painting, planting flowers or whatever.
It’s arguable that if your patio or balcony faces the right direction you can even have a container garden to grow some vegetables.
When I was little, I used to walk across my grandfather’s 10+ acres of lawn grass in the early morning going to the top 40 where he planted tobacco. I have always said I would have that feeling of serenity and quiet in the morning that no city can give…
Some of us actually like to walk around our property instead of walking in circles in 500 sq feet…
Actually I can just about do it. I have a huge park of green grass right under my balconey in big ol’ Phoenix. And it’s very very quiet and peaceful!
“…watch this with more morbid curiosity.”
Spot on. If this bust is set to play out for another twenty years, like the Japanese bust did, then I am going to be renting for a long, long time.
You and me both.
I have fully faith at this point in the power of the Fed and the other crooks to keep housing unaffordable virtually forever. Even if they can’t keep prices rising, they can keep them level while salaries decline and the price of everything else rises thanks to debasement of the dollar. But so long as the bankrupt banks gets to “play house” and act like they are in the green, that’s all that matters.
I do not share this opinion. The reason being- the securitization market for mortgages is gone. A buyer now has to qualify based on the ability to pay back the loan, not the ability of the originator to pawn the AAA rated option ARM off on unsuspecting “investors”.
I do not share this opinion. The reason being- the securitization market for mortgages is gone. A buyer now has to qualify based on the ability to pay back the loan, not the ability of the originator to pawn the AAA rated option ARM off on unsuspecting “investors”.
HAHAHAHA gone one.
Signed:
- The FHA
Oops - meant “good one”.
Instead of posting trite little laughs, perhaps you can provide hard evidence that the AAA rated MBS market is back, Packman? $8k buyer tax credits for those with verifiable income are a far cry from the liar loans of yesteryear.
I think what packman meant to suggest is that the securitization market is FAR from gone. The GSE-run securitization machine continues plodding on. Only the private market has dried up.
“A buyer now has to qualify based on the ability to pay back the loan, not the ability of the originator to pawn the AAA rated option ARM off on unsuspecting “investors”.”
No, the originator can still pawn off the AAA rated junk on an unsuspecting “investor”—just in this case, the unsuspecting “investor” is the taxpayer. Ok, I grant that they are not writing Option-ARMs anymore, but there’s still plenty of loose credit available at less-than-historical-tightness.
The securitization of mortgages hasn’t completely dried up. But it is being replaced by the securitization of… your life insurance and the “dead peasant life insurance” your company is buying… in your name.
Google it.
I disagree with both of you. The driver of prices was no doc, no down home loans. The no doc is gone- unless you’ve got 30% minimum down, and the no down is going to be a thing of the past here real soon. In fact, I just read an article today (not sure if it’s in the bits bucket as I have a hard time remembering where I read things I’m reading so much) that the FHA is going to be requiring larger down payments. There’s simply no way to prop up prices long term without low/no down, no doc, and there’s really no way to get back to that. That ship has sailed.
I did not mean to suggest that GSE securitization would _succeed_ in propping up the market. Only that they are likely slowing the needed adjustment down by not letting credit tighten to where it really should be based on market forces.
I was disagreeing both with the statement that securitization is dead (it isn’t - I’ll have to dig up some recent articles), and the statement that “A buyer now has to qualify based on the ability to pay back the loan”. If that were true the FHA wouldn’t be doing 125% LTV on refi’s and still just 3.5% on down payments.
Here’s a for instance:
Wall Street Wizardry Reworks Mortgages
Wall Street Wizardry Reworks Mortgages
Repackaged Investments Are Good for Bankers and Ratings Firms, but the Regulators Scoff
A new wave of financial alchemy is emerging on Wall Street as banks and insurers seek to make soured securities look better. Regulators are pushing back, saying the transactions don’t have enough substance and stand to benefit bankers and ratings firms.
The deals come as Wall Street firms, buoyed by surging markets, are seeking to profit from the unwinding of the complicated securities that helped fuel the credit crisis. Regulators, meanwhile, are struggling to prevent a recurrence of the crisis.
The popular deals are known as “re-remic,” which stands for resecuritization of real-estate mortgage investment conduits. The way it works is that insurers and banks that hold battered securities on their books have Wall Street firms separate the good from the bad. The good mortgages are bundled together and create a security designed to get a higher rating. The weaker securities get low ratings.
Same ‘ol, same ‘ol.
“…the statement that “A buyer now has to qualify based on the ability to pay back the loan”. If that were true the FHA wouldn’t be doing 125% LTV on refi’s and still just 3.5% on down payments.”
I was never talking about refi’s, I was talking about new purchases. Refi’s are irrelevant- at least as far as the median is concerned. Furthermore, the 3.5% down people have to qualify based on documented INCOME, not stated income. You’re wrong, Packman. Furthermore, there’s an article today saying that the FHA is going to raise the minimum. There’s no way to prop these prices up indefinitely- short of ever increasing “credits” which will never happen. Lastly, putting lipstick on those securities has absolutely zero effect on prices. Those are past purchases. Unless we are talking NEW transactions it’s, again, irrelevant. It’s over.
How will the Obama intention to infuse $35B in to this process affect it? HFAs are going to use this Fed money to continue writing low down, low interest loans on inflatedly appraised homes and passing them through to the GSEs, I think.
I just read a piece in what has replaced my local paper, the Ann Arbor News (it’s now “annarbor.com”, and the reporting hasn’t gotten any better, just slightly more interactive), with the headline that the Ann Arbor housing market is ‘heating up’ , and that each house under 170K is getting multiple offers, and people are trying and failing at getting bids accepted to buy a house.
http://www.annarbor.com/business-review/first-time-homebuyer/
It’s a blatant schill piece for the realtors really, imho, and if I hadn’t decided I didn’t want annarbor.com to sell my identifier info to try and make some money (that’s their business model now, I imagine), I’d sign up and comment about how their business ‘editor’ who did the story appears to be telling people that if they want to get in under the deadline they should write offer contracts with ‘zero contingencies’! Wow, can’t imagine giving such a piece of advice to save, what, 5%? The cost, perhaps, of the first big repair needed on a house you will be stuck with for a looong time in this market?
The reader also learns that realtors want the tax credit extended, but not too soon because that would take away all the urgency for the buyers. I love that bit especially.
“The reader also learns that realtors want the tax credit extended, but not too soon because that would take away all the urgency for the buyers. I love that bit especially.”
That bit is remarkably honest, I would say. The ideal scenario for the realtors would be if the tax credit got extended one quarter at a time, and each time congress should swear up and down that this is the very last time they will extend it. That way they could maximize the sense of urgency, and keep the buying-fools’ feet to the fire.
I half-way expect them to do that, because how effective would a 1yr extension really be? Demand would dry up over the winter with the sense of urgency, and everyone with a brain would realize that the summer lift we just saw was NOT the bottom.
and each time congress should swear up and down that this is the very last time they will extend it.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no… Yes!
“…indicating the effects of the government’s tax credit for first-time homebuyers may be fading,…”
Once all the ‘first-time buyers’ who are interested in the credit have used it, it takes a while to get some new ‘first-time buyers.’
To hear them tell it, one would think the average American spends more time thinking about buying a house than getting laid.
Hence my use of the term housing fetish.
I can vouch from personal experience that getting laid feels equally good in rental housing and owner-occupied housing.
“more time thinking about buying a house than getting laid.”
Depends upon whether we are describing single or married Americans.
Yesterday I posted an article that suggested that new home loan applications had dropped dramatically in the last week or two.
And according to AP - 1 in 3 loan applicants did not qualify anyway.
CIT, Should have filed BK months ago, instead they kicked the can, of course they do have a good mentor on can kicking…
CIT Ready To File Prepackaged Bankruptcy
CIT Group Inc. (CIT) has prepared a prepackaged bankruptcy in the event its proposed debt restructuring doesn’t get the required bondholder participation, said two persons familiar with the matter.
The details of the prepackaged bankruptcy will be shared with investors along with the debt restructuring plan, said the people familiar with the matter. Investors will have to decide whether to tender their bonds or to take their chances in bankruptcy court. They also have the option to vote on the prepackaged bankruptcy.
The struggling lender has previously warned investors that a bankruptcy filing as a means of restructuring the company.
Won’t every bank have a similar headline in the near future? The bailout was a guarantee of a never-ending stream of future failures. Thanks Hank.
Interestingly Cramer had said to buy CIT with both fists on Sep 29th.
BOOYAH!!!
How he gets away with his circus act, which has a steep price of admission for the greedy and gullible, is beyond me.
Interestingly Cramer had said to buy CIT with both fists on Sep 29th.
Did he really? Wow. That’s awesome!
What time did he say that? CIT is currently down over 50% from the close of Sep 29. I hope some people are rubbing his nose in that doo-doo.
Citi and CIT Are Primed for Upside, by Jim Cramer, 9/29/2009, 1:54 PM EDT
LOL - bet he was feeling pretty good about the 15% gain they made after that statement until the end of trading on Tuesday. By Wednesday - “Bah! Who cares what I said yesterday???!! That was then - this is now!”
From the Dallas News: “Chris Daniel and her daughter, Cary, say in the lawsuit that a construction defect is allowing smoke to migrate between the units.
After a year of stinging eyes, breathing difficulty and sinus pain, they moved out of Estancia and into the Homewood Suites in Addison. Last week, movers wearing surgical masks loaded trucks with their belongings.
The Daniels said furniture will need to be reupholstered, artwork restored and closets full of clothing dry cleaned. The bills are still piling up.
“There’s nothing in our home that was ready made. I picked out fabrics, everything was custom made and everything was spotless,” said Chris Daniel.
“It’s not like our worldly goods are the most important things in our life, but you know what? I don’t expect them to be damaged.”
“Kathy Carlton, director of government affairs for the Apartment Association of Greater Dallas, said she’s never heard of a case such as the one filed by the Daniels.
She said most people who are highly sensitive to cigarette smoke don’t move into a community or a building where it’s allowed.
“Generally, this stuff is the property owners’ prerogative, and people either live by the rules or move on down the street,” Carlton said.
“If you have a pet, you look for a place that takes pets. If you hate pets, you look for a place that doesn’t allow them. People have choices.”
The Daniels said the freedom to choose cuts both ways.
Yes, people may be entitled to smoke in their home – but others are equally entitled to live in a clean and healthy environment.”
Gee, Yes I hate Cig smoke but what’s next; someone says they don’t like my wife’s perfume smell coming through the wall, they don’t want me to cook fish, etc. Some people just want to control others. Get a life people, get a life!!
“Yes I hate Cig smoke but what’s next; someone says they don’t like my wife’s perfume smell coming through the wall, they don’t want me to cook fish, etc. Some people just want to control others. Get a life people, get a life!!”
Testify! Certain types of perfumes and scents just drive me up a wall, but I move away from them, or hold my nose if I’m in an elevator.
Yes I hate Cig smoke but what’s next; I have friends & relatives I would dearly love to spend much time visiting except for the fact that they smoke. I get a sore throat & will lose my voice altogether in more severe cases. Now I only meet them in the great outdoors where I can get upwind of ‘em.
Oh yeah did they try a big honeywell round Hepa air cleaner?
Heck i remember Sears selling an electrostatic air cleaner that fit into a standard central AC intake vent
Sweden I believe enacted laws a few years ago that dealt with offensive smells, such as overbearing perfume.
I hate stinky people. When someone reeks, I gag. I don’t know how these people live with themselves.
I believe a law was passed in Belmont, CA that prohibits smokers from smoking in their apartments.
Malingerers!
That Homewood Suites in Addison is nice. Stayed there often wen working in N. Dallas.
Walking Away From Affordable Mortgage May Become Winning Gambit
Oct. 1 (Bloomberg) — Scott Conroy pays the mortgage every month on his one-bedroom condominium in San Diego, even though it’s worth 33 percent less than what he owes and it may take more than a decade to break even.
Homeowners like Conroy who can afford their monthly payments are weighing whether to sell and pay the difference, stick it out until housing prices recover, or walk away. In the U.S., 26 percent of borrowers owe more than their home is worth, said Karen Weaver, global head of securitization research for New York-based Deutsche Bank Securities. In parts of California, Florida and Nevada, it’s as high as 75 percent.
So-called strategic defaults, in which homeowners stop paying their mortgages while remaining current on other debts, rose 128 percent to 588,000 last year, according to Experian PLC, a Dublin-based credit-checking company, and Oliver Wyman, a New York-based consulting firm. Two-thirds of those who walked away defaulted on their primary residences.
“You’re looking at an extremely long horizon in order to see a return of home values to where they were at their peak,” said Stan Humphries, chief economist for Zillow.com, the Seattle-based real estate data service. “It could be 15 to 20 years in some markets.”
Strategic defaulters represent about 4 percent of all homeowners underwater. That trickle could become a flood as the likelihood recedes that home prices will soon return to their peak values, said Rick Sharga, senior vice president of Irvine, California-based RealtyTrac Inc., an online seller of real estate data.
Forty Percent Drop
In San Diego, where Conroy lives, home values are down about 40 percent since March 2006 when he bought his place, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Index of 20 U.S. metropolitan areas. Prices have rebounded for three consecutive months, returning to the October 2002 level, before the start of the housing boom. Nationwide, home values are what they were in September 2003, according to the Case-Shiller index as of July.
Conroy, 32, and his wife purchased their home for $385,000 in March 2006, a month before marrying. The property was reassessed this summer for $250,000. The couple is trying to save, he said, knowing they may have to move to a bigger place within 18 months to start a family.
“We’ve given up on this dream of having equity in our home,” Conroy said. “We don’t expect to walk away with cash in hand, we expect to pay.”
“Prices have rebounded for three consecutive months, returning to the October 2002 level, before the start of the housing boom.”
Why do home prices rebound against the backdrop of rising unemployment and poverty rates? ‘Tis a puzzlement…
It just goes to show how fence sitters can be motivated by a measly $8000 credit, especially in San Diego. The San Diego fence sitters saw prices crash and then the $8K carrot was dangled before them. Many no doubt were (and still are) thinking “Its now or never”.
Indeed!
It’s a good thing the green shoots are here or I’d assume that some group was pumping fake money into the market via tax credits, BS loans that require 3.5% to nothing down, and so on. Yep, a good thing the market is honest! Haha!
$385,000 1 bd room CONDO. Freakin nuts, even for San Diego.
“You’re looking at an extremely long horizon in order to see a return of home values to where they were at their peak,”
Distant. Distant horizon.
Sheesh.
Hey brother, can you spare an offer.
My wife walked out on me, then I lost my dog and now I lost my buyer.
Hobe Sound, FL 33455 $169,900 3 Bed, 2 Bath | 2,299 Sq Ft | MLS #341442 | Refreshed 2 hours ago
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Lost our buyer. Everything in for short sale, just need your offer. Lake front home overlooking 9th tee. Well maintained; updated. vaulted ceilings and sky lights and panoramic views of the course and lake. kitchen with newer appliances, family room ,currently used as dining room, offers many possibilities. A great screened porch overlooking the lake. Master is large and bath features vanity and dual sinks. The 2nd bedroom has secluded garden patio. Bedroom 3 is currently used as an office. Lush landscaped, yard maintained by the HOA. AS IS with Right to Inspect. Attorney Assisted Short Sale.
My wife walked out on me, then I lost my dog and now I lost my buyer. The cure for that is to play a country sound backwards 3 times, and everything will get better.
Substitute “song” for “sound”
I know where you wife is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5mXGf4SnIc
Damn good link headline and first sentence.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=av2WDcPZ2oIk
“Kenneth D. Lewis bet Bank of America Corp.’s future on America at a time when America went bust.”
Luckily, the gamblers at Megabank, Inc were playing a game of “heads we win, tails you’re screwed.”
I am truly puzzled about the juxtaposition of rising San Diego home prices against the backdrop of rising unemployment and poverty rates. Have home prices ever before “rallied” during a worsening recession?
County hit with sharp rise in level of poverty
Jump in unemployment to blame, analysts say
By Lori Weisberg
Union-Tribune Staff Writer
2:00 a.m. October 1, 2009
Poverty in San Diego County rose last year to its highest level this decade, fresh evidence of the financial toll the county’s prolonged recession and heavy job losses are taking on the region’s neediest households.
In all, nearly 367,000 individuals were living in poverty — almost 46,000 more than a year earlier, according to data released this week by the Census Bureau.
That translates into a poverty rate of 12.6 percent, a significant increase over 2007, when the rate was a little more than 11 percent. At the beginning of the decade, the poverty level was nearly the same as last year, standing at 12.4 percent, according to the 2000 census.
The sharp upswing in poverty is unquestionably tied to rising joblessness in the county, a prognosticator of even tougher times ahead, analysts said.
By the end of 2008, the unemployment rate was 7.4 percent, but a stream of layoffs since then has propelled the rate to 10.4 percent, which likely will push thousands more struggling households into poverty.
The latest poverty data come from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, which queried about 3 million households in the United States last year.
The national standard for poverty is an annual income of up to $11,000, while the threshold for a family of four is $22,000 a year or below.
“From 2007 to 2008, we lost 10,000 jobs. This year, we’re on pace to lose more than 40,000, so you’ve got to expect that will translate into a skyrocketing rate of those in poverty,” said University of San Diego economist Alan Gin.
“That’s going to put a strain on social services, so there will be an increased need for food services, housing assistance and Medicaid. Our taxes could be affected or the deficits could get even larger.”
…
Silly, being unemployed leaves folks with more time for house hunting!
Wow, I think that’s precisely right lol. And besides, realtors are telling us how everything’s “on sale”, buy now, offer over asking if you want to make it in before the tax-credit deadline!
Didn’t you guys have a $10,000 state tax credit on top off the $8,000 federal tax credit? Plus, aren’t prices 50 pct lower in some parts of California?
10K California tax credit for the purchase of a new home is expired.
Our taxes could be affected or the deficits could get even larger.”
or both
Unemployment closely linked to poverty?
What an astounding revelation! Who coulda knowed?
Rutgers Univ. report says it may take until 2017 to replace all the jobs lost in Great Recession.
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20091001/ARTICLE/910011050/2107/BUSINESS?Title=Job-recovery-may-be-long-way-away
D*mned optimists!
Unless there is a fundamental change in the way this nation does business, those jobs are NEVER coming back and there will be NOTHING to replace them.
The controversy is still likely to occupy Lewis even after his departure from the bank.
Bank of America chief steps down
Shareholders wonder about the sale price
By Louise Story and Eric Dash
NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE
2:00 a.m. October 1, 2009
Less than a year ago, Bank of America Chief Executive Ken Lewis celebrated his daring takeover of Merrill Lynch as the crowning triumph of a long career. Yesterday, that conquest proved to be his downfall, as he announced his resignation after months of legal and political scrutiny over how the deal went down.
Lewis, who started at the bank in 1969 as a low-level loan officer and rose through the ranks to build it into a financial powerhouse, told board members that he had decided to take early retirement, said four people briefed on the discussion.
The board appeared caught off guard by the announcement but accepted it, even though members were not immediately prepared to name a successor.
Lewis leaves as Congress, the New York state attorney general and investors turn up pressure on the bank over not disclosing Merrill’s losses and bonuses to shareholders. A federal judge recently refused to accept a settlement brokered between Bank of America and the Securities and Exchange Commission, saying the bank and the commission never fully explained how the decisions were made.
The controversy is still likely to occupy the bank even after the departure of Lewis.
…
MarketWatch First Take
Oct. 1, 2009, 11:00 a.m. EDT · Recommend (1) · Post:
An improved Bank of America?
Commentary: CEO successor to Lewis should take pains to shift emphasis
Lewis shot with his own gun, but is he to blame?
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Good bye, Ken Lewis.
As a parting gift, we’re going to spare you more criticism over your inability to control your appetite and spend $19 billion in Bank of America Corp. shareholders’ money on a diseased investment bank and brokerage in a time of plague on Wall Street.
…
Lewis’ successor needs to be different. The days of pathological dealmaking are over. There’s just too much risk out there, and shareholders have been badly burned.
The next CEO needs to understand that Bank of America isn’t just about banking anymore.
It’s about trust.
– David Weidner
David Weidner is dreaming. This is the same thing they said after the Savings & Loan disaster.
Nothing changed and nothing will change short of a real depression or WW3 or both.
* OCTOBER 1, 2009, 9:31 A.M. ET
Bernanke Calls for Council of Regulators
BY MAYA JACKSON RANDALL
WASHINGTON — A council of U.S. regulators — rather than the Federal Reserve alone — should be charged with monitoring threats to the U.S. financial system, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said in prepared testimony to a congressional panel Thursday morning.
“All federal financial supervisors and regulators — not just the Federal Reserve — should be directed and empowered to take account of risks to the broader financial system as part of their normal oversight responsibilities,” Mr. Bernanke said.
…
BWAHAHAHAHA! Bernanke’s messing his pants over the End the FED movement. Now he wants to “share” the power. How magnanimous of him. Oh, no, Ben. We’ll just has a council of US regulators, thank you. And their first order of business will be to squeeze you and yours out, out, OUT!
And how are they going to solve the problem that we have open borders as far as the money supply goes ? This is why all the talk about a toothless World Regulator . When the Global Money-changers
decided to make easy money, they failed to consider the concept of flooding areas with money that don’t need it or can’t sustain it . Local lending always worked out a lot better IMHO . People World -wide just looking for a place to part money to get yields that flood money to
projects that weren’t sustainable ,so they hype up investment buying .
I remember years ago China flooded the market with cheap lighters .
This is when I first took notice of how something cheaper could destroy a regular market ,but not be better .For whatever reason
cheaper seems to always get the highest market share .
The rest of the market could not compete and cheap lighters took the market share in spite of the fact they last for 30% of the lifespan of a better lighter .
So,my point is that a whole economic system has to be based on the local prices and costs ,otherwise it becomes a monopoly that destroys the delicate balance between costs and income flows .
What Americans make in one month in some Countries would be income for a year or 2 years in another Country . So ,my point is that you have to have closed and controlled economies and adjust accordingly to the differences . Now we are in the middle of the results of open borders regarding wages ,in spite of costs to live being different World-wide .
Bernanke, in Nod to Critics, Suggests Board of Regulators
By EDMUND L. ANDREWS
Published: October 1, 2009
WASHINGTON — The chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben S. Bernanke told skeptical lawmakers on Thursday that the Fed should be put in charge of regulating the nation’s biggest financial institutions.
But in a nod to critics who have expressed alarm about the Fed’s immense power during the financial crisis, Mr. Bernanke said responsibility for monitoring broader risks in the financial system should go to a council of regulators.
“We should seek to marshal the collective expertise and information of all financial supervisors to identify and respond to developments that threaten the stability of the system as a whole,” he said in testimony before the House Financial Services Committee.
…
* The Wall Street Journal
* OCTOBER 1, 2009
FSA Weighs ‘Too Big to Fail’
U.K. Watchdog Plans to Study the Impact of Regulatory Changes
BY ADAM BRADBERY
LONDON — The U.K.’s Financial Services Authority said it will focus on the risks posed by systemically important firms and the impact of new capital and liquidity rules.
The U.K. regulator said Wednesday that it will publish a paper on one of the thorniest regulatory reform issues: how to handle international banks that are deemed “too big to fail.” It partly reflects pressure from the Group of 20 industrial and developing nations to apply higher regulatory standards to such firms.
…
I am starting to think the tide is turning in the War on Banksters.
And by the way, I personally have nothing against a sound banking system subject to a rule of law (as opposed to the one we currently live with…).
A study? Oh my! How aggressive! How scary! How decisive!
How completely lame. Except for its effectiveness at placating the naive and blocking any real action.
The average house price is still “41% higher than it was in 2000. Incomes did not increase during that period; ergo, houses are still too expensive.”
~Bill Bonner
What about in dollar-adjusted terms? Are rich foreigners potentially propping up the US housing market at this point?
Forbes lists eight reasons to “remain worried about housing”:
* The federal tax credit, worth $8,000, is set to expire at the end of November. That will make housing $8,000 more expensive for first-time buyers.
* The Fed is also ending its $1.45 trillion shopping spree. It has been supporting housing by buying mortgage-backed derivatives. What will happen when it stops?
* Mortgage lending standards are tightening up generally.
* Houses are still not cheap. Forbes cites Shiller’s numbers, putting the average house 41% higher than it was in 2000. Incomes did not increase during that period; ergo, houses are still too expensive.
* Damaged psychology. It will take time for potential homeowners to get over the shock of a bear market.
* The end of summer has arrived. Housing sales always go up in the summer. People relocate in summer, when school is out. Then, sales fall with the autumn leaves.
* There are still huge numbers of houses that will be foreclosed. Forbes says only 12% of option ARMs have been reset. More foreclosures will increase the supply of desperate sellers and decrease prices.
* There’s a ‘shadow inventory’ hanging over the housing market; it could be vast. Everyone knew it would be hard to sell a house in 2009. Many potential sellers held back, waiting for the market to stabilize. As they put their houses up for sale, that too will hold prices down.
“That will make housing $8,000 more expensive for first-time buyers.”
BULLSHIT!! That subsidy benefited sellers, agents, bankers, and politicians more than first-time buyers. Prices would be 30-40 thousand dollars less in my area if it weren’t for that outrageous gimmick.
Most first timers used the tax credit for down-payment and closing costs on their 3.5 pct down FHA loans without thinking about the inflated cost of the home and overall costs (interest, origination fees, and mortgage insurance) of their loans.
OTOH, interest rates are much lower than they were in 2000, so the payments on an 80% 30yr FRM are much closer. I can’t remember where it was, but several years ago, somebody had a chart that showed the the payments on an 80% 30yr FRM for a median price house DIDN’T rise much from 2000-2003, because interest rates kept falling. But then prices KEPT going up as interest rates started to go up, but the percentage of ARMS, Interest Only, and Payment Option ARMs increased thereafter.
Thought for the day:
In a September 21, 2009 report on Lou Dobbs Tonight reporter Casey Wian colorfully said:
“The cheapest way to stop global climate change is not converting to solar power or buying a hybrid car. It’s putting on a condom. That’s the conclusion of a London School Of Economics study showing that money spent on contraception is about five times more efficient than money spent on clean energy technologies.”
lol…i’ve been saying this for years.
i got berated by someone at a party once for not throwing my beer bottle in the recycle bin.
they have five kids and six cars and i have one kid and two cars.
go figure.
I was accosted by someone from Greenpeace on the street in Washington DC. I said no thanks and tried to walk by, and he sneered at me and sarcastically said “hey I’m just trying to save the planet you know.” I told him I had no children and that’s enough, and I wasn’t very nice.
yep…i have always told people that if it was as dire as is proposed then population control is the only solution.
Exactly. But, there are religious and ethnic groups that seem to be condomentally challenged and insist on their right to pollute.
One thing I’ll say for China, they did recognize the problem and did something about it, even though this has caused a surplus of male children.
India, Pakistan, Mexico, Brazil, not so much. Then again, maybe, since they’re exporting their citizenry to the US, where they can feel free to reproduce and pollute.
One thing I’ll say for China, they did recognize the problem and did something about it
I predict some trouble in Palmy’s future for this one.
I have nothing against breeding, per se. I like most children and nothing pleases me more than to see a loving, happy family. However, I do believe that if you can’t feed ‘em, don’t breed ‘em.
As a result of our insane immigration policies and lax enforcement, we’re in deep doo-doo (literally) unless the problem is confronted and handled. Don’t be surprised if, in the future, reproduction is managed much as it is in China.
On a related note, I just found out the other day that there’s something terribly wrong with the manaufactured disposable diapers. LOL, in the “stuff” business, some of the antique and collectible dealers will wrap their pottery and glass stock in disposable diapers for protection. Lo and behold, when they go to unwrap things like hand-painted pottery, much of the surface decoration (hand painting, glaze, etc.) has been eaten away. I don’t know if it’s a particular brand, or what. Just a little anecdote.
Speaking as a child free person of the Baby Boom generation, we blew it. In the 70’s, we fell for Zero Population Control, and we are being replaced by 3rd world trash. In So Ca, English is the 2nd language. By design, this country is going down, both in population intelligence and financial.
“By design, this country is going down, both in population intelligence and financial.”
This appears to be true, but I have hope, wipeout.
OMG they must be giving off fumes that are eating at the dyes on the pottery.
Maybe the kiddies’ ADHD epidemic is due to overuse of pampers and huggies.
“Maybe the kiddies’ ADHD epidemic is due to overuse of pampers and huggies.”
LOL! The ADHD epidemic is due to the hyperactivity of Big Pharma.
“However, I do believe that if you can’t feed ‘em, don’t breed ‘em.”
100 years ago or so, the Victorian generation made a point of having big families because they could afford them. But their progeny came to see all that as uncool and slowly started reducing the size of their families with each new generation.
See where it got us.
Lo and behold, when they go to unwrap things like hand-painted pottery, much of the surface decoration (hand painting, glaze, etc.) has been eaten away. I don’t know if it’s a particular brand, or what. Just a little anecdote.
Gah!
So much for archival wrapping.
What possessed these people to wrap valuable items in diapers anyway? It’s not as if they’re cheap.
They regulate toxic foreign made junk about as well as they regulated the Housing Boom . I had some Christmas junk that we bought one time . I put the junk in a box in the attic . The following year I took out the junk and opened the box and toxic flumes almost knocked me over . Now the toxic drywall
from (?) has damaged thousands of homes and God knows what else . Decades of advancement in American consumer protection laws have gone down the tubes by wage advantage Globalism .
It’ is really amazing to me that the Global market pushers can even sleep at night . And the Americans went into debt to buy this crap or they bought into the Global debt trap to pay for this crap to advance Corporation greed that morphed to a Global stage. Isn’t it a pity that foreign Countries produced for Americans while they didn’t even produce for themselves
in a lot of cases . The only way to uplift a Country is for them to learn to produce for themselves ,and that would require fair wages . It took this Country a few centuries to get humane capitalism right and we just gave it all away by the New World capitalism .
when they go to unwrap things like hand-painted pottery, much of the surface decoration (hand painting, glaze, etc.) has been eaten away. I don’t know if it’s a particular brand, or what. Just a little anecdote.
That’s what they get for using soiled diapers to wrap their precious things. Those fumes will take the hair out of your nostrils.
I predict some trouble in Palmy’s future for this one.
I’m sure there’s quite a few “palmies” in China that are seeing some hard times.
That’s funny. Tokyo Rose became Beijing Rosie.
I don’t think the Victorians had large families because they could afford them, they had large families because of the high death rate.
Even today, having a large family because you can afford to is just plain wrong. But these people do not care about the planet and likely never will.
Having a large family because the pope says go forth and multiply is bloody wrong too. Maybe he can pay for their upbringing. Sorry don’t get me started…………:-)
You’ve nailed it Housing Wizard.
Only, it’s backfired on them, hasn’t it? Can’t buy the crap if you don’t have any money because you don’t have a job or one that pays a living, can ya?
But hey! As long as it keeps us from turning into socialeest/commies, it’s good, right?! So what if J6P is broke and Megabank got paid for failure?!
You should have seen the look on my face when my ex-boss said he wouldn’t mind more kids — AFTER his wife just gave birth to triplets, so including the 3 he already had = 6 kids already.
He was/is a Mormon. Think that had anything to do with it?
“The cheapest way to stop global climate change is not converting to solar power or buying a hybrid car. It’s putting on a condom.
I don’t have any numbers, but I’ve long thought that just outlawing drive-thrus would go quite a ways towards reducing emissions.
Happy October, the spookiest month for the stock market.
BOO!!!
Back at cha!
Leigh
I’m really starting to wonder about the old adage, “The stock market always goes up.”
A down decade — so far
Back-to-back 15% quarterly gains aren’t enough. The S&P 500 needs a 39% gain in the fourth quarter to break even for the past decade.
Is the Wall Street bull suffering from a relapse of the heart attack that struck it down last fall?
Well not to worry, just stock all your $$$ into the market already at a 130 multiple and you’ve got yourself a double for sure, fo’ sho’:
10-Year Bull Market Has Begun; Dow Will “Double For Sure”, Hennessy Says
Posted Oct 01, 2009 08:00am EDT by Peter Gorenstein
“The Dow Jones Industrial rose 15% in the third quarter, closing the book on its best 3-month span in 11 years.
Skeptics calls it a classic bear market rally.
Neil Hennessy, chief investment officer of the Hennessey Funds, has a more positive assessment.
Much more positive.
“I think we’re starting a 10-year bull market,” he claims. During that time, he believes, the Dow will “double for sure” from current levels.
Stocks are the only reasonable money-making investment in this current environment of low interest rates. Why “put your money into a 30-year U.S. government bond at 4% and wait 30 years to get your money back?” he asks.
Instead, he says, buy the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The 30 components are yielding a 3% dividend and, unlike Treasuries, offer a growth opportunity.
Plus, with trillions in cash on the sidelines waiting to get in the game, the market’s headed in one direction: Up.”
When faced with an economic pontification like this, I can only repeat the observation Jeanne D’Arc had for the General:
“Nom de Dieu..vous pouvez parler de ce qui demain apportera, mais vous ne pouvez pas me dire les petites choses d’aujourd’hui.”
Teh stoopid, it burns….
“I think we’re starting a 10-year bull market,” he claims. During that time, he believes, the Dow will “double for sure” from current levels.
A bubble is a bubble by any other name.
Its discouraging. HPQ has doubled in price since the crash, while its fundamentals (sales and profits) nosedived. I think though that the bad news in job market is staring to sink in and the playahs are beginning to realize that good times are not around the corner.
Forbes lists eight reasons to “remain worried about housing”:
* The federal tax credit, worth $8,000, is set to expire at the end of November. That will make housing $8,000 more expensive for first-time buyers.
* The Fed is also ending its $1.45 trillion shopping spree. It has been supporting housing by buying mortgage-backed derivatives. What will happen when it stops?
SEPTEMBER 24, 2009, 9:38 A.M. ET JD Power Sees Sept New-Car Retail Sales Hitting 2009 Low
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
New-vehicle retail sales for September will slump to the lowest level of the year in the U.S., said J.D. Power & Associates, as the cash-for-clunkers program took sales from the month.
Sales levels surged in late July and most of August as the program was in effect, giving certain new-car buyers up to $4,500 in rebates if they traded in a gas guzzler. Car makers have expected a sales dip this month as a result, but have expressed confidence the U.S. economy is gradually improving and the broader trend in car sales is positive.
Based on the first 16 selling days of the month, J.D. Power said Thursday that September retail sales are expected to total 590,000 units, down 24% from a year earlier. That’s an annual rate of 7.5 million.
LOL! Like we didn’t know.
Funny anecdote. A local dealer sent me an email just after C4C ended, saying they were hiring sales associates as business wask brisk.
It never ceases to amaze me how “smart small business owners” can be so clueless. Then again this bozo moved his dealership out of a modest but paid for facility into a Taj Mahal at a new auto park. Another local dealer who did that (Ferrero Chrysler) folded within a year, after a 30+ year presense in Loveland. His old dealership still has a ‘for sale’ sign on it, as do the old Chevrolet and Subaru delearships. Only the Ford dealership said no to the autopark developer and they are doing ok.
“A local dealer sent me an email just after C4C ended, saying they were hiring sales associates as business was brisk.”
What they say and what they do could be very different. Desperate folk make the best cheerleaders. Besides, labor is cheap when it is primarily paid on commission.
I recently had one very forthright real estate agent tell me that business has not picked up, she has NOT seen very many first time buyers rushing to take advantage of the expiring tax credit, and she is currently working with just three buyers, none of whom are in any hurry.
With have a realtor friend who says the same thing.
And you are probably right regarding the so called “sales” jobs at the car dealer. It doesn’t cost anything to have a few extra guys on a commission only basis, except maybe providing them with a few polo shirts with the dealers logo.
But the email did invite me to consider “joining the King team”. Maybe all their other guys quit when they couldn’t sell cars?
For what it’s worth, the OEMs have been pressuring their for several years to upgrade/replace their facilities with newer, “consumer friendly” buildings (whatever that means).
“The rise in pending home sales shows buyers are returning to the market and signing contracts, but deals are not necessarily closing because of long delays related to short sales, and issues regarding complex new appraisal rules,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the real estate agents.
Comlex new appraisal rules. Right. More like realistic appraisals instead of pure fantasy is what is throwing a wrench in most of these deals.
How is the economy doing? Look in your underwear drawer.
Daily Finance
Sep 29th 2009
It looks like 2009 was a bad year for men’s underwear. Mintel, a consumer research firm, says that sales of men’s skivvies dropped 2.3 percent from 2008. Meanwhile, NPD Group, another firm, argues that the decline was more on the order of 12 percent. Either way, it’s a fair bet that many underwear drawers are looking a bit ragged.
Some analysts refer to this economic measure as the “underwear index.” While seasonal outerwear, flashy luxury clothes, and women’s lingerie are often tied to seasons or holidays, men’s undies tend to be pretty straightforward. They are replaced as needed, which means that their sales should remain relatively constant.
In this context, 2009’s drop in the sales of men’s underwear means that many men are walking around with busted elastic, fabric that has worn thin, or a much-reduced stock of spare BVDs. Given the difficulty of getting a few extra months out of a pair of boxers, it suggests that many men are reaching the end of their easily-absorbed cutbacks. After all, while eating out less or taking fewer trips can be a minor annoyance, wearing tired underwear or — worse yet — going commando suggests that consumers are truly caught on the horns of a financial dilemma.
While an unusual measure of the economy, the underwear index is reportedly one of Alan Greenspan’s favorite statistics to consult. Part of its significance probably lies in the possibility that, for many men, buying underwear is largely unconscious. When asked about the state of his underclothes, one consumer (who chose to remain nameless) stated, “Actually, I’m running out. I don’t know how it happened.” He went on to note that he has been cutting back on some expenses. As the drop in underwear sales continues, it seems to be shifting from an unconscious to a conscious trend; in the process, it is becoming increasingly significant, as consumers deliberately sacrifice comfort for cash.
I’ll guess I’ll head to K-Mart tonight to prop up the economy! The only question is which brand? Hanes? BVD? Fruit of the Loom? Or should I go cheap and get Kmart’s in house brand (Joe Boxer)?
Decisions, decisions.
I’m going freestyle commando, dam the economy.
ditto comando
I bought some Hanes socks last weekend, as my stock of boot socks wore thin over the past few years (hahaha).
Anyway, wow, were they ever cheaply made. Shocking decline in quality, so much so I returned the package and figure I’ll grab a couple beers this weekend and sew the holes in the toes shut.
Maybe that is why no one is buying this new stuff: it isn’t worth it.
I have noticed the same. The last time I bought crew socks I bought the KMart brand. They have held up OK.
JERRY
Don’t you see what’s goin’ on here??? .. No boxers, no Jockeys..
ELAINE
Eeaawww…
JERRY
The only thing between him and us is a thin layer of gabardine!
JERRY
Kramer, say it isn’t so.
KRAMER
Oh, it be so. I’m out there, Jerry, an’ I’m lllooovin’ every minute of it!!!
Uhhh, there is a purpose for underwear. I’ll leave it at that.
And the first time your freed willy gets entangled with the zipper you understand perfectly what it is.
Free Willy!
I get Target’s to put in the old Xmas stocking……..so we buy once a year…lol
Century 21 Holds Open House
Oct 1, 2009
Century 21 has launched a review of creative and media duties on its advertising account, sources said.
Major media spending behind the brand totaled $28 million last year and $8 million in the first seven months of 2009, according to Nielsen. Last year’s figure was down 53 percent from 2007’s total of $59 million, per Nielsen. (Those figures don’t include online spending.)
The main creative incumbent, Dentsu’s mcgarrybowen, is not defending, according to sources. It was not immediately clear if Century 21’s media incumbent, WPP’s MediaCom here, would participate. Likewise, it could not be determined if WPP’s Burson-Marsteller plans to defend its Century 21 public relations assignment, which is also in play.
Burson-Marsteller could not immediately be reached and a MediaCom representative said that the agency had not been notified of a review.
Mcgarrybowen referred calls to the Parsippany, N.J.-based client, which had no immediate comment. Mcgarrybowen landed the creative account in late 2005.
Before that, the business was at Interpublic Group’s Lowe in New York, whose tenure dated back to 1998.
Century 21 is unit of real estate giant Realogy Corp., which also includes Coldwell Banker, The Corcoran Group, ERA, Sotheby’s International Realty and Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate.
The main creative incumbent, Dentsu’s mcgarrybowen, is not defending, according to sources. It was not immediately clear if Century 21’s media incumbent, WPP’s MediaCom here, would participate. Likewise, it could not be determined if WPP’s Burson-Marsteller plans to defend its Century 21 public relations assignment, which is also in play.
I’m sure Century 21 is a dog of a client these days — they’re probably pushing hard for results, demanding longer hours, double-checking expenses, second-guessing decisions left and right, and trying to pare down creative fees.
No wonder the firms with these accounts are lukewarm at best.
And probably not paying their bills either.
(Whoever designed those godawful gold jackets shouldn’t get a dime IMO.)
Gold sportsjackets. Wasn’t that Howard Cosell/Don Meredith attire back in the ’70s?
How about those lapel pins with the brokerage and UHS name. Sad to think, people have faith in a well dressed mannequin, usually with no understanding of much of anything. They parrot what they are told to say.
“Short term schemes starting to expire”… No sh!t, sounds familiar.
Europe Unemployment Rises to Highest Since March 1999
Oct. 1 (Bloomberg) — Europe’s unemployment rate rose to the highest in more than 10 years in August as companies continued to cut jobs even as the region’s largest economies emerged from recession.
Unemployment in the 16-member euro region increased to 9.6 percent from 9.5 percent in July, the European Union statistics office in Luxembourg said today. That’s the highest since March 1999 and matched the median forecast from a Bloomberg survey of 23 economists.
The German and French economies both emerged from the recession in the second quarter and the euro-area economy probably followed in the third, according to the European Commission. Rising unemployment may be an obstacle to the recovery, including in Germany, where the government has been offering temporary subsidies to maintain payrolls.
“With these short term schemes starting to expire, the only thing to expect is for unemployment to continue increase going into next year,” said Martin van Vliet, senior economist at ING Bank. “They are postponing the damage.”
German unemployment remained unchanged at 7.7 percent while Spain’s jobless rate rose to 18.9 percent and Ireland’s increased to 12.5 percent, today’s report showed.
“The risk of unemployment is still hanging in the air so consumers will continue to retrench on spending,” van Vliet said.
The euro declined against the dollar today, and was down 0.4 percent at $1.4582 as of 10:44 a.m. in London.
‘People are changing things’
Two films that have much to do with the economy relating to what kind of food we’re putting into our bodies and how we grow it. the nutritional value of food at the supermarket in 1950 to the present day has diminished by 40 percent. I haven’t eaten much food from a large corporation in 35 years (an occasional coke and pizza won’t kill ya). I urge those who are interested in good health and an economy that benefits the farmer, and our local economies and our very own bodies to check these out.
http://www.freshthemovie.com/
http://www.foodincmovie.com/
Melvin Frumph Hoppe
“The Future Of Food” (now free on hulu) is another fantastic one. Monsanto’s GMO hold on all the seeds in the world is the topic. They own all the patents. They sue small farmers out of business. Truly, an eye opener documentary.
There’s that other paradox again.
Rising unemployment = recession over
“a man with a wooden leg named smith*
What was the name of his other leg?
Oct. 1 (Bloomberg) — There was a stunning omission from the government’s latest list of “problem” banks, which ran to 416 lenders, a 15-year high, as of June 30. One outfit not on the list was Georgian Bank, the second-largest Atlanta-based bank, which supposedly had plenty of capital.
It failed last week.
Georgian’s clean-up will be unusually costly. The book value of Georgian’s assets was $2 billion as of July 24, about the same as the bank’s deposit liabilities, according to a Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. press release. The FDIC estimates the collapse will cost its insurance fund $892 million, or 45 percent of the bank’s assets. That percentage was almost double the average for this year’s 95 U.S. bank failures, and it was the highest among the 10 largest ones.
How many other seemingly healthy multibillion-dollar community banks are out there waiting to implode? That’s impossible to know, which is what’s so unsettling about Georgian’s sudden downfall. Just when the conventional wisdom suggests the banking crisis might be under control, along comes a reality check that tells us we’re still flying blind.
“That’s impossible to know..”
Double bullshit! It is very possible to know. In fact, the PTB probably know damn well the system is insolvent. Pretending it’s solvent is a lot easier and seems to be working at the moment, however.
Pretend and lend back to prosperity is the unstated policy.
We were in Vegas this weekend again and stayed at Encore casino, which is typically one of the most expensive casinos in vegas to stay at. Very interesting atmosphere, most of the time you could hear a pin drop while walking through the casino. The staff to customer ratio seemed like it was 1-1, because everywhere I went their was empty tables, with a dealer looking eagerly at me. I’m not sure how that casino is making any money, as I was watching people play and I did not see many heavy betters. I did notice their terribly overpriced food, and policy of no outside food on the premises, so I we talk 5 minute stroll over to the nearest Dennys for our breakfast, which was jammed. I did not spend one plugged nickel on their ridiculously priced food and I played briefly at the tables and stuck them for a few hundred to boot. BTW the room was comped, so they lost a nice tidy sum with me.
Fecaltime!
Oct. 1 (Bloomberg) — Anthony Noto, the National Football League’s chief financial officer hired from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. last year, dons a hard hat for a tour of what will be the most expensive U.S. sports stadium ever built. On this sunny day in mid-2008 in East Rutherford, New Jersey, workers pour concrete and weld steel girders for the unnamed $1.6 billion venue where both the New York Giants and the New York Jets will play their home games next year.
Noto peppers Thad Sheely, a Jets vice president, with questions about the costs and likely revenue from about 200 luxury skyboxes, each to feature flat-screen televisions and a wet bar, as well as the Coaches Club. The club includes a 20,000-square-foot (1,860-square-meter) field-level bar designed by Nobu restaurant architect David Rockwell and an outdoor patio only 5 yards (4.6 meters) behind the bench where the Giants and Jets sit.
The stadium epitomizes the NFL’s costly building spree during the past 15 years. Many owners used cheap credit to build and renovate 24 of the league’s 31 venues, more than quadrupling debt held by teams and the league to about $9 billion this year from 1996. With debt service headed for a 45 percent jump in 2009 from three years earlier and revenue growth slowing during the recession, owners’ profits are falling. So now they’re pushing for a new labor agreement with the NFL Players Association that may take stadium and other costs into account, reducing the total amount of money going to players at least in the short term, says Michael Cramer, a former president of baseball’s Texas Rangers who teaches sports management at New York University.
I’m surprised this hasn’t happened already.
Wait til falling ad revenue impacts the next round of sports television contracts…
Wait ’til falling revenue impacts other things.
As it is, all the “super-premium” seating increasingly planned for sporting venues appears to be a non-starter, but the real test is whether there’s a retrenchment — or a slowdown, at least — in pro sports salary and compensation.
I think it will get ugly the next several years over salaries. They’ve had decades of arguing over how to split an expanding revenue pie. The revenue pie will begin shrinking which should lead to some very contentious labor negotiations.
The NFL is preparing for war. 2010 is an uncapped year and then they have no contract left. The players association has said they would never again accept a salary cap. The owners will make sure that a salary cap remains in play. I will bet $25 that there is either a strike or a lockout. This might make 1987 look like a dream for the parties involved.
Hedge funds, trying to separate themselves from the big Wall Street banks, are stepping up their efforts to head off new regulation from Washington.
Representatives of the industry’s main lobbying group met on Wednesday with the Treasury secretary, Timothy F. Geithner; Ben S. Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve; and Mary L. Schapiro, chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, to lay out their views of President Obama’s sweeping package of reforms to the nation’s financial regulatory system, The New York Times’s Zachery Kouwe reported.
Of particular interest to the group, the Managed Funds Association, is the possibility that Congress will deem some hedge funds as systemically important to the financial system and subject them to onerous regulation and reporting requirements. The group has been focused for months on persuading lawmakers that, unlike big banks, hedge funds do not pose a systemic risk to the economy.
“As we have made clear, we were not the contributors to these financial problems and, where hedge funds have met their demise, nobody got any taxpayer money to help bail them out,” Richard H. Baker, the association’s chief executive, told The Times.
You have to be kidding me. If there were any justice they would have their heads on pikes surrounding the whitehouse.
I couldn’t resist this quote from a Bloomberg article on the crash of CRE in Phoenix:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=ak__6D.HTBQM
Ambre Mauro moved to Gilbert, a suburb of Phoenix, in March after struggling in Oregon. “The economy was horrible there,” said Mauro, 25, who graduated from Brigham Young University-Hawaii with a degree in exercise sports science. “Eventually I decided to come here.”
Things aren’t much better in Arizona. Mauro now holds two jobs. She’s a personal trainer and front desk clerk at a local gym and a waitress at a Japanese restaurant, where she makes about $10 an hour, including tips.
“I have a four-year degree and I never expected to be a waitress,” Mauro said.
with a degree in exercise sports science
“I have a four-year degree and I never expected to be a waitress,”
HAHAHAHAAHAAHHAAH….LOL….ROTFLMFAO!!!!
You get a degree in basically basketweaving and cant understand why you are a waitress???? LOLOLOLOLL>>>>>>
17 pictures into the slid show will tell you everything about the housing boom now crash.
http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local-beat/Images-Along-the-San-Andreas-Fault-62926487.html
“Scientists have warned that after more than 300 years with very little slippage, the southern end of the 800-mile-long San Andreas fault north and east of Los Angeles has built up immense pressure and could produce a massive earthquake at any time. Such a quake could produce a sudden lateral movement of 23 to 32 feet.”
Big question: Will there be a big LA quake before their real estate market bottoms out?
First it’ll financially bottom out, then physically bottom out.
The quake will give a temporary *boost* to the LA economy putting people to work rebuilding things.
Just think what nuking the whole country would do!
(P.S. One of my life theses is that WWII was the best thing that ever happened to the U.S. economy - as long as you overlook the dead bodies and stuff, and don’t think about the things that could have been produced instead of thousands of tanks, bombers, etc.)
I’ve seen several PBS programs that attribute all the wealth the baby boomers got to enjoy was because the rest of the world’s manufacturing was bombed to oblivion in WWII. The only country that didn’t get their factories bombed was the US.
The entire world had to buy products from the US thus allowing for a high standard of living, high employment, and single worker households.
To think our Government has off shored so much of our manufacturing base in the last 20-30 years they did more damage to this country than any bombs could have ever done.
I’ve seen several PBS programs that attribute all the wealth the baby boomers got to enjoy was because the rest of the world’s manufacturing was bombed to oblivion in WWII. The only country that didn’t get their factories bombed was the US.
The entire world had to buy products from the US thus allowing for a high standard of living, high employment, and single worker households.
To think our Government has off shored so much of our manufacturing base in the last 20-30 years they did more damage to this country than any bombs could have ever done.
Yes absolutely. When we started to lose that advantage in the 1980’s - our wealth became sourced from debt growth rather than real production growth. Now the piper must be paid.
I’d love to know what programs you’re referring to, and check them out. I’ve held that position strongly for a while now though haven’t seen it espoused anywhere else. I’d like to claim it as original, but someone else on HBB actually brought it up about a year ago; I thought about it and it made perfect sense.
U.S. small business loans in arrears rise:
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Delinquencies among small and medium-sized U.S. businesses on the loans, leases and lines of credit they use to finance investment in capital equipment rose in August, PayNet Inc reported on Thursday.
Accounts in moderate delinquency, or those behind by 30 days or more, rose to 4.40 percent in August from 4.36 percent in July, said PayNet, which provides risk-management tools to the commercial lending industry.
Accounts 90 days or more behind in payment, or in severe delinquency, improved modestly, slipping to 1.51 percent in August from 1.52 percent in July. But those that were 180 days behind, or considered to be in default, rose to 0.81 percent in August from 0.78 percent in July.
The report is the latest to suggest the U.S. economy, which slipped into recession in December 2007, is experiencing a patchy rebound.
“The recovery that seems to be under way for large corporations and the stock market and certain parts of the economy doesn’t seem to have arrived yet for these companies,” said Bill Phelan, president and founder of Skokie, Illinois-based PayNet.
Separately, PayNet said its small business lending index, which had risen in June and July, fell at an annual rate of 20 percent in August.
“It’s too early to call it a trend,” Phelan said. “But it’s a little disheartening because this kind of activity is a leading indicator for gross domestic product.”
http://money.cnn.com/2009/10/01/news/economy/_morgue/index.htm
Detroit residents cannot afford to bury/cremate their dead. Bodies piling up in morgue.
cereal
Thanks for the article. That article cracked the myth that the “death” business is economic cycle proof. My late bil’s were in the biz, both were Morticians.
IIRC, someone here posted an article that many newly unemployed, were headed back to school to train for a career in Mortuary Science, thinking it was safe. Maybe not such a smart move, as it turns out.
Read a book that talked about how the American mortuary conglomerates were taking over the European funeral homes and how unnecessarily expensive, totally not green, and utterly ridiculous in their embalming procedures. How people pay a fortune for coffins, only to have the weight of the earth make them cave in after a while anyway. It was quite an eyeopener.
So the thing is — to be green, bury in a cardboard box and forget all that embalming crap!
Oh the places this could go.
Did you ever see the film “Eating Raoul”?
Dog food has bothered me ever since.
Gee whiz - If they stop giving away $8000 per car, the sales drop off about 40% month over month. Whoodathunkit???
DETROIT (AP) — Chrysler Group LLC and Ford Motor Co. said Thursday their September sales fell, revealing a tough hangover from this summer’s Cash for Clunkers buying spree.
Ford and other automakers got a big lift in July and August from clunkers, which spurred sales of nearly 700,000 new cars and trucks. The government program’s big discounts lured in many customers who otherwise would have waited until later in the year to walk into dealerships.
Now automakers are starting to feel the effect. Ford sales of cars and light truck fell 5.1 percent from a year ago to 114,241. The decline followed two straight months of rising sales.
Chrysler said it sold 62,197 vehicles last month, off 42 percent in the same month last year.
Cash for Clunkers and summertime production cuts kept inventories of popular models low during the month, but even so, Chrysler predicted its market share will rise 0.8 percentage points from August levels. The company increased factory output to replenish supplies.
“While we had some bright spots in September, it was still a challenging sales environment for the industry,” Peter Fong, CEO of the Chrysler brand, said in a statement.
The September results fell 37.2 percent from August totals, which were boosted by the government’s Cash for Clunkers program. Two of Ford’s vehicles — the Focus and Escape — were top sellers in the program that ran during July and August and offered big discounts to buyers.
Good friend of mine lives in Australia. We were discussing our debate about the public option. He said that in Australia they have both public and private insurance, but most people opt for the public option because the private companies are complete rip-offs. There aren’t too many of them either, since they just don’t make sense.
When I explained to him the arguments that are being tossed around (death panels, can’t have a public option because it would hurt the private insurance companies, etc.) he was shocked that they could get away with lies like that.
Of course, when you look at the state this country is in today, nothing should be shocking. This is a dumb frigging country. Period.
People actually go to townhall meetings to demand that we do not get a public option. It isn’t enough that they don’t want it! The 50 million without coverage shouldn’t get it either. They even hold up signs stating they don’t want the government messing with their medicare! lol
What an insane country. Dumb and totally insane. And I am right, because the state of the nation proves it.
We are a complete disaster. I only wish I could live somewhere else, but the actions of Bush has made Americans very unpopular the world over. I feel like a prisoner living in the land of morons.
Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
but the actions of Bush has made Americans very unpopular the world over
Packman, you didn’t take this one on. This is the statement in there that is really silly.
I have been out of the country multiple times during Bush’s reign. Never once did I have somebody say, “I hate you because of George Bush”. I have always been treated well, even when they knew I was an American. I always tried to treat the people well in their own country. I think they could see that.
We have a lot of problems. That’s for sure. I think Bush did an awful job. I think Obama is doing an awful job. To see somebody write that every American is universally hated because of George Bush is just plain dumb.
That’s my experience as well, from traveling through Europe and to China the past few years. In general most people either:
- Don’t like America in general, regardless of who’s leading it.
- Like America, and may or may not like Bush.
Few if any didn’t like America *because* of GWB.
Personally I couldn’t given a rats @ss if non-Americans like us or not. In general I’d rather they didn’t. America was quite intentionally founded on principles that were *different* than the rest of the world, and that’s a good thing. That being the case, people who favor other less-free societies are bound to not like America.
That all being said - we’ve been slowly migrating to merge with the rest of the world in our political/economic system, and now more rapidly - in part because of O and in part just as reaction to the economic problems. So BR will get his wish, and we’ll sink to banana socialism with the rest of the world, while they all love us every step of the way as we join them.
+1
There’s a germ of truth to what he said. In many countries, Americans are not respected. Whether due to their politicals or due to the American’s behaving obnoxiously (oh mah gawd, why is there no dang AIR Conditioning, Bubba!?). I’ve seen us abroad and seen our behavior and it ain’t pretty sometimes.
So yes, being a polite traveller can actually garnish respect. I doubt we are ‘universally’ hated though.
Thank you.
pewglobal.org/reports/display.php?ReportID=263
Facts are ugly things
Don’t let the door hit you on the way out
+10000000000
Try Texas. It’s a whole ‘nother country, they say.
“People actually go to townhall meetings to demand that we do not get a public option”.
I know, crazy isn’t it? I mean that people should be “allowed” to have a differing opinion! It’s completely insane when someone doesn’t think like you do.
It’s a big world, get out and see it! There are even places that don’t give a crap about the USA or any other countries. Get a passport and please go experience the magic.
You STILL whining about W???? Dude, grow up.
Or maybe you prefer “real” sacrifice like Michelle Obama’s jetting to Europe. It’s the tough choices that make Mr. and Mrs. Messiah so superior to the rest of us heathens.
You STILL whining about W???? Dude, grow up.
When there’s finally some accountability for the incredible damage done by that administration, then it might be time to stop whining. It’s a wee bit too early for that.
“I only wish I could live somewhere else, but the actions of Bush has made Americans very unpopular the world over.”
That’s simply not true. Individual Americans, if they are hated abroad, are not hated because they are American or because a particular American government may be disliked abroad. I have always been well treated when traveling abroad, dealt with as an individual, not as a representative of the American government.
I’ve been saying for the last few years this is the MORON GENERATION
And we prove it everyday.
——————————————-
I feel like a prisoner living in the land of morons.
Don’t let your hot dog stand.
Don’t let your meat loaf…
10-Year Bull Market Has Begun; Dow Will “Double For Sure”, Hennessy Says
Posted Oct 01, 2009 Gorenstein in Investing
The Dow Jones Industrial rose 15% in the third quarter, closing the book on its best 3-month span in 11 years.
Skeptics calls it a classic bear market rally.
Neil Hennessy, chief investment officer of the Hennessey Funds, has a more positive assessment.
Much more positive.
“I think we’re starting a 10-year bull market,” he claims. During that time, he believes, the Dow will “double for sure” from current levels.
His reasoning?
Stocks are the only reasonable money-making investment in this current environment of low interest rates. Why “put your money into a 30-year U.S. government bond at 4% and wait 30 years to get your money back?” he asks.
Instead, he says, buy the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The 30 components are yielding a 3% dividend and, unlike Treasuries, offer a growth opportunity.
Plus, with trillions in cash on the sidelines waiting to get in the game, the market’s headed in one direction: Up.
LOL. Well Neil, your bull market got off to a bit of a rocky start today.
Plus, with trillions in cash on the sidelines waiting to get in the game, the market’s headed in one direction: Up.
Got news for you Neil - the trillions in upcoming new U.S. debt might have something to say about that trillions in cash going to the stock market.
Robert Steele, of defunct Wachovia, is rumored to be lobbying for the B of A CEO position to be vacated by Ken Lewis. This is exactly what’s wrong with the system. Not only is there zero accountability, failure is rewarded. This guy is a complete and total failure. Apparently, he even went on that neanderthal Cramer’s Mad Money days before Wachovia failed and was singing it’s praises. These people should be banned permanently from the industry, as they’ve already demonstrated a complete lack of competence when it comes to making sound financial decisions. Absolutely NOTHING has changed in the industry. It’s merely musical chairs. The pigmen are doing better than ever. How’s the general public doing? Oh, that’s right, worse than ever…
It reminds me of NFL coaches.
“Absolutely NOTHING has changed in the industry. It’s merely musical chairs. The pigmen are doing better than ever. How’s the general public doing? Oh, that’s right, worse than ever”…
Bingo! The banksters RUN the show, always have,the politicos are just paid pawns. This admin. like all the rest are bought and paid for. Follow the money and “watch what they do, not what they say” wash, rinse and repeat, keep fleecing the masses.
I don a sardonic smile when I think of all the poor rubes that sincerely thought they were going to get “hope&change” it’s different this time. They’re getting it all right… good and hard!
“Bingo! The banksters RUN the show, always have,the politicos are just paid pawns. This admin. like all the rest are bought and paid for. Follow the money and “watch what they do, not what they say” wash, rinse and repeat, keep fleecing the masses.”
The banksters run the show, correct.
Very much the same kind of show as professional wrestling. Those who get emotionally caught up in the action don’t like to be reminded it’s all fake.
The Republicans over 8 years lined their pockets and then got thrown out of town. The Democrats right now are lining their pockets and may get thrown out of town later. The point is not that one is better than the other. The point is that the big payoffs of graft and corruption are at the heart of ALL the legislative initiatives that have any chance of passing. And again, those who get emotionally caught up in the action don’t like to be reminded it’s all FAKE.
The point is that the big payoffs of graft and corruption are at the heart of ALL the legislative initiatives that have any chance of passing.
Sadly, I have to agree.
The point is that the big payoffs of graft and corruption are at the heart of ALL the legislative initiatives that have any chance of passing.
Sadly, I have to agree.
With this caveat:
The only legislation that stands a chance of passage without big payoffs is the kind that both parties can stand behind and say, “We’re doing this to protect the children”
+100 cobalt.
Well we all seem to agree on this point that they are all pigs
BO and Dems
Now pushing the worst possible health care plan that mandates insurance under penalty of law, taxes the middle class to pay for it (via tax on health care plans, which will of course get passed onto consumers), and does nothing to reign in costs. Despite ample evidence from 2005 CBO report and others that a public plan is cheaper and more effective. Despite the fact that 65% of Americans support it.
No effort on financial regulatory reform. Where is a return of Glass Steagle? Who has gone to jail? BO pushing for FED (a bank owned unauditable institution) to become systemic regulator.
“I don a sardonic smile when I think of all the poor rubes that sincerely thought they were going to get “hope&change” it’s different this time. They’re getting it all right… good and hard!”
Just like I was grinning when I thought of all the poor rubes that voted for smaller government and liberty when they pulled the lever for GWB. They got huge no bid contracts, wars based on lies, torcher renditions spying on Americans w/o warrants, The Pat Tillman story, Huge Medicare drug benefit that went predominantly into Big Pharmas pocket, Katrina and Browny, Rumsfeld, and a rapid roll back in regulation that played a roll in the current crisis.
So true measton. The health insurance companies managed to project their evils on any potential public option and spent a lot of money killing any thoughtful reform ,until they came up with this stupid plan that even pads their pockets more .Only in American can people be stupid enough that they demand to be screwed
more . The PR machine is alive and kicking .
Usually Americans like more options ,but in this case they were talked into not liking a public option . I don’t get it ,all the lies were effective . The health care system is broken and corrupt and
is in need of reform just as much as the financial systems are .
I guess those clowns we call Politicians are just going to spend 15 years talking about reform in Health Care and the financial systems while the fat cats just want to keep the status quo .
Saw a short article in the business digest of the the September 30 issue of the Wisconsin State Journal mentioning M&I Bank is extending it moratorium on foreclosures another 90 days.
Sorry, no link. Doesn’t appear to have been posted on the web site.
“Yay, free rent.”
Mark to Fantasy yields much happier potential bonus recipients than Mark to Market, doesn’t it?
FHA Borrowers May Need Bigger Down Payments in Bill
Oct. 1 (Bloomberg) — Legislation introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives would require higher down payments from borrowers seeking federally backed loans as lawmakers try to prop up the Federal Housing Administration’s insurance fund.
Representative Scott Garrett, a New Jersey Republican, is pushing the legislation to recoup some of the program’s losses as record-high delinquencies drive FHA’s reserve fund below 2 percent of loans insured, he said in a statement. The measure brought forward today would increase the minimum down payment required for an FHA loan to 5 percent from 3.5 percent.
The program now backs about $1 trillion in loans, up from $410 million in 2006. It’s under strain with the U.S. mortgage default rate at a record high and private-industry sources for lenders to finance and insure mortgages drying up. The FHA said in a Sept. 18 statement that it’s tightening credit and appraisal standards and appointing a chief risk officer.
“The benefits with promoting homeownership using government subsidies must be balanced against the potential risk of insuring less creditworthy borrowers and exposing the American taxpayer to that risk,” Garrett said in a letter sent to the U.S. House today.
Garrett’s legislation would also prohibit the FHA from letting borrowers roll their closing costs into the outstanding balance of the loan, a practice he said can lower down payment requirements by a full percentage point.
“You’ve got two conflicting public policy goals here,” Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told lawmakers at a hearing today, referring to the FHA. “On the one hand, it’s providing support to the housing market and homeownership. On the other hand, clearly, I think it’s fair to say, given the low down payments, there’s certainly greater risk of loss there that would ultimately be borne by the taxpayers.”
Bernanke said it was a “trade-off” Congress needs to examine.
Just make the tax credit bigger and “buyers” can handle larger down payments. Problem solved!
My thought exactly! Charge taxpayers for the right of FHA borrowers to become home owners, including the cost of paying first for their downpayment and later paying off the lender when FHA loans go into foreclosure.
The FHA said in a Sept. 18 statement that it’s tightening credit and appraisal standards and appointing a chief risk officer.
Now that the horse is boiling in the knacker’s pot somebody finally got around to thinking about closing the goat.
WTF?
“The FHA said in a Sept. 18 statement that it’s tightening credit and appraisal standards and appointing a chief risk officer.”
Where’s that guillotine hiding?
goat = gate
Or maybe it doesn’t. These crooks are so crooked that I can’t even think straight when I think of their crookedness.
BofA CEO: $53 million retirement score
Ken Lewis is on track to collect big on a pension plan the bank froze years ago in a push to link pay and performance.
Ken Lewis is set for a cushy retirement despite the plunge in the bank’s stock.
NEW YORK (Fortune) — Ken Lewis doesn’t have a golden parachute, but he’s all set for a comfortable landing — unlike his long-suffering shareholders.
The Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) chief executive officer said Wednesday he’ll step aside at year-end after eight years at the helm. Based on the company’s most recent proxy statement, he will have $53 million in pension benefits waiting for him when he leaves.
That should give him about $3.5 million a year for the rest of his life — at a time when people who bought the stock when he took the reins in 2001 are underwater on their investments.
Perhaps I was wrong in my assumption that the Fed operates above the rule of law?
* The Wall Street Journal
* OCTOBER 2, 2009
Fed Draws Court’s Eyes in Lehman Bankruptcy
By JEFFREY MCCRACKEN and MICHAEL SPECTOR
A court-appointed examiner investigating Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s bankruptcy has been exploring whether the Federal Reserve improperly cut in front of other creditors owed money in the $613 billion bankruptcy case, records show.
Billing records filed with the court show the examiner is investigating an issue that has angered many Lehman’s creditors: how the Federal Reserve and the New York Fed — which lent Lehman $46 billion in cash and securities before its bankruptcy filing last September — were paid promptly and in full, while tens of billions of dollars in other debts were left to be sorted out in court. It remains unclear when and how much Lehman creditors will be repaid.
The examiner, Anton Valukas, chairman of law firm Jenner & Block LLP and a former U.S. attorney, said, “I am under a court order not to discuss what we are doing or how we are doing it.”
Fed loans were crucial to propping up Lehman during its final days, and were part of an extraordinary government attempt to stabilize Lehman in the chaotic weeks of mid-September 2008. The government ultimately quashed a rescue of Lehman, which filed for bankruptcy protection. But its earlier steps now are open to scrutiny in bankruptcy court.
Details on the examiner’s work remain scant, and it is possible no actions will be brought. Should the examiner determine that the Fed got preferential treatment, bankruptcy administrators could pursue court claims to recover assets for Lehman’s creditors from the Fed, on the theory those assets should have remained with Lehman when it filed for bankruptcy last September.
Such a finding would have little legal precedent and could turn politically fraught, bankruptcy lawyers say. Yet it could bring a focus to one of the unresolved questions of the financial crisis: just how much special treatment the federal government receives above private-market players when it becomes a direct participant in the markets.
“We have no knowledge for the basis of any potential claims by the estate against the New York Fed,” said Deborah Kilroe, New York Fed spokeswoman. “The New York Fed has fully cooperated with the Lehman examiner.”
…
It just amazes me how passive people are about getting financially screwed in this country.
So,my theory was correct that the Fed was lending all these insolvent investment houses billions of dollars prior to the melt down and no doubt the bail-outs were simply modifications of stupid loans made by the feds
at the discount window . I wonder if Hank Paulson told the Senate that
they better give tarp money because the loans have already been made
to these criminals that can’t pay when they put up assets that were insured by insolvent AIG . As if Hank Paulson would not know all this . I remember the Fed Chairman at the time saying that the loans were backed by good assets . And all this BS from Paulson that they just needed a big gun to restore confidence in the credit markets . Why didn’t he say that they already gave them the money pursuant to
stupid short term loans they couldn’t pay . They pulled a Donald Trump .
Oct. 2 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. faces the possibility of deflation for the first time since the Eisenhower administration, a threat that may prompt the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates near zero through next year.
Executives at Kroger Co., the largest U.S. supermarket chain, blamed deflation for a 7 percent drop in earnings in the second quarter, while falling prices for food, gasoline, and electronics left August sales unchanged at Costco Wholesale Corp. A sustained price drop might set off a chain reaction in which lower profits force employers to pare wages and payrolls. That would erode consumer demand, exacerbating wage cuts and firings.
Such a spiral led to Japan’s “lost decade” of slow economic growth in the 1990s. A more vicious version in the U.S. helped create the Great Depression six decades earlier. Bond investors are forecasting retreating consumer prices, as shown by the yield they demand to hold a one-year bond versus a similar inflation-protected bond.
“Deflation is definitely a threat right now,” Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, 66, a professor at Columbia University in New York, said in a Sept. 22 interview. “The combination of the deflation threat and the sluggish recovery should keep the Fed on hold for quite a while.”
Consumer prices are experiencing deflation, with the consumer price index sliding for six straight months from year- earlier levels, the longest stretch of declines since a 12-month drop from September 1954 to August 1955, according to the Labor Department.
The Fed needs to “keep inflation expectations from slipping to undesirably low levels in order to prevent unwanted disinflation,” Vice Chairman Donald Kohn, 66, said Sept. 10 in Washington during a speech at the Brookings Institution.
ie this is all the talk about teh loss of the dollar as a reserve currency and China saying they are going to divest then they continue to purchase treasuries.
The slowing in core prices is more of a concern, said Michael Feroli, an economist at JPMorgan. The core rate fell following three prior recessions in which unemployment rose above 7 percent. That “suggests that core inflation could well be below zero within two years,” Feroli said in an interview.
Core CPI fell 5.3 percent following the recession of 1973- 1975, 10.7 percent following the recession of 1981-1982 and 3 percent following the recession of 1990-1991.
Unemployment was 9.7 percent in August, and it will likely climb to 10 percent in the fourth quarter, according to the Bloomberg survey of economists. The jobless rate was estimated to average 8.8 percent in 2011.
With unemployment elevated, companies may not need to raise pay to attract workers, even when the economy picks up.
‘Enormous Slack’
“My personal belief is that the more significant threat to price stability over the next several years stems from the disinflationary forces unleashed by the enormous slack in the economy,” Yellen, 63, said Sept. 14 in San Francisco.
Wages for U.S. workers fell for eight months in a row, dropping 5.6 percent from October 2008 to June 2009, according to Commerce Department figures. In contrast, wages continued to grow in the 1954-1955 deflation period.
Stagnating wages and fading job prospects are sapping demand. Consumer spending may increase in the fourth quarter by just 1 percent and in 2010 by an average of only 1.6 percent, according to the median estimate in the Bloomberg survey of economists.
Consumption rose by an average 5.7 percent a quarter in the five years before the recession began in December 2007.
“A weak labor market in a competitive environment puts downward pressure on wages,” said Stiglitz, who won the Nobel prize for economics in 2001. “So, the possibility of another actual decline in wages cannot be ruled out.”
Declining Incomes
The deflation danger is compounded by household debt, said Paul Ashworth, senior U.S. economist at the consulting firm Capital Economics in Toronto. U.S. homeowners owed $13.9 trillion in the third quarter of 2008, compared with an average of $8.5 trillion in the 57 years the Fed has kept records.
“As incomes start to fall, that debt gets bigger in real terms: You have a smaller income to pay off that debt,” Ashworth said. “Deflation combined with high indebtedness can be very problematic.”
This guy ain’t just whistling Dixie!
Inflation happens when too much money chases too few goods. Gary Shilling, president of the investment research firm A. Gary Shilling & Co. of Springfield, New Jersey, said that even as the Fed continues to pump money into the economy, the money supply, as measured by the central bank’s M2 index, has dropped one percent since mid-June.
“Look what is happening to money supply, it is actually contracting now when supposedly the economy is picking up,” Shilling said in an interview on Bloomberg Television Sept. 21. The economy is facing deflation “because you’ve got basically an excess-supply world,” he said.
Profits Dwindling
Profits have evaporated as companies lose pricing power. The 419 non-financial firms in the S&P 500 reported earnings down 28 percent in the quarter ending June 30. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg anticipate a 30 percent decline for the third quarter, which ended this week.
WOW 30% decline and what has the stock market done??????
“Businesses trying to sell products and services feel they are pushing on a string and are adjusting their behavior accordingly,” Fisher, 60, the Dallas Fed president, said in a Sept. 3 speech at the University of California in Santa Barbara. “They are cutting prices.”
Rodney McMullen, president of Cincinnati-based Kroger, blamed price reductions for second-quarter earnings that fell 10.5 percent short of analysts’ estimates.
“We certainly sold more units. But lower retail prices and profit per unit pressured” results, McMullen told analysts in a Sept. 15 conference call. “We began to see deflation.”
The average amount spent per transaction in August at Issaquah, Washington-based Costco was about 7 percent below last year, Bob Nelson, vice president for financial planning, said on a Sept. 3 conference call with investors.
At Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer, “headwinds” from deflation were in part responsible for a 1.4 percent drop in second-quarter revenue to $100.9 billion, chief financial officer Thomas Schoewe told analysts Aug. 13.
I just don’t think inflation is going to work this time again inflation may increase GDP and taxes if
1. People have savings
2. People can send their wife off to work or get pay raises
3. People can borrow money
4. There is some other country that can sustain consumption, I just don’t think that China is this country if the US and Europe fail.
Otherwise printing money will just shift spending from wants to needs and there will be no increase in GDP. People will cut down on how much fuel they use and how much they eat.
Until they start putting money in the consumers hands there will be no overall inflation, atleast until manufacturing capabillities have been uterly destroyed by deflation, and we’ve survied a few riots and war.
This is why my idea of the gov paying down our credit cards of forcing them to lower the interest rate to 0% for the next 5 year would be an immediate boost to spending.
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Until they start putting money in the consumers hands