Bits Bucket For February 4, 2010
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The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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Name:Ben Jones
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Good thing the U.S. national debt doesn’t “rattle” investors, that could be a slight problem.
Sovereign debt fears rattle investors
February 4 2010 ~ FT
1110 GMT: There were further signs of contagion across the eurozone on Thursday ahead of a European Central Bank meeting, as investors sold government bonds of many peripheral eurozone countries, sending yields higher.
Fears of default by companies in the eurozone periphery also rose sharply, offering signs the contagion was spreading to the corporate sector.
The HsngBbbl is too big to ba!l. They are gonna try, however. Until, splat!
Feb. 4 (Bloomberg) — Stocks and bonds fell in Spain, Portugal and Hungary on concern governments will struggle to fund their budget deficits as spending cuts in Greece trigger strikes. The dollar rallied.
…
Moody’s Investors Service said yesterday that the U.S. government’s Aaa bond rating will “come under downward pressure” unless additional measures are taken to reduce budget deficits projected for the next decade.
I think the ’smart’ money is running out of places to hide. Back to commodities?
Buy a shovel. That may be your best investment opportunity.
The govt is now paying your closing costs:
“This week, the Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA) commonly known as Fannie Mae announced people purchasing a Fannie Mae-owned HomePath® property will receive up to 3.5 percent of the final sales price to be used toward closing cost assistance or their choice of appliances. The offer is available to any owner-occupant who closes on the purchase of a property listed on HomePath.com before May 1, 2010. “
The govt is now paying your closing costs:
“This week, the Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA) commonly known as Fannie Mae announced people purchasing a Fannie Mae-owned HomePath® property will receive up to 3.5 percent of the final sales price to be used toward closing cost assistance or their choice of appliances. The offer is available to any owner-occupant who closes on the purchase of a property listed on HomePath.com before May 1, 2010. “
Not only paying closing cost - but the government itself is now the listing service apparently.
Great. If we all thought the NAR was bad -wait’ll we see the replacement. Yet another step towards total government control of housing.
P.S. I’m sure that’ll do wonders for Fannie’s bottom line - a bottom line of course which is supported by the U.S. treasury and by extension everyone.
“Great. If we all thought the NAR was bad -wait’ll we see the replacement. Yet another step towards total government control of housing.”
One possible silver lining: if the government isn’t happy about not getting equal-billing, maybe something will finally happen to break the MLS’ monopoly? FSBO has always been disadvantaged, and it would be nice to see FSBO get equal billing on MLS.
There is one thing that won’t be inflating and that’s housing. There are too many houses, and the current price to income and rent to price ratios are still out of wack. Incomes (for the average worker) are still falling (gov stats manipulated, average inc by Wall Street bonuses), unemployment is massive, health care costs are rising. Local taxes are rising and services are falling. It’s still a downward spiral. So the gov props up fuel costs and food costs that means less to spend on other things like housing. If they continue to print we will see rising interest rates and more dollars taken for things other than housing.
Question: If the banks are now in charge of printing money then isn’t the next leg deflation? They pumped up asset prices, and now have off loaded them on the gov and people. They have taken on cash from gov and secondary offerings. Thomas Jefferson would suggest that the next leg is deflation.
Fannie’s bottom
Heh, heh. Heh, heh.
Settle down, Beavis.
Prime,
That’s an interesting point and something of a Catch-22. Government intervention thus far has, to some degree, helped the NAR’s bottom line. I see many realtors screaming for keeping the tax credit, etc. They probably don’t realize the possible damage government control would do to their careers, or at least their income.
Not only paying closing cost - but the government itself is now the listing service apparently.
Great. If we all thought the NAR was bad -wait’ll we see the replacement. Yet another step towards total government control of housing.
———————-
Quite frankly, I see no reason to add middlemen to the transaction if the govt owns the homes. Much better to deal directly with the seller (the GSEs) than have to go through some useless realtor.
It’s high time we got rid of the NAR and move to a fee-for-service model in RE transactions.
Fannie Mae is not really paying your closing costs. We just negotiated an offer on a Fannie Mae HomePath property and were told that this incentive would be figured into the final price of the home.
They didn’t inform us of the incentive, and I accidentally stumbled on it the day after they accepted our offer, and their response essentially was “Too bad, you should have said something and that would have changed the final price.”
So, I guess it’s my job to find out what offers THEY are offering? Not much of an incentive.
I’m still sticking with dollars, cash & cash equivs.
Dollars are continously being sucked out of circulation by the banks that need billions of them in order to replenish their depleted balance sheets. This action by banks makes dollars scarce, makes dollars hard to get and hard to keep hold of. I don’t see this trend reversing anytime soon, especially with all the financial time bombs waiting to go off.
This is a minority position held on this message board and most anywhere else, which doesn’t distress me at all; In fact it gives me great comfort.
How can dollars be scarce when the US Government at best will print 1.6 trillion more than they take in this year? Add on the inevitable costs for Afghanistan, the repeal of the Medicare Sustained Growth Rate caps, extended unemployment/COBRA benefits as the unemployment rate stays elevated and we can look forward to a two trillion dollar deficit soon. The only think keeping the dollar stable are the relatively worse crises in Japan and the Eurozone. Perhaps the Aussie or Canadian dollar would be OK to hide, but I’m afraid the US dollar is in for a bleak future.
So am I, but I’m not too happy about it.
What is cash anyway? Do you have lots of Federal Reserve notes in your house.
I have money in the bank and zero interest, and rolling 3 month T-bills at zero interest, and a U.S. Treasury money market at zero interest. Best case, I can shift to assets that pay when asset values come back to reality. It would be stupid to chase yield now.
Worst case, the federal government can’t or won’t pay. One option? An emergency program of manditory ongoing rollovers of short term term Treasuries unless you can prove “hardship,” even as inflation slashes their value.
All that it would take is a situation where the governent can’t borrow any more, and the budget deficit is forcilbly ended, and it needs the manditory rollovers to avoid a requirement to run a massive surplus.
“How can dollars be scarce when the US Government at best will print 1.6 trillion more than they take in this year? Add on the inevitable costs for Afghanistan, the repeal Of the Medicare Sustained Growth Caps, extended unemployment/COBRA benifits as the unemployment rate stays elevated and we can look foreward to a two billion dollar deficit soon.”
Sounds as if there isn’t enough money to go around, don’t you think?
“How can dollars be scarce when the US Government at best will print 1.6 trillion more than they take in this year?”
Not scarce, just well hidden beneath the proverbial mattress…
“Not scarce, just well hidden beneath the proverbial mattress…”
Speaking of mattresses, my $2k+ latex CalKing Sealy springless is due to arrive today. As it turned out I had very little decision making power in the matter.
Combo,
We don’t agree on the dollar strategy, time will tell.
But I think we could agree on this. Being ‘all in’ on any one position is risky. If you’re right, and you might be, it’s jackpot time. If you’re not……?
P.S. I haven’t completely abandoned the USD. But I have reduced my % considerably.
Mariner22,
I think that debt massivly outwieghs the amount of dollars even if the government printed another trillion. The government isn’t callable debt either so that new money bleeds in slowly as interest on the debt. Even in that case the money is circulating around.
I’ve been cash heavy for a while.
There is substantial possibility for deflationary effects as banks deleverage. They need more and more cash to offset losses in CRE. Maybe. I’m not an expert on balance sheets and information on bank reserve requirements for losses and capital requirements changes might be in the works.
I’m still sticking with dollars, cash & cash equivs.
Dollars are continously being sucked out of circulation by the banks that need billions of them in order to replenish their depleted balance sheets. This action by banks makes dollars scarce, makes dollars hard to get and hard to keep hold of. I don’t see this trend reversing anytime soon, especially with all the financial time bombs waiting to go off.
This is a minority position held on this message board and most anywhere else, which doesn’t distress me at all; In fact it gives me great comfort.
Just to be argumentative, and also to use a goofy cliche (I like getting the most for my annoyance buck), I’ll put out the following:
That strategy will probably serve you quite well.
… until it doesn’t.
My 403(b) contribution is still going into cash. This position is due partially to inertia and partially due to pessimism.
On a slightly brighter note, Ally Bank has a savings account earning a whopping 1.49% interest. Whoopee!
I’m still sticking with dollars, cash & cash equivs.
Dollars are continously being sucked out of circulation by the banks that need billions of them in order to replenish their depleted balance sheets. This action by banks makes dollars scarce, makes dollars hard to get and hard to keep hold of. I don’t see this trend reversing anytime soon, especially with all the financial time bombs waiting to go off.
This is a minority position held on this message board and most anywhere else, which doesn’t distress me at all; In fact it gives me great comfort.
”
China has stock piled too much Copper may need to sell so commodities maynot be a good idea right now cash looks good to me as well have sold some stocks and put proceeds into cash and short term bonds
Sorry to sound like a recording, but what would happen to the value of your dollars if the US Government announced it was giving every American $250,000 to solve the foreclosure, unemployment, etc problems? Unrealistic? What about the proposals to reduce mortgage debt to the current value of a borrower’s house, and have the Federal Government take the loss?
Problems are not solved by printing more money! Already, we are facing much political upheaval because most of the bailout money went to a select group of people (financial industry) who gave themselves record bonuses for their good fortune. The next bailouts will go closer to main street but not everyone. Money is scarce because all the bailouts went to bankers and not just the TARP - the ZIRP, the Fed purchases of toxic assets including fraudulent mortgages, the FDIC rescues of failed banks,e tc…
I am not advocating calling Peter Schiff and putting all of your net worth in Perth Mint Gold. I am saying you need to protect the value of your cash both with better currencies: FXA, FXC, CYB, and precious metals. Maybe some miners if you want a little leverage.
For the short term - USD looks like the place to be.
“For the short term - USD looks like the place to be.”
The USD is getting stronger as I type. I am hoping it keeps going up. I am wanting to get back into foreign currency at Everbank in St Louis. This bank was mentioned here before.
Forbes rated it best bank 5 years in a row. No toxic mortgages. High profit each quarter. Just doing business the old fashioned way. Being smart and prudent.
I think I will split this time with the Aussie, Candadian & Swissy. The Euro scares me.
Damn, I just converted all of my dollars into Fiji-Island wild-boar tusks!
Pressbb,
They can try to keep the housing bubble from deflating all they want. There are too many holes in the dike and they just can’t plug them all. Can I write that sentence on the Internet?
It is clear that the next bubble to burst is the public sector bubble. It is bursting in a huge way. Local governments have written out far too many checks for salaries, benefits and pensions. Every morning I watch sleepy looking MTA employees stand around and then I read how good their benefits are and how broke the system is. Today I walked a hallway littered with garbage, went down some steps and there were two MTA employees chatting, one leaning on his little broom like the whole damn system was sparkling clean.
I have nothing against unions unless they are public unions. That is a monopoly within a monopoly designed solely to manipulate the political system and then use that manipulation to further enlarge their slice of the public pie. Please don”t cry about some poor underpaid teacher that you know. That is not what I am alluding to. I am alluding to the massive pensions and benefits that are seen as a lottery ticket.
A co-worker was telling me the other day about a very irresponsible person she met. He is presently living in Pennsylvania, living a life of leisure, with three kids spread between two mommies. He doesn’t live with any of them. He has had 2 DWIs in recent years. He is about to get foreclosed. He retired at age 42 as an NYC police officer. He has a pension for life. Of course he promptly moved to Pennsylvania, taking with him all of that NYC money.
The public employee system is broken at all levels. It is a massive bubble. When it bursts it will be yet another major blow against anybody’s ability to keep the housing bubble inflated. A rising tide lifts all boats. A massive tsunami sends those boats onto dry land.
R.I. cities, towns want vehicle tax payment from state
House lawmakers are calling for Governor Carcieri to follow the law and give cities and towns their third-quarter motor-vehicle tax reimbursements.
Although Carcieri wants to cut the excise tax payments in the middle of the current fiscal year — and eliminate it entirely from his 2011 budget — neither measure has won the necessary approval from the General Assembly yet.
Late Wednesday, the House passed a resolution by voice vote that calls for the state to send the nearly $34 million in excise-tax reimbursements to cities and towns. “We’ll see how the governor reacts,” said Rep. Scott J. Guthrie, D-Coventry, who sponsored the legislation.
“Every town and community is shocked,” said West Warwick Town Manager James H. Thomas. “On Feb. 1 we are supposed to get our third-quarter excise tax reimbursement. That’s what the law says. The governor has elected to thumb his nose at state law.”
Municipal leaders across the state expressed outrage earlier this week when the state reimbursements did not arrive. And their frustration only grew on Wednesday when they were briefed on Carcieri’s budget proposal, which cuts state aid to local education and virtually eliminates all aid to some municipalities by doing away with the motor-vehicle tax-reimbursement program.
Under the reimbursement plan, cities and towns take $6,000 off the assessed value of residents’ vehicles and the state reimburses them for the difference. Carcieri’s proposal will keep the value reduction on vehicles, but will not have the state make up the difference.
“What can I say, my community is literally bleeding,” said North Smithfield Town Administrator Paulette Hamilton when asked about this week’s double dose of bad news. “It’s going to be extremely, extremely difficult. What the governor is talking about would mean $2 million in cuts for us next year, and we’re still scrambling to see our way out of the $970,000 he cut this year.
“I could shut all town operations for the rest of the year and still not make up that amount,” she said of the current-year cut.
In Warwick, Mayor Scott Avedisian is withholding building fees, traffic fines and other sources of revenue the city collects for the state, and the measure is being discussed in other communities.
“I absolutely understand the governor’s need to balance his budget, but I need to balance mine, too,” Avedisian said. “We are trying to show the state that there’s virtually nowhere left to turn. Last year, we took midyear cuts so the state could balance its budget, but the state didn’t balance its budget, so it’s not like we’re part of a solution.”
Warwick is currently withholding about $10,000 in state fees, and over the course of a year may collect several hundred thousand dollars that has to be remitted to the state. Avedisian, a Republican, said he is conferring with the city solicitor over the legality of the move.
Does Rhode Island have a state lottery?
I want to know what the cryst is happening with the money generated by state lotteries. In PA they just announced a Megamillions game in addition to the Powerball. So if R.I. doesn’t have its own separate lottery, does it participate in these multi-state games?
When they announced PA’s inclusion into Megamillions, the projection was another $30 million in revenues just from the one game, adjusted for the games that people would stop playing of course.
When the state lottery first appeared in the late ’70s we were told that the money collected would be directed to senior citizen programs. At this point, who knows what they’re doing with the funds.
RI had Powerball, and just added MegaMillions on January 31, 2010.
MA just added Powerball on January 31, 2010, in addition to participating in MegaMillions.
It’s “for the children” as usual. They say it goes toward education. But money is fungible. Your pour a bucket of water into the river, downstream you take it out to water flowers…is it same water that came from the bucket? Oh possibly some molecules, but on the whole it doesn’t mean what the money is “meant” for.
I did a google search for “state lottery audit”. Some states have their lottery audits posted, but I don’t see anything for PA.
However I did discover our Auditor General is raising all kinds of ‘ell over interest rate swaps:
“It’s unconscionable that greedy Wall Street bankers are rewarding themselves with excessive bonuses whose profits were derived, in part, by hard-working Pennsylvanians whose elected officials gambled away their tax dollars in risky financial schemes they didn’t understand,” Wagner said. “Interest-rate swaps have no place in local government and the General Assembly should put a stop to this immediately.”
At least seven Pennsylvania school districts and municipal governments have lost an aggregate $34 million in bad interest-rate swaps during the past two years, according to a Department of the Auditor General investigation and media reports.
Interest-rate swaps are legal agreements between two parties, such as a school district and an investment bank, on which way interest rates will move. The party that guesses correctly gets paid, and the party that guesses incorrectly must pay. The payments are determined by the amount of public debt financed with variable-rate loans.
According to Moody’s Investors Service, Pennsylvania has the most local government units in the nation engaged in high-risk swaps. Investigators for the Department of the Auditor General have found that 107 of 500 school districts, or 21 percent, and 86 local governments have tied up taxpayer funds in interest-rate swaps.”
34 millions pis$ed away. I do not understand why our Auditor General’s efforts are not making front page news all over the state. Is everyone’s brain that besotted with the Iggles and the Stillers not being in the playoffs?
“my community is literally bleeding”
Uh, I don’t think he means “literally” literally.
NYC,
One example of this largesse. A neighbor of a good friend retired as a county exec. last year. This is just a guy who started at a low level job and through attrition and longevity reached the #2 position. This with no fantastic pedigree or obviously superior outward skills. He retired with an annual pension of $186K with lifetime medical too. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against the person. But god damn.
In the olden days of dinosaurs, as long they weren’t total losers, people used to be promoted steadily within their organization.
How terribly old fashioned. Reward for steady performance. Damn socialeest/commie thinking, that!
Eco,
I’m all for loyalty within the organization but $186K? And medical for life?
Remember this department’s income stream comes mainly from property tax revenue. This group would fully fund their wages and benefits as the first line item in the county budget.
Hard work should be rewarded but unfortunately the pain isn’t being shared proportionally.
I hear you. I’d like to make 186K myself plus free medical.
But… that 186K will be taxed at the maximum amount. That’s just the right bracket where you get few deductions or ATM can bite you hard and supercede your deductions. Take home is around 110K. Which is still nice.
People making between 50K and 200K are the ones who really get the tax shaft. In other words, the middle class.
I’m a firm believer that people who collect their pensions have damn well earned them even if they are making more than I.
Agree with you, eco. That was part of their compensation package. Back in the day, the govt employers had to lure employees in with the perks and better job stability. The private sector was known to pay more during the good times, and lose more during the bad times. People in public service agree to take less during the good times, so that they can have a more secure job in down times.
They earned their compensation, they deserve to keep it.
A friends older brother is a retired cop in Nevada. His pension is almost $80k per year. It’d be hard to find a state in worse financial shape than NV. These entitlements are NOT sustainable.
Again, this current fad of picking on retirees is nothing but propaganda by the PTB to distract you.
Let me tell you, most of those retirees EARNED those pensions.
You should be focusing on the corruption and insider deals that caused those governments to lose and waste their budget in the first place, not on your average middle class schmo.
How does your version of ’splat’ play out?
Austerity measures. Political crises. Retirement account confiscations (US Treasury is open for comment). Strikes. Protests. Mayhem. Stock market crash. Bond market crash. High unemployment, deflation, and ultimately inflation.
On one hand, politicians are aiding banks and corporate entities. On the other hand, they are cutting public benefits and raising taxes, a toxic combination.
They’ve turned a private sector debt crisis into a public sector debt crisis trying to save the private sector. You can’t slap a new label on the borrower and hope for the best in the middle of a debt crisis. The common denominator — public or private — is the taxpayer. There is just too much debt.
“There is just too much debt.”
Well since Corporations are now “people”
I still see debt “people”
They’ve been “persons” for a long time.
Is blood in the street part of your scenario? If it happens, the following period may actually prove a good time to buy a home, for anyone who is not adopting a hunker-down bunker mentality by then…
The US owns a printing press, no sovereign debt problems here. We just print whatever we need, problem solved. Clownifornia or Greece for example don’t own a printing press that means big problems.
See, all it takes for eternal prosperity is a printing press.
It takes a breathtakingly huge amount of horsepower to change the course of a fully loaded supertanker at sea. It takes a similiarly large amount of force to change it back. This is the blessing and the curse the USD faces.
“We just print whatever we need, problem solved.”
You can only do that once — or can you?
I refer you to the old Charlie Brown episodes where Lucy implores him to kick a football, only to take it away at the last instant and leave poor Charlie Brown flat on his back. Works like a charm, again and again…
Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) — Copper stockpiles held in duty-free warehouses in China, the top user, may be re-exported after surging to as much as 350,000 tons from almost none at the start of the year, according to Xi’an Maike Metal International Group.
“We can hardly find buyers for refined copper,” said Luo Shengzhang, general manager of the copper department at Xi’an Maike. The company ranks among the country’s three biggest importers, according to the executive. “China’s got to export some copper from now and next year,” Luo said in an interview.
Oooohhh, that’s gotta hurt!
Sounds like they oughta try reducing the asking price…
Offer a free ingot of copper with each panel of Chinese drywall.
Chinese dude, haven’t you heard everything that is made is made in China? If there is no demand for your copper locally, guess what, the rest of the world has no use for it as well!
The repo guys are going to come for that printing press. I think the Treasury is behind on the payments. That and the guy who they call to clear the massive paper-jams has put a lien on the printing press because they owe him too. We should send “Operation Repo” to get the printing press. That would be a great SNL episode with Bernanke and Timmay fighting with the repo guys as they load it up in their truck.
Awesome idea!!!
The US owns a printing press, no sovereign debt problems here.
More accurately, the US owns a printing press and because it is the defacto global reserve currency, benefits from the continued demand for dollars, hence no sovereign debt problems… there, fixed that for you.
Seigniorage creation is a great way to coax your goose to lay golden eggs…
up until when the poor goose dies of exhaustion.
I think once the Chinese get wind of the scale of “strategic defaults” going on in this country they will slow down on buying our crap paper in a hurry. The ball is rolling and MSM is picking up the story. The rest will be history.
I thought gold only went up.
Lots of babies will get thrown with with the bathwater, once full-blown panic sets in.
Someone talked about US debt being backed by the “full faith and credit of the US government.” It’s actually the full “taxing power” of the US government - the ability to extract wealth from the population and use it for its own means. I think Greece is balking about that level being too high, to pay off foreign debt.
The question becomes, when will the US population balk at it? When will taxes get so high that that extracting sufficient wealth to pay interest on the debt will be in doubt?
Greece will be an interesting case study.
Neuro - I’m ashamed. You of all should be familiar with the tax that is inflation. No extraction necessary - just creation. It’s a lot more politically acceptable than raising tax rates, but has the same net effect.
Ahhh, there is that.
U.S. Economy: Services Expanded Less Than Forecast.
(Bloomberg) — Service industries in the U.S. expanded less than anticipated in January, a sign the recovery will be slow to spread from manufacturing to the rest of the economy.
The Institute for Supply Management’s index of non- manufacturing businesses, which make up almost 90 percent of the economy, climbed to 50.5 from 49.8 in December, figures from the Tempe, Arizona-based group showed today. Readings above 50 signal growth. Other reports showed firings eased last month.
Unemployment close to a 26-year high may restrain growth as Americans limit spending on clothing, vacations and restaurant meals. Stocks dropped on concern the recovery will lose momentum after business investment and efforts to rebuild inventories drove the strongest pace of expansion in six years last quarter.
“Manufacturing is getting an awful lot of help, and it looks like the rest of the economy is getting awfully dull growth,” said Robert Mellman, an economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in New York, which correctly forecast the ISM index. Employment “will gradually get better. Profits had another strong quarter and margins are going up. Businesses are very, very lean and they’ll be hiring soon.”
“…and they’ll be hiring soon.”
That’s what TTT said too. But it begs the question: what appeals more to “lean and mean” companies operating in a slow growth environment, profit growth or payroll growth?
Ahh, the “V” shaped recovery is here.
Roidy
Are scrapbooking stores maufacturing or service sector?
I get confused since I heard that barristas are considered manufacturing….
Candle shoppes are definitely manufacturing. Obama is counting on them to double our exports to China. He thinks all Chinese love artsy-fartsy scented candles and the foreign demand will be huge.
What if the candles are made in China to begin with?
Not the overpriced lazy-rich-housewife-realtor-on-the-side-made kind that the Chinese crave. They will just not be able to get enough of these crappy candles! Don’t try and argue with the commander-in-chief.
Along with candle shoppes and pirate stores, they are retail which I believe is considered service sector, no?
Yes, anything overpriced and cheesy could be considered the service sector.
Since all the scrapbooking stuff is made in China, I’d go with service sector.
Nail salons and massage parlors seem to be everywhere these days. The service economy is thriving!
I always love when something ends with a “happy ending”.
Been there, seen that.
The reality has been that after every recession, the employment situation NEVER fully recovers. Whether it’s the quality of jobs, the lack of jobs or the frozen or reduced pay, employment is not the same as before the recession.
I’ve seen 6 of them now.
Appears Kalifornians have their priorities in order, screw the mortgage, what’s the bank gonna do… foreclose?
More Californians opt to pay credit cards over mortgages.
San Francisco Business Times ~ 1-3-10
More Californians are choosing to pay their monthly credit card bills over their home mortgages, according to a TransUnion study released Wednesday.
“Conventional wisdom has always been that, when faced with a financial crisis, consumers will pay their secured obligations first, specifically their mortgages,” said Sean Reardon, the author of the TransUnion study. “Increasingly, more consumers are paying their credit cards before making mortgage payments.”
The trend first emerged in the first quarter of 2008. And even though the economy appears to have entered recovery in recent months, the trend of paying credit cards over mortgages is actually accelerating.
And even though the economy appears to have entered recovery in recent months
They had to get that in there. Take away that $1.6 trillion government deficit and where are we? I can tell you. We would be hoping we could even get back to Square 1. We have frittered away hundreds of billions in return for not much of anything.
Lately, it is quite difficult to find a MSM econo article that does not contain that phrase or some variation of it. If I didn’t know better, that all conspiracies are false, I’d be inclined to think it was somehow…coordinated.
“…I’d be inclined to think it was somehow…coordinated.”
It is coordinated, to the extent that the MSM staffers get most of their info from the same press releases.
“It is coordinated, to the extent that the MSM staffers get most of their info from the same press releases.”
It’s coordinated only to the extent that what’s left of the MSM is too lazy or incapable of doing any actual reporting to determine if what’s in the press release they’re about to disseminate is even remotely true. What now passes for the U.S. MSM is mostly a disgrace.
Obama +1.6 trillion !
“…in return for not much of anything.”
But Boy! We’ve saved The System!
I really wish there was a way to find out how many teachers, firefighters, police, etc. would actually have been laid off without the government cash. If the financial constraint had actually hit, would their unions have accepted a pay cut? a salary freeze? early retirements (not that this would have saved much money)? fire the newbies? Would they have gone on strike? Would any one have cared if they did? What does a first grade class with 40 kids fighting over 30 desks accomplish in a year? Would towns and states have cancelled construction projects right in the middle? If they had, would the contractors sue? If they sued would they win?
I guess we’ll find out in about two years….
Two years? Won’t that be right in the middle of the recovery? They are going to be hiring more peeps by then.
“What does a first grade class with 40 kids fighting over 30 desks accomplish in a year?”
improves self-discipline?
What planet would that be on, Bronco?
Polly, LAPD is looking at laying off ALL of the rookie cops this year due to the budget constraint.
I think I wouldn’t lay anyone off. I would raise retirement age a little. Cut the pensions a little. Reduce staff through attrition and a less hiring. Cut salaries a little and eliminate as much OT as I could.
Some of these “leaders” could pull such things off.
Reduce staff through attrition and a less hiring. Cut salaries a little and eliminate as much OT as I could.
——————
They are already doing this in many cases, and word is going around about the pension issue and how that will need to be fixed.
Well considering you can’t do much today without a valid credit card or two these days… it’s just another unintended consequence of our digital society.
I have lived and traveled for years without using a “credit card”. It has something to do with saved money. Sure my bank card says “VISA” but there is nothing credity about it.
Normally I’d agree but it’s hard to charge back with a debit card, yes?
Of course, I could wean myself off spending completely….nahhh.
It’s all about appearances! They may be able to stay in their homes w/o paying for a year. Pay the credit cards and they can still have shiny things to show the neighbors, and get to live beyond your means for another few months.
“… and get to live beyond your means for another few months.”
And then … what?
“And then … what?”
There’s lots of possibilities:
1) new job or big raise
2) winning lottery ticket
3) government bailout
4) new credit card with higher limit
5) tooth fairy finally makes good, with interest
Besides, we’re talking a few months out. That’s, like, forever away (or 10+ episodes of Idol.)
You forgot:
-housing prices will rise again and the glory days will return!
Their tax refund arrives?
Yeah. I’m seeing lots of new homless people around. Younger and less mentally ill than the old ones.
I’m sure some people survive on bilking the system.
However my guess is the majority end up on the streets.
Charity work my family has dedicated itself too has been a growing industry.
True story from my bike shop days: Bob the boss hired this smooth-talking guy, and soon regretted having done so.
Fella redefined the word “incompetent.” To the point that Doofus once did a $6,000 overring at the cash register. Had no idea how to fix it. (Bob showed me the register tape. What a mess.)
Well, Bob fired him, the guy filed for unemployment and got it. All $1,200 of it. He probably blew through that in a month.
Well, that was back in the late 1990s. Last time I saw the guy was, oh, 2007. And Doofus appeared to be homeless.
Fortunately, I was far enough away from him that he didn’t see me. Otherwise, I would have been treated to yet another one of the sob stories I heard back in the bike shop. And it would have been so-o-o-o much fun to tell him that I had no money to give him.
“…screw the mortgage, what’s the bank gonna do… foreclose?”
No kidding — like the banks really need more shadow inventory hidden off their books…
20 reasons Global Debt Time Bomb explodes soon.
ARROYO GRANDE, Calif. (MarketWatch) — Retire? You can fuggetaboutit if the new Global Debt Time Bomb is detonated by any one of 20 made-in-America trigger mechanisms.
Yes, 20. And yes, any one can destroy your retirement because all 20 are inexorably linked, a house-of-cards, a circular firing squad destined to self-destruct, triggering the third great Wall Street meltdown of the 21st century, igniting the Great Depression II that George W. Bush, Ben Bernanke, Henry Paulson and now President Obama have simply delayed with their endless knee-jerk, debt-laden wars, stimulus bonanzas and bailouts.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/our-debt-time-bomb-is-ready-to-go-ka-boom-2010-02-02
This is old news. About 20-30 years old.
Is THIS the awareness level of today’s aged gurus and pundits?
Such erudite figures at Marketwatch, et al. And so dismissive, too. Thanks for letting us know we’re screwed…because as your chronological and intellectual juniors (naturally - how could we be anything but your intellectual juniors?), we didn’t know so already.
Time-share charge leads to 4Q loss for Starwood; adjusted results top views
February 4, 2010
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) — Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. lost money in the fourth quarter, mostly because of a hefty charge for cancelled projects and lower prices in its time-share business.
The operator of the Westin, Sheraton and other hotel brands also gave a cautious 2010 outlook Thursday, anticipating bookings will occur closer to travel dates this year.
What? Have people really stopped buying timeshares? Tell me it ain’t so!
Looked through Sacramento listings last night. Six new overpriced listings for luxury condos that haven’t been built yet. Not exactly the flood of foreclosures I was hoping for. Lots of measly price reductions for existing listings. No bargains in good areas. Lots of cheap houses and condos in less desirable areas. My buyers will have to wait longer.
I had to wait 21 years to be able to legally engage my good buddy, Jack Daniels. Your buyers may have to be just as patient. Some things are worth waiting for.
Super Bowl is this weekend. Just you wait.
Wink wink nod nod.
I only have to wait until the alarm clock goes off.
Jack Daniels: Breakfast of Champions.
Does the alarm clock add something?
I am sure you and Jack D have met numerous times before you turned 21:-)
Greetings from Orlando, FL! (Next week: Vienna, Austria)
I was reading the NY Times article this morning about “underwater” people who decide to walk away from homes for no reason other than they’re underwater.
I’m not going to argue the morality of a business transaction. Certainly if the contract stipulated that the house was the collateral, and there’s no recourse beyond that, and the homeowner didn’t lie on his mortgage application and didn’t take out any second mortgages, then it’s completely within the bounds of the agreement. (Admittedly, this “if” may not be true for the majority of debtors.)
However, I was thinking if our government had balls, it would attempt to retroactively invalidate the mortgage interest tax deduction for people who do this.
Here’s the logic: a person who decides to walk away clearly saw the purchase as an investment and not a house. There would be no other reason to walk away from it. You agreed to the terms, you can afford it, and you thought it was a proper deal when you made it. You’re dumping it not because you’re likely to lose money on it if you sell it, not because it’s an unsuitable living arrangement.
The Mortgage Interest tax deduction isn’t supposed to cover investment property. Because people who walk away from a house they can afford are abandoning the property because of its investment value, they shouldn’t be entitled to the mortgage interest tax deduction.
To allow someone to get out of a bad investment deal AND deduct the interest paid on their “margin loan” is unjustifiable. (Typically the IRS allows Investment interest expense to be deductible up to the amount of investment income….)
Of course this will never happen. These people get to get to walk away on a bum investment and not be subject to the same rules (like limiting write-offs to $3000/year) that you and I have to follow.
I think the “morality” issue is easy to reconcile: People need to look at it as a simple “warranty” problem. The house was bought from the vendor (bank) and is now not performing as per the expected qualities of a house. A house should not leak, lean, sag, fall apart, or collapse in value. If you bought a laptop from Best Buy and a week later you realized it was a piece of crap and you paid too much for it, you probably wouldn’t think twice about returning it. Well…?
But isn’t EVERYTHING at Best Buy overpriced?
I’ve seen tax law changes made retroactive to the start of the year in which they are enacted, but nothing beyond that. Not ever. And most of the time, they are only effective as of the date they are signed.
And your interpretation would have some heft behind it if there was anything in the language of the section (and regulations) that allowed for mortgage interest deductions that precluded them from being applicable if the buyer thought of the house as an investment. But there isn’t. Limits on the amount deducted. Limits on the number of houses. But not limits on what the person thinking when they bought the house.
You don’t really want the IRS to enforce laws based on its own assumptions about what the taxpayer was thinking, do you?
You don’t really want the IRS to enforce laws based on its own assumptions about what the taxpayer was thinking, do you?
Ya gotta point there, polly!
Of course you’re right. It would be a rule to enforce from now on, and not retroactively.
But the government makes retroactive tax decisions all the time. Even with the bank/automaker bailout, they tried to change the rules after the money was issued by, for example, limiting pay and bonuses.
And Congress wanted to retroactively tax A.I.G. bonuses.
Posted this video yesterday on the Chinese property bubble but it was late and if you didn’t see it, you should take the time to watch it. The MSM investment media has made a big deal about China leading us out of our “temporary recession” and anyone who watches this video will see that a disaster is coming to China just like the one that happened here. Here is the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXNr46HTYkw
It’s different there.
giggle/snort
Thanks for posting that, pressboard.
“About two weeks ago, the Allen County Council debated offering incentives to entice transferred GM workers to buy homes, but the council did not make a decision.
1. How unfair is this? Using taxpayer monies to help certain people buy a house because they work for Government Motors but deny that benefit to everyone else?
2. The LAST thing these new transplanted GM workers should do is buy a house. This factory may close next week and you may need to move again. Wait a while and figure it
out first.
At this point, the last thing anyone should do is buy a house. Companies are merging, appearing, disappearing, and moving all the time. No one can expect to stay in the same state, much less the same city (forget about the same job) for more than five years or so. We’re all going to be living like the military families, moving every 2-3 years. Except we’ll have to do it for 40 years instead of 20, and job hunt the entire time too.
I had originally wanted to buy a house by a certain time frame. I see now that that’s not going to happen. And the way prices are going and the way jobs are migrating, why should a single person like me bother? There’s no more appreciation and no more inflation hedge, and any house at a reasonable price is a dump. The only advantage for an owner is that after 30 years, an owner doesn’t have to pay “rent.” I would be better off saving for 30 years until I’m done moving like a nomad. Then I could move to podunk and build a Katrina Cottage for cash.
Grim outlook, Oxide, but truth in there. As this disaster drags on it’s beginning to feel like: Er, what was it we were waiting for, exactly? The reaper?
Indeed, they’ve done a good job hosing things for us. No job security, no home, no financial security, etc. A shame that America (and the world as a whole) has come to this: wandering nomads trying to avoid having everything taken from them by those who want to Bail Out the system.
At this point, the last thing anyone should do is buy a house. Companies are merging, appearing, disappearing, and moving all the time.”
yea thats my thought as well
Me too
Me three.
Exactly oxide, and this has been going for 30 years.
It CAN NOT continue. You cannot have a 75% consumer driven economy when you’re doing your damnedest to make your consumers poor.
You might as well try to pass a law against the tides.
It will all implode - well, most of it will. 2/3 of the population won’t have squat in 20 years, many of them people who have worked their entire lives and paid into the system for decades.
The money is already gone, sucked out by tens of millions who have bled the rest of us dry.
Boarding houses, anyone? Free rent to any nurse or G.P. MD who signs a contract to live in the house for five years and serve those who board there!
What the h*ll, lawyers, malpractice insurance and tuition are bleeding doctors dry, too. Might as well throw docs a tourniquet. Doctors won’t have anything, either.
First time jobless claims rise “unexpectedly”.
when will everyone quit expecting things?
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Firsttime-jobless-claims-rise-apf-106391038.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=1&asset=cad1a1ff92758a185ac973f70ef68115&ccode=mp
don’t you mean…when will people stop unexpecting?
“First time jobless claims rise “unexpectedly”.”
Only the tools they quote maybe believe that. Anybody existing in the real world knows it’s obviously not true.
“unexpectedly”
“unexpectedly”
The HBB Drinking Game. Every time someone on the news says “unexpected”, you take a shot.
Oh hell no! We’d kill ourselves! Even the pros wouldn’t survive!
I told you guys there would be more “unexpectedly.”
Count on it.
i bit the bullet and paid for an itulip sub. eric’s free stuff is so good i just had to check it out. i am reading an article from a few weeks ago where he basically called a top in the debt deflation bear market ralley.
very interesting read.
Did he say he thought the top had already been reached - or is yet to come?
“We believe that the First Bounce of the Debt Deflation Bear Market ended early this month.”
- eric janszen - itulip.com
Thanks.
Magic 8 balls says “All signs point to Yes” (i.e. he’s right)
(”Magic 8 ball” I mean)
I think Robert Prechter the Elliot wave guy called a top as well a few weeks ago
So - in other news - looks like we may get the “storm of the century” in my neck of the woods - northern VA. Forecast is for 12 - 20 inches, though some models are calling for up to 40 inches!
Was hoping to go to WV this weekend to go skiing - ironically our plans may be nixed by too much snow - we may not actually be able to get there!
Updated forecast - 16-24 inches.
vienna, va here…when does it start?
Starts late morning Friday, 1-4 inches by the end of Friday. snow continues heavier all through Saturday. Total accum 16-20 inches.
I’m going to the store TODAY to stock up. Plus I have a go-bag and car kit locked and loaded (no firearms, although i have a friend who insists I need one.)
A go-bag? You ain’t gonna be able to go anywhere. Plowing around here is spotty at best. And you do NOT want to share the roads with DC area drivers in the snow. They are complete morons. Imagine people driving off in a car with 8 or more inches of snow, not just on the roof, but also on the hood of the car, and blocking all the lights.
If you think you are at risk of having your power and/or water go out for extended periods, the go-bag might be needed to take to a shelter, I guess. Other than that, you need nesting supplies - a good book, stuff to make soup/chilli/comfort food of your choice and a movie or two.
Grocery shopping will wait for Sunday.
Imagine people driving off in a car with 8 or more inches of snow, not just on the roof, but also on the hood of the car, and blocking all the lights.
The next time I see someone here in the Snow Belt driving a car that hasn’t been cleared off, I’ll know they’re from D.C.!
oh man, we never get a good snow here anymore!
Alexandria, VA here - Headed down to Roanoke this weekend. Hopefully, my job will be closed Monday and I’ll get an extra day off.
Are you heading to a NG armory?
I’m thinking Mr Market might be stuck near a 10K support level for quite a little while going forward…
market pulse
Feb. 4, 2010, 9:38 a.m. EST
U.S. stocks begin lower as jobless claims rise
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stocks opened lower Thursday after a rise in weekly jobless claims dented hopes about Friday’s employment report for January. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDU 10,135, -135.43, -1.32%) fell 83.97 points to 10,186.58. The S&P 500 Index (SPX 1,079, -18.78, -1.71%) declined 10.4 points to 1,086.88. The Nasdaq Composite (COMP 2,156, -35.30, -1.61%) shed 15.42 points to 2,175.49.
I think we are going back to the 8500 range.the smart guys are shorting and taking profits.The hardest decsision to make is knowing when to sell.Dont get greedy.
If we break 10040 on the dow (1070 on the S&P), it’s all over. An interesting afternoon awaits.
What’s so special about those numbers?
They’re based on ZIP codes, of course. Don’t you know anything about technical analysis?
hilarious!
S&P 1070 represents a “support level” for the average. Apparently there is no support for stock prices below that average. Interesting in that stocks are staying just above that today. Stay tuned.
And the dollar is stronger and stronger relative to other currencies. Deflation, anyone?
Dang, what’s happening to the US stock, currency and gold markets today????
(Looks like someone picked a bad week to quit drinkin’ cool-aid)
Stocks are down mostly because of bad employment numbers (new claims 480k - much higher than expected, and still at recessionary levels).
Currencies are up due (and gold down) due to the continuation of the notion that the US$ is a “safe” thing.
Actually, I’ll take the blame for this leg down.
After holding broad index puts for most of the past year, I was finally too depressed and broke to renew them again after they expired on Jan 20th. So of course it has been straight down since then.
How’s that for timing???
Oh Lordy, PIC. I’m so sorry to hear that. (and totally know what it feels like over the years)
Hopefully, you’ll get some of that money back if you go long at some point.
PPT is really having to bust @ss today, I bet.
I mean, the guy must be getting a blister on his finger from hitting the “buy” button every time the market starts tanking.
Think of the stock market as a spring which gets laden with just enough liquidity to perfectly offset every attempt by Mr Market to drive it down. Once the fundamental reasons for decline have blown over, the loaded spring will pop up like a Jack in the Box, melding into “higher than expected” future inflation…
Coming to a city near you
COLORADO SPRINGS — This tax-averse city is about to learn what it looks and feels like when budget cuts slash services most Americans consider part of the urban fabric.
More than a third of the streetlights in Colorado Springs will go dark Monday. The police helicopters are for sale on the Internet. The city is dumping firefighting jobs, a vice team, burglary investigators, beat cops — dozens of police and fire positions will go unfilled.
The parks department removed trash cans last week, replacing them with signs urging users to pack out their own litter.
Neighbors are encouraged to bring their own lawn mowers to local green spaces, because parks workers will mow them only once every two weeks. If that.
Water cutbacks mean most parks will be dead, brown turf by July; the flower and fertilizer budget is zero.
City recreation centers, indoor and outdoor pools, and a handful of museums will close for good March 31 unless they find private funding to stay open. Buses no longer run on evenings and weekends. The city won’t pay for any street paving, relying instead on a regional authority that can meet only about 10 percent of the need.
“I guess we’re going to find out what the tolerance level is for people,” said businessman Chuck Fowler, who is helping lead a private task force brainstorming for city budget fixes. “It’s a new day.”
From the Denver Post
Well. This might be a good thing. Not sure how many firemen you really need.
Course when you need them, you really need them.
Cops too. Never around when you need them, always around when you don’t.
Could be a correlation on legalizing (some) drugs and lowering police manpower?
COLORADO SPRINGS…The California “Irvine” of Colorado
“The HELOC you say!” (In Montana™)
More than a third of the streetlights in Colorado Springs will go dark Monday. The police helicopters are for sale on the Internet. The city is dumping firefighting jobs, a vice team, burglary investigators, beat cops — dozens of police and fire positions will go unfilled.
This is how the US will start to resemble many South American countries. Gutting law enforcement at a time when there are rising #’s of unemployed should lead to a really nice crime surge. People will buy bars for the windows and the rich will build walls and hire security firms. Next up kidnapping?
Overall crime levels are way down in both relative and absolute terms. The only big crime surge was on Wall Street some time ago.
Overall crime levels are way down in both relative and absolute terms
Wait until unemployment benefits run out and the cost of fuel and food surge.
I can recall living in Pittsburgh during its Great Depression of the 1980s. Did the social order collapse in the Steel City? Nope. Did crime go through the roof? Uh-uh.
Now, of course, there is an interesting exception to the above. And that was when President Reagan visited Pittsburgh. I was living in the ‘Burgh, but I was just a bit too busy with my own life to be involved in the festivities.
But, I heard via a friend who was in Downtown Pittsburgh, that a riot darn near broke out as Reagan’s limo went by. It seems that the unemployed steelworking peasants were unhappy with their jobless state. Tomatoes were sent aloft in the direction of the Presidential motorcade, which hightailed it outta there.
You probably didn’t hear about this in the MSM. This was the Pittsburgh visit in which Reagan received a resume from an unemployed man who was in a retraining program. (He later found a job, but was laid off from it.)
IIRC, Houston auto thefts are up 12%.
Still not one cut to one insane public union pension
I don’t know about Springs, but in Loveland cops and firefighters are the only city employees that get pensions (it pays to have a good union). Everybody else gets a a 401(k) type of deal with a generous match. The school disctrict is separate.
Interesting how other Colorado communities are faring so poorly as Springs. There’s no talk in Loveland of such draconian measures, at least not yet. Of course it helped that we “de-Bruced” or local sales tax collections, freeing them from TABOR.
are faring -> aren’t faring
Wait a minute…we have not heard from Edgie.
Things were going a lot more upbeat for the Colorado Springs in his parallel universe.
Could be a time delay thing or maybe protons buzz better in his dimension.
How much for the police helicopter?
Loan Repurchases Are a $10 Billion Problem for Big Banks
by Alistair Barr Thursday, February 4, 2010
BWAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHHAHAHAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! (fpss™)
“The trend is also pitting big lenders, insurers and mortgage-finance institutions against each other. That’s a big change from the previous decade, when they worked together to fuel the housing boom by originating, insuring and securitizing mortgages in record amounts.”
“The wave of loan repurchase demands on securitization sponsors is the next area of fun in the zombie dance party, namely the part where different zombies start to eat each other,” Whalen wrote in a note to clients Tuesday.”
“Disputes such as these are sparking increased tensions between companies that previously worked closely together during the real estate boom.”
“…She started it!”
“Did not! He started it!”
“Did Not!”
“Did So!”
“…I’m telling Moody’s”
“So what, I’ll tell S&P”
“Liar!”
“…you’re the liar”
Lloyd Blankfein’s pants are on fire?
Filed under: “America, size matters…having “somewhat” less than 1.2 Billion mouths to feed & bodies to shelter …could possibly, perhaps be viewed as maybe, perchance as having a small, slight amount of “upside potential”
Bloomberg
Biggest Bubble in History Is Growing Every Day: William Pesek :
“This is a titanically large foreign-exchange trade,” says David Simmonds, London-based analyst at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc. “It’s the biggest one history has ever seen and there’s nowhere for these reserves to go.”
China’s huge arsenal of reserves is increasing its global influence. The trouble is, China is trapped in an arrangement of its own making. As China and other Asian nations buy more and more U.S. Treasuries, it becomes harder to unload them without causing huge capital losses. And so they keep adding to them.
China aims to diversify out of U.S. Treasuries into other assets and commodities. The question that governments are grappling with is which markets are deep enough to absorb China’s riches? Gold? Oil? Euro-area debt? The Madoff family’s next Ponzi scheme?
Ending Badly
The challenge for China alone is like trying to park an Airbus A-380 super-jumbo in a Volkswagen. Like all pyramid schemes, there’s no easy end in sight and things could end badly.
The challenge for China alone is like trying to park an Airbus A-380 super-jumbo in a Volkswagen. Like all pyramid schemes, there’s no easy end in sight and things could end badly.
As in the US they will try to kick the can down the road and hope something happens that will take away their pain. They still focus on keeping population employed so dropping the dollar would shatter employment as well as hit their reserves.
China: All your money are belong to us.
US: Yup, you’ve certainly cornered the used paper market. Hope you find a good use for it.
US: Yup, you’ve certainly cornered the used paper market. Hope you find a good use for it.
Actually since most trades are done electronically they’re only cornering the market on 0’s and 1’s. I hear the U.S. has a trick up our sleeves though - plans are underway to switch our online currency to 2’s and 3’s. Bummer for China.
Here’s my plan….
China uses all this money they are sitting on to buy out every citizen of Taiwan, then give everyone on the island 12 months to decide whether to stay or leave.
Let a bunch of new immigrate here (with all their money). Give priority to the twenty somethings. Make it easy for them to buy houses.
China gets Taiwan……we get an influx of educated people with money, and defuse a (potential) conflict with China. Everybody’s happy.
Makes sense to me.
It would be a boon for west coast housing markets. Probably Vancouver, BC too.
Definitely Vancouver. Outside of San Francisco, it’s the most Asian place I’ve ever been in on this continent.
Cupertino, Ca belongs in this discussion.
Oh, I like this one. Not that we have a lot of extra jobs for them right now, but with the debt off our back, I’m sure we will get there eventually.
Anyway, isn’t this a writ large version of “owe a bank $10K and they own you, owe a bank $10 million and you own them” (for fairly small banks and people without savings)?
Really. X-GS, the more I think about this the more I like it. Very, very nicely done.
we get an influx of educated people with money, and defuse a (potential) conflict with China. Everybody’s happy.
Love it. Plus, Taiwanese women are really cute.
Macy’s here in the Bay Area will love it. Their petite dept. to cater to Asians is huge - can’t get pants to fit my long legs any more! Oh right — you did say San Francisco, didn’t you?
Being short of stature and slender of build, I’d love it too.
Their petite dept. … is huge
Ex-BofA chief Lewis charged with fraud
http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/04/news/companies/bank_of_america/index.htm?hpt=T1
“New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo unveiled a major legal action against senior Bank of America executives Thursday over its controversial purchase of Merrill Lynch, including bringing civil charges against its former CEO Ken Lewis.”
“The lawsuit contends that the bank’s management team understated the losses at Merrill in order to get shareholders to approve the deal, then subsequently overstated the firm’s willingness to terminate the merger in order to get $20 billion of additional aid from the federal government.”
“Bank of America, through its top management, engaged in a concerted effort to deceive shareholders and American taxpayers at large,” Cuomo said in a statement. “This was an arrogant scheme hatched by the bank’s top executives who believed they could play by their own set of rules.”
Nail the scum! Bye, bye Ken. Apparently the hit on Spitzer wasn’t enough to save you from the punishment you so richly deserve.
Perhaps this will be a needed push toward smaller and more tightly regulated banks.
I hope this is the first of many high profile lawsuits by Cuomo since the Obama “Justice” Department keeps sitting on its hands.
I hope this is the first of many high profile lawsuits by Cuomo since the Obama “Justice” Department keeps sitting on its hands.
Yep, I think his standing with the people would be much better if a few of these criminals were prosecuted.
“Yep, I think his standing with the people would be much better if a few of these criminals were prosecuted.”
Yeah, a little well-placed populism could be good politics and good public policy.
Good fraud cases take a long time to develop. A very long time. Patience.
It’s kinda interesting BofA is hiding behind the SEC’s skirt, no? Moreover, why only civil charges?
“In fact, the SEC had access to the same evidence as the NYAG and concluded that there was no basis to enter either a charge of fraud or to charge individuals. The company and these executives will vigorously defend ourselves,” the bank said.
WSJ: BofA, Executives Face Civil Charges by Cuomo
It’s kinda interesting BofA is hiding behind the SEC’s skirt, no? Moreover, why only civil charges?
Why do you think Wall Street wants to do away with state prosecutors, and consolidate down to one regulatory agency. It’s easier to control one agency, stamp out populist prosecutors who will actually go after them. I still remember stories from the Bush years of the SEC trying to stop state prosecutions. Will the FEDS step in to cut off this investigation?
Moreover, why only civil charges?
Lemme guess: Because the burden of proof is lower in civil court?
That’s correct, Slim, but there is another reason: In a civil proceeding, the wrongdoer/defendant can be compelled to testify at a deposition, at trial or both, unlike in a criminal trial.
Good thing the price of Oil follows the strict “Invisible Hand” of “Free Markets”
AMERICA (Worlds largest consumer of energy)… We need to SUPPLY you with still higher prices, on account of… your DEMAND is diminishing (as are our profits).
(AP)
Oil falls below $73 on disappointing jobs data, stock market slide:
Natural gas prices slid 14.6 cents to $5.273 per 1,000 cubic feet, after the Energy Information Administration said that the country’s glut of natural gas only dropped by 115 billion cubic feet. Analysts expected it to shrink much more.
The recession slowed demand for natural gas to heat homes, and to run power plants and factories. As a result, the nation is sitting on a massive supply of gas. The government said stocks are brimming at 2.41 trillion cubic feet, well above the five-year average for this season.
“The recession slowed demand for natural gas to heat homes, and to run power plants and factories. As a result, the nation is sitting on a massive supply of gas. The government said stocks are brimming at 2.41 trillion cubic feet, well above the five-year average for this season.”
That’s rather telling given the extended cold periods east of the Rockies this winter. Given that there are a lot fewer factories than there once were, it would appear the decline is mostly due to more houses being empty and/or those that are occupied using less. That certainly screams economic recovery. Maybe not.
“Things are very bearish for crude. On the demand side, things are horrible,” said Phil Flynn, analysts at PFGBest in Chicago.
With stockpile news like that …gasoline ought to be down a whole nickel in about 3-4 weeks!
As a result, the nation is sitting on a massive supply of gas.
I’m sitting on a massive supply of gas, but I think it has something to do with breakfast.
Ok, so you have the supply. But where is the demand? And you are experiencing a storage probelm. Price can only fall.
Let the bubble deflate slowly and nobody will notice.
A report from the Congressional Budget Office shows that for the first time in 25 years, Social Security is taking in less in taxes than it is spending on benefits.
Instead of helping to finance the rest of the government, as it has done for decades, our nation’s biggest social program needs help from the Treasury to keep benefit checks from bouncing — in other words, a taxpayer bailout.
Social Security hasn’t been cash-negative since the early 1980s, when it came so close to running out of money that it was making plans to stop sending out benefit checks.
Homeowner Defaults: The Inevitable Truth Behind the Mystery
Bill Bonner ~ Feb 4, 2010
Baltimore, Maryland – Here’s a mystery: Homeowner defaults. Not that there are so many…the mystery is why there are so few…
In Nevada, for example. Two out of three homeowners are underwater…which is hard to do in the desert. Some of them owe hundreds of thousands of dollars on something that doesn’t exist anymore – the equity on their houses. Still, most of them continue making mortgage payments. What gives?
It’s a case of “asymmetrical ethics,” says The New York Times. Lenders don’t hesitate a minute to maximize their earnings – using every tool available to them and every trick in the book (including some tricks that have never been published). They default whenever it suits them.
http://www.321gold.com/editorials/bonner/bonner020410.html
Just when they thought the worst of the mortgage crisis was behind them, billions of dollars in bad loans from the debacle may be rising from the dead and creeping back on the balance sheets of the largest U.S. banks.
Big lenders including Bank of America (BAC), J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM) and Wells Fargo (WFC) may be forced to repurchase troubled home loans from insurers and mortgage-finance giants like Freddie Mac (FRE) that had agreed to take on risks associated with those assets during the real estate boom.
The banks are setting aside more reserves to cover the potential costs of such repurchases, cutting into earning
You wonder if the friction of these TBTF banks fighing with insurers etc will reveal the true fraud that was going on, and will get shareholders to take CEO’s and banking management to court to recover underserved bonus money.
“Night of the Living Debt”
“Hold on there ma’am. You don’t want to go over there. They’re…. they’re all messed up.”
41 x 142 = $5,822.00 …or 7, 762 jelly donuts (@.75 each)
41 people cited in one hour for using cellphones while driving:
The total fine for a first cellphone violation is $142, including court fees and penalty assessments.
“We’re seeing this a lot. Let’s go out and do some education on this,” Hart said Thursday. “We’re trying to reduce distractions.”
Tickets = Cha-Ching! $$$$
Safety 1st…Revenue & over-time pay $$$$ 2nd
New motto same as old motto: “To Serve & Collect”
Raja Abdulrahim LA Times
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas says some questioning of the court and government is getting out of hand.
Thomas told an audience Thursday at the University of Florida law school that some of the comments “border on being irresponsible” and “run the risk in our society of undermining institutions that we need to preserve our liberties.”
Thomas did not speak specifically about the court’s recent decision on campaign financing or mention President Barack Obama.
But his comments come a week after Obama took the rare step of openly criticizing the decision during his State of the Union speech.
Thomas supported the 5-4 ruling that allows companies and unions to spend freely on ads that promote or target particular candidates by name.
Apparently we aren’t allowed to question the supreme court when it hands corporations even more power over the people. Not only did Thomas support the decision but he felt that candidates should n’t be required to declare who had donated money to them. I’m not sure what liberties Thomas thinks he is preserving, when our gov is bought and paid for.
“run the risk in our society of undermining institutions that we need to preserve our liberties.”
He means the “institutions” that recently granted near personhood to corporations allowing them to meddle in elections? I suppose the next step in determining personhood will be means based and the poor won’t be considered people any more. That’ll make the return of slavery all that much easier I suppose.
Again, corporations were granted person-hood in 1886. Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific &c &c
As for “liberties,” they are much like all your rights. You have all the rights you can afford.
Can’t afford a good lawyer? Too bad.
Phoenix gives OK to 2% tax on food
Move will help fix budget, save Police, Fire dept. jobs
The Arizona Republic
Desperate to save police, fire and other city jobs, a divided Phoenix City Council on Tuesday approved a sales tax on grocery items that will generate tens of millions of dollars a year.
The 2 percent food tax will take effect April 1 and expire after five years, though Mayor Phil Gordon said the council has the option of reversing its decision after it hears from the public during 15 budget hearings planned for this month.
The tax on milk, meat, vegetables and other food purchased by shoppers will generate an estimated $12.5 million for the fiscal year that ends June 30. It will raise another $50 million for fiscal 2011. Food purchased with food stamps will not be taxed.
“Food purchased with food stamps will not be taxed.”
I think our leadership is trying tell the employed something.
How much for a cup of coffee?
- a dollar.
How much for a refill?
- refills are free.
I’ll take two refills.
-Woody Allen
Yes let’s tax those that can barely afford food. Brilliant??? Next up a tax on air and water.
Uh-oh. The City of Tucson is looking at levying the same tax.
We’ve had sales tax on groceries in my little burb for a long time. Just the city portion (~3%) as the couny doesn’t levy sales tax on groceries.
I remember Tempe AZ a city next to Phoenix had a food tax so comming out of Costco I would see almost 10% sales tax on everything even though AZ has a 6.75% sales tax
Don’t cut spending or pensions just raise taxes. of course I’m now in Ca a big broke state with outrageous state worker pensions which can’t be cut I’m told so….. And I get to pay CSDI ca state disabilty insurance, comes right out of my pay check, the biggest percentage going to disabled state workers I’ve been told
Great, so people are going to eat even fewer expensive veggies in favor of cheap corn syrup.
Taxing food to pay insane public union pensions.
Let the eat cake!!!!!!!!
2% food tax and 10% junk food tax in my county of residence - but across the county line its 1.75%.
And Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon put the tax on Tuesday’s agenda with only 24 hours notice and before any of 15 public budget hearings were held. The council chamber was filled with city employees, who obviously supported it.
Cisco data signal ‘second phase of recovery’
San Francisco ~ February 4 2010
Cisco Systems, the largest maker of networking equipment, on Wednesday reported a return to revenue growth and said that a second phase of economic recovery had begun.
Cisco beat Wall Street expectations with an 8 per cent year-on-year rise in sales to $9.8bn in the three months to January 23 following revenue falls over the past four quarters.
Did John Chambers, the CEO mention the “second phase” will be similar to the second phase of skydiving. The first one being the airplane ride.
the only person who believes John Chambers is Mrs. Chambers
One company out of thousands, so obviously there must be a trend.
Loan Repurchases Are a $10 Billion Problem for Big Banks
February 4, 2010 ~ MarketWatch
Just when they thought the worst of the mortgage crisis was behind them, billions of dollars in bad loans from the debacle may be rising from the dead and creeping back on the balance sheets of the largest U.S. banks.
Big lenders including Bank of America (BAC), J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM) and Wells Fargo (WFC) may be forced to repurchase troubled home loans from insurers and mortgage-finance giants like Freddie Mac (FRE) that had agreed to take on risks associated with those assets during the real estate boom.
The banks are setting aside more reserves to cover the potential costs of such repurchases, cutting into earnings.
The trend is also pitting big lenders, insurers and mortgage-finance institutions against each other. That’s a big change from the previous decade, when they worked together to fuel the housing boom by originating, insuring and securitizing mortgages in record amounts.
See what happens when you cut in line…look above
Airbus, Boeing See Demand Slump Till 2012 on Slowdown.
Feb. 4 (Bloomberg) — Airbus SAS and Boeing Co., the world’s two biggest planemakers, expect a demand slump to continue for at least two more years as airlines pare growth following a record drop in air travel.
“The market will stay slow for new orders until 2012,” Airbus Chief Operating Officer John Leahy said in a Bloomberg TV interview at the Singapore Air Show yesterday. The European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co. unit expects to win between 250 and 300 orders this year, he said. That would be a third straight decline from the record 1,458 achieved in 2007.
I guess the unemployed, underemployed and the maxed out on debt don’t fly away on vacations.
When I went Back East for family Christmas, I saw empty seats on almost every flight I took.
And that’s in spite of the fact that airlines have been cutting back on flights (which is why they don’t need new airplanes).
As I was driving in to work the other day I noticed that people already seem to be driving older cars than they used to. I suspect that drivers now find an appealing value in an older, paid for car, in much the same way that airlines probably like their older, paid for airplanes.
Not to mention what a damn PITA it is to fly these days.
2-4 hours to takeoff? Hell, I can be halfway there by car in that amount of time. (based on many flights are under 500 miles)
I’d have to say we have the terrorists right where they want us.
The Medical Industry CORPORATION CULT = Do Nothing!
The Military Industry CORPORATION CULT = War & Fear are good!
Our goal is to SERVE YOU: “we only ask that you TRUST US.”
From the Twilight Zone:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WudBfRa0ETw
By Noam N. Levey February 4, 2010 LA Times
Soaring cost of health-care sets a record:
“Spending was 17.3% of the economy last year. The share paid by the U.S. will soon exceed 50%, a study says.
Fueled by new technology, an aging population, rising incomes and other changes, spending on medical care has been consuming a larger and larger share of the nation’s economy for years, jumping from about 5% of the gross domestic product in 1960 to nearly 14% in 2000.
In a stark reminder of growing costs, the government has released a new estimate that healthcare spending grew to a record 17.3% of the U.S. economy last year, marking the largest one-year jump in its share of the economy since the government started keeping such records half a century ago.
The almost $2.5 trillion spent in 2009 was $134 billion more than the previous year, when healthcare consumed 16.2% of the gross domestic product…
The nonpartisan accounting agency also projected that as early as next year, the country could mark another milestone as government picks up more than half of the nation’s total healthcare tab for the first time.”
Geez, not one mention in the article ’bout: Cranes…”required tests”…or ‘Administrative salaries’, …why bother with the lil’ stuff I reckon.
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Strikes in Greece and political wrangling in Portugal fed Europe’s government debt crisis on Thursday, amid concerns that leaders in Athens and Lisbon would not be able to push through unpopular austerity programs to tame their ballooning deficits.
Greece, under intense pressure from markets and other European Union governments to get a grip on its deficit, faced a first wave of strikes, with customs and tax officials walking off the job for 48 hours.
I suspect we will be seeing more and more of this as the middle class is squeezed even harder. Again does anyone wonder how a Chavez comes to power.
That’s what happens when the rich go too far. Eventually, the people strike back.
They have no choice.
After thousands of years of this action and consequence being recorded and repeated history, you have to wonder why the rich (and PTB) seem to forget this lesson?
Now there’s something that should keep you up at night!
Bloomberg has a great interactive chart showing the effects of the birth-death rate adjustment. It’s getting revised to show that the recession has been much worse than reported.
Birth and death refer to businesses. For the past year the Bureau of Labor Statistics has been adding jobs to the monthly number based on the previous year’s model of new business formation. I guess we all know new business formation has been less than vigorous in 2009.
This Friday’s number (Feb. 5) will back all that out and whallop the jobs number.
Bloomberg link.
Thanks!
Interesting to note in the last chart from the bottom. The revisions are always up during boom years (e.g. 2000, 2006), and conversely are down during bust years (2002, 2007, and now big in 2008). Flawed model indeed - one would think they would account for economic cycles.
Speaking of death, what do call 29,247 RE agents at the bottom of the ocean?
Answer: A good start!
29,000 Calif. real estate agents quit:
February 4th, 2010, by Jeff Collins OC Register
“The state Department of Real Estate reported that by the end of 2009, 503,284 people had California real estate licenses — down 29,247 or 5.5% from the end of 2008. December’s agent total was the lowest monthly total since May 2006.”
503,284 realtos. That’s still a staggering number, anyway you slice it.
I knew of a few engineers laid off from the tech bust that went on to try their hand as a realtor. If you know any engineers you’d know that’s a really bad, bad fit.
Sell the rumor, buy the news. Brace yourselves for a huge market rally!
nice rally! not
“Birth and death refer to businesses. For the past year the Bureau of Labor Statistics has been adding jobs to the monthly number based on the previous year’s model of new business formation. I guess we all know new business formation has been less than vigorous in 2009.”
Remember, the MSM now tries to report only encouraging economic news with a positive spin as directed by the Minister of Propaganda.
The pesky details like “seasonally adjusted” are never mentioned because adjusting employment numbers upwards to reflect non-existant jobs makes the Minister happy.
Much like “seasonally adjusting” the condition of the beach under a 100 foot tsunami during a hurricane to reflect the happy campers, sand castles, ice cream cones and sunshine of last summer.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Standard & Poor’s has followed through on its warning and lowered Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s long-term credit rating Thursday as the Omaha firm readies to acquire Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp.
The ratings agency lowered Berkshire’s rating one notch to “AA+” from “AAA,” its highest designation
I noticed another story earlier saying Berkshire wanted to issue new bonds ?8billion.
The Oracle may have fumbled.
Professor Bear,
Thought you would appreciate this:
Economics: The science of explaining tomorrow why the predictions you made yesterday didn’t come true today
Seems that way, at least by the standards of MSM-favored “experts” whose predictions perpetually turn out to have been better than the “worse than expected” economic indicators they tried to predict.
6.0 off Northern California….anyone on feel the effects?
Not here in NoVA.
However I did notice the 10.0 in NYC (10.002 to be exact) today.
Yes, but the seismic event on the markets was measured on the Sphincter Scale, not the Richter Scale.
Nope — at least not from 22 flights up in a SF hotel
PB,
Whatcha doing in the City? Do you have a view from your hotel?
Didn’t feel it here on the Peninsula
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/04/dems-to-wall-street-gops_n_449433.html
Republicrat whores, a.k.a. BOTH political parties, fighting to curry favor with the Banksters.
Yep, they have lost their minds. The Europeans and most of the other financial centers in the world ARE going to tighten up regulations and with our FIRE sector looking more and more like the bad seed psychopath, the rest of the world just might say “our way or the highway,” reserve currency or not.
Really? What have they got to lose? They’ve just learned how vulnerable they are to our snake oil and the smart ones know that crap like that leads to world wars or at the very least, serious government instability.
Democrats reacted possessively on Thursday to Republican Minority Leader John Boehner’s effort to persuade JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon that the financial industry should be giving Republicans money rather than Democrats.
Boehner’s overture to Dimon, in which he made the case that Republicans better represent the industry’s interests, was reported by the Wall Street Journal this morning in a story about how GOP fund-raisers are trying to capitalize on bankers’ regrets over backing President Obama.
Dimon “has to decide for himself who deserves his support,” Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) told HuffPost. But, he said: “I don’t think Boehner or any of the Republican leadership have a grand claim to make.”
Waxman, chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, said he could think of two specific examples offhand of why Wall Street is better off with Democrats: the bailout and the stimulus.
SICKENING
THANK YOU SUPREME COURT FOOLS FOR TAKING A CRAPPY paid off GOV AND MAKING IT WORSE.
“Waxman, chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, said he could think of two specific examples offhand of why Wall Street is better off with Democrats: the bailout and the stimulus.”
That makes me feel so much better.
What would make me feel better would be for the Dems to put the screws to the banksters so tight there wasn’t any money left for political campaigns. Now that would make me feel a lot better.
What would make me feel better would be for the Dems to put the screws to the banksters so tight there wasn’t any money left for political campaigns. Now that would make me feel a lot better.
Amen!
Insurer Aetna cuts another 625 jobs, cites economy
HARTFORD, Conn.
Health insurer Aetna Inc. said Wednesday it cut another 625 jobs due to the economy, as it implemented reductions the company first announced last fall.
The Hartford, Conn., insurer said in November it would cut 625 jobs immediately and then make a similar number of cuts by the end of the first quarter.
The company cut more than 100 jobs in its home state of Connecticut, and the rest were spread around the country, spokesman Fred Laberge said.
“We didn’t get out of any business lines or anything like that,” he said. “It’s sort of across different job functions and staff areas.”
Hey, they need the money to keep fighting health insurance reform. After all, employees (and their benefits packages) are costly.
If that’s how they’re screwing their employees, imagine the reaming in store for their customers.
Food bank: Demand for help surges 71%
Business Journal Greater Triad Area
The Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina said Wednesday that the agency is now serving 71 percent more people than 16 months ago amid high unemployment and a weak economy.
Second Harvest of Northwest NC reported that it is currently helping 256,000 people annually in its 18-county district, approximately 156,000 more than in fall 2008.
Clyde Fitzgerald, Second Harvest’s executive director, said the numbers indicate the toll the economy and high unemployment in the area is taking on residents and their ability to put food on the table.
Bosom bombers: Women have explosive breast implants.
Authorities alarmed by possibility of surgically placed explosives.
LONDON – Agents for Britain’s MI5 intelligence service have discovered that Muslim doctors trained at some of Britain’s leading teaching hospitals have returned to their own countries to fit surgical implants filled with explosives, according to a report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.
Women suicide bombers recruited by al-Qaida are known to have had the explosives inserted in their breasts under techniques similar to breast enhancing surgery. The lethal explosives – usually PETN (pentaerythritol Tetrabitrate) – are inserted during the operation inside the plastic shapes. The breast is then sewn up.
Similar surgery has been performed on male suicide bombers. In their cases, the explosives are inserted in the appendix area or in a buttock. Both are parts of the body that diabetics use to inject themselves with their prescribed drugs.
Women suicide bombers recruited by al-Qaida are known to have had the explosives inserted in their breasts under techniques similar to breast enhancing surgery.
Sometimes the world is too sick even for me.
Both are parts of the body that diabetics use to inject themselves with their prescribed drugs.
???
I’d be curious as to what then would be the method to ignite (or extract?) said explosive. I’m picturing some kind of Austin Powers scene here…
Just push the red button, Silly.
I’m waiting for the first drunken yahoo to claim he felt threatened by the boobs on the hottie sitting next to him and felt compelled to check for anything suspicious.
Don’t forget to check the red button as mentioned by Blue Skye.
I’m 90% sure that if you touch the suspected bomb or the red button it won’t matter if they are a terrorist, the explosion will be just as destructive.
Whatever happened to “paint the tape”?
DJI dips below 10k. Looks like it just squeaked above though - closed at 10,002. In related news (actually - the same news) the US$ goes thru the roof; almost hits 80.
Question is - which is cause and which is effect?
OK, here’s my question. Suppose that the $ index and the Dow are inversely correlated. If the $ goes down, the Dow goes up– but then the $ must be going down against some other currency, so does the stock market in that other country go down?
Didn’t I mention support at DJIA = 10K earlier today?
Greek strike deepens debt crisis fears
Debt worries plague Europe as Greek customs, tax officials strike over austerity program ~ February 4, 2010,
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Strikes in Greece and political wrangling in Portugal fed Europe’s government debt crisis on Thursday, amid concerns that leaders in Athens and Lisbon would not be able to push through unpopular austerity programs to tame their ballooning deficits.
Greece, under intense pressure from markets and other European Union governments to get a grip on its deficit, faced a first wave of strikes, with customs and tax officials walking off the job for 48 hours.
Doubts about its finances have also affected market sentiment toward the debt of Portugal and Spain, two other eurozone countries struggling with deficits. A Greek default would be a serious blow to the shared euro currency, but Greece and the EU have insisted that will not happen and that Athens can fix its problem with a program of sharp cutbacks and efforts to make its economy more competitive.
The Greek citizens are fed up with their self serving government.
This has been building for some time.
KNOXVILLE — Armstrong Hardwood Flooring Co., a major employer in Scott County, said today it is idling part of its operation in Oneida and laying off 260 workers effective April 9.
The company will idle its strip mill, finish line and yard operations at its plant on Hartco Drive, but will continue its parquet, floor care, chemical plant and warehousing operations that employ about 110 people, said Beth A. Riley, corporate spokeswoman for Armstrong World Industries in Lancaster, Pa.
Riley said the actions were taken because of declining demand in the company’s markets.
“We regret having to significantly scale back operations in Oneida. We consider this an action of last resort in response to current business conditions,” Riley said in an e-mail statement.
State Farm cancels thousands in Fla.
125,000 customers to be cut during hurricane season.
NBC News
The largest homeowners insurer in Florida is canceling the policies of 125,000 of its most vulnerable customers beginning Aug. 1, halfway through the 2010 hurricane season.
The company, State Farm Florida, began sending out cancellation notices this week to nearly a fifth of its 714,000 customers, most of them in the state’s hurricane-prone coastal regions.
A spokesman for State Farm said the decision was the direct result of its failure to win a 47.1 percent rate increase from state regulators.
El Nino May Fade, Boosting Odds of Atlantic Storms.
Feb. 4 (Bloomberg) — The El Nino warming phenomenon will likely fade in the Pacific sometime in the next six months, the U.S. Climate Prediction Center said today, increasing the chances of an above-average hurricane year in the Atlantic.
Models indicate the Pacific Ocean temperatures may return to normal between April and June, although forecasters are uncertain exactly when, according to a CPC statement.
If El Nino fades in June, it is one factor that may mean more Atlantic storms this year, said David Streit, a senior meteorologist for Commodity Weather Group Llc in Bethesda, Maryland. The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 through Nov. 30.
“With the loss of El Nino altogether, that will definitely help to give greater numbers than you would see in normal seasons,” Streit said.
50% That’s not an increase, that’s robbery. Nope, no ENTITLEMENT attitude there.
In Texas, a few insurance companies threatened to do the same thing and the state said you either insure everybody or nobody.
But if Florida ever enforced its building codes, this wouldn’t have become problem.
“But if Florida ever enforced its building codes, this wouldn’t have become problem.”
It would have been easier to just print the blueprints in spanish.
“Nothing to excess.” ~ Inscription: Temple at Delphi
http://www.larouchepub.com/other/2010/3704lying_get_right.html
Time To Stop Lying and Get It Right!
by John Hoefle
Jan. 22—Watching Barack Obama rail against the banks brings to mind an indulgent parent who, after giving in to his children’s every demand, spoiling them rotten, suddenly decides to talk tough when the kids’ actions prove embarrassing. The parent knows he’s bluffing, and more importantly, so do the kids. For all the posturing, nothing will change, and the kids will still run the show.
This is Obama’s third foray into anti-bank posturing. In mid-December, he railed against the “fat cats” and called the heads of the major banks into the White House for a scolding. That didn’t work out so well. Several of the bankers didn’t even bother to show up.
A month later, still plunging in the polls, President Mustache tried it again, doing his effete, Harvard-educated best to sound like one of the common folk.
“My commitment is to recover every single dime the American people are owed…. We want our money back, and we’re going to get it,” Obama promised on Jan. 14.
That blustering assertion was amplified by an e-mail, sent out under Vice President Joe Biden’s name, claiming that Obama’s proposed Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee would “recover every penny loaned to Wall Street during the financial crisis and stop the reckless abuses and excesses that nearly caused the collapse of our financial system.” The powerful bankers are fighting back, Biden continued, but “Barack and I aren’t backing down. But to win, we’ll need the American people to add their voice right away.”
Do these clowns really expect us to believe, after their bending over constantly to the bankers, after their collapsing the physical economy even further costing more jobs, more foreclosures, more misery for the nation, that the Obama Administration is now going to “recover every penny”? Do they think we are so dumb that we don’t realize that the financial system remains on a Federal life support system, which continues to turn private debts into government debts in the mortgage and mortgage-securities markets? That claiming to be taking the money back, while still shoveling it into the markets, is not the height of hypocrisy? Do they even think, or are they so impressed with their ability to spin, that they believe reality is whatever they claim it to be?
(Continued)
“My commitment is to recover every single dime the American people are owed…. We want our money back, and we’re going to get it,” Obama promised on Jan. 14.”
I’d also like to recover every single dime the American people are owed…
Not just by bankers, but also by the government. They owe me LOTS of money, some of it for lack of representation.
Start with, say, the three dozen or so czars. Throw them and their appointees in jail, recover the plundered funds, slap on some hefty fines (3x the money stolen is fair, I think), and apply the proceeds to a worthy cause - the American people. Send every taxpayer a check for money owed based on monies paid in. None of it taxable since it’s not income.
Do the same with the bankers.
Not that anyone in the cesspool gives a damn, keep printing boyz…
Watchdog Groups Slam Capitol Architect for $690 Million Budget Request
The Architect of the Capitol, which oversees maintenance of the sprawling Capitol complex buildings and grounds, has requested a 15 percent increase over last year in the fiscal 2011 federal budget — at a time when President Obama and Congress are calling for government-wide spending restraint.
The nation’s Capitol is falling apart. That’s what it looks like in the budget, anyway.
The office of Architect of the Capitol, which oversees maintenance of the sprawling Capitol complex buildings and grounds, has requested a 15 percent increase over last year in the fiscal 2011 federal budget — at a time when President Obama and Congress are calling for government-wide spending restraint.
The ambitious $690 million request has some government watchdogs shaking their heads, especially after the Capitol Visitor Center, which falls under that office, opened at the end of 2008 — four years late and $356 million over budget.
The ambitious $690 million request has some government watchdogs shaking their heads, especially after the Capitol Visitor Center, which falls under that office, opened at the end of 2008 — four years late and $356 million over budget.
Dad and I visited the Capitol Visitor Center this past December. After waiting outside in the fuh-reezing cold, we had to go through an excruciatingly slow security checkpoint. Which confiscated my apple. (Can’t bring food into the Visitor Center.)
We were scheduled to go on a noon tour, but since we were stuck outside for so long, we missed it. So, off to stand in the non-reserved tours line.
After 45 minutes, Dad and I gave up waiting and went to the cafeteria.
One thing we were both struck by was the pervasive use of marble in the building. I mean, even the bathrooms had marble!
Methinks that there are other, cheaper but durable building materials.
Basically just blown insulation not much more, must be special gubmint insulation. $78,000.00 to insulate a home, that sounds about right.
47 homes retrofitted, $3.7M spent in Texas through Dec. under program to improve low-income homes.
AUSTIN - Texas has spent $3.7 million to weatherize just 47 homes through December under a program set up by Congress a year ago in economic stimulus legislation.
This amounts to a taxpayer cost of $78,000 per home.
A little more than $200,000 paid for materials and labor to retrofit the homes, an official said. The remaining $3.5 million was used to grow the state’s housing agency so it can attempt to make as many as 56,000 low-income homes more energy-efficient by March 2012.
Top officials for the Department of Housing and Community Affairs, the administrator for the state’s Weatherization Assistance Program, insist that with the bureaucratic machinery finally in place thousands of homes will be weatherized this year. Indeed, officials say hundreds more homes were improved in January. Executive Director Michael Gerber has pledged that all the money allotted to Texas will be spent and accounted for.
And to think that, as a volunteer, I’ve worked on a blown insulation crew. And we sure didn’t charge any $78k.
…by March 2012.
Yeah.
Hey He has created a 2 year job for himself and for a bunch of cohorts…not bad in this economy..
What nonsense. When my brother and I insulated his 2,400 sq ft home in this manner, it cost about $1,200 total.
These clowns should be thrown in jail for ripping off the American people. I see no difference between what they did and someone robbing a bank.
No surprise here, the current clown occupying the oval office is as full of crap as all the rest.
Obama makes a mockery of his own lobbyist ban.
Washington Examiner
More than 40 former lobbyists work in senior positions in the Obama administration, including three Cabinet secretaries and the CIA director. Yet in his State of the Union address, Obama claimed, “We’ve excluded lobbyists from policymaking jobs.”
Did Obama speak falsely?
Well, it depends on what the definition of “excluded lobbyists” is.
I asked the White House if he chose his words poorly, but the media affairs office defended the president’s statement: “As the President said,” a spokeswoman wrote in an e-mail, “we have turned away lobbyists for many, many positions.”
So, the country may have heard, “we haven’t hired lobbyists to policy making jobs,” but the White House tells us Obama meant, “we only hired some of the lobbyists who applied for policy making jobs.” In other words, they’ve excluded some lobbyists.
Why is the yen so strong compared with the USD or euro?
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Democratic lawmakers introduced a bill Thursday that would slap a 50 percent tax on “excessive” bonuses paid to employees of bailed-out Wall Street banks and investment firms.
“It is outrageous that these companies are now doling out millions of dollars in bonuses while the rest of America feels the pain of their reckless decisions,” Senator Barbara Boxer, who co-sponsored the measure with Senator Jim Webb.
The bill targets bonuses paid out by banks and other financial institutions rescued from collapse with funds from the US government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).
It would slap a 50 percent tax on bonuses paid out last year of over 400,000 dollars — a figure chosen because it matches President Barack Obama’s annual paycheck.
“This legislation is a targeted, reasonable approach to bring fairness and equity into the process — as it was intended,” said Webb.
I’d like to see the congressmen who vote against this at re election time.
The power to tax is the power to destroy.
I am against a tax levied against specific individuals. Today it’s their turn, tomorrow it may be yours.
So much sanctimonious banker-bashing from from the very same Senators who cravenly went along with every bailout that came up for a vote.
D*mn straight!
Elected officials at all levels of government had better learn how to keep their mouths shut and do their jobs. There’s a revolution coming, and it won’t be kind to such s.o.b.s.
Throw this ilk out on the street, everyone. They belong in the gutter, tin cup in hand. After all, that’s their value to society, is it not?
Time to fix it OUR way, by minding the Constitution, figuring out what works and throwing all the sniveling, hand-wringing b.s. mongers to the curb. Or in the clink. I’m tired of being raped. The audicity of those who steal my money and then think they should dictate to me how I should live MY life is unfathomable and inexcusable.
When the populace has nothing left, what’s to stop them tossing out those who have gamed the system?
Not much.
The time is nearing.
I’m not sure this is even legal. Article 1, Section 9 of the U.S. Constitution prohibits bills of attainders.
A bill of attainder is: “An act of the legislature declaring a person or groups of persons guilty of some crime and punishing them without benifit of trial” - Wiki.
Selecting these guys out to be taxed is in violation of Article 1, Section 9, is it not?
Did they declare their bonuses a crime?
Then no attainder.
One can clearly link bailout funds to the bonus payments. We bailed out banks not bankers. Thus the tax is more of a windfall profit tax, not a punishment. Hopefully legal action will be taken as well.
“It is outrageous that these companies are now doling out millions of dollars in bonuses while the rest of America feels the pain of their reckless decisions,” Senator Barbara Boxer
It is outrageous that this possibility was not thought of before committing our money.
It is so outrageous that I find it not possible.
I’m back!!!
Most amazing trip (to India, for those not tuned in.) Back with a few thousand pics and a rocking good time!
Ate everywhere including the streets (most amazing food!) and never fell ill once.
Time of my life. Already planning next year’s trip.
Who says HBB’ers don’t just wanna have fun?
How’s that negative home equity working out for you, fella?
BWAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
Way to go FPSS, nothing broadens the mind like traveling. And, every dollar not spent on housing is another poke in their eye!
I’ll be in Edinburgh for the festival in August. Will have any (and all) tickets that I care to go to.
LOL
For a buncha “whiny losers”, we all collectively seem to be doing rockingly fine (in our individual sorta way.)
BWAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
FPSS,
Olympiagal passed away in late October. Ben posted an article about her passing on the January 29th blog. She was known as Gayle Broadbent-Ferris.
This is heart-breaking.
+1zillion.
Welcome back FPSS! Would love to see your pictures if you share
Have you posted any of your photos, Puss? Would love to see what caught your eyes; the market scenes, the people. Welcome back to the same old same old…only with redder ink.
Welcome back, FPSS! Good to have you back…
Glad you had such an awesome trip! Count your blessings on the “never fell ill once”, though—I have some friends who went to India as part of a LONG trip, and spent a chunk of time there so sick that they were weak as kittens, barely able to make it out of bed.
Looking forward to having your snark-factor and TM’ed maniacal laughter back on the HBB.
If you have a job you should start to worry. The Gov is about to pay companies to fire workers and hire new ones. On the pluss side those about to loose their unemployment check may be able to find a job while newly laid off can go on unemployment.
WASHINGTON – Senate leaders plan to pass a jobs bill next week featuring tax breaks for employers that hire unemployed workers, a rare bipartisan effort in an election-year Congress sharply divided along political lines.
“We want to work with the Republicans and it appears to me, on the jobs program, they want to work with us,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told reporters. “We do believe very emphatically that we will be having a bipartisan bill.”