Bits Bucket For March 2, 2010
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What do you do with a ‘program’ that doesn’t work? Why extend it of course. I imagine the tax credit extension will be on deck soon.
Government extends refinance program a year.
Around 220,000 homeowners helped who seen value of property plummet.
WASHINGTON - The government is giving homeowners another year to refinance their loans under a little-used program designed to help borrowers whose homes have plummeted in value.
The Obama administration effort, known as Home Affordable Refinance Program, had been scheduled to end on June 10 but will now run out on June 30, 2011, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said Monday.
The program allows borrowers who owe up to 25 percent more than their homes are worth to refinance to lower interest rates.
Anything to stop the walkouts. The Combotechie theory in practice.
Yep. And thank you for noticing.
It’s good for the Citizens, and the slaves are volunteers.
Even at 0% for 30 years its still unaffordable…and these people have advanced college degrees to get those jobs…we’re freakin DOOMED!
You are missing the end game in the unannounced financial deliverance plan: INFLATION.
You mean unexpected inflation, don’t you?
“Unannounced” = unexpected, but only for a portion of the population.
But only in needs - not in salaries.
aNYCdj
yep, we are doomed and what’s worse is this push for everyone to become college educated. I predict lots of over educated people waiting tables just like the late 70’s and 80’s.
The good news is last year we paid 400 in taxes this year we got back $4000 thanks to Obama’s education credits. I bet we get audited though.
yep, we are doomed and what’s worse is this push for everyone to become college educated. I predict lots of over educated people waiting tables just like the late 70’s and 80’s.
I was one of those overeducated, underemployed people.
That’s where my skepticism about the merits of higher education comes from. Something about believing that “If you want a good job, get a good education!” propaganda that was so prevalent during my childhood, but only being able to land a job as a part-time, minimum wage dishwasher during the early 1980s.
Add that personal experience to what I see as a longtime resident of Tucson, a university town. Sorry to say, but I think that the University of Arizona admits many kids who have no business being in college. They need to spend a few years growing up first.
There is one shining exception to this rule of mine: Kids who’ve spent some time in the military between high school and college. They’re some of the most personable, motivated people I’ve ever met.
Ditto for the people who did some non-military, real-life living between high school and college. They may be in their twenties, thirties, forties, or older, but they bring a lot to the classroom. They’re also very good students.
I’m always amazed that so many parents and/or prospective students never ask the simple question: what does your course of study qualify you to do? In most if not all universities a degree in general studies costs about the same as a professional engineering degree or an accounting degree, yet the preponderance of the students that graduate do so in degree fields in which they receive little value for the time and money spent. Mrs. Spokaneman works in management health club and they have numerous “fitness instructors” with exercise phisiology, or recreational therapy degrees working for $10.00/hour. You wonder if they ever stopped to consider what the career fields would be when they graduated.
I have got to opine: college is not supposed to be the high priced equivalent of trade school.
IMHO, there is nothing wrong with a traditional liberal arts degree - as long as it has distribution requirements (e.g., you actually have to take a core curriculum in science, math, literature and history). What this does for you - it teaches you how to think using every side, quadrant and layer of your brain. You learn how to write coherently (ever read a renowned paper written by a functional illiterate? Didn’t think so). You learn how to think critically and argue dispassionately.
I am willing to take it on the chin to get my kids educated under that premise. I am NOT willing to take it on the chin for the equivalent of a trade school that turns out drunken hacks en masse.
That is what your abovementioned exercise physiologists are, but unfortunately nobody told them anything other than “you have to go to college”.
There are only a handful of schools in the country that still offer a non watered down liberal arts education. The kind that many CEOs have. The kind that qualifies you to speak coherently on a number of topics. They happen to be (gag) the traditional Ivies, Seven Sisters and ‘little Ivies’. They start out with a student body that has met a higher hurdle for admission. Who have the raw material to learn how to think clearly.
There is a difference between a liberal arts graduate from Swarthmore (let’s say), and one from Eastern Missouri State. A graduate from the former will be able to hold a conversation with an Executive VP. From the latter, he or she will be right at home discussing the merits of “fries with that”?
The big joke is at our expense: it is cheaper to go to Swarthmore than to Eastern Missouri State. Why? Because if you can get past the gatekeepers, they will do everything they can to make sure you can attend, and stay in.
From personal observation - which doesn’t count - for a hard science degree, you can go anywhere and land with the buttered side up. Unfortunately, most kids do not have the grounding to actually get through a hard science program. For those who don’t, and have to take the less rigorous route, IMHO it’s not a route worth taking unless you can go to one of this handful of schools. Otherwise, you wind up indebted and ignorant.
A liberal arts degree from a really good school is still a great long term play, IMHO. At least you have enough between your ears to be pleasantly occupied on the road crew or at McDonald’s. Plus, you have less of a student loan burden.
IMHO, being in a place where you can really learn how to think is a gift that keeps on giving.
My deduction: if you go to college, make sure you go to one where you can be assured that you will learn how to think rigorously - whether science or liberal arts. Rigorous thinking is your best defense against a lifetime of manipulation and happy talk.
If you can’t get into one like that, go into the military. If you can’t get into the military, lose the attitude, move to a place you have been taught to detest, and learn how to farm. You can provide for yourself on very small acreage, and small acreage is not out of reach in places you have been taught to detest.
Again, the above is MHO. But I have seen it play out lots.
This is great if you are landed gentry. But most people need money (and a job) to live. And philosophy majors waiting tables or working retail are a dime a dozen.
Yeah, there are CEOs who did fluff degrees. And there are CEOs who did electrical engineering and law. But there are only very, very, very few CEOs in total. It’s a pyramid. And exponential pyramid where for 1 CEO, there are thousands of workers. Gunning for a CEOship is like preparing to be a pro basketball player. Very unlikely.
A taste of liberal arts is great, but for people who think it’s going to pay the bills, they’re in for a very rude awakening upon graduation.
And as far as being able to talk to a VP versus Joe Six Pack, that’s usually just a question of IQ, not schooling. Some VPs are narcisstic BS artists, and some are pretty sharp.
I think General Studies was created for mixed up kids who were barely staying afloat in college. It gave them hope of getting some kind of degree.
But as for hard science degrees, many, many people are just not wired for that kind of study. The rest of us still have a few choices with our liberal arts degrees — besides becoming personal trainers or burger flippers. Go to grad school for law, business, psych, even geography, something with a clear career path. Or find a niche, like the media, where a B.A., a little flair and reasonable effort will get you some sort of living.
No, I didn’t go to E. Missouri State! But I did go to the big campus in that state. And the alumni mag tells me a few of us are gainfully employed.
I’ve made the statement many a time that we have way too many majors that shouldn’t be majors.
OTOH, I’ve seen the system in China and they graduate way too many engineers. I’m of the opinion that a lot of their engineers are worthless as well.
The other thing is beyond just ability, you have to have the inclination to use the knowledge or at least be somewhat excited about the field.
I’d also say the planet would suck a lot worse with out the people in art, dance, music and other colorful fields.
However, I’m on the fence about delivering degrees in a lot of that stuff. What the heck is a degree in dance tell you?
Anyway, there seems to be a lack of balance on both sides or the ocean. China forcing people into engineering that don’t need to be there. US allowing too many people to major in stuff that doesn’t have much economic value.
How do you fix this? I don’t know. What I do know is I get ripped a new one every time I post this by all the silly ass majors.
General Ed and education baffle me as a emphasis as well. First I can understand taking a good number or education classes. Second at some point you need to do some topic specific stuff. I think you need to have a much more vast expertise than your charges.
“…Even at 0% for 30 years its still unaffordable…and these people have advanced college degrees to get those jobs…we’re freakin DOOMED!…”
Oh, you’ve noticed.
I believe Florida is a recourse state unless the mortgage note specifies otherwise. I know of a high income family who tried the same thing and, although I don’t know the full story, I believe the bank is pursuing them.
What do you do with a ‘program’ that doesn’t work? Why extend it of course.
The essence of hope ‘n change.
MBIA reports quarterly net loss of $242 million.
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — MBIA Inc. reported a fourth-quarter net loss to common shareholders of $242 million, or $1.16 a share, late Monday. That was less than a net loss of $1.2 billion, or $5.21 a share, in the fourth quarter of 2008. The loss in the latest period was driven by $661 million in pre-tax loss and loss adjustment expenses related to guarantees the bond insurer sold on second-lien mortgage loan securitizations. Results were also hit by $200 million in pre-tax realized losses and other settlements on insured derivatives, MBIA said.
It must’ve been the fault of the blizzards.
Right Sammy,
I can see the buzzards circling…Oops, you said blizzards ?
Strategic Defaults Going Mainstream:
My friend in St Petersburg just called yesterday and said he and his wife are officially in strategic default on their waterfront townhome. They owe more than $500k and it is now worth maybe $200k. He said it was just a business decision similar to the very bad business decision he they made three years ago when they bought the place. Both have good jobs - she is an attorney - and they make almost $200k/year and have a five year old daughter.
Interesting Times await us all if/when this trend snowballs.
I think there is a lot more “big hat no cattle” behavior in the higher earning levels than people realize.
I used to work for a senior VP of a large corp. (7 digit whose salary & bonus was public record) who spent endlessly on “necessities” like a NYC loft, large old weekend house which the spouse was extensively restoring, designer clothes, TWO nannies, hummer and several hundred a month in parking fees, etc…
Was always complaining about not having any money… Wasn’t hard to believe, they seemed to spend it before they earned it, and be oblivious that they were complaining to people who made 5% or 10% of what they made in a year.
I think there is a lot more “big hat no cattle” behavior in the higher earning levels than people realize.
Definitely.
I know only a few of these types, fortunately, but the amount of monthly overhead some people carry is staggering. Just the “basics” — mortgage(s), utilities for an ostentatious pad, car payments, student loan payments, private school tuition for the kids, maybe stabling a horse or two — add up very quickly indeed.
I know a few people like that, but very little complaining.
I think the difference may have to do with how the people got to where they are. Those that i know generally did it on their own, so to get there (wealthy with big incomes), invariably they needed to save, weather more than one storm, etc.
If you just rise through the ranks of a large company, only seeing your salary increase, but never decrease, it is far easier to take a big salary for granted.
A Hummer? Jeezus, could this guy have been any more a cliche? If there’s a vehicle out there that screams nouveau rich louder than a Hummer, please step forward now.
And yes, I agree, there’s a ton of this behavior going on across income levels and regions of this country. It almost doesn’t matter what you make, everyone was spending more than their salaries.
God how I hate hummers.
Hummmm, Hummmm
I can only think of one: Escalade.
RE. Escalade.
Yup.. Good call, I forgot about that wonderful vehicle. Nothing says “Poser” quite so loud as the “Sclade” and the H2 Hummer.
You’re going to love the rationalization for the hummer”
“When you need a vehicle for 7 people (couple, 3 kids, 2 nannies) what else are you going to buy?”
(Bite lips to keep from uttering the hopelessly middle class words “mini-van”)
I was down in Florida a couple of years after Hummers had gotten so popular. It was raining cats and dogs as it only can in central Fl. I was motoring along in the rentabeast doing ok, and what do I see under the freeway overpass stopped and afraid to venture on? Yep, a bright yellow Hummer H2. Now if I can weather the storm in a rentawreck, I gotta think an H2 would be able to.
I wonder if most folks that bought them are embarrassed to drive ‘em. I don’t see too many around these days.
Hell, you don’t need a Hummer or a mini-van to seat 7. How about something nice, and right in the middle…MDX anyone?
A loaded Acura MDX costs as much as a Hummer H2 and has less functionality off road, but gets much better gas mileage.
Depending on your use, it can be as much of a poser mobile.
Range Rovers, too. I’ve never understood how they morphed into yuppiemobiles.
“…Range Rovers, too. I’ve never understood how they morphed into yuppiemobiles….”
You might not be old enough to remember custom vans which were eventually co-opted by the factories.
That’s how.
A hummer does not carry a lot of people. From what I recall, it’s like 4 people. It’s a wide vehicle, but one adapted from the military, for military purposes. It’s not a troop transport by any stretch.
Big hat, no cattle. Boy, does that hit close to home.
Years ago, I worked for a fundraising outfit that paid its big boys (and, yes, all of them were boys) very well. One fine day, something went wrong in payroll, and they didn’t get the full amounts they were expecting in their paychecks. To put it mildly, the fit hit the shan.
My former landlady was the computer system admin for this outfit’s accounting department, so a lot of the aforementioned fit came flying her way. She didn’t enjoy it.
The fix to the problem was quite simple: Cut additional checks to make up the difference. And that smoothed a lot of ruffled feathers.
But what I’ll always remember is that the big boys raised the biggest fuss. Those of us who were perched lower on the totem pole were of the “Ooops! Accounting made a mistake and they’re gonna fix it!” mindset. We were more than willing to bear with the accounting people, and not yell at them.
What does your example prove?
That yelling at someone to fix a payroll problem is wrong? That you would do your job for a lesser wage? That you felt powerless to fix a payroll problem? That you trusted someone else to fix it?
Raising a fuss when people mess up is right.
Raising a fuss when they didn’t mess up but the outcome is not in your favor is wrong.
My example proves that the big boys were so overextended that they couldn’t wait a few hours for the short paycheck problem to be corrected. And that they were very rude to the people in accounting, who got right on the problem and were fixing it.
“That yelling at someone to fix a payroll problem is wrong?”
Yes, for starters. You give people an opportunity to correct incorrect behavior in what most would consider an acceptable amount of time. When I see my “superiors” on some emotional rant it tells me they can’t handle obstacles in their lives with a clear head. It also tells me there is another reason for their rant other than the immediate problem at hand.
…and be oblivious that they were complaining to people who made 5% or 10% of what they made in a year. Sometimes, there are people who really NEED to be bitchslapped.
My last CEO told me that the more money you make, the more you spend. As he bought his 2nd home in Carmel.
They all say that. It’s like saying the more beer you drink, the more you have to relieve yourself.
Well duh, Mr. Genius.
How about the more it rains, the more you get wet?
It’s damn scary how simple minded many wealthy people are and the only thing protecting them from becoming just another nobody IS their money. And sometimes even that doesn’t work.
“…oblivious that they were complaining to people who made 5% or 10% of what they made in a year.”
That’s the part that always get me, how they caterwaul to their underlings as if they’re going to somehow empathize. I guess they don’t worry about cake and guillotines anymore….
Interesting Times await us all if/when this trend snowballs.
Already been happening for some time now. E.g. see this article from last July.
New research found that more than 25% of mortgage loan defaults are strategic — that is, a quarter of homeowners who default on their mortgages are walking away from their homes even if they can afford to make their payments.
Homeowners are especially motivated to walk away when home values have fallen by more than 15%, according to a new paper, “Moral and Social Restraints to Strategic Default on Mortgages,” by researchers at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and the European University Institute.
If accurate, I’d expect new laws really bringing down the hammer on private citizens who do this.
Snowballing is a good term. I know a couple who bought their bay area house at 150K 20 years ago, now worth 1m. HELOC loans on home over the years now total 500,000. Couple says cannot make the 5K monthly payment (yes they can), so they have stopped paying.
Moral of the story: Even people who are not underwater and can meet monthly payments are no longer paying. People sense the free-for-all environment and are taking the banks to the cleaners. Unfortunately, the banks are on an endless cashflow gravy train funded by the taxpayers and don’t care. This particular couple stopped paying 5 months ago and nobody knocking on their door so far. We have taxpayers committing fraud against taxpayers, all compliments of US Government bailouts.
They stopped paying on a house worth 1m, when they owe 1/2m. Add stupidity to their list of deficiencies.
Add deficiency to their list of deficiencies, if the house doesn’t sell for the unpaid balance; no protection for refis.
In the early 80’s the farmers were getting good prices for their crops & so they all went on a land-buying binge . By the late 80’s most of the cropland was worth a third what they had paid. They all got serious write downs of principle , and land prices stabilized . It seemed to work , though most of that debt was government backed . I think they made the descison to keep the farmers producing food at all costs , and they did . Most kept their land , though the very worst managers did go out of business.
“Most kept their land, though the very worst managers did go out of business.”
Which put the land into the hands of the best farmers, which is a large part of the reason US farm production is so efficient.
Capitalism at its best.
Capitalism at its best ….(with a side order of price supports by the GOV, and loan support by the GOV, and hail insurance support by the GOV, and drought insurance support (a big scam a few years ago), and the prohibition of any signficant import of sugar, and a nice subsidy for corn based ethanol, and mandatory use of ethanol in fuel, and the prohibition of the import of cheaper sugar cane based ethanol, and GOV funded ag research, and GOV payment to take farm land(always the worst land) out of production.
Capitalism at it best is when the capitalist makes the best use of the environment in which he finds himself working in.
Price supports, subsidies, etc. are part of the farmer’s environment. The best farmers put these things to the best use, the worst farmers don’t.
You think the best capitalist is a hypocritical closet socialist?
Stop using to word Capitalism to describe what has been happening to our economy and few here will challenge some of your views. We need to realize that what ever “it” is not classical text book capitalism. Maybe we should look to Darwin or Machiavelli for some clues. Adam Smith’s view of markets looks about as foolish as man-made Global Warming to climate skeptics.
Capitalism has proved to function best and engender the most good-will when it is practiced to enhance the general good of the people by being kept in check by regulations that inhibit injustice, monopolies and exploitation.
Capitalism forms a superior economic system however capitalism should not be held above the common good of the people because economic systems serve people and not the other way around.
Why do people choose to develop or participate in an economic system? It is because that economic system will benefit them and their society—not because THEY can benefit the system. Therefore it is misleading for some to constantly blather on about how “free-markets” will fix everything by themselves or that the “markets will know what’s better for us”.
This type of thinking has proven faulty because the “markets” in themselves don’t really care about us. Why would they? They have no feeling. They don’t know if someone is hungry or not and they don’t really care if someone is sick or ripped-off because that is not the market’s job and it never will be. That is our job.
Free markets are far superior because they can provide a great basis for progress and building wealth however they don’t care much about social justice, therefore it has always been the people’s and the government’s role to promote social justice in capitalistic systems. The way people and the government have insured justice in capitalistic societies is through regulation and oversight of capitalism. This is the social contract between business, the people and government.
Unfortunately regulation and oversight were given a very bad name the past 30 years and we have evolved into a very virulent version of crony-capitalism that is now requiring taxpayer money to perpetuate itself.
Yep, agree Rio ,good post .
Rio, you say free markets provide a great basis for progress and building wealth, but then say they don’t care much about social justice? Would a more accurate statement be that they provide a great amount of social justice through opportunity for those who participate/compete in them, but neglect those who are unable to participate (disabled, mentally ill, elderly)?
I also still don’t see the disconnect between free-markets, and the rule of law. I don’t even think the most adamant free-marketers say that murder should be “legal” as a means to a business end. I think a balanced summary of a real free market philosophy includes the concept of personal freedom, the rights of the individual (Bill of rights is a good list I think), and the rule of law (specifically in enforcing contracts and upholding personal freedoms).
One of the things I think defines us as “free” is that we have remove the enforcement of a contract from the contracting parties, and onto the responsibility of an “independent judiciary” . When people say free markets will fix everything, they say if because they have faith in the people that participate and benefit from free markets. The people make the rules via contracts, not via gov’t. For instance, health insurance which serves many people successfully, is not the invention of the federal gov’t. By leaving the enforcement of the contract separate from the entities in the contract, IMHO we get a net gain in terms of “freedom”, prosperity, and social justice.
Just think if the insurance companies were in charge of lawsuits regarding their providing of insurance. It would be horrendous. All the Erin Brokovich/cancer boy cases of the world would result in dismal failure. But somehow when we propose that company be “the Federal Gov’t”, then *mandate* that people are required to give that org money, people jump all over it like it is the greatest thing…
It is not a conservative idea to keep the enforcement of contracts out of the same hands that make the contracts, it’s actually quite a liberal forward thinking one. We’ve just forgotten how forward thinking people had to be to envision such a system, and what they had to fight through to get out of the days of “the crown” making laws/contracts/taxes and enforcing them as well.
(free markets) provide a great amount of social justice through opportunity for those who participate/compete in them, but neglect those who are unable to participate (disabled, mentally ill, elderly)?
Good points, they do provide social justice through opportunity but we have to remember that much of that social justice such as civil rights, worker’s rights, fair pay, fair hiring practices and workers safety were brought about by regulations and laws as well.
a balanced summary of a real free market philosophy includes the concept of personal freedom, the rights of the individual (Bill of rights is a good list I think), and the rule of law (specifically in enforcing contracts and upholding personal freedoms).
I agree and I would add aspects of the common good and even playing field protections among other points to your specifics on law’s roles too.
But here’s where we differ. Health Insurance. Some of your points are good but all your contract points and personal freedom points have been used to apologize for and defend our health insurance system but our system is a broken joke. Your points could be valid in a vacuum but we don’t live in one because money and injustices and greed come into play.
Why do I think this? Because of the evidential record and it is very clear. We’ve had over 60 years to practice your noble theories (and some are) that you defend in regard to our heath-care system and apparently, they don’t work on this particular problem in this particular country.
This is where I look at the evidence of EVERY other 1st world country except ours. Math is math and party dogma does not trump math. I’m not saying you do, but many believe lies and misinformation being spread by demagogues, but no talk-radio blowhard buffoon can get me to ignore USA’s health stats compared to Europe, Canada or Japan. Yes we are better in a few areas but the way our private health insurance system serves a lot of our citizens is pathetic.
Canada spends 10% of GDP on health care and we spend 17% for worse results. Every Canadian is covered. 50 million Americans are not covered and 50 million have BS coverage. That’s 1/3 of our population and I don’t care about any arguments about some people choosing not to have insurance or being lazy or whatever.
Too bad if they don’t want to pay for coverage or chip in on an aspect of life that affects everyone and extracts a cost to all of society. All that means is that I’ll have to pay for them anyway later when they get sick. We’re all in this health insurance mess together as Americans.
Where is this noble right-wing “free-market” old man or women who will go die in a cave when they get too old or sick like some of the Indians used to do rather than use their medicare? People talk a good game until they get sick or need something then they all have their “rights” don’t they?
That’s why I believe in basic universal-coverage paid for by our tax dollars with private insurance options available. If a former banana republic, much poorer country like Brazil can do it, we damn sure can too.
What the right refuses to understand (because it doesn’t fit their talking points) is that we are all paying anyway. We are all paying through under-coverage, no coverage, inflated premiums, outlandish prices, poor service, depression, poverty, bankruptcy, stifled entrepreneurship, hobbled capitalism, sickness and premature death.
Other than that, it’s all good.
“You think the best capitalist is a hypocritical closet socialist?”
I think the best capitalist is the one who makes the best use of the conditions he is presented with. The farmers didn’t write the legislation for farms subsidies and all the rest; legistators did. The succesful farmers merely take advantage of these programs when it is their best interest to do so, just as they take advantage of grain prices and weather conditions when it in their best interest to do so.
But why stop at farming? How many people got sucked into buying real estate at inflated prices? And how many refused to get sucked in?
If Everyman is a capitalist the some are more successful at the art than others. The ones who said “No Way!” to the offer of buying seven-hundred thousand dollar McMansions in Fresno are more successful at capitalism than the ones who willingly said “Yes”.
Capitalism boils down to individuals making choices. Those who make wise choices do well. Those who don’t make wise choices don’t do well. It’s not all that complicated.
Amen, Rio. We’re all paying. And not just in money, but in needless human suffering and the growing toll that cynicism and lawlessness are taking on our society.
You’re forgetting that the farmers voted in the legislators who made subsidies (and who presumably campaigned on subsidies). So in effect, the farmers weren’t capitalists who took advantage of a situation; they were socialists who created the socialist situtation that they took advantage of.
Makes me wonder what would happen if the teabaggers actually win the limited government that they claim to be working for. They might be in for a shock.
We had 38,000 acres in ND which had been in
the family for decades. Working and keeping it was a function of how well you tweaked the
system, not necessarily how well you farmed or ranched. Truth.
Agreed.
Years ago, I had the opportunity to spend a week visiting with some Kansas wheat farmers. They were very cautious, frugal farmers. Lovely people who were very well respected in their county and in many other parts of Kansas. (Rural Kansas is a place where your reputation counts.)
They weren’t as show-offy with equipment and personal possessions as some others in the area, but they kept chugging right along. And, as far as I know, their descendants are still doing so.
I also know some Kansas wheat farmers who run huge spreads and retire every winter to
the harsh confines of their palatial estate homes in Kansas City.
They know how to tweak the system.
seems to me I heard stories about wheat farmers here making a killing in the infamous wheat deal with the Soviets, buying lots of new equipment then going belly up when the price went back down. That was in the 1970s.
Three letters: CRP. Lots of farmers bought land for no other reason than not growing on it. At least in this neck of the woods.
So ‘cramdowns’ have worked successfully before. Interesting.
Alpha….but they were producing a sell able Product on their land….what does a homeowner produce?
Two points worth noting:
1) A far smaller percent of late-20th Century Americans owned farms than owned houses;
2) There is little overlap between the rural and urban populations in the U.S.
Both factors would have acted to make it politically easier to employ heavy handed government intervention to fix the financial problems of farm owners without sparking a populist backlash from non farm owners.
By contrast, cramdowns for home owners in trouble will inevitably look to others like rewards for people who cashed out all their equity to buy expensive toys and vacations during the boom years, only to go crying for government handouts during the bust.
I think a lot of the strategic defaults are going to end up hurting the one`s doing them. Here is what`s going to happen; you default and now your credit is wacked for many years. Then in a few years homes prices start back up and you still can`t buy “default on your record”. Your credit finally heals and home prices are back up high and you are having to buy high again. Karma…..its real. I think we will look back at these people and say; hummm….they a bad decision followed by a few more.
Lane
Lane….but if prices do NOT go back up, they made a killing not paying the mortgage and squatting in their “homes” for a year or two.
It is plausible that the gov’t will mandate some kind of credit foregiveness at some point. This latest push to ban states from running pre-employment credit checks is a harbinger of things to come.
That said, if these folks are going to have it tough it will come not from credit scores, but from an enduring and horrible wage/job situation. People extrapolated their current wages by overlaying them on top of the wage history of earlier geenrations. That model is kaput.
I’m still wondering about the bans on hiring because of credit scores. Yes, the current pending bans are probably because FB’s need jobs. However, the bans do have potential credibility via discrimination/4th amendment. Once in place, it would be years before the bans are lifted (depending, to be blunt, on who’s in the White House and how many Supreme Court Justices die).
To clarify, I mean the bans on using FICO as a hiring qualifcation have possible legal cred.
And not only did the FB’s extrapolate the old wage model: banks did the same. State extrapolated the old tax model to project revenues. It seems that planning ahead and due diligence are kaput too.
And not only did the FB’s extrapolate the old wage model: banks did the same. State extrapolated the old tax model to project revenues.
Excellent point!
The rosy financial calculations were systemic. Case in point: the state of Illinois calculates its unfunded pension liability using optimistic (to put it kindly) estimates on its asset returns.
Even under the rosy scenario, the unfunded liability is now $60 to $85 billion, depending on whose numbers one believes. That’s ugly enough. Using more realistic returns, it’s clear that the state’s debt load is much, much worse than state officials are letting on — perhaps as high as $219 billion.
Scary, but I doubt my state is unique in this regard.
Business walks away from financial obligations, leaves pensioners, employees, vendors holding the bag = Intelligent Business Strategy
People walking away from their crapboxes, leaving the banks (excuse me, taxpayers) holding the bag = End of civilization
Hey, they aren’t walking away; they are emulating a proven Wall Street/Big Business strategy.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
…and it’s about damn time Wall St. got a dose of its own medicine.
People without jobs can’t support a 75% consumer driven economy.
I think a lot of the strategic defaults are going to end up hurting the one`s doing them.
Some yes, however your example did not address the consequence of staying and being underwater by 100, 200, or 300K.
Much depends on how far underwater and where one is.
I would much rather rent for the rest of my life than be over-paying on an asset that is 100’s of K underwater and an asset that ties me down in life like an anchor.
But I think so many are going to walk that there will be a de facto forgiveness on walking away. After all, we have to sell these house to somebody and extending credit to non credit worthy borrowers is now ingrained into the financial and political fabric of America.
Also I don’t think Karma will much come into play here as it is my personal opinion that God (or whoever one feels deals cosmic justice) isn’t going to be too vengeful about someone giving the house back to a bailed out, post fraudulent bank even though the bank might have mistakenly thought it had been “doing god’s work”.
“there will be a de facto forgiveness on walking away”
Exactly what I’ve been telling others for a long time. There’s only a finite pool of people who can possibly buy homes. If you DQ all those with walkaways, you’re probably going to be looking at 1/2 (or less) of the pool of buyers is actually able to buy a home.
There will be another govt program to help those that have walked away, a type of MTG insurance specifically for these people; they will pay a bit more on their notes, but they will not be locked out of the housing market. The government needs them to get back out there and buy; once this realization sets in, you will start to see programs designed for these people ramp up.
Frankly, they may be a better credit risk; at least they understand how finances work.. That’s got to be a positive factor in credit scoring, right? Is it a sign on “bad credit” when someone acts in their own best interests?
And with the government backing them, it can help push housing prices up, thus punishing the frugal folks who don’t wish to overpay for a house just to be debt-serfs.
A Win-Win-Lose situation - sounds about right!
When we come out on the far side of the RE bust, those without foreclosures will be escorted to the front of the line by lenders. But they’re going to let some of the hoi polli into the club as well. And I suspect that those who have managed to come out of the foreclosure and/or bankruptcy mess FIRST will be at the head of the line. I suspect that it will be like silicon valley venture capital after the dot-bomb. When everybody had a bankruptcy in their past, it ceased to be a bar to borrowing.
There is far too much money to be made by lending to people. I think you are right. No foreclosure will be a plus, but having a foreclosure in your past won’t be NEARLY the black mark that it was in, say 2006.
“But I think so many are going to walk that there will be a de facto forgiveness on walking away.”
I’ve been thinking the same thing for a while now. In other words, the American FB is ‘too big to fail’.
I agree that walkers might be charged a little more or
have a insurance requirement ,or maybe a bigger down payment requirement in the future . I think they might want to get rid of no recourse loans also because they won’t be very popular with investors in the future . So in that way the actions of your fellow man/women end up affecting you ,not to mention bail-out debt . In fact I do think that the cost of money will go up in the future because of what happened
with this Ponzi -scheme .
In my view a person that lost their job because of this downturn and ended up loosing their house is different than the fraudulent speculator who pulled cash out and bought a bunch of toys ,or the strategic default walker .
The problem is that it was a fake Ponzi- scheme and the Banks/Wall Street and their mania borrowers that bought into the scheme are seeing this situation as one that they want to get out of it on the general populations collective
dime . If you weren’t one the people that were involved in the housing scheme you dislike paying for others peoples mistakes and crimes and stupid greed . If your a saver you dislike the fact that you take less because the banks need money to pay for the Loan Walkers . If you were priced out of the market you resent all the bail out programs to prop up the real estate market and keep prices higher .
Does everyone ,including the Banks/Wall Street culprits, get off based on the Mania Defense,or we didn’t see it coming Defense ,or we didn’t know we couldn’t afford the house debt defense.
Wall Street Money Changers are the most responsible parties
because lenders are charged with the duty to not make bad loans and certainly not throw a leveraged RE Ponzi scheme on the willing public ,while rating securities AAA paper when it should of been rated high risk F paper . No doubt the public was brainwashed to some degree to get in on the bandwagon . I really would of wished that the borrowers would of rejected real estate inflated prices and refused to get themselves on toxic liar loans,or into more debt by equity loans betting they could sell to a greater fool because real estate always goes up .
a person that lost their job because of this downturn and ended up loosing their house is different than the fraudulent speculator who pulled cash out and bought a bunch of toys ,or the strategic default walker .
That is very true too.
Here’s what you do…
Anyone who has foreclosed is barred from any tax breaks when they sell - i.e., no tax-free sales for possessing your property during 2 of the past 5 years, etc.
Just because the purchase of properties will be too easy for foreclosees, it doesn’t mean the sales end has to be as profitable for them.
Any extra profit/reward bump should be available only to those who have never foreclosed.
I still think that even though the banks are too overwhelmed to go after walk-aways now, it’s hard to imagine that those mortgages won’t get sold to a collection agency that will find the time to go after them. I mean, in a recourse state, a bank is just going to throw the mortgage in the trash can, rather than sell it to someone for, say, ten cents on the dollar? Someone will buy those debts and pursue payment on them.
Their credit is only bad for 7 years, then it rolls off — at least in California. Its maybe 10 yrs. in some states.
And I’ve said this many times — business’s typically DO NOT run a credit report on you. They run SSN, criminal, past employment and education. If you ask your HR department, they’ll tell you what they run. Its too expensive for companies to run every report on you.
However, they will for C-level management; some types of finance; and maybe when a federal check is involved i.e. security and babysitting.
“Both have good jobs - she is an attorney - and they make almost $200k/year”
Pressboard, I respect the “its a business decision” mantra, but it seems that with a salary like that there would be other assets making a deficiency judgement worth persuing, no? Florida is a recourse state. From what I read a lot of lenders aren’t bothering, but it sounds like a crapshoot.
No, Kim. I can assure you that this couple owns almost NOTHING free and clear and have been living beyond their means since puberty. The $200k/yr is combined, incidentally - I left that unclear.
and have been living beyond their means since puberty
Hahahahaha! Hey, I know someone like that! Unfortunately, I’m related to him by marriage (my sister’s, not mine, my spouse is a paragon of fiscal responsibility).
It’s really true, Kim. I wouldn’t want to live in dread of the bank coming back to attach my assets or wages. When you think about it, they have a mortgage of 500K, but they can pay it. It would involve living in their townhouse for 5 more years, refinancing to a 10-year at 5% and paying $6K per month, but they can afford it. When they finally have equity in five years, they could sell and start over. With the foreclosure they will have poor credit for seven years plus the possibility that the bank will come after them for anything they save outside of a retirement account.
RE,
You are looking at it from the perspective of
the old, now retired, system. With the advent
of the new financial paradigm, with rules changing every day, who knows what is in store
for those that walk away. They might be the
winners and we, the losers.
For sure pressboard,
When those old dividing lines between the old fashioned, stoic “stay n ‘pay” FB and the modern financial astute FB walk-a-ways disintegrate with reality…there will be Hell to pay.
…and it will happen fast !
I recently convinced a friend to stop feeding his ‘alligator’ in Galveston.
I believe Florida is a recourse state unless the mortgage note specifies otherwise. I know of a high income family who tried the same thing and, although I don’t know the full story, I believe the bank is pursuing them.
And there’s the rub. Relying upon bank’s historical reluctance to pursue deficiency judgements is the mirror image of relying on borrowers historical reluctance to strategicly default. Once enough people WITH assets or significant income start defaulting, than deficiency judgements start paying for themselves. I wonder whether in the future, there will be a noticeable difference in mortgage rates on recourse vs non-recourse loans.
Exactly. They just need enough time to figure it out and a little time beyond that to hire the people needed to process the paperwork.
Anyone need a job?
Everybody is rationalizing anything they do these days because your not suppose to have a loss on a investment in America . The Banks aren’t suppose to lose ,the walkers aren’t suppose to take a loss. So that is the new law of the jungle and the Congress picks and chooses who the winners and losers will be.
Regents propose 4,000 layoffs, dozens of program cuts.
Morris News Service
ATLANTA — The University System of Georgia released a list Monday afternoon of 4,000 layoffs and dozens of program eliminations that would be required should the General Assembly insist on taking another $300 million from the budget.
Lawmakers are searching for roughly $1 billion in savings to avoid a projected shortfall in next year’s budget. Last week, they ordered the system to compile a list by Friday of the cuts it would make.
University System spokesman John Millsaps said the Friday deadline wasn’t possible. The presidents of the 35 public colleges and universities forwarded their list of changes to the University System on Saturday for release to the public 4 p.m. Monday.
The changes include closing satellite campuses, elimination of certain majors, shorter hours at libraries and student centers and lower caps on enrollment among the various schools. The University of Georgia, for instance, would admit 500 fewer freshmen in the fall and accept 1,000 fewer transfer students.
“The changes include closing satellite campuses, elimination of certain majors, shorter hours at libraries and student centers and lower caps on enrollment among the various schools. The University of Georgia, for instance, would admit 500 fewer freshmen in the fall and accept 1,000 fewer transfer students.”
Yep, cut those library hours, heaven forbid that you should cut salaries which went up based on cost of living. Now that cost of living is down, what you gonna do?
I can’t see the logic of cutting enrollments. Enrollments translate into revenues. Cutting expenses I can see, but cutting enrollments?
Students are, in effect, customers. The student body is what generates the cash flow.
Heavily subsidized “customers”.
“Heavily subsidized ‘customers’”.
True that. But if it is somebody else, other than the college, that is doing the subsidizing then subsidizing shouldn’t matter to the college.
Unless the subsidizing is cut off (a real possibility), but that’s a different issue.
Since it is aimed at a State spending cut, It would seem that the State is subsidizing.
I went to a State subsidized engineering school. Tuition was cheap.
..free…if you graduate with a B average or better…
You would think that a small tuition increase from zero to $ 2,000/yr would solve some of the problems. I believe my daughter just got a ‘come-on-in’ brochure from the U. of Georgia. Sure, let the outta-staters solve your problems.
college is free in GA at state schools if you graduate high school with a b average or better - for residents
A mere 3.0 GPA? I’m guessing that less than half of all students pay any tuition. State schools in Colorado give you a measly $2000 discount per year for a 4.0. Mesa State College in Grand Junction does offer free tuition for 3.5s with good ACTs (29+)
I have NEVER heard of university that treated it students like customers. They treat them more like an entitlement.
For USG to cut back on enrollment means they are in far worse condition than is being said.
I would love to see the list of cuts for top admin. and professors pay!
Admins aren’t going to cut their own pay.
Prof pay is a touchy subject. At large research state schools, the best profs are “talent” that bring in grant money, much like any sales VP in the private sector. And profs do research on the cheap (low overhead, hard-working Asian grad students), which helps the US News ratings, which brings in customer undergrads. You cut a prof’s pay, he’ll go somewhere else. Also note that schools don’t pony up Wall-Street level bonuses. The prof makes maybe $200K(?) at MOST (although the profs pay themselves extra gravy on the side). It’s usually more cost-effective to pay the prof.
You’re right Oxide. My FIL did this for years
at Stanford.
And a large number of the instructors are grad students/postdocs/adjunct faculty who are paid wages that are competetive with clerk/typists or admin assistants if not fast food.
I’ve been cut twice - recession of 1993 and depression of 2009. It’s only fair at a state university.
Try Guidestar.org
You have to sign up, but a reasonable number of basic searches a day are free.
Most state universities file the form that is archived there and if you dig enough, you should be able to find the pay of certain executives and perhaps a few other highly paid employees. It won’t be trivial, but it should be doable.
This information can be found for most non-profits. One of my mother’s friends was angry at the local girl scout council people for something. She couldn’t get any of the other troop leaders to support her because they assumed these women were unpaid volunteers just like they were. When I was able to pinpoint that one was getting nearly $80K a year and the other was getting around $50K, mom’s friend had all the amunition she needed. She rallied the troops (as it were) and got satisfaction.
Have fun….
My younger son is trying to graduate in four years. He has never, in that four years, been able to register for the classes he needs. Every quarter he shows up for six classes in the hopes that someone will drop out and he can take their spot. Yesterday he talked with three professors whose classes he needs to graduate in June but for which he is unable to register. He’ll probably eventually get in, but it adds stress to the process. He has also gone to school every summer to take requirements that he can’t get during the rest of the school year.
On the other hand, it’s taught him how to be polite and respectful!
I will pay his last tuition bill next week.
You’re in California, aren’t you? My niece at UCLA is encountering the same thing. Doesn’t matter that the student NEEDS the course to satisfy their requirements for their major AND as a prerequisite for another course. If you’re shut out of a course, too bad for you.
Lucky for you that your son is graduating before the 32% tuition increase takes effect.
Sounds to me like delaying people’s ability to graduate until after the tuition hike would be just the thing for greedy folks running the system to do.
“Oh, sorry - we’ll offer that class next year, AFTER we smack you with a huge tuition increase. Thanks for playing!’
I had the same problem. Gave up after 6 years, went back after 7, and the only reason I could get what I needed is because I convinced an admin to give me registration priority so I could graduate before retirement.
It didn’t increase my income any, but I have a lovely memento of our sci-fi dystopian future… a diploma bearing the signature of Das Gubernator!
My younger son is trying to graduate in four years. He has never, in that four years, been able to register for the classes he needs. Every quarter he shows up for six classes in the hopes that someone will drop out and he can take their spot.
That’s just demoralizing.
It’s one thing if it’s tough to get into advanced classes, small seminars, and so on, quite another if you have to fight for your required classes.
I couldn’t stand that, especially back when you had to stand in line forever just to get up to the dept table and find out the classes were full. Later it all went online - but by then I had copped out and gone lib arts because at least you could string the courses together over summer sessions etc. Not so with CS or anything halfway rigorous. And yeah, I was all mathed-up and willing to try, at the time.
Meh.
This thread of not getting classes kinda surprises me. I musta been fortunate because at my school in the early 90s, all you had to do was visit the prof of the class you needed, show them your transcript to date, and what you needed to graduate and they’d yellow (or was it blue?) slip you into the class.
IIRC, this was even the case for senior electives. IOW, one of three classes that I could take to fulfill requirements was full but I wanted specialty in that class. I seemed to get in despite the others having open seats.
Perhaps I didn’t realize how well developed my negotiation skills were at that level!
When you got nothing else, you can always blame it on the weather…
Winter storms to distort US jobless figures-Summers
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - White House economic adviser Larry Summers said on Monday winter blizzards were likely to distort U.S. February jobless figures, which are due to be released on Friday.
“The blizzards that affected much of the country during the last month are likely to distort the statistics. So it’s going to be very important … to look past whatever the next figures are to gauge the underlying trends,” Summers said in an interview with CNBC, according to a transcript.
Construction activity was hit particularly hard by the storms, but many restaurants and stores also had to close, putting the brakes on hiring plans and temporarily throwing some employees out of work.
Larry Summers said on Monday “winter blizzards were likely to distort U.S. February jobless figures”
..and I thought it was the job of the ministry of truth to distort the February jobless figures.
I think its significant that they are even bothering to come up with such a preemptive excuse at all. This behavior just screams insecurity over the pace of this “recovery”.
I’m expecting those winter blizzards to also result in “unexpectedly bad” February home sales as well.
Probably even here in sunny SoCal!
““The blizzards that affected much of the country during the last month are likely to distort the statistics.”
Well keep your stastical reports tucked away in a water proof container while out in a blizzard, and then read the bloody things when you’re inside.
Headline should read: “Unemployment up. Summers blames winters”
ok I’m stealing that.
“Jobless distort Unemployment figures, says Summers”
Yeah, the number would be great, if it wasn’t for all them Rat-Ba$turds that are out of work.
So if blizzards are causing unemployment, and they tell us (this time around at least) that global warming is causing the blizzards, I guess that we can just blame the whole economic mess on global warming?
“I guess that we can just blame the whole economic mess on global warming”?
Yes, and it’s being done by some. I am thinking it may get hot in many states this summer, what happens if some folks don’t want to work because it’s hot?
Those aren’t unemployed people. They’re simply taking a winter vacation. Yeah, that’s it, that’s the ticket.
We told our realtor to let our two offers (one rejected, but standing, the other a backup) simmer. No more offers until the credit goes away, FHA gets more pricey, and MBSs are no longer sucked up by the Fed dumpster vac.
We thought we’d try to squeeze a seller and get the credit too, but it appears that sellers are more willing to ride that pony into the flames than we are.
“but it appears that sellers are more willing to ride that pony into the flames than we are”.
That’s what we are seeing in our area of S.C. We looked at a house on Saturday, sold in 2003 for $189k. sold as a short sale in 2009 for 133k asking price now 189k. Real-a-tor said the seller will ‘entertain’ offer’s( I hate that term) but if it’s less than $185k won’t happen.
I said screw’um, they can keep right on ‘owning’ it.
“…they can keep right on ‘owning’ it.”
That’s my new battle cry: own it, man, own it!! Lol. I can already hear the realtor getting the owners all jacked for a full price offer (not), “You OWN this house! Make them PAY!”
Let’s start a list of important dates (I’m pretty sure PB is right, the next best time to test the water is in a year, as it will take sellers a good six months to look in the rearview mirror and accept that all of the following have changed):
1. FHA costs go up April 15
2. FTHB $8k credit goes away April 30th
3. FED stops buying MBSs when?
Reminds me of the vocabulary used when a boss wants you to “take ownership” of something (implying it will be good for your career) when it is usually a awful project which everyone recoils from in horror, the chances of succeeding as desired is slim, and it will be used against you at your next review.
Ah, a good way to dump an employee. Force him/her to “take ownership” of a doomed project.
Failure of the project provides an acceptable reason to oust the unwanted employee.
Ding ding ding! This is precisely what happened to me a couple years ago. Well, I actually took a second option:
Combo option: Force employee to take ownership of a doomed project. Failure provides an acceptable reason to oust employee.
Oxide option: Employee sees that project is doomed and refuses to take ownership. Forces boss to take ownership, publicly. Embarassment of boss and failure to be a team player provides an acceptable reason to oust employee. (it was a little more complex, but same idea.)
“Combo option: Force employee to take ownership of a doomed project.”
This is NOT my option. This is an option I have seen used in practice. Don’t shoot the messenger.
Blue Skye serial option: Take ownership of already failed project. Succeed. Everybody is pissed off. Find new job.
Failure is a way of life for most. Took me a long time to stop kicking the cactus.
I have one of those bosses that always messes everything up and looks for someone to blame as well. He usually gets a project and likes to act as the main deal guy in control, not inviting me on client conference calls, etc., because he thinks I will steal them and wants huge bonuses and raises as the local “guru.” Then at the last minute sends me some poorly drafted documents without even a term sheet with a note attached that reads please confirm via email you are signed off on this. I send a note back saying I see the following issues . . . He calls me, refusing to do anything in writing, trying to convince me why the deal works and why I should sign off, and how I am being an obstructionist, and to send him written sign-off ASAP. I send an email back saying I have considered the points raised in our discussion as to why I should drop my comments - I stand by my comments, but am willing to defer to your decision as project leader. I then get a nasty call saying never do that again. He would probably fire me if he didnt realize I was smarter than him and I have saved his worthless butt on numerous occassions. I just stick around so one day I can vote him out.
I’m sorry Combo, I didn’t mean it that way. I meant “the option that Combo listed.”
The Oxide option is where they shoot the messenger.
Blue Skye, it’s not always true that someone can succeed with a failed project, at least not in its original iteration. Especially not in science/eng. You can’t bribe a molecule, and the Second Law is not impressed by somebody’s CV.
My projects were all practical engineering. Nothing challenging the laws of physics, rather making things that could work, work. Good projects fail because of overlooked realities.
I like your option, Blue Skye. If they are setting you up to fail so they can get rid of you anyway, you have nothing to lose, right? And if you succeed, you’ve proven what you realized all along: that you run circles around them, that you should be the boss of them, and that working for stupid people sucks.
Yes, well no matter how fast you run in circles, eventually you get the point that you are going nowhere!
And that being the boss thing, that only worked well for me when I got to pick the people.
The old “take ownership” of a soon to be failed project trick. Where I work these types of projects are deemed a success before they even start. Managers high fiving and patting themselves on the back. In the end the projects are never deemed a failure - they just seem to disappear into the abyss.
Recently navigated one of these “take ownership” of a soon to be project that ends up in the abyss. Convinced everyone the project needed a project manager given I was one of 5 resources that would be needed from 5 various teams. Naming off the 5 needed resources / teams was a carefully thought out stretch. A project manager now owns it.
“…I send an email back saying I have considered the points raised in our discussion as to why I should drop my comments…”
very entertaining, natalie…lol. I hate those turkeys who are always afraid to put anything in writing. Or too lazy.
You forgot that interest rates will go up (hopefully) too!
Yes, let them continue to “own” these homes
Someone once described it as: granite-laden albatosses hanging around Sellers necks.
Yep, I like that description
They can “entertain” all they like - stress themselves to the hilt as well!!
Best time to throw a low-ball offer is after they’ve had 2-3 thrown at them…Sellers are ususally worn down by then
Sorry kids, but prices are headed down, not up!
Both “your” agent, and their agent want the price as high as possible, since both make the commission based on the price of the house. I put “your” in quotes because in reality, both are working for the seller’s interests. Great system :-0
Attaboy, Muggy! You will not be sorry for that decision! $8000 lost in April means $50000 gained in December!
Yup.. That 8K “gift” to the buyers turns into 40-80K increase sales price for the sellers. It’s worse than a pass through, it’s a magnifying glass; the leverage used on RE makes that 8K gift into a windfall for the sellers.
If it goes away (and that’s a big IF in my book) it’s going to be “look out below” time for house prices over the next year. How much demand has this pulled forward? Couple this with rising interest rates? Oh man, it could be a wonderful time to buy a house come the end of this year..
I love the smell of napalm in the morning…
Of course, this is assuming that all these programs/gimmies actually go away.. Anyone want to give odds:
A) Tax credit is allowed to expire and not replaced with something else.
B) Feb MBS program stops and interest rates are allowed to rise to 6-7%.
C) Foreclosure halts are removed (no more mediation process) and the pipeline starts to fill again?
Here’s my theory on that 8K tax credit:
A long time ago, a study was done where rats were hooked up to a machine on which they could self-administer cocaine. (True story). Once they realized how “fun” this was, they would of course administer the drug to themselves until they OD’d.
I think whether the tax credit goes away or not, the rats will eventually OD on it; in other words, any one that is going to buy a house on the basis of an 8K tax credit will have already done so before long.
“Survival kit contents check. In them you’ll find:
- One forty-five caliber automatic
- Two boxes of ammunition
- Four days’ concentrated emergency rations
- One drug issue containing antibiotics, morphine,
vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills
- One miniature combination Russian phrase book and Bible
- One hundred dollars in rubles
- One hundred dollars in gold
- Nine packs of chewing gum
- One issue of prophylactics
- Three lipsticks
- Three pair of nylon stockings.
Shoot, a fella’ could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff.”
Dr. Strangelove?
Yes…Major T J King Kong, aircraft commander (played by Slim Pikins) in the B-52 just before he rode the nuke down yelling and waving his hat.
Great old movie
Amazing movie!
Where’s Major Kong?
“We told our realtor to let our two offers simmer”
Both deals are dead. Dear sellers, I’d rather you own it.
4/2 asking 250, we offered 215, countered at 243 = dead
3/2 asking 240, we offered 210, countered at 220 = dead
Own it, man, own it!!
OWN THAT HOUSE, AND DON’T STOP OWNING UNTIL I SAY SO.
Geez Muggy, IMO you are being much too generous with your offers!
I agree, especially in this environment and in Florida of all places, where there are way too many effin’ houses.
They’re fighting over 5%, in this environment? They must not be able to afford any shortfall they have to bring to the table.
It’s a fitting irony. FB’s didn’t need any cash down to buy a house. But they need the cash down to sell it.
“They’re fighting over 5%, in this environment?”
I don’t totally understand this seller. This is the house I expect to be trashed if they accept our offer.
“if they accept our offer.”
Which will be $195k when they call back in two months
5% difference buries a deal huh?
You’re offering waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much Muggy. I’m looking at a FannieMae shack with a $220k price tag. I’ll be offering somewhere around 120 to 130. If I can figure out how to get the place re-assessed that is.
There is a premium for both of these homes in that they are both in amazing ‘hoods. I was hoping to be at 60-70% off peak, but I am willing to start the conversation at 40-50%, which is where I am now.
“But they need the cash down to sell it.”
Roaches check in but they don’t check out!
More unloved than even Mugabe’s dollar
Business Editor ~ Timesonline UK - 3-2-10
It says something about your currency when foreign exchange dealers are even prepared to swap it for the Zimbabwean dollar. Yet this was the pitiful fate of sterling yesterday as it suffered its biggest rout on the currency markets for more than a year.
Apart from the pastings received at the hands of the US dollar and the euro, sterling also fell by more than 1.7 per cent against Zimbabwe’s much-mocked paper, completing a decline of more than 7 per cent since the end of January.
Some economists are convinced that this could be the start of a sterling rout, with investors losing confidence in Britain’s resolve to tackle the gaping hole in its public finances.
The weakness of sterling over the past two years has been welcomed by Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, as a boost for exporters. So investors believe the authorities will do nothing to shore up the currency.
One senior banker said yesterday his big worry was that if a bailout of Greece was agreed, all the hedge funds that have been shorting the euro could turn their attention to sterling.
“The weakness of sterling over the past two years has been welcomed by Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, as a boost for exporters”
What exports? After the North Sea oil went into decline what is Britain exporting besides crumpets, Marmite and short bread?
Crappy cars.
Financial services- they’re now experts in what not to do.
Dental technology.
Britain exported my family. And a lot of others.
We were part of the Cornish diaspora of the 1800s. The Empire brought in cheaper tin from Malaysia, and that kayoed the Cornish tin mining industry. According to my aunt, people were starving to death, so away from Cornwall they sailed.
And off to America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa they went. Taking their mining skills, pasties, and funny names with them.
Just a conspiracy to get rid of the stannic parliament.
They still have a Satanic parliament.
Oh wait, you said “stannic.”
wow, the pasties ended up in Butte…learned to make them myself.
And remember, people, the proper Cornish pronunciation is “pa-a-a-ah-stie.”
And in da UP too. Yummy!
Aren’t there pasties in Utah? Uh, nevermind…
Intellect.
They are exporting horny, drunken Brits on sex vacations.
Oh, and BAE arms deals.
Yes, you can Google it.
So this makes sense that they bought billions of bonds last few months with their sterling. They locked in a good deal considering we now have a huge pile of their depreciating currency in our vaults. Slick deal unless we are foolish enough to turn around and buy an equal amount of their Gilts. Duh!
Maybe we let them buy so many bonds as a hedge because they knew (and we did) that the pound was headed down hard?
Dodd, Corker Said to Near Deal on Giving Consumer Power to Fed.
March 2 (Bloomberg) — Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd and Republican Senator Bob Corker are nearing a deal to create a consumer authority at the Federal Reserve, according to two Republican Senate aides.
The plan is for a division at the central bank that would be led by an administration appointee and have the authority to write rules, said one of the aides, who declined to be identified because negotiations are private.
“By putting it with the Fed, you put it with the regulator that’s got the most experience in dealing with consumer issues,” said John Douglas, head of the bank regulatory practice at Davis Polk & Wardwell law firm in New York. “The Fed has the most authority under the various consumer statutes.”
Oly- how do you spell doomd?
I’m with Krugman. Better no ‘reform’ than this.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/01/opinion/01krugman.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
oops- now that I read it, my Oly/ATE homage/joke could easily be misconstrued, I meant we’re doomed (and where are you ATE?)
I knew what you meant. And I liked it.
“Giving Consumer Power to Fed”
Those four words say it all, so far as this cynic is concerned.
I find myself increasingly leaning towards Ron Paul’s camp. My only question has been and remains, “What next”?
Central planning? All we need is for the Government to set production targets. Some could argue they have in the Real-estate and maybe defense.
To the extent they have set real estate production targets, it looks as though their aspirations may have been set too high.
But perhaps that was the whole back door purpose of affordable housing policy — to push down housing prices by building a glut of residential real estate that will take a generation to pare down to size?
“I find myself increasingly leaning towards Ron Paul’s camp.”
Welcome to the camp!
I guess you all know why we’re here.
My name is PBEAR, and I became aware this year.
Welcome friend.
LOL. Another road-to-Damascus awakening.
I still would like to hear more about what Dr Paul could offer up as a replacement, just in case his “End the Fed” movement came to fruition…
This is great news! The Dumbocrats are in disarray on their financial reform proposal. No financial reform whatsoever would be better than Fed “fox in the chicken coop” consumer protection.
The Financial Times
Plans for Fed link to Consumer Financial Protection Agency draw fire
By Tom Braithwaite in Washington
Published: March 2 2010 23:46 | Last updated: March 2 2010 23:46
Democrats led by Barney Frank on Tuesday slammed a proposal to grant additional consumer protection powers to the Federal Reserve, as the latest idea designed to unlock talks in the Senate appeared destined for the scrap heap.
Mr Frank, chairman of the House financial services committee, described the plan as a “joke” in language that pits him against Chris Dodd, his Democratic counterpart in the Senate.
Other Democrats in the Senate and the House expressed scepticism about the plan, although the White House and the Democratic leadership in the House stopped short of declaring the proposal dead.
The Fed had appeared to be enjoying a surprising political renaissance when the proposal, which emerged after talks between Mr Dodd, chairman of the Senate banking committee, and Bob Corker, his Republican negotiating partner, came to light on Monday.
Mr Dodd has been struggling to find a compromise acceptable to Republicans amid hostility to a strong stand-alone Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA), which was proposed by the Obama administration as a way to prevent the mis-selling of products such as credit cards and mortgages.
After other Democrats on the banking committee and beyond got wind of the plan to house the authority in the Fed, there was an immediate backlash that further clouds the prospects for financial regulatory reform.
The Fed has been under attack from Congress for months, with its bank supervision role, immunity from complete congressional audits and the election of members of regional boards all threatened by legislative proposals.
While the Fed has managed to fend off much of the criticism, with the strong support of Tim Geithner, Treasury secretary, the central bank was expected to have to give up its consumer protection remit.
…
Here’s an article chock full of some juicy quotes. The single powered condo buying juggernaut revs its engine in Chicago. After reading this you’ll swear that whole negative household formation trend is just a myth. The mania lives - savvy singles snapping up condoze in anticipation of appreciation to fund future aspirational purchases.
http://tinyurl.com/yk2fsay
I hated reading that story. Are there that many stupid people out there? Oy vey!
I hated reading that story. Are there that many stupid people out there?
Apparently so. The numbers in the article are … wow:
Single women accounted for 26 percent of all purchases. Nationally, single women accounted for 21 percent of all home purchases, with single men responsible for 10 percent.
“…Are there that many stupid people out there?….”
Worse.
More.
That confluence of factors “was like the planets were aligned. It was like the decision was made for me,” said Daphne Zimmerman.
“It’s been a dream forever, to prove to myself that I could do it alone,” she said. “There’s something about owning. It’s like having your very own piece of the planet.”
Poor Daphne. She’s about to get a whack-over-the-head kind of lesson.
Happened to me after I moved into the Arizona Slim Ranch. I quickly realized that I’d be doing this all by myself. No landlady to call to fix things. Couldn’t rely on the neighbors either.
It was scary. To the point that, for several months, I woke up with panic attacks.
What helped? Well, it was the community college and all the construction classes I took there. Talk about knowledge that builds confidence. In addition to taking the classes, I also volunteered in construction at Habitat — nothing like service learning for building one’s skills.
In my case, knowledge-building overcame the fear. I hope that Daphne realizes the same thing.
Glad it all worked out Slim.
Gals waking up in panic attacks scare me a lot too !
;
What ’s the chance of dainty wymin like Daphne or Julia.(whats a Phillips screwdriver???) I’ll just buy a new one ‘tude, doing what you did?
How come no one ever goes back and does a follow up story on any of these “homeowners”?
That gagged me, too.
The only good news in the article was that the average income of these women was $57K, and the average house price was $141K. Affordable.
The fact that there are condos in any major city finally selling back under $150K should be the news line of the story. It’s news to me, at least.
Yeah, but what are the monthlies?
A lot of single folks can’t really do it alone. Sure they can pay the mortgage, but actually cleaning and maintaining the place turns out to be more than they can handle. Detached homes and many singles don’t mix.
Instead of condo fee, hire lawn care.
From The Energy Daily:
——-
Red Tape Stopped Shovels In DOE Weatherization Effort. (By George Lobsenz)
Although it was initially considered among the most “shovel-ready” of all the agency’s economic stimulus initiatives, the $4.73 billion home weatherization effort launched by the Energy Department under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act made little real-world progress over the last year due to a suffocating tangle of red tape, including the imposition of new Davis-Bacon wage requirements for caulkers and other laborers in the program, according to an internal Energy Department audit.
In a report to Energy Secretary Steven Chu, DOE Inspector General Gregory Friedman said that as of February 16, only $368.2 million—or 8 percent—of the $4.73 billion allocated for the program has been tapped by state and local governments.
…
His report also acknowledged that budget problems in many states, such as California, led to furloughs and across-the-board hiring freezes that prevented state agencies from getting the number of workers needed to carry out the vastly expanded weatherization effort.
…
Congress’ decision to apply Davis-Bacon wage requirements to the weatherization program, which previously was exempt from that law. The Davis-Bacon law requires the Labor Department to determine prevailing wages to be paid to workers participating in federally funded projects; state and local agencies then have to show compliance with those wage requirements.
In a February 25 statement, the National Association for State Community Services Programs, a professional membership organization for the state and territorial administrators of DOE’s weatherization program, said the new Davis-Bacon requirements “posed significant planning and management challenges due to rigorous administrative requirements such as exponentially increased record-keeping requirements and the introduction of weekly certified payrolls.”
———
Oh boo hoo. I hate how these hypocrites complain about government spending, but then get all grabby for free government money. THEN they complain about all the paperwork, but if there isn’t the paperwork they complain about that the government is allowing fraud (which gets in the way of “their” free government money). As for the Davis-Beacon record-keeping, guess what? If you want free gov money, you can’t pick up illegals in the Sherwin-William parking lot, pay them pittance cash, and pocket the difference.
There are times that I wish the government really would get off businesses back. Just stop all subsidies, UI payments, and goodies for a few weeks and watch businesses scream. Except, it wouldn’t work. The higher-ups have a cushion to ride that sort of thing out, and it would be the little guy who getsthe j-tree, as usual.
word. we have an active, federally-funded weatherization program here and they manage to stick with the program and pay fair wages.
Y’know something? Caulking is something that you can do yourself. You don’t have to hire a professional caulker.
Caulking doesn’t take much practice. And, if you live in a drafty old house like mine, you’ll have plenty of practice opportunities.
Expanding urethane foam to works well.
By that, do you mean Great Stuff? If so, I’d like to warn all HBB-ers to get the low-foaming variety. Otherwise, you’ll spray a little bit and end up with this big, foaming blob that just keeps on growing. (I speak from personal experience.)
Just keep the computer near by, Slim. We’ll send an HBB’er out with a shovel and a hack saw to find you.
Maybe a rescue dog, too.
Polly, stop it. Please. You’re making me laugh.
Laughing really hurts right now. Reason: I think I have bruised ribs from a really stupid move I made on Friday afternoon. (Got a physician assistant appointment tomorrow.)
So, the HBB is hearby ordered to stop being funny. It hurts Slim too much.
Just be sure to use the right type of foam if your sealing windows. Yes there is a foam for sealing windows. I had a friend find out the hard way.
Just remember urethane can act as an
adhesive, and make sure you wear rubber
gloves.
Shovel-ready weatherproofing projects? What are they doing, piling dirt against all the outside walls and putting a layer of sod on the roof?
Admittedly, that WILL lower your heating bills!
Great point Bill.
That’s half the problem with those clowns: making up words and phrases that have absolutely nothing to do with reality.
GM to recall 1.3 million Chevrolet Cobalts and other compacts to fix power steering problem - March 2, 2010
DETROIT (AP) — General Motors Co. is recalling 1.3 million Chevrolet and Pontiac compact cars sold in the U.S., Canada and Mexico to fix power steering motors that can fail.
The recall affects 2005 to 2010 Chevrolet Cobalts, 2007 to 2010 Pontiac G5s, 2005 and 2006 Pontiac Pursuits sold in Canada and 2005 and 2006 Pontiac G4s sold in Mexico.
The automaker said Monday the vehicles are still safe to drive and never lose their steering, but it may be harder to steer them when traveling under 15 mph.
GM spokesman Alan Adler said it will take time for the automaker to get 1.3 million new power steering motors from the supplier, JTEKT Corp., and GM will notify car owners when the parts are available.
Does this mean Opie has to go to a foreign capital to apologize and plead forgiveness so that that country’s elected officals can be seen as “productive”?
Electric power steering. One more place for a computer bug to mess things up.
Yep, drive by wire, steering, brakes, accelerator. Can’t see any computer glitches popping up.
Yeah, fly by wire works great, too. Here are some conclusions on the Air France plane that crashed into the Atlantic:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,679980,00.html
From the article:
—
‘Two seemingly insignificant lines from the warning reports transmitted by the aircraft show how desperately the pilots fought to keep control. They read “F/CTL PRIM 1 FAULT” and “F/CTL SEC 1 FAULT”.
This somewhat cryptic shorthand suggest the pilots tried desperately to restart the flight computer. “It’s like trying to turn your car engine off and then on again while driving along the motorway at night at 180 kilometers an hour (110mph),” says Arnoux.
The attempt to resuscitate the on-board computer proved unsuccessful. For the last 600 meters (2,000 feet) before impact, the pilots’ efforts would have been accompanied by the chilling calls of an automated male voice: “Terrain! Terrain! Pull up! Pull up!” ‘
Famous last words: “F/CTL PRIM 1 FAULT F/CTL SEC 1 FAULT”.
I think it’s just the power assist.
The power steering has been out in my Honda for years. Never kept me from driving it. At speed not a problem. Parking lots are a challenge.
The power steering has been out in my Honda for years
Cassandra - the apotheosis of hbb frugality !
Hey, it’s a $500 car, that needs a $1000 steering rack. And count me in as an HBBr. (And yes, flattery gets you every where)
“One more place for a computer bug to mess things up.”
“HAL, we’re gonna crash! Stop the car NOW!!”
“I’m sorry Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that.”
Wonder how many others returned any funds? I’m going to ask my reps just for the hell of it.
Washington, D.C. - Congressman Ron Paul was able to return more than $100,000 from his allotted office budget to the Treasury this year, an increase over the $90,000 returned last year.
“Since my first year in Congress representing the 14th district I have managed my office in a frugal manner, instructing staff to provide the greatest possible service to the people of the 14th district at the least possible cost to taxpayers,” said Paul.
PR stunt.
What is insincere about it?
Would that the Adiministration as a whole could return one penny of their budget.
PR stunt? Kinda like all the efforts to keep “families” in their “homes”, huh?
PR or not.. That’s leading by example, and something that I can respect.
Oxide,
Dig deep into RP’s past and you’ll find that it’s not a stunt. This man is as sincere as anybody you’ll ever meet.
I never thought I would ever say that about a politician.
Ever.
It’s always good to have a healthy skepticism about politicians, including Ron Paul, but more and more he seems like the least bad option out there, by a growing distance.
Good for Ron Paul!
Wow…. this place is full of Ru Paul fans.
Don’t these guys know about anything about “rational, efficient markets”?
Brazil banking group to monitor derivatives-paper
Tue Mar 2, 2010 (Reuters) -
Brazil’s biggest lobbying group for the banking industry has set up a council to monitor companies’ exposure to derivatives contracts in hopes of avoiding a repeat of the crisis that hampered the industry at the end of 2008,
The council will have access at the start of each day to notional exposures to derivatives contracts from the end of the prior session, allowing lenders to gauge potential losses during a credit event, the newspaper said.
The creation of the council is the latest in a flurry of efforts by Brazilian authorities to strengthen the nation’s derivatives market.
As opposed to most developed nations, where derivatives contracts are mostly unregulated, companies and banks in Brazil are obliged to register their derivatives transactions in a local clearinghouse.
A good idea. Just as insurance policies are required be backed by pockets deep enough to pay off if/when necessary these derivatives should have similar requirements.
“As opposed to most developed nations, where derivatives contracts are mostly unregulated.”
100% “Unregulated” = “Financial Innovation” = GOOD!
Transparency = “Financial Strangulation” = BAD!
Of course there will be tax&fee increase across the board, everyone should know that, on a federal and state level. The funny line to me is…”not as a gateway to higher spending”. Riiiight! Your track record indicates the opposite, D.C.
Hoyer: Raising taxes a realistic option.
The Hill - 03/01/10
Tax increases may be necessary to rein in $12 trillion in federal debt, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Monday.
Hoyer emphasized the need to reform Social Security and Medicare, but he also made it clear that raising taxes will have to be on the table.
“No one likes raising revenue, and understandably so,” Hoyer said in an address at the Brookings Institution. “But if you’re going to buy, you need to pay.
“If need be, I am hopeful that both parties will agree to look at revenues as part of the solution — not as a gateway to higher spending, but as part of a compromise that cuts spending and balances the budget,” he added.
Again (breaking my do not post from work rule) my two co-workers are talking about *HOW* to walk away. Both have advanced degrees, families, stable jobs, etc. A few weeks ago they were merely discussing “strategic defaults.” Today they are openly strategizing.
Black Swans are the new black.
And yet bank stocks are near their 52-week highs. It makes no sense to me.
On the bank stock price chart, the second derivative is nearing zero and will soon become negative.
Why are you so eager to get into a house at the moment when millions and millions of Americans are trying to figure out how to get out of theirs? Don’t you see the potential risk of swimming head on into a tsunami tide?
Muggy would like to buy one of those other Americans’ houses for 60% less, PB. Nothing wrong with that. I think that you would like to buy a La Jolla house at a deep discount, when the time comes.
The exercise you describe seems to require extreme patience, a virtue I happen to possess.
Not so sure about Muggy, though…
He’s a Contrarian. Except when he isn’t.
Being a contrarian is quite en vogue these days. Everyone’s doing it.
+1
“Why are you so eager to get into a house at the moment when millions and millions of Americans are trying to figure out how to get out of theirs?”
Buy when everybody is selling?
A big “touche” on that one.
Unfortunately for that principle there’s a really big lag time w/respect to RE. People will be selling for about a 10-15-year period. The best time to buy is at the tail end of that period, not the front end. IMO we are only about 1/3 of the way, or perhaps 1/2 of the way, through it.
Packman,
Yes, Muggy may be paying a little more than he would at the bottom, but he may also avoid getting a house with 10 years of neglect to remedy.
And all of this is irrelevant if you simply can’t find a rental to suit your needs. Muggy has that problem.
The real advantage to waiting is to be able to save more by renting than you would be able to put to principal by buying and to make sure the neighborhood doesn’t fall to pieces around you. If you can avoid those risks, it is safe enough as long as you are sure you won’t want to move any time soon.
“he may also avoid getting a house with 10 years of neglect ”
Both houses we offered on were professional remodels, and in amazing condition (new AC, new windows, roof within the last 3 years, etc.).
We walked through a house with only 2 years of neglect and my eyes were on fire.
In this case “buying when everyone else is selling” would be comparable to “sipping on a daquiri while everyone else is running from the tsunami coming at the beach”. Contrarian behavior in the face of the obvious can prove fatal.
Lots of real estate chatter in my workplace too. My favorite: the family that bought a plot of land to build on a road that doesn’t exist yet. The guestimate is that the new home will take 2 years to complete. So in the interim, they’ve bought another home in the same area to hold them over till that one is completed. Do you think they’ll break even buying now and then selling in two years? The original home, the one they’ve lived in since before they decided to build their dream house is just hitting the market now in a nearby town that’s been accelerating its downward spiral. I don’t know how long ago that was purchased. Maybe it doesn’t matter to them.
Overheard in another place: Yeah, we’re happy in our new home. We bought several extra lots. That way if our kids want to come home and build we’ll have space for them. (I suppose if their retirement is funded, ok but it seems like the same ole land is an investment meme)
I’m also thinking of ditching my current realtor. She has her own home to sell and is ignoring all lower priced sales as anomolies. I bite my tongue w/her as my husband doesn’t feel like hearing what will be a rotation of arguments that she’ll never admit to. He has to endure the “how stupid does she think we are” comments all the way home. At least he agrees w/me that she’s in la la land and has no desire to put his hard earned money on any of the deteriorating options.
We bought several extra lots. That way if our kids want to come home and build we’ll have space for them.
My girlfriend’s family actually has that situation. But the land has been in the family for several generations. One plot went to her sister. The other is still there for her if she wants it. Sounds as if the family has slowly sold off land to reduce their tax liability.
It’s a good plan, if you’re not mortgaging to do it. Personally, I’d buy the extra plots just to have open space around me.
Millions from stimulus unspent. Detroit can’t afford requirements.
FREE PRESS
Detroit has received $170 million in federal stimulus dollars but has been able to spend only $16.8 million of it because the city is broke, and most of the available grants require it to spend money up front and get reimbursed.
But for a city courting a $330-million deficit, spending on anything but the necessities is next to impossible.
Today, the Detroit City Council is expected to receive an update on how stimulus money is being spent within the city.
City department officials are scrambling to apply for extensions in an effort not to lose the funding, but the city’s financial situation — and its gloomy forecast — could render their actions moot.
Sounds like the could bond it out. What’s a reasonable rate for a Detroit, federally secured, 6 month note? 15%?
If it’s truly federally secured (the principal at least) then they should be able to sell it at an interest rate of about 2%.
Postal Service seeks 5-day delivery. “We can’t freeze wages”
USA TODAY
The U.S. Postal Service will move this month toward reducing mail delivery from six days a week to five, a change Postmaster General John Potter has said is critical to reducing its massive debt.
Potter said Monday he’ll submit a formal request by the end of this month to the Postal Regulatory Commission, which must issue an advisory opinion on any change in mail service that would have national impact.
“We know we’re going to have less mail in 2020 than we have today,” Potter says. “We can’t freeze wages”. We can’t freeze fuel costs.”
99% of my snail mail is from Geico and I don’t even own a car. Let ‘em go Tango Uniform, at this point they’re basically just a subsidized carrier for advertisers anyway.
Most of *my* mail is credit card offers!
Can’t forget the 0% interest for a limited time checks from your friendly neighborhood credit card providers.
Why can’t they freeze wages? Everyone else is.
I’m getting offers from those Medicare HMO insurance companies. They’re addressed to former residents of this casa.
I also get numerous offers to spend more money with Cox (my ISP), which I refuse to do. Matter of fact, when they get some local competition, I’m going to dump them just like I did with Qwest (the phone company).
Three days a week of (mostly junk) mail would be fine with me.
I tried quelling my junque maile via that GreenDimes.com service, which, IIRC, is now operating under a different name. It did take quite a bit out of the mail at the post office box, but the streetside box is still the target of those weekly shopper and coupon blasts. Which go straight into the recycling bin.
Are you kidding? I love those. The creativity involved. How many angles can you use to take a picture of a pizza? What is the ideal distribution of pepperoni that will get someone to choose your pizza place rather than the one across the street? Can you take a picture that would appeal to a deep dish lover as well as a thin crust snob? Just incredible.
Speaking of incredible, I got a call from the Washington Post the other day. They asked permission to deliver the inserts from the Sunday paper to my door without the newspaper - no charge. Evidently they get enough from the advertisers to make it worth it to them - presumably because they already have delivery people making the rounds of my new building. Might also have something to do with the zip code. I wouldn’t be surprised if my household income was well below median around here.
Are you kidding? I love those. The creativity involved. How many angles can you use to take a picture of a pizza? What is the ideal distribution of pepperoni that will get someone to choose your pizza place rather than the one across the street? Can you take a picture that would appeal to a deep dish lover as well as a thin crust snob? Just incredible.
Looks like Polly is channeling Oly. And, good news. I’ve figured out how to laugh without being in too much pain.
…or, or 50 different styles of bold type!
And those little cartoon characters! SO CUTE!
Not to mention the incredible income opportunities!
With email, skype and online bill paying…..We are subsidizing junk mail advertising!!!
Indeed we are.
And, sorry to say, advertising by mail just doesn’t work as well as it used to.
In addition to the fact that about 98-99% of your recipients toss your carefully crafted messages into the trash or recycle bin, sending junque maile now gives your firm the reputation of one who doesn’t care for the environment. (After all, think of all the trees that had to die for your message!)
OTOH, electronic forms of advertising (e-mail, website banners, etc.) have their own problems. So, they’re not the panacea for what’s happening on the direct mail front.
What might happen if the federal government got out of the mail delivery business altogether and sold off the operation to a private enterprise?
Does it matter whether the government drops those annoying advertising pieces in your home mailbox, or a private company like FedEx or UPS does it?
Fed Ex and UPS won’t do it. The volume doesn’t make sense in many parts of the country. That is one reason that the post office has financial problems - they are required to provide service even in very rural areas.
My understanding is that Fed Ex and UPS subcontract out their very rural delivery business to the post office.
Having lived in a VERY rural area, I can testify that at least Fedex has contracted out to local couriers.
In case you didn’t know, the USPS is semi private already.
Since its reorganization into an independent organization, the USPS has become self-sufficient and has not directly received taxpayer-dollars since the early 1980s.
The Post Office already uses Fed Ex and UPS to fly its air mail
I’d like to get rid of the entire US Postal Service on account of their incredibly rude workers. A more detestable bunch would be hard to find.
Grizzy, I think it depends on where you live. The postal clerks (both of them) at our very small town post office are about as nice and friendly as is humanly possible.
After five years, it’s still a shock to deal with them.
The clerks at the Austin Post offices I go to are fine. We like our carriers too, although our favorite one recently moved to a route south of here.
“…A more detestable bunch would be hard to find….”
You don’t get out much, do you? That list is long.
Don’t knock the post office! Someone has to get my rent checks to my out-of-state owners!
I may be oversimplifying a bit here, but the administration’s goals regarding the zombie GSEs appear to this outsider to be transparently obvious:
Squeeze the U.S. monetary/tax base as needed to implicitly transfer wealth from non-home owners into the pockets of home owners, in the guise of what is misleadingly referred to as a “wealth” effect. A better name might be “reverse Robin Hood unaffordable housing subsidy,” as renters who are forced through stealthy financial engineering to implicitly prop up the values of other people’s homes pay the price in terms of higher rents than an unfettered housing market would dictate.
Fair disclaimer: I slightly changed the bold highlights from the Financial Times blog’s original version.
I personally note that Mr Lacker’s comments notwithstanding to the contrary, some individuals high in the government are struggling mightily to use a plethora of hair-of-the-dog stimulus (aka housing subsidies) at various levels to restart the housing mania.
The Financial Times
The Fed, Fannie and Freddie
March 1, 2010 10:39pm
by Simone Baribeau
As the Fed approaches the end of its purchases of mortgage backed securities, Fannie and Freddie, the mortgage giants now under government conservatorship, are again raising the eyebrows of some within the Fed and congress.
The latest comments, fast on the heels of those of Ben Bernanke last week, come from Jeffrey Lacker, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, and Republican representatives Darrell Issa and Jim Jordan.
From Mr Lacker:
I have said elsewhere that it would be a mistake to try to build this expansion on another housing boom and that over time we should wean our economy off dependence on housing subsidies. Too many houses were built over the last decade, and what we’ve been through the last three years should teach us that subsidising housing mortgage debt was a dangerous policy that was carried too far. But whatever society decides about the bias toward housing, real regulatory reform would be incomplete without addressing the fate of the government-sponsored housing finance enterprises.
Separately today, responding to Tim Geithner’s testimony before the House Budget Committee that the post-conservatorship plan for the troubled mortgage giants wouldn’t be released until next year, Mr Issa and Mr Jordan called for a hearing into the administration’s treatment of the GSEs.
The Administration’s ongoing refusal to develop a plan to stanch taxpayers’ losses at Fannie and Freddie is unacceptable…The American people have a right to know what the Administration’s goals concerning Fannie and Freddie really are and what plans it has in place to meet those goals. It appears that the Administration is using Fannie and Freddie as a backdoor conduit for appropriating billions of dollars of taxpayer money without the consent of Congress. If that is true, the American people have a right to learn about it in a transparent public forum where those responsible for the policy can be held accountable.
Nothing terribly new here, but the latest comments show that the issue isn’t going to quietly escape public scrutiny. As well it shouldn’t. The ease with which the Fed will return to its normal monetary functions and the seriousness with which banks will take any future efforts to limit the size of the safety net may both be closely tied to the administration’s treatment of the GSEs.
“But whatever
societyGollum decides about the bias toward housing,…”Orleans files for bankruptcy
phillyBurbs dot com - March 02, 2010
Orleans Homebuilders filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection late Monday, two weeks after it defaulted on its $350 million line of credit.
The Bensalem company said it’s secured up to $40 million in debtor-in-possession financing that will allow it to continue operating. The financing is subject to court approval.
Orleans said it will continue building houses “without interruption,” and closings that were postponed over the past two weeks will be completed. Customer deposits are in escrow and are protected from the filing, the company said.
Orleans also said it’s still interested in a sale of the company.
“We want to reassure our many current and future homebuyers that we will seek to continue to service their needs during this period,” CEO Jeffrey Orleans said in a statement. “We appreciate the support of our many loyal vendors, customers and employees.”
IBM Cuts Almost 500 Jobs, With More to Come, Labor Group Says.
March 2 (Bloomberg) — International Business Machines Corp., the world’s largest computer-services provider, fired almost 500 workers in the U.S. and that number may rise, according to employee advocate Alliance@IBM.
The cuts are happening around the country and across several divisions, said Lee Conrad, national director for the alliance, which represents some employees. IBM terminated 10,400 people in the U.S. and Canada last year, Conrad said.
“It’s pretty much across the board,” Conrad said in an interview yesterday. “We have reports of around eight business units being impacted.”
1600 not 500 job cuts…
According to Alliance@IBM, the union seeking to represent IBM (NYSE: IBM) workers, verified through various sources that IBM cut its payroll in at least 13 groups by more than 1,600 positions.
“We have been able to verify almost 1,000 employees cut today,” Lee Conrad, the union’s national coordinator, told Local Tech Wire and WRAL.com before figures were updated later in the evening.
“It could go higher,” he added. “We haven’t received all the RA packs yet.”
Moments later, Conrad said verification of another 200 cuts came in to the union.
By 8:30 p.m., 12 work groups reported 1,518, according to data provided to the union. Later, the addition of another work group pushed the day’s total to 1,614.
And this is from a financial secure company.
They’ll be hiring for “new” positions very soon, at lower salaries than what the terminated employees were getting.
Being born in Mumbai will probably be a requirement, too.
Exactly.
This state of California is so broke that it cannot come up with the bank needed to control dangerous sex criminals. Why anyone has an overwhelming desire to be a home owner in a place where guys like this walk free is quite a puzzlement to me.
Chelsea King’s Disappearance: Who Is Watching California’s Sex Offenders?
Investigators Searching California Coastline After Finding Piece of King’s Clothing
By MIKE VON FREMD and SARAH NETTER
March 2, 2010
Chelsea King’s family is holding out dwindling hope that their bright-eyed daughter will one day return home, but the growing link between the missing San Diego-area teenager and a known child molester has raised questions about why he was allowed on the street.
Missing California teen raises questions about tracking sexual predators.
Suspect John Albert Gardner is being held on suspicion of murder in the King disappearance. Authorities said he was arrested after a piece of King’s clothing containing DNA evidence was found near the California shoreline in the park where she was last seen jogging.
That discovery has focused the search on 14 miles of shoreline as police continue to probe the area with a high-tech drone aircraft and helicopters with infrared equipment.
But it’s a search, some say, that never should have had reason to exist. Gardner was one of 83,000 registered sex offenders living in California, a state that is overburdened with staffing shortages and budget crises.
“The law is good, but it’s got to be implemented,” Ernie Allen, CEO of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, told “Good Morning America.” The reality is the most dangerous offenders seek situations where they can be anonymous. Where no one knows they’re there. Where they have easy access to children.”
Allen said that changes are both needed and possible, but lawmakers can’t use budget constraints as an excuse.
“There is no higher priority than protecting the children and maintaining public safety,” he said.
In 2000, Gardner pleaded guilty to committing a forcible lewd act on a 13-year-old girl after she testified that she escaped after he tried to strangle her. He served five years in prison and was released even though a psychiatrist told the court that Gardner “would be a continued danger to underage girls in the community.”
Although no arrests have been made, investigators say Gardner may be linked to two other attacks in the San Diego area; one in December on a jogger in the same park where King was last seen and the February 2009 disappearance of Amber DuBois, 14.
Gardner is due in court in the King case Wednesday.
The community where Gardner lived is now outraged to learn that Gardner often stayed with his mother, who lives near an elementary school.
“He is on the Megan’s Law Web site and as long as he lived lawfully, he could walk where he wanted to walk,” San Diego County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Jan Caldwell said.
…
“coastline”
Doesn’t that refer to the Pacific Ocean shoreline? The writer got totally confused, as the incident took place along the shore of a man-made lake (Lake Hodges).
Doesn’t that refer to the Pacific Ocean shoreline? The writer got totally confused, as the incident took place along the shore of a man-made lake (Lake Hodges).”
yea thats right been hiking alot here in N San Diego very common to see young girls running alone it freaks wife out and I always said it was no danger , looks like wife was right
I think I live near the guy who abducted a young girl from her home and ditched her body in Anza Borrego and the cop who pulled girls over in a dark side street and molested them.
still it seems safer here than Phoenix prehaps it all the old retired folks on my street who have nothing better to do than watch over the neighborhood.
I believe it is generally safe here. General safety has the unfortunate side effect of lulling the masses into a false sense of security. Letting your guard down is step one towards victim status.
I teach my kids to not live their lives in fear, but nonetheless to always exercise prudence in not exposing themselves to risk.
It would also be nice if California could develop a more hardline approach to sex criminals. I see no advantage to exposing society to the desires and whiles of depraved villains.
I teach my kids to not live their lives in fear, but nonetheless to always exercise prudence in not exposing themselves to risk.
Sounds like what my parents taught me. And that lesson served me in good stead while I was bicycling (mostly solo) through all 50 of the United States.
All my daughters want concealed carry permits. And to buy the biggest guns they can shoot accurately. Why handguns? Because 12 ga shotguns are too heavy to jog with.
Every time they go out biking/running, they say carloads of gang bangers/wannabes follow/stalk them, making sexist comments that are supposed to be compliments (”Yo, you have a fine a$$, girl……”). It’s bad enough that they have all quit running outside, or riding their bikes without friends with them.
Too many punks take their direction on how to talk to women from MTV rapper videos.
And this is in Kansas.
“…And this is in Kansas.”
Wow!
“…while I was bicycling (mostly solo) through all 50 of the United States.”
Wow!
“…It would also be nice if California could develop a more hardline approach to sex criminals. I see no advantage to exposing society to the desires and whiles of depraved villains.”
Let’s see,…”religious” Utarrrrrrrrrrrrr, Texas, Florida,…
I hate to say it cactus but this country has been raising some heartless stone cold killers and real monsters…it’s truly frightening.
Yesterday, I posted about how my aunt helps her state’s police maintain the sex offender database.
I can speak from personal experience when I say that it’s not a good idea to be an offender in her state. If you don’t report in on a regular basis, a warrant is issued for your arrest. (My aunt has seen many such warrants issued.) And the police are very good at catching up with offenders on the lam.
I wish that database was used correctly though and not for 18 yr. olds who have 17 yr. old girlfriends.
Memo to sex criminals: Killing the key witness is no guarantee that damning evidence will not soon resurface, especially with an army of determined searchers looking for it.
Los Angeles Times Local
Body thought to be that of Chelsea King, 17, found in shallow grave near lake
March 2, 2010 | 4:01 pm
The body of 17-year-old high school student Chelsea King was believed to have been found Tuesday in a shallow grave near a lake not far from her northern San Diego County home, authorities said.
““There is a strong likelihood we have found Chelsea,” said Sheriff Bill Gore at a Tuesday afternoon news conference, confirming the worst fears of the Poway High School senior’s family and friends who had harbored hopes that she might still be alive.
King, a straight-A student and cross-country runner, had been missing since Thursday, when she went out for a run in hilly parkland near Lake Hodges, located near Escondido.
A convicted sex offender, John Albert Gardner III, 30, was arrested Sunday night in connection with King’s disappearance and will be charged Wednesday, according to the San Diego County district attorney’s office.
…
Would mandatory capital punishment for rapists who murder their victims help deter the incidence of both crimes?
If the answer is no, then I suggest releasing lots of minor drug offenders from California jails to make allowance for much longer jail sentences to sex criminals. Our teenagers should not have to worry about getting killed for sex when they go out for a run at the park.
The real outrage is that Gardner and his ilk don’t get the justice they deserve: a strong branch and a good rope. Permanent rehabilitation.
Sammy, don’t you know that hanging and electrocution are “cruel and unusual”?
I favor lethal injection — of lead.
“…don’t get the justice they deserve: a strong branch and a good rope.”
Is that really enough? How can a quick and relatively painless death by hanging possibly compare to getting raped and tormented by a 200+ pound plus brute? I am wondering if sexual predators don’t need a stronger deterrent than the mere threat of hanging to get them to think twice before acting on their urges?
This article addresses well the housing-bubble, American winner-take-all capitalism’s breaking of the social contract and regulatory requirements of the superior form of mutually beneficial, self-sustaining capitalism.
http://www.lvbusinesspress.com/articles/2010/03/01/news/iq_34328750.txt
Bank meltdown offers chance to change, if we take it
Las Vegas Business Press 3/1/10
The thin yoke binding social justice to capitalism snapped when the Berlin Wall toppled, author John Lanchester suggests in “I.O.U. — Why Everyone Owes Everyone and No One Can Pay.” As Soviet-era communism crashed, free-market-first ideology roared in the West, he writes, sending the finance industry on a two-decade binge that ended only when the housing bubble popped.
The bubble was unfair, he writes; the upside went exclusively to private hands (the finance industry) and the mess landed in public hands (ours, the taxpayers). But capitalism, which runs on a winner-take-all ethos, isn’t fair, either, he adds; by itself it won’t equitably distribute economic growth’s rewards.
Western societies, Lanchester says, spent the first few decades after World War II working to wed capitalism’s potential for economic prosperity to a goal of improving ordinary people’s lives. Pure-capitalism advocates moaned, he writes, but the idea succeeded.
“The jet engine of capitalism was harnessed to the oxcart of social justice … with the effect that the Western societies became the most admirable societies the world has ever
Free-market ideology, espoused by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in Britain and President Ronald Reagan in America, de-emphasizes social protections (think safety nets) and emphasizes commercial risk-taking. For people who aren’t in big business, home can look like sanctuary.
“The common good and the interest of the financial industry are not identical – a fact that for the previous three decades has been conveniently forgotten,” he writes. “The financial culture could have been similar but the outcome different if it had not been for those failures of regulation and legislation.”
Don’t the French have a name for what we do? “Savage Capitalism” IIRC.
John Lanchester suggests in “I.O.U. — Why Everyone Owes Everyone and No One Can Pay.”
I’m looking forward to reading that. Besides understanding the financial stuff, John Lanchester is a really good writer.
Google Lanchester Citiphilia for a London Review of Books article on The City from a couple years ago. Last fall, he wrote an LRB review article of a couple of books about the Lehman Brothers collapse called Bankocracy.
a sample of Lanchester prose from Bankocracy, about the last-ditch meeting of bankers to try to rescue Lehman :
This was something that has been done a good few times over the years: a meeting of senior bankers to decide who’s going to pick up the tab for an imploded peer. The last such gathering had been as recent as March 2008, when Bear Stearns blew up and its remains were bought by J.P Morgan, with the US government providing a guarantee to cover any losses from toxic assets. This time, the formula didn’t work. The idea was to spin off Lehman’s toxic assets into a ‘bad bank’, and sell off the rest as a going concern. But Lehman Brothers’ accounts were opaque, and the bank seemed to have grossly overstated the value of many of its assets. Bankers who were expecting bad news instead found news that was terrible, and worryingly vague. One of the bankers who had been brought in to rescue Lehman, John Thain of Merrill Lynch, took fright, stepped out of the building, put in a call to the head of the Bank of America, and arranged the sale of his own bank – a bit like popping out to the loo on a blind date and proposing to somebody else.
I thought the stock market always went up, in the long run? Maybe not so much when a gaggle of baby boomer geezers are all trying to cash in their chips at the same time.
Paul B. Farrell
March 2, 2010, 12:01 a.m. EST
8 reasons Wall Street loses another 20% in this decade
Commentary: Warning, you can’t get back to even, cannot win Wall Street’s ‘Loser’s Game’
By Paul B. Farrell, MarketWatch
ARROYO GRANDE, Calif. (MarketWatch) — Remember Charlie Ellis’ famous 1975 classic: “Winning the Loser’s Game: Timeless Strategies for Successful Investing?” Like Napoleon Hill’s “Think & Grow Rich” everyone on Wall Street has read it.
Well, guess what: Charlie failed us the past decade. Wall Street lost trillions, lost 11% of your money. Adjusted for inflation, Wall Street lost 20% of your money. Warning: Wall Street will do it again by 2020.
…
I would like this to be true but a change in the flow of trade could seriously change this.
Consider half of our monthly trade deficit is oil. That could change as people buy smaller cars and O invests in more commuter trains. If he were smart.
We have a huge net outflow to China. It is POSSIBLE that India and China become net importers and capital flows back to the US.
There is the possibility of a huge upside in those markets.
There is the possibilty that birth rate increases and more people move into the US again.
Possible things go either way bear.
Not to mention if Iran goes further funny in the head and aligns with Packistan… oh we could be looking at selling a lot of weapons over there. A couple thousand F35s would help the old trade deficit.
Further we have to consider velocity of money with all those people pulling the money out. Where does it go? Spent and into the system OR into banks were it is re-invested?
I’m beginning to like Farrell more and more . I won’t play in the rigged Casinos and I suggest that the only way to break the hold that this rigged system has on America is to outsmart it . How do you do that ? Just think ,if you don’t play they don’t have players to fleece . It’s called Boycotting ,but enough people have to do it to make it effective . This is why the PR campaigns are designed to keep you playing ,or force you to play . Why do you think Congress wanted to make a rule that you would suffer penalty if you didn’t buy insurance ?
With the fact apparent that the Politicians of both parties are on the side of the team of the BIg Money Lobbyist and Ponzi-scheme Bankers ,you are the loser going in . Had the public rejected and boycotted
inflated real estate prices and toxic loan products ,they couldn’t of continued with their mad-hatter bubble market creations .
I know everyone thinks they are stuck on this sinking ship ,but I don’t think that is the case . Bring back some power in your life ,because going along with the power brokers flow will only make you more powerless . Break from the system that is designed to fleece you . It’s a free Country ,your entitled to engage in whatever-you want -to .Just have a attitude of I am going to take my marbles away until you clean up your act . Its the only way to break the corrupt systems because the Politicians won’t do it . Don’t buy overpriced real estate ,why should you ? I know there are certain things you are stuck with paying ,like car insurance and taxes ,but other than what you have to
pay by law ,your free to have power by your money vote .
What purpose will be served by creating an Office of Chicken Protection Services inside the fox lair? Is the assumption that the Fed will somehow more readily spot consumer abuses than it notices ginormous bubbles inflating right under oversized central banker schnozzolas?
Heckuva job, Dudd.
* MARCH 2, 2010, 6:46 A.M. ET
Deal Near on Banking Rules
Senators Outline Plan to Create New Consumer-Protection Unit Within the Fed
By DAMIAN PALETTA
WASHINGTON–Key senators were close to a deal on legislation to overhaul financial regulations, people familiar with the matter said, bringing the U.S. a step closer to sweeping changes to the way banks interact with consumers and the markets alike.
Top senators from each party were near a breakthrough agreement to create a new consumer-protection division within the Federal Reserve. This has been a contentious point due to heavy criticism of the Fed’s past handling of its consumer-protection powers.
…
“Heckuva job, Dudd”.
Chrissy will leave a trail bad moves & lies all the way back home, but he’ll get to kick back in his “friends of Angelo’s home” on a big wad of cash and unlimited hospitalization. The the rest of the douche bags will hail him for his years of unselfish “public service”, and perhaps Booby Bird will even conjure up a tear or two.
Bailout Mutiny Looms With Iceland’s Taxpayer Vote: Matthew Lynn
March 2 (Bloomberg) — A referendum in Iceland isn’t the kind of event that would usually attract much world attention. This time will be different.
The country will vote this week on how to pay back the money it owes the U.K. and Dutch governments for bailing out the Icelandic banks that crashed during the credit crunch.
On March 6, Icelandic taxpayers should send a message to the rest of the world: Can’t pay, won’t pay, so go take a hike.
There is no reason why they should pay the money back. Ordinary people didn’t run up the debts; the Dutch and British governments were guilty of regulatory incompetence; the overseas savers were stupid and greedy; and meeting the debt might well bankrupt the country for a generation.
If they refuse, they will make a point that taxpayers in many other countries will sympathize with: We won’t always pick up the bill for losses made by bankers.
Let’s hope they don’t cave in. No more bailouts!
Great vampire squids have feelings, too.
* The Wall Street Journal
* MANAGEMENT
* MARCH 1, 2010
Goldman Lists New ‘Risk’: Bad Press
Company Sees Negative Media Coverage as a Potential Threat to Its Business; Aggressive Responses
By JOE BEL BRUNO
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. added something new to the laundry list of financial risks it faces: unflattering attention.
In its annual report, the New York company said “adverse publicity” could have “a negative impact on our reputation and on the morale and performance of our employees, which could adversely affect our businesses and results of operations.”
The unusual disclosure in a 12-page section of “risk factors” ranging from rocky financial markets to natural disasters is the latest sign of Goldman’s whipping-boy status among rivals, lawmakers and angry Americans because of the firm’s giant profits.
“Goldman has become one giant pinata to whack,” said Charles M. Elson, director of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware, adding that he couldn’t recall a previous instance where a company cited bad publicity as a risk to its business. “It’s reflective of the rather bizarre political climate in which we operate.”
A Goldman spokesman declined to comment.
Some corporate-governance experts said the move isn’t surprising given all the unwelcome attention Goldman has received since the financial crisis erupted. In July, a Rolling Stone article compared Goldman to a “great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity.” The phrase has been widely repeated in other publications and online, along with Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein’s comment to a U.K. newspaper in November that the firm is doing “God’s work.”
“They’ve determined that these kind of stories could have a material impact on their stock price, and view it as something they need to make investors aware of,” said Michael Ryan, president of advisory firm Proxy Governance.
…
Sounds to me like Joey and Eddie better get to work.
Yeah, just blame it all on the “bizarre political climate”. Their problems have nothing to do with their Dracula-like business strategy.
Cockroaches would have better press, if they started a PR campaign, too.
Perhaps if Gollum came clean on their role as subprime mortgage lending kingpins, the healing process could begin. Where are the perp walks?
It’s amazing we’re negotiating bonuses with these perps instead of jail time.
Perp walks? From Goldman Sachs to the Fed to the Congressional committee and back again, that’s where.
“a negative impact on our reputation and on the morale and performance of our employees, which could adversely affect our businesses and results of operations.”
Wow, I guess they didn’t see that so quickly, either.
The twits.
Roidy
David Weidner’s Writing on the Wall
Feb. 23, 2010, 12:01 a.m. EST
The Chimera at the gates of Goldman Sachs
Commentary: Goldman’s PR chief is on message
By David Weidner, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — I had to look it up to be certain, but once I did, everything regarding Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s public relations strategy became crystal clear.
The word was chimera, and it means a couple of things: it can refer to a mutant organism or substance. In this case, it probably referred to its second definition: a fanciful mental illusion or fabrication. Chimera is derived from Greek mythology. A Chimera is a fire-breathing monster usually represented by a winged lion, goat and serpent.
You see where I’m going with this, right?
Goldman’s (AIG 24.94, -0.84, -3.26% SIC) public relations chief, Lucas van Praag, used the word to describe recent press coverage of his firm which lately has been criticized for bonuses and its hardball negotiating tactics with American International Group Inc. (AIG 24.94, -0.84, -3.26%) . And though the quote pre-dates the coverage, the bank’s role in masking debt in Greece.
Some of this criticism is “chimera produced by a febrile mind,” van Praag said.
OK, I had to look that one up too. It means fevered and delusional.
…
“chimera produced by a febrile mind,”
Gollum PR department motto: Strawman is us.
“And though the quote pre-dates the coverage, the bank’s role in masking debt in Greece.”
Pretty stupid blunder for the Gollum PR guy to use a Greek mythology reference, don’t y’all think?
“OK, I had to look that one up too. It means fevered and delusional.”
I’m certain they’re aware of the meaning, but I emailed just the same:
Cheney-Shrub Legacy Committee for Presidential Revisionism
“Goldman has become one giant pinata to whack,”
Goldenman-Whacka-Mole’:
(goes good with Cerveza & Chips)
Whack! Whack! Whack!…Whack!…Whack! Whack!…Whack! Whack! Whack!Whack!…Whack! Whack! Whack!…Whack!…Whack! Whack!…Whack! Whack! Whack!Whack!…Whack! Whack! Whack!…Whack!…Whack! Whack!…Whack! Whack! Whack!Whack!…Whack! Whack! Whack!…Whack!…Whack! Whack!…Whack! Whack! Whack!Whack!…Whack! Whack! Whack!…Whack!…Whack! Whack!…Whack! Whack! Whack!Whack!…
Whack-a-banker
Tankxs Mr. Bear…Mr.Cole gave ‘em a black eye & got a K.O.! (Yeah, beat Dad’s score…)
Berkshire’s Fruit of the Loom, Shaw Carpet Unit Cut Workforces.
March 02, 2010
(Bloomberg) — Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s Fruit of the Loom and carpet maker Shaw Industries reported the biggest job cuts among the parent company’s units in 2009 as the recession weighed on results.
Fruit of the Loom, a maker of underwear and other clothing, cut 7,944 workers last year, or 23 percent of staff, and Shaw shed 3,482 jobs, or 12 percent, according to Berkshire’s Feb. 27 annual report. The Omaha, Nebraska-based company, run by billionaire Warren Buffett, said its overall workforce fell last year by about 9.7 percent, or 23,970 jobs. That excludes staff gained through Berkshire’s purchase last month of railroad Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp.
“Berkshire Hathaway has not been able to repeal the laws of economics, and the laws of economics are that when demand is down you have to reduce the costs,” said Guy Spier, a principal at Aquamarine Funds LLC. “In a period of unusually low demand you are going to have to try to reduce all non-essential staff. We are seeing that at Berkshire businesses.”
Aren’t undies sales suppoed to be an economic indicator? Sales drop when tough times hit?
Ya gotta love this recovery with its endless layoffs.
Last year, the Huffington Post ran an article about how men’s undergarment sales tend to turn down during a recession. Seems that the fellas decide that replacing their BVDs isn’t so important after all. They’ll wear those ratty old things until, well, you-know-what freezes over.
That’s ’cause…men do one thing that women NEVER do:
Turns-’em-inside-out = near-as-new
In Colorado
I wish I could create a satistical recovery too, full of hope-ium in one hand, and BS in the other. The problem is, I live on Main St, not Wall St.
Wow…that’s taking it in the shorts.
:rimshot:
They’re not making undies anymore…better buy them while you can!
From yesterday:
Roidy
P.S. Is there a Tea Party for moderates?
I don’t know, but I just found this, Membership up 11,000 in half a day…
Coffee Party, With a Taste for Civic Participation, Is Added to the Political NYT March 1, 2010
Fed up with government gridlock, but put off by the flavor of the Tea Party, people in cities across the country are offering an alternative: the Coffee Party.
It had nearly 40,000 members as of Monday afternoon, but the numbers were growing quickly — about 11,000 people had signed on as fans since the morning.
“I’m in shock, just the level of energy here,” said the founder, Annabel Park, a documentary filmmaker who lives outside Washington. “In the beginning, I was actively saying, ‘Get in touch with us, start a chapter.’ Now I can’t keep up. We have 300 requests to start a chapter that I have not been able to respond to.”
The slogan is “Wake Up and Stand Up.” The mission statement declares that the federal government is “not the enemy of the people, but the expression of our collective will, and that we must participate in the democratic process in order to address the challenges we face as Americans.”
“The way I see it,” Ms. Park said, “our government is diseased, but you don’t abandon it because it’s ill.
Local chapters are planning meetings in cities from Washington to San Antonio to Los Angeles…This summer, Ms. Park said, the party will hold a convention in the Midwest, with a slogan along the lines of “Meet Me in the Middle.”
Ms. Park and chapter organizers said they would invite Tea Party members to join their Coffee counterparts in discussions…“We’re not the opposite of the Tea Party,”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/02/us/politics/02coffee.html
Hey, I like it.
Roidy
I’m in.
Copycats usually don’t work. Not a fan of tea party either.
Wake up and stand up for what?
Just join the dem or pubie parties if you are happy with status-quo.
federal government is “not the enemy of the people..
Somehow I smell Astroturf here. Is Axeltoad behind this?
“Somehow I smell Astroturf here. Is Axeltoad behind this”?
You can bet your bottom dollar.
“…with a slogan along the lines of “Meet Me in the Middle.”
Followed by that infomercial: “She’s just a lil’ bit pregnant” & “Reefer Madness”… Woody Woodpecker for the kids!
Actually, he isn’t. This is just a pretty young thing in Silver Spring, Maryland who happened to go viral. They aren’t even diametrically opposed to the Tea Party except for not being entirely opposed to government.
I expect this to be a flash in the pan at best. They won’t have any effect on anything. They don’t even really have a policy objective. It is more a “lets just play nice” thing. A message like that cannot cut through the money that is at stake. Believe me.
Park is a former Strategy Analyst at the NY Times who was one of organizers and operators of the United for Obama video channel at YouTube. Ms. Park also founded “Real Virginians for Webb” back in 2006 and volunteered for Obama in 2008.
Either she’s perpetuating Obama campaign or Obama has screwed up big time in her eyes. I will take the former.
Tea parties for city folks. Could get interesting.
but but…
they’re TEABAGGERS!!!11!!
True teabaggers? How would one know?
Yeah, take that TrueAnger™” PeeParty tea toadlers!
Ross Perot Lives! Ross Perot Lives! Ross Perot Lives!
Coffee drinkers / Reggae Patriots in America unite!
Bob Marley Lives! Bob Marley Lives! Bob Marley Lives!
Bob Marley Get Up, Stand Up Lyrics:
Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up: don’t give up the fight!
Preacher man, don’t tell me,
Heaven is under the earth.
I know you don’t know
What life is really worth.
It’s not all that glitters is gold;
‘Alf the story has never been told:
So now you see the light, eh!
Stand up for your rights. come on!
Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up: don’t give up the fight!
Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up: don’t give up the fight!
Most people think,
Great god will come from the skies,
Take away everything
And make everybody feel high.
But if you know what life is worth,
You will look for yours on earth:
And now you see the light,
You stand up for your rights. jah!
Get up, stand up! (jah, jah! )
Stand up for your rights! (oh-hoo! )
Get up, stand up! (get up, stand up! )
Don’t give up the fight! (life is your right! )
Get up, stand up! (so we can’t give up the fight! )
Stand up for your rights! (lord, lord! )
Get up, stand up! (keep on struggling on! )
Don’t give up the fight! (yeah! )
We sick an’ tired of-a your ism-skism game -
Dyin’ ‘n’ goin’ to heaven in-a Jesus’ name, lord.
We know when we understand:
Almighty god is a living man.
You can fool some people sometimes,
But you can’t fool all the people all the time.
So now we see the light (what you gonna do?),
We gonna stand up for our rights! (yeah, yeah, yeah! )
So you better:
Get up, stand up! (in the morning! git it up! )
Stand up for your rights! (stand up for our rights! )
Get up, stand up!
Don’t give up the fight! (don’t give it up, don’t give it up! )
Get up, stand up! (get up, stand up! )
Stand up for your rights! (get up, stand up! )
Get up, stand up! (… )
Don’t give up the fight! (get up, stand up! )
Get up, stand up! (… )
Stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up!
Don’t give up the fight! /fadeout/
Yah mon, my kinda tea party! Chase them crazy banksters out of the town…
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/p-j-gladnick/2010/03/02/grassroots-coffee-party-organizer-exposed-obama-political-operative
The so-called “grass roots” organizer of the Coffee Party was an Obama political operative. Surprise surprise.
Bob Marley: Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!
Root Source:“TrueAnger™” PeeParty tea toadlers
I don’t drink coffee, but I’d join something like this.
Large wagons help boost GM, Subaru February sales in the US; impact of Toyota recall unclear
DETROIT (AP) — Toyota’s recalls and East Coast snowstorms weighed down U.S. auto sales in February, but automakers remained optimistic that a recovery is under way.
General Motors Co.’s February sales rose 11.5 percent thanks to new models and pent-up demand from rental-car companies and other fleet buyers. It was unclear how much the Detroit automaker benefited from Toyota’s safety woes.
GM on Tuesday said sales of its Buick, Chevrolet, Cadillac and GMC brands climbed 32 percent. GM plans to keep those four brands and is phasing out Pontiac, Saturn and Hummer. It has sold Saab.
“-East Coast snowstorms” weighed down auto sales?
Is this the first winter that the weather was ruff on the east coast? - Larry Summers thinks people are dumb apparently.
That reminded me of a real estate sales slump in this historic housing bubble (So Ca), when they blamed some “unexpected” weak numbers on one of the “Shrek” movies opening weekend. gmafb
“….rose 11.5 percent……”
From a low of 9 million units/yr. or thereabouts. Up to 10.7million/yr.
My personal income is up 200%, compared to 4Q2009 (which was close to zero). Now I feel better.
This constant need to separate the “B.S.” from the “approximate truth” with everything put out by government and the main stream media is making my head hurt. Sorta like high-school kids when they get in trouble.
Indeed. And no mention of how far away we are from the old 16-17 million per year sales numbers. Automakers know that those sales levels are history, which is why automakers are shedding models and even entire brands. And the slim down ain’t over yet, there’s still plenty of excess capacity workd wide, and duck! Here come the Chinese with their toxic cars.
I’d love to see the sales “mix”. I’ll bet they’re selling a lot more cheap 4 cylinder cars and a lot fewer expensive Trucks and SUVs.
I seem to recall an article saying that, in recent years, bicycles have outsold cars in the United States.
“rough”, not “ruff” -Sorry
So if they ‘ban’ the word, how does one enforce it and what would be the penalty? Sounds like there may be some created jobs coming up on the “retard” enforcement squad.
Mass. Activists Want Lawmakers to Ban Word ‘Retard’
Tuesday, March 02, 2010 ~ MyFoxBoston.com
Activists want to get Mass. lawmakers to sign a pledge to stop using the word “retard.”
At the Massachusetts Statehouse there is a push to stop using a word activists call outdated, derogatory and hurtful. They’re talking about the word “retarded,” MyFoxBoston.com reported.
It can be very offensive to a lot of people who have intellectual and developmental disabilities
Best Buddies and Special Olympics are among the groups behind the campaign to “spread the word to end the word.”
“The Department of Mental Retardation” has changed its name to the “Department of Developmental Services.”
So is the r-word really set to become the next “dirty word?” Activists here say they won’t stop trying until people stop using it.
This all comes several months after White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel used the offensive word to describe an ad campaign proposed by liberal allies.
Lets all take a walk on the euphemism treadmill.
“Words originally intended as euphemisms may lose their euphemistic value, acquiring the negative connotations of their referents. In some cases, they may be used mockingly and become dysphemisms.”
A similar progression occurred with the following terms for persons of the GOP:
TruePatriot™” / Anti-Slavery / TrueIndustrialist™ / Anti-communist / Fiscal Conserative / Compassionate Conservative / TrueBeliever’s™ / TrueDeceiver’s ™ / TrueHypocrite™” / TruePurity™”
What do you want from a bunch of Retards? (i.e. Mass lawmakers)
That is sooooo retarded.
Bunning Defends His Position
Mark Memmott ~ NPR
On the floor of the Senate, Republican Jim Bunning of Kentucky just defended the position he’s taken that has delayed an extension of jobless benefits for the nation’s unemployed and has forced the furlough of about 2,000 federal workers.
Saying that he has blocked votes on the legislation to underscore his opposition to the ongoing growth in federal debt, Bunning read a letter from “Robert in Louisville,” who told the senator that even though he hasn’t been working regularly in the past two years he supports what Bunning is doing.
“This country is sooner or later going to implode because of the massive amount of debt run up over the past 40 or 50 years,” Robert wrote, according to Bunning.
“Why now?” Bunning said he’s been asked, regarding his objection to the legislation. “Why not now?”
And, he added, if the Democratic majority and many Republicans want to force action on the legislation, they should use the Senate rules to override his objection.
That was probably the one positive letter in 10,000 or so vilifying the @$$ for his tricksy action.
Oh they all cherry pick letters, but his was lame.
The very best one so far was when some rep. read the one from a women without “health care” that needed dentures, but couldn’t afford them. So she is wearing her dead sisters and they don’t fit right! That one was hilarious.
Oh they all cherry pick letters, but his was lame.
Funny you should use that word. See above reference to euphemism treadmill - “lame” is just a recycled word that used to mean “crippled” (before crippled came along, which was before handicapped came along, which was before disabled came along, etc. etc.)
LOL
Wasn’t that a type of dress fabric? Years and years ago on a planet far, far away..
Lamé is a type of fabric woven or knit with thin ribbons of metallic yarns, as opposed to guimpé, where the ribbons are wrapped around a fiber yarn. It is usually gold or silver in color; sometimes copper lamé is seen. Lamé comes in different varieties, depending on the composition of the other threads in the fabric. Common examples are tissue lamé, hologram lamé and pearl lamé.
Liberace, is that you?
My Pa taught me this about betting when playing 21: “Son, don’t take a hit above 20″
Looks like the “TrueDoNothing™ / “TrueObstructionists™ / TrueGridLokers™” might be “over-playing” their hand…
Republicans rip on Bunning:
(Reuters) Mar 02, 2010
“…Asked if he was worried about the public perception that Republicans are obstructionists, Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), one of the more conservative members of the Senate said: “I am concerned about that,”
NY’s budget gap widens to $9B
The Business Review (Albany)~ March 2, 2010
New York state’s budget gap is now larger than $9 billion, according to revised estimates released March 1.
The new deficit figure is 10 percent bigger than what Gov. David Paterson pegged it at last month. The growth in the budget gap comes solely from an estimated $850 million decline from tax revenue that Paterson originally projected.
The new revenue estimates are a consensus reached by the state Division of the Budget, the Assembly Ways & Means Committee, and the Senate Finance Committee.
State law requires the three entities to agree on a joint revenue forecast by March 1—cementing a key foundation for budget negotiations this month.
“The New York state economy is still reeling from a broad-based recession that engulfed both Wall Street and Main Street,” concludes a report on the agreed-upon revenue forecast.
Taxes and Fees Grow for Air Travelers
March 2, 2010 ~ The New York Times
A recent search for a flight from New York to London turned up an eye-catching fare: $229 each way on several airlines. But nine government taxes and fees added $162 — more than a quarter of the total ticket price.
Baggage fees may be the cause of more grumbling among passengers, but airlines are trying to draw attention to other charges lurking in the fine print: all the taxes and fees that go toward airport projects, air traffic control, airport security, customs inspections and, in some cases, projects that have nothing to do with flying — like a French “solidarity tax” on departing passengers that is meant to subsidize purchases of drugs to fight diseases like AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in developing countries.
Most of these taxes are small individually, but they can add up to a significant share of the price of a ticket, particularly for international flights. While there is some debate about precisely how much ticket taxes have risen in recent years, airline representatives say that governments are increasingly turning to travelers to raise revenue in lean times, and that there is little oversight over how the money is spent.
Now if we can only get the car manufacturers to do the same thing.
Purchased a 1986 Ford Taurus LX in 1986…..MSRP was a skosh over $16K……inflation adjusted (using the BLS calculator), around $31,400 ….. an equivalent Taurus today stickers out at over $36K.
Considering that the two are functionally equivalent, I’m of the opinion that the marginal improvements in safety and emissions that the 2010 has over the the 1986 (to say nothing of the added weight and complexity) just aren’t worth it.
No kidding. My ‘89 Civic got 43 mpg.
But I repeat myself repeating myself again…
What was the mileage of the ‘90 Ford Festiva?
Oh come now. Someone has to pay for electric steering, computer controlled brakes and accelerators and the rest of the computer chips that run the car and make it hard for your local mechanic to service the car when the warranty runs out.
Those computer chips aren’t cheap, ya know!
Oh wait…
Ah, and a theme emerges: how to extract more and more revenue from fewer and fewer people? This is a model that might only work if we are indeed on the doorstep of another three decades of unparalled economic growth.
If not, this is not going to end well.
It’s not and no, it won’t end well. Current events are just a preview of things to come.
As I’ve said, I’ve lived through 6 recessions in the last 35 years and J6Ps standard of living got lower after each one.
My hubby and I have just decided to vacation in the lower 48 (Bryce Canyon) this spring instead of flying to Europe. The unrest and strikes were a factor, but so was the ‘cheapest’ airfare of over $1300. Of that, $400 was taxes and fees.
We just tried to book flights to NZ in july. No free mileage seats available, 5 months in advance. This has never happened in over twenty years. Total cost= $2,500 with fees and bags. That’s $ 10,000 for the family. We paid $2,800 two years ago, but that’s when oil was $ 140/bl. and we had two free tickets.
Problem: “That’s $10,000 for the family.”
Solution: Liberate your equity!
LOL muggy. New plan- We’re all flying to San fran for 5 days and my wife is going on to NZ for 2 more weeks. Turns out, splitting the trip is cheaper AND cuts down on the jet lag.
But too bad you can’t take advantage of the lower euro (if it lasts.)
“…That’s $10,000 for the family”
WOW!
Glad I learned how to sail…something to offer Mr. Cole…one summer soon…
No TSA, No strip search, No x-rays, No luggage concerns, No Fire-Arm restrictions…
Fly to the UK in April — about $700 RT total. That’s a good price. No complaints from me.
Fed’s Hoenig: Zero rate pledge invites speculation.
March 2, 2010
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A senior U.S. Federal Reserve official said on Tuesday that an extended period of ultra-low interest rates invites speculative behavior and is risky.
“When you have zero rates that go on indefinitely, you are inviting future problems,” Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank President Thomas Hoenig said in an interview on CNBC.
“We know that zero is non-sustainable … the market already knows that,” Hoenig said.
Hoenig, who is voting this year on the Fed’s policy-setting committee, is one of the more vocal anti-inflation hawks among policymakers. He dissented at the Fed’s January meeting on the issue of maintaining a pledge to hold rates exceptionally low for an extended period, arguing the economy had improved sufficiently to drop the language.
The Kansas City Fed chief said the Fed should be ready to raise rates, even with unemployment above 9 percent.
Fed/Wall Street interest rates are basically not applicable to Main Street.
Except, of course, for giving the banksters excuses to gouge their retail customers even more than they currently are.
The idea is to reduce the banksters’ borrowing costs to zero, giving them carte blanche to fully gouge their customers while charging them nominally low borrowing rates by historic standards.
It’s good to be the Banksta!
Morgan jobs go adiós
Is cheap Mexican labor behind mass layoff at Hartselle plant?
Decatur Daily 3-2-10
Emerson blamed the coming layoff off of 500 of its 540 Hartselle plant employees on the recession and environmental regulations, but corporate documents suggest otherwise.
CR Compressors, formerly known as Copeland Corp., is operated by Emerson Climate Technologies.
Despite its explanation for the layoffs, corporate disclosures show compressor sales are growing and the regulated phase-out of R22 refrigerant is improving sales.
While corporate officials offered little comment last week, corporate disclosures suggest the layoffs have less to do with the stated reasons than with cheap labor in Mexico.
Emerson Corp. sales suffered during the recession, but the division that operates CR Compressors in Hartselle is enjoying increased sales.
Sales for the first quarter of 2010 were up 13 percent, with the U.S. seeing a 7 percent increase and Asian sales up 52 percent.
Thanks for posting this.
Ongoing for the last 30 years.
30. Years.
With pressing concerns about health care and climate change, high speed rail and green energy, how could financial reform possibly rise to the level of a top administration priority?
It is far wiser to employ a “Gollum knows what’s best for Gollum” approach than to jeopardize Wall Street sources of future campaign finance…
David Weidner’s Writing on the Wall
March 2, 2010, 12:01 a.m. EST
How health care sent financial reform to a death panel
Commentary: Obama doesn’t have the passion for cleaning up Wall Street
Goldman’s gatekeeper is a three-headed beast
By David Weidner, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Barack Obama surfed into office on a wave of financial panic. A year later, he’s ended up dry but the rest of us are still looking for a life preserver.
So, what happened?
Instead of making financial reform and the economy his first priority, the president chose to follow through on a domestic agenda built for better times. He went to work on health care, high-speed rail, green technology and Iraq. He put financial reform in the hands of people who contributed to the problem.
…
Well what would you do when you realized your bodyguards couldn’t stop the Bankstas from sending Tony and Guido to “give you a message?”
I really thought that Obama would go after Wall Street more .Reform of Wall Street is the big change that is needed .
Rule #1 in politics - don’t bite the hand that feeds you.
NPR Morning Edition had an interview with Harry Markopolos, who tried to expose Bernie Madoff to the SEC.
On their website, under the heading, Madoff Whistleblower: SEC Failed To Do The Math, you can listen to the story, read a summary, read an excerpt from Markopolos’s book.
Second time I have read today(GM)…Strong demand from rental and corporate fleets.
Ford US sales rise 43 percent in February thanks to strong car demand; outsells GM March 2, 2010
DETROIT (AP) — Ford Motor Co. outsold General Motors Co. in February for the first time in more than a decade.
Ford sold 334 more cars than GM in the U.S. It was the first time since August 1998 that Ford outsold GM.
Ford’s said Tuesday its sales jumped 43 percent thanks to strong demand for its cars. The automaker grabbed some sales from Toyota, which is struggling with a massive safety recall.
Ford said it saw renewed demand from rental-car companies and other corporate fleets, which are buying again after weak sales in 2009. Ford’s fleet sales surged 74 percent over February of last year.
Ford had expected sales to climb from last February, when U.S. sales plummeted in the midst of the recession.
Ford says car sales climbed 54 percent as consumers continued to shop for more fuel-efficient vehicl
Got some neighbors who were serial car renters. Don’t quite know why. They had a used car that went kaput, and they never repaired it.
I guess those shiny new rentals were more in keeping with their self image. But I couldn’t figure out how rentals were cheaper than owning a car. Aren’t rentals priced at something like 20 bucks a day? Over the course of a month, that adds up.
Oh, I might mention that these lovely people eventually stopped renting cars and purchased another used car.
Speculative Premium - And Why The Markets Will CRASH
Karl Denninger Market Ticker Mar 2, 2010
Yes, I said CRASH, and I meant it.
Why?
“Events” like this:
SINGAPORE/CAIRO, March 1 (Reuters) - Copper is likely to climb when trading starts on Monday, lifted by uncertainty over supply after the world’s top copper producer Chile was pounded by a massive earthquake, analysts said over the weekend.
The front-month contract opened up more than 8%.
This, despite the fact that the earthquake was hundreds of miles away from the mines in Chile and there was zero damage to them. Some were offline for a few hours due to power failures, but none suffered any physical or structural damage, nor did their export points and the transportation network between the two.
So why did price spike more than 8% even though all this was known by the market before it re-opened for trading?
No part of the markets are trading on fundamental values, nor on forward business expectations. They are instead trading as “hot money” repositories where speculators rotate in and out of various instruments literally on a minute-by-minute basis.
This is how crashes happen.
http://www.321gold.com/editorials/denninger/denninger030210.html
Here is a schedule of upcoming screenings for the documentary about Daniel Ellsberg, The Most Dangerous Man.
after the w-s : mostdangerousman.org/in-theaters/
had my 5 month old son’s baptism this weekend. he got a bunch of savings bonds.
how do those work again?
was hoping for gold certificates but it’s the thought that counts. hehe.
Congrats on the baptism!
Hey, maybe the savings bonds will be worth something … someday …
Just got done watching a Lassie / Mr. Ed (the talking horse) early ’60’s…they did a skit based on buying US Savings bonds…the pitch:
“Buy US Savings Bonds…they never go flat!”
I remember years ago, when the chatter was ‘hurry up and buy a vehicle at 0%, because it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity.’ Well, more than five years later, zero percent financing remains. Will the cheap money spigot ever dry up?
Nope, not anytime soon, that I can see. Ford motors is all over the 0% 72mo financing, as is GM etc…
Japan’s had interest rates below 1% for 15 years now. Not sure if their auto lending reflects this, but probably so.
“Get it while its hot” seems to have cooled somewhat. I wouldn’t look for significantly high rates anytime in the U.S. within the next 7-8 years minimum, if ever.
Very few people are qualified for that 0%.
It’s nothing but a teaser.
Who was that flip-tard that bought all those houses years ago? TxChick, loved him. I remember he would talk about always drinking this stuff. Never had any myself.
Jamba adds hot drinks, at-home smoothies
San Francisco Business Times - 3-2-10
Jamba Juice is mixing up new products for a turnaround.
The Emeryville-based smoothie maker has spent the past year working to become more than a smoothie spot, and to be an all-day destination. At the same time, it’s expanding its grocery-based offerings.
These moves are part of the company’s efforts to bolster sales and broaden its business base.
Jamba Inc. (NASDAQ: JMBA) and the Inventure Group Inc. plan to introduce three flavors of make-at-home smoothies, which will ship to retailers this month. The initiative will start in the Western U.S., and the product will cost between $2.00 and $3.29 for a two-serving, eight-ounce package.
An all-day destination? Yeeesssh! Who wants to spend the entire freakin’ day in a smoothie shop?
BTW, I know a family who owns a coffee house. In that industry, people who spend the whole day with you are called “table suckers.”
Yes- but “table suckers” aren’t spending their money at your competitor’s locations, are they?
They aren’t spending. Period. Free WiFi is what its about.
That’s why my coffee house-owning friends refuse to have WiFi in their establishment. It attracts too many table-suckers.
They also have signs up telling people, in so many words, to take their loud-mouth cellphone conversations outside.
Team Barry, best hurry up with that save my house re-do.
Foreclosures soar in Triangle, Raleigh-Durham N.C.
Triangle Business Journal - March 2, 2010
Court filings related to home foreclosures rose 74 percent in the Triangle during the first two months of 2010 compared to 2009, according to data released Tuesday.
In the three main Triangle counties, 1,306 foreclosure filings were reported in January and February. In Wake County alone, such filings jumped nearly 67 percent, to 934 cases, during the first two months of the new year, as compared with 2009.
The numbers were compiled by the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts and released by the Office of the North Carolina Commissioner of Banks.
Harold Ford: Democrats are ’scared’ ~The Politico~
Former Rep. Harold Ford Jr. said Tuesday that Democrats are “scared” heading into this fall’s election and that he decided not to run for the Senate from New York because he feared his party would lose the seat after a tough primary.
“The fall is going to be a tough, tough fall for whatever Democrat emerges,” Ford said during an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” his first since announcing Monday night that he is not running. “It would have been a tough brutal fight.”
Ford, who ran unsuccessfully for the Senate from Tennessee in 2006, denied reports that he was scared off by the potential candidacy of Mort Zuckerman — who is believed to have courted many of Ford’s potential fundraisers and supporters — insisting that he would have been able to raise plenty of money regardless of who else entered the race.
“Mort will spend his own money. Mort’s a billionaire,” Ford said. “I wish we could all be billionaires.”
Same old thing over and over. Club 535’s only mission is to get re-elected. The Dems own the house&senate along with the W.H. Yet they can’t get their agendas past, because so many are worried they are pissing of their voters back home(because they are)and won’t get re-elected.
Many of them won’t get back in and that scares the crap out of them, they’re in it for life, they hope. I mean work in the private sector in this climate, may have to actually do some real work.
“Many of them won’t get back in and that scares the crap out of them”
Oh, those un-patriotic Democrapts…
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2009/06/sex_scandal_flow_chart.php
http://goooh.com/
And then maybe no health insurance??
Obama Proposes $3,000 Home Energy Rebates
Tuesday, 2 Mar 2010 ~ Reuters
President Barack Obama Tuesday proposed rebates of up to $3,000 to help homeowners pay for the cost of making their homes more energy efficient as part of a $6 billion program to create jobs.
In his latest step to convince Americans he can ease their economic woes, Obama traveled to Savannah Technical College to unveil a plan that could create tens of thousands of jobs.
The announcement came as White House economic adviser Larry Summers predicted that winter blizzards were likely to distort U.S. February jobless figures, which are due Friday.
The White House had been relieved when the jobless rate dropped below 10 percent in January and could be preparing Americans for an uptick.
Yet more screwing of prudence (those that been renting, or else had energy-efficient homes to start with).
Will it ever end?
To follow up - do people who already own energy-efficient homes get this $3,000? I’m guessing no.
F U Obama.
Do smart people really need the Gov’t help?
After posting this I had a neon banner illuminated in my mind spelling one letter at a time:
Y-E-S-!…G-O-L-D-E-N-M-A-N-S-U-C-K-S
Do smart people really need the Gov’t help?
So - you’re going on record then to say that you think it’s proper for the government to screw over smart people in favor of stupid people?
Oh, no, no,no,…nix, nix,nix …I stand by what I said:
“Do smart people really need the Gov’t’s help?”
And you don’t see those as the same thing?
Where do you think the government gets its money?
(Hint: it’s not solely from stupid people, and they’re just giving it back to them)
unable to just answer the question…?
Seemed rhetorical to me.
I’ll answer your question with a request first -
Define “need”.
“Do smart people really need the Gov’t’s help?”
Define “need”
OK…but just a short list alright?
Do they NEED Gov’t help for:
a job?
an education?
Food?
Not what I meant. We’re talking about money given for home energy-efficiency upgrades - not jobs, education, or food.
Try again.
“We’re talking about money given for home energy-efficiency upgrades - not jobs, education, or food.”
Bugs: “eh, you try again Doc”
Really then what is this:
(In the original post):
“…In his latest step to convince Americans he can ease their economic woes, Obama traveled to Savannah Technical College to unveil a plan that could create tens of thousands of jobs
Sigh. But to get from that post to here, you have to go through the very specific path of:
“To follow up - do people who already own energy-efficient homes get this $3,000? I’m guessing no.”
I assumed that since your response (”Do smart people really need the Gov’t help?”) was branched off of that - that it was also referring to that.
Do smart people really need the Gov’t help?”
Like Goldman Sachs I bet they get plenty of government help
Big Pharma , corporate ag, Association of realtards, etc.
Having just replaced the last of my two windows, I want this tax credit. I mean, I reallllly want it! Now!
Making do with less…
NJ Transit announces job cuts; fare hikes, service cuts to come next week.
NJ Transit today announced job and pay cuts and said fare and service cuts will be disclosed next week.
Amid an emergency spending freeze, a total of 200 jobs will be eliminated, salaries for executives will be cut by five percent and contributions to employee 401K programs will be reduced by one-third.
NJ Transit’s $300 million budget shortfall was exacerbated last month after Gov. Chris Christie, saying he wanted to improve the agency’s efficiency, said he would reduce its state subsidy by $32.7 million.
Reductions announced today will save approximately $30 million, NJ Transit said.
NJ Transit Executive Director James Weinstein said the job losses, representing two percent of its workforce, will be the most extensive layoffs in the agency’s 30-year history.
Woodland cheese shoplifter gets 7 years 8 months in prison.
sacbee.com Mar. 2, 2010
A Yolo County judge on Monday sentenced a man who walked out of a store with a package of cheese in his trousers to seven years and eight months in prison.
Prosecutors had originally sought a life sentence for Robert Ferguson under the state’s “three strikes” law. They dropped that bid last month, saying a psychological report had convinced them that a life sentence wasn’t warranted.
At Monday’s hearing, Deputy District Attorney Clinton Parish urged Judge Thomas Warriner to consider at least one of Ferguson’s prior strikes – one for burglary and another for assault with a deadly weapon – and to sentence him to a lengthy term.
“…Prosecutors had originally sought a life sentence”
Cost to incarcenate x1 person in CA = $45,000
“…walked out of a store with a package of cheese in his trousers to seven years and eight months in prison”
7.8 x $45,000 = $351,000
Anyone here on the HBB see a “Long-Term” problem with this prosecutorial approach to this form of “Justice”
Of the 50 states in the US of A:
Which has the “largest Budget Deficit”?
Which has the “Largest Prison Guard Union”?
Which spends the most $$$$$$$$$$$$$$ on “String Cheese Thief’s”?
Lucy: “Your honor, I rest my case!”
Snoopy: “BWAHAHAHicHAHAHicHAHAHAHAHicHAHAHic* (DennisN™)”
You do know that corporate run, for profit prisons outnumber state run prisons, right?
Really, show me the inmates under “private control” vs inmates under “state” control?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122705334657739263.html
I was wrong. I was thinking growth.
Private prisons are growing faster than state prisons.
Tankxs for the article…ecofeco
If you make war profitable you will have more war.
If you make prisons profitable you will have more prisoners.
I totally disagree with the 3 strikes law as it stands. Aimed at very violent offenders - yes. Remember the guy who got life for stealing a pizza?
I never hear what the other two strikes were? Probably rape and armed robbery.
Agreeing with the above. I don’t want a profit motive for throwing people in jail. It is bad enough that we have police writing fines with a for profit motive. That is an entire scam too.
Guts and Balls
Medical distinction between Guts and Balls
There is a medical distinction between Guts and Balls. We’ve all heard about people having Guts or Balls, but do you really know the difference between them?
In an effort to keep you informed, here are the definitions:
GUTS - Is arriving home late after a night out with the guys, being met by your wife with a broom, and having the Guts to ask: ‘Are you still cleaning, or are you flying somewhere?’
BALLS - Is coming home late after a night out with the guys, smelling of perfume and beer, lipstick on your collar, slapping your wife on the butt and having the Balls to say: ‘You’re next, Chubby.’
I hope this clears up any confusion on the definitions.
Medically, speaking there is No difference in the outcome.
Both result in death.
BWAHAHAHicHAHAHicHAHAHAHAHicHAHAHic* (DennisN™)
Hwy’s POV:
“Guts” = xplaining to the 1st Lady you got a black eye from chewing on a pretzel.
“Balls” = xplaning to the FBI/Secret Service (5-days later) that the laiwyer you just shot while “not-drinking” …is really a good friend!
HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. Wmbz …Good thing you posted
that before my coffee .
Up to 15,000 City Workers Bracing for Pink Slip Friday.
SF Weekly ~ Government, Labor. ~ Mar. 2 2010
As many as 15,000 unionized city workers are anticipating layoffs on Friday in part of a work-week reduction plan in which most of them will be re-hired at reduced, 37.5-hour weeks.
“We met with the mayor last week and the city basically said there are budget problems and we’re looking to lay off 10,000 to 14,000 workers,” said Gus Vallejo, the IT chapter president of the engineers’ Local 21. “Notices are supposed to go out Friday.”
As if preparing for heavy layoffs, the Department of Human Resources yesterday released a memo on the mass-expediting of the process, complete with a reference to the the http://www.sfgov.org/layoff page to see what lies in wait for them. For most, their new hours and assignments will supposedly already be waiting.
The 3,000-strong Local 21, meanwhile, claims that such a forced work week reduction would be a violation of their contract — though the City Attorney disagrees. Vallejo promised “We’ll lawyer up” if members are dismissed as part of the 37.5-hour scheme.
Local 21’s argument hinges on the fact that they are in the midst of a “closed contract” — the terms have ostensibly been set through 2011. Other unions, such as the SEIU, have a re-opening “kicker” should the city’s deficit grow to more than $100 million (it has), while other unions have built-in raises in their contracts that may also prove problematic for the city’s plans.
San Francisco layoff notices must preceede the actual layoffs by no fewer than 60 days — so pink slips sent out this week wouldn’t take effect until May. Deputy city controller Monique Zmuda last month told SF Weekly that the city was preparing small, medium, and large work week reduction plans; the $50 million figure floated to the press was the medium one.
I used to be overwhelmed with junk mail and now I get less mail. I also see less happy postal employees and I am afraid to jest with them as they might go postal on me
U.S. post office looks to cut costs as mail dips
* Price hike and service changes seen
* Union opposes dropping Saturday service (Recasts with comments from USPS CFO, union spokeswoman)
WASHINGTON, March 2 (Reuters) - The U.S. Postal Service, faced with less mail and bigger shortfalls, plans to cut Saturday delivery and overtime, raise prices and trim its workforce by about 30,000, its chief financial officer, Joseph Corbett, said on Tuesday.
Because of e-mail and private delivery companies, traditional mail volume is expected to be down from last year by about 10 billion pieces in 2010 with first class mail expected to drop 37 percent by 2020, leaving the service with a cumulative shortfall that could hit $238 billion by 2020.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0218151920100302?type=marketsNews
The Big Militia Comeback?
The Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors extremist activity, finds “that an astonishing 363 new Patriot groups appeared in 2009, with the totals going from 149 groups (including 42 militias) to 512 (127 of them militias) — a 244% jump” from 2008.
They should just follow the “TruePatriot™ / TrueAnger™ / TruePurity™” “fictitious Bidness Name” ad’s in the newspaper…they’ve all been “edacated” about the tax “write-offs” of having a “legitimate” “TrueDeceiver™” “non-prophet” Institution!
There is an interesting article about one of these groups in the March/April “Mother Jones”. They are called the “Oath Keepers”, (http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/03/editors-note), and they are garnering a lot of conservative support, which is not surprising, since the name is very similar to another conservative men’s group: “Promise Keepers”. My ex-husband was a member of the “Promise Keepers”, but he wasn’t very good at it. I decided the name ought to be changed to “Promise Makers”.
Years ago, when I was a sweet young college student, I dated a fellow from North Jersey. He was Jewish, but not terribly religious. (In fact, he told some of the raunchiest Jewish jokes I’ve ever heard.)
For a time, I really wanted to marry him, and wouldn’t ya know it, that was right before he said that he wanted to start seeing other people. I was crushed.
Well, we eventually got together again, but then something happened. It was called Slim’s graduation. I entered the work world, and, quite frankly, that still-at-university guy from North Jersey just wasn’t as interesting to me. So, we went our separate ways.
Back in the late 1990s, he popped back into my life. Via e-mail.
He was living in the D.C. area, working for a defense contractor, and serving out his enlistment in the Coast Guard. (Enlistment? Dude, you earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Why didn’t you go to the Coast Guard’s equivalent of OCS?)
In addition to those fun facts, he said that he was an avid bicyclist. Which, shall we say, piqued my interest.
But my interest got doused with a bucket of ice water when he said he’d recently become a member of the Promise Keepers. I can remember my mother being a bit uneasy with his bossiness, and I figured that the PK just exacerbated that tendency.
So, I declined to continue the correspondence. And, AFAIK, he’s found other romantic interests.
My ex-husband was a member of the “Promise Keepers”, but he wasn’t very good at it. I decided the name ought to be changed to “Promise Makers”.
Nice :-). I’m keeping my eye on Oath Keepers. IMO they could turn out to be very good for the country, or very bad for the country. I consider the basic premise of reminding people of their oath to support and defend the constitution to be a good thing, but of course it could go a lot of different directions from there.
We have a new “patriot” group here too but all they do is have potlucks, speakers and sit around dissing the GOP regulars whom they assume are RINOs.
It’s not a militia, and the ones I know were not particularly into guns either.
I’ve considered starting my own group.
Be something like “Bunch of middle aged guys with guns blowing up junk in the Desert (for freedom)”.
Hopefully getting tax exempt status for toy purchases.
That sounds swell! Blowing stuff up is never dull. And your group name is not anymore ridiculous than the ones I’ve heard of, like, “Cage Fighters for Jesus”.
Just the other day, I heard on DC news radio (WTOP) that DC condo sales were up 92% YOY. I thought, well, if they’re wrong about the trend in DC real estate, they’ll take a bath. If I’m wrong, I’ll be “priced out forever.”
But then I realized - those people are going to pick my pockets via the government and its puppet masters regardless if they are wrong! It’s heads you win, tails I lose! I have no desire to be a debt slave servicing a depreciating asset - I’d rather continue to get some fraction of a percent on my savings than a negative savings rate - but the government and its puppetmasters have absolutely rigged this game.
I understand trying to stabilize bank assets - but why suck new people in to the con? They’ve already changed the accounting rules so that the banks can mark to myth. Why not some other chicanery? Why help strip wealth from yet more hapless sheeple? And why force me to pay for when it depreciates by holding down interest rates and the allowing the next bubbles/inflation to follow, and just massive asset price manipulation?
“…- but why suck new people in to the con?”
It’s but one of many ways to systematically transfer wealth from Main Street to Wall Street.
First, they aren’t trying stabilize anything but the Bankstas paychecks.
Secondly, one of the basic formulas of any con is to keep moving. You rarely get to con the same person twice. Therefore, you always need fresh meat.
Third, the name of game corporate feudalism. Guess which part you get to play?
Dang it. My eyes were burning.
…trying TO stabilize…
…game IS corporate feudalism…
Question for any Used Home Sellers who might be lurking:
Does grim news about the aftermath of California sex crimes have a measurable effect on area home sales? For instance, would the news that a body was dug up along the shore of Lake Hodges potentially discourage prospective North County home owners from making a future real estate investment in the area?
How about the thought that California has many, many more convicted sexual predators anonymously roaming local communities? The next daughter to be molested and killed could be mine or yours.
‘Strong likelihood’ that body is Chelsea King’s
‘Keep her spirit alive,’ father tells gathering at vigil
By Craig Gustafson, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Jose Luis Jiménez, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, March 3, 2010 at 12:03 a.m.
Sean M. Haffey / UNION-TRIBUNE
Thousands of people gathered last night at St. Michael Catholic Church in Poway for a candlelight vigil in honor of missing teenager Chelsea King. The Poway High senior disappeared Thursday, and Sheriff Bill Gore said a body found yesterday near Lake Hodges was likely hers.
Thousands of people gathered last night at St. Michael Catholic Church in Poway for a candlelight vigil in honor of missing teenager Chelsea King. The Poway High senior disappeared Thursday, and Sheriff Bill Gore said a body found yesterday near Lake Hodges was likely hers.
How many Californians unknowingly live across the street from or even right next door to neighbors who might some day engage in similar acts?
Chelsea King Killing: Police Comb Grave for Clues
Former FBI Profiler Says This Was ‘Probably a Blitz Attack’ on San Diego Teen
By MIKE VON FREMD, SARAH NETTER and RUSSELL GOLDMAN
March 3, 2010
…
Former FBI agent and ABC News consultant Brad Garrett said the location of the body likely means King was attacked shortly after she started her jog.
“”This was probably a blitz attack. where he sees her jogging and attacks her,” he said, adding that it’s not uncommon for murderers to leave their victims near the site of the crime.
Police said Gardner, who was arrested in 2000 for committing lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 14, may also be connected to the disappearance of Amber DuBois, a 14-year-old who disappeared near San Diego on her way to school in February 2009.
DuBois’ grandmother, Sheila Welch, is demanding a crackdown on known sex offenders.
“It makes me want to throw up. How many times are we going to continue to let this happen?” she asked. “Whose child is it going to be next?”
Garrett said that although police have said Gardner is not cooperating with investigators, authorities from the region should be pulling “every assault case, every missing child that fits Mr. Gardner’s MO.”
“What’s going to drive him is, ‘What’s in this for me?’” Garrett said. “At some point the death penalty might be placed off the table if he can tell them about other situations.”
Authorities Monday also linked Gardner to an attack on 23-year-old Candice Moncayo, who identified Gardner from a mug shot as the man who attacked her weeks before along the same running path where King disappeared.
Moncayo was able to fend off her attacker by elbowing him in the face and running away.
There are web sites that show where those predators are. IMO, those people who committ that crime should be executed. Forget about registering them.
I suppose the punishment should fit the crime; i.e., you might not not want to execute an eighteen year old boy who had an inappropriate, though consensual, relationship with a seventeen year old girl, would you? But if a thirty year old rapes and murders a seventeen year old girl, and a bit of further investigation shows this is not the first such crime he has committed, that would be another story.
My main question: How can the punishment possibly fit the crime in the case of Chelsea King without making it cruel and inhumane? I am sincerely interested, as it seems to me that any sexual predator who honestly thought he might have to endure commensurate pain with what Chelsea King had to bear during her last moments on Earth might think twice before letting his perverted sex drive get the better of him.
In case I am wrong about the above, then the obvious alternative would be to figure out before they go on a raping and killing spree who the hardcore, incorrigible sex criminals are, and lock them up for life in prison. I don’t suppose this would be legal, but I am struggling to think of a way we can better protect our children from monsters.
It can’t. Putting a needle in this guy’s arm, or even stretching his neck, is mercy compared to what he did to this girl. Trying to approximate the brutality of what he did will do bad things to the punishers.
But I support execution. My goal with execution is making sure the offender never hurts anyone again. And sending a message - stronger than incarceration - that this will not be tolerated.
My God there is just getting to be to many of these sort of crimes
taking place across America . What is it going to take to stop it . Should we put video cameras on nature trails ,or everywhere that children
walk ?
Technology:
Cell Phones:
Bad: driving… blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah,blah
Good: “Hey, there something strange going on at…
Seriously: Chip ‘em & Track ‘em for life!
Certainly there’s a computer with capabilities & someone smart enough to automate a program…(now there’s a taxpayer expense I would allow for Xe to bid on!)
“Chip ‘em & Track ‘em for life!”
That sounds like a far more humane approach to the problem than what my gut instincts are currently bringing to mind.
(Ever since that little boy was killed… IN A PUBLIC RESTROOM…in Oceanside years ago, Hwy never lets Mr. Cole go ANYWHERE…solo)
Yikes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“…According to public records, Gardner was convicted of assaulting and molesting a girl in 2000. The victim, a 13-year-old neighbor, said he repeatedly punched her in the face and fondled her at his mother’s townhouse, which is about a mile from Rancho Bernardo Community Park. The girl said she went to the residence after Gardner invited her in to watch a movie.
Arraignment for suspect in Chelsea King case, John Gardner
By Staff, City News Service (SDNN)
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Yep Hwy ,I think whatever it takes .
California State Assembly Seal
Nathan Fletcher | District 75
http://www.asm.ca.gov/ Fletcher
Assemblymember.Fletcher@assembly.ca.gov
Statement on the Loss of Chelsea King
“This heartbreaking case leaves a lot of unanswered questions about how our criminal justice system fails to deal with sexually violent predators. This is unacceptable. We must protect children from these types of violent predators at all cost. Over the last few days we have talked with our District Attorney, Sheriff, Corrections officials, crime victims groups, and others to identify potential solutions to this tragic failure of the criminal justice system. Our goal is to make the changes needed so that no other family has to go through what the King family is facing. Right now, our thoughts and prayers remain with the King family, the students of Poway High School, and everyone in our community who was touched by Chelsea and is now grieving this tragic loss.”
Has plunge protection gone global?
Apparently so. The price of everything is way up this week - stocks, gold, oil, etc - and not just in dollar terms but in relation to all currencies. It’s not because of the dollar being down this time, which it isn’t.
Which says something about currencies. Apparently the fiatsco principle (inflate away your troubles) has caught the globalization bug now.
Not to suggest this is happening or will happen, but suppose some higher power (the IMF?) decided to use the printing press in a coordinated intervention across developed nation currencies to reflate economies and erase debt burdens.
Would now be a great time to invest in gold, houses, stocks, commodities and other real assets or paper claims thereon? If not, why not?
Would now be a great time to invest in gold, houses, stocks, commodities and other real assets or paper claims thereon? If not, why not?
Yes, though intelligently. Despite the intervention - market forces still do have sway. E.g. now probably still wouldn’t be a good time to invest in housing, due to the overwhelming pressure of inventory overhang.
(With my ever-present caveat that I always think there’s a chance the game may actually be rigged enough to overcome even that)
Stocks - maybe, but - along with gold - much (most? all?) of the anticipated monetary inflation seems to already be priced in. For that matter I think that’s the case with housing to some extent even.
In other words… who the hell knows?
P.S. I’m a big fan of diversification. A really, really big fan.
“Diversification” in my case being of much larger scope than most people define it actually. E.g. I include even things like my education, my job skills, etc.
packman –
We are certainly on the same page regarding diversification. In short, the traditional discussion of diversification strategies is overly narrow, perhaps with the ulterior motive of channeling Main Street savings into asset classes which will generate fees for FIRE sector firms.
“…now probably still wouldn’t be a good time to invest in housing, due to the overwhelming pressure of inventory overhang.”
I guess I agree with you, as I have no desire to get into any kind of housing-related investment right now, but I also have this nagging worry about all of the government-sponsored housing price support measures in play (both announced and unannounced): Won’t we be shocked and awed if they are wildly successful beyond the wildest nightmare of bubble sitters’ febrile imaginations?
March 3 bucket o’ bits MIA
I’m shakin’ and twitchin’ over here.
And I am ever so gently jumping for joy!
Why? Because I don’t have broken ribs, that’s why!
I do have a contusion, which is issuing all sorts of nasty words when I try to do things I shouldn’t. And I do miss my workout at the gym.
Count me as the happiest owner of bruised ribs in Tucson, Arizona!
So - will you be changing your moniker before long then?
(in reference to missing workouts, I mean)
P.S. - awesome that they weren’t cracked. That can be really tough to heal, I hear.
The PA told me not to do any weight work until I’m better. I am to do cardio workouts instead. So, more walking will be in Slim’s immediate future. I am also allowed to ride the bicycle as long as I don’t get too gonzo.
Just when I think these folks can’t be anymore stupid, they up and step even farther into the land of the disconnected…
Democratic Senators Urge Obama to Suspend Stimulus Money for Energy Program ~ March 03, 2010 (AP)
A group of Democratic senators is urging the Obama administration to suspend an economic stimulus program aimed at financing renewable energy, complaining that money is going to projects that are creating jobs in foreign countries.
A group of Democratic senators is urging the Obama administration to suspend an economic stimulus program aimed at financing renewable energy, complaining that money is going to projects that are creating jobs in foreign countries.
The four senators, led by Chuck Schumer of New York, wrote to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Tuesday to request a moratorium on the Recovery Act program. They asked that the moratorium remain in place until they can pass legislation mandating stimulus aid flow only to projects which preserve and create U.S. jobs.
Florida #2 in loan delinquencies
Jacksonville Business Journal - March 3, 2010
Floridians have the second highest percentage of mortgage loan and credit card delinquencies and the eighth most auto loan delinquencies in the nation, according to a report by the credit and information management company TransUnion.
In the fourth quarter the 60-day mortgage loan delinquency rate in Florida was 14.93 percent, just slightly lower than the 16.19 percent in Nevada. Arizona ranked third with 11.33 percent. The national average was 6.89 percent. More than half of the nation’s states had a mortgage delinquency rate of 4.99 percent or higher.
Similarly, the fourth quarter 90-day Bankcard delinquency rate in Florida was 1.75 percent compared with Nevada’s 2 percent. Arizona again ranked third with 1.52 percent. The national average was 1.21 percent, but Nevada, Florida and Arizona were the only three states with a delinquency rate of 1.5 percent or greater.
I agree with Starbuttz, they comply with the local laws, screw this anti-gun group…
Anti-gun group targets Starbucks
Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle)
The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and Starbucks Corp. are squaring off over gun and concealed weapons laws.
The Washington, D.C. group has targeted the Seattle coffee giant (NASDAQ: SBUX), demanding that Starbucks outlaw the carrying of guns in its coffee shops. But Starbucks said it will comply with local laws and statutes.
“The political, policy and legal debates around these issues belong in the legislatures and courts, not in our stores,” Starbucks wrote in a statement released Wednesday.
Last month, Paul Helmke, president of the anti-gun group, wrote Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, demanding that Starbucks reverse its current policy of allowing guns to be carried by its customers.
Yeah, he must really have it in for SBUX for some reason. Maybe someone left the whip off his doublemocha-halfcaff-frappalatte.
You don’t dare leave off the whip of a doublemocha-halfcaff-frappalatte when the customer is wearing a gun.
“Would like a banana clip with that frappalatte?”
God I get so sick of watching the two extremes battle these days on
TV. One side pushing for Corporation/Wall Street rigged Capitalism and Globalism with monopolies where 10% get more of the wealth and Government supplements it and writes favorable laws for the rigged games :the other side pushing for Rigged BIg Government and their idea of redistribution of the wealth with higher taxes and big brother knows best with government jobs and Unions being the chosen ones and the myth that big government will take care of you .
No wonder why they can’t get anything done in Washington these days that resembles sanity . The two extremes are both Power Groups . We ought to do away with power groups because it has nothing to do with the Constitution or the concept of the pursuit of happiness because it discriminates against big sections of the population one way or another .
As I have said ,Regulated Capitalism ,with consumer protections ,highly regulated financial markets , control of monopolies ,proper trade balances ,the rule of laws and contracts , would put both these power
players in their place ,which would include containment on Union contracts to be within a framework of something sustainable .
Health Care, and all those monopolies associated with it, is a National problem regarding a Capitalist answer to Health Care . When you think about it Medicare started because the Insurance Industry refused to insure people over 65 ,yet this was the sector that needed health care the most . Regardless ,just the average wage earner is being priced out of the market on health care with the price fixing ,claim denying private Insurance Monopolies running the show .We can no longer just pad their pockets by giving them no health risk patients ,while
Business continues to cop out on providing the Company supplemented health care . The system is falling apart . Health care might be the one
Industry that needs to be under a Government run system because it can’t obtain its goals under the current Insurance monopoly system ,the goal being a certain amount of basic affordable care for the Citizens . it’s a joke to think that the current system of health care is now under pure Capitalism . Pure Capitalism would be that everybody just pays for
what ails them ,and if they couldn’t pay ,to bad ,but supply and demand would control the Doctors prices .
Anyway, I’m just saying that all systems are screwed up right now ,or rigged ,and this has nothing to do with the Constitution or the pursuit of happiness and protections of the rights of individuals when government seeks to pick the winners or losers and Power Groups want
the Government to rig the system in favor of their group . Redistribution of the wealth is not the role of government ,but it’s not the role of government to assure that the elite keeps control of the wealth either . There is a role in the taxpayers coffers for helping the needy ,but we can all agree that the needy is not the rich elite .
I keep thinking about a time in America where the balance between the power groups allowed for a better redistribution of the wealth ,a fairer body of laws you might say ,with the exception of the fact that certain ethnic groups still experienced discrimination and denial of opportunity for the pursuit of happiness for the longest time ,and still might be oppressed by that .
I posted a story the other day that didn’t show up, regarding my friend’s brother.
He knew he needed to see the Dr. because of bleeding, but had no medical insurance. So he had to wait until he was covered under Medicare (which he was on Monday). He was diagnosed with colon cancer. We are waiting for the results to see how far it has spread.
I just flat out don’t understand how people don’t want coverage for everyone.
Thats a sad story potential buyer . I think if they set it up right they could provide basic care for people at a reasonable charge while
maybe higher end medical care could be a option if someone wanted to pay for it ,or a company wanted to pay for it . But your basic save life care and reasonable standard medical care could be provided .Like Rio has said in essence that other Countries have been able to do it
at a cheaper price than what America does it for, with about the same lifespan results (what does that tell you ). And yes ,saving people who have colon cancer early would be part of basic care IMHO. Anybody bleeding should be able to see a Doctor .
I hope your friends brother beats this medical condition .
Amen! HW
Hwy’s motto for 2010: “Keep American’s safe…protect CORPORATIONS!”
Paging Ben Jones!
P.S. Has everyone been making regular financial contributions to the HBB? We all owe Ben our voices of “free speech” in the form of financial contributions, to show our appreciation for his efforts. I have been fairly cash short so far in 2010, but I am expecting to soon be able to chip in my sporadic contribution to the HBB kitty.
I’m awaiting payment on an invoice. Some of that payment’s going to be recycled into Ben’s deserving coffers.
I imagine Ben’s out scouting a series of foreclosed properties, at least I hope so, or ran into one that is more time consuming.
You are correct, money needs to be sent when a person is able to.
Update regarding my housing status.
Landlords have decided that their townhouse will ’show’ better without renters in residence. So we received our 60 day notice (taped to the front door — just like an eviction — how weird is that?)
They have had one person come to view the property in 2 weeks and no offers put in at all. So they must feel comfortable not needing rent money, since its going to sit there for a long, long time. Its priced at $449k for a townhouse close to San Jose. My estimate: $325k. HOA fee is $250 — and it has no pool or hardly any landscaping.
“Landlords have decided that their townhouse will ’show’ better without renters in residence”.
I guess they are getting ready for the mad rush of savvy springtime, snap up buyers, and don’t want anyone there when the biding wars break out!
Hope you don’t have a problem finding another place, in 60 days.
I guess they are getting ready for the mad rush of savvy springtime, snap up buyers, and don’t want anyone there when the biding wars break out!
Hate to disappoint your landlords, but the housing downturn has resumed in earnest.
No problem at all. Rents have dropped substantially in the Bay Area for apartment living and there are no shortage of houses for rent, for obvious reasons. I won’t do the house thing any more though because this is the 2nd time we have had to move due to LLs deciding to sell their property after the year lease is up. Too much wasted money.
So — I’m actually moving in with a good friend whom I’ve lived with before and I’m going to sock money away like crazy. Then buy that house outright!
I just know you all approve.
So — I’m actually moving in with a good friend whom I’ve lived with before and I’m going to sock money away like crazy. Then buy that house outright!
I’m Arizona Slim, and I approve of this message.
Well haven’t seen the video , and I’m sure it will fail, but kudos for the effort.
In a new video for the website FunnyorDie.com, the roster of “Saturday Night Live” presidential impersonators reach not only across the aisle, but across the border to the afterlife, to endorse the financial consumer watchdog proposal now awaiting approval in the Senate. The Web video, directed by Ron Howard, opens with Barack and Michelle Obama (Fred Armisen and Maya Rudolph) fretting in bed over the fate of the measure and going to sleep. Suddenly, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton (Will Ferrell and Darrell Hammond) burst in to announce that the time for stricter regulation of credit card companies and banks is at hand. (When Obama protests that Clinton and Bush both presided over the rampant deregulation of the financial sector, Clinton replies that “Dude, it was the ’90s – people did all kinds of crazy things,” while casting a salacious eye at the first lady.)
Into the room come more past presidents, with Chevy Chase’s Gerald Ford and Dan Aykroyd’s Jimmy Carter arguing about which one is dead; Jim Carrey’s Ronald Reagan, unfazed by his own mortal passing, makes an impassioned appeal for Obama to show some … uhm, testicular fortitude.
Of course, Reagan in real life launched the rush to deregulation, with the free-market overhaul of the thrift industry that produced the 1980s savings and loan crisis – the first major bailout of the financial industry in our generation.
But comedy is not history, and the advocacy group that produced the video, Consumers for Financial Reform, is mainly trying to gin up viral entertainment-minded interest in one of the wonkier pieces of legislation now before Congress. It would do well to note that one needn’t mobilize a roster of marquee comedy performers to point up the absurdity of daily business in D.C. Just Tuesday, after all, House Banking Chairman pronounced that one central plank of the Senate bill – housing the new consumer protection agency in the institutionally weak confines of the Federal Reserve, which has taken heat from all partisan sides for its role in enabling the 2008 financial bailouts – was “a bad joke.” And that, come to think of it, sounds a lot like critics’ reactions to many recent “SNL” skits.
Every time Ben goes dark, I worry he’s in the trunk of some NARsters leased Lexus.
What happened to the fundraising banner? I thought that was tasteful and it was a nice reminder.
Question for ya Muggy, or anyone else. Saw a home in Bend Or. That we could live in. Sold in 05 for 187k, 06 for 294k, now it’s 113k list. Is that low enough, right about 2000 prices, or should we wait a bit?
One realtor told us a little trick, compare new listings to price reductions over a given recent time frame. When reductions outnumber new listings, prices are still falling. Right now in Bend it is a dead heat after brutal losses, but things are moving.
I can’t answer that, not because I am afraid to give you bad advice, but because a lot of posters here are waiting on price alone. I am ready to buy because I am a dad, I want to provide a safe place for my children to live, and get on with my life even if is means losing $20-40k over the long term. I intend to mitigate that loss buying paying off the house in 5-7 years, thus reducing the total amount it costs to pay off the note. Mike, I would offer $110 and call it a day. I really would. That may not square well with some here, but at some point you need to make the best decision for you and your family.
At this point I would not be able to live with myself if A. a car veers off the road into our rental B. my son runs into the road and is hit.
I wrote a long response, but I suspect it went into moderation. Offer $110 and be ready to move in.
Thanks for the advice, may be time to take the plunge and break out the plunger(hey its a foreclosure). But as surfers sometimes say, “spent the day riding fence” ,not being able to decide the venue to ply our sport, with suitable waves everywhere.
Our kids are safe and our crazy nabor is leaving end of March.
One of the last people I would expect to be bearish is Michael Moore, but here he is calling the Democrats wimps and predicting a bigger crash to come …
http://tinyurl.com/ycd9hlk
Is Michael Moore a regular HBB reader/poster?
…
What he thinks of Democrats and Republicans:
You know, I tell you, these Democrats are disgusting. Wimps and wusses and weasels. You know, get some spine. This is why I have to admire the Republicans. They at least stand for something. They at least have the courage of their convictions. They get elected to office, they come into town, and they go “Get outta my way, there’s a new sheriff in town. This is the way we’re doing things. Get outta here.” And then they do it. You know. I mean what they do is crazy. But dammit, they are good at it. We should take a page out of their book.
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You know Mr. Bear, not more than 3 hours ago as I was going to get Mr. Cole from school, as I open the car door… something came completely out of “left” field…I thought to myself…”you know the Democrapts need a really Good/Bad/Ugly Josey Wales type of Representative to just stick it to the “TrueDoNothing™ / “TrueObstructionists™ / TrueGridLokers™”
I guess Murtha was the only “hard Marine” nut in the democrapts box of See’s
From the articles author:
“…We have to stop letting corporate interests buy our politicians and government officials. Make a change.”
Note to self: add him to The Great Pumpkin Patch Party this October!
Hwy’s motto for 2010: “Keep American’s safe…protect CORPORATIONS!”
Hard to believe Moore doesn’t read this blog . But I think he is right that campaign reform must be part of the solution .
Geez, I certainly hope nothin’s happened to Mr. Ben…or his laptop (liquid sound of an Alaskan Amber bubbling around keycaps…)
Mr. Ben (murmuring): “…Dang it, dang it…DARN!”
I too hope Mr. Ben is Ok. Mr. Ben, Mr. Ben, you Ok, Mr. Ben?