Bits Bucket For March 24, 2010
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The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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Name:Ben Jones
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First?
It’s about six hours too early for coffee…
Still not too early for a beer though.
For this insomniac it’s orange juice time.
After dinner cocktails in New Zealand, where the housing bubble never popped
“…After dinner cocktails in New Zealand”
Hey, if yous happen to over hear a conversation from a foreigner talkin’ bout Sequoia Trees & a catastrophic drought that’ll be the end of California, ask’em if he’s ever heard of a guy goes by the name: aladinsane
PS
( if he’s sportin’ gold chains, rings & such bling and pays his bill with US Silver Morgan’s yous might be talkin’ to him personally)
“…where the housing bubble never popped…”
In due time…
“After dinner cocktails in New Zealand, where the housing bubble never popped”
Did people finance with toxic loans like they did here? If so, then PB is right, in due time..
“Did people finance with toxic loans like they did here? If so, then PB is right, in due time..”
When they start to qualify sheep for home-loans you might want to sell. Just a tip from the good old USA (land of the free stuff that somebody else paid for).
Murst!
Stupid believes as stupid is.
* The Wall Street Journal
* COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE
* MARCH 24, 2010
Behind Lehman’s Faith in Real-Estate Riches
Bankruptcy Report Finds Property Group’s Chief Focused on Reward as Firm Ignored Risk Control
By ANTON TROIANOVSKI
On May 7, 2007, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s real-estate chief sent a memo to the bank’s executive committee on the ill-fated deal to acquire apartment developer Archstone-Smith Trust. The possible profit, according to the memo: $1.3 billion over 10 years.
The $22.2 billion Archstone-Smith Trust deal, and its attendant pieces like this apartment building in Boston in 2007, stoked Lehman’s demise.
But what Lehman Brothers neglected to analyze was just how much risk it was taking on, according to the bankruptcy-court-appointed examiner’s report on Lehman Brothers released earlier this month. The firm didn’t conduct “stress tests” to see how the $22.2 billion deal would affect its commercial real-estate exposure, according to the report.
The Archstone deal, of course, turned out to be a disaster and contributed to the collapse of Lehman in the fall of 2008—a failure that was widely seen as the spark that set off a global financial meltdown.
The report by the bankruptcy examiner, Anton Valukas, sheds new light on Archstone and Lehman Brothers’ other blockbuster real-estate deals and the Wall Street era that made them possible.
The Real-Estate Chief
At the same time, the report offers a portrait of Mark Walsh, the head of Lehman’s Global Real Estate Group, who masterminded some of Lehman’s most troubled deals as superiors pushed his group to take on more risk. Investors and other observers have cited Lehman Brothers’ big bet on commercial real estate as a primary culprit in the firm’s collapse.
Mr. Valukas’s report instead focuses its biggest criticism on an accounting mechanism that helped Lehman appear to have less debt on its books. The report doesn’t tie Mr. Walsh to that mechanism, known inside the Wall Street bank as “Repo 105.”
The report says that Lehman Brothers overvalued its Archstone position on its books throughout 2008 and that some involved in the valuation process felt pressure from senior management not to take some markdowns. But it says Lehman Brothers’ senior management never overruled any of the real-estate group’s proposed valuations.
…
“After a yearlong exhaustive inquiry that involved over 250 interviews with different individuals and the review of over 4.7 million documents, the Examiner did not identify any wrongful or improper conduct by Mark Walsh,” a spokesman for Mr. Walsh said in a statement. “Indeed, the report contains no suggestion that Mark ever intended to act other than in the best interests of Lehman, its shareholders, and his investors.”
The report says Mr. Walsh was “the driving force” behind the 2007 buyout of Archstone, a deal that left Lehman Brothers with $5.4 billion in hard-to-sell exposure to the real-estate market.
Mr. Walsh planned to sell off much of Lehman’s position to other investors, but some that had expressed interest—including hedge fund D.E. Shaw & Co. and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority—balked as the real-estate market worsened, the report says. D.E. Shaw declined to comment and an ADIA spokesman couldn’t be reached.
The deal came at a time when Lehman Brothers executives urged Mr. Walsh and his team to double the amount of commercial real-estate risk they took on, according to emails and interviews cited in the report by Mr. Valukas. Lehman Brothers boosted its risk limits for real estate in 2007, before doing away with those limits entirely, Mr. Valukas found.
…
Lehman Brothers boosted its risk limits for real estate in 2007, before doing away with those limits entirely, Mr. Valukas found.
At that point they must have mistakenly believed they were inside the TBTF tent. Bet it was a shocker when they found out otherwise.
What are you doing up this early PB . Its interesting to me that many of these Middle men that call themselves Lenders got caught holding the bag on positions that they planned to sell off to investors that didn’t end up wanting to buy by that time . In spite of all the methods and PR Campaigns to keep the party going ,the mania was crashing .
Holding to much junk when the market started turning was also the position CountryWIde was in at the time . This is when Mozillo started screaming the government had to do something . The secondary market dried up leaving these pigs slaughtered . AIG was left slaughtered by their late in the game Credit Default positions (no doubt influenced by the ratings not being accurate on the junk they insured ). Nobody talks about how deception causes people to make bets they otherwise wouldn’t of .
Just because these pigs couldn’t unload their positions to stupid
investors doesn’t mean that Main Street should of ended up holding the bag . When Hank Paulson was talking about credit markets drying up he was talking about the ability of the Middle Men to unload their junk when Investors started backing off . Pigs get slaughtered ,unless
they get bail outs of course . The Government was the only bag-holder left to keep these middle men from insolvency ,except they let
Lehmans fail ,apparently because nobody wanted to buy them or merge with them at the time .
Nice summary.
I still say that they let Lehman fail so that they could scare congress into handing them large bags of money. Fuld probably wasn’t in on the plan or was given a golden parachute.
Sacrifices must be made………
They don’t ask us to make sacrifices because there are wars going on, but they do ask us to make sacrifices in order to make the financial industry whole.
Priorities.
Don’t make sausage that you’re not willing to eat if nobody buys it.
* The Wall Street Journal
* U.S. NEWS
* MARCH 24, 2010
Sun Belt Loses Its Shine
Census Data Show Recession Has Altered Longtime Migration Pattern in U.S.
By CONOR DOUGHERTY
The recession has halted the dominant migration trend of recent decades, turning once-hot destinations such as Las Vegas and Orlando, Fla., into some of the country’s losers.
Census data released Tuesday portray a sharp shift in migration during the depths of the recession, from July 2008 to July 2009. With home prices slammed and few jobs available in any state, people from Massachusetts to California decided to stay put or go back where they came from.
The Las Vegas metropolitan area lost about 1,300 residents to other areas. That compares with an annual inflow of 54,000 people during the height of the real-estate boom, and marks the first year of out-migration the city has seen in at least a century. The Orlando area swung to an outflow of about 4,300 from an inflow of 52,000 in 2004-2005.
The shifts represent a radical departure from the migration patterns that had made cities such as Las Vegas and Orlando some of the country’s fastest-growing. For decades, people have been leaving colder Northeastern and Midwestern states, either to retire or to chase better weather and jobs in the South and West.
video
After decades of population influxes, some hot cities are losing population. Census data out Tuesday show an exodus from Orlando and Las Vegas for the first time in decades - one factor in their housing bust. The News Hub panel discusses.
“It’s unprecedented to see areas like Las Vegas and Orlando, just blue-chip destinations for anybody who wanted to move, to stop and stay stopped over a couple of years,” said William Frey, a demographer with the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank.
Meanwhile, some cities accustomed to losing people are showing net gains. The government’s growing role in the economy has benefited the Washington, D.C., area, which drew 18,200 residents from other states, its first net gain since 2002.
In many cases, cities in the Midwest and Northeast are gaining because residents are locked in place. With depressed home prices and a dearth of out-of-state job offers preventing departures, even a modest number of people moving in can drive gains. The Boston area, for example, swung to an inflow of about 6,800 in 2008-2009 from an outflow of about 46,000 in 2004-2005. The Chicago area’s outflow narrowed to about 40,400 from about 77,400.
Tim Jones, a 30-year-old satellite-television installer, has been on both ends of the migration. Late last year, he moved back to Plano, Ill., in the Chicago area after losing an installation job in the Phoenix area. He said he tried hard to find another job in Phoenix, applying everywhere from auto-repair shops to Wal-Mart, but to no avail.
“It was a pain moving and moving again, but we have to go where the work is,” said Mr. Jones, who managed to get his old job back.
Mr. Jones’s former home county—Arizona’s Maricopa County—is emblematic of the turnaround. A stream of new housing-related jobs attracted people to the area, but that halted once the real-estate market tanked. The county’s domestic-migration gain dropped to just 4,600 in 2008-2009 from 69,400 in 2005-2006, according to an analysis of Census data by Kenneth M. Johnson, senior demographer at the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire.
…
How many are really finding greater opportunities elsewhere versus how many are leaving the hardest hit areas hoping it will be better some place else?
Isn’t there someone who tracks u-haul rentals as an indicator?
http://www.atlasworldgroup.com/migration/
I just ran Boston - Albuquerque and the reverse. Prices for 17′ Truck.
BOS-ABQ: $1460
ABQ-BOS: $987
Looks like there is a need for trucks in Boston (people moving out) and less of a need in Albuquerque (people moving in).
We should expect continued migration to the cities. Sure, the MSM will fill our heads with stories of fed up yuppies trying the “Green Acres” option, but in aggregate the working stiffs will continue to flock to the cities. This is part and parcel symptomatic of globalization.
Think Sao Paulo.
Cities are cheaper to live in when energy prices go through the roof and wages stagnate or fall. You don’t need a car and heating and cooling in a high rise are a fraction of climate control in stand alone house.
$$ on energy is only a small factor. TIME is a huge factor. Cities is where the jobs are, so green acres usually means an 90-minute commute each way.
Working stiffs have been flocking to cities for millenia.
My apartment power bill rivals that of much larger modern houses. Most rental property owners don’t really do the upgrades that make utility usage cheap for renters.
Measton, as I’ve said before, most cities have bad to no mass transit and most epople don’t live in high rises. And only in NYC can you walk to ANY part of city from your transit stop. In other cities, most jobs are nowhere near the transit stop.
So the general rule is that it’s NOT cheaper to live in the big cities, but that’s where the jobs are.
The Sunbelt was hit hard by recession, and its solution to poverty is to ship people north for someone else to pay for.
We see it in New York, particularly among seniors. People leave when they have money, to avoid taxes, and return when the money is gone, to get benefits.
As part of the deal on welfare reform, northern states insisted that they be allowed to only provide migrants with the services they would have received where they came from. The Supreme Court struck it down, and no one made an issue of it afterward.
If I recall correctly, when times were bad in the Northeast and Midwest, people were leaving in droves for the Sunbelt. I think it is wrong to categorize this as shipping them off for someone else to pay for.
You are correct. In fact, overall migration to the south is still up.
That would be a great plan for us north of the mexican border to only provide welfare benefits and services they received down south.
“People leave when they have money, to avoid taxes, and return when the money is gone, to get benefits.”
I’ve been chewing on a statement I found on a facebook site called Upstate Unshackled. She said she was a retiree who only had an income of $20k a year. Half of that went out in property taxes. Easy to do in this town especially in the village but I wondered why empty nesters and retirees stayed in this town. The bulk of the taxes are for the schools. You can go 10 miles up the road into Madison County and get a home probably in much better shape w/half the tax bill. But they don’t do it. I’ve been wondering is it simply lack of momentum or fear of change that keeps them from going? Are they tied to their neighbors in a way that makes starting over too scary. I don’t consider 10 miles away starting over but it’s interesting so many people even those still in lucrative positions tell me they’d either stay exactly where they are or leave the state completely. $5k a year for even just 10 years is $50k! Why do they so easily hand that chunck of change over in taxes?
“The bulk of the taxes are for the schools.”
Actually for pensions, retiree health care, and politically connected excess staff. We also have schools, at least in the part of the state outside New York City.
I worded that incorrectly. It should have read the bulk of property taxes are for schools. The $10k the retiree was referring to was property taxes.
Mr. Cole’s Grandparents (80+):
1. they are near the people they’ve socialized for the last 50 years.
2. they don’t need GPS to find Trader Joes which is next door to a Walgreens which just happens to be a stone from a CVS
3. great new Gadgets & Procedures Hospital nearby (just look for the construction cranes)
4. Prop 13 taxes = $840.00 annual
5. Koi pond maintenance & President of Stamp club & Trombone club
6. Docent at Blind Children’s center & Historical Society
7. if they get lost, they can pull into any driveway and find a dentist
8. They know the postman and the first names of everyone in all x3 post offices
9. They have all city services on speed dial
10.
11.
12.
10. Like pigeons, they have the location of all the local Denny’s embedded.
11. The locals don’t honk and flip the bird at old codgers in their Crown Vics and Town Cars clogging up all the main traffic arteries by driving 10 under the limit in the left lane, when on the way to the doctor or Walgren’s.
12. Would miss the Saturday morning meetings with the “Rusty Zipper Club” at McDonalds; sitting around in powder blue coveralls/jumpsuits, drinking discounted coffee, and bitching about anything and everything under the sun.
In many states (Ca being one-Govt. Code Section 50079(b)), you can be exempt from education based parcel taxes, if your are collecting Disability, are over 65, and for other reasons. In Ca. you have to renew the exemption on an annual basis. Everyone on HBB should be aware of their state law, so you can inform senior friends and family, to see if it applies to them.
In many states (Ca being one-Govt. Code Section 50079(b)), you can be exempt from education based parcel taxes, if your are collecting Disability, are over 65, and for other reasons.
…which is outrageous because it sets up a dangerous situation. Despite requiring a 2/3 vote, parcel taxes often pass because
1. Renters don’t notice the cost, so they feel good about voting “for the schools”
2. People with kids in school probably get more out than they pay so they have no problem voting for it.
3. Seniors don’t pay, so they gleefully go to the polls and vote these things in because it’s for the kids…
Which leaves people like me holding the bag! I just think it’s disgusting that you can go to the polls and vote to raise taxes on “other people”. All initiative-based tax increases should apply evenly to all voters. Let’s see how many get passed then…
Which leaves people like me holding the bag! I just think it’s disgusting that you can go to the polls and vote to raise taxes on “other people”. All initiative-based tax increases should apply evenly to all voters. Let’s see how many get passed then…
But you benefit from and support prop 13 and the way it passed and who it taxed more than others and who it didn’t and who voted for it and who didn’t?
I didn’t vote for Prop 13. (I wasn’t in California)
Prop 13 applies to EVERYBODY, EQUALLY. And it corrects a gross unfairness.
I paid $300,000 for my (paid-up) house. During the peak of the bubble, the identical house on my block sold for $1.4 Million.
If they had “adjusted” my property tax to account for a phony sales price cause by someone given too much credit, I’d be paying $30,000/year in property taxes now! It’s outrageous that you think people should be forced from their homes because speculators move in who pay too much of other people’s money for their houses.
And don’t give me that “BOO HOO! CA’s broke because of Prop 13 bullshit.”
The state has among the HIGHEST sales tax, the HIGHEST property tax and the HIGHEST business taxes. Property taxes are above the median for the nation, even with Prop 13. Why the heck are we broke?
All sorts of BS spending here in Cali.
One of the greats is the healthcare for illegals.
Plenty of others though.
My take on the prop13 problem is the index for increases has been a bit too low. There are people going into the third generation that are paying way too little for supporting the schools.
The other BIG problem. Public employees with defined benefit pensions.
Most of the seniors I’ve talked to don’t like the education parcel tax, even if they are exempt. They feel the school districts are wasting money, and don’t deserve any additional $. Most of these folks were young during the GD, and have a sense of waste. I hear parents say the schools need the money. Godforbid, they really look into the waste and demand fiscal responsibility. In Ca. we have the Lottery, which was suppose to fix the problem. Nope. Then we have School Bonds to build schools and update the equipment. Nope, not enough. Now more Property Taxes?
How about the school districts living within their means. $16M (1 yr)in LAUSD for seminars and travel. WTF
I’m all for seniors not being tax out of their paid off home. That’s what sparked the Prop 13 movement.
Prop 13 applies to EVERYBODY, EQUALLY.
Now that’s a funny one. (unless applying INEQUALITY equally to everyone is what it’s all about.)
And don’t give me that “BOO HOO!
Nahh, I couldn’t compete.
If they had “adjusted” my property tax to account for a phony sales price cause by someone given too much credit, I’d be paying $30,000/year in property taxes now! It’s outrageous that you think people should be forced from their homes because speculators move in who pay too much of other people’s money for their houses.
————
And if you don’t think the extra services you receive as compensation for living in an in-demand area with high prices, then you are welcomed to move.
In other words, pay up or move along. It’s a home, not a birthright. Ask the Native Indians how much getting there first was worth.
If they had “adjusted” my property tax to account for a phony sales price cause by someone given too much credit, I’d be paying $30,000/year in property taxes now! It’s outrageous
If you can afford it you should pay it just like a 35 year old has to. Other states pro-rate by means testing. California would have passed something similar to protect the self-entitled old owners if prop 13 bastardization hadn’t been perverting CA’s housing market and sinking its schools. No poor oldsters would have lost their house. That’s a crock.
The state has among the HIGHEST sales tax, the HIGHEST property tax and the HIGHEST business taxes.
I ran my own business in California for almost 20 years, paid all my taxes and still thought prop 13 was a big fat ripoff to everyone but longtime owners.
If they had “adjusted” my property tax to account for a phony sales price cause by someone given too much credit, I’d be paying $30,000/year in property taxes now! It’s outrageous that you think people should be forced from their homes because speculators move in who pay too much of other people’s money for their houses.’
then you would have to sell and many others ( my 80 year old parents included ) and the price would never have gone so high
I don’t know about prop 13 it seems to distort the market but I could be wrong ? old people who have prop 13 get really angry about the suggestion that they get an entitlement. And do you know you can pass prop 13 on to your kids? I had an old guy tell me that so maybe I can get prop13 some day and then tell everyone how great it is but now as a renter renting from 80 year old landlords ( not my parents just everyone who is a rental mogal in CA is 80 years old ? ) and seeing they pay 600 bucks a year where it would cost me 4K well I just rent. Free market ? no but we do the best we can. Me I’ll probably rent in CA the rest of my working life and then buy in Tucson AZ and retire.
Reuven, it’s simple. Tax rates must be higher because they are being applied to unadjusted property values.
If the property values were adjusted, they could drop the rates for everyone to maintain the same revenue.
So Prop 13 is actually the reason rates are high.
Warmest climes but nurse the cruelest fangs. — Herman Melville
Mr. Jones’s former home county—Arizona’s Maricopa County—is emblematic of the turnaround. A stream of new housing-related jobs attracted people to the area, but that halted once the real-estate market tanked. The county’s domestic-migration gain dropped to just 4,600 in 2008-2009 from 69,400 in 2005-2006, according to an analysis of Census data by Kenneth M. Johnson, senior demographer at the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire.
And therein lies the problem. Far too much of Arizona’s economy has been based on people building houses for people who are going to come here and sell houses.
With literally hundreds of thousands in net population for Southern California in the 2007-2009 period, I am quite surprised home prices are not more affordable by now.
Gains and Losses
Census data released March 23, 2010, portray a sharp shift in migration during the depths of the recession, from July 2008 to July 2009. With home prices slammed and few jobs available in any state, people from Massachusetts to California decided to stay put or go back where they came from. See net domestic migration by metropolitan area.
With literally hundreds of thousands in net population for Southern California in the 2007-2009 period, I am quite surprised home prices are not more affordable by now.
Still, in percentage terms, the decline is small. You’d also need to know more about who’s leaving to know how many housing units have been vacated. If many were illegals, for example, maybe not that many housing units were vacated relative to the number of people that have left.
But still, the supply situation* is much improved over a decade ago, yet prices are still much higher than then. Wages have also been largely stagnant during that period. Housing prices still seem to be quite disconnected from the fundamentals.
*I should note, by supply I mean the number of housing units that exist, not the number that are being allowed to be occupied.
“Housing prices still seem to be quite disconnected from the fundamentals.”
I lived in San Diego from 1982-1995 and except towards the end of that period where prices came down somewhat prices always seemed disconnected from fundamentals. Wages then were much lower than in LA and we had our version of equity locusts from LA who drove up prices.
What this neglects to mention is that a disproportionate percentage of the outflow are fed-up native-born, middle class residents, while the inflow of immigrants (legal and illegal) from Mexico and Central America continues unabated.
That’s been the story for the past 20+ years, though at the present time it might be births to immigrants that’s offsetting the continued departure of the middle class as well as some illegals.
This article seems to overlook a primary reason for low outmigration from San Diego County: Home owners who got stucco with underwater mortgages. Who wants to leave town if it involves realizing hundreds of thousands of dollars on a home sale?
Fewer in county moving away
By Lori Weisberg, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Tuesday, March 23, 2010 at 8:31 p.m.
A still-depressed housing market and high jobless rate appear to be slowing the once large movement of people fleeing San Diego County for lower-cost destinations.
While 2,600 more residents left the county than moved in last year, the number pales in comparison with the tens of thousands who were moving out earlier in the decade, driven by the desire to find affordable housing. A similar slowdown in out-migration is occurring throughout California.
…
“When the economy is doing well, we have a lot of people moving here from other parts of the country, but earlier in the 2000s we had people leaving, clearly because of high housing prices,” San Diego economist Kelly Cunningham said. “Some of them were just going to Riverside and still working here because of the high cost of housing, but now with our whole country falling into recession, there isn’t an advantage for someone leaving San Diego to go someplace else.”
And with housing prices now considered a bargain compared with the boom years, there is less motivation for buyers to head to Riverside County and endure long commutes into San Diego for work, Cunningham said.
In the peak years of the housing boom, as many as 35,000 to 38,000 more people were exiting the county than moving in, the Census Bureau estimated.
“This article seems to overlook a primary reason for low outmigration from San Diego County: Home owners who got stucco with underwater mortgages. Who wants to leave town if it involves realizing hundreds of thousands of dollars on a home sale?”
Those who bought near the peak aren’t stuck, they’ll just walk away. What’s trickier are those that bought somewhat earlier and are somewhat upside down and those that HELOCed themselves into being upside down. Another reason for not leaving is why leave the San Diego climate if the job market is crappy everywhere.
This article is about migration…what about birth/death population growth?
I suspect that despite the poor migration numbers, there is still some population growth.
Up to date data is hazy, but it seems that birth rates are just barely at replacement level and population growth is driven mostly by immigration.
Which is still better than the Japanese who are not at even replacement levels and really hate immigrants.
I think even with current replacement birth rates, population momentum will continue to drive population higher in the medium term (a few generations).
In other words, even at “replacement birth rates”, population rises because there are more people being born each year than are dying. Eventually, all else equal, a replacement birth rate will lead to a steady population, but not for a while, at least in the US.
The NY Times put up a story about eliminating the mortgage interest deduction.
www dot nytimes dot com/2010/03/23/business/23views.html
Sadly they turned off comments, or I would have posted my short history of the MID. Congress never passed any such thing as a MID. Instead, interest on loans of all types was made deductable shortly after the income tax was established circa 1913. The original reason was that almost all loans at the time were for business reasons, not consumer credit, and therefore interest was deductable as a “legitimate business expense”. When consumer credit expanded, the interest deduction was maintained until the 1980s, when it was cut for things like credit cards and auto loans. Finally all that was left was a deduction for mortgage interest.
“Finally all that was left was a deduction for mortgage interest.”
Since the mortgage interest deduction serves no legitimate purpose and helps explain why we have so many vacant homes strewn across the U.S. landscape, that would be a logical next candidate for elimination.
I don’t know ,isn’t mortgage interest one of the few deductions left
for the middle and upper middle class . I think the government would need to lower the tax rate if they took away tax write offs . Corporations have all kinds of write offs . Should we take away business write offs also ? I’m just asking . The point is that any kind of write off or tax encourages behavior in a certain direction . The government also gives a write off for medical expense ,should that be repealed ? Some people think that a flat tax is the answer and get rid of all deductions . I really don’t know ,it’s a interesting question .
“The point is that any kind of write off or tax encourages behavior in a certain direction .”
In this case, the direction was to encourage people to build and buy much bigger homes than they needed in order to capture more subsidy dollars. Bigger home => bigger mortgage => bigger tax writeoff.
P.S. That formula worked great so long as real estate kept going up. Leverage in a housing bust is a bitch.
I often find it amusing and confusing that so many people don’t know
1) A lot of “home owners” don’t get much of a real benefit from the tax deduction, after figuring in the loss of the standard deduction.
2) that you aren’t deducting your mortgage payment, but the interest, which decreases the deduction over time.
‘A lot of “home owners” don’t get much of a real benefit from the tax deduction, after figuring in the loss of the standard deduction.’
3) The biggest flow of subsidies goes to those whose mortgages are sufficiently Jumbo so that the value of the tax deduction swamps the standard deduction.
4) The value of a Jumbo mortgage interest deduction could easily become swamped if a $1m+ mortgage became submerged.
The subsidies at the top are capped by AMT.
I’m all for repealing the deduction, although it is mostly beneficial for the middle class.
As our government is of for and by the elite I could easily see this happening once they lock as many people as possible into long term loans that they can’t get out of. I posted a couple months ago that they might start a federal property tax, but I suspect a repeal of this is more likely.
Remember those who average 350mil/year in income pay an effective tax rate of 16% ie much less than middle and upper middle class America.
Newley created Schudele L $500 deduction if you qualify and don’t itemize I believe
IIRC the Sched L deduction is for property tax.
Most everyone I work with (50-250,000/yr) pays less than 18% federal taxes.Why? mortgage int and high property taxes. $ 15,000 tax refunds are fairly normal.
One more point . I think the repeal of the capital gains tax on
real estate gains up to 500k for a couple every 2 years was one of the factors that encouraged this churning of real estate .
It seems to me that the deregulation and the tax code changes
all around the same time encouraged or set the stage for this speculation wave in real estate . But if you add faulty lending and low interest rates to all that and a excess money supply and
the mania was a given ,especially since it was encouraged by the professionals and middlemen and even the news media . Add to that that saving accounts weren’t paying much ,and
people were just looking for something to get ahead of the game .
I always though that it was weird that the REIC was walking around saying the same talking points and myths about real estate investing like a bunch of zombies and absurd leverage was made out to be a good thing . Good thing unless you get caught holding the bag when the thing crashed .
IMHO ,Wall Street has a attitude of playing with other peoples money and getting rid of stuff to a greater fool when the timing is right and that is their whole game .
One more point . I think the repeal of the capital gains tax on
real estate gains up to 500k for a couple every 2 years was one of the factors that encouraged this churning of real estate .
Yes, that’s a big one.
Like so many things in a bubble, it was self-propagating: “What should we do with the $200K we made from selling our house? Well, the smart thing to do is sink most of it into another house — now we can afford a bigger house, and real estate is the best place to protect our returns …”
Just a little note in all the madness… remember that we had a nastly little recession in 01 due to the dotcom meltdown.
I think the china and debt problem could have been addressed then. Instead we got the HBB.
Well. Now we are looking at another stock bubble too.
Good times.
You can’t really equate corporate and personal taxes the way you have (”isn’t mortgage interest one of the few deductions left for the middle and upper middle class….Corporations have all kinds of write offs”). People are taxed on income (except for capital gains in which only the gains are taxed) modified by deductions and credits. Corporations are taxed on profit (distorted by special rules creating taxable profit number that is very different than the profit number reported to Wall Street), not income. There is a profound philosophical difference.
Yes, if you got rid of all the personal deductions and credits, you could lower the rates if your goal was to keep income from those taxes the same. Do you really think that keeping tax receipts the same is going to be the goal?
Polly ,I’m just throwing out meat to start a subject and your feedback is always thought provoking . I just think that the middle class is already tapped out ,so the elimination of the
mortgage deduction might be another straw that would break the camels back …thats all . No doubt the health care costs
have been a big strain on any family budget if your Employee
doesn’t pay for it ,and taxes can be equally oppressive .
Seems to me that whether it’s right or wrong, people are just living beyond their means. They can’t seem to come to terms with the fact that they don’t have the skills or education to support the lifestyle they want. To maintain day to day life, have a rainy day fund, save for college & save for retirement is a big monthly nut. People have delusional standards and don’t understand the difference between need & want. Instead of planning and adapting they just want to blame someone else. Even if you gave back all the jobs people have lost, most would be barely hanging on and their houses still would be sinking in value and the stupid loans they chose would still be strangling them.
People are taxed on income (except for capital gains in which only the gains are taxed) modified by deductions and credits. Corporations are taxed on profit (distorted by special rules creating taxable profit number that is very different than the profit number reported to Wall Street), not income. There is a profound philosophical difference.
Polly, I appreciate that you are trying to make us see a profound philosophy at work behind the byzantine complexities of the tax code…
But you’re always ultimately taxing individuals, anyway, right? So there’s really no point in having separate taxes for corporations. Or for having corporations, period, but that’s another story.
are they crazy, …good summation!
Hear hear! And yes, they are crazy.
“….living beyond their means……”
I’m getting really tired of hearing this.
Our family has been cutting back on everything for years. No vacations. We used to buy a new car (Fords and Dodges, no BMWs or Lexus) every four years, and then keep it for 8-10 years/120-150K miles, haven’t been able to do that since 2001. Didn’t go crazy with the toys (no boats, motorcycles, ATVs, snowmobiles). Stayed out of the housing bubble.
Inflation corrected, I’m making the same money I made as a starting A&P in 1980. Except that taxes and user fees are higher, health insurance now has copays, deductibles, and “items not covered by plan”. the list goes on. When you actually run the numbers my actual discretionary income is down about 30% from 1990.
I guess if I had sold my daughters to White Slavers, or moved us all into a big cardboard box under a bridge, I would have been able to “live within my means”. Sorry, couldn’t do it. So stuff like saving for retirement got the short end of the stick.
The only people I know that can “live within their means” are the dedicated bachelors/gay guys who basically work, go home, and consider managing their investments their “hobby”.
Business and government’s plan for the past 20 years has been to off-load costs onto J6P. Trouble is, the turnips have run out of blood. The last big run up in obviously speculator-driven gasoline prices in 2008 was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
At that point, it became obvious to everyone on Main Street who our government was really working for. You could actually sense the feeling of “capitulation” around here, the sense that the hamsters were going to lose the battle with the treadmill. So a bunch of people went (figurtively) into the bunker with their MREs.
Exactly X-GSfixr.
Sure, there are plenty of examples of people making bad budget decisions. Always will be. But the facts clearly show that the middle class has been systematically demolished over the last 30 years by REAL inflation, job and wage cuts and ever increasing taxes and “fees.”
But the biggest example of someone living beyond their means would be Wall St.
“Polly, I appreciate that you are trying to make us see a profound philosophy at work behind the byzantine complexities of the tax code…”
Actually I didn’t mean the philosophy-related definition of profound at all. I was using the “total”, “complete” or “extensive” meaning. Taxing income and taxing profits are utterly different systems. Changing the income tax to tax people only on retained savings (income for the year - spending for the year) would be a “profound” change in this sense of the word.
But “profound” in the “deeply penetrating” or “requiring intense knowledge” sense? It would just be an attempt to goose private spending since it penalizes saving. Not too much complexity there.
X-GSfixr
Plus 1
Whether it should have been offered in the first place is not the real issue because the fact of the matter is that millions of people bought homes relying on such law and thus it has already been baked into the price. I don’t feel bad for ppl that over paid because historical pricing ratios existed so it was a risk they took knowing they were paying more than other generations. I do have sympathy however for people that pay enormous amounts of money for something and then get screwed because laws are changed. At least for the first generation living with the change, the elimination of the deduction is really nothing more than a tax on existing home owners as housing prices need to adjust to reflect the change. That is one thing that bothers me about all these tax credits and changes. Most ppl in government dont have enough of an economics background to understand that the person who gets the credit or to which the change applies is not the one that necessarily keeps the intended benefit or burden. That is not how markets work. Thus, it just creates more mess.
MID compared to property tax is laughable.
??? Property taxes are around 1% in most places. We have had mortgage interest rates in excess of 10%. Even using conservative estimates of normal mortgage interest rates during less messed up times (7-9%), the loss of the deduction would cost around 2.5% or more per year real dollars. Present value this over the life of the loan and we are talking huge amounts of money. Another way to look at it is net interest rate would be about a third higher. A same day price adjustment to net out a third higher interest rate to reach the same monthly nut is huge. Am I missing something?
Agreed Denquiry, and property taxes are not static. Just ask the victims of the equity locusts or gentrification.
My county upped the first installment from 50% to 55% this year and there were howls because those Federal refunds went straight from one gov’t hand to the other without the chance to stop at Best Buy for a three dee tee vee.
“That would make the tax rate in the town of Manlius $24.33 per $1,000 of assessed value, up from $23.88 per $1,000 this year.”
Here’s one of the latest numbers I’ve seen locally. However if you live in Fayetteville which is the same school district you might be happy to hear there will be no increase in the village taxes (avg $1800)
Natalie …change out of the blue after people have been in long term positions and relied on the prior laws and tax codes for long term planning can be a disaster for many financially . Your right that the tax write off was baked into the price so I agree with you on this one . It would be interesting to figure out how much of a decrease real estate would take if the deduction was taken away .I’m not good at math so I won’t even attempt it ,but you would think it would reduce the price another 20 to 30% maybe ,course that is just a guess on my part .
It gets complex because of the interplay with the standard deduction and AMT but I think the biggest hit would be in the 600k to 1.5m price range. I too would like to see some real numbers from someone that really understands taxes rather than just a rough guesstimate which is all I can give.
My guess is the effect would be minimal on the sub $500k price range for the following reasons:
1) Math is hard. Barbie told me so.
2) The MID is often less than the standard deduction anyway.
The MID also decreases as the loan is paid down, so it has less effect on people who have been in their houses for a while. I suspect the biggest effect would be in expensive markets that saw the biggest runup in prices - e.g. SF, where mid-range, reasonably sized houses can go for upwards of 600K.
PB see your point about vacancies, but agree with Wizard in that this one of the few expenses J6P can write-off.
More specifically, if the Feds more and more want to view corporations as individuals with rights, then I say bring it on, just be sure that we human-types get to net out and deduct everything that is not retained earnings (going into savings).
I should be considered a business unto myself. So my food, shelter, interest, car, and Starbucks mocha-frappachinao-vente, and anything else I spend money on to make this biz work should be 100% deductible. Then uncle-sam can have 40% of whatever is left.
I think you are missing the point that the value of the subsidy quickly gets capitalized into home prices; i.e., the tax writeoff advantage will get competed away to close to zero once home prices are finished adjusting upwards to reflect it. After reflecting that J6P has to purchase unaffordable housing in order to gain the advantage of tax writeoffs, the net subsidy benefit is zero.
Corollary: Subsidies serve the dual purpose of providing a windfall to current home owners, and pricing potential new buyers out of the market. As a case in point, notice the myriad stories in the past year about the bidding wars that home buyers have faced in entry-level markets that were interspersed with stories about the new home buyer tax credit.
The impact of the credit on home prices was seen as a dead cat bounce which is likely to prove unsustainable, given that whatever fence sitters were beaten into the market last year by the $8K credit incentive are no longer sitting on the fence any more.
I agree. Removing the deduction would provide further downward pressure on the markets where it has the most benefit. See my SF example above.
One of the tragedies of this housing bubble is that what we (as a country) really needed was for expenses to come more in line with places like China and India. Then we could better compete on price with them and declining or stagnant wages would cause less pain. Real estate drives a lot of expenses, from the price of milk to the cost of daycare. And it gets baked into manufactured goods as labor and land prices rise and increase costs.
PB see your point about vacancies, but agree with Wizard in that this one of the few expenses J6P can write-off.
J6P can write off all sorts of things! Especially since he’s not getting hit with AMT. He can write off his kids; he can write off IRAs (which high-income people aren’t eligible for); he can write off hundreds of thousands of dollars in forgiven mortgage debt.
If not for EITC, (child deduction) the rest of those deductions wouldn’t amount to more than the standard deductions.
You want some real tax breaks? Incorporate yourself. This is the number one tool of the very wealthy for maximizing personal tax deductions. Of course, only the wealthy can afford the bookkeeping necessary to make it payoff.
Well I would argue that if we DIDN’T have a Mortgage deduction, there would be a tax incentive AGAINST owner/occupation, since landlords deduct interest as a business deduction. We might get a bunch of “leaseback” deals similar to those that were engaged in by local governments so that SOMEBODY could capture the depreciation of government owned infrastructure. Chasing down all that tax fraud could be a fair amount of work for the IRS.
I seem to recall reading that the UK recently eliminated its mortgage interest deduction.
Slim, the article I linked above mentions this.
I would so love to see the mortgage interest deduction eliminated! (And yes, I’m a homeowner.)
It would be a great source of government revenue, and it wouldn’t make housing any less “affordable”. Most Americans are howmuchamonthers. Prices would simply decline to the maximum that people could finance to.
Of course it would be extremely politically unpopular.
Under Reagans early 80’s tax reform, all interest (and substantially all other deductions) were slated for elimination in return for a simplified two tier tax system. It didn’t take long for the NAR to lobby the MID back into the code, and later extend it to second homes and HELOC’s. The second home could even be a boat if it had a sink and a toilet.
I say sent 535 trained monkeys to Washington, we will get a better result.
Has anyone noticed the odd differences in newspaper’s “comment policies”?
The LA Times makes each and every comment go through editorial review, so comments only appear about 12 hours after posting. By this time the story is off the main page and nobody sees the comments. Even worse, if there is some factual error in the story, a dozen people post the same short comment since none of them appear for a half a day.
The SF Chronicle lets every single stupid comment appear, larding stories with hundreds of “drivel” comments. This pushes out any reasonable discourse there.
The NY Times simply turns off comments on many controversial subjects. Even worse, they go back and selectively delete comments that disagree with their editorial position. I once posted in a blog there about what to to about the python problem in Florida. My suggestion was just let hunters take them with shotguns since a shotgun has limited range and is therefore a safe alterntive to the policy of “capture the snakes alive and then euthanize them” - the latter policy making no sense to me at all. After a day or so the NY Times had deleted all comments from the thread which proposed using normal hunters to cull the snakes, leaving only those proposing government-employees doing the trapping/killing.
Score some more points for the blogs. Blogs have become the new media.
For those serious about garnering the ever-elusive Truth about a given subject there are the blogs. For the less-serious there is the MSM.
Blogs - the good ones - benifit from what might be termed peer review. If a poster comes out with some faulty BS then he/she is immediately called on it by other posters.
Not so the MSM; for the MSM there is no peer review. The only reviewing is done by the editor. And the Editor is ultimately reviewed by the MSM’s advertisers.
The MSM have become little more than shills for the corporate conglomerates who own them and/or for powerful political cabals. Look at Judith Miller, a supposedly objective journalist at the NYT, actively collaborating with the neo-cons in the Office of the Secretary of Defense to sell the 2003 invasion of Iraq to a skeptical U.S. public.
You might find this hard to believe, but back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, a news outlet (radio, newspaper, TV) didn’t DARE report anything inaccurately or their competitor would nail them to the wall on it. Loudly and repeatedly.
But since ALL the major media source are now owned by just 7 companies, (might be slightly less now, 5?) you don’t see much of that anymore.
It’s the Pravdaization of the media. Which annoys me no end, because if they’re all going to engage in the same propaganda, it would be ever so much more efficient to have just one outlet. Think of the money that could be saved!
One of the really interesting little bits of reportage that I enjoy is when some illegal commits a crime and they identify him as a “Houston man” or a “Danbury man”, as being from whatever American town he happened to be living in when he was caught. Read further in the story and you find out he’s from Honduras, or El Salvador or Mexico or wherever. They seem to only apply this to folks from south of the border. If the perp is from Russia, he’s a Russian man, or a Chinese man. If he’s a tourist who had a fender bender, he’s a German or an Englishman.
But if he’s an illegal from South of the border, well, he’s one of our own! Creepy.
Anybody else have Dennis’ experience with selective deletion? I’m thinking it’s unlikely anybody would take the trouble or have the manpower to spare, but just about anything’s possible. As far as closing comments at NYT, seems to me they do it mostly on volume, and somewhat on collective vitriol.
I’ve seen it in our local upstate NY newspaper. Whole threads that did nothing but bring up the other side of an argument…no vitriole, rational points…..gone. Really creeps me out but then again I’d watched them bury stories attached to certain individuals or towns for years.
I’ve seen it often, nycjoe.
That’s journalism 101 for you.
Here are 2 headlines I get a chuckle out of everytime I see them.
Republican congressman cheats on his wife..
Congressman cheats on his wife..
The second headline is for Dems ofcourse. Sometimes you will be very hard pressed to find the party affiliation in the whole story.
Fun fun fun…
Somebody said that if the journalists were medical workers they would have been should for malpractice long ago.
I think that’s because “Republican” adds some irony to the story, since they espouse to be the party of virtue and moral tastiness, whereas Democrats claim no such thing. The media just like literary devices.
By that rule, politicians who neglect to pay their taxes should be given a party identification only when they are Democrats.
Touche!
The recent stories on “flash mob” attacks in Philly naturally omitted the ethnicity of both the perps and the victims. Wouldn’t want to call this a hate crime, would be?
The local paper here - the Idaho Statesman - posts the actual booking mug shots of all people arrested for crimes. You can do your own ethnicity checking.
It must really suck to show up in print like this.
http://www.idahostatesman.com/2010/03/19/1124006/drug-and-injury-to-child-charges.html
http://www.idahostatesman.com/2010/03/17/1121130/woman-charged-with-grand-theft.html
http://www.idahostatesman.com/2010/03/15/1118145/police-drunken-man-sole-money.html
Of course!
They do the same thing around here. And they don’t differentiate between “immigrants” who are here legally, or illegally.
It’s almost as if the PTB don’t want people to know how much criminal activity is being generated by the illegals………
Many news outlets were sued by special interest ethic groups long ago for stating the race of the perpetrator, claiming jury bias.
“We are living through one of civilization’s great seismic reversals. The ideology of globalization, like all “inevitable” utopian visions, is being exposed as a fraud. The power elite, perplexed and confused, clings to the disastrous principles of globalization and its outdated language to mask the looming political and economic vacuum. The absurd idea that the marketplace alone should determine economic and political constructs led industrial nations to sacrifice other areas of human importance – from working conditions, to taxation, to child labor, to hunger, to health and pollution – on the altar of free trade”.
“It left the world’s poor worse off and the United States with the largest deficits – which can never be repaid – in human history. The massive bailouts, stimulus packages, giveaways and short-term debt, along with imperial wars we can no longer afford, will leave the United States struggling to finance nearly $5 trillion in debt this year”.
“This will require Washington to auction off about $96 billion in debt a week. Once China and the oil-rich states walk away from our debt, which one day has to happen, the Federal Reserve will become the buyer of last resort. The Fed has printed perhaps as much as two trillion new dollars in the last two years, and buying this much new debt will see it, in effect, print trillions more. This is when inflation, and most likely hyperinflation, will turn the dollar into junk. And at that point the entire system breaks down”.
http://www.alternet.org/media/146005/we_stand_on_the_cusp_of_one_of_humanity%E2%80%99s_most_dan%20gerous_moments
We are living through.. That seems egotistical.. like everything under the sun is new.
Globalization can be traced back to at least the period around 350 BC, and further if one cares to widen the definition a little..
from wiki
.. An early form of globalized economics and culture existed during the Hellenistic Age, when commercialized urban centers were focused around the axis of Greek culture over a wide range that stretched from India to Spain, with such cities as Alexandria, Athens, and Antioch at its center. Trade was widespread during that period, and it is the first time the idea of a cosmopolitan culture (from Greek “Cosmopolis”, meaning “world city”) emerged.
Others have perceived an early form of globalization in the trade links between the Roman Empire, the Parthian Empire, and the Han Dynasty.
Since xenophobia is a perfectly natural impulse, I bet those earlier civilizationss had their share of anti-globalists.
Globalization can be traced back to at least the period around 350 BC
Correct. Globalism comes and goes. And Globalization flourishes when it is highly and fairly regulated and it withers when it is abused as it has been now.
I bet those earlier civilizationss had their share of anti-globalists.
If their system was not fairly regulated as ours is not, I’m sure they rightly had anti-globalists too.
Here’s excerpts of one good paper that came out of Harvard Business School the past few years on the subject.
Globalization and the Social Contract
http://www.hbs.edu/centennial/businesssummit/business-society/globalization-and-the-social-contract.html
Globalization is not inevitable; it has come and gone before. Conventional wisdom holds that globalization is achieved when government gets out of the way, with lower taxes and regulation, allowing markets to operate unfettered. This view gets the role of government wrong. Globalization flourishes when governments are actively involved, creating rules and agreements that allow global trade to take place.
This lesson shows that markets don’t exist in isolation of a broader social system. Just advocating for markets to operate with no protections for those who lose out is certain to further a protectionist backlash. What is necessary is for the country’s political leaders to strike a new bargain with society—a new social contract.
Advocating for freer global trade was always coupled with social protections for the general population—a minimum wage, unemployment insurance, unions, and more. A bargain was struck with society: Open the country up to the vagaries of the global marketplace and in return, society will receive social protections in case they lose out as a result of global trade.
The idea that globalization occurs when governments get out of the way and let the markets operate is not accurate. In fact, the opposite is true. Globalization is a manmade creation brought about by the conscious efforts of governments to work together: to negotiate trade agreements (such as GATT), reduce tariffs, and create structures that enable global trade to occur.
The argument to “just let markets function” assumes political stability and social peace. But a system where the gains are concentrated among a few winners won’t remain stable; it will fuel protectionist attitudes.
Other Important Points
* Getting started. History has shown that as countries are in the process of developing economically, some forms of protection for certain industries for a certain period can be valuable. The developed countries need to recognize this fact and allow for different rules for developed versus developing countries.
—–
That author seems to be saying that the USA should allow Chinese protectionism.
It all sounds good in theory but that very thing is happening today, and China’s protectionist policies have certainly proven to “fuel protectionist attitudes”.
——
You might say that China is too far advanced in economic development to be considered “developing”, and deserves no advantage, but the fact is that outsourced / displaced American workers don’t give a damn how developed the slave-wage competition is or isn’t..
That author seems to be saying that the USA should allow Chinese protectionism.
I agree to an extent. Brazil does it big time and it’s paid off for them.
ALL countries should be more self-sufficient, for many reasons. This whole globalization has run amok.
I’m reading Ravi Batra’s 1996 book, The Myth of Free Trade and he nailed so many predictions 14 years ago that it’s uncanny.
Amazon Review: In a front-page story in the Wall Street Journal, Pat Buchanan named The Myth of Free Trades as one of the cornerstones of his protectionist economic policy. Written by Dr. Ravi Batra, bestselling economist… The Myth of Free Trade throws down the gauntlet to economic orthodoxy and challenges the gospel of free trade. Dr. Batra states that “laissez-faire has wrecked U.S. industry and shattered the American dream.”
As an anecdote to our economic ills — the federal deficit, our reliance on foreign imports, widespread downsizing, environmental destruction — Dr. Batra sets out a five-year plan for economic revival that includes raising tariffs on imports, banning mergers among giant firms, and encouraging domestic competition by splitting huge corporations into smaller units.
No that’s stuff talked about on this blog.
Dr. Batra states that “laissez-faire has wrecked U.S. industry and shattered the American dream.”
LOL. How hyperbolic can you get?
A. We never had anywhere close to a laissez-faire system, especially with regards to trade with China. We have tons more restrictions on our labor, environment, etc. than China does - that’s “ain’t-fair”, not “laissez-faire”.
B. “Shattered the American dream”? OK, whatever. Even by the oft-mentioned home ownership rate the American dream is in no way “shattered” - it’s still above all pre-2000 levels, though definitely on the way down. If you take the more wide view of “The American Dream” as being to own as much stuff as you can get your hands on - then our relationship with China has very much furthered that - by making all that stuff a lot less expensive than it otherwise would have been. (Not that I subscribe to the whole American Dream mantra, but if we’re throwing the platitude around to make a point - at least get it right)
How hyperbolic can you get?
Are you joking? In a two paragraph description of a 400 page book?
I sure as heck understood what the blurb meant and I don’t think “The American dream” was referring to home ownership or “stuff”.
How bout pay, jobs, standard of living, cost of living, hours worked for less, loss of benefits, health care and the worst recession since the Great Depression?
Yea, we’re better off cause we got cheap microwave ovens. LOL
Being a promoter of economic democracy, and understanding that human nature has opposite aims, of course Batra must be opposed to laissez-faire.
Allowing government to force economic equality upon us may have some benefits, but rest assured there’s also a downside. Batra might choose to ignore it but everything comes at a price.
Batra might choose to ignore it but everything comes at a price.
He doesn’t ignore that and the price of his book is $19.95 on Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Myth-Free-Trade-Pooring-America/dp/0684833557
Competing against slave labor is a bitch. Competing against countries/markets that have no environmental regulation, don’t honor patents/intelectual property, employ slave like laboreres, no product safety or recourse (think Chinese drywall, poisoned pet food, lead paint on toys, etc.) and have a total disregard for international law and human rights leads to results we’re currently experiencing. The problem is that many of the well connected in this country are making a fortune of the conditions mentioned above. So as long as the campaign donations keep on flowing to our corrupt politicians it will be business as usual. Where it will end I don’t know, but I have the gut feeling it won’t be a happy ending.
No worries mate, Chuck Fina commie Gov’t thinks 1.3 Billion peoples with capitalistic taste buds is an…asset… they can use…as a tool.
Testify, Mike. I had a conversation about this with my sis. One of the nasty little pieces of propaganda the US citizen is exposed to is how we can’t “compete”. Well, we’re at a disadvantage when we do things right. That costs money. And people like to be paid for doing things right. But it’s difficult for an American software engineer to “compete” with one of those “best and brightest” guys with a two-week computer certificate from some India diploma mill and a doctored resume. Windows Vista is what you get.
And hey, how about that Toyota? Our auto industry wasn’t “competitive” with Toyota. It’s a real bitch having to worry about stuck accelerators. You got it, Toyota!
Here’s a little secret: when people are paid squat, yeah, they’ll take the job if that’s all that’s available. But the job they do will be worth what they were paid for it. If illegal farmworkers are paid squat, and the porta-potty is a mile away from where they’re picking, and they’re paid on quota, where do you think they’ll squat when they have to go? And then it’s all sort of mysterious where the e-coli came from.
Of course, the stakes could be ratcheted up, a la slavemasters of old. “You drag that huge block of granite up the pyramid or I’ll run you through”.
In other words, wanna live? That’s your pay.
Megabank has that plan in the works, I am sure…
Mike ,wmbz and palmetto ,I see this situation the same way you guys do . I always thought it was a good thing that we had all the product protections that developed over the years . But after seeing a number of documentaries on how these foreign workers are treated (like slaves) I think palmetto describes exactly what happens . And if the regulators weren’t watching money transactions ,how likely was there any competence in regulation of foreign goods . I don’t know what kind of plastic they use ,but that
stuff smells after a while ,I’m serious .
But it’s difficult for an American software engineer to “compete” with one of those “best and brightest” guys with a two-week computer certificate from some India diploma mill and a doctored resume. Windows Vista is what you get.
I’ve dealt with Indian programmers. And I’ve dealt with American programmers. For reasons too numerous to mention here, I’ll take the Americans any day.
Well.
You know back in the 90s everyone was all supportive of this and I was a hysterical screaming lunatic.
Now, it’s bit everyone.
Same thing as Greenspan/Rubin pushing to remove any and all reserve requirements so soon after the last bust with the S&L scandals. Course ole billy boy was tied thick and thin to that bust. Again, he probably had the same F-d up mindset.
It is also a lot harder to unscramble the egg..
Been thinking about this. You know the ole US of A has been fairly benevolent in leading the world. Aside from the Iraq problem, which seems to have removed a brutal dictatorship, our stewardship has not been evil.
Got a BAD feeling about China. Not a good feeling about India either.
Thinking about power here people. Technology is power and I think China is willing to keep going with this sh*t till they feel they have the upper hand in technology. We will be an economic wreck and otherwise unable to prevent their will from being imposed around the world.
So… they are taking a long term attack on us. In general think this is a long build up to a terrible war.
Might be getting into the big push where high tech leaves. These guys, I see the reports, building up weapons to neutralize our navy, sending in all kind of long term spys up through the university system, coppying some of most advanced weaponry.
And this a big group of technically savy people. Not like the yahoos in radical groups. Like watching the Germans build I; I’m supposing at least.
Will probably be our kids problems.
Anyhow. I’m a nut about our national defense. It is a learned reaction though.
However, all you internationalist peace is the answer pukes out there. Well history tells you that mankind is all about ability and morality and peaceful coexistance are just nice concepts. Countries will do what they can get away with. And you can talk people into just about anything with some sweet words…
Ah hell.
Still looking at a system that rewards banks that have zero reserves. Or near zero. The good old fictional reserve system. Again a great example of ammoral or illmoral behavior rewards and what happens. Explotation to the max.
But the quality of American cars doesn’t seem to compete with my Honda. And the Toyota thing is still a mystery, it only seems to happen to Americans.
So as long as the campaign donations keep on flowing to our corrupt politicians it will be business as usual.
Contributions will always flow to corrupt politicians. There’s not much that can be done about that. The real problem is the bovine stupidity of the electorate, who continue electing and re-electing politicians of BOTH parties who are totally beholden to the corporate conglomerates and financial interests whose would would happily reduce 90% of the population to a state of serfdom.
Competing against slave labor is a bitch. Which is a large part of the oposition to slavery in the Northern States before the civil war.
And ironically it is the south who still supports indentured servitude to this day. Anti-labor, pro-corporatist, anti-people, etc.
Those poor Saturn workers…well, Korea Inc. will soon be arriving.
First 2 paragraphs of that pronouncement seem perfectly accurate. But the conclusion? Don’t think it’ll be so simple. Extend and pretend … as long as we have a standing army around the globe, nobody’s dumping us. All they can do is slowly squeeze us, so that we gradually pull back the forces, for lack of funds. Think that could take a few decades.
wmbz,
That was an outstanding read. Thanks for posting. The best summation I’ve yet seen of where we serfs stand in relation to the corporate state, and what is to come.
It never ceases to amaze me how simplistic 99% of writers make the globalization and free markets discussion. It’s always a “more rules” vs. “less rules” argument. That’s a false dichotomy. The correct solution is better rules, with better being defined as those which are equally applicable to everyone involved in the game.
And actually it’s beyond rules even. Somehow ignored in all this is the effect of financial influence. When tax incentives, subsidies, and central bank borrowing costs are constantly changed in order to channel flow of capital from one target industry to another, and it’s done so differently in different countries - then naturally you’re going to get huge imbalances and the problems they create.
Personally I would welcome a lessening of U.S. stature and a raising of other nations’ stature - e.g. China’s - if it were done in a fair and equitable manner - i.e. true free markets. But it isn’t. As pointed out above - we don’t have the same labor laws, environmental laws, subsidy systems, patent systems, and so and and so forth. Until and unless we do - the supposed “free market globalization” is a myth - pure and simple. Therefore you can’t have the failure of a myth - because it never existed in the first place.
Everyone is this thread has made some very good and credible points.
Welcome to geopolitics. Where most of us are just cannon fodder in one way or another.
Great find, thanks.
TARP watchdog slams Obama foreclosure program
March 24, 2010: 5:25 AM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — President Obama’s foreclosure prevention program will likely fall far short of its goal and may even do more harm than good, a government watchdog said Tuesday.
The Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program said the Treasury Department set targets that weren’t “meaningful,” mismanaged the implementation of the program, and now risks a substantial number of “re-defaults,” with many participants ultimately losing their homes anyway.
The administration’s $75 billion loan modification program may help as little as 1.5 to 2 million people, about half the number Obama said it would when he first unveiled the program in February 2009, the inspector general, Neil Barofsky, wrote in a report.
The program has proven itself to be a failure and should not be amended.. it should be trashed.
Under HAMP, (Home Affordable Modification Program), the FB’s payments are reduced to not more than 31% of their income.
If they successfully pay that amount for the 3 month trial period.. just 90 days.. the modification is extended for several years.
From the CNN article referred to:
About 170,000 borrowers have received permanent modifications… [snip]… more than 1.3 million homeowners have received trial modification offers.
Of 1,300,000 trail modifications, only 170,000 were made permanent. That’s a 13% success rate.
Only 13% of FBs paid for 3 months. Why? What are they doing with their pay checks instead of paying the mortgage?
Whatever the reasons FBs can’t or don’t want to pay even a modified mortgage, a program with a 13% success rate should be recognized for what it is.. an 87% failure. Dump it.
Right. The glass is 87 percent empty, not 13 percent full. Or in case 1.5 to 2 million truly is ‘about half’ the number Obama claimed would be helped, perhaps the appropriate comparison is to 2*(1.75)=3.5 million, in which case the percent ‘helped’ thus far is
(170,000/3,500,000)*100 = 5 percent — i.e., the glass looks 95 percent empty now.
The 1,300,000 trail modifications occurred over the first 12 months of the program.
Give it approximately two more years and around 3.5 million total modification efforts should happen.
But no matter how long they stretch the program out, I think this 12 month, 1.3 million sample is enough to determine the trend.
The trend so far shows 13% success rate is to be expected.
If this trend continues, and 3.5 million attempts at mods are undertaken, I don’t see why the success rate should fall to 5%…
3,500,000 / 1,300,000 = 2.69 <– increased attempts by a factor of 2.69
2.69 x 170,000 = 458,000 <— total successful modifications after 3.5M attempts are made.
458,000 / 3,500,000 = 13.08%
$75,000,000,000 / 458,000 = $163,755 per successful modification. Wouldn’t it have been cheaper and more stimulative to just buy houses for those that qualified for loan mods?
There must be plenty of better ways to spend the money than in a hopeless attempt to satisfy the alligator’s hunger..
A couple of big FB concerns are the stigma of foreclosure and the credit hit they take when they default. It’s tough to have that on your record. Another problem is they are broke and maybe can’t afford to move.. so…
How about first granting them some kind of “amnesty” and the foreclosure is kept off their record. Then (after a means test) give all 3.5M of them a voucher of perhaps:
75,000,000,000 / 3,500,000 = $21,000 each.
That voucher can only be used to defer moving costs and set them up renting an apartment or house.
The home is now a vacant REO. The FB is out from under the mortgage, without a blemish on his credit report, and he’s got a roof over his head. The money is somewhat spread around the local economy.
Since the $75 billion is gone regardless, it may as well be spent helping these people.
I posted right at the beginning of this program that it was destined to fail. 31% is way, way too high. It can easily be close to 2/3’s of an employee’s take home pay given the right circumstances of a high income tax state and making needed contributions to retirement savings. It is not sustainable for a person or family with substantial transportation and child care costs and other debt such as student loans or credit card debt. You might be able to pull it off with austerity measures, but without pay increases in the near future, redefault is inevitable. I’m guessing that most people in this situation aren’t going to get huge pay increases any time soon.
Bringing the payments to less than 31% is probably a political disaster and means you help even fewer people than the 4 million they hoped for.
It was an interesting experiment, but an experiment it was and nothing more than that.
A little austerity certainly wouldn’t hurt and should be part of any plan, imo.
I don’t think they failed due to the 31%. The FBs have proven themselves to have little or no financial sense and evidently can’t budget well enough to keep a roof over their heads.
How about something simple and cheap like forcing them to attend a local JC and re-do that Home Ec 101 course they slept through.. Or maybe a traffic-school type thing a couple nights a week. Everyone formulates a personal household budget and submits progress reports. They make friends.. share their common problems.. talk about things like finding affordable child care..
Money can do more harm than good if a person never learned how to use it wisely.
“Only 13% of FBs paid for 3 months. Why? What are they doing with their pay checks instead of paying the mortgage?”
I’m sure a lot of FBs gave up when they realized their modification did not include a principal reduction, merely a few changes in the rate and the term. Often the lenders didn’t even bother to amortize the difference, they just stuck in a balloon payment somewhere.
How anyone could have thought for a moment that the plan to “save” houses by the current Clown-In-Chief would be anything other than a failure, is pathetic. Can’t repeal the law of gravity, so we will see continued distortions, until the brain trust comes up with a new an “improved” money wasting flop of a program.
Which won’t ’save’ anything either, but it may continue to give the whiners, bed wetters and thumb suckers a little more hope.
“Can’t repeal the law of gravity”
It`s Isaac Newton`s fault!
If it weren`t for him,President Obama’s foreclosure prevention program would have worked.
It depends on how you look at it. If the plan was to solve FBs financial problems then, yeah, it is/was a failure.
But if the plan is/was to extend hope to FBs and potential FBs so they’ll do whatever it takes to keep up with their house payments then maybe it wasn’t a failure after all.
As long as the FBs don’t walk the banks can show their loans as performing, thus they can be declared as solvent. But as soon as the FBs walk the bank gets hosed, hosed not only for the house that is vacated but also for any houses nearby that the bank holds the paper on.
I think the plan is working as it was intended, not as it was announced but as it was intended. Now that the trend for FBs to stop paying their mortgage seems to gaining strength one should expect to see another plan to eminate from the PTBs to entice FBs to stay in their homes and keep up with their payments.
IMO it’s all about saving the banks, not saving the FBs.
..IMO it’s all about saving the banks, not saving the FBs..
I think that these days, when a lender receives a check for a mortgage and it clears, there is no sigh of relief. It’s more like an unexpected gift.
They already have so many REOs that one more wouldn’t really matter.
3 million.. 6 million.. 12 million REOs before this thing is finished. The number doesn’t matter to the bank. They already have more than they can handle and yet they are still in business.
If repossessing additional REOs does not cost lenders enough to drive them out of business, FBs paying the mortgage isn’t critical.
Agree with Joey. Well said.
prextend and praylay
“But if the plan is/was to extend hope to FBs and potential FBs so they’ll do whatever it takes to keep up with their house payments then maybe it wasn’t a failure after all.”
I dunno. The problem (as the numbers suggest) is that only a vanishingly small percentage of FBs are even within reach of where a FB subsidy program could possibly help them, without creating suspicion among the masses that the program really is a FB subsidy program. The fact that only five percent (or whatever the number is) of the target group has been helped suggests the problem is of far greater magnitude than the program’s designers perceived it to be — i.e., the problem is ‘worse than expected.’
And as for the 95 percent (or whatever the big number is) who were supposed to be helped by the program but weren’t, how do you think they feel about it?
And then there are lots of underwater home owners across the U.S. who were not in the target group for receiving mortgage assistance; how do you think they feel about others getting personal bailouts when they get to feel the wheels of the bus roll over them?
It doesn’t matter what they feel, it matters what they do.
Feeling hosed and walking is one thing, feeling hosed and staying is another. As long as the money keeps on flowing to the bank nobody cares how they feel.
My theory about why banks are holding REOs off the market is that they cannot afford to sell them and realize the losses. Correct me if I’m wrong, but the loss will be “booked” ONLY when the property is resold… because only at that time can they know what the loss actually is.
—–
If they sell too many and write down too much of a loss, they risk falling below their required reserves limit, and the FDIC will come a knockin’ some Friday afternoon…
So, who ultimately benefits when FBs pay their mortgage? Well, us bottom feeders do.
When banks take in money, no matter the source, it means they are able to safely write off more losses. That means they can offer more REOs for sale. That means the housing supply increases… and that means RE prices fall.
When banks take in money, no matter the source, it means they are able to safely write off more losses. That means they can offer more REOs for sale. That means the housing supply increases… and that means RE prices fall.
So much for propping up house prices!
“….vanishingly small percentage of FBers…..”
Washington believed the group-think about the financial meltdown being contained, so it should be obvious that they would underestimate the size of the problem, and overestimate their ability to address the problem.
Just like a car restoration project, the more they get into it, the more they find stuff screwed up, crapped out, and jury-rigged.
Fighting gravity is a bitch.
Sag, momma, sag…
But boy do they TRY to defy gravity. (Hmm, just like folks are finally trying to do something about the weather!) Banks would rather hold an empty house for 2 years than sell it at a (snort) “discount.” Anything but that! Well, at least that’s still the case around NYC. Big difference when I scan realtytrac around here and then take a look at, say, Arizona, where they actually ARE selling things.
At this point its been years that we’ve been watching the bubble areas correct while not seeing it here.
Well there is correction in the 3500+ sq foot to estate size properties. I’ve seen some big drops but those original prices were pie in the sky. I also think that if your property has not been updated recently you might sit on it a while but that has not proven to be absolute even when the neighborhood sale prices don’t support the cost of updates necessary. There is a giant inventory hole where 3X median income is. Even in higher price points just above 3X there isn’t much to look at and when something does hit its gone in days. Anything that hasn’t sold needs a lot of work or has some sort of an issue.
Sure the banks can hold onto their inventory, but don’t forget the hopebuilders, they are waiting to have at it again too. Then there’s all the asipirational move-up buyers “trapped” in “homes” they have “outgrown”.
Sooner or later these three groups are going to have it, it can be 2010, or 2012 or whatever. It’s gonna be a brawl!
My “question o’the Day”
We supposedly have all these Foreclosure “shadow inventory homes” that the Banks are “overwhelmed with & cannot handle/process (REO’s)”
Ok I get that-
but now please explain to me how the “overwhelmed” Banks can slowly, strategically release Foreclosures in Neighborhoods…, one at a time, after the regular neighborhood re-sales have gotten Contracts…so as to not compete
Seeing a lot of this in NoVA
It appears to me that someone at the Banks are watching & controlling this system VERY effectivley
So much for being overwhelmed…!!
If you’re standing in a hurricane no one is going to notice if you pissed your pants.
This so-called watchdog is using the wrong metrics, for starters. It isn’t about how many billions of taxpayer dollars have been squandered or disappeared into bankster bonuses. Oh no, my friends. It’s about all the HOPE that arose in the breasts of millions of FBs. We can’t put a price tag on that now, can we?
It was either this or another RTC. Since Wall St is now our true masters, they decided to go this route.
It creates more “churn” this way while hiding the real problems of the banks. Like Level 3 mark-to-fantasy valuations.
This program has been a good gig for all these “loan modification” companies and attorneys working for them. I know several people who are working with these companies; paying them monthly to “work” on modifying their loan and then paying for attorney to be ready to “complete” the paperwork. No one I know has been able make any progress.
From what I’ve read, all a person need do is call their bank, lender or mortgage servicer and apply for HAMP. That entity does receive $1,000 for every application they accept.
As for all the other loan modification businesses that might try to get involved, they are not needed.
However, any one of them, especially an attorney, might be aware that certain banks and lenders have their own in-house programs, and that may be useful if someone does not qualify for HAMP (like if they owe more than `$750K).
My teammates was talking about a friend of his who works as a supervisor of a “loan processing” team of a bailed out bank got $4200 as bonus for last month alone. In this rate he will double his income this year.
Meanwhile they are staying in their houses and perhaps making payments, are they not?
I wonder how much revenue these “loan modification” companies are pouring into Democratic Party coffers. A fortune, I bet.
U.S. Urged to Keep Role in Mortgages ~ WSJ ~ 3-24-10
The federal government should continue to have a role supporting the mortgage market after Congress restructures or winds down mortgage-finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told lawmakers Tuesday.
His remarks came at a hearing examining the future of the housing-finance system. Mr. Geithner didn’t outline a preferred approach, but said any structure shouldn’t revive the public-private ownership structure that allowed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to profit during good times but ultimately saddled taxpayers with huge losses.
Mr. Geithner said that unlike other markets, housing could require sustained government support given its size and potential .
Arizona tax collections drop 17.9%
Phoenix Business Journal ~ 3-24-10
Arizona ranked 20th among states for tax collections in 2009.
The state brought in $11.3 billion in taxes, compared with $101 billion in No. 1 ranked California. New York, Texas, Florida and Pennsylvania rounded out the top five, according to a federal report released Tuesday.
Vermont, North Dakota, Montana, New Hampshire and South Dakota were at the end of the pack.
Overall the 50 states levied $715 billion in taxes last year, down 8.6 percent from fiscal 2008.
Five state posted increases over 2008, lead by Wyoming at 14.9 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau report. With a decline of 17.9 percent Arizona was one of 14 states seeing tax revenue slide by 10 percent or more.
Is that all taxes? Cuz I keep reading about falling sales tax revenues, but rising consumer spending, hmmmm?
Cuz I keep reading about falling sales tax revenues, but rising consumer spending, hmmmm?
Hey, me too. ???
With a decline of 17.9 percent Arizona was one of 14 states seeing tax revenue slide by 10 percent or more.
Youch!
And how many of those states posting revenue declines were able to cut their budgets by a similar amount …?
Man, you gotta read up on what’s going on in Springfield.
Remember Airport ‘75 - the one with plane headed for the mountain range with no pilots? Yeah, it’s like that.
The tax burden for IL residents, homeownazz included, could soar in the not too distant future. The first tell will be the second installment of our property taxes. They will be the first bills to truly reflect bubble era reassessments done in the city - man are there going to be howls!
The first tell will be the second installment of our property taxes. They will be the first bills to truly reflect bubble era reassessments done in the city - man are there going to be howls!
Yeah, I’ve read about that. In January, Cook County was estimating they’d hear 400,000 assessment appeals over the second adjustment. I’ve heard that every property in the county will be re-assessed instead of the usual one-third — meaning that appeal number could be much, much higher, especially when people see the bubble-era numbers.
Health-Care Overhaul Changes to Start Taking Effect This Year
(Bloomberg) — Indoor tanning salons will charge customers a 10 percent tax beginning today in just one of the changes Americans will see as a result of the U.S. health-care overhaul signed into law by President Barack Obama.
Insurers will be required by September to begin providing health coverage to kids with pre-existing illnesses and allow parents to keep children younger than 26 on their plans as the clock has begun ticking on many of the law’s provisions. Medicare recipients will receive a $250 rebate for prescription drugs when they reach a coverage gap called the donut hole if the Senate passes and the president signs companion legislation approved March 21 by the U.S. House.
The $940 billion overhaul subsidizes coverage for uninsured Americans, financed by Medicare cuts to hospitals and fees or taxes on insurers, drugmakers, medical-device companies and Americans earning more than $200,000 a year. Many of the changes in the bill of more than 2,400 pages, such as requiring most people to have health insurance and employers to provide coverage, will take at least two years to go into effect.
“Most of the major public policy changes embodied in the health care reform legislation will become effective only after the next presidential election in 2012,” said Maury Harris, an economist with UBS AG, said in a research report.
Tanning salons? That’s small potatoes… no money there.
Get a junk food tax going.. start with anything that’s fried and packaged. 50% sales tax.
A bag of potato chips is already six bucks!
$6.. and how much will the the triple bypass cost us?
I know it won’t be easy but, for our own financial well being, we gotta start thinking like.. socialists.
Paterson tried to initiate a soft drink tax here in NY. The locals howled. It’s off the table now.
We need a tax on fat chicks who wear tight polyester pants.
LOL…………or halter tops.
Wouldn’t bother me since I rarely eat fast food. I wonder if it would hurt their sales much. So many people are unwilling/unable to cook decent meals at home.
My first-ever job was at McDonald’s. Worked there for less than a year, but oh, did my health go south. And I wasn’t eating their food except when I was working there.
After I got fired, I noticed something very interesting. In addition to being freed from a job that I’d come to hate, my good health returned.
I was just a high school student, but I learned a valuable lesson, and that was that one’s health is closely linked to one’s diet. To this day, I seldom eat fast food.
“Get a junk food tax going.. start with anything that’s fried and packaged. 50% sales tax.”
I like junk food sometimes, but I exercise vigorously 5 days a week. How about we fine people who sit on their lazy azzez all day? The sedentary cost all of us big bucks and it will only get worse under national health care. We can have the new IRS health cops install pedometers under our skin and require us to pass through public scanners once a week.
“Most of the major public policy changes embodied in the health care reform legislation will become effective only after the next presidential election in 2012″
Right back at ya Karl “Shrub’s Brain” Rove!
Food Fight! Food Fight! Food Fight in the orphanage!
wtf
A naturally regressive junk food tax is a great idea. The underclass currently doesn’t pay its fair share of taxes.
Neither does the AARP - a potent voting bloc of greedy old people out to extort every dollar they can from the younger and future generations. And their ranks and demands are going to swell enormously as their numbers are joined by the most self-absorbed and heedless generation in history: the Baby Boomers.
That’s sadisitc, between such a move and higher gas prices every shred of hope will be beaten from the “underclass”.
Of course they were silly for even believing any politician cared about their fate in the first place.
You are right Sammy. SS and Medicare have to become need-based because the current system is a naturally unsustainable Ponzi scheme. My wife won’t drop her AARP membership but she agreed to not renew it.
“Every great cause starts out as a movement, degenerates into a business, and ends up a racket.” - Eric Hoffer
Neither do those top earners making 350mil a year average. Their effective tax rate is a mere 16%.
My wife won’t drop her AARP membership but she agreed to not renew it.
I am of the certain age when I would qualify for AARP. But, on principal, I refuse to join.
Why? Two reasons:
1. I think that AARP is a business masquerading as an advocacy group.
2. I don’t think that an organization should just represent a certain age group. Don’t know about you, but I deal with people from all generations. Makes life a lot more interesting. I’ve also been troubled by AARP’s focus on getting more-more-more for its demographic and the other demographics be danged.
“greedy old people out to extort every dollar they can from the younger and future generations. And their ranks and demands are going to swell enormously as their numbers are joined by the most self-absorbed and heedless generation in history: the Baby Boomers.”
Sammy, are there are no greedy or heedless people in the generations that follow the boomers? Should anyone older than 46 simply off themselves? If they keep working, then there is less opportunity for younger people. If they retire, then they are lazy and greedy.
Do you have a bad relationship with your parents and grandparents? My parents were unselfish enough to set aside college money for their grandchildren. The people that I know are simply trying their best to do right by their children and their community. Sometimes they get it wrong, but that doesn’t make them evil.
I am of the opinion that greed is fairly evenly distributed and that it is easy to label normal self-interest as greed. The biggest issue around the boomer generation is simply its size relative to older and younger generations. Demographics dictate a large impact.
Insurers will be required by September to begin providing health coverage to kids with pre-existing illnesses
NO PUBLIC OPTION! They want to steal my money to pay for people that should have a job or took better care of themselfs instead of stealing my money I used to make! !!!.
And every sick city kid is a VICTIM? even when they could get FREE treatment at an ER room with the best healthsystem care in the world?
This is marksist faschism for crybaby dictators who were not even born in the USA but instead in hawaii???
Isn’t this wonderful? With childhood obesity hitting all time highs because of their sugar/hi fructose corn syrup diets and spending all their time parked in front of a TV or video game, one can only imagine the public health problems (and financial burden) down the road.
Must like Winston, we must learn to love Big Brother.
Must like Winston, we must learn to love Big Brother.
I’m telling you. It’s marksist faschism and you make fun of it.
..parked in front of a TV or video game, one can only imagine the public health problems (and financial burden) down the road. ..
TV is another one..
In Britain, citizens pay £131 a year for a TV license. I guess that’s about $200 dollars.
We gotta start doing that too.. put the money in a Health Care Trust Fund. Help pay for all those kids future health problems.
Since we’ve been convinced foreigners got it right with the socialized health care thing, we should seriously consider following their lead when it comes to taxes and fees as well.
Since we’ve been convinced foreigners got it right with the socialized health care thing, we should seriously consider following their lead when it comes to taxes and fees as well.
Interesting thing I noticed when visiting the Other Side of the Pond: My family over there was just as uninterested in teevee as my family over here. We had too many other things to do — like visit with each other, see the sights, and generally enjoy each other’s company.
OTOH, I’ve also lived a while in Spain. What a bunch of boob tube watchers. You think we’re addicted, you should see the Spaniards. If they were deprived of their teevee, there’d be a national uprising.
I find television very educational. Every time someone switches it on I go into another room and read a good book. — Groucho Marx
—
TELEVISION — a medium. So called because it is neither rare nor well done. — Kovacs
(no first name supplied.. musta been Ernie.)
Also beginning this year are tax breaks for small businesses to help them adjust to the new regs.
I think they are getting 35% of cost, which will go even higher next year.
Wait a minute. Tax breaks? For small businesses?! But, but, I thought they were going to RAISE taxes on small businesses?!
Surprise.
Interesting ( be better if the first dates were the same) price comparisons in deadtree Newsweek. (Can’t find online)
Everything is in today’s dollars:
stamp 1900- $.53 (actual price $.02) 2008- $.44 (17%decrease)
avg annual US salary 1901- $11,900 ($454) 2008 $39,653 (233% increase)
movie ticket 1948- $3.21 ($.36) 2009 $7.50 (134% increase)
cheapest US Ford car 1904- $21,100 ($850) 2009 $16,290 (23% increase)
President’s salary 1901- $1,300,000 ($50,000) 2009- $400,000 (69%decrease)
avg MLB player’s salary- 1900- $58,000 ($2,200) 2009 $2,96,106 (%5,006 increase
NYC subway- 1904- $1.24 ($.05) 2009- $2.25
AVG US NEW HOME PRICE- 1963- $135,000 ($19,300) 2009 $270,100 (100% increase)
Fed minimum wage- 1938- $3.81 ($.25) 2009- $7,25 (90% increase)
2009 MLB salary should be $2,996,106
missed these:
NYC to Chicago plane ticket 1931- $1,680 ($119) 2009 $158 (91% decrease
purebred Westie (dog) 1940- $765 ($50) 2009- $2,000 (161% increase)
Brooks Bros shirt 1900-$ 52.70 ($2) 2009-$79.50 (51% increase)
avg nightly hotel room rate 1903- $50.30 ($2) 2009$97.68 (94% increase)
Most surprising thing to me was how much the president made in 1901. I guess they didn’t have as lucrative post-presidencies as they have now?
I don’t get the Ford numbers.
It should say ‘decrease’.
That one has a big caveat since it’s the “cheapest” car. There were only two Ford models then - there are dozens now - so an apples-to-apples comparison would be to compare the average of all prices. Not to mention cars back then were very much a luxury item, with probably less than 1% of the population being able to afford them, vs. most of the others being much more common. (In other words - the comparison is interesting, but meaningless with regards to an actual inflation measurement)
So (aside from one person’s salary) - the one thing that didn’t go up far faster than the official “inflation” rate - is something that’s actually indexed to the official inflation rate! (at least loosely so)
Here’s another biggie:
S&P 500 1950: 157 ($17.05)
S&P 500 2010: 1150
632% increase
Says a little something about published vs. real inflation, eh?
Er, min wage 1938?
Shouldn’t that be “1983 = 3.81?”
While a min wage was establish by law in 1938, it was only 0.25hr and didn’t top $1 until the 1960s.
Adjusted for inflation since 1980 (3-4% conservatively) min wage should be $8-10hr.
Anybody here think 3-4% was the real world inflation rate since 1983?
See post below. That is one confusing comparison sequence. I got it now.
That has to the most confusing way of showing comparisons. If it were in a table, it might be more clear.
I just figured out they were showing inflation adjusted numbers first, then real, then current, then increase/decrease.
I swear some people should not be allowed to make charts and graphs.
LOL- Like I said, I was transposing it from a page in Newsweek, and it’s randomly grouped on the page. And I’m lazy. I probably should have outsourced the job to China…
Wall Street Despised in Poll Showing Majority Want Regulation
March 24 (Bloomberg) — Americans are leery about creating a new federal agency to make consumer-protection rules for mortgages and credit cards and would prefer to enhance the existing powers of banking regulators.
Most people interviewed in the Bloomberg National Poll say they don’t like Wall Street, banks or insurance companies and favor letting the government punish bankers who helped cause the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
Almost seven out of 10 people surveyed support using current bank regulators for consumer protection, backing positions held by the financial industry and Republicans over President Barack Obama’s proposal to establish an independent agency.
“People are generally satisfied with the way consumer protection has worked with banks,” said Ernie Patrikis, a partner specializing in banking supervision at the White & Case LLP law firm in New York. “Most Americans could care less about redoing the financial regulatory structure.”
The poll’s findings come as the White House and congressional Democrats pivot to focus more election-year attention on an unpopular political target — banks and Wall Street — following this week’s victory on health-care legislation.
“…letting the government punish bankers who helped cause the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.”
I suggested at the top of yesterday’s thread that perhaps we could turn our attention back to banker bashing, now that health care reform passed the House of Reps…
The Obama Administration, deeply attuned to public anger over Wall Street, intends to punish them by funneling countless billions to these firms while requiring no accountability for what they do with those funds. That should show them.
What a racket. The Fed prints a gazillion dollars and hands it to “troubled’ banks interest-free, so they can then turn around and lend it back to Uncle Sam or speculate on the global casinos called the stock and bond markets. No accountability and no consequences.
You tools who voted for this Administration or the even more ghastly McCain/Palin ticket must be so proud of yourselves.
I’ve still got a Ron Paul bumper sticker on my car
You’re a Mot after my own heart. Mine says “Don’t Blame Me - I Supported Ron Paul.” Gets lots of honks & thumbs up.
My last vote was for writing in Ron Paul as POTUS. Still see a bunch of Obama bumper stickers, but they are no longer white-skinned people behind the wheels of those cars. Those were the independents who voted against Republicans when they could have voted for small government.
I wrote him in as well. An act of defiance against the corporate-fixed Tweedle-Dee/Tweedle-Dum “choice” on the ballet.
Most people interviewed in the Bloomberg National Poll say they don’t like Wall Street, banks or insurance companies and favor letting the government punish bankers who helped cause the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
Looks like we’re well on the way to diminishing the place of the FIRE sector in our economy. In other words: FIRE, you’re fired.
Yet these same retards uphold the status quo by voting only for major party candidates vetted and approved by their corporate masters and their MSM stooges. Maybe when these sheeple get fired and have some time to think, they’ll turn off the tee-vee and start using their heads for something other than hat-racks.
You just insulted hat racks!
“Wall Street Despised in Poll Showing Majority Want Regulation”
I guess the remaining 100 people in the U.S. who take pride in being responsible will look to living in a business-friendly nation.
Will the last capitalist in the U.S. not slam the door as he leaves this irresponsible society?
Writer, Mark Steyn, dashed this off in January.
“The [U.S. has] been the leading economic power since it overtook Britain in the 1880s. That’s impressive. Nevertheless, over the course of that century and a quarter, Detroit went from the world’s industrial powerhouse to an urban wasteland, and the once-golden state of California atrophied into a land of government run by the government for the government. What happens when the policies that brought ruin to Detroit and sclerosis to California become the basis for the nation at large? Strictly on the numbers, the United States is in the express lane to Declinistan: unsustainable entitlements, the remorseless governmentalization of the economy and individual liberty, and a centralization of power that will cripple a nation of this size. Decline is the way to bet. But what will ensure it is if the American people accept decline as a price worth paying for European social democracy.”
It’s sad to see socialism sweeping across the landscape to the extent it is, but being nestled in the benevolent arms of a compassionate government is irresistible to the majority of voting Americans. Trading liberty for serfdom, because it’s comfy.
It’s interesting how he conveniently skips the wars and expansion of empire he and other conservatives love so much….
It’s interesting how he conveniently skips the wars and expansion of empire he and other conservatives love so much….
Exactly. The level of publicly funded social services is the least of our problems. We have a dysfunctional political system that has made many poor choices over the past few decades, a poorly informed public, and a bloated military that is much larger than we need for purposes of defense. Any of these are much more deserving targets for scorn.
Meh. That’s all part of it and it is WHY we are where we’re at right now.
Yes, indeedy! Venezuela, here we come!
Interesting that such states as Norway, Sweden, Finland, France, and Germany are doing relatively much better in this depression. Since it’s ’socialism’ like theirs that’s supposedly doing us in.
This crisis wasn’t caused by an excess of gov regulation. It was caused by an excess of ‘free market’ deregulatory hubris. But Wall Street’s apologists will spin it as best they can.
I dunno. It sure seems like our housing market is quite socialistic to me (even now, after outright collapse), as evidenced by ongoing government efforts to use subsidies to prop it up. Why would they even need to do this now if the massive subsidy apparatus that was in place circa 2005 had not blown to smithereens?
* HEARD ON THE STREET
* MARCH 24, 2010
No End to U.S. Housing Handouts
By PETER EAVIS
The time to get out of a toxic relationship is when its ill effects are undeniable. At this point in the housing crisis, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner could have used Tuesday’s speech on the mortgage market to convince America it is time to end its relationship with housing subsidies. Instead, he suggested ways to make it less dysfunctional.
The Obama administration has presented ideas for overhauling the financial system but has held off a firm plan for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Mr. Geithner’s speech slightly clarified the government’s intentions. Instead of the implicit government guarantee Fannie and Freddie enjoyed, any new government support “will be explicit and priced appropriately.” The implication is that if Fannie and Freddie didn’t have key flaws—like absurdly low capital ratios and misaligned incentives created by their private-public status—all would have been well.
But is it really possible to provide enormous government support for mortgages, while also protecting taxpayers from losses, one of the aims Mr. Geithner stated Tuesday? He did lay out measures that would make such a system safer, like strict underwriting criteria on loans the government would guarantee or buy.
But Mr. Geithner’s case broke down when he suggested there should be a continuation of the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage. Though loved by homeowners, this product probably wouldn’t exist if Fannie and Freddie weren’t prepared to hold and guarantee them—and bear their prepayment risk. A 30-year mortgage, with an ability to refinance, makes for very attractive financing. But, like all cheap leverage, it can create overpriced assets. This leaves the housing market more vulnerable to crashes, and taxpayers to losses.
…
Can anyone pinpoint when and how it became Uncle Sam’s responsibility to prop up the value of U.S. housing prices?
I have posed the question here many times whether this is the first housing bust in U.S. history when the government stepped in with price supports; does anyone have contradictory evidenced this has previously been attempted, either here or in another country?
I am just trying to grasp how this is all likely to end; for example, where will we be in twenty years from now, when the bubble is a receding bad memory?
“Can anyone pinpoint when and how it became Uncle Sam’s responsibility to prop up the value of U.S. housing prices?”
It was implied when megabanks bought the US government.
I remember reading that the American Revolution was, in part, due to a housing (land) bust of sorts when Britain in 1763 put a stop to speculation on western lands. Washington, and several others were pretty miffed. So, you could say our country was founded on the idea of propping up land values.
That one’s easy pbear; the Savings & Loan disaster and the Keating 5.
I was pointing out that the more ’socialist’ countries seem to have been less exposed to this crisis than us ‘freer’ (ie free for the financials to do as they please) market countries were. The author of the article I was referring to was clearly trying to spin that gov socialism is what’s behind the current mess. The evidence shows otherwise.
BAiling out Wall Street is not socialism.
When gov does the bidding of a small cabal of financial elite it’s called facism.
When gov does the bidding of a small cabal of financial elite it’s called facism.
Your statement is generally true as written, however, can not an argument also be made, (when overt, public money bailouts are used to keep corporations afloat) that it is a form of corporate socialism?
Whatever it was, it was baked into the cake long before the bailouts. If not for the dereg, the banks would never have been allowed to become too-big-to-fail, and no bailouts would be needed.
Banks that are not too-big-to-fail are failing every Friday.
There’s no point PB - some people believe that:
Restrictive regulation = socialism
Promotive regulation = free markets
and simply can’t be convinced otherwise.
Thus they see what’s happened over the past couple of years as a failure of these “free markets”. Until they see that the two are merely different flavors of socialism - two sides of the same coin, it’s pointless discussing related issues.
“Detroit went from the world’s industrial powerhouse to an urban wasteland, and the once-golden state of California atrophied into a land of government run by the government for the government.”
Cool — a writer who offers a sweeping historical perspective!
Cool — a writer who offers a sweeping historical perspective!
Wonder if he has plans to visit Chuck Fina soon.
Trading our liberty for serfdom? Funny … maybe we’re not tied to the land as in olden days, but 99% of us are tied to the hamster wheel from sea to shining sea. And obscene medical costs (along with housing costs, of course!) under the current system are a big chunk of the problem. Eliminate or sharply reduce THAT and most folks will have MORE freedom to run their lives.
Yes mark
The formerly middle class should just accept serfdom. They should accept that the top get’s bailed out and controls an ever larger portion of our economic output and natural resources. They should accept that the top 400 income earners in the US pay just 16% effective tax rate.
Again, it amazes me that the elite don’t read history. The middle class was their best friend. Once the middle class is dead you start seeing guys like Chavez rise.
You mean Hugo “yes we can” Chavez?
Well measton, when the mantra of the spoiled is “I’d be lucky than good.,” why would they study history?
“…I’d rather be lucky…” (dang it!)
Lennar posts smaller than expected loss
South Florida Business Journal ~ 3-24-10
Lennar Corp., one of the nation’s largest homebuilders, reported Wednesday a first quarter loss of $6.5 million, or 4 cents a share, on revenue of $574.4 million, a significantly smaller loss than analysts predicted.
In the prior-year period, Lennar reported a loss of $155.9 million, or 98 cents a share, on revenue of $593.1 million.
Although the losses narrowed, Lennar’s new home deliveries decreased to 1,988 homes from 2,136 in the year-ago quarter – a sign of how the nation’s homebuilders are still slogging through the downturn. In the first quarter of 2006, before the downturn, Lennar delivered four times as many homes – 8,904 homes at an average price of $326,000 and made a profit of $258.1 million.
The average sales price of homes in the latest quarter was $258,000, which was up from $244,000 in the first quarter of 2009. That was primarily due to a rise in deliveries in the company’s west region, specifically California.
Did the bubble ever burst in San Diego?
http://www.bachmanflats.com/
I got the joy of listening to jack hammering from this project yesterday.
From the web site, these townhouses are being listed in the upper $500k’s+. That’s very little less than similar townhouses not too far away that hit the market about two years ago that were initially offered in the $600k range.
With the amount of building in the past decade and the decline in households, prices should be dropping more than they are especially given wages and employment versus a decade ago. I’m beginning to wonder if housing prices are as disconnected from reality now as they were in 2005.
I’m smelling echo bubble out here on the right coast, too! Smiling people walking up and down my block, peering in at 600K+ 17-foot-wide rowhouses just a few blocks away from Archie Bunkerland. Not going to be shocked if the owner of ours puts it back on the market when our lease runs out in June. Hate the thought of moving again, but the mere 20% decline we’ve seen here is BS.
Anybody else here begin to feel some despair? That maybe, in some way, the analysis we’ve bought into is WRONG? That maybe the PTB CAN extend and pretend for another decade, or that at best we’ll have the slowest possible decline, as in Japan, lasting 15 years? Getting a sick feeling in NYC, but still looking for signs of next leg down.
Agreed, NYC has a lot farther to go.
The inflating of the bubble kept going much longer than than I ever though possible. Think the band aids on the bubble are slowing, but not stopping, the leak so it will take a while.
Waiting to hear that cooperatives are in danger of going under due to people not paying fees, etc. just like happened last time.
Think issues with school and subway cuts will also create a perception of lower quality of life. Not entirely sure some of this bothers me… would like to see a lot of the “wannabes” leave. Living in NYC used to require a “price of admission” beyond money: an ability to not only cope, but survive and thrive with the unique extremes of good and bad combination the city offers. (NOT that I want a return to the bad old days of high crime, but a lot of the newer arrivals could be living anywhere.)
“Anybody else here begin to feel some despair? That maybe, in some way, the analysis we’ve bought into is WRONG? That maybe the PTB CAN extend and pretend for another decade, or that at best we’ll have the slowest possible decline, as in Japan, lasting 15 years? ”
Yes, this is why we have a contract on a house.
*Flame Suit On*
Are we wrong? I doubt it from a long-term, technical viewpoint, HOWEVER, I can see one of several things happening:
1) The correction takes so long to play out that most of us will be shopping for homes in retirement communities by the time housing is affordable vs. incomes.
2) Their efforts to prop everything up will end with a terrible crash after which looking for a nice house to buy will be the least of our worries.
At any rate, yes, with each month it feels more and more like the crooks have won completely.
(With apologies to Ben if I misinterperate), Ben’s position is something like “We all know what Washington/the PTB/Wall Street are wanting to do, all you can do is plan your life/finances accordingly”.
That’s true, but the fact that these jackholes have screwed up (and continue to screw up) so much, just really offends my sense of justice/karma/whatever you want to call it.
+1 for P the M and XGs
I drive past a new home construction project in Rancho Penasquitos on my daily commute (Pardee Homes). The signs say “New Homes from the $700s.” Not sure if that means $700 dollars or $700,000 dollars — both seem a bit absurd at this point.
PB
Do you recall what size the homes are?
Hey, if they’re $700.00, I’ll take 2. That’s about what a new home is worth. Our last new McMansion took 18 months of dealing with Ryland Homes to get the issues fixed. Never again.
I was joking about the $700.
I believe they are in the 3000+ sq ft size range — priced a bit north of $200/sq ft. Not sure where the buyers with this kind of bank are supposed to come from, given that our unemployment rate just ticked up to 11 percent?
LOL. Are you sure you were?
That’s about what the pos are worth, $700.00.
In Ventura County, some of the builders were building over 5,000-6,000 sq ft fancy-schmancy tract homes. Who the heck needs that much space? Who wants the utility and maintenance, and furnishings aren’t exactly cheap. A fish bowl backyard, in a two-story jungle is no way to live. (Lot size doesn’t make up for the lack of privacy. We tried that.)
We planted trees to block our neighbor’s view of our backyard, but with everybody’s deck off their master bedroom, we wasted our $. They could angle their view to see in anyway.
PUD’s are dreadful.
“Who the heck needs that much space?”
That gets to the reason I was not 100 pct joking about the $700. Unless real estate is going up, why would anyone in their right mind want to assume the costs and risks of a housing market money pit? Is the net present value of future home ownership benefits to a current new home buyer more or less than $700? I honestly can’t say…
I’ve got a 1100 sq ft bungalow, with the basement partially finished. Probably close to 2000 sq ft of living space, which is plenty for my family of 4 including room for extended family to visit. I could probably go for an extra 200 sq ft to enlarge a couple of rooms a bit (theoretical, not practical to reno), but couldn’t see the point of any more than that. It’s quite easy to heat/cool, taxes are reasonable and all that.
JMO, but I’ve owned a 1500 SF house with 3 kids, and a 2400sf house with same. The 2400 sf house was a lot nicer to live in.
The reality is that it doesn’t cost that much more to build that 2400sqft house than the 1500……but the selling/asking price is a lot higher
The problem is when the house is overpriced (no matter how big it is).
Perhaps the home builders are cranking up operations again under the assumption that new home sales cannot really go much lower from here? They seem to be overlooking the absence of reasons for sales to pick up again — i.e., unemployment is still high with no end in sight.
U.S. New Home Sales Unexpectedly Fall in Feb
March 24, 2010
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sales of newly built U.S. single-family homes fell for a fourth straight month to a record low in February, a government report showed on Wednesday, heightening fears of renewed weakness in the housing market.
The Commerce Department said sales fell 2.2 percent to a 308,000 unit annual rate from an upwardly revised 315,000 units in January.
Analysts polled by Reuters had expected new home sales to edge up to a 320,000 unit annual pace from January’s previously reported 309,000 units.
…
NPR mentioned this new home sales figure was the lowest on record; not sure whether this is correct or not?
At any rate, I don’t see any evidence that Wall Street is too worried about this, as the major hope builder share prices are about where they were a couple of years ago…
Get out and buy some stock today, it’s a new bull market according to cramer.
Why do I feel like the govt is buying stock ? When will the govt start buying homes and giving them to the needy.
We’re out of jobs, out of money and out of ideas, but our reserve of unexpectedness is inexhaustible.
I wish they would post the number of new homes sold for cash. You would think the number would be small historically so if it has been rising as these avg. prices tick down that would be a good sign. If the GSEs go away or are cut down to about 25% of the market and the balance between the all cash buyers vs. the leverage buyers then we will have reached a sustainable bottom.
The other thing that people need to consider is that in most markets, at current prices, it is not economical to improve land (put in the infrastructure), build a home, and sell it for a profit.
I would be interested to see if anyone sees actual dirt movers out there, as opposed to people putting up framing, in the new home subdivisions that are our there.
Most of the building that is going on is on existing finished lots (which were generally built in more outlying areas) that have been written down or sold at below replacement cost.
We will continue to see smaller and smaller new home sales numbers until there is a more significant rise in home prices.
For the first time since I started reading here I’ve found myself arguing that if I rent for 3 years, we’ve saved nothing because prices have barely moved. How low do prices have to come down to break even for this choice of holding out? So capitulation could be near. Luckily for us the choices have mostly been too weak to push us over to the buy side.
I’m upstate, NYC, and I keep hearing numbers lower than those heard a even less than a year ago regarding how bad off the state is. I don’t know what to believe anymore.
I use the tax assessors office on-line. Where I live, they have the historical selling price and tax rates and tax assessment value. Look at the surround neighbors and you’re pretty much right on target.
Google maps also let you see the foreclosures, current retns and for sale in any given neighborhood. Go to the area (zip code is best) first, then click “Search Options” next to the Search button, select Real Estate”, then on the left hand side use the little check boxes to filter the results.
Very handy little tool.
Thanks to whoever it was here that first showed us this.
Villaraigosa warns of bankruptcy if L.A. City Council blocks electricity rate hike. ~ L.A. Times
Facing resistance from the City Council over his renewable-energy plans, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has warned that any attempt to overturn higher electricity rates approved last week by the Department of Water and Power board would throw the city’s finances into disarray, causing it to run out of money in the next four months.
In a briefing paper sent to council members Monday night, Villaraigosa’s office said the DWP would renege on a promise to transfer $73 million to the city’s general fund budget if its rate proposal is rejected.
Such a move would cause the general fund, which pays for public safety, libraries and other basic services, to “run out of cash” before the end of the fiscal year on June 30, Villaraigosa’s briefing paper said.
“Council rejection of the DWP board’s action [to increase rates] would be the most immediate and direct route to bankruptcy the city could pursue,” the report said.
This reads as if the department of Water and Power is a tax collection agency for the city.
It used to be the purpose of the DWP was to provide the city with electricity, now its purpose is to supply the city with tax revenue.
I suppose I should keep the lights on all the time at the company I work for instead of shutting them off when I am not there as I do now.
An expensive electric bill means more tax revenue for the city which means the library will be kept open. I enjoy going to the library thus I should waste as much of somebody elses electricity as I possibly can.
Nice attempt at a back door tax increase. Since the money from the proposed rate increase apparently isn’t going to pay for electricity but instead used to fund city services, shouldn’t it have to be approved as if it were a tax increase?
Homeowners Facing Foreclosure Take Own Lives
PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ―3-23-10
The foreclosure crisis in Philadelphia is now becoming a matter of life and death. Eyewitness News has learned that in the past month, two homeowners took their own lives before sheriff’s deputies arrived to tell them that they were being evicted.
On March 5, deputies arriving to post an eviction notice on Lynda Clark’s South Philadelphia home found she had hanged herself.
“It’s devastating for everyone. We’re not even family members and it’s just devastating to us,” Captain Albert Innaurato of the Philadelphia Sheriff’s Office said.
Less than three weeks later, owner Gregory Bellows shot and killed himself shortly before deputies arrived to evict him from his Roxborough home.
Court records show Clark, whose debt topped $100,000, lost her home at a Sheriff’s Sale last October. Bellows, owing more than $240,000, had his home sold at a Sheriff’s Sale in 2008.
While the numbers are clear, it most likely will never be known when the homeowner’s huge debts turned into despair.
“They really don’t understand that it’s imminent, it’s going to happen. Take some sort of proactive steps to stop it from happening,” foreclosure prevention director Darrel K. Stewart said.
Having been broke and down and out in my earlier years I can understand being depressed about a bad situation. But killing ones self over bricks, sticks and mortar I can not grasp.
No kidding. Very few leapers on Wall Street, although there was that French guy who offed himself over his Madoff investments on behalf of his clients.
“Very few leapers on Wall Street,…”
Maybe that is because the bailouts made those Wall Street bonuses whole. Main Street FBs were not so lucky in Uncle Sam’s bailout sweepstakes…
It aint over till its raining investment bankers.
True. I assume in most cases, however, it was accompanied with job loss, and no or a poor social/family situation - thus it is disheartening that foreclosure prevention director to be using such sad situations to make it sound like he is out there saving lives. Also, note that many if not most of these people underwater bought with the intent and/or hope to sell at an even more inflated price than they paid resulting in the younger generation being burdened with even more debt than they had. How many do you think actually felt bad about putting others in a worse situation than they had?
Q: Are current policies regarding housing going to lead to more or less of this behavior?
I would say more… the “Hope” mantra has many people falsely expecting to avoid forcelosure/BK.
I’ve been homeless. It’s not for the weak. Most people don’t survive. The “safety net” doesn’t really exist.
No mystery to me why they’ve killed themselves.
Sad.
“What webs they weave when first they practice to sell Deceive & Believe”
By Goldenmansucks… et. al.
I guess I’m chicken, but I’d move out and rent before I’d hang myself.
Not if you didn’t have a job, and/or no family.
in escrow on our home purchase. Out of CDs and back to rental business, which has worked well for us in the past. will be paying 117k for a brand new, home in a desirable rental area, meaning it is mostly owner occupied, and its in Prineville, where Facebook is housing its first server cooling facility. Taxes are 2k, rent is gonna be $850, so assuming a favorable inspection report, we should be able to improve our yeild on our money from 1.5% to 6% (4% if we hit any maintainance/vacancy issues). Home falls in value, income would still stay the same; its intrinsic value to us as a roof free and clear will not change either.
BofA cancelled my wife’s credit account($500), never late, charged as much as 12,500 on that card, always paid on time and paid it off in full. They don’t like the risk associated with my wife anymore!
She informed them that if they don’t trust her with $500, after 15 years it’s insulting, even as they took her limit down from $12,500 to $500, I thought the new consumer CC laws required them to allow us our accounts in good standing without suddenly closing them? We are awaiting our $.11 credit refund as we overpaid them a little!
They sure should be feeling uneasy about the fact that she owes them a piddly 300k on a mortgage, also never late, but soon gonna be, which has netted them 75k in payments over three years. But screw it, the house is too expensive and they can’t cancel her mortgage as easily as they pulled the plug on her credit card. We gots our own risk management decisions to make, BofA!
So a flight to the relative safety of a cash FB for me, for better or worse, we are looking forward to living in our new home after renting it out for a year or two, whilst awaiting fore or fiveclosure.
Catching another falling knife gleefully, no more mortgage for this family, with the full expectation of handing over the currently mortgaged hot potato back to BofA. Hopefully they move quickly to repo the albatross weighing us down, so they can sell what we paid 380k for what its now worth, 225k. BofA, hope you feel safer now that your got that $500 credit account cancelled!
I think you said that you just cashed in your savings to buy a new house for $117,000, and that you intend to rent it out while sitting in your current house which has a $300,000 mortgage, without paying. After the bank forecloses, you will then move into your new house? Why don’t you just get out of the old house and move now?
Wife is in a owner occupied mortgage. In order for her to comply properly with this stipulation of the loan there is an implicit imperative for her to be occupying the property even when she no longer can pay.
This is from the city attorney’s office, his advice to us was to quit paying as we can no longer afford to sell the house, while the bank can, as the amount we are underwater (plus or minus 150k) far exceeds our savings. The bank, on the other hand…..
Just refused a 500k cash offer while the FB has been in arrears for over a year over a 538,000 liability. She has already missed 40k in payments, why would the bank want to take a 40k loss that is growing rather than a 38,000. Something about them keeping the mortgage as a “non cash asset”.
I dont understand the mentality of the banks, because on one end of this bargain is someone who we know is suffering emotionally regarding her f-ups. She wants out but the bank won’t help her out even though it looks like they stand to gain 2k on paper to short sale it for her. She continues to wait and not pay, but given her druthers, she would short sale and move on.
Somehow the banks play by different rules than we do, including interpretati of accounting laws and how they apply to the.
Diversication of assets within the class of Real Estate, the only investment other than CDs we even begin to undersand, seems prudent to us. We may have to dump the loser (higher end condo on golf resort) and keep the other. (starter home). For now. All’s fair in a day’s trading.
Durable Goods Orders in U.S. Climb for Third Month (Update2)
March 24 (Bloomberg) — Orders for long-lasting goods rose in February for a third month, while inventories and backlogs climbed by the most in more than a year, indicating the manufacturing rebound will keep propelling the U.S. recovery.
The 0.5 percent increase in bookings for durable goods was in line with the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News and followed a 3.9 percent gain the prior month, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. Excluding transportation equipment, orders advanced 0.9 percent, more than anticipated.
Business spending on new equipment, inventory restocking and a pickup in global demand mean companies from Boeing Co. to Owens-Illinois Inc. can look forward to sustained sales gains. A pickup in employment is needed to broaden the expansion as the economy heals from the worst recession since the 1930s.
“Businesses are ready to invest not just in inventories, but in equipment as well,” said Lindsey Piegza, an economist at FTN Financial in New York, who accurately anticipated the gain in orders. “These will be some of the key drivers of growth going forward.”
Sounds like the lowly consumer is no longer the darling of the trees can grow to the sky club. Watch as the greasy arm of the financial press wraps itself around the shoulder of what remains of U.S. manufacturing: Hey baby, you gonna stimulate me?
I didn’t know there was a recession in the 30s? I thought it was a depression or something?
Gotta love that spin!
I thought this crisis ended last week. Don’t tell me it is back again already!
It sounds as though they may have run into problems with finding a willing bag holder? Perhaps the Fed could take another one for the global Megabank, Inc team by stepping in to bail out Greek debt like they did the U.S. MBS market.
* HEARD ON THE STREET
* MARCH 24, 2010
Greek Crisis Risks Boiling Over
By RICHARD BARLEY
The Greek crisis has reached a new level. What started as a problem with the fiscal credibility of one euro-zone state has now exposed political fault lines running through the whole currency bloc.
Constructive ambiguity, whereby markets were placated with the belief unspecified help could be provided to Greece, has given way to confusion. That increases the chance European leaders will be forced—in some cases very much against their will—to provide more concrete help.
[greeceherd0323] Bloomberg News
Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, left, and Jerzy Buzek, president of the European Parliament, pose for photographers before a news conference in Berlin. Merkel told investors they shouldn’t expect this week’s European Union summit to agree on assistance for Greece.
One measure of the seriousness of the crisis can be found in bond yields: less in Greek bonds—although the 10-year yield climbed to close to 6.5% on Tuesday—and more in German Bunds, which at 3.06% are at their lowest yields in about a year and close to the low of 2.9% hit in the depths of the financial crisis. This reflects three forces at work: the flight-to-safety trade, a preference for German fiscal prudence, and fears over the potential damage the Greek crisis could inflict on the euro-zone economy and financial system.
Another measure is the response of European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet, who has noticeably softened the ECB’s hard line on Greece and switched to playing peacemaker as political divisions have threatened to become entrenched. On Tuesday, he said Greece could receive loans from other governments if the euro-zone was threatened and suggested the ECB might yet reconsider its collateral rules to allow Greek government debt to remain eligible beyond the end of this year if further ratings downgrades occur. Meanwhile, Dennis Lockhart, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, warned the Greek crisis could directly affect the U.S. economy, including via a broad shock to financial markets that could affect the banking system or lead investors to retreat from sovereign debt.
The market is on red alert ahead of the European Union summit at the end of this week. Greece is continuing to demand further support while insisting it hasn’t asked for aid. What needs to happen is clear: All sides need to cool the debate and—as Mr. Trichet has pleaded—think carefully before opening their mouths. The only real solution is for politicians to focus on the hard decisions needed in all countries to repair the damage caused by the financial crisis and to create conditions for future growth.
…
Soon, we’ll all be Greeks!
OOMPAH!
Dawning realization:
Limited government in the U.S. is impossible, thanks to Uncle Sam’s ongoing efforts to present himself to American voters as some kind of sugar daddy.
History will look back upon this week’s passing of the health care bill and characterize it as the greatest missed-opportunity to shrink government that has ever presented itself.
We had them on the ropes.. and dropped our guard.
We had them on the ropes.. and dropped our guard.
My advice….
Go a little lighter on the Nutt-Balls next time.
Limited government is also impossible thanks to corporations that would gladly lie, cheat and kill.
Sacramento Bee reports this morning that California is re-starting the housebuyers’ state tax credit. Sheesh. Starts the day after the federal credit is slated to end. Will give tax credits to first-time housebuyers, new and used houses. Apparently the guvernator included it in his January state of the state address, and the idiots in the legislature took it up.
Good to know there is always enough money in the Sacramento budget to subsidize home ownership.
WSJ Blogs
Developments
Real estate news and analysis from The Wall Street Journal
* March 23, 2010, 5:03 PM ET
California To Home Buyers: Here’s $10,000
By Dawn Wotapka
The state of California - which is wrestling with a $20 billion budget hole - is set to launch a $200 million tax credit for home buyers that it hopes will create jobs in a weakened economy.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has championed the idea, is expected to soon ink a bill giving as much as $10,000 each to first-time buyers of existing homes and any new-home purchaser starting May 1. Analyst Ivy Zelman expects the new-home portion to be exhausted within five months, which could mean more business for builders Standard Pacific, KB Home and Lennar.
The building industry is unsurprisingly thrilled: “It’s something this industry really needs,” said Allison Barnett, a legislative advocate with the California Building Industry Association. “It’s really about stimulating the economy.”
The measure could also help fuel residential sales once the federal tax credit expires on April 30.
The Golden State’s offer would follow a program crafted last year to jumpstart what was then a stagnant sales market. The state set aside $100 million for qualified buyers on or after March 1. With some able to combine the bonus with a federal first-time credit of up to $8,000 - a lucrative combo not possible this time around, given timing - the fund was quickly depleted. By July, more than 12,000 applications had been received.
“This program was very successful before, so it could be quite helpful just when a bit of help is needed to make the spring season a success,” said Ken Campbell, chief executive of Standard Pacific Corp., a California-based builder that would undoubtedly benefit from the credit.
…
Here is a long-term prediction: About fifty years from now, economists will collectively look at this period of U.S. financial history and marvel at the ongoing folly of real estate subsidies which first led to a historic financial crisis, then were subsequently used, to no avail, in an attempted ‘hair-of-the-dog’ hangover cure.
The Ca Home Buying Credit was misrepresented last time, and no doubt will be again. The last one was spread over 3 years, and wiped out your state tax liability, but the difference wasn’t rebated to you in the form of a check. It was a lot of propaganda.
At least with the $8,000 fed one, you get the difference of your tax liability and the credit in a form of a check. You only get it, after you file your tax return and use form 5405, with documentation of the home purchase. I believe you can get around things, if you apply your credit to closing costs. I haven’t read all the details, just the basics.
The facts are online, but don’t let that get in the way of herding the sheeples to slaughter.
Did the MarketWatchers accidentally say Portugal when they actually meant Greece? At any rate, U.S. stock market investors have nothing to fear but fear itself, as “a closely-watched pot never boils over.”
Portugal debt downgrade weighs
Street verging on a reversal
Stock futures indicate no carryover from Monday’s rally, with Portugal and lackluster durable-goods data coloring Street sentiment. Still, Adobe Systems stands to gain in wake of results.
JPMorgan closes in on tax refund deal with FDIC: report
Mar 24, 2010
(Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N) is closing in on a deal with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) that could result in a tax refund of about $1.4 billion for the bank, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the talks.
JPMorgan was not available to comment on the report.
As part of a larger settlement with Washington Mutual’s bondholders, JPMorgan can claim $1.4 billion of funds in the FDIC receivership to protect itself against exposure to mortgages that WaMu serviced, the Journal said.
Washington Mutual Inc (WAMUQ.PK), which is tied to the biggest bank failure in U.S. history, is eligible to receive about $5.6 billion in tax refunds as part of a court settlement. WaMu was seized by the FDIC in 2008 and was later sold to JPMorgan for $1.9 billion.
On March 12, Washington Mutual agreed to split the two potential tax refunds with JPMorgan and the FDIC.
WaMu agreed to receive $900 million of a $2.6 billion expected return, with the rest going to JPMorgan. A second $2.6 billion return will be bring in $1.04 billion for Washington Mutual with the rest going to the FDIC.
It all comes down to how one spent his “boom” money during the bubble: Indidvidual flippers and HELOC cashers bought hummers, flatscreens, vacations, new wives, candle-making businesses for the new wives, etc. Megabanks bought politicians, entire governments,countries, the media, etc. The banks invested more wisely.
Glad to hear Jamie is having such a good year.
Carbon Motors Orders 240K Diesel Engines From BMW for Police Cruiser
FOXNews.com
WASHINGTON - A new company planning to produce fuel-efficient police cruisers says it has chosen BMW AG to supply its engines.
Carbon Motors Corp. is developing the Carbon E7 squad car, which it says is the first vehicle specifically designed for police use.
The company, based in Connersville, Ind., said Monday that BMW will supply more than 240,000 diesel engines for the squad car, which includes bulletproof door and dash panels and radiation and biological threat detectors.
Carbon Motors CEO William Santana Li said the engine will provide more than 35 miles per gallon.
Carbon Motors is awaiting approval of a $310 million federal loan so it can begin production of the energy-efficient police car. Production is expected in 2013.
This sounds like something out of Robocop
Sounds more like diesel-powered pork to me.
Funny how they are waiting for a gubmint loan, $310 million to buy German engines. What about Detroit diesels?
Detroit is about 20 years behind zee Chermans when it comes to diesel technology.
Looks as though sticking our heads in the energy/environment sand is turning out to be a bad idea after all. I remeber gas lines in the seventies. Did everybody forget how much by the balls foreign powers have us w.r.t. oil?
And then we kept finding new “uses” for it (e.g. the new digging fork that I got from Chuck Fina with a metal fork, and wood shaft and a plastic handle. Gee, I wonder what will fail first?)
MrBubble
FWIW - I got a shovel 10 years ago - after about a year the wooden handle broke on it; I got a plastic one that’s now lasted 9 years and still going strong. Not all plastics are cheap and short-lasting.
(I use it a lot BTW - got to keep moving around the bodies and gold buried in the backyard. Dang neighbor dogs.)
I assume that an order for 240,000 engines equates to roughly 240,000 cars.
Are there any municipalities that really need to spend limited money on “radiation and biological threat detectors”; or are these included because (1) The Department of Homeland Security is funding the cop car purchases; and (2) They make for fun toys.
When was the last widespread biological attack on a population? The Tokyo Subway attack?
“When was the last widespread biological attack on a population?”
Monsanto: Got Seeds?
BWAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHHAHAHAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! (fpss™)
Hwy, what is the death toll to date from Monsanto’s bio attack?
corpse or cellular?
Credit Markets
March 24, 2010, 9:43 a.m. EDT
Mortgages rates to stay low after Fed exits, say bond firms
Few new deals, institutional-investor demand should keep MBS spreads low
Portugal, U.K. joined at hip with budget woes
By Deborah Levine, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — As the Federal Reserve ends its purchases of more than a trillion dollars in mortgage-related debt this month, bond investors say the market is now stable enough to prevent a big jump in mortgage rates once its biggest buyer exits.
Investors and analysts at RBS Securities, National Penn Investors Trust, DWS Investments and others expect rates will rise only between 0.1% and 0.25% over the next several months, because of less supply of new securitization of mortgage debt and more interest from fund managers as soon as the U.S. central bank bows out.
Analysts say they also believed Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke when he said the Fed won’t turn around and sell holdings any time soon, though other Fed officials have suggested just those sales to reduce the central bank’s balance sheets.
The small increase in mortgage rates now forecast is far less than Fed officials themselves estimated at the beginning of the year, demonstrating the continued improvement in financial markets and the low amount of yield that mortgage-backed securities carry above U.S. Treasurys.
“I don’t think there is going to be a huge change in the yield spread,” said Roger Bayston, senior vice president of Franklin Templeton’s fixed-income group. “It would take a sizable increase in mortgage spreads to increase mortgage rates to the point that it would have a meaningful impact on housing activity.”
…
Did the Fed’s operating rules actually permit it to buy all those MBS? I don’t mean to suggest any of the MBS they bought were toxic, as I believe there are minimum standards on the quality of the securities the Fed can purchase, right?
I imagine they bought the most toxic sh@t no one else would touch with a ten foot pole.
Been meaning to post this chart. Usually it’s a good way to view the perceived risk premium of mortgage bonds vs. treasuries. Note however the huge drop since last year - obviously due to the Fed MBS purchases; after the previous spike up when things started to look bad in the mortgage market.
It’ll be interesting to follow this in the coming months.
“The task ahead is to save this country from stagnation and fiscal ruin. We know what it will take. We will have to raise a consumption tax. We will have to preserve benefits for the poor and cut them for the middle and upper classes. We will have to invest more in innovation and human capital.”
David Brooks - New York Times
Yes we need a consumption tax which is regressive.
God forbid we should tax the elite pulling in 350mil/year and paying 16% effective tax rate.
Taxes
1. 80% Tax on all bonuses paid over the last 5 years by Wall street firms that went bankrupt or took TARP.
2. All CEO’s and hedge fund managers who get paid in stock, options, and perks will have these benefits taxed at income tax rate. Why, because they are F’n income for work provided.
3. Tax insurance company profits at a higher rate.
4. Increase the tax on oil and gas - We have to import a lot of it and making hte country more efficient will be good in teh long run.
Then we can start to talk about a consumption tax.
Let’s give everybody the 16% tax rate the elite pays.
Again I repeat my proposal for a $5 tax on every blog post. If the post calls for higher taxes on something, then the tax should be $10. However, this initial post (and all those supporting it) should have a special exemption.
I’m thinking Polly will appreciate the deep philosophy underlying this proposal.
A consumption tax is regressive because…
…people think a consumption tax needs to tax milk at 10%, and Porche’s at 1%, as opposed to the opposite…
Well - I haven’t looked into all the proposals from these people (what people?), but that sounds… stupid. A consumption tax should be flat across the board, for all goods and services - e.g. just like state sales taxes generally are (with some exceptions).
I think there are a couple of ideas out there.
One is a flat tax, and it would be therefore progressive based on the fact that rich people buy more stuff than poor people. However, if consumption is equal, tax is equal, so it could be considered regressive in that regard (although I would just say that it’s not progressive).
The other would be more of a graduated VAT type tax, where different goods and services are taxed at different rates. Food could be at one rate, and jewelry at another rate, for example. This would be designed to be progressive (and difficult to be argued that it is regressive if basic goods/services are at the lowest rate).
I guess some could argue that changing the tax system in a way where people who currently pay no tax to the Federal Government would actually need to pay something is regressive by it’s very nature.
I generally prefer the second type (where milk is taxed at a lower rate than diamonds). Through consumption habits, the wealthy can essentially choose how much tax they pay. In any event, I find it troubling that the overall tax system in the country is moving in a direction where more and more people don’t pay any taxes–it sure makes it easier to spend money (and elect those who spend money) when it isn’t your money. At least with a portion of tax receipts coming from a national sales tax, all people would be sensitive (to varying degrees) to tax increases.
Poor people spend all or most of their money because they have to. Wealthy people save a lot of their money because they can live very nicely on just a part of what they earn.
If you tax all comsumption equally, a poor person will pay a higher portion of their income in taxes than a rich one will. That is the definition of regressive in tax policy circles.
The worst part of a consumption tax (IMHO) is the huge opportunity to screw around with it. Food should be exempt. No clothes! No, only clothes that cost less than $x. Well, people need help in the justice system, so lawyers fees should be exempt. What about medical care!!! Is getting new glasses if you don’t need a new prescription but just want new frames really medical care?
Nightmare on wheels. At least there is some limit on the different forms of income.
“We now have a new metric. The president says he wants to judge the new economy whether it increases the number of people in the middle class. Whether we have shared prosperity, not just growth. Which is a fundamental different philosophy then what we’ve seen in this country to date. Now how do we distribute wealth in this country … clearly government has a major opportunity to distribute wealth - from the EITC, from tax policies, from minimum wages, from living wages - the government has a role in distributing wealth and social benefits. We are at historic crossroads … in terms of what our new president is trying to do and a different way we are going to try and evaluate the economy. And so all of sudden we are witnessing the first new American economic plan led by the government, not necessarily by the private sector”.
~ Andy Stern ~ President of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
If you define the “middle class” as anyone who makes between $10,000 and $40,000 a year, then yep, it will grow under the Obama administration.
From both directions.
10k-30k is lower middle class. You need to make at least 50K these days to be considered squarely middle class.
For one person.
Family? 50K minimum.
What you call middle class I call working class.
You could.
I just looked at the demographics for the city I live (4th largest in the nation) and middle class looks something like 35k-120k here.
I love seeing all of the stock analysts on CNBC pointing to charts from the last year and what geniouses they have been in their stock-picking to ride the rally higher. Like they had anything to do with the artificial, government-created, ridiculous, manipulated run-up. These guys should be selling apples on the sidewalk right now. Clueless idiots.
They are so full of sh@t I dont even listen to the garbage they spew.
I like “geniouses”. It’s a combination of “genius” and “louse”. Although I wouldn’t give them anything close to genius.
Although I wouldn’t give them anything close to genius
P is only 7 letters to the left.
Rather than complain about them, you should have placed your bets with them in early March 2009. All your money on the S&P 500 index and you’d be 70% ahead by now.
Bet on all the companies profiting with ObamaCare too.
I am still in disbelief that the fraudster megabanks and government were able to pull this off. I would never have trusted anyone telling me this would happen back then and I would be even more distrustful of them now. I may not be getting rich, but at least I am not contributing to the most fraudulent manipulated market run-up in the history of the exchange. The scamsters will get theirs…
The scamsters will get theirs…
Yes, they will. Though unfortunately not in the way you think.
Theirs. Yours. Mine.
Chase opens new center in Palm Beach Gardens to help those facing foreclosures
By Kimbery Miller
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 1:19 p.m. Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Chase is hoping to slow foreclosures with a new center it opened today in Palm Beach Gardens aimed at helping borrowers modify loans and keep their homes.
The center is the second in Palm Beach County, with a Boynton Beach location opening last year. By the end of April, Chase will have 51 Homeownership Centers nationwide, including 11 in Florida.
Borrowers can get face-to-face counseling with a Chase loan advisor at the centers, something that is especially helpful when navigating the process for a loan modification.
More than 18,600 Florida borrowers have been counseled at a Chase center since the company began opening offices in early 2009.
“There is nothing we want less than one more customer’s home,” said Rocky Stubbs, vice president for default servicing at Chase. “People are eventually going to get back on their feet, and we are hoping to build goodwill in the community.”
Chase chose Palm Beach Gardens because South Florida has a high number of troubled loans. The bank estimates it has about 25,000 borrowers behind on their payments in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties.
Well, I’ve got to hand it to them for those efforts to reach customers face-to-face. AFAIK, they’re the only ones doing it that way on an ongoing basis.
No government funds or intervention necessary.
Did anyone else here watch PBS’s Frontline last night? It was about how the recession has affected New York’s Upper East Side. Most of the footage showed customers talking about their situations in a hairdresser’s shop. The jobs that people had (and lost) could only have been enabled during a “Gilded Age” such as the one in the 1890’s and its repeat in the last decade- personal trainers and the like. These types of jobs won’t come back until the next “Gilded Age” which will be in another 110 years or so.
It showed all the empty storefronts, talked about older people looking for jobs they’ll probably never find, talked about the shopowner’s sister buying a house in Florida in 2006 at the peak (as an “investment”) and now reduced to taking in renters to help pay the mortgage. And the hairdresser, who has been in business for more than 20 years, is worried that she won’t be able to keep her shop open.
One customer’s statement was priceless. “This isn’t supposed to happen here.”
Yes, It was first show a few months ago (and can be watched on the Frontline website). Well worth seeing.
The store situation is not getting better:
“”We are dealing with over 12 percent of empty retail in New York City, lights out,” says Christine Norsig, owner of the online retail store ETableTop.com.”
http://www.ny1(DOT)com/1-all-boroughs-news-content/ny1_living/real_estate/115111/website-links-pop-up-stores-with-empty-storefronts/?ap=1&Flash
I saw that a few weeks ago. I was struck by the HR guy who noticed that the people at his networking events were middle age or older. He seemed to think that this recession is hitting the older group harder, but maybe it is just that the folks who are networking are older. Those fresh out of college don’t have the connection to the unemployment office or the HR department with their advice to get out there and network.
I also thought it was ironic that the HR guy was looking. He was probably involved in that sea change where HR became gatekeepers and you can’t talk to a hiring manager without going through their automated resume matching system. Unless you know someone. Hence the advice to network.
The other thing that struck me was the guy who went back to college to get a theology degree. Not the theology degree, it may be as good as any other degree in terms of long term employment. But his solution to being out of work was to take on student loan debt.
SHARPTON: “Well, first of all, then we’d have to say that the American public overwhelmingly voted for socialism when they elected President Obama”.
~ The prince of the race pimps, Al “Tawana” Sharpton
On this one, Al Sharpton is absolutely correct. Nobody who voted for Obama can legitimately claim that “We were misled.” It was crystal clear all along who he was beholden to, and it sure as hell isn’t Main Street USA.
and which president has been for mainstreet???
I feel George Washington represented me pretty fairly. I want him to run again.
great one!
All of our recent Presidents have been owned by the “moneyed interests” Thomas Jefferson warned the young Republic about. But even though both political parties and their standard-bearers are wholly owned subsidiaries of Wall Street and the corporate conglomerates, they and their handlers can rest assured that the proles of Main Street can be hoodwinked every election. The last two elections confirm that beyond any doubt.
Yep, the site I just visited sure proved that to me! Upset at the healthcare bill? Fine. What? I should register as a Republican as the solution? No discussion of third party? No discussion of the debt accumulated over 30 years by both parties?
Anger I like. There was plenty of that. But not based on ignorant rhetoric. Plenty of that too. Some people get it. Most do not.
Few things are as disgusting to me as watching the sleazy, corrupt establishment GOP leadership trying to capitalize on dissatisfaction with the Obama Administration. Sure, there’s a lot there not to like, but the Republicans are not the answer.
When you see rumblings of real discontent, like the Tea Party movement, the RNC quickly deploys their K Street whores masquerading as “grassroots conservative movements,” i.e. Dick Armey and Freedomworks, to co-opt any incipient outbreak of free thinking and corral the proles back onto the trail to the Incorporated Global Plantation. Unfortunately, most of these Tea Party types are an easily manipulated rabble. They would rather shout slogans and wave signs than engage in a sincere search for the causes and effects of our current problems, and take positive and constructive action to help get things back on track.
There are decent people in both parties and independent candidates who are deserving of support. Don’t throw away your vote or money on any more Republicrat flim-flam men.
I’ll admit there are some true conservatives in there. They get it when I suggest that those not simultaneously calling for the repeal of Medicare/Medicaid are hypocrites and that this started in the 80s, or 30s if you prefer. (I don’t really want that, just trying to make a point) The others call me a “lib” and they don’t mean Libertarian.
One lady chided me when I told her that democracy worked. The majority passed a bill. Her recourse is to prove the bill is unconstitutional or vote them out next November. She suggested that it wasn’t a majority of the people (with about 10 exclamation points) I told her that Al Gore would agree. She didn’t like or get it. No concept of what our legislative branch is for. She then (without acknowledging what I said) brought up how the bill supports abortions and illegal immigrants. When I asked for proof of this from the bill since I hadn’t seen it, she called me naive and sad. (without providing said proof) These are our voters who will be voting for change in November.
All of our recent Presidents have been owned by the “moneyed interests”
Probably the last one that wasn’t was was Grover Cleveland.
(Though I’m not so sure about that; just my impression - I haven’t looked too deeply at pre-1900 presidents.
My favorite was Warren Harding. He was a womanizer who did got elected on the basis of his charm and personable nature. History records that he did absolutely jack s*** during his time in office. This inactivity benefited the country far more than what the Presidents ever since have done.
~ The prince of the race pimps, Al “Tawana” Sharpton
Yar, the only people with a constitutional right to lie and pimp in this country are crotchety white guys in suits!
Does this outlook sound like a solid foundation for a housing recovery? I think not, but then I am not an MSM-favored housing market ‘expert’…
The Fed
March 23, 2010, 7:29 p.m. EDT
Yellen sees tame inflation, years of high unemployment
Yellen says ‘open’ to serving as Fed’s Vice Chair, if asked by White House
By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) — Janet Yellen, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, said Tuesday she doesn’t foresee an “outbreak” of inflation as a result of government efforts to stimulate the economy and that unemployment is likely to remain “painfully” high in coming years.
…
I recall seeing that show a while back. The hairdresser had long wavy hair, and the “shop” was in some old building? If that’s the show, I had no respect for any of those worthless human beings. All spoiled and clueless.
Dunno if this has been posted today yet:
Bank of America to Start Reducing Principal
http://www.cnbc.com/id/36012522
Will BAC get to do this only for loans it owns, or did they get the security owners to agree to it as well? Will they allow only purchase-money loans, or will HELOC-happy borrowers effectively get free jet skis and stainless steel appliances? Who eats the loss, BAC or the taxpayer? So many questions.
Who eats the loss, BAC or the taxpayer? So many questions.
This Administration’s policies to date make it clear who will end up eating the loss. Hint: It won’t be the banks.
This is a big joke.You know the taxpayers will pay for this crap.I guess housing has become socialized, everyone deserves one no matter the price.
I am eager to see the final criteria for participation in this program. If it’s too liberal, the losses to the taxpayer could be $1T!
Another question: Will these write-downs be recorded as comps? Or will used-house salespeople continue to pretend that house prices should be so high?
There’s another way to look at this. I could be a sign that they think they are losing control over the situation regarding walk aways. Seriously, they’re not thinking of doing this to actually help “families” stay in their “homes”.
First good news today. No bank would forgive principle — much less publicize it! — it if they weren’t bleeding red ink.
You mean, principal. Any notion of “principle” is utterly alien to the banksters.
It’s about helping “borrowers” stay in their “loans.”
Tax, tax tax!
Tax nothing!
I think you mean “Tax for nothing.” - right?
And chicks for free.
If you were going to try to reform banking regulation would you want Chris Dodd and Barney Frank in charge of the program? WTF??? This cannot be really happening.
Jax condo sales surge in February
Jacksonville Business Journal - March 24, 2010
The Jacksonville area was one of four Florida markets that saw a triple-digit increase in condominium sales in February, according to Florida Realtors.
In Jacksonville, 140 condo units sold last month compared with 62 sold in February 2009, accounting for a 126 percent increase.
Orlando saw a 136 percent increase to 613 units sold during the same period. The Lakeland-Winter Haven market had a 283 percent increase to 23 units and Tallahassee saw a 400 percent increase to five units.
The Melbourne-Titusville-Palm Bay area was the only market to have a decline in condo sales.
The median sale price of a condo unit in Jacksonville dropped 23 percent to $89,100 in February. Jacksonville’s median sale price is now below the state median of $92,200. The lowest median price for a condo in February was $38,300 in Ocala and the highest was $233,900 in Fort Walton Beach.
Amazing relationship between lowering the price and boosting sales. How did they stumble on such a discovery? Nobel prize in marketing candidate?
Rocket surgery!
Home Loan Demand Falls Again as Rates Rise
Wednesday, 24 Mar 2010 ~ Reuters
U.S. mortgage applications fell for a second straight week, with demand for home loan refinancing sinking to its lowest level in a month as interest rates jumped, data from an industry group showed on Wednesday.
Demand for purchase loans, a tentative early indicator of home sales, edged higher, but activity was down from a year earlier, further evidence that the housing market has hit a lull after showing signs of a recovery late last year.
The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage applications, which includes both purchase and refinance loans, for the week ended March 19, decreased 4.2 percent.
The four-week moving average of mortgage applications, which smooths the volatile weekly figures, was up 1.9 percent.
Harsh winter weather has taken a hefty toll on home sales, while stricter lending standards, higher fees, and declining incomes have made it tougher on borrowers.
NEW DELHI – For nearly 30 years, India and Bangladesh have argued over control of a tiny rock island in the Bay of Bengal. Now rising sea levels have resolved the dispute for them: the island’s gone.
New Moore Island in the Sunderbans has been completely submerged, said oceanographer Sugata Hazra, a professor at Jadavpur University in Calcutta. Its disappearance has been confirmed by satellite imagery and sea patrols, he said.
“What these two countries could not achieve from years of talking, has been resolved by global warming,” said Hazra.
Scientists at the School of Oceanographic Studies at the university have noted an alarming increase in the rate at which sea levels have risen over the past decade in the Bay of Bengal.
Until 2000, the sea levels rose about 3 millimeters (0.12 inches) a year, but over the last decade they have been rising about 5 millimeters (0.2 inches) annually, he said.
This should make for some nice wars.
A shoal, which appeared in 1970 after a storm, now sinks back into the bay.
Darn those local sea levels.
They’re not building shoals anymore. Buy now or be priced out forever.
So - the “island” was 2 inches above sea level? O…. K….
Apparently they have don’t have tides or waves in the Bay of Bengal.
Looking at articles on Plate Tectonics, you can see that this area is a subduction zone. The land is sinking there, as is the area where most of the South Pacific islands are located.
Amazing how the MSM fails to point this out.
Apparently they have don’t have tides or waves in the Bay of Bengal.
Wow. “don’t have” I mean.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703621104575139732486806838.html?mod=WSJ_newsreel_opinion
A very short and very good synopsis of why Obamacare is bad legislation. The contention is that Obamacare mearly perpetuates the attributes of a failing health care funding system.
Greece to Default ‘At Some Point,’ UBS’s Donovan Says (Update1)
March 24 (Bloomberg) — Greece will default on its bonds “at some point” as the euro region fails to deal with its first major economic crisis, said Paul Donovan, deputy head of global economics at UBS Investment Bank.
“I think it’s in an impossible situation,” said Donovan, who is based in London, in an interview with Bloomberg Radio today. “Europe has failed to clear its first serious hurdle. If Europe can’t solve a small problem like this, how on earth is it going to solve the larger problem, which is the euro doesn’t work. It’s a bad idea.”
European governments have yet to agree on how to fund any rescue for Greece, which says it will struggle to pay its debts at current market interest rates. While Prime Minister George Papandreou announced a 4.8 billion euro ($6.4 billion) austerity package on March 3, the extra yield that investors demand to hold Greek debt over German counterparts has since risen.
BofA to start reducing mortgage principal
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62N0IN20100324
Wow, another canary in the coal mine just went feet up. BofA isn’t reducing mortgage principal out of the goodness of their flinty hearts. Strategic defaults must be starting to hit home; now they’re trying to mitigate the damage. Good luck with that. Offering an FB who is $100K underwater on their home a $25K drop in their principal isn’t going to turn the tide. Not the mention the moral hazard unleashed when the FBs’ neighbors decide to get in on the act by holding the banksters hostage to a walkaway. Oh well, the Fed can always print a few trillion more dollars.
My guess is the banksters will be coming out with similar announcements over the next few days, along with the usual platitudes about how they are working closely with the [bought & paid for] Obama Administration to “reduce the burden on American families.” Because deep down, they really do care….
Does this have any relationship to Bank of Oppoortunity’s REVERSE MORTGAGE Division?
Yeah, just heard it. I have a friend who was a mortgage broker whose loan was with Countrywide. The friend took out close to $400k in equity and took dodgy interest only loans. Spent the money and then hired a lawyer who used to work on these loans for Countrywide to negotiate a principal reduction. Stopped paying the mortgage back in late 2008. I would say that BofA will be making these principal reductions to this type of person.
It’s really wrong! Completely unfair and sets a great precedent going forward.
And with respect to Health Care, I don’t understand the problem with it. The Middle Class finally get the protection they need, it’s not perfect by any means. It seems that most of the Tea Party protesters are the older, WHITE, Americans who have Medicare…. which by the way happens to be a government program.
Oh but the kicker is that the FB must “stay current on their payments”.
So will they be denied a modification because they’re aren’t three months behind on payments, only to later be told they don’t qualify for this principal forgiveness because they are behind?
This smells like another PR stunt to me. (Cynical, I know.)
BofA is trying to manage a problem that’s getting away from them - strategic defaults as well as underwater FBs throwing in the towel. “Forgiveness” is going to be a primary bankster PR theme going forward, as they try desperately to maintain the illusion that those loans are still performing.
Any guesses on when the tipping point will be, and what will precipitate it?
Wow, not to open this can o’ worms but I just spent (way too much) time reading an anti-healthcare group page on Facebook. They’s rabid over there. They’s a tempest in a teapot. Coming back here is like going on vacation. Calm, warm, and occasionally breezy.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/03/amish_muslims_to_be_excused_fr.html
My father-in-law is pretty fired up about the health care reform bill, too. I told him he can always become a Muslim or join an Amish community if he wants to be exempted. He wasn’t amused.
Nice. Can I use that one?
I see an increase coming in adherents of the Muslim faith.
Coming back here is like going on vacation. Calm, warm, and occasionally breezy.
And that’s what I like about this place.
We have our occasional squalls, but yeah, it’s generally civil and sane in here, while being entertaining at the same time.
Have at it, if you dare. Goto FB and search for “304,059,724 against Obama’s Healthcare takeover”
I’m currently trying to explain to someone who thinks the vote misrepresented what the majority wanted that PERHAPS the vote indeed reflected exactly what the majority wanted. He only has claims of a poll number with 59% in opposition and accusations of misrepresentations. No proof, no link to poll. I showed him a poll (with link) showing 52% in favor and while I can’t prove it (nor do I care), told him this might indicate that the vote reflected what the majority wants. Some lady just called me “full of crap” with no other verifiable data.
Neither of them get that I don’t necessarily believe the 52% in favor OR that the vote was represented properly, even after stating this several times. To them, someone on teevee said 59% opposed, therefore they have been misrepresented. Madness.
…where FB = Facebook, in case it needed to be pointed out.
Goto FB and search for “304,059,724 against Obama’s Healthcare takeover”
I saw it. Wow. I’m thinking about posting this there:
I’m mad too! This WAS bogus SOCIALISM that gives our money to the PRIVATE insurance companies. I want my country back and Im going to FIGHT. I’m going to lose all the weight I can and I’m going to work out and quit smoking too. They’ll get MY co-payment when they prey it out of my cold dead fingers!
I don’t want Blue Cross STEALING my money to pay for my heath problems AND MY MOTHER will NOT give up medicare for a socialist plan either. I’m going to stick up for LIBERTY by getting healthy and we all should too because we are putting on a few I noticed during Christmas shopping in the best country in the WORLD.
They want to socialize the private insurance companies just like they did the banks!! THEY TOOK OUR MONEY AND GAVE IT THE THE SOCIALIST BANKS! My uncle said that is even WORSE and he gave my mom an autographed Sara Palin’s book.
And I’m not going to eat anything with high-fructose corn sugar either because Freedom ain’t free and my brother was in the Navy and didn’t fight for Blue Cross’s socialist shareholders!
THEY TOOK OUR MONEY AND GAVE IT THE THE SOCIALIST BANKS!
They took our money and gave it TO the socialist banks….
(but like it matters)
Give me a head’s up if you do. I’d like to follow that thread!
VERY entertaining, isn’t it? I actually don’t like this bill but I’m amazed at how, when I properly argue any little disagreement I’m immediately a lib.
I actually don’t like this bill but I’m amazed at how, when I properly argue any little disagreement I’m immediately a lib.
I’m with you on the bill and I know what you mean.
I wonder how someone in the center can argue any point with that group. Maybe it can’t be done and maybe it doesn’t matter.
It was fun writing that thing but I’m not going to post it because it would be under my name on FB and I don’t want my friends who might see it to think I’m so stupid even though it does challenge nutball’s thinking in a funny way. But anyone can use it if they want.
“…AND MY MOTHER will NOT give up medicare for a socialist plan either…”
And this is why the bankstas got away with the biggest heist the history of mankind…
…because they could.
“…in the history…”
“…AND MY MOTHER will NOT give up medicare for a socialist plan either.”
That’s right, “Keep government out of Medicare.”
Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board to lay off 600 teachers.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The school board in North Carolina’s largest city has voted to start laying off about 600 teachers for the coming year.
Multiple media outlets reported that the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board voted 6-3 Tuesday to lay off about 600 teachers and cut the pay for all 224 assistant principals in the coming school year.
Superintendent Peter Gorman says he can scale back the job cuts if the budget picture improves, but he doesn’t expect that to happen.
The board rejected a plan to cut everyone’s salary by 10 percent to avoid layoffs.
Gorman says teachers with low ratings on job evaluations will be at the top of the list of those to be let go.
The school district said it might have to cut up to $80 million from this year’s budget. The district has about 19,000 employees.
Bees in trouble after bad winter
New study shows pollen and hives laden with pesticides
March. 24, 2010
MERCED, Calif. - The mysterious 4-year-old crisis of disappearing honeybees is deepening. A quick federal survey indicates a heavy bee die-off this winter, while a new study shows honeybees’ pollen and hives laden with pesticides.
Two federal agencies along with regulators in California and Canada are scrambling to figure out what is behind this relatively recent threat, ordering new research on pesticides used in fields and orchards.
Federal courts are even weighing in this month, ruling that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency overlooked a requirement when allowing a pesticide on the market.
Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad here
And on Thursday, chemists at a scientific conference in San Francisco will tackle the issue of chemicals and dwindling bees in response to the new study.
Scientists are concerned because of the vital role bees play in our food supply. About one-third of the human diet is from plants that require pollination from honeybees, which means everything from apples to zucchini.
Add to this the plunge in the bat population due to “White Nose Disease” and a general drop in small bird populations and you have the makings of a real problem in the food chain. I used to see a lot of humming birds and swifts but haven’t seen any around here in over ten years. These things happen so slowly you don’t even notice it.
“Scientists are concerned because of the vital role bees play in our food supply.”
No worries, we’s got MONSANTO: “We don’t need no stinkin’ bees”
http://money.cnn.com/2010/03/24/news/economy/tanning_tax/index.htm
Few things are more amusing than watching vapid Obama-bots who voted for ‘Hope ‘n change’ feel the consequences of their naivety. I’m guessing these types are well-represented among the tanning bed clientele, though not among the business owners themselves.
Here’s a ten percent tax on your tanning bill, Obama Girl! Welcome to Dupesville, population: You!
Looks like the unions would rather see fat,unhealthy,toothless people, rather than sacrifice for the common good…
Unions rally against proposed soda tax.
March 24, 2010 ~ The Record
ALBANY — Union members rallied Tuesday to protest Gov. David Paterson’s proposed tax on sugary soft drinks, which they believe will kill jobs and hurt working families. Labor union officials say the state is trying to pretend that it’s a public health issue, when it’s “nothing more than a money grab.”
“This tax is not about obesity, it’s about raising revenue,” said George Miranda, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Joint Council 16, which represents 125,000 union workers in the New York metropolitan area.
Dozens of Teamsters and their supporters, many of them holding “Save Our Jobs” signs, gathered outside the state Capitol Tuesday afternoon to protest Paterson’s proposal, which would add a penny per ounce to the price of soda and sugary drinks with less than 70 percent fruit juice. It’s been projected to generate $1 billion annually when fully implemented, and reduce consumption of the beverages by 15 percent. Supporters, which include public health and health care organizations, argue the tax would combat obesity and increase funding for state health programs.
Most unions are comprised of fat, unhealthy, toothless people.
BWAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHHAHAHAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! (fpss™)
We’re doing the poor folks a favor by taxing the crap out of what they consume. That stuff is bad for you.
Yes, the Nanny State needs to decide what’s best for all of us.
But it will come slowly. Did you hear the recent quote from Representative John Dingell (D-MI)?
“The harsh fact of the matter is when you’re going to pass legislation that will cover 300 (million) American people in different ways it takes a long time to do the necessary administrative steps that have to be taken to put the legislation together to control the people.”
Translation: the necessary coercive measures to keep the herd moving in the right direction.
Damn nanny state. Makin’ me use toilets and wash my hands and buyin high efficiency appliances and cars with higher gas mileage, and cleaner air and water and food with salmonella.
Damn them I say!
“…without salmonella…”
Nanny already taxes adult vices: tobacco and alcohol…
Anyone already addicted to high fructose fizzy waters will probably go ahead and keep buying. Plus bottles of soda are so often on sale, not sure the retail prices paid would necessarily change that much.
I stopped buying sodas when they started the bottle deposits… not because I’m against recycling, but to stop the build up of bottles that needed to be returned instead of put in the recycling bin at the curb… (Cheap, me couldn’t just leave a nickel out for the trash pickers…) Haven’t missed it.
The Teamsters are protesting the sugar tax proposal? Gimme a break! One of our local new sources was reporting it off the table earlier this week. I told my young’ins the state needs to find money. They can tax something you can do without or they’ll tax something you need. Which would you prefer. They’ll hear less howls if they look at discretionary items.
Insanity. Carbonated, sugar soft drinks WILL kill you.
finance dot yahoo dot com/news/Gap-in-health-care-laws-apf-4272209396.html?x=0&.v=1
“Hours after President Barack Obama signed historic health care legislation, a potential problem emerged. Administration officials are now scrambling to fix a gap in highly touted benefits for children.
Obama made better coverage for children a centerpiece of his health care remake, but it turns out the letter of the law provided a less-than-complete guarantee that kids with health problems would not be shut out of coverage.”
BWAAAHAHAHAHAHA! What a bunch of incompetent ninnies.
There will be a cascade of “potential problems” emerging with ObamaCare. But that’s why the Fed has a printing press and the IRS is deploying 16,500 new agents.
Just listened to a report on this, turns out there is a loop hole you could drive a car through. Ins. groups will be able to deny coverage for children with pre-existing conditions.
Just the tip of the iceberg, more and more holes will be found in it’s 2700 pages. Law suits will ensue and the dumb masses will be wondering WTF. “They” said they would take care of me.
“Obama’s gonna pay for my mortgage and gas!” — Peggy Joseph, 2008
“It’s just going to be like Christmas,” said DeCarlo Flythe.
North Carolina, on ‘free’ health care. 3-22-10
A private insurance nightmare read. People are dying and can’t get through to the right people to make decisions, for months! Think about it, ever tried to call your cable company?
Insurance Nightmare: Why We Need a Better System
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/02/25/tom-k-working-insurance-nightmare-why-we-need-a-better-system/
Late last year, I learned two things at about the same time: My cancer was coming back, and I had gotten a new insurance plan. Since then, I’ve learned something else: It’s far easier to deal with my disease than with my new insurers.
Bureaucrats? There are plenty of those in the private sector, too. But I should be so lucky to get one. All I get when I call UHC is the phone bank. Over the last month, I’ve called at least a dozen times and have never once talked to anyone who is actually reviewing my case
Every UHC phone call begins with the same ordeal: Before you can talk to a human, you have to be screened by a computer. Are you calling as a health professional? (No.) OK, what’s the member ID you’re calling about? And what’s your date of birth? Now, do you want claims, benefits or something else? Benefits? Sure. What type? Medical, prescription drug, mental health or substance abuse?
It’s enough to drive you to substance abuse.
Once you get past the computer, you get a human, who asks many of the same questions. Each time, I patiently explain my situation. Usually I get transferred to someone else, where I start all over again. I never get to talk to the same person twice. And I can’t call back because no one will ever give me a direct number. “Just call the number on the back of the card” is the standard answer. In my myriad phone calls, I’ve been transferred to people in Customer Service, Cancer Resource Services, Care Coordination, Intake Coordination and Clinical Coverage. The last person I spoke with didn’t even know what a clinical trial was. I freaked out.
I’m in despair. I think back to last year, when I signed up for early Social Security. It took one phone call. Fifteen minutes max. Everything was loaded into their system and I could look it up online. All the information was there. It was all correct. My checks come like clockwork on the same day every month. I’ve never had one problem. Last year my husband signed up for Medicare. Same experience. No problems, no complaints. This is your government at work. Some bureaucrats know how to get it right.
Interesting that this individual is having an easier time dealing with (gasp!) government bureaucrats than the insurance company. Permit me to share an experience that happened yesterday morn.
As y’all know, I’ve been getting my web development studio registered as a federal contractor. Well, darn if my tax ID number wasn’t throwing a monkey wrench into the works. So, I called the folks at CCR.gov to get some help. And they told me to call the IRS.
Yipes! The IRS! I didn’t wanna talk to them. But the CCR.gov people told me that talking with the IRS would solve the problem I was having.
So, I called the IRS. Didn’t take but five minutes to find out what I needed to do to get that monkey wrench out of my registration efforts.
This morning’s e-mail brought notification that my registration in CCR.gov was successful.
4-Day School Weeks Might Be Coming In Illinois
State House Has Passed Bill Allowing School Districts To Set Up Shorter Weeks; Mayor Daley Has Doubts
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (CBS)
Add an entire school day to the chopping block. State lawmakers want to move financially struggling schools to four day weeks. They say it will save money, and it won’t affect classroom time.
The superintendent of one local school district believes the plan could work.
“I think it’s something we should take a look at,” said Dr. Kamala Buckner, Superintendent of Thornton Township High Schools District 205.
Kids would still have to complete the same number of hours per school year, so switching to four-day school weeks would mean longer school days or shorter summer vacations.
It’s an intriguing proposal because district 205 faces a $5 million deficit next year and Buckner sees a shortened week as a viable option.
“That means the heat is not on, the lights are not on, we don’t have to worry about cleaning the building,” Buckner said.
Perish the thought of renegotiating unsustainable pension and other benefit programs.
What a major hassle if there is no stay-at-home parent (which is probably easily 75% of households).
Oh I bet they’ll offer “after school” programs - for an additional fee, of course.
Momma’s gonna scream bloody murder if she has to figure out how to keep the kids taken care of for that day of the week.
Wells Fargo buys GMAC assets: Too Big to Fail now even Biggerer.
too soon for link…
Just buying GMAC’s factoring business. A business that buys receivables from other businesses.
NUMMI shutdown hits Central Valley hard ~ Mar. 24, 2010
TRACY – When California is hurting, much of the pain usually falls on the Central Valley. So it’s no surprise that the biggest layoff of the recession in California will hit the Valley hard.
The imminent closure of Toyota Motor Corp.’s NUMMI auto factory in the East Bay is creating serious spillover effects. It will erase thousands of manufacturing jobs in the Valley, a region where unemployment already tops 18 percent once you get south of Sacramento.
Phanna Kang is among those headed toward an uncertain future. He’s worked the past eight years at Pacific Coast MS Industries in Tracy, a Japanese-owned company that makes air ducts and fuel and brake lines for NUMMI. The Tracy plant will close when the last Toyota rolls off the assembly line at NUMMI on March 31.
Kang, the father of a 3-year-old daughter, was already struggling to pay the mortgage on his Modesto home. Now he’s pretty sure he won’t be able to pay.
“I’m going to lose the home,” he said.
Pacific Coast, which employs 130 workers, is one of several Valley auto-parts plants that sprang up to serve NUMMI and are now headed for oblivion. The Tracy plant opened in 1984, the same year as NUMMI.
The People’s Republic of Kalifornia makes it prohibitively expensive for manufacturers and producers to do business there, so they leave. Enjoy your Democratic Party paradise, Kang.
While I’m no sympathizer of big business, I do know that CA and NY are the 2 biggest blood sucking vampires states when it comes to killing business.
Banks on Verge of Losing Student Lending Business
24 Mar 2010 By: AP
Banks and other private lenders are about to lose a $70 billion-a-year student loan business, part of a massive overhaul of college assistance programs that has received an unexpected boost from President Barack Obama’s health care success.
Industry lobbyists have watched helplessly as Democrats and the Obama administration appear on the verge of shifting student lending from private banks to the federal government.
Under the measure, private banks would no longer get fees from the government for acting as middlemen in loans to low- and middle-income students. With those savings, the government would increase Pell Grants to needy students and make it easier for workers burdened by student loans to pay them back.
The bill would mean the loss of billions of dollars in business to student lending giant Sallie Mae as well as large financial institutions such as Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America.
Good
Enough for the wealth strippers who contribute nothing to society.
As I’ve said, do you want your government service run by a nonprofit or a for-profit?
Or to put it another way; lazy and incompetent non profit or lazy and incompetent for profit?
Field of Screams; or How to Teach Your Kid Science and Community Service. A True Story.
Many years ago I was a young Dad in upstate New York with a marvelous young son, a tolerant wife, a 3 BR 1 Ba house on a full acre, with an unfinished cellar and a mortgage. “Mortgage” is a kind of French word meaning “dead hand”. Don’t let that scare you, but treat it with respect.
The house, like many in the area, had been built on what was once farmland, before that, forest, and before that, glacier. Dinosaurs and rodents seemed to have had dibs on the place long before Man did. The acre of land still harbored field mice aplenty, seemingly due to the proximity of a horse farm down the road, I figured. Not that they bothered us in the house. They didn’t. But, the tolerant wife was a Cat Lady in the early budding stage, and the half dozen cats that had the run of the back porch were constantly chewing the heads and butts off of mice and leaving them everywhere, much to my bewilderment. I developed a Plan of Action.
My plan involved some angle iron, surgical tubing, a little bit of leather, Utica Club beer, and a sense of impressing my son. With such things, a man could succeed or fail on a grand scale. Soon, after some trial and error, a surgical tubing-powered ratapult was constructed. A ratapult, of course, is a catapult device reserved for rodents. And reserve it, my son and I did. Now, a Dad who instructs his son in the fine art of mouse launching will soon discover the immense appeal this holds for a youngster, to know know that HIS Dad, above all others, knows how to have a good time. But a technological advance, such as improving upon the inherently aerodynamically unstable nature of mouse bodies, can make a Dad a legend. Constantly dismayed by the screwball trajectory of normal mouse bodies, after innumerable UC beers I recalled how the Air Force launched frozen chickens to test cockpit windows. Eureka. The launching of new improved frozen mousetranauts was developed utilizing the deep chest freezer in the unfinished basement.
So many pleasant afternoons and evenings bombarding the horse farm barn roof with subzero rodentia, sitting in the lawn chair, UC in hand, adoring son beaming. One Sunday afternoon, however, brought the Tolerant Wife to my face, wagging that index finger, repeatedly hissing something like “Ged DAM you, Cobalt!” Sonny boy in all the excitement Saturday morning had taken a plastic bag full of frozen mousekedavers from the freezer and left them in the upstairs pantry to thaw, and forgotten them.
Mom was not amused at the liquefaction process underway, and had already extracted a confession from the lad. It had been “DAD’s” idea. “Ged DAM you, Cobalt!” I can still hear it, but a small price for quality education for the youngster, indeed.
good one, cb. thanks for sharing.
Interesting set of applicants for dog kennel assistant position.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/dannywestneat/2011421840_danny24.html
“Among the lowest-income — roughly the minimum-wage workers — unemployment nationwide is at true Depression-era levels of 20 to 30 percent, says a report last month by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University. It’s only 3 to 4 percent for those making $100,000 or more.”
Actually some of the new hires @ GoldenmanSucks have to go to a special training class to learn this song:
“Oh my darling, oh my darling,
Oh my darling, Clementine!
Thou art lost and gone forever
Dreadful sorry, Clementine
How I missed her! How I missed her,
How I missed my Clementine,
But I kissed her little sister,
I forgot my Clementine.”
This is the kind of position that would be a great fit for Sarah Palin.
“Two out-of-work teachers sent résumés. Remarkably, so did someone in their mid-40s who had worked as a financial controller at an environmental-services company.
“There are a few people in here, such as accountants, who are so overqualified for this job,” Palumbo said. “I know people just want to work but I don’t think it would make much sense for me to hire them.”
Counterpoint to those that say you should just take any job. Even when you want to, you can’t.
Also - teachers - environmental services - overqualified. Maybe I should take a part time job at Target or McDs so I have a resume that would qualify me for any job. Just in case.
You have to spin it when seeking a position way below your previous level. I did it successfully. Made it appear that I was genuinely looking for a secretary position as a segue out of the publishing industry. In fact, I was looking for an easy job to quit because I thought my (now ex-) husband was going to be getting a transfer out of state soon. 7 years and several promotions later, that was the best spin I ever did.
In 2002 I went from Training Manager in a high tech firm to working in a call center a few months later (needed the medical benefits). Ironically, when the new employee trainer position came open about a year into this gig, I applied but they chose a much younger person.
Ya think it might have had something to do with my being over 60 at that point?
“Counterpoint to those that say you should just take any job. Even when you want to, you can’t.”
Exactly.
But some folks are mighty sheltered.
Just heard mayor Nuttball of Philadelphia in regards to the “flash mob” situation. People are afraid to go downtown, the report stated.
“I hope it’s just a fad, but people do have the right to assemble” “It’s more about behavior, than anything else”
That’s one stupid dangerous kook, good luck Philly!
What if all this “assembling” correlates REEEALLY well with people getting the tar beat out of them? Then do they have that right, Mayor Nuttball?
“Well, we need more data on that,” replied Mayor Nuttball.
Yuck. If that “fad” catches on that’s not going to do much for the sale of urban condoze, that’s for sure. Nothing like taking out a huge note, paying HOA and property taxes only to have the pleasure of getting the snot beat out of you at any time.
Nothing like taking out a huge note, paying HOA and property taxes only to have the pleasure of getting the snot beat out of you at any time.
It wouldn’t be the first time in the last century that urbanites ran through a personal cost/benefit analysis and tried to escape to the suburbs and exurbs. Some of them may Get Stucco or lose their shirts this time …
A lot got stucco the first time around too. There are a few good books out there that tell of the role real estate agents and banks played in it too. This decade is not the first time those crooks soiled their hands. Blockbusting got them low priced houses from the fleeing sellers and red lining got them high yield loans from desparate buyers. It’s a sordid tale and it offers lessons for dealing with today’s challenges.
If this keeps up, today may well turn into “A Fourth Day”
Republicans use Viagra to pervert healthcare reform:
Senate Republicans have made good on their threats to try and gum up the works in order to prevent final passage of healthcare reform legislation, including a “no Viagra for perverts” amendment designed to put Democrats on the spot.
(Hwy wonders how Rash & Limpbaughs is going to swallow this “TrueDoNothing™ / “TrueObstructionists™ / TrueGridLokers™” technique?)
Senate Republicans have made good on their threats to try and gum up the works in order to prevent final passage of healthcare reform legislation, including a “no Viagra for perverts” amendment designed to put Democrats on the spot.
No Viagra for for perverts”.
Wow, that should leave about 1/2 the old GOP base hanging…umm…err..rather limp so to speak !
DAMN YOU! Now I have to clean my monitor!
Truehardliners
Re BAC 30% principal writedown:
How long before homebuilders start manipulating the 30% toward downpayment on a new home like they did with the $8k tax-credit? I have no doubt they will figure something out.
Hard Working American’s Worst Nightmare:
Increased/extended jobless benefits increase unemployment
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_local_blogonomics/2010/03/have-extended-jobless-benefits-added-to-unemployment-rate.html
And so the dangers of toying with the economic expectations of the masses are slowly revealed. “Six months out” doesn’t work for the economy the way it does for faraway foreign wars.
Classic “Post hoc ergo propter hoc.”
The unemployment rate is high because there aren’t any damn jobs. Period.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100324/ap_on_re_us/us_police_booby_traps
California motorcycle gangs targeting law enforcement vehicles and facilities.
Have you seen Mel Gibson riding around in a black car with black leather on?
Roidy
Waving a bottle and raving about Jews?
ROTFLMAO!
Roidy
The best combination of “Bizarre Florida” and “Bubble News” in a long time:
“Wildlife trapper Vernon Yates has tracked the monkey through three counties, and heard reports of it rummaging through trash bins, scaling the wall of an apartment complex and even hanging out by a pool behind a foreclosed home.”
apnews.myway.com/article/20100324/D9EL1R3G0.html
http://www.businessinsider.com/jp-morgan-paid-19-billion-for-washington-mutual-and-now-it-wants-a-14-billion-tax-refund-2010-3
Yet another back-door bailout: tax breaks for too-big-too-fail banksters like JP Morgan. They better be writing the Democrats some big checks this year.
Just got back from looking at two houses, talking to our real-a-tor about a possible low ball offer on one. When I told him the number I was thinking my wife says, they’ll think your nuts.
The real-a-tor pipes up and says well, if they think your offer is nuts, we’ll just tell them… In 6 months they’ll think the next offer is just plain crazy!
I kinda like this guy.
May have already been posted…The it’s not fair crowd will not like some of the language in this plan.
BofA to offer home-loan forgiveness
Charlotte Business Journal - March 24, 2010
Bank of America Corp. launched a program Wednesday that will offer mortgage-principal forgiveness worth about $3 billion to 45,000 borrowers.
The program will be used with other bank and federal efforts to help struggling homeowners, such as the Home Affordable Modification Program and National Homeownership Retention Program.
Only borrowers already eligible for loan modifications will be considered for the new program. And BofA says it will contact borrowers with the offer because only a limited group of customers will be eligible. The program is intended to serve borrowers who owe at least 120 percent of their home’s value and are more than 60 days past due on mortgage payments.
Any forgiveness will depend on the borrower making on-time payments for up to five years. If the home’s value rises, the amount of principal forgiven may be reduced.
Bank of America Home Loans President Barbara Desoer says the purpose of offering principal forgiveness is to modify distressed mortgages at a better rate and to balance the interests of customers and investors.
“Many homeowners who owe considerably more on their mortgages than their homes are worth are reluctant to accept a solution that addresses only the amount of the payment without an accompanying reduction in the balance due on the loan,” Desoer said.
What a joke. It`s hard to keep paying bills and TAXES with so many people crying poor me with their hands out. What happened to this country?
Newspaper ad revenue plummets to 1986 level
Mar 24
NEW YORK (AP) - U.S. newspaper advertising revenue last year plunged 27 percent to its lowest level since 1986. The figures released Wednesday reflect the devastating toll of the recession and a media shift that’s driving more marketing dollars to the Internet.
Newspaper publishers’ ad revenue totaled $27.6 billion in 2009, down from $37.8 billion in 2008, according to the Newspaper Association of America. It’s the industry’s lowest ad volume since 1986, when sales totaled $27 billion, unadjusted for inflation.
Ad revenue in the final three months of 2009 fell 24 percent to $7.7 billion. However, that was the lowest quarterly percentage decline of 2009, raising hopes that the worst of the slump is over.
Newspapers’ annual ad revenue has now fallen by nearly $22 billion, or 44 percent, since 2006.
I don’t know about the rest of the peeps here, but, in my business, advertising in the newspaper has been a waste of money for over a decade. Reason: People don’t read newspapers in order to find website developers. Instead, they used that newfangled Internet thing.
On a completely unrelated note, Slim chimes in with this question: Are you having problems connecting with major websites? I sure am.
It seems as though my ISP has begun practicing Net non-neutrality. I’m having trouble connecting with sites like Google, LinkedIn, Facebook, Gmail, Yahoogroups, and, heck, while we’re at it, my very own design studio site.
Since, in the past, my ISP has charged me for cable TV service even though I have never owned a television in my life and the only service they ever hooked up here was for the Internet, I am not inclined to be very nice when I call them. So, last week, I called and demanded a credit on my bill until my full Internet service is restored. They didn’t like that.
They also didn’t like how I reported them to the AZ attorney general’s office after they’d been charging me for the cable TV service. So, I think that motivated some front office guy to call last week and leave a message that pointed out that I have a residential account, and that if I needed any help with my connectivity, that I should give him a call. I can’t help thinking that his real motivation was to give me the “gotcha” pitch on my using a residential account for my business, but ya know what? They can stick that pitch where the sun don’t shine. I already think that, for what I’m getting, the residential cable Internet-only is overpriced. (Almost 50 bucks a month.)
The minute that there’s competition to their local cable monopoly service (or some other kind of service), I’m gone. I ditched the local monopoly landline telephone service provider in favor of (much cheaper VoIP), so this ISP’s continued presence in my life isn’t a given.
“Phoenix’s cluster of brick minimansions called Chateaux on Central has a new owner. Wisconsin-based MSI West Investments paid $7 million for the 21 homes with elevators and rooftop terraces.
The high-profile project was started during the housing boom. Then, plans called for the homes, some with turrets and wine cellars, to each sell for $2.8 million and higher. The current deal breaks down to less than $350,000 a home.”
http://www.azcentral.com/business/realestate/articles/2010/03/23/20100323chateaux-on-centrap-sells.html
New descriptor: clusterbrick
Example:
Yeah man, I heard about Chateau on Central, I heard it’s a complete clusterbrick.
Chateaux on Central is so high profile that it was featured in last year’s New York Time’s list of “Ruins of the Second Gilded Age.”
ha ha ha ha
They left out the moat!
Buy-to-let: 58pc rise in tenants defaulting on rent
The number of tenants unable to pay their rent rose dramatically last year, according to research. ~ UK Mail ~ 23 Mar 2010
The number of landlords claiming on insurance against non-payment of rent soared by 32pc in 2009 and by 58pc in the second half of the year, said Endsleigh, the insurer.
The company put the increase down to a deterioration in the finances of tenants, who in many cases would have begun their tenancies several years before onset of the credit crisis.
Carlos Thompson of Endsleigh said: “The increase in landlords and lettings agents suffering defaulting tenants is a big problem in the industry at the moment.
“It is likely that many of these tenancies were taken up several years ago before the recession took effect, and what we’re seeing now is that people’s financial situations have changed and they are finding themselves struggling to meet payments that they were previously comfortable with.”
Renters strike back? Wonder in the UK how many months of free rent those tennants can squeeze from their landlords?
Explain why you sold Britain’s gold, Gordon Brown told
Gordon Brown has been ordered to release information before the general election about his controversial decision to sell Britain’s gold reserves. ~ UK Mail ~ 24 Mar 2010
The decision to sell the gold – taken by Mr Brown when he was Chancellor – is regarded as one of the Treasury’s worst financial mistakes and has cost taxpayers almost £7 billion.
Mr Brown and the Treasury have repeatedly refused to disclose information about the gold sale amid allegations that warnings were ignored.
Following a series of freedom of information requests from The Daily Telegraph over the past four years, the Information Commissioner has ordered the Treasury to release some details. The Treasury must publish the information demanded within 35 calendar days – by the end of April.
The sale is expected to be become a major election issue, casting light on Mr Brown’s decisions while at the Treasury.
Last night, George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, demanded that the information was published immediately. “Gordon Brown’s decision to sell off our gold reserves at the bottom of the market cost the British taxpayer billions of pounds,” he said. “It was one of the worst economic judgements ever made by a chancellor.
“The British public have a right to know what happened and why so much of their money was lost. The documents should be published immediately.”
Between 1999 and 2002, Mr Brown ordered the sale of almost 400 tons of the gold reserves when the price was at a 20-year low. Since then, the price has more than quadrupled, meaning the decision cost taxpayers an estimated £7 billion, according to Mike Warburton of the accountants Grant Thornton.
Robert White, a pilot in ‘The Right Stuff,’ dies
New York Times ~ March 24, 2010
Robert White, who played an important role in the development of manned spaceflight as the first pilot to fly a winged craft into outer space, died Wednesday in Orlando. He was 85.
His death was announced by NASA.
In the early 1960s, Maj. Gen. White, an Air Force pilot, was among those who pushed the envelopes of speed and altitude flying above the California desert out of Edwards Air Force Base, the fliers profiled by Tom Wolfe in “The Right Stuff.”
On July 17, 1962, he flew the rocket-powered X-15 plane to an altitude of 314,750 feet, or 59.6 miles, almost 10 miles above Earth’s atmosphere. “This gets better all the time,” United Press International quoted him as saying as he neared the end of his flight. “It’s a fantastic view.”
Maj. Gen. White was awarded the Collier Trophy for aviation from President John F. Kennedy, and he was recognized by the Air Force as a winged astronaut.
He never achieved the enduring celebrity status of the Mercury 7 astronauts or of Chuck Yeager, who broke the sound barrier in 1947, but he was the Air Force’s prime pilot for the X-15 program, which studied the effects of heat on aircraft surfaces at extremely high speeds and altitudes, and the physiological impact on fliers. Those X-15 flights helped propel NASA’s Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions as well as the space shuttle program.
He was also the first flier to pilot a winged aircraft at four, five and then six times the speed of sound, exceeding that final milestone on Nov. 9, 1961, when he flew his X-15 at 4,093 mph.
He never achieved the enduring celebrity status of the Mercury 7 astronauts or of Chuck Yeager, who broke the sound barrier in 1947, but he was the Air Force’s prime pilot for the X-15 program, which studied the effects of heat on aircraft surfaces at extremely high speeds and altitudes, and the physiological impact on fliers. Those X-15 flights helped propel NASA’s Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions as well as the space shuttle program.
Uhhhh, lemme guess: He was too busy being a topnotch pilot to pursue celebrity status.
I have a copy of the X-15 flight, safety and maintenance manual.
Scary dangerous primitive.
That was the first model I ever put together as a boy.
In December 2009, Missoula was the 10th most overpriced housing market of 330 nationwide. According to Global Insight, prices were 15% too high given salaries, cost of living, etc.
The top 10 were:
Atlantic City, NJ 33% overpriced
Ocean City, NJ 32%
Wenatchee, WA 26%
Grand Junction, CO 25%
Longview, WA 22%
Bellingham, WA 21%
Ashville, NC 17%
Duluth, MN 17%
Portland, OR 15%
Missoula, MT 15%
http://www.ihsglobalinsight.com/Highlight/HighlightDetail2350.htm
BofA Writedown of Principal- the nuts and bolts of a 5 year milestone reward system
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-countrywide25-2010mar25,0,7081426.story?track=rss
Tuesday, March 23, 2010 2:40 PM
Unsold U.S. homes on the rise
David Berman
We’re a little late on this, but one of the key economic reports on Tuesday related to the much-watched U.S. housing market. Existing sales dipped 0.6 per cent in February, a decline that economists say is more or less in line with expectations.
But one of the more important notes related to the inventory of unsold homes, which shot up considerably and raises concerns about the housing market in the near future. After all, with the number of unsold homes rising, can prices really stabilize? Here are a few thoughts on the matter.
Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics: “The big story in the report today is not the steady sales, though, it is the rise in inventory, from 7.8 to 8.6 months, which the National Association of Realtors says is due to increased listings of foreclosed homes. We expect a big increase in listings of distressed property this spring, and we are nervous this will push prices down again even as sales volumes rise.”
…
GOP Lawmaker Darrell Issa Poised to Call for Special Prosecutor to Investigate White House. (CBS)
Rep. Darrell Issa, the top Republican on the House Oversight committee, told CBS News Wednesday that he will call for a special prosecutor to investigate the White House if it does not address Rep. Joe Sestak’s claim that he was offered a federal job in exchange for dropping out of the Pennsylvania Senate primary.
“If the public doesn’t receive a satisfactory answer, the next step would be to call for a special prosecutor, which is well within the statute,” Issa (pictured) told Hotsheet.
The California Republican has been pushing for the White House to provide details of conversations between Sestak and administration officials in the wake of Sestak’s comment during a radio interview last month that he was offered a high-ranking administration job in exchange for dropping his primary challenge against Sen. Arlen Specter.
Asked if that job was secretary of the Navy, Sestak declined to comment. His press secretary told CBS News that the lawmaker stands by his original statement that he was offered the job in exchange for an administration post. Sestak did not drop out of the race.
On March 10th, Issa sent a letter to White House lawyer Robert Bauer asking for details about communications between Sestak and the White House. In the letter, he pointed to statutes he said could have been violated if Sestak was offered a quid pro quo arrangement in which he would be given an administration job in exchange for leaving the race.
Asked if that job was secretary of the Navy, Sestak declined to comment. His press secretary told CBS News that the lawmaker stands by his original statement that he was offered the job in exchange for an administration post. Sestak did not drop out of the race.
You go, Joe!
Sounds like the same sort of deal David Duke was offered to not run.
Apparently the home buyer tax credit has been a flop, which I believe suggests it is likely to be renewed again…
WSJ Blogs
Developments
Real estate news and analysis from The Wall Street Journal
* Are Tough Appraisal Rules Holding Back Housing?
* March 18, 2010, 3:35 PM ET
Has the Home Buyer Tax Credit Extension Flopped?
By Nick Timiraos
Fannie Mae cut its home sales forecast for 2010, after the housing market faced a “setback” during the first quarter of the year.
The setback was brought on by demand that was far weaker than expected when Congress last year extended the home buyer tax credit and appears to be temporary, according to a research report Fannie released Wednesday.
…
I still watch I-Spy, RIP Mr. Culp…
Robert Culp, ‘I Spy’ Star, Has Died
Robert Culp, who, as the debonair secret agent Kelly Robinson on “I Spy,” was one half of the first racially integrated television cast to feature an African-American actor in a lead role, died, the Associated Press reported. He was 79.
Mr. Culp appeared alongside Bill Cosby, who played fellow agent Alexander Scott, on “I Spy.” The series, which mixed humor with high-stakes action, ran for three seasons on NBC from 1965 to 1968.
Mr. Culp’s agent, Hillard Elkins, told The A.P. that the actor died after collapsing on a sidewalk outside his home in Hollywood. The police say he hit his head while on a walk and was pronounced dead after arriving at a hospital.
Wow. I remember “I Spy” It had some good writing. Snappy, droll dialogue.
The “CSI” franchise comes close.
“Robert Culp, ‘I Spy’ Star, Has Died”
Looks like he aged well, not obese. Blue skies!
Well guys. Here it is. I’m all in on the stock market.
Why?
(Takes another shot of booze)
Well. There is pretty big chance to cash in investors fleeing over seas markets.
oh well. Here we go.
Got popcorn? Will probably keep me from upchucking after the six shots I just put down. Gotta type ffflaassst beffforrre theyyy alll hhhit me.
“Well guys. Here it is. I’m all in on the stock market.”
If you don’t own your primary residence outright you’re not really an investor.
From the Editors of American Banker
Principal Cut Has ‘Upside’ for Bank of America
For more than a year, the mortgage industry has resisted calls to reduce principal for troubled homeowners en masse. Bank of America Corp.’s agreement to do so for 45,000 borrowers shows that in certain cases, there is now little left to lose, and perhaps something to gain, from such actions.
On Wednesday the company said it would offer “conditional” principal reductions to this group of underwater borrowers, all of whom had taken out loans from Countrywide Financial Corp., which B of A acquired in 2008. B of A said it would forgive up to 30% of the principal for these people as long as they continue paying their mortgages for five years.
Goody for me, I predicted this.. a few months ago. Probably wasn’t alone.
The objective is that FBs keep pulling the cart up the hill, and offering the principle reduction-carrot wasn’t all that hard to predict.
..as long as they continue paying their mortgages for five years…
What’s the bank gonna do if they decide to walk away after one year? Increase the “principle”? Debtor’s prison?
No, they will come up with another enticement. Now is our chance to predict what it will be.
I have this feeling a major financial earthquake or perhaps a volcano is about to ravage some corner of the world economy.
* The Wall Street Journal
* TODAY’S MARKETS
* MARCH 24, 2010, 8:47 P.M. ET
Debt Fears Shake Markets
By TOM LAURICELLA And MARK GONGLOFF
Sovereign debt jitters hit global markets, sending the dollar skyrocketing against the euro, Treasury prices sharply lower, and stocks into retreat.
Much of the action was in the currency and bond markets, where worries about the debt crisis in Europe coupled with concerns about the ballooning supply of Treasurys. That spilled over into stocks, which had just clocked 10 gains in 11 trading days. Having just touched fresh 18-months highs on Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 52.68 points, or 0.5%, to end at 10836.15. Commodities like oil and gold also dropped.
The state of the market over the rest of the year isn’t correlated with the solid performance for the first quarter, and investors already have baked in the recovery, MarketWatch’s Mark Hulbert tells Kelsey Hubbard in the News Hub.
Aside from the size of the moves—10-year Treasurys had their worst day since July and the dollar had its biggest gain in two months—investors were also struck by their direction. Markets that typically move in opposite directions moved together. Treasurys, for example, typically rise when stocks fall; instead they both fell. Similarly, a rising dollar ordinarily might have been accompanied by more demand for Treasurys.
The euro fell to 10-month lows against the dollar after Fitch Ratings downgraded Portugal’s credit rating by one notch and issued a negative outlook for the euro-zone country. In addition, European Union officials continued to wrangle over how to handle Greece’s fiscal woes ahead of a two-day summit starting Thursday.
While the ratings downgrade wasn’t much of a surprise and European officials have been haggling for months, traders said the weight of concerns about the euro’s future finally pushed it below levels it had been holding for weeks. The sell-off left the euro at $1.3325, down from $1.3501 late Tuesday.
“The market is growing very uneasy with the lack of certainty,” says Camilla Sutton, currency strategist at Scotia Capital.
…
The Wall Street Journal
* MARCH 24, 2010, 4:47 P.M. ET
U.S. Is Riskier Than Euro Zone; So Says CDS Market
BY MICHAEL CASEY
NEW YORK — Something troubling has occurred in the market for default protection on the debt of the world’s biggest borrower.
As the folks at Standard Poor’s Valuation and Risk Strategies division noted in a research note Monday, the difference between the spread on U.S. sovereign credit default swaps and an equivalent benchmark for AAA-rated euro-zone sovereigns flipped into positive territory March 12. As U.S. CDS spreads expanded to their widest levels in two years, that cross-region gap blew out to 5.7 basis points last Friday before narrowing to 4.7 Tuesday.
…