Bits Bucket For June 8, 2010
Post off-topic ideas, links and Craigslist finds here. The Florida/DC meetup link at the forum is here. Click here for the shadow inventory thread.
Please consider signing the Shadow Inventory petition.
The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
About Me
Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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Petition comments of the day:
‘I have wanted to buy a home for 6 years now and keep waiting for prices to come back to the fundamentals in terms of rent/buy ratios, wealth effects and wages. Please stop keep asset prices high with manipulations from the government.’
‘Current government housing policy allows banks to mis-price real estate inventory held, creating distortions in the economy. Consumers are now denied full, fair, and adequate disclosure of the material facts surrounding bank real estate owned.’
‘The problem with housing prices was the bubble, not the correction. Government intervention by subsidy only delays the inevitable, and wastes billions in misallocated assets. Let the market work.’
‘Failing to acknowledge a burgeoning shadow inventory only prolongs the housing crisis. Step up and effect a real change!’
I’m asking readers of the HBB to step up, too. Please sign the petition and pass it on to others:
http://shadowinv.epetitions.net/
Are you sure that petition site is fully functional? I find it somewhat shocking that only 90 people would sign it…
Well, having volunteered in politics for many years, I don’t. It’s really hard to get people off their ass about anything. But I’ll be doing some media interviews and polishing the fine points of the issue, so we’ll see how it goes.
I haven’t gotten any input from people saying they signed up and it never was posted. If that’s the case for anyone, please let me know.
It’s cliche, but big things do tend to start out small.
You are absolutely correct about most people not lifting a finger. Just signed the petition.
“I haven’t gotten any input from people saying they signed up and it never was posted. If that’s the case for anyone, please let me know.”
It actually happened to me, but I signed again with a different email address, so hopefully this one will go through.
Is not fully functional, I can’t find my name. Thanks.
I signed about three days ago and it’s not there.
REhobbyist,
Did you get an verification email? I’ve tracked some through this morning and they seem to be instant. I’m guessing that some of the problems are what people are putting into the form fields.
BTW, when we set this up, we looked for a rating of the various petition websites and didn’t see anything that proved out one over the others. Thanks for your help.
Ben–
I happened to look in my junk mail folder and saw the confirmation email with a link that is required so that they know that it’s not just a ‘bot signing the petition a gazillion times.
I think people just hate having to give up their email just to make a comment. Nobody believes the “we don’t sell your email” schtick.
I’ll sign it later tonight.
“Nobody believes the “we don’t sell your email” schtick.”
The part that I didn’t buy was their claim that they are “required by law to verify your email address”. WTF? I find it VERY hard to believe that there is a federal law regarding online petitions that have to legal authority or basis.
I signed anyway…
Once you sign the petition you recieve a email from the organization to verify that you signed it. You must click on a link to verify. It took about two days to show up on petition I think.
Thanks for the feedback. I can see there is sometimes a delay, but not always. Also, I know of one failure related to using a capital letter in the email address (yes, I know capitals aren’t neccesary, but some people use them.)
Please email any details about failure to post on the petition to me. I appreciate everyone’s patience with this less-than-perfect setup.
I signed it again and this time will make sure my E-mail verification gets checked, I just moved and evrything is just now getting back to “normal”
OK I was sure I already signed it, but went through all the names and mine wasn’t there so I did it again. Maybe worth checking out…
The fact that we have to petition our government to release affordable homes (shadow inventory) shows you how much control Big Finance has over regulators and our elected officials.
In any other country in the world, the US would demand via the IMF financial industry transparency, mark to market accounting, and adherence to free market principals. Instead, the US has decided to do the opposite to protect the financial oligarchs at the expense of the people.
Big Finance has gotten so BIG and Powerful in this country it’s beyond ridiculous.
* The Wall Street Journal
* POLITICS
* JUNE 8, 2010
The Leading Men of Regulation
Geithner, Dodd, Frank to Play Big Role in Crafting Finance Rules Behind the Scenes
By DAMIAN PALETTA
Three men burnished and tarnished by the financial crisis are expected to wield disproportionate influence over Congress’s final push to write a new law for financial regulations.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd bring to the negotiations experience from the government’s rapid and often ad hoc response to the financial crisis, including the controversial decision to risk taxpayer money to bail out the financial sector.
…
If I were in the media and got to ask these guys actual questions, I would ask exactly what dire consequences the Obama/Bush admins averted with TARP and TALF and the rest of it. No more mealy-mouth vagueries like “there would have been a Depression” or “financial crisis” or “crisis of confidence”
or “frozen credit” or some sob anecdote about the single mom who can’t “get credit” whatever that means. Give me areal mechanism.
Now, a couple years ago, a couple Congresspeople admitted on C-SPAN that there really was a banking crisis when Lehman went down. It brought down the price of money market below $1, which kicked in every single automatic “sell” order. Pulling out of checking accounts meant that banks had NO reserves to base their credit on, be it 12:1 or 30:1. That at least was something concrete. But who watches C-SPAN? We need a lot more media stories about that…on high visibility Brian Williams.
TARP was under GW
Their answer would be no different then in the past. If we don’t give them all of our tax payers money this whole ship will go down.
I agree that their really was a banking crisis.
It was created by the big banks.
I suspect that they could have tackled this slowly without creating the same degree of a crash if they had started just a bit earlier. I suspect that the big banks wanted to see a crash because they knew that with the panic they could extract the maximum # of dollars from the US tax payer. I suspect that the event was timed for the end of GW’s presidency, the unpopular bail out would be made and GW would quickly exit. Then Mr. Hope and Change would come in and continue to pump up the system.
If there ever are hearings I t hink they should dispense with asking Politicians and Banking CEO’s any tough questions and simply look at their investment portfolio to see what they knew and didn’t know. It’s clear Hank Paulson knew exactly what was going to happen he moved most of his money to treasuries. It’s clear Mozillo knew he sold most of his stock while talking it up. We don’t know what Wall Street CEO’s did, or what FED officials did. How many invested heavy with Paulson’s Hedge Fund, or shorted banking sector or moved into Treasuries???
The only “crisis” is that there is still some money out there that the banksters don’t have.
test…
Comment by oxide
2010-06-08 04:07:54
If I were in the media and got to ask these guys actual questions, I would ask exactly what dire consequences the Obama/Bush admins averted with TARP and TALF and the rest of it. No more mealy-mouth vagueries like “there would have been a Depression” or “financial crisis” or “crisis of confidence” or “frozen credit” or some sob anecdote about the single mom who can’t “get credit” whatever that means. Give me areal mechanism.
————————–
This is exactly what I keep asking for, and NOBODY has offered a specific answer. We just keep hearing about “Armageddon” and “THE CRISIS!!!!” but very little about the actual mechanisms and what the short, medium, and long-term consequenses would have been if we had let the banks fail, and nationalized the credit markets on a temporary basis while other, more prudent banks worked to take over where the weak/incompetent had left off.
I think very few of us would argue that we didn’t need *any* govt intervention; it just seems like there should have been a better way to allocate resources/power so that the prudent and responsible would be rewarded while the risk-taking criminals (borrowers and lenders, alike) were punished. As it stands, the reverse is true.
It’s really simple with me. All 3 men should be investigated and then indicted for treason. They sold the citizens of the US to the banker mob. Incompetence should also not be too difficult to prove, and then each should be impeached and removed from office.
NONE of them should have anything to do with drafting legislation.
They are incapable of doing anything but pander too their buddies doing the deals on Wallstreet with money from the Treasury.
That’s their only game. Let’s get rid of them.
Someone has discovered the roots of chronically disfunctional “affordable housing” policies! It seems the liberal backers of such policies are NOT smarter than a fifth grader!!
* OPINION
* JUNE 8, 2010
Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?
Self-identified liberals and Democrats do badly on questions of basic economics.
By DANIEL B. KLEIN
Who is better informed about the policy choices facing the country—liberals, conservatives or libertarians? According to a Zogby International survey that I write about in the May issue of Econ Journal Watch, the answer is unequivocal: The left flunks Econ 101.
Zogby researcher Zeljka Buturovic and I considered the 4,835 respondents’ (all American adults) answers to eight survey questions about basic economics. We also asked the respondents about their political leanings: progressive/very liberal; liberal; moderate; conservative; very conservative; and libertarian.
Rather than focusing on whether respondents answered a question correctly, we instead looked at whether they answered incorrectly. A response was counted as incorrect only if it was flatly unenlightened.
Consider one of the economic propositions in the December 2008 poll: “Restrictions on housing development make housing less affordable.” People were asked if they: 1) strongly agree; 2) somewhat agree; 3) somewhat disagree; 4) strongly disagree; 5) are not sure.
Basic economics acknowledges that whatever redeeming features a restriction may have, it increases the cost of production and exchange, making goods and services less affordable. There may be exceptions to the general case, but they would be atypical.
Therefore, we counted as incorrect responses of “somewhat disagree” and “strongly disagree.” This treatment gives leeway for those who think the question is ambiguous or half right and half wrong. They would likely answer “not sure,” which we do not count as incorrect.
In this case, percentage of conservatives answering incorrectly was 22.3%, very conservatives 17.6% and libertarians 15.7%. But the percentage of progressive/very liberals answering incorrectly was 67.6% and liberals 60.1%. The pattern was not an anomaly.
…
“whatever redeeming features a restriction may have, it increases the cost of production and exchange”
This is not true. Typically restricting production will reduce supply and (assuming demand is unchanged) tend to increase price, but it does not normally increase cost of production. It does not increase the cost of exchange.
The other questions are also vague and badly written.
This is not true. Typically restricting production will reduce supply and (assuming demand is unchanged) tend to increase price, but it does not normally increase cost of production. It does not increase the cost of exchange.
___________
I have 1000 acres to build houses on. I can build 500 houses on this land at a cost of $50K per house. If my land is restricted to only 100 acres and I can only build 50 houses, my cost per house goes will be higher than $50K because I lose the efficiency of scale. There is a fixed cost for the development regardless of how many houses are built. The more houses, the cheaper the cost per house is. Also, if I buy tile for 500 houses, my cost per sq ft is lower than if I buy tile for 50 houses. Same with appliances, lumber, piping, wiring, etc.
So not only does the cost of land increase through scarcity, the cost of using the land increases as well.
but it does not normally increase cost of production.
When you consider economies of scale, if the # of units produced goes down, then the benefit of economies of scale also goes down. I believe that is the point being made, which appears valid.
OK dude. The conservative set has taken enough of a beating on here.
Do a little happy dance and get it over with.
I already linked the article to my facebook page so the liberals in the family can be pissed off all day.
Disagreeing with the other posters around here, the questions were intentionally confusing.
Have you discovered true conservatism yet or are you still doing the socialsist easy money dance steps?
The cost of construction depends on the market’s capacity to build, and the change in construction volumes. The economies of scale argument is interesting, but that is generally seen over long periods of time, not over single market cycles.
If you start with a capacity in the market able to build 1,000 homes per year (lumber mills, labor, etc.), and you restrict development to 500 homes per year, then, until the capacity adjusts, construction costs will go down, dwarfing lack of economies of scale effects.
When housing slumped, construction costs fell in a big way, very quickly due to the overcapacity to build in the system. You could build a single home far cheaper than you were able to build 50 homes at once during the peak.
The questions weren’t “badly written,” they were carefully and deliberately loaded. After all, it’s the Wall Street Journal; they have to print what their demographic wants to read. And libs don’t hand out juicy tax breaks to corporate masters of the universe.
Even those who are well versed in “advanced” economics didn’t help much in this crisis, did they? Maybe we should take some tips from the flatly unenlightened. “Ivory tower” and all…
“…Even those who are well versed in “advanced” economics didn’t help much in this crisis, did they?”
ziiiiiiiiiiiiinggggggggggggggggggggg….. (exeter™)
BWAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHHAHAHAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! (fpss™)
Lucy, you forget the benifit of the economy of scale. When the cost of production is spread over a wide number of consumers the cost of production per consumer drops.
But there is a point that if exceeded, the cost of production goes up rapidly. Electricity generation is a perfect example and it is why generators incentivize energy saving devices for their customers. The offer this not because they are nice people but because it keeps demand at a level where they don’t have to build out new production facilities.
But if the electricity generators can greatly expand their customer base then they can greatly expand their electricity generating infrastructure which will end up lowering the electritity costs per customer.
The electricity generatIng people want customers to save energy because they don’t have a large enough increase in their customer base to justify the enormous capital expense of added infrastructure. If a large bulge of customers were to happen on the scene then the enormous capital expenditure for infrastructure would be justified.
The problem is not that the energy producers don’t have new customers, the problem is they don’t have ENOUGH new customers.
Also, the problem is the customer base is shifting. Infrasturcture serving a ghost town is infrastructure that is wasted.
What combo said.
Sorry exeter - do you really believe that energy companies promote energy-saving devices to avoid creating productions facilities? That’s a stretch if I ever heard one. Energy saving devices reduce energy by very, very tiny pittance of actual energy usage, and has extremely small if any bearing on decisions of creating new production facilities.
No - encouragement of energy saving devices is all about two things:
- Government subsidies
- PR
Moreso the latter.
Power companies offer power saving devices because they are mandated to do so. Power companies are in the business of selling as much power as they can. Just like cisco power companies, and for that matter Natural Gas companies and oil companies are in the business of building demand.
Investor owned, regulated utilities’ (most) rates are set to achieve sufficient net income to attain a predetermined Return on Capital (typically in the 10% range). Therefore, they more they spend, assuming the expenses are “allowed” in the rate base, the more they can charge the consumer and thus the greater net income they can demonstrate, and thus the higher thier stock prices go.
I had a person (who works for the local utility) in one of my MBA classes walk through the rate setting methodology of the WUTC, and that is exactly how it works. So, if the utility spends $1 million on free florescent lightbulbs, they can raise thier rates to increase revenue by $1.1 million. I asked the student, (fully knowing the answer) what incentive the utility had to operate efficently. His answer “none”.
Thats why historically, utility stocks were considered “widow and orphan” stocks.
“No - encouragement of energy saving devices is all about two things:
- Government subsidies
- PR”
It doesn’t have to be. Decoupling the profit motive from the sales motive has the rate payers subsidizing the energy savings devices. Check out the SF Energy Watch program that’s running with PG&E. PG&E are still bastards trying to squelch competition through lobbying, but this program is definitely working to trim megawatts.
MrBubble
Used to work for a utility in Mpls. Learned about “the system” and how rebates for energy saving programs / devices worked.
There was something called CIP (conservation improvement program) managed by the Department of Commerce (state level). For every utility customer (residential and commercial/insdustrial) there was a bill “adder” for CIP amounting to a few percent of the overall energy bill.
This CIP fund amounted to millions of dollars collected annually. Rebates for devices (CFLs for example) and energy savings programs (energy audits, high efficiency transformers, building re-commissioning, etc.) were funded by CIP.
Now here is where it gets good… for every 1KW of peak electricity reduced or new generation capacity offset, the utility received $500. The consumer (residential or commercial/industrial) received up to $200 of that, which left the utlity with $300 of new found revenue totally unrelated to selling and transmitting power (natural gas utilities operate the same way).
You could call it corporate welfare with some consumer benefit.
I remember developing a building re-commissioning energy conservation program whereby building managers could reduce their energy consumption through low or no cost operational changes (think tune-up, not overhaul). Well, my program paid rebate incentives based on ACTUAL energy saved, not just a computer program projection.
The building manager actually had to complete the building tune-up and demonstrate pre and post retrofit energy consumption to receive the incentive based on the energy reduction.
Guess what? Yep, my program got torpedoed just like that South Korean ship. My collegues said: “it doesn’t work that way, our customers won’t participate… they want the money up front and will make changes later (yah right, and we never had a housing bubble either)”.
See what you get when you try to “do the right thing”? Can’t stop the gravy train, don’t upset the applecart.
Thanks for the detailed post. I have not seen the inner workings of the program here in SF, but I’m looking.
That your program got torpedoed stinks. Sounds like a great idea. It always pisses me off when buildings that shouldn’t be built in the first place get LEED platinum certified for having stuff like bike racks for commuters, but whether the bike racks actually get used is never determined in any post-project audit. Lame.
Could you help me to work this part through?
“… for every 1KW of peak electricity reduced or new generation capacity offset, the utility received $500. The consumer (residential or commercial/industrial) received up to $200 of that, which left the utlity with $300 of new found revenue totally unrelated to selling and transmitting power (natural gas utilities operate the same way).
You could call it corporate welfare with some consumer benefit.”
I’m not sure that I’d call it that exactly. True, the company is making money by selling less power, but what’s a better way to keep energy companies from making more money the more they sell other than by enticing them and their customers to save energy with a combination of conservation, efficiency and new technology? The company is still making a profit and the planet and its people are reaping the benefit of cleaner air, less impacted environment, etc.
Yes, the company makes money and rates are a little higher than they otherwise would be. The ratepayers are really paying for the improvements themselves and paying to internalize the externalities of pollution and environmental degredation. Am I way off base here and being too idealistic or just thick-headed and naive?
MrBubble
Great feedback Mr. Bubble!
Thank you-
Agreed, I think my language regarding labeling programs like this as corporate welfare was perhaps overly harsh. They do indeed serve a positive purpose overall. Could they be managed better, certainly. But, they are better than the alternative (nothing!).
The point I wanted to make was that without pre/post project measurement and verification, how in the sam hill can you incentivize the program participant honestly?
During my stint with the utility, I had the opportunity to meet many people from all walks of life (former 60’s hippies, corporate elitists, academic professors, authors, technicians, CEOs, CFOs, COOs, engineering managers, property managers, plant managers, design engineers, college students, etc.) with similar goals (ok, so some of the stated goals were not word-for-word identical in name, but the desired end-results did align) even though they personally affiliated themselves with groups from one end of the political spectrum to the other.
I really pushed for the M&V, to the chagrin of my coworkers (even though some customers I met with actually agreed with my philosophy and thought everyone should be held to those same standards). Must have been my engineering (process control and instrumentation) background bubbling up through my business (MBA) assimilation.
“Trust but verify”
Jason, you are 100% right. That’s why I am against privitization for some industries, especially the industries where you want to shrink the business, not grow it.
1. Power is one industry. Use more power!
2. Food industry is another. If we need to sell food faster than the population grows, then you need more “growth” per person, if you know what I mean.
3. Waste managment. The throw-away society benefits landfills just like it benefits China.
4. Prison system. Yes, they actually want MORE prisoners in order to reach economies of scale.
“do you really believe that energy companies promote energy-saving devices to avoid creating productions facilities?”
Yeah I really believe it because it’s fact as tgun’s post indicates and the fact that we design transmission facilities for the largest utility on the planet.
You were saying?
“economies of scale”
That was the point of Eddie’s example above, as well.
Oxide, yes you’re probably right but I think the agenda is that of the “professor” author, not the WSJ. I read the WSJ and certainly don’t want to read dross like this piece.
Yes. The general consensus is that the WSJ has really good news, but the editorial and opinion page is partisan.
Investors need truly good journalism to make wise investing decisions. They wouldn’t tolerate the fluff of Fox News or even MSNBC. And i HOPE they aren’t watching CNBC.
Third World workers working for American companies overseas are being exploited (unenlightened answer: agree).???????????? Didn’t a bunch of Chinese workers just commit suicide because working conditions were so bad????
6) Free trade leads to unemployment (unenlightened answer: agree). ????????????????????????????????????????????????
Really, free trade has been good for America?????? Unemployment that was created by free trade was masked by a huge credit bubble. Free Trade may act like a rising tide and lift all boats in a world of endless cheap natural resources, but in a world with expensive adn limited resources it does indeed create unemployment. It creates a race to the bottom for employees, and since the US had higher wages it has been one of the biggest loosers.
7) Minimum wage laws raise unemployment (unenlightened answer: disagree). There is a lot of debate on this one. The counter arguement is lifting the wages of the poor creates a class that spends more money creating more economic activity.
Agree with all of your points, oxide.
Are you a libral?
Whatever the shortcomings of the way the article posed its questions, you have to confess that some of the basic economic tenants of “affordable housing policy” are patently insane — for instance, the notion that homes become more affordable after demand stimulus, which tends to lead to higher prices? Or the notion that the way to make homes affordable to low-income families is to get them into loans with little or no down payment requirement?
These lame policies were a driving force behind the bubble, and so far as I can see, nobody in DC who supports them even recognizes how harmful they were, particularly in terms of destroying the household financial stability of many low-income families.
notion that homes become more affordable after demand stimulus,
It doesn’t become less affordable?
If House would normally sell for 100k
Gov offers 8k stimulus
House sells for 108k. Buyer still pays 100k.
In reality the house may be more affordable initially as many sellers won’t immediately increase the price of their house by 8k. As demand rises and supply falls the price of the remaining houses will likely rise and may even go above the 108k price.
This case assume a relatively static market.
You forgot 2 things:
1) Leverage. For many empty-pockets buyers, $8K is a huge amount of money and may as well be their down payment. So, they leverage this 5:1 and end up increasing the price of the house by $40k, not merely $8K.
2) Spike in demand. People will rush to get the tax credit and are more likely to end up in bidding wars or overpaying to get in before the deadline.
“So, they leverage this 5:1 and end up increasing the price of the house by $40k, not merely $8K.”
I’ve posted here on that point no less than five times. This is why I expect the end of the $8K home buyer tax credit program to result in ‘larger than expected’ price declines which ‘no one could have seen coming.’
As I recall it was a tax credit and not money that showed up before the sale, but if indeed they used it as a down payment then it may increase the price more but not 40k. At the end of the day this says more about lending standards then it does the tax credit. If they accept the delayed 8k payment as the down payment then in essence they are saying you don’t need to have any skin in the game.
The max they can borrow from a bank is also influenced by their salary, credit record, and the current interest rate. If they can only afford a 100k house without the credit then the 8k will not allow them to afford a 140k house.
If using a 3.5% FHA loan, that $8,000 (which could be monetized and used as the down payment) gives the buyer $228K more in spending power.
If using a 20% down mortgage, buying power is increased by $40,000.
Now, when you consider the fact that this turns someone who didn’t qualify for a doghouse (zero down) into a person who now qualifies for a $228K house, the additional demand created by this tax credit is off the charts, IMHO.
Additionally, sellers were allowed to “credit” buyers with up to 6% of the purchase price for down payment assistance and closing costs. IIRC, this has recently been reduced to 3%.
With leverage, this credit — especially when combined with an FHA loan and seller credits — can absolutely move the market in a big way (IMHO).
Restrictions on housing development make housing less affordable.
What restrictions??
What is the supply demand situation at the time of the restrictions??
Say the restriction was that there could be no house built that was larger than 2500 sq feet, and no lot size larger than 10,000 sq feet? Would this make overall housing less affordable??? It might increase the cost of existing high priced homes but it might decrease the cost of smaller homes.
And what if the restriction was simply that, in order to develop x amount of homes, a certain amount have to be affordable to local low-income people? Now, the developer may add this cost onto the nicer homes he’s developing, but there would nonetheless be homes built that are more affordable due to the restriction.
And what about restrictions on monopolies? Surely that’s a restriction that lowers prices.
I give this professor a failing grade in surveys.
alpha-sloth
Many communities have the affordable housing component to some extent, and it does add some lower priced homes, but does tend to drive up the price of all other homes. Modestly done, it is a cost of doing business for the developer and accepted (tends to drive down land values to make the math work–affordable housing lots are often worth $0), but there are two problems that often arise:
1. The definition of who qualifies needs to be better defined. I’ve heard of stories where the recently graduated child of a wealthy person, gets in line for an “affordable” house because their income is low, and mom/dad give the down payment to help them buy the house. This is at the expense of the teacher, etc., who could really use the house and would benefit the community that is paying for the house via slightly higher home prices for all market rate units.
2. When the affordable component gets too high, it can essentially stop development, driving up prices. Maui has a 50% affordable requirement for some subdivisions, which, when combined with limited land area, and difficulty in obtaining entitlements, is stifling development.
How convenient to categorize an entire group of people based on the subjective interpretation of answers to one ambiguous question. It’s very sloppy work and/or an intentional effort to create a particular result.
You guys weren’t so upset with the Berkley study that said liberals were smarter than conservatives.
My issue is not with legitimate conclusions drawn from legitimate studies. My issue is with “studies” designed to yield a particular outcome.
Ask the “conservatives” what percent of government spending is on programs for the poor, and the percent of income paid in all taxes (not just federal income taxes) paid by those in different income groups, and you would get a similarly incorrect set of answers.
Basically, given the hypocricy of the past 30 years, anyone who identifies themselves with a specific political point of view is an idiot.
My preferred approach to partisan politics is to provide both sides with arguments that can be used to attack the other side’s position, then sit back and enjoy!
Got popcorn?
I liken this to putting lions into a gladiator pit, then throwing in some red meat and letting them have at it…
Frankly, I’m not happy with the sort of people who end up making non-decisions that affect my life and the lives of those I care about.
From a Machiavellian point of view, I can see why Republicans would be interested in making the government as unfair and inefficient as possible. Why Democrats in effect cooperate in making the libertarian case I don’t know, except that perhaps they just can’t help themselves.
I know this one. It depends on where the curves intersect.
Conclusion, conservatives tend to think in straight lines and lack abstract thinking abilities. Whereas, progressive liberals think in curves and are more capable of abstract thought.
I am disappointed in BB, I wanted it to ‘feel terrific’ !
Bernanke sees recovery gaining traction, but it won’t feel `terrific’
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Monday he is hopeful the economy will gain traction and not fall back into a “double dip” recession.
“My best guess is we will have a continued recovery, but it won’t feel terrific,” Bernanke said.
That’s because economic growth won’t be robust enough to quickly drive down the unemployment rate, now at 9.7 percent, he said in remarks to the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, a nonpartisan research group.
“My best guess is”
His best guess! The guy who created $1.3 trillion out of thin air to buy mortgage BS. Was that his best guess too?
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke admitted the central bank created $1.3 trillion out of thin air to buy mortgage backed securities. This shocking admission came from the Joint Economic Committee hearing on Capital Hill last week. I was dumbfounded when I saw Bernanke shake his head in the affirmative as Representative Ron Paul said, “Well, where did you get the money? You created this money. So you did monetize debt, and that went into the banking system.” I was amazed he admitted this. I looked up the original hearing on C-Span to make sure the clip was not edited. It was not.
Kind of sounding like Alan Greenspan. You know giving clues to the market so the investors know what to do.
Maybe a bigger “stimulus” was needed.
Time to bang the “duration” drum again. At this point it’s obvious these guys also know that the duration of this event will take the greatest toll, and his quotes IMHO plainly reveal that. A lot of expectations were pumped up in 2009-2010 and now they have to be “managed”.
Looking for volunteers, they’re trying to prime a broken pump.
“At this point it’s obvious these guys also know that the duration of this event will take the greatest toll, and his quotes IMHO plainly reveal that.”
And it would be nice to believe that the sheeple will eventually understand that the Fed and the Treasury are directly responsible for the remarkable duration. Everything they do is just extending the pain over a longer interval, in the interest of a more shallow decline.
My opinion is that this is a poor trade-off, as the longer duration will be more harmful in the end.
Thoughts of frogs and pots of boiling water come to mind.
Exactly right, PIC.
We might have been pretty close to a bottom in 2012 IF they had let things fall. With the way they’ve handled this, I think we will have to suffer for **decades** until we reach a bottom. In the meantime, a lot of very valuable resources have been/will be spent to prolong this pain.
A very poor choice, IMHO.
I Betcha BB and his fellow puppeteers are feeling ‘terrific’.
i bet GS feels terrific.
Not so terrific … the downside of recoveryless recoveries.
the downside of recoveryless recoveries.
What do they care about recovery they have consolidated financial and political power. They can just milk wealth from the system with or without a recovery.
Nailed it. That’s the whole idea.
It’s was what the 1980s were all about. Corporate raiders ring any bells? Junk bonds? Deregulation?
follow up question…(hand raised with a Horshack “ooh…ooh…ooh”):
“mr. ben…what would be your average guess…or worst guess?”
I suppose if you get to keep your job w/luscious bonuses and “create opportunities/scratch my back” connections it’ll feel a heck of a lot more terrific than it does for the overeducated schlep in unemployment whose last act of labor was to train his H1-B replacement.
Come on CarrieAnn, we all know that anyone who was replaced by an H1-B or had his job offshored was a bum!
Or not “business essential”. Heard that one recently from a VP when we were discussing arranging interviews with laid-off canditates…
“Why would we want to interview those laid-off by their former employers? They clearly were not business essential”.
While I am sure that is true in some cases, I don’t think you can apply a broad-brushstroke like that and stereotype all those laid-off in the same vein.
You can if you’re wealthy. It’s done every, single day. You see it even here.
Drop in Home Sales in Wake of Tax Credit Tops Forecast.
The withdrawal of federal tax credits for home buyers led to a steeper-than-expected plunge in May home sales in much of the U.S., as the housing market struggles to wean itself from government support.
Economists and real estate analysts expected home sales to slow after the tax credit, of as much as $8,000, expired at the end of April. But early data from real-estate brokers indicate that the sales decline has been far more substantial than expected, with some markets showing declines of 25% to 30%.
“Anybody who wanted to buy a house probably did” before the tax-credit deadline.
“Anybody who wanted to buy a house probably did” before the tax-credit deadline.
should read:
“Anybody who wanted to buy a house despite government reinflated prices probably did” before the tax-credit deadline.
But that does leave the rest of us! We’re waiting Obama.
How in the world did the NRA come up with the 6% real estate comission rule?
Over happy hour, a top real-estate acquientance was bragging about his latest sale: a 400k home in South Austin. I believe he will only pay the broker a ‘desk fee’. If he ends up getting 2/3 of the 3%, he’ll be banking 8k in a single transaction, which he’ll be using to go to the World Cup…
I’ve alwayst thought Realtor fees are way too high…
When did we stop providing such high compensation for such little work? I guess Wall Street is another example
It used to be 10% not that long ago.
What more evidence does one need to prove that housing sales through MLS is a racket or a crime syndicate?
So dont use one. Typicla lib attitude. I dont like it therefore it must be criminal. Easy fix Exy, buy and sell all you real estate fsbo and you can escape the syndicate. But where is the fun in that? You cant create more govt regulation that way.
So dont use one. Typicla lib attitude.
Do you mean the typical liberal attitude of wanting to remove the middle-man, empower the customers by increasing their access to information and thus create a more efficient market?
Ryo you are more predictable than a fine Swiss watch.
You’re an odd person to be making that accusation.
Nothing is more hilarious than watching a completely incompetent(and likely underaged), uneducated, right wing fool get smacked down with his own twisted ideology.
Well done again EddieTard.
Do you mean the typical liberal attitude of wanting to remove the middle-man, empower the customers by increasing their access to information and thus create a more efficient market?
Right on, Rio!
You know, they did make a bunch of very strange laws and court decisions about using the web to market your house.
Not sure where everything is at now but they were trying to block FSBO as a listing service and other anticompetative practices.
NAR ended up getting taken to court about some anti-competative practices but not sure if they found some judge willing to take a payoff.
The DOJ vs. NAR ruling had some good stuff in it. Now, if you go to some of the real estate websites (Redfin, for one), you can see the history of sale price according to the recorder’s data. Transparency is open to those willing to do their due diligence. I was active (letter writer) in saying the secrecy of the UHS was not free market, and those in the “know” had unfair advantage to manipulate the buyer. The consumer won on some key points.
The NAR was trying to block online transactions and transparency of data, iirc.
The NAR was trying to block certain brokerages (like Redfin, Help-U-Sell, etc.) from showing the more traditional brokers’ listings on their sites.
The NAR didn’t like the fact that these new entities were rebating commissions, lowering commissions, etc.; so they tried to black-ball them.
Not if you were selling $50-99K houses which were normal all over America before the bubble……
————————–
I’ve alwayst thought Realtor fees are way too high…
Well historically it took homes more than 6 months to sell a house, and the average home was less than 200k. The average Realtor only sold about 5-10 homes per year, some less. Thus, $30k-60k in commissions less extensive advertising fees, and the costs and expensives of office space, computers, MLS serervice, etc. Thus, at the end of the day, a Realtor was lucky to make $30k a year. When modest homes pushed above $500k in many areas, the reason the commissions did not change is that people did not demand it. If everyone said I will only pay 3% in total commissions, they would accept 3%. If you have a home over $400k dont be scared to demand you pay 5% or less. It is really selfish not too because then you are contributing to the problem.
Also don’t be afraid to go the FSBO route.
With the internet, FSBO is a viable option, but I would not throw caution to the wind, and not use a R E Attorney and an Escrow Co. Most FSBO’s are clueless, just trying to save themselves from the “pick pockets” (aka UHS). FSBO is work. Most folks I’ve met, don’t want to work to sell their place. So samk, I agree, but only if you aren’t going to “pray” for results. Your local R E Assoc/Board hdqtrs usually has a bookstore. It starts with prep.
And don’t be afraid to ask them to lower their commission.
I’m the NRA. I’ll give up my 6% commission when you pry it from my COLD, DEAD HANDS!
Depends on how many he sell and how often. If he does one a month, after paying say 40% in FIT and FICA he is down ton $4,800 before desk fee, auto expenses etc.
Selling anything on straight commission, and particularly real estate would be a tough way to make a living. I have no particular love for RE agents, but I do have grudging respect for anyone who lives on straight commission.
I couldn’t do it.
I am an agent for international fabric manufacturers and work on a commission only basis … must say that it is good and bad, although mostly good due to the freedom afforded by the inter-dependent relationship.
Use Redfin.
My understanding is their brokers are paid a salary, and get paid more if they have satisfied customers. No commissions.
Rogue trader Jérôme Kerviel is on trial.
“No doubt I committed errors,” he wrote. “I overrode the usual methods, loaded false data to disguise gains, as well as losses. In a word, I pushed the system to its limit… But [what] was happening around me? [A] giant fraud perpetrated by all the trading floors in the world. To get good results, any tricks were permitted. The golden rule of the banking culture was simple: if you win, you are in the right; if you lose you are wrong and you’re out.”
Shhhhhhhh. Lower your voice. We don’t want to scare the sheeple.
Don’t look now. Half the sheeple have already adopted the same mantra.
He said it. The stars of finance are merely those who rolled a seven on their first few throws.
“if you win, you are in the right; if you lose you are wrong and you’re out.””
Let’s correct this:
if you win, you are in the right; if you’re a small fish that got caught you’re charged and brought to trial.”
As I’ve said…
The Shadow knows!
Palm Beach County foreclosure filings down again in May
by Kim Miller
Despite national predictions of a pending increase in foreclosures, Palm Beach County filings are down again in May, the third straight month of decline.
The Palm Beach County Clerk and Comptroller released its May results this morning, showing 1,431 default filings were submitted last month. That’s a 40 percent decrease from May of 2009 and about 100 fewer than April.
There are many reasons why the initial filings could be down, including new rules that require lenders to look for the mortgage note prior to filing for foreclosure, increased attempts at loan workouts, and mediation requirements.
Also, there remains a significant backlog of foreclosure court cases in the county. It’s estimated more than 53,000 cases are still trying to work through the system.
The Florida Legislature allocated $6 million to the state’s courts this year, and $3.6 million to Florida’s 67 Clerks of Courts, to help alleviate the backlog statewide.
Banks in ‘Downward Spiral’ Buying Capital in Discredited CDOs
(Bloomberg) — U.S. banks are fighting to preserve the use of securities that help them appear better capitalized, even as their investments in each others’ notes perpetuate what one regulator calls a “downward spiral” of losses.
The cross-ownership, largely unnoticed by bank supervisors who generally discourage the practice, was made possible by a Wall Street innovation like the ones that allowed subprime mortgages to flourish. Small lenders, such as Riverside National Bank of Florida, were able to sell trust-preferred securities, known as TruPS, because investment bankers packaged them with those issued by dozens of other financial institutions.
Riverside, which started in a trailer in 1982, bought collateralized debt obligations made up of TruPS as it grew to 65 branches and $4.8 billion assets. When real estate soured and lenders racked up loan losses, Riverside and about 400 of its peers suspended interest payments on their TruPS, causing the CDOs to default or lose value and inflicting more harm on an industry suffering from the worst economy since the 1930s.
…were able to sell trust-preferred securities, known as
TruPSTruPoS, because investment bankers packaged them with those issued by dozens of other financial institutions.Mark to Fantasy, baybee! Shagadelic!
There’s that phrase again: “Wall Street innovation”.
Maybe I’ll go rob a Wally-world, but tell everyone that “I’ve found a new, innovative way to enhance my income.”
All financial “innovation” falls into one of two categories:
1) A new betting game
2) A new way to extract even more wealth from a debtor without the debtor realizing it.
Someone needs to put a leash on “Wall Street Innovation”. It’s not going to be this current crop of politicians, who are massively beholden to the financial industry (check out opensecrets.org sometime to who contributes to whom).
Medicaid Cut Places States in Budget Bind.
(AP) Having counted on Washington for money that may not be delivered, at least 30 states will have to close larger-than-anticipated shortfalls in the coming fiscal year unless Congress passes a six-month extension of increased federal spending on Medicaid.
Governors and state lawmakers, already facing some of the toughest budgets since the Great Depression, said the repercussions would extend far beyond health care, forcing them to make deep cuts to education, social services and public safety.
Gov. Edward G. Rendell of Pennsylvania, for instance, penciled $850 million in federal Medicaid assistance into the revenue side of his state’s ledger, reducing its projected shortfall to $1.2 billion. The only way to compensate for the loss, he said in an interview, would be to lay off at least 20,000 government workers, including teachers and police officers, at a time when the state is starting to add jobs.
“It would actually kill everything the stimulus has done,” said Mr. Rendell, a Democrat. “It would be enormously destructive.”
Gregoire warns of massive layoffs if Medicaid funding vanishes
OLYMPIA (AP) — Gov. Chris Gregoire is warning there could be massive job cuts statewide without federal aid.
Gregoire wants Congress to provide $23 billion in Medicaid funding, and our state is counting on $480 million of it.
Without it, she says thousands of local families won’t get medical services, and the state may have to lay off 6,000-12,000 workers
She says if there was a special session and the legislature acted quickly to fill the gap, the state would cut 6,000 jobs, but if the legislature waited until January when it regularly meets, there could be 12,000 job cuts.
Is that the sound of the medical bubble starting to burst??
Not around here……the AMA is running radio ads telling people to call their Congressman to get “our Medicaid back”
When I was at the day surgery center with my wife a nurse there told us how there was this 475lb lady that Medicaid paid to have her get a gastric bypass 5 TIMES since they would do the operation once, then she would keep eating and eventually stretch out her stomach and gain back all the weight, then they would have to operate again to reduce the size of her stomach further then she would keep on eating and so on.
I live in the state of Washington an am appalled that my tax dollars went to pay for this 5 times over for someone who obviously did not care about her weight and health (Medicaid paid for this due to diabetes - not because she wanted it for cosmetic reasons) enough to change her lifestyle to become healthy after the taxpayers were kind enough after one surgery that would make it possible for her to lose the weight and become healthy.
I guess you do not give a crap when you are not the one paying for it…
That nurse better STFU since she just violated that patient’s HIPPA rights. If that guy and his wife see a 475 lb. lady in the clinic, then they’ll know exactly who the patient was that the nurse was GOSSIPING about, and the nurse could ( and should ) be right out the door and possibly out of her license to practice, also. Like, duh, nursie.
Oh come on Silverback, when does privacy mean covering up medicaid fraud?
She should be rewarded.
“That nurse better STFU since she just violated that patient’s HIPPA rights.”
In this case it sounds more like “HIPPO” rights.
Doesn’t matter. She has NO right to gossip about one patient to another patient. BS. If you HIV, were a murderer, or a rapist, or were a famous car driver that had been in a raceway accident, would you like to be gossiped about by a medical worker ? I think not. She obviously has mental health problems as well as physical ones. Her repeated obsession with gastric bypass vs. eating is not really a “choice”. She’s nuts. Maybe the people at Medicaid in your state were nuts to pre-approve the surgeries, since no one can walk in off the street and say “gimme a gastric bypass today” and get one. But she, as a patient of that hospital or clinic, has as much right to her privacy and caring treatment as you do as handsome, low-blood pressure, non-diabetic, entirely well-adjusted, tax-paying man who is no doubtedly nice to his kids, his dog, and probably feeds a hungry kitty and pets a perky pony every day of his life. Give me a break.
BTW, I’d rather pay for 50 bypasses ( or really, psychiatric counseling, which might actually help her ) with my tax dollars, than support one effing child rapist or murderer with my tax dollars, who also, by the way, are sent by my state to our eminent medical facility and get top treatment by our fine surgeons and other experts, and have to be accorded every courtesy even as they’re locked down on 4-way cuffs. In my state, state prisoners have Aetna for their professional fees (doctors, etc.), and Blue Cross for their facility ( hospital ) fees. Don’t kid yourself, these people aren’t on any stinkin’ Medicaid.I shoul know; I’ve coded, billed, and collected several hundred thousand dollars for our institution for these bas—–ds. Nothing but the finest for the killers and gangsters. You’d be surprised. So go ahead and laugh at the sick “hippo” lady, but think about the cold-blooded criminals that are really getting first-class care with your never-ending stream of tax dollars the next time you sneer about her plight.
I’m not a doctor, but I can just about guarantee that no one has had 5 gastric bypass surgeries. Even having the surgery twice is very risky and therefore very rare. 5 times would be unheard of. Perhaps your nurse just likes to spread disinformation?
That story does not pass the smell test.
The medicos have capitulated on self-control for the obese and prescribe the operations instead. They just flat gave up, tired of hassling the patients, who get all irritated being told to eat less and exercise more.
Thing is, when they get the operation they still have to eat less to keep the weight off and not get sick. It isn’t magic though the patients seem to think so.
The tax payers would have been better served paying 50K to put a hit on that lady.
The tax payers would have been better served paying 50K to put a hit on that lady.
Yeah, and don’t forget the $5k it would cost to hire a crane to bury her.
Your tax dollars were wasted because they misdiagnosed the problem.
5 times is an obvious brain chemistry imbalance. Same thing that drives all obsessive compulsives.
I guess you do not give a crap when you are not the one paying for it…
Well, being a self-employed person with high deductible insurance, I am paying for it. And, believe you me, I do watch my medical/dental expenditures very carefully.
I’ve told y’all about sidestepping things that were presented to me as mandatory, but after getting second opinions, they weren’t. There’s a lot of that going on, as any of us can attest.
It’s just starting to dawn on these people that the stimulus was just a temporary stay on the inevitable.
*****************************
“It would actually kill everything the stimulus has done,” said Mr. Rendell, a Democrat. “It would be enormously destructive.”
“It would actually kill everything the stimulus has done,” said Mr. Rendell, a Democrat. “It would be enormously destructive.”
Cause I would have to lay off at least 20,000 public union workers - who nearly all vote democrat and are forced, through union dues, to financially support democrat candidates…
Here in WA state, its $450 million. The legislature jumped through huge hoops to close a $200 million shortfall just last February. I don’t think they can even hope to deal with another $450 Million.
Some folks on Medicaid are just going to have to die. That how medicine will be rationed in the future.
Poor Poor pitiful meeeeeeee………Linda Ronstadt
===================================
06/07/2010 10:33 PM
NYCHA: Voucher Program Running Out Of Cash
By: NY1 News
Dozens of Section 8 recipients sounded off Monday night against the New York City Housing Authority over news the agency may have to suspend housing vouchers due to a lack of funding.
The meeting was sponsored by the group Picture the Homeless.
Many fear they will end up on the street if they lose their housing vouchers. The city says there just isn’t enough cash to sustain the voucher program.
“The answer I have is the truth. And the truth is that unless the budget allocates the funding necessary to fund the vouchers — the voucher programs will die. It’s as simple as that,” said New York City Housing Authority board member Margarita Lopez. “We are trying, we NYCHA, are trying to make very hard decisions to sustain this program as much as possible.”
“Come August, I have no where to go. My son and I will probably gonna end up out in the street again, I don’t want that for him. He deserves better,” said one NYCHA resident.
The federal government says it gave city officials warning months in advance that it would be receiving less funding.
City officials say they’re currently in discussions with the Obama Administration to try to get more money for the program.
“City officials say they’re currently in discussions with the Obama Administration to try to get more money for the program”.
What city or state isn’t running hat in hand to uncle sugar?
So many cities, so many counties, so many states. Is Uncle Sugar up to the task?
“Is Uncle Sugar up to the task”?
That remains to be seen, a whole lot of folks believe that the pit is bottomless.
Listened to a news blurb this AM… “Federal government looking at ways to trim budget”
Lets see how that works out.
No way will they trim budgets.
The printing press will continue at 11. Unfortunately money is disappearing at 12??
Eventually, there will be infinite money… and it will all be worthless and still not a match for our debts.
We’re seeing the first signes of the sugar money running out.
Last I heard we have another 200-300 million budget shortfall in Colorado. More cutting ahead as TABOR makes it very hard to raise taxes here.
In our paper today there was an article about how the federal government will cut a $2 million annual contribution to a wildlife area in Auburn, CA. Used to be the site of a future dam that was killed as part of the usual California water wars. I thought it was interesting because Auburn is one of the most Republican areas around here.
“Many fear they will end up on the street if they lose their housing vouchers.”
Sadly, the working people paying the welfare class’s bills fear the same.
It’s time for mass squatting, provide an incentive for lenders to unload all of their excess inventory.
We pay, by and large, to keep ‘em pacified. Once the free medical care, housing, food et cetera ends, expect anarchy coming to a neighborhood near you (think Greece, only worse).
Remember the Grey Panthers from about 20 years ago when they tried to reform Social Security and Medicare?
Medical rationing is going to happen one way or another, it would be far better to do it in a thoughtful and systematic manner, but that ain’t gonna happen.
For 50 MILLION people, medical rationing is already happening.
Do try and keep up with the times, people.
Tax Hikes and the 2011 Economic Collapse.
Today’s corporate profits reflect an income shift into 2010. These profits will tumble next year, preceded most likely by the stock market.
People can change the volume, the location and the composition of their income, and they can do so in response to changes in government policies.
It shouldn’t surprise anyone that the nine states without an income tax are growing far faster and attracting more people than are the nine states with the highest income tax rates. People and businesses change the location of income based on incentives.
John Fund of WSJ’s Political Diary breaks down Tuesday’s most interesting primary contests. Also, WSJ Columnist Mary Anastasia O’Grady translates the latest economic signals from Washington.
Likewise, who is gobsmacked when they are told that the two wealthiest Americans—Bill Gates and Warren Buffett—hold the bulk of their wealth in the nontaxed form of unrealized capital gains?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704113504575264513748386610.html
Everyone should be forced to mark to market all their assets every 12/31. Limit loss carryforward to $3000 and tax virtual cap gains. Ok ?
Not ok. Personally, I manage the realization of my gains and losses. If you are going to force the mark to market every 12/31, then you can’t limit the loss carryforward to $3,000.
You can’t have it both ways.
Well that would ensure a fat finger flash crash every December 31.
That’s not how free and efficient markets work. If all market participants knew ‘mark-to-market’ would occur on Dec 31 and believed firms had been hiding bad news, they would shade the price at which they would be willing to hold shares on Dec 30 to reflect the expected drop in value; i.e., the shares would already reflect rational expectations for bad-news-adjusted share prices as of Dec 30. A Fat Finger Boy crash only happens when unanticipated bad news leaks out into the market without warning, such as the sudden, shocking realization that the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis is not contained.
It shouldn’t surprise anyone that the nine states without an income tax are growing far faster and attracting more people than are the nine states with the highest income tax rates.
Hmm… like Florida?
I’d need to see the numbers on that one.
“It shouldn’t surprise anyone that the nine states without an income tax are growing far faster and attracting more people than are the nine states with the highest income tax rates.”
My favorite appears to have expressed a declaration of its state principles should the fed gov go too far. Just the fact that they recognize and publically prepare for that possibility makes me want to move there tomorrow. I keep telling hubby I’ll find a job there (where my old contacts are) and he can join me later. Somehow he’s not buying that plan.
I don’t hear any talk of Florida going bankrupt.
Unlike California, where taxes are sky high.
Under which financial setup would you rather live ?
I can’t imagine moving to California by choice. Granted, parts of CA are gorgeous, but it seems to be economically out of touch with reality on a personal financial level.
Florida was a great place to live in the 1990’s before the real estate prices decoupled from reality and the hurricane cycle moved into its active phase.
If I had to choose between the two, it’s Florida for me.
Go Gators!
Having never been to California, I can’t comment on living there over Florida. But from everything I’ve heard, many, many people would live there over anywhere else if I weren’t for any number of things like taxes, housing costs, population, etc. And even with that, it’s still the most populous state in the U.S.
Florida on the other hand has no taxes, but wages are exceptionally low and the infrastructure just plain stinks. There’s only one main North/South road in the whole area, other than the highway. It’s horrible. And up unit a few years ago, it was only two lanes each way.
If I moved to California, I would most assuredly get a big bump in pay, which would more than offset the state and local taxes. Of course, the housing costs would be a whole different story.
“I can’t comment on living there over Florida.”
- No humidity
- No noxious insects attacking the second you step outdoors
- No alligators (except the underwater mortgage variety)
- Fire, earthquake, flood and mudslide risk substituted for hurricane risk
- Worse traffic
- Longer commutes
- Higher housing costs
- Loopier politics
It shouldn’t surprise anyone that the nine states without an income tax are growing far faster and attracting more people than are the nine states with the highest income tax rates.
FWIW, most “no income tax states” have lots of other taxes to make up for the missing income tax. Ever see what property taxes are like in Texas? IIRC my sister pays something like $4000 a year for a 150K house. That woould be about $1000 here in Loveland (I pay $2000 for a 350K house).
PIck your poison.
Exactly. Best case is to live in a state with sales tax and moderate RE tax on the border of a state with no sales tax and high RE tax. That’s what i do.
Or do like Bush 1 did, and have a rinky-dink little apartment that allows you to claim to be a citizen of a no tax state like Texas, without having to actually live there.
For tax purposes, you specify where you intend to relocate after you leave office. He did go back to Texas after leaving office, so he wasn’t using that just for a tax dodge while in office.
Then why did he bother to maintain a tiny apartment in Texas during his vice-presidency and presidency? Remember- I’m talking about Bush 1, not 2.
And are you sure a president’s taxes are determined by where he intends to live after leaving office? I’m pretty sure they’re determined by whatever state they claim residence in at that time, ie Obama pays Illinois state taxes, because that’s his legal residence right now. Your method sounds rather obtuse. How do they know where they’re going to live in 4 to 8 years? And if they change their mind partway through, or at the end, do they have to get refunds from one state and pay back-taxes to the new one? Be a lot easier and more logical just to pay your taxes to wherever your current legal residence is, no? That’s how all other US citizens do it, seems kind of odd to carve out a needless exception just for the pres.
Yes, because not having an income tax is really helping Florida right now.
yeah right. i will believe this article if the total tax burden was the point, not income tax only. for example, california has a very low property tax but very high income/sales tax and thus a chronically magnified boom and bust. other states with a more balance income/sales/property tax are in better positions to weather boom and bust cylcles.
“People can change the volume, the location and the composition of their income, and they can do so in response to changes in government policies.”
At LEAST 70 million Americans can’t. But let’s just forget that inconvenient fact, shall we?
One thing I hate about this article amoung many!
They bring out the GDP stick.
Reagan was busy running up a lot of debt in those years and at first the economy took off. A bunch of bubbles built up in the stock market, defense and real estate. Then it all went to hell in time for GB1 to arrive.
Well. Ole George was doing the right thing, maybe, increasing taxes and cutting military spending somewhat. So, you all got rid of the guy. And the congress that did it.
Then ole Billy Clinton, Rubin and Greeny starting to mess with reserve requirements. And an even bigger bubble was born created with lots of freshly unleashed new money. The new money took hold and beautiful new bubbles formed. Tech stocks and SUVs. And there was innovation at the same time.
Sadly that all came to an end too. Just in time for the village idiot to get into office. Well, the new bubble blew up again. Since ole Greeny was still there and one of Rubin’s evil children was the SOT well, guess what they did. Blew another bubble.
Now, we get to look back and selectivly pick out what ever peice of history we wish to pick at and lie to ourselves about which unsustainable government policy was the best one. The Bill Clinton model Or the Reagan model. Or the GWB model.
The we replaced him with a cute new pet monkey. Enjoy his amazing policies. Maybe we get another turn at another bubble. Then again, maybe our fat, stupid, lazy, internet posting, facebook surfing, non productive asses are going to get exactally what we deserve. A big kick.
The great irony in life is that we are sensing the wrong things….
Everytime you are building up a bunch of debt, spending, you are getting poorer but it feels so good. We all love that tonic of easy money. Everytime you are working off that debt, getting wealthier or at least less poor, it feels awful.
Just like diet and exercise vs indulgence and sloth. Which one do people enjoy most? Clearly it’s sloth and indulgence.
Maybe it is our time to head down histories toilet. We’ve clearly done quite enough.
More factory jobs ease economic pain
Job gains in Midwest ease economic stress to lowest level in 5 months, AP stress map shows
WASHINGTON (AP) — Manufacturing job gains in the Midwest helped lower the nation’s economic stress in April to its lowest point in five months, according to The Associated Press’ monthly analysis of conditions around the country.
Contributing to the improvement were lower foreclosure rates in two states with beaten-down housing markets: California and Florida.
Economic stress levels dipped in every state except Louisiana and Nevada in April. They also declined in more than 90 percent of the nation’s 3,141 counties, according to AP’s Economic Stress Index.
The “analysts” were about 400,000 jobs short last month of where they THOUGHT it ought to be.
I think I called this one. As mentioned before, the coasts are still insane but midwest and middle america are back into 1990’s price ranges.
Has anyone here seen homeless on the streets in their neighborhood?
Only the normal few nomadic types, bikes and backpacks. Winterkill makes being homeless in NY kind of impractical. Oh wait, I am homeless. Well, winter is a long way off…….
Where is here?
Not on our street, but our city has had a growing number. It may have something to do with our friendly policies and the fact our so called “leaders” are planning to build a new 10 million dollar homeless shelter, even though the surrounding neighborhoods are 100% opposed.
Geez isn’t an armory or all those empty factory buildings good enough to keep their butts off the street?
We have buildings empty for 2 years or more…that are climate controlled and close to the subway and bus lines and they want to do the same where i live…build new.
“Geez isn’t an armory or all those empty factory buildings good enough to keep their butts off the street”?
Absolutely!! But our city bleeding hearts don’t want anyone to go without a state of the art facility. To hell with what the taxpayer footing the bill thinks.
Hmm, they’ve been lobbying for an expanded center in Missoula, as well. Seems to be going around, probably because *everyone knows* how bad it is out there ITE. Very clever.
But all it does is attract more and more reckless and feckless nomads downtown.
“But all it does is attract more and more reckless and feckless nomads downtown”.
That’s what’s happening in central S.C. folks don’t go downtown on main street especially after dark. Panhandlers abound, not to mention an up-tick in muggings. All this while the PTB claim to be “revitalizing” the area.
When I lived in Hyannis, there were homeless on the streets and many in the woods behind people’s homes.
*********************
Has anyone here seen homeless on the streets in their neighborhood?
Yes. Every Wednesday morning a few show up to go through the recycling container we set out the night before.
Yes, but I live in downtown Norfolk. There has always been homeless. They are working to move the union mission out of downtown though.
Has anyone here seen homeless on the streets in their neighborhood?
We have tons of them here. We call them “tourists”.
I see the homeless in the park that’s at the end of my street. Also saw a guy fishing through a neighbor’s recycle bin yesterday. He was probably looking for aluminum cans, as he was pushing a shopping cart full of them.
Looks like the Spaniards are starting to get a little restless, protests will be next.
Our daughter wants to do a semester abroad in Spain within the next year. We’re thinking of having her wait.
FEMA camps; fact or fiction?
Never let a good crisis go to waste.
Not needed. Overpriced houses make the perfect prison.
Time to make the donuts, FBs!
I see the
FEMA cattle carsI mean the auto carriers rolling down the tracks past the building I work in every day.There is a youtube video where Bill Clinton answers that question. His answer didn’t particularly leave me feeling warm and fuzzy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJ05vt7iURE
Sorry, the video on this is horrible but at least you get the audio.
LOL- That video is a crock! Please tell me you weren’t persuaded by that pitiful cut-and-paste job. Do you notice he never says any of the key words of her question in his ‘answer’?
BTW, I live in Kentucky and travel all over it. I never noticed any of these huge, multi-county UN concentration camps (I chuckle to even be writing about them) and I never, ever heard anyone mention them. Sure was a well-kept secret locally despite supposedly being discussed at a presidential press conference.
I found a ‘clean’ version of the video. It occurred! But it clearly jumps over part of his answer. Sarah McClendon- a one woman news service. She’s a trip, worth googling. And to her credit, she’s asking him to -deny- the rumors, which he laughingly does. Probably more clearly in the part that’s clearly snipped out.
Well I didn’t go out and stock up on ammunition if that’s what you mean. I just kind of filed it in the back of my mind (w/slight discomfort) and moved on. I don’t really spend a lot of time on youtube. My kids do though. They’re 11 and 13. Maybe that should have been my first clue.
Interesting to start looking at stock screeners based on price/book ratios these days. BAC, JPM, C are below 1. But I won’t touch any of those with a ten foot pole.
Metropolitan Life looks interesting, as does Deutsch Telecom. DT yields 10% and you have to be wondering if there is something fundamentally wrong with a stock that is lower than it was five years ago. But who comes up with these “Book Value per share” estimates anyway?
Cash is king until stocks are way undervalued. And some just may be way undervalued!
Where’s all that Cost Averaging talk?
I dollar cost average in stock mutual funds, not individual stocks. In fact, out of $500,000, about $70,000 is in individual stocks and the rest in stock mutual funds. Buy regularly. Lower your basis.
Met Life won the Biggest Payoff from the housing bubble sold the 11,000 apartment complex here for $5.4 billion, to Tischman Sprye and they just gave it back to the banks who stupidly gave them so much $$ to over pay for it…Met life is happy
Look hard at MET’s book value. They hold lots of mortgage related assets, both resi and commercial, plus other hard to value private placement assets. Do you think they have marked down those assets enough? If not, then BV overstated.
BINGO
Although after reading the story on how MET LIFE off loaded Struyvesant Town Apartments onto the US tax payer at a huge profit via Blackrock and Tishman Speyer makes me think that they knew what was coming.
The deal
Tishman Speyer Buys METLIFE building for a song and gets a guaranteed long term lease.
Then Tishman Speyer and Blackrock buy Struyvesant Town Apts, from Metlife. They pay sky high price of 5.4 billion. TS put’s in very little of it’s own money, and makes good money for managing apts, debt is quickly sold off to GSE’s and Pensions by black rock which makes big commission.
End result
Metlife sells apts for way more then they were worth.
TS buys Met life building for a song and risks very little money on apt purchase. Debt holders eventualy take over the building for a 40-50% haircut.
Blackrock makes big commission on selling 5.4 billion in debt.
The only looser GSE’s and Pensions.
For the 12 mos ending on 12-31-2009, total cash dividends paid = $4.3b EUR, total net income = $0.9b EUR
For the 12 mos ending on 12-21-2008, total cash dividends paid = $4.0b EUR, total net income = $2.0b EUR
For the 12 mos ending on 12-31-2007, total cash dividends paid = $3.8b EUR, total net income = $1.1b EUR
For the 12 mos ending on 12-21-2006, total cash dividends paid = $3.2b EUR, total net income = $3.6b EUR
SOURCE: Google Finance, statement of CASH FLOWS for ticker symbol DT
I wouldn’t dare buy any dividend paying security with back-to-back-to-back yearly dividend payout ratios exceeding 1. However, I would be very interested in DT when the dividend payout < 0.25, and the stock is selling at a 75% discount from five years ago. Seriously, this is a very real possibility. And if this never happens, I still have my capital to invest in something else some other day
So many off balance sheet vehicles and “assets” that are marked to fantasy.
Yeah, I get where you are at but they could keep apearing in and out of solvency for two decades.
I’m sure they are insolvent, just wonder if they get liquidated at some point. Probably, like GM, a pre planned break up where you get massive dilution and bond holders get jerked around.
Here you go… I put the banks into the high stakes gambling category…
from seekingalpha article Tony Abbate…avoid-the-too-big-to-fail-too-difficult-to-understand-banks-and-look-at-a-low-risk-easy-to-understand-insurance-stock
These are the so called ‘Toxic Assets’ that the press has latched onto during the financial crisis. I cannot understand these assets or whether the prices assigned to them are reflective of their true value. (I think almost nobody does.) The table above shows each company’s net exposure. The Net Level 3 Exposure consists of deducting each company’s Level 3 liabilities from their Level 3 assets and dividing the difference by the bank’s net equity. I still think each company’s Level 3 exposure is quite high. Also, Bank of America’s and J.P. Morgan’s derivative exposure of between $1.4 and $1.5 trillion concerns me.
If you are better at valuations than I am, bully for you. On the one hand you might pick a winner a the bottom of a credit cycle and everything comes up roses. OTOH, the PTB might decide to cut off the gravy train and not pay out the derivatives contracts. As my wife noted with the TBTF bailouts “why would they stop now”. Basically they are commited after the 750 billion TARP give away and the 750 billion AIG give away. It is a dangerous game and you are working to guess when Bernake and the insiders have decided they are going to pull the plug.
Good luck my friend!
Buy strong stocks in strong sectors in an upward trending market.
Short weak stocks in weak sectors in a downward trending market.
When in doubt, go flat. Stay out of the market when there is no discernible trend.
Peter Nevarro
Also, never average down. If the trade goes against you, your assumption were wrong. Sell and move on.
I did quite the opposite 2 years ago with SKF. I was so convinced that banks were holding enormous amounts of over valued assets that I kept dollar cost averaging on every dip. I ended up owning a nice chunk at about $78 share. Got out at circa $140. Sick when it hit $210. Damm happy now though.
Course that was anything but a normal market.
“I kept dollar cost averaging on every dip”
That’s not averaging down. That’s adding to your position at every base formation. Moreover, in reality you were shorting an obviously weak sector. It might have been more profitable to short the end of the loan distribution channel (New Century etc / weak stocks in weak sectors) and work your way back vertically to the warehouses (Lehman, Citigroup) as everything collapsed to the center.
Congratulations, nonetheless. It’s always easier in retrospect.
Thanks. Just an amateur trying to hustle a buck.
Believe it or not, the same pattern is developing with sovereigns (weakest debt in weakest regions). Hence, all the austerity headlines, credit rating downgrades, and price action in gold, euro, and other currencies.
“Course that was anything but a normal market.”
Efficient markets are inherently ‘abnormal,’ as every predictable move can and is exploited, leaving behind the chaotic Cantor dust of unpredictable moves.
That’s why technical analysis is about as convincing as reading tea leaves.
easier said than done.
9 year old apartment building in Belltown/Seattle to be “deconstructed”
From the blog entry of week #30:
“I had an interesting exchange with a certain reader last week, detailing the possible reasons for the eternal scaffold. Basically, the building’s exterior is so poorly constructed that dwarf army work crews have to re-attach balconies, lest they give way and spill their occupants into the street. He also mentioned something about the seals around all the windows being faulty due to the emission of sulfuric gas by imported gypsum board when it’s exposed to moisture. Yeah, who could have predicted that would happen? I mean, somebody had to know in advance. He also sketched out a dire financial scenario for the McGuire’s owners, managers and contractors. So essentially, the McGuire is going through a really rough patch. It’s badly built and it’s broke.”
oops…forgot the link
http://tinyurl.com/The-McGuire-Building
That was all over the local rag a few months ago. The McGuire’s owners paid thousands of dollars to each of the residents to get them to break their leases and leave. The local apartment owners’ association was overjoyed, and were publicly bragging that now they could boost rents by $300-$500 per unit throughout the city since there would be some 200+ people looking for apartments all at once, and now there would be a shortage of apartments. They neglected to take into account the 3000+ new units opening up during the current year, plus the thousands of empty condos languishing on the market. I did notice a brief uptick in average asking rents ( I monitor this by skimming through Craigslist and a few other sites ) which are now back to the pre-McGuire-closing levels and trending lower.
Also, the McGuire was 50% owned by the carpenter’s union. Who would have thought
MLS #: FX7356216
Capitulation is a dish best served cold.
this is in a neighborhood of northern va close to tyson’s corner where people are buying lots, tearing down the 50s style rambler and building new homes. this lot wold have been close to 600K at the height of the market. it was bought in 2004 for 480K. i think at this price (315K) it is around 2001 prices. the largets decline i have seen in the 22180 zip code.
Everything within 50+ miles of DC needs to be taught an economic lesson with regard to the reality of the Housing Bubble / Bust. The insanity here is still epic, and people still think that housing prices will start going back up (or that they *still* “only go up!”) in short order. Nobody can understand that prices cannot sit at 5x household income forever.
I’m in central Maryland and know several people in the DC Metro area who are homeowners. They are all howling at me (well intentioned) to buy because clearly, according to them, the bottom is here or nearly here and prices are only going to go up from here.
I certainly don’t want them to lose any money on their investments, but I tell them that I don’t think the last chapter in this real estate show (farce?) has been written. After that, I just nod politely and change try to change the subject.
Brett Arends’ ROI
June 8, 2010, 12:01 a.m. EDT
The bad news - bad news on jobs
Commentary: Five reasons the employment numbers are worse than they seem
By Brett Arends, WSJ dot com and MarketWatch
BOSTON (MarketWatch) — The news on jobs isn’t as bad as it seemed on Friday.
It’s worse.
President Obama and Treasury Secretary Geithner were trying to putting on a happy face, but the markets weren’t buying. They have tumbled worldwide since the latest payroll data.
But instead of overreacting, the markets may only just be waking up to the real bad news.
…
. Look out ahead.
1. people haven’t realized is that the leading indicators for June are even worse. TrimTabs Investment Research Inc. tracks the real-time jobs picture by monitoring income tax deposits at the Treasury. And these have suddenly started falling. Based on the latest data, the firm predicts the economy will actually lose up to 200,000 jobs, net, in June. “The big news is that we have a job loss of about 200,000 coming in June,” says Trim Tabs’ Madeline Schnapp, “and the market isn’t ready for it.”
2. The government says the unemployment rate “edged down” to 9.7% — keeping it below the politically sensitive 10% level. Read more jobs coverage.
But that’s only because about one and a half million people have just, miraculously “disappeared” from the official labor force.
Cooking the books get’s harder and harder as you go along.
5. In the quest for some more cheerful news, the government said for those who do have jobs, average hourly earnings were up 1.9% from a year ago.
Good, yes?
Er, not really.
The government also reported that those workers produced 2.8% more goods and services per hour. So they actually got paid about 1% less for each widget they made
Nice summary Green Shoots
More evidence of deflation.
Got cash?
Its getting DAILY this stuff:
——————————————
Union Plans to Sue CPS
Unprecedented lawsuit planned
By ANDREW GREINER
Updated 8:32 AM CDT, Tue, Jun 8, 2010
The Chicago Teacher’s Union plans to take legal action against the city for trying to increase Chicago Public School classroom sizes to 35 students.
It’s an unprecedented move that hinges on a decades old municipal code, according to the Sun-Times.
A code passed in 1958 — after the Holy Angels School fire that killed 92 students –requires that all classrooms have at least 20 square feet of space per body.
That means classrooms of 35 students and one teacher require at least 720 square feet of space.
The Union suit will include affidavits from teachers who have measure their rooms.
School officials say 90 percent of the classrooms in the CPS system are at least 700 square feet, and the typical classroom is 720 square feet.
The CPS estimates it can save about $125 million off their budget by increasing class sizes.
Well, they could cut the teacher’s pay, and then afford to have fewer kids in each classroom. LOL! Just kidding! No seriously, legal action is the most helpful thing in the face of crushing budget deficits. Unions sure are smart.
No one ever talks about:
CUTTING the insane public union salaries/benefits/penions
That’s because in most states, it doesn’t exist.
Nor do they ever talk about the bloated bureaucracy in school boards these days.
Foxconn ends death payouts to halt suicides.
June 8, 2010
BEIJING (Reuters) - iPhone maker Foxconn International Holdings will no longer pay compensation to families of employees who kill themselves to discourage further suicides, China’s Xinhua news agency said on Tuesday.
Xinhua cited posters in Foxconn’s Shenzhen complex as saying the company had “concrete evidence” that some of its employees who killed themselves in a recent spate of suicides had done so in order to win compensation money for their families.
Most of the victims’ families received more than 100,000 yuan ($14,640), Xinhua said.
So that’s what a peon’s life is worth in China, the price of a low end Volkswagen.
Coming soon to a neighborhood near you.
On paper, I’m worth more dead than alive (at this point in my life cycle).
Everything I’ve seen leads me to believe that the US economy is going to be in the crapper a lot longer than I have years left to live.
Even if it does improve, I’m one illness/hospital stay away from ending up in the poorhouse, now that I’m a part time contractor with no insurance or any kind of paid time off.
My kids have the option of either overpaying for a half-assed college degree from a local school, or not going at all, and trying to compete for starter jobs with all the illegals around here. Or go into the Armed Forces.
If I kick, they will all have enough bucks to go to a decent school, and get a degree worth having.
Sounds like a no brainer to me.
Well… from a totally financial point of view, true. But - you have to decide whether you live for money, or whether you use money to improve your life.
I’m in the latter camp. Money and “stuff” are just tools to improve my life.
Damn that’s a lot of money since wages start at 900 yuan per month..do the math
Obama’s records either sealed, not found or not released, according to John Work. Really weird.
“(1) the original, long-form 1961 Hawaiian birth certificate. Then there’s:
2) Marriage license between Obama’s father (Barak Sr.) and mother (Stanley Ann Dunham) — not found, not released
3) Obama’s baptism records — sealed
4) Obama’s adoption records — sealed
5) Records of Obama’s and his mother’s reptriation as US citizens on return from Indonesia — not found, not released
6) Name change (Barry Sotero to Barack Hussein Obama) records — not found, not released
7) Noelani Elementary School (Hawaii) — not released
Punahou School financial aid or school records — not released
9) Occidental College financial aid records — not released. (These records were, however, subpoenaed but Obama lawyers succeeded in quashing the subpoena in court. No other Occi records have been released.)
10) Columbia College records — not released
11) Columbia senior thesis — not released
12) Harvard Law School records (not mentioned below, but not released)
13) Obama’s law client list — sealed
14) Obama’s files from career as an Illinois State Senator — sealed
15) Obama’s record with Illinois State Bar Association — sealed
16) Obama’s medical records — not released
17) Obama’s passport records — not released
That’s a lot of records sealed and not released.”
Why?
Pretty sure it’s all cover up for that one smoking-in-the-boys-room “incident” in elementary school.
It proves that Obama is an alien from planet Vulcan.
Honestly, why does it matter? He is a US citizen and 35 yrs old. That’s all you need to run for president. It’s his voters who have serious issues…….
grounds for removing him from office? go for it.
Let me see, the entire resources of the GOP couldn’t prove he was ineligible for office before he was elected, but some private groups can?
Does this mean that the GOP is either too incompetent to deserve to win or that Obama and the Democrats are smarter than the GOP?
What exactly does he have to hide?
Yeah, but I’ll wager you a 12 pack of your choice Brewski’s… that Lil’ Opie can go through x3 large bags of pretzels and not get a black eye!
Greetings HBBers!
Well, I haven’t posted in a long time cause I’ve been somewhat busy selling my soul to the devil. I turned into a flipper.
I bought a place and sold it for a nice profit. Didn’t have to do a thing except run an ad, no new granite, no remodeled bathrooms or pricey kitchen. Even the ad was free (CL).
I even got to live in the place for the time I had it.
And I used my profit to buy another place, free and clear, this one is all mine and I intend to keep it.
And I even forgot to pay taxes on the profit. Oh well.
Here’s the place I bought and sold:
http://tinyurl.com/2szl6
And here’s my new one:
http://tinyurl.com/2e3hf98
Perfect for me and four dogs, that’s why they call it the T5.
Anyway, this is as close to real flipping as I intend to ever get, so I guess there’s hope after all.
Losty,
We’re ashamed you would tie yourself down like that. Just think of all the effort you have to go through now to move from place-to-place!
Did you have a website/blog to post your various adventures? If so could you repost? I need my jealousy fix. I love your area of the country, and it’s been a while.
Hey Packy, just click on my handle for my blog.
I know, I know, hauling that Springbar around is way big compared to my trusty little North Face, but it’s worth it, I can now sit up in bed and drink tea and do civilized stuff like that. It’s been quite the paradigm shift.
But as for the Casita, it was a PITA, I tried to haul it into some pretty cool places and it failed me more than once, kept getting high centered. The dogs got tired of having to get out and push.
Doh! Forgot about the link.
Sounds like you’ve gone to the dark side and went and got one of those McMansion places. Well - we’ll still have you here on HBB I suppose.
Well, what can I say, it is BIG!!
Thanks for understanding, Packy, we’re all just human beans with our own foibles and all that.
Losty, you are too funny. Glad to see you resurface.
Hi Carrie, bring the pebble pups out and let’s go camping! Plenty of room now.
They’d love it.
I was going to say, Losty how could you! But then I followed the link.
How big a rig do you need to pull that 13′ jobber? (would an Outback work?)
Hey, Montana, I had the 17 footer and pulled it with my Toyota FJ Cruiser. You can pull the 13 footer with a Subaru, so I’ve been told. Sold the Casita and much happier with the Springbar.
I’ll be heading up your way soon, on my way to Banff and Jasper. Very excited and hoping Canada doesn’t know about my inability to pay taxes and refuse entrance.
And that Casita is as close to a casita as I intend to get for awhile, anyway.
LOL! I was horrified until I clicked the links.
Too funny Losty. Glad to see you posting.
I was at Banff last year. Stayed in Canmore. Beautiful country. Didn’t make it to Jasper. You will love it. The Canadian Rockies are beautiful.
Yeah, but I heard Bigfoot’s up there, too.
There’s a reason I like Utarr…
Actually, I ran into some Calgarians the other day and they said there’s some beer made up there that has about 10 Bigfoots (feet?) hidden in their label. That alone’s reason to stay home…
Agree on the Canadian Rockies being beautiful. Was biking Icefields Parkway back in ‘87. Scenery so beautiful that I kept saying, “This can’t be real!” to myself.
Just don’t HELOC the darn thing.
You are amazing, Lost. Enjoy yourself.
Couldn’t you have rented? Did you have to buy?
Well, you know, I really didn’t want to throw money away renting. Plus, I like the self-determination that goes with owning, nobody can tell me what to do, I can paint the walls any color I want. And someday I can rent it out and it will pay for itself and then some. And there’s always the equity, which will just go up and up and up…
Come on over Losty and enjoy a Squatter’s on my porch…
http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_104386_325001000_325000000_325001000_325-1-0
Very nice, Hwy, I especially like the shoe pockets and privacy curtains. Nobody can tell when you take of your hiking boots and you have a place to hang them up. What more could a person need, except a Squatters…
You better get out on the Green, it’s running HUGE right now.
A real pleasure to read you again LIU. Our young couple that took over our squat is on month six of rent free living. We had been 14 months rent free before moving to the new house. I’ll say it again, our former LL is a mensch.
Thanks, Dude. That beats my record, your case of Squatter’s Beer will arrive shortly.
Losty! Good to see you passing through!
You had me going for a second there…
BTW, I loved the pics of the house-sit you had posted on your blog a while back. Nice spot, that.
Enjoy Banff, and if you pass through Seattle on your way to/from, let me buy you a beer.
Will do, thanks for the offer!
Good morning everyone, can I ask for some advice? My youngest son will be graduating from h.s. this month and this morning I overheard a bombshell…he plans to enlist. He has been out of work for almost a year, and even though he’s watched me take out modest student loans to go back to school for the third time (I just graduated,) he is tired of school (he’s a very unmotivated child) and I think doesn’t want to work that hard, and is I also think is depressed by a world where some of the unqualified get jobs he could do, but he isn’t hired to do them (to be politically correct, if you catch my drift.) The advice I’m seeking is, with no disrespect to those who are serving, how do I talk him out of this horrendous mistake? There’s another complication; he has a brother with strong emotional needs that would find it very difficult to survive in life without my youngest son’s support. Thanks for any tips on how to dissuade him from this mistake (for him, it would be.)
Old Jack Buddhist Profit says let the young be young and make their own mistakes.
I’m not a big fan of the Army, and would advise anyone who knows what they want to do to just find a way to do it and not enlist. However, a kid that doesn’t know what they want to do can sometimes really benefit from military service, and it sounds possible he might be in that category. So for that reason, I can’t really offer tips on how to dissuade him. I can only dissuade those who have a better idea but don’t think they can afford it…
who said he is interested in the army? for all we know he is interested in seeing the world. go navy.
I just assumed from the level of concern in the letter that the enlistment must involve at least a small possibility of being shot at, so I figured Army or Marines and played the percentages from there.
“horrendous mistake”? Please. If you’re worried about his safety, advise him to sign up for an MOS that keeps him back behind the lines. One of ours just got out of 5 years in the Marines and barely risked a hair on his head.
Maybe it’s observing your fixation on schooling that’s making him want to enlist instead.
A friend’s grandson was in the Marines for five years. For his MOS, he chose avionics and was number one in his training class. That guaranteed him choice assignments for the rest of his enlistment.
Oh, I might add that this kid was a real goof-off during his senior year in high school. Drove his parents (and the rest of us) bonkers.
The Marines straightened him out in a hurry.
Let him know that very unmotivated children do not go far in the military. Of course, it’s always possible that he will become a motivated child at some point.
But, as has been said, once he hits the age of majority it’s nobody’s business but his own.
You could be blunt and say most Americans don’t give a crap if you come back dead or maimed, becuase you were dumb enough to sign on the dotted line and enlist when there is a war going on……
——————————
My youngest son will be graduating from h.s. this month and this morning I overheard a bombshell…he plans to enlist.
He has been out of work for almost a year,
He is 17 years old - what does your above statement mean?
I have seen the army do some amazing things with unmotivated 17 year olds.
An “easy” way to do it in join the National Guard for the minimum enlistment (2 years). Then go away to basic/AIT (about 3-4 months). If he hates it, he just has 1.5 years of a weekend a month which is pretty easy and he can still have his life. If he loves it, he can enlist full time.
Don’t you think he may be depressed because you expect him to be the emotional anchor for your oldest son?
I agree with 2banana, the armed services can do amazing things with an unmotivated 17 year old.
It will also give this young man some time to think about what he would like to do with his life without the pressure of being responsible for his older brother needs.
Support him and stand behind him for the decision he makes. He will need you love and support.
+10
I agree with 2banana and SFBayGirl. Help him research the different branches of service to determine which is most suitable for him. Don’t let him get manipulated by recruiters. Turn it into a positive job search and encourage him to make an educated decision. You’ll be proud of the man he becomes.
Travel the world on the taxpayer dime, qualify for some good retirement and educational benefits, get discounts on lots of stuff in military towns. What’s so bad about it? If he ain’t got skills or motivation, might as well take advantage of it. I don’t think it’s really that dangerous (doesn’t really rank up there high on the list.) I don’t see the big deal.
Nothing wrong with enlisting… just pick a good mos or afsc (air force speak for job).
My nephew struggled with school, absolutely hated it. Barely graduated. Enlisted in the Navy (HVAC Technician). Honor Graduate from basic training and technical school. Different way of teaching/learning. He got motivated from enlisting.
Great way to earn $$ for college (While you are in the military, they pick up the tab if you attend during off-duty hours). I was Air Force after H.S., was like working an 8-5 job (avionics navigation technician on C-5 and C-141 cargo planes). Loved it!
Think of it as volunteering for the peace corp but getting paid and receving educational benefits along with a free vo-tech (junior college) training program.
Just avoid infantry, special forces, medic, etc., if front-line action is not his thing.
Wish my oldest would join (he is 17 and has no interest in the military). He needs a kick in the rear and someone yelling in his face inches away (boot camp).
“……someone yelling in his face inches away.”
Something changes about the yelling, when it is being done by someone who doesn’t give a crap about you, vs being done by a parent.
Try and make sure he goes in on the G.I. Bill. Then he won’t have to pay for college, and a few years as a working stiff (in the army, you’re working 12+ hours a day a lot of the time) maybe he’ll see the benefit of a college degree. And if he decides he LIKES the military, getting a degree could help pave the way for bumping up into the officer career path.
Just a short note about the Gulf oil spill. I watched a WW2 PBS show last night, which showed and talked about the first two years of the war. The german u-boat were sinking hundreds of ships in the gulf carrying oil and gas to England ans elsewhere. The beaches of Louisiana, were covered in iol, trash and dead bodies floating in. So, my question is, what happened to all that oil? There was no clean up effort and it appears, that nature took care of itself. So whats the big deal about the present spill? Bothh were man made. The present spill is an accident the WW2 spills were deliberate…Go Enviromentalists…
Geeez!
Well, Terry, we environmeddlers actually sometimes consider individual pain as well as the big picture.
Hi, Terry, if you would kindly give me your address, I’d be happy to drop by, dump off a large load of sand covered tar and oil, along with some dead animals and other trash, and you can let nature take care of itself. What’s the big deal?
Go dipsh*t! Geeez!
How much oil? Numbers please.
Just because it will be fine in 50 years, doesn’t mean it’s not nasty right now. 50 years is a pretty long time.
Exactly. Ugly now, but it eventually just goes away. It’s just oil, it’s not plutonium.
Whatever that show was, it conveniently left out the fact that there were constant and ongoing salvage operations and it was an integral and vital part of the war effort.
There were indeed, clean up efforts.
Geez, let’s just pollute the facts…
BP Oil leak @ 20,000+ barrels a day x42 gallons per = 840,000 gallons
BP Oil leak… DAY 3 > than ALL the ships sunk by the Germans
What Day are we on now? 51?
Eventually it degrades… eventually.
Eventually, the carcasses of the millions of dead animals will degrade and be washed away.
Eventually every war ends.
In the interim though, it’s an unmitigated disaster. Not to those of us far from the disaster. But to the people and animals caught up in the disaster.
Now, it takes some sophistication to be able to see beyond oneself, to have empathy. Being able to see beyond oneself, to have some empathy, is beyond the capacity of the simple and brutish.
Another Gulf oil spill: Well near Deepwater Horizon has leaked since at least April 30
The Deepwater Horizon is not the only well leaking oil into the Gulf of Mexico for the last month.
A nearby drilling rig, the Ocean Saratoga, has been leaking since at least April 30, according to a federal document.
While the leak is decidedly smaller than the Deepwater Horizon spill, a 10-mile-long slick emanating from the Ocean Saratoga is visible from space in multiple images gathered by Skytruth.org, which monitors environmental problems using satellites.
Federal officials did not immediately respond when asked about the size of the leak, how long it had been flowing, or whether it was possible to plug it.
Skytruth first reported the leak on its website on May 15. Federal officials mentioned it in the May 1 trajectory map for the Deepwater Horizon spill, stating that oil from the Ocean Saratoga spill might also be washing ashore in Louisiana.
Apaprently Ocean Saratoga belongs to Diamond Offshore. I wonder why it isn’t getting more coverage? I would think BP would love to have someone to share the cleanup costs for the mess.
Son of a…
Any more questions about why Gulf drilling was temporarily stopped?
This fellow is delusional…
Obama Seeking “Ass To Kick” Over Oil Spill.
“I don’t sit around just talking to experts because this is a college seminar, we talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers, so I know whose ass to kick.”
Yeah. Well at this point we expect you to come up with some actions.
Mostly seems like you have no fricking ideas at all.
Honestly I think the Dems inability to work with industry is kicking them in the teeth right now. You play the “big bad oil” and “make threats” card too often. They need the other oil players in there to help them out, but those guys are laughing and watching this thing burn him.
While they (oil) must be figuring a big blowback is going to happen, I’m sure they also realize people will come crawling back in the face of 10$ a gallon oil.
Meh, serves the whinney POS (Barry) right. You get to be president and you have to do more than Highway’s plan of blaming the past administrations. The victim card isn’t helping the liberals now.
Obama has cried wolf too many times. I don’t believe he will kick anyone’s ass.
I wish he’d come out to Utarr and kick the ass of whoever stole my solar flashlight last night.
Oh well, it seems to only work when the sun’s out, so I guess no big loss…hmmm, is THAT what they meant when they said solar?
Never mind, I found it under my stack of Martha Stewart mags in the corner of my tent.
Martha Stewart Living??? In a TENT???
BWWAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAHAHAHAHA!!!
Priceless!!!
Hey, better a tent than prison, right?
Should have mobilized the U.S. Navy after 1 week of BP fumbling around in the dark underwater. Deep sea submersibles, deep sea diving repairs, etc.
Come on, the Navy has to have some cool expensive toys to make this right and stop the flow.
Why didn’t he tap all the resources available to get this under control earlier?
Interagency conflicts? Lack of leadership? What gives?
Read “Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea”
The civilian market has all the state-of-the-art, deep-ocean ROVs.
By the time the Navy specs out the gear, puts out RFPs, does competitive bidding, investigates the winner to make sure that they are in compliance with all Federal laws/regs/Department of Labor/EPA/OSHA/touchy-feely requirements, the equipment is 5-10 years out of date by the time it shows up on the dock.
Most of the Navy personnel are doing OJT, so they can go into civilian life and make the big bucks.
Welcome to the “Contractor Economy”. Nobody wants to deal with employees anymore, so they “contract it out”. Which looks good on paper, until you have a crisis and no in-house expertise on dealing with it. So you pay out the nose for the limited number of people who are specialists in dealing with the crisis.
It’s a great deal, if you happen to be one of the contractors that someone needs “right now”.
Yep. The contractor economy. The one was that was supposed to privatize a lot of government to save us money.
(Let’s not lose sight of who provides prostitutes to Big Oil, secret meetings and all…)
Cheney: “Hey now, Shrub is the Tayhoss Oil Man,…I’m just a Cheyenne Shale Man myself…”
Spin it, spin it…”it’s Lil’Opie (The Non-Hawaiian’s) fault!”
BP Hires Dick Cheney’s Press Secretary, Anne Womack-Kolton
“Under threat of receivership and criminal investigation for its destruction of the Gulf of Mexico, foreign oil giant BP has hired a former top aide for Vice President Dick Cheney to be their new spokeswoman. Anne Womack-Kolton has been hired to be “head of U.S. media relations.” A rising star in the Bush-Cheney White House since the 2000 campaign, Womack-Kolton served as Cheney’s press secretary during the 2004 election before running public affairs in the Bush Department of Energy”
Plan “B”
“B” as in… Bailing now, see ya…
“B” as in… British Corporation
“B” as in… Boondoggle
“B” as in… “But, but, but…”
“But… many industry watchers doubt BP can survive. Rivals Exxon and Shell are already circling like buzzards in anticipation that the company may stagger into oblivion. Or, as Sorkin puts it, they’re “licking their chops” hoping to acquire a BP in bankruptcy:
“Flinty legal minds are dreaming up scenarios in which BP would file a prepackaged bankruptcy and separate the costs of the cleanup — and potentially billions of dollars in legal claims — into a separate corporate entity.”
Sorkin reckons that the company’s legal liability and long-term cleanup costs could work out to a red-ink tally of $15 billion to $40 billion. He writes: “The company has about $12 billion in cash and short-term investments, but there is already a debate about whether it should cut its dividend out of fear that it could run out of money.
BP bankruptcy ahead? Rivals ‘licking their chops’
i thought they are raking in a profit of 6b per quarter.
Mesa citrus processing plant to close
The Associated Press
MESA — One of the last citrus processing plant in the Phoenix metropolitan area is closing its Mesa facility after operating since the 1930s.
The board of the Mesa Citrus Growers Association decided in May to close the plant as the number of citrus orchards has dwindled and crop prices haven’t kept up with production costs.
The facility at 254 W. Broadway Road is a cooperative owned by Phoenix area growers who sell citrus under the Sunkist brand.
It processed its last fruit at the end of the spring harvest and officials said Monday that employees are beginning to wind down operations and sell equipment and the property.
Any idea how many were chopped down to make way for McMansions????
——-
The number of citrus orchards has dwindled
Miles and miles.
Those groves ran for miles along an irrigation system a thousand years old.
They stopped growing citrus years ago. Now they grow condo’s.
Democrats propose further tax hike on offshore oil.
WASHINGTON (AP) – Senate Democrats are moving to quintuple the tax that oil companies pay into an oil spill liability fund.
The move would raise $15 billion over the coming decade as Congress seeks to shore up the fund in the wake of the catastrophic spill in the Gulf of Mexico. But it’s also being used to ease a tax hike passed by the House on investment fund managers.
The new legislation would raise the tax on oil produced offshore from 8 cents to 41 cents per barrel. That’s nine cents higher than legislation that passed the House last month.
The tax changes are being made as the Senate again takes up grab-bag legislation extending unemployment benefits and a variety of expired tax breaks enjoyed by both individuals and businesses.
Why do Democrats think a tax hike is the solution to every problem?
Likewise, why do Republicans think tax cuts are the only solution?
Why can’t they find the optimum levels to stimulate maximum long term growth and employment instead of pandering to every special interest under the sun?
Because tax cuts get everyone excited enough to vote for you if you make a lot of money, and tax hikes on the rich get everyone excited enough to vote for you if you don’t make a lot of money.
And overlaying that, politicians don’t hire advisors to help them effectively govern. They hire advisors to help them get elected.
Give Senators one term of 10 years subject to being able to be voted OUT of office with a defined process, and Members of the house 6 years subject to the same out vote. Start governing for the people and not for your job.
I don’t know about oil companies but it seems like individuals, when forced to pay for liability insurance, don’t feel too bad about using it once in a while. I wouldn’t be surprised if this led to more spills. After all “there’s a fund for that”.
From CNN
Lumber prices are sinking. And while that might make a trip to Home Depot cheaper, it’s also a sign that the global economic recovery and the U.S. housing rebound are in danger of stalling.
Only a few months ago, inflation was the main worry of many economists. But falling prices for the raw materials of many industries, including lumber, have set off deflation warning bells for some economists, who worry that they could signal another global economic downturn.
Prices for framing lumber have tumbled 21% from their peak only five weeks ago, according to figures from the National Association of Home Builders. Prices are also falling for a wide variety of other industrial materials in recent weeks.
****
Lumber is still primarily a North American rather than global market, although exports to China and Europe have been growing in recent years.
But many other commodities are traded in global markets. And the concerns about the debt crisis in Europe, the slowing of rapid growth in China and the increasing value of the dollar are driving down prices of many of those goods as well, raising the same problems that cheaper lumber poses in the United States.
The global industrial prices index, compiled by the Journal of Commerce and the Economic Cycle Research Institute, has declined almost 10% from its peak level at the end of April.
Lumber is still primarily a North American rather than global market, although exports to China and Europe have been growing in recent years.
That’s because everbody else builds their houses out of brick, concrete and rebar.
Thank you all for the advice. I respect it all, even from those who disagree with my position. Some did mention angles for arguments that I had not considered.
Old Jack Buddhist Not-For-Profit Prophet says veddy vedcome and good ruck.
If he hurries, he might even be able to get to Afghanistan before it’s over. Oh, wait, no rush.
[Figured I'd post from Fox so that perhaps some of the Glennite nutters could "believe".]
Alternative currency cures Keynesian poison. Got alternative currency?
June 8 (Bloomberg) — Nations have reached a “Keynesian endpoint” as exhausted balance sheets leave policy makers with few options to bolster economic growth, according to Anthony Crescenzi, an investor at Pacific Investment Management Co., the world’s largest bond-fund manager.
“Time, devaluations, and debt restructurings might be the only way out for many nations,” Crescenzi wrote in an e-mailed note titled “Keynesian Endpoint” that referenced the Great Depression era economist John Maynard Keynes. Debt-fueled spending programs aimed at combating the global financial crisis of 2008 are among policy tools now “being seen as a magic elixir that has morphed into poison.”
LONDON, June 8 (Reuters) - UK bullion dealers are struggling to source enough gold sovereign and Britannia coins to keep up with surging demand ahead of an expected hike in capital gains tax (CGT) in the new government’s emergency budget on June 22.
Dealers are reporting a backlog of orders for bullion coins recognised as UK legal tender, which are exempt from CGT.
why would a cap gains tax affect SALES?
It’s on. Spanish banks need 1 trillion euros and the sovereign is broke.
June 8 (Bloomberg) — Bank credit-default swaps surged near to a record on concern Spanish lenders will have to raise $60 billion to shore up capital as lawmakers struggle to finance a swollen budget deficit.
The Markit iTraxx Financial Index of swaps on 25 European banks and insurers climbed as much as 14 basis points to 208, approaching the all-time closing high of 210 basis points set in March 2009, JPMorgan Chase & Co. prices show. Banco Santander SA, Spain’s biggest bank, increased 23 basis points to a record 258, according to CMA DataVision.
Spanish lenders need as much as 50 billion euros ($60 billion) of capital, according to Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA, as they face mounting writedowns triggered by a housing market collapse and losses on government bond holdings. Civil servants went on strike today to protest at Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero’s efforts to tame the euro area’s third-largest deficit.
“There is illness in the Spanish banking system,” said Jeroen van den Broek, head of credit strategy at ING Groep NV in Amsterdam. “It’s very similar to 2008, when the market was hunting down the next bank failure. Now, the market’s hunting the next sovereign fiscal problem.”
The spread between Spanish 10-year securities and German bunds widened 10 basis points to 213 basis points, a level not seen since before the introduction of the euro in 1999. Stocks slumped with Spain’s IBEX 35 Index falling 1.4 percent to 8,669.8, heading for a third straight decline and to the lowest in more than a year.
Capital Needs
Spanish bank capital needs may amount to about 5 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product of about 1 trillion euros through 2013, Bilbao-based BBVA said yesterday. The estimate exceeds a forecast by Standard & Poor’s that a state-backed rescue of Spain’s banking industry could cost 35 billion euros.
Another domino in the row, this will leave a mark and the majority think that we/they can keep right on printing our way out of the hole.
Print baby, Print!
If only I owned some of the precious…
Oh wait, I do
But wait — if all the new virtually printed liquidity goes into bailing out underwater sovereign entities, where will the extra liquidity needed to buoy The Precious™ on to ever-loftier highs originate?
From a May 5, 2010 presentation by Whitney Tilson, mutual fund founder:
So I really think the housing market is on a precipice right now, where we need some very strong intervention by the government, by the banks and the servicers to offset what, in the absence of strong action, would be a resurgence of foreclosures, which would lead to a fresh drop in home prices, which will lead to even more defaults… And you can get into the vicious cycle that we were in back in ‘07 through ‘08.
note to self: SELL Tilson mutual fund holdings
This little gem was posted on zerohedge. Some of you may find it in er, bad taste, but the subject (public pensions) seems to be near and dear to many HBBrs black little hearts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_LfrThHV_Q&feature=player_embedded
Ya’ll better hurry, won’t be on for long…copy-right scrubbing…
You need to know how to get into your cache file on firefox ( i use power desk) and decipher the file……that was saved as 85AA9B08d01 10,228,004 bytes….at 10:14 pm …. which i renamed it with a .flv for a flash file…now its saved
I love those, and this one as nails it 100%. ( I thought they had all been pulled)
If anyone finds it in bad taste then screw’um they need their ass kicked, and Barry is looking to kick one. Being the distinguished president that he is.
More than 600 N.J. cops could be laid off by end of month
Statehouse Bureau ~ June 08, 2010
WOODBRIDGE — Hundreds of police officers across the state could lose their jobs because towns simply cannot afford them, a survey released today said.
Nearly 617 officers could be laid off before the new fiscal year begins July 1, according to a survey by the New Jersey State Policemen’s Benevolent Association.
“We all realize that we are facing challenging economic times and that municipalities must make difficult decisions,” said Anthony F. Wieners, state PBA president. “However, the breadth and depth of the layoffs our front-line officers are facing is shocking, and the impact these layoffs may have on local public safety is very troubling.”
Add to this: Numerous prisons are releasing (unleashing?) inmates into the pulic realm due to the lack of funding.
That’s good, so long as they’re non-violent offenders of victimless crimes (ie drug possession, etc)
Grand Jury Says City Should Consider Bankruptcy
The 2009/2010 San Diego County Grand Jury today (June
released a 22-page report of the City’s financial travails. “Presently, the City of San Diego’s obligations, liabilities and debts exceed $7 billion,” said the report.
Also, “It is still untested whether or not the vested rights clause pertaining to pension benefits prevails in bankruptcy proceedings,” said the report. (Some claim that pension benefits are set in concrete.) “A Chapter 9 [municipal bankruptcy] filing would result in a federal determination of which fringe benefits and collective bargaining agreements could be restructured.” The grand jury suggests that a panel of bankruptcy experts discuss the financial ramifications of a Chapter filing for San Diego.
The grand jury does not recommend the layoffs of City employees. That would result in further erosion of services. The panel estimates that the backlog of deferred maintenance projects is conservatively $1 billion. The report notes that “charging a fee for residential trash collection would save the City approximately $54 million a year.” The panel believes there could be savings from consolidation of City and County functions.
Regarding the existence of the PPT (plunge protection team):
Geithner stated in a Newsweek interview (Dec 28,2009, page 51) that “we are going to focus the bulk of the financial force on bringing interest rates and mortgage rates down to cushion the fall in housing prices and help stabilize home values, which will feed into people’s basic sense of financial stability.”
Given this, why is it so hard to believe the government would also intervene in the stock market? A high stock market will also “feed into people’s basic sense of financial stability.”
Not only that, but the confidence generated by an ever rising stock market may convince the masses that the recovery is real, making employers more eager to hire again and unemployed workers willing to look for jobs. Why wouldn’t a government with the capability to prop up the stock market do so?
“…to cushion the fall in housing prices and help stabilize home values,…”
How’s that working out? Since he and probably everyone else in high federal political office owns at least one home, he certainly has a personal motive to want to prop up housing prices.
press release
June 8, 2010, 3:36 p.m. EDT
More Homes “On Sale” in May After Tax Credit Expiration, According to ZipRealty
Sellers Hold Steady on Prices With a Median Reduction of $19,240
EMERYVILLE, CA, Jun 08, 2010 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) — According to a monthly review of MLS-listed properties within 26 of the country’s largest housing markets conducted by the national online real estate brokerage ZipRealty (www dot ziprealty dot com ) (ZIPR 3.21, +0.01, +0.31%) , more than 43 percent of home sellers slashed their home’s list price in May, up two percentage points from April. The median “for sale” price dropped nearly $2,500 to $264,936.
The same review showed that although there were more price-reduced “for sale” homes in May, the median reduction was $19,240, down slightly (1.06 percent) from April.
“Home sellers may be lowering their list price to help stimulate interest from home shoppers now that the first-time and repeat homebuyer credits have expired,” said Leslie Tyler, vice president of marketing for ZipRealty.
…
“…to cushion the fall in housing prices and help stabilize home values,…”
“How’s that working out? ”
Well, they definitely had a bigger effect than I expected, so I would say that it worked out well for them so far. The upturn of Case-Shiller was quite a bit “more than expected”, at least for me.
Not that I think they will succeed at this game in the long-term.
Global Dow correction in progress:
April 15 = 2,091 (52-week high)
June 9 = 1,707 (15+31+9 = 55 days later)
Annualized rate of decline since 52-week high:
((1,707/2,091)^(365/55)-1)*100 = -74 percent
Gollum’s candidate is in, proving yet again that money talks and bullsh!t walks. Now only Governor Moonbeam stands in her way. Good luck, California!
Whitman, Fiorina cruise to victories
Republicans choose wealthy businesswomen to oppose Democrats Brown and Boxer for governor and U.S. senator.
By Cathleen Decker, Los Angeles Times
June 9, 2010
…
Mortgage securitization is dead. Long live securitization!
Armando Falcon, ex-regulator for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, to advise trade group
By Sonja Ryst
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Armando Falcon Jr., who once was the top government regulator for troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, has accepted a position as senior policy adviser at the American Securitization Forum, a trade group representing firms that invest in mortgages and other securities.
The group’s members include market giants such as Goldman Sachs and the investment management firm Pimco.
Falcon is chairman and chief executive of Falcon Capital Advisors, which advises about seven or eight clients including financial institution and trade groups. He helps clients follow legislative and regulatory developments “so they can just keep themselves informed,” he said. “I don’t do any lobbying,” he said. “I might in the future, but I haven’t done that as part of the consulting practice.”
…
I love to read stories about Gollum getting ‘probed.’ It brings to mind prostate exams.
The comments that keep leaking out regarding the quality of investment choices offered to their clients certainly do recall the heady days of Enron (”get shorty,” “Death Star,” etc.).
The Financial Times
SEC probes second Goldman security
By Francesco Guerrera, Justin Baer and Greg Farrell in,New York
Published: June 10 2010 03:00 | Last updated: June 10 2010 03:00
The US Securities and Exchange Commission has stepped up its inquiries into a complex mortgage-backed deal by Goldman Sachs that was not part of the civil fraud charges filed against the bank in April, according to people close to the matter.
SEC interest in Hudson Mezzanine Funding, a $2bn collaterised debt obligation, comes amid settlement talks with Goldman over accusations that the bank defrauded investors in Abacus, a similar CDO.
Goldman has denied the SEC’s complaint.
People familiar with the matter said that in recent weeks the SEC had been gathering information on Hudson Mezzanine, which featured prominently in an 11-hour grilling of Goldman’s executives in the US Senate in April. The SEC and Goldman declined to comment.
The inquiry into Hudson Mezzanine is part of a wider investigation into the CDO activities of Wall Street banks. People close to the situation said the probe was preliminary and there was no certainty that it would lead to additional actions against Goldman.
The bank created and sold Hudson Mezzanine, which contained residential mortgage-backed securities from its own balance sheet, in late 2006.
In an internal e-mail unearthed by the Senate investigation, a Goldman employee said a potential investor in the CDO was “too smart to buy this kind of junk“.
…
Don’t know about the rest of you fellows, but I am holding out hope that perp walks still await some Wall Street folks who served up a witch’s brew of toxic MBS to their clients.
The U.S. has come a long way down in sixty years.
Mitt Romney’s Childhood Home Is Destroyed
June 8, 2010
The childhood home of former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was torn down in Detroit after weeks of delays. The home is one of many in Detroit to be destroyed due to blight and decay. WSJ’s Alex Kellogg reports.
I never knew Mitt’s dad was a former HUD Secretary. I wonder if real estate always went up in the days when he occupied that post?
06.08.2010 4:10 pm
Happens in the best of families
By Eddie Roth
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
AP Photo/The Detroit News, Ricardo Thomas
Yesterday we ran an editorial and slide show about the lessons of the Pruitt-Igoe housing project.
We described how HUD Secretary (and former Michigan governor) George Romney came to St. Louis in 1971 to tour the facility and how demolition began the following year, with the entire project razed two years later.
Today brings news that the home where George Romney and his family lived (from 1941-53) in Detroit (and where son Mitt spent early boyhood years) has been demolished.
According to the Detroit Free Press, “the dilapidated, two-story, 5,500-square-feet home was razed today in the Palmer Woods area near Woodward and Seven Mile. For years the house sat with a blue tarp on its roof and boarded up windows.”
Tags: George Romney, Pruitt-Igoe