Bits Bucket For July 21, 2010
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The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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More than 40 pct. leave Obama mortgage-aid program
Obama mortgage-aide program struggles as more than 40 percent of those enrolled drop out.
WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 40 percent of homeowners seeking help from the Obama administration’s flagship effort to rescue those at risk of foreclosure have dropped out of the program.
The latest report on the program suggests foreclosures could rise in the second half of the year and weaken an ailing housing market.
About 530,000 borrowers have fallen out of the program as of last month, the Treasury Department said Tuesday. Nearly 1.3 million homeowners had enrolled since March 2009.
Treasury officials say few of these borrowers will wind up in foreclosure. But many analysts are concerned that a new wave of foreclosures could greatly impact the struggling housing industry.
“About 530,000 borrowers have fallen out of the program as of last month”
“Nearly 1.3 million homeowners had enrolled since March 2009″
“Treasury officials say few of these borrowers will wind up in foreclosure.”
Afew of who? The 530,000 who have already fallen out of the program or the 770,000 that have not fallen out yet.
“A few” is relative.
only a few stars are visible (out of the total) on a clear night.
I’d really like to know the definition of “dropped out.” What does it include? People who submitted paperwork and weren’t eligible for the permanent modification? People who submitted the paperwork 4 times and when it got lost the 4th time gave up? People who got a modification and found out they couldn’t pay it because it was 31% of their gross pay? People who lost their jobs during the process and therefore found out that the modification that would have helped before didn’t cut it anymore? “Dropped out” smacks of too little research. Or maybe the information just isn’t available.
Agreed. It is vague, but the anti-Obama folks still will use this as a “Government can’t solve your problems” platform, when in fact it may well be the private sector not seeing people through the program.
Oh, so now it’s the private sector’s job to make sure government programs succeed.
Seems reasonable when they’re the ones getting the handout.
+1 Russ
What is more reasonable is to expect people to do what seems to be in their own best interests.
But if you’re getting paid by the government, then expected to do whatever the government says, you’re not really “private sector”, are you?
Oh, but people DID do what was in their best interest…for the short term.
Sometimes you have to do what’s best in the short term or you have no long term, even if the short term solution is negative in the long term.
For example, selling my car may solve a short term cash flow problem, even though buying a new one later may be more costly down the road.
If the short term problem is critical, long term takes a back seat.
Why should the private sector be doing anything other then foreclosing? It isn’t the job of the government to re-write people’s contracts. It’s the job of the government to enforce them when one of the parties default.
Screw the entire program. You bought a house you can’t afford?
then get out and let someone who can afford it, buy it.
This. It’s the only sane solution. The government stepping in to attempt maintaining an artificial price ceiling is a recipe for disaster.
Except that the govt perhaps isn’t entirely stupid and is perhaps taking all these extraordinary measures to try to avoid a wholesale total crash of the economy.
Not saying it shouldn’t be allowed to crash, but crashing hard and all at once would be much much worse than trying to control the crash as best as possible to keep some kind of societal infrastructure functioning.
It’s a bad solution, but there’s no such thing as a good solution to this ridiculous mess, especially in the short term.
We are all going to feel the bite of this one, but maybe it can be slowed some. Maybe.
Or maybe after all that crapola the bank modified their loan not by $500 a month but $20 and they realized it’s a scam
But is that really a reason to drop out of the program? If I were in that situation, even if I knew the modification would not help, I’d still take it. After going through all the hoops, what reason would you have not to take it? Unless the modification changes the loan to recourse, or does something else to the terms, it seems silly to prefer to pay the higher amount, however small the change is.
Polly when you are paying 2000-3000+ a month $20 reduction is a scam…. might as well tell the bank to shove it.
This is something probably only a lawyer would think of, but telling the bank to shove it means you have not yet pursued all your available administrative remedies. It can come back and bite you on the behind if there is additional help available in the future.
Well I was a paralegal for a while…But i never had the writing background, like you. I was always in strategy sessions, lawyers always wanted to hear my wacky opinions.
So yes there might be more options down the road, but let’s face it…$20 reduction is not a slap in the face it’s more like the middle finger.
At this point in time it seems like a good counter strategy would be to send in about $20 a month as a mortgage payment as a “show of good faith”" and say that is all you can afford…
Yes, you could pay that indefinitely and never get kicked out. Good plan.
I wonder how the cause of “dropping out” is related to their “…few of these borrower will end up in foreclosure.” prediction. ’cause unless they’re dropping out because they have too much income to qualify, that seems like a stretch.
I sort of took that as general spokesperson “upbeat” talk based on the idea that most people don’t go into forclosure and they don’t have any proof that the group applying for modifications is vastly different in economic profile from most people. But you have a good point. If that comment is based on actual analysis, then that implies that the 40% that dropped out are the ones who under the guidelines can still afford their current payments. Which - as everyone here knows - I doubt because I don’t think most people can afford 31% of gross, but that is just me.
We were having this discussion at work a little while ago. I said that I have little sympathy for people who had no idea how much they could afford every month. One co-worker was saying that it was the bank’s job to tell you what you can afford. The other was quite indignant at that idea and said that the banks were willing to lend her far more than she was willing to pay.
I would bet it is the taxes/deductions calculations that get most people. Don’t most folks have an idea of how much they take home and a general idea of what their non-housing expenses are per month? Not everyone, does - not even close - but a lot of people do. What they do not know is how much they might gain by getting a mortgage interest deduction (less than most think) or how much the property taxes and additional expenses are going to cost (higher than most think). It isn’t even just the difference between a deduction and a credit which is not obvious to all. It is the marginal difference between itemizing and taking the standard deduction.
I don’t know that there is any help for a person who still believes it is only the bank’s responsibility to lend them what they can afford. I understand why before all the mess people thought that the bank *wouldn’t* lend them more than they could afford, since that was a historical norm. But the fact that the bank wasn’t asking them for a detailed list of all their expenses for the previous 3 to 6 months should have been a dead giveaway, shouldn’t it?
I am so glad that I am living my life in a brain that likes numbers. Really, anything else would have been so frustrating.
I am so glad that I am living my life in a brain that likes numbers. Really, anything else would have been so frustrating.
To combine a couple of cliches:
Ignorance is bliss… until it isn’t.
I would bet it is the taxes/deductions calculations that get most people.
Isn’t that why we have the quick-and-dirty rules of thumb:
1. Buy a home 2.5 - 3 times your income.
2. Home prices should be 100-12 x the monthly rent.
3. Can you reasonably put away 10-15% cash for a down payment over, say, 5 years?
If you can’t do all three of those, you should be renting. No major calculations involved.
Of course the problem now is that nobody can do all three of those. Or, perhaps it’s that the price range is still shifted high. Nobody can afford high-end housing. High-end people can only afford middle-class housing. Middle class can only afford low-end housing (but that doesn’t exist.) Low-end can’t afford any housing at all. I’d like to shift that to where there’s a house price level to match most incomes.
Oxide, Of course 1 and 2 are partly a function of interest rates. When interest rates fell, it became possible to support a larger loan on the same payment. Now the WISDOM of paying more to the seller because you’ll be paying less to the bank is debatable, but the capacity is there.
Jim that makes no sense to me at all. The rules of thumb are based on price, not monthly payment. Lower interest rates drive the prices UP, so you should buy less house, even if the low interest rate decreases the monthly nut.
Of course, the NAR would never tell us that…
Oxide- kind of my point. Those rules of thumb are based on the PRICE that the average borrower can afford to make the MONTHLY PAYMENTS of a 30 yr FRM on. Like I said, it probalby isn’t WISE to pay a higher price, but so long as you can continue the payments, there’s no reason to think that a higher price will get you into trouble.
I’m a big Elizabeth Warren fan, her comments on FrontLine to Michael Moore’s Capitalism movie tickle my heart. However, we need to stop fighting the natural housing price levels and let them fall to reasonable price as they have been for a hundred years in line with incomes.
—————–
Gov’t watchdogs: mortgage program is not working
Daniel Wagner, AP Business Writer, On Wednesday July 21, 2010, 11:27 am EDT
WASHINGTON (AP) — Government watchdogs told a Senate panel Wednesday that the Obama administration’s effort to help homeowners avoid foreclosure isn’t working and that the Treasury Department has failed to fix the program.
Special inspector general for the financial bailouts Neil Barofsky said the program has not “put an appreciable dent in foreclosure filings,” during a Senate Finance Committee hearing on the $700 billion bank bailout. He also said the Treasury Department has ignored earlier demands that it set clearer goals for the program.
Elizabeth Warren, who chairs a separate Congressional Oversight Panel on the bailouts, said Treasury’s failure to act more quickly could be hurting the recovery.
More foreclosures could force down the price of homes and further hurt the already-ailing housing industry.
The homeownership program aims to reduce mortgage payments for millions of homeowners who can’t afford their monthly bills. Recent data suggest it has helped about 400,000 households avoid foreclosure. About 530,000 have fallen out of the program.
The bailout has provided up to $50 billion for the mortgage modification programs. So far, about $248 million in bailout money has been spent on the program.
Barofsky said Treasury is giving mortgage companies too much leeway to decide which homeowners will qualify for a program to reduce the principal balance of their mortgages.
The program relies on voluntary cooperation from mortgage companies, Warren said. She said many of the mortgage debt collectors make more money when they foreclose than they do when helping homeowners.
“We have a crisis, and the consequences of not having cooperation from (mortgage) servicers is . . . felt by this entire economy,” Warren said. “We need a program with far more urgency and some real teeth in it.”
Also appearing at the hearing is a leader of the Government Accountability Office.
Their three offices are designated to provide transparency and oversight for the bailout program that Congress passed in October 2008.
Most of the financial bailout programs have ended as the financial system regained its footing. Treasury lent out a total of $385 billion from the $700 billion fund. As of June 30, about $198 billion had been repaid, according to the independent Government Accountability Office.
Treasury also has collected $25 billion in fees and interest payments from companies that received money.
President Barack Obama was preparing Wednesday to sign into law the most sweeping rewrite of financial regulations since the 1930s. The law includes changes aimed at reassuring Republicans, who worry the bailout fund could become permanent.
The size of the fund is reduced to $475 billion from $700 billion. Money that has been repaid must be used to repay the national debt, rather than expanding other programs. And the overhaul blocks Treasury from using the money to create new programs.
I don’t know how people got by before spreadsheets. Everyone should take a class in Excel.
You can generate, with no programming, 360 rows showing exactly how much you net pay every month, with the PITI, and with the 1/3rd interest back.
And do it accurately.
In today’s financial environment, people really need to learn how to use spreadsheets. Such a very useful skill.
“Dropped out” smacks of too little research. Or maybe the information just isn’t available.”
From what I have read on a few forums and learned directly from a couple of applicants, the process seems designed to go nowhere and take time to get there. I frankly think that most (all) would be better off walking away (especially in AZ), but it seems silly to have such a drawn-out process if the program is going to exist. Stuff like submitting bank/credit/income statements/documents, then having to re-submit because they have aged due to lender/servicer delays, and the re-submission itself triggering new delays.
I know someone who received an approval in early July for a modification applied for in September 2009. It converted an interest-only, adjustable loan to a principal & interest fixed loan with a slightly lower payment. The fact that it remains a $190K loan on a $110K house (with an additional $40K second mortgage) makes walking away a likely eventual choice.
There have already been many reports that the lenders are balking and obstructing.
Many of you here have obviously never really dealt in the lending world. If your borrowers is not paying, you try collecting. If that fails, you then analyze whether it’s more profitable to write them off or renegotiate the loan and try to recover something.
These days, the lender just writes off the loan and sells it to a collection agency which thinks it can make money from the deadbeat borrower.
In normal times, this was successful SOP. But this is not normal times and pretty soon, even the collection agencies will stop buying the bad loans.
Having been around the business block a few times, I know a thing or two about collecting bad debts. I’ve had a ‘em.
Used a collection agency once — no luck in getting anything other than a token payment along with a very angry letter from the client. And I had to turn that token payment over to the collection agency.
Also used a collection lawyer to try to collect from another lawyer. Dead end there too.
One of the biggest problems with bad debts is that they don’t improve with age. Meaning that, the longer the debt is bad, the harder it is to collect on them.
That’s why collection agencies are most interested in the “fresh” stuff. As in, bills that are 30-45 days past due, rather than a year past due.
Take it from Slim, folks. She knows what she’s talking about.
Russian Steel Giant Drops Plans to Build Plant in U.S.
Russia’s steel giant Magnitigorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) had dropped its plans to build a steel plant in the United States, Kommersant business daily reported Tuesday.
MMK did not believe U.S. steel demand was recovering, the report said.
“European governments are cutting budgets, closing different infrastructure and social projects to tackle the budget deficit,” said the MMK Vice-President Oleg Fedonin.
The company announced plans to build a steel plant in the state of Ohio in September 2007 with an investment of some 680 million U.S. dollars.
That’s OK. Obama just last week spent $5B to build a battery factory that created 300 jobs in Michigan. A factory that will build batteries that nobody actually needs or wants. Just like in the old Soviet system where factories were kept open to produce goods that were then just thrown away.
Russia’s personal income tax rate is a flat 13%. Our income tax rate is heading to 39.6% in 5 short months. Russia’s corporate tax rate is 20%. Ours is 35%.
Amazing that in only 20 years Russia and America have completely reversed themselves. Even socialists in Europe have finally figured out that socialism doesn’t work. Everyone in the world has. Except about 300 people in DC that is.
So when are you moving to Moscow Eddie?
Hello Mr. Strawman, good to see you this morning.
+1
Hey, you’re the one who said that Russia was the capitalist paradise. If it’s so great there and it sucks so bad here why are you still living the United Socialist States of America?
Just asking.
Why did the communists who have infiltrated our schools, universities and government at all levels not move to Cuba or the USSR 20 to 50 years ago? I wish they would have, now look at the mess we have to clean up. Time to resurrect Joseph McCarthy.
I remember years ago Canada was very socialist. Now the Heritage Foundation ranks Canada as having more economic freedom than the U.S. And yes, Canadian taxes are lower than the U.S. taxes (depending on the province).
“…Now the Heritage Foundation ranks Canada as having more economic freedom than the U.S.”
Yep, free to buy Vancouver condo’s at free-market prices!
Not only that, Canada has a national health insurance program that covers everyone.
And Canada’s National health insurance is a big reason for Canada’s economic freedom.
Europe’s national health-care is a big reason many of those countries have a larger manufacturing base than the USA and why many “socialist” European countries have greater upward class mobility than the USA.
Sad fact: France, Germany, Sweden, Canada, Finland, Norway and Denmark have GREATER upward mobility than does our great “capitalistic” USA. I guess it is different here.
Does that mean Denmark is now the land of the free?
http://www.brookings.edu/papers/2007/05useconomics_morton.aspx
“Recent studies suggest that there is less economic mobility in the United States than has long been presumed. The last thirty years has seen a considerable drop-off in median household income growth compared to earlier generations. And, by some measurements, we are actually a less mobile society than many other nations, including Canada, France, Germany and most Scandinavian countries. This challenges the notion of America as the land of opportunity.”
France, Germany, Sweden, Canada, Finland, Norway and Denmark have GREATER upward mobility than does our great “capitalistic” USA.
So this study was done three years ago. Where’s the proof of the pudding? Are people flocking to emigrate to these countries from the US?
I wouldn’t say flocking, but yes, people are leaving. There are a lot of ex-pats working overseas…because that’s where the damn jobs are!
As for your proof in the pudding, what has changed in the last three years? I mean besides high UE, wage cuts, a non-depression and that no recovery in sight thingy?
I’m eyeing some work in Madagascar right now.
Don’t forget China — a still bigger part of the role reversal than Russia.
On the surface perhaps. Just don’t look under the hood.
Nevertheless - there’s a definite convergence going on - China, Russia, etc. moving away from communism towards freer markets, us moving away from free markets towards more government control. In the end we’ll all be right in the middle together, in a global socialist economy. We’re almost there actually.
There’s still more separation that most people think though - as Google for instance is finding out.
You keep using that word. I don’t think it means what you think it means.
I know exactly what it means.
Here’s a hint - the definition doesn’t even include the word “government”.
Just as an observation: Do not mistake China for anything other than a totalitarian state. The Party is every bit as involved in the power of the Chinese Gov’t as it has ever been. The CCP has allowed much personal freedom and free enterprise since Tienanmen Square Massacre as long as the CCP itself is not questioned or criticized. When that little habit is indulged, then there will be disappearances and executions.
When you looks very closely at the CCP, you see a corporate state. Want to know what a corporation looks like with true state power? Communist China. It would be as if Goldman Sachs assumed state power here and not as a quid pro quo oligarchy which we have now.
In the past I have blogged some very dark scenarios about the current economic disaster, and where it seems to be headed. I have not changed my views in the interim. I stopped because my views upset Olygal. (Miss you, Oly.)
Roidy
An excellent article on the subject - which everyone who thinks China is anywhere close to a free country.
E.g.:
“Chinese police beat official’s wife by mistake” on Yahoo News.
My point.
Roidy
Chinese Gov’t anything = “TrueBambooLie™”
That would a global FASCIST government. Not socialist.
But as I say, “You have problem with Corporate Communist Capitalism©®™, comrade?”
“It would be as if Goldman Sachs assumed state power here and not as a quid pro quo oligarchy which we have now.”
Shudder…
“Chinese police beat official’s wife by mistake”
Do their police normally beat officials’ wives on purpose?
That would a global FASCIST government. Not socialist.
Fascism, by definition, has socialism as a prerequisite component.
You can’t have fascism without a unified social structure. A unified social structure requires unified control of resources, which is socialism.
Try having a fascism without unified control of resources and you’ll get nowhere.
Actually perhaps “centralized” is a better word than “unified”.
Fascists seek to organize a nation according to corporatist perspectives, values, and systems, including the political system and the economy.
- Wikipedia
Yeah I can see how easy it is to confuse “socialist” with “corporate”.
??? They essentially do mean the same thing.
Dictionary.com:
socialism: a theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole.
Sounds a heck of a lot like a corporation to me.
The difference of course is that a business corporation doesn’t have legal power over the public, whereas a government corporation does. Thus a business corporation cannot impose its will over the the people - e.g. in a fascist way, like a government can. At least this is true in a free-market economy, where the government and business corporations are separate entities; something that’s becoming less true all the time in the U.S. (see GM, Chrysler, Citi, AIG, F&F, SSA, CMS, FDIC, etc.).
Thus we are becoming socialist.
People always confuse economic and political systems. Socialims can be very democratic. FAcism not so much.
In my mind
Communism = State control of production distribution land everything. Wealth is very evenly distributed.
Socialism is much milder. Europe is considered socialist. They still have capitalism, but gov provides or regulates many sectors, usually conduits that if controlled by a corporation could be used to snuff out other business. It usually provides health care, and may support retirement. It usually controls or highly regulates conduits to prevent monopolization. It is in modern times democratic,and ideally by of and for the people.
Facism is all about concentration of wealth and power. It uses propaganda, religion, nationalism etc and gestopo tactics to suppress the people.
From Wikipedia - Facism seeks to organize a nation according to corporatis perspectiveves values and systems including political system and economy. Fascists believe that a nation is an organic community that requires strong leadership, singular collective identity, and the will and ability to commit violence and wage war in order to keep the nation strong. They claim that culture is created by the collective national society and its state, that cultural ideas are what give individuals identity, and thus they reject individualism.
O
Facism is not socialism.
I never said fascism was socialism. I said fascism had socialism as a pre-requisite. How can one possibly concentrate power, as exemplified in a fascism, if the resources of a country - financial, human, etc. - are completely independent of the political power structure? The answer is simply that one can’t.
That is one reason why socialism is so bad. It’s very easy for a socialism to slip into a much more malevolent political system, like communism or fascism.
Look at all the classic fascist governments of the world - they all have at a minimum socialism as an economic base; in some cases communism.
I would say that Goldman Sachs has established a squid pro quo oligarchy.
Yawn !!!!
I had to look it up, MMK are NOT the Russian group that owns Sparrows Point.
More than 40 pct. leave Obama mortgage-aid program
By ALAN ZIBEL The Associated Press
Posted: 11:36 a.m. Tuesday, July 20, 2010
WASHINGTON — More than 40 percent of homeowners seeking help from the Obama administration’s flagship effort to rescue those at risk of foreclosure have dropped out of the program.
The latest report on the program suggests foreclosures could rise in the second half of the year and weaken an ailing housing market.
About 530,000 borrowers have fallen out of the program as of last month, the Treasury Department said Tuesday. Nearly 1.3 million homeowners had enrolled since March 2009.
Treasury officials say few of these borrowers will wind up in foreclosure. But many analysts are concerned that a new wave of foreclosures could greatly impact the struggling housing industry.
Another 390,000 homeowners, or 30 percent of those who started the program, have received permanent loan modifications and are making payments on time.
A major reason so many have fallen out of the program is the Obama administration initially pressured banks to sign up borrowers without insisting first on proof of their income. When banks later moved to collect the information, many troubled homeowners were disqualified or dropped out.
Many borrowers complain of a bureaucratic nightmare. They say banks often lose their documents and then claim borrowers did not send back the necessary paperwork.
The banking industry said borrowers weren’t sending back the necessary paperwork.
Obama’s next focus of reform: Housing finance
Washington Post ~ July 21, 2010
After President Obama signs into law an overhaul of financial regulation at a ceremony set for Wednesday, his administration will turn to reforming an area at the root of the financial crisis: the U.S. housing market.
Responding to the collapse in home prices and the huge number of foreclosures, the Obama administration is pursuing an overhaul of government policy that could diverge from the emphasis on homeownership embraced by former administrations.
“In previous eras, we haven’t seen people question whether homeownership was the right decision. It was just assumed that’s where you want to go,” said Raphael Bostic, a senior official in the Department of Housing and Urban Development. “You’re not going to hear us say that.”
Bostic, who has published leading scholarship on homeownership, added that owning a home has a lot of value, but “what we’ve seen in the last four years is that there really is an underside to homeownership.”
The administration’s narrower view of who should own a home and what the government should to do to support them could have major implications for the economy as well as borrowers. Broadly, the administration may wind down some government backing for home loans, but increase the focus on affordable rentals.
Most honorable comrade in Department of Housing, may I have permission to purchase home
NYET. You rent until I say you can buy. Try again in 6 years.
srsly? You’re complaining that they WON’T be granting goverment backed subsidies to everybody regardless of whether they can pay the money back or not? I know you’re reflexivly anti-anything-the-Obama-administration-does, but this seems like a strange position for you.
“TrueHaskell™”: Look I can enunciate out of both sides of my mouth while chewing oatmeal”
You’re one to talk.
+1
“TrueHaskell™” = “But, but, but…”
That is not always his mouth he’s talking out of.
It was different when the blanket socialist policy was to provide subsidies for home ownership…
The actual article says that they have set up a couple of policy wonks in the Treasury building to think about changing government support for home ownership so that is supports sustainable ownership - you know, that people can actually afford - rather than just try to keep upping the percentage of the population that own homes with no other goal. If you are going to provide any federal support for home ownership, this sounds like a very desirable change. They are going to start to think about the unintended consequences that came out of previous policies.
Of course, as far as I am concerned, the mess had a lot more to do with disconnecting the repayment risk from the loan originators than it did with mortgage interest deductions or anything else, but having a few people suss this stuff out and recommend some changes to housing support policy is not a bad thing.
“…as far as I am concerned, the mess had a lot more to do with disconnecting the repayment risk from the loan originators than it did with mortgage interest deductions or anything else…”
Have you read Thomas Sowell’s book yet?
Most honorable comrade in Department of Housing, may I have permission to purchase home
NYET. You do not have the proper government job to qualify you for housing, certain government jobs are declared essential to the health of the state.
I think you clicked on the wrong talking points this morning, Edster. Must have clicked on “Huffpo” instead of “Hotair”.
Your buds are actually cheering this one on, as maybe it could be the possible unraveling of their favorite hobbyhorse, the CRA.
Not only that, now these idiots are going to make renting more expensive. It’s all about control to these people.
Tell banks that you will not bail out and the banks will have to eat their own loss. That should fix the housing market, no?
Affordable housing = housing bubbe and expensive homes
Will affordable renting be any different?
“Most honorable comrade in Department of Housing, may I have permission to purchase home”
Man….talk about going down in flames….
earing from September 2003 on an administration proposal to alter the regulation of GSEs like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. See Congressman Barney Frank’s opening statement, which begins at 4:40. It’s rather amusing. Here’s an excerpt of his opening statement:
I want to begin by saying that I am glad to consider the legislation, but I do not think we are facing any kind of a crisis. That is, in my view, the two government sponsored enterprises we are talking about here, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are not in a crisis. We have recently had an accounting problem with Freddie Mac that has led to people being dismissed, as appears to be appropriate. I do not think at this point there is a problem with a threat to the Treasury.
I must say we have an interesting example of self-fulfilling prophecy. Some of the critics of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac say that the problem is that the Federal Government is obligated to bail out people who might lose money in connection with them. I do not believe that we have any such obligation. And as I said, it is a self-fulfilling prophecy by some people.
So let me make it clear, I am a strong supporter of the role that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac play in housing, but nobody who invests in them should come looking to me for a nickel–nor anybody else in the Federal Government. And if investors take some comfort and want to lend them a little money and less interest rates, because they like this set of affiliations, good, because housing will benefit. But there is no guarantee, there is no explicit guarantee, there is no implicit guarantee, there is no wink-and-nod guarantee. Invest, and you are on your own.
Now, we have got a system that I think has worked very well to help housing. The high cost of housing is one of the great social bombs of this country. I would rank it second to the inadequacy of our health delivery system as a problem that afflicts many, many Americans. We have gotten recent reports about the difficulty here.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have played a very useful role in helping make housing more affordable, both in general through leveraging the mortgage market, and in particular, they have a mission that this Congress has given them in return for some of the arrangements which are of some benefit to them to focus on affordable housing, and that is what I am concerned about here. I believe that we, as the Federal Government, have probably done too little rather than too much to push them to meet the goals of affordable housing and to set reasonable goals. I worry frankly that there is a tension here.
“Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have played a very useful role in helping make housing more affordable, both in general through leveraging the mortgage market”
All I can say to that is, “what the f–k?”
Leverage makes things cheaper. I need to get a PhD in “Bull$hittery” to understand this complex stuff.
How on earth, is causing a runup in housing prices, by debauching lending standards, making housing more affordable?
On what planet is running up prices making it more affordable?
It’s absolutely Orwellian.
Imagine how stupid people would think it was for the government to subsidize stock purchases, to make them “affordable” - e.g. say by making capital gains untaxed, and even by allowing people to deduct interest on huge margin loans; and even going so far as to allow people to just walk away from their losses scot-free, with only perhaps a hit to their FICO.
People would say “What??!!! You realize you’re just going to cause a huge bubble that’ll eventually crash right??!!”.
Same exact principle.
‘“In previous eras, we haven’t seen people question whether homeownership was the right decision. It was just assumed that’s where you want to go,” said Raphael Bostic, a senior official in the Department of Housing and Urban Development. “You’re not going to hear us say that.”’
I don’t read this comment, as Eddie did, to suggest that the Obama administration is now going to force everyone to rent for six years before buying a home (though, quite ironically, it seems to be working out that way for us).
Rather, it seems that Bostic is the first senior executive branch official since maybe 1920 to publicly acknowledge that perhaps homeownership is not the best choice for all American families. That strikes me as a major inflection point in the aftermath of the housing bubble, and perhaps a watershed moment in American political history. We’ll have to see how Obama nuances this in his talking points.
I’m seeing a growing disillusionment with homeownership. Not just in the news stories that show up on this blog, but in conversations I’ve been having.
Seems that the American Dream is undergoing a rewrite.
Also, people are realzing that it’s not the house that makes the wealth. It’s the wealth that makes the house.
And let’s not forget the advantage to renting — mobility. in today’s job environment that’s a huge plus.
And let’s not forget the advantage to renting — mobility. in today’s job environment that’s a huge plus.
So true.
That’s been true for large parts of this country for the past 25 years. Home ownership has not been universally seen as the ticket to wealth people in economically challenged (read - demographical growth-challenged) areas.
“…people in economically challenged (read - demographical growth-challenged) areas…”
My parents live in one such area. It had its hey-day as a post WWII middle class bedroom community. Now it is in a period of long-term economic decline. I don’t expect their home to eventually sell for much more than the nominal amount they paid for it back in the 1960s (before the Great Inflation of the 1970s!).
“I’m seeing a growing disillusionment with homeownership. Not just in the news stories that show up on this blog, but in conversations I’ve been having.”
And every time I see that little fire burning I make sure to pour as much gas as possible on it. It is rewarding to see the effect I have had on people around me. I may have destroyed some of their illusions (delusions) but in the long run they are much better off. I just can’t believe how few of them thank me for this wonderful service I have provided.
I’m trying to picture NYCityBoy’s acquaintances thanking him for destroying their delusions.
Nope, not happening!
“Rather, it seems that Bostic is the first senior executive branch official since maybe 1920 to publicly acknowledge that perhaps homeownership is not the best choice for all American families. That strikes me as a major inflection point in the aftermath of the housing bubble, and perhaps a watershed moment in American political history.”
Good observation…
Pushing homeownership - and concurrently debauching lending standards - has funnelled a tremendous amount of taxpayer wealth to the FIRE sector. Which has in turn funnelled a tremendous amount of money back to the politicians. So you have an unholy spiral down the toilet bowl of this nation’s finances.
Turning this spiral around is first going to require getting rid of the politicians who are permanently latched onto the teats of the FIRE sector.
Of course, the next round of politicians will certainly wriggle back to the proffered teat, but we’ll at least have some breathing room for sanity for a brief period before they are captured as well.
HOUSEownership was propaganda in the 1920s and it’s propaganda now.
The truth of the matter is that not everyone can or wants to own a house.
Right — that was my point about Bostic’s remarks.
So simple, and you would think that would be the end of it, wouldn’t you? But nooooooo…
Precious time is being wasted as these politicos hump the REIC’s leg.
153 ‘VIP’ Loans to Fannie Cited
Countrywide Financial Corp.’s controversial “VIP” mortgage program made 153 loans to employees of Fannie Mae, the giant federally backed financial institution that helped fuel Countrywide’s growth, according to a letter released Tuesday by Rep. Darrell Issa.
Another 20 such VIP loans, which often provided mortgages on terms more favorable than those available to the general public, went to employees of Freddie Mac, another big government-backed buyer of mortgage loans, the Issa letter said.
While it has been reported that VIP loans went to some top Fannie Mae officials, the latest information indicates that the activity was more widespread.
I am shocked. To suggest that a bureaucrat would take special favors is beyond belief.
Don’t you know that they “just want to help us”???
Another example of Regulatory Capture. The regulated end up controlling the regulators.
“While it has been reported that VIP loans went to some top Fannie Mae officials, the latest information indicates that the activity was more widespread.”
Wouldn’t accepting a VIP loan constitute a form of bribery? Perhaps somdbody should ask financial regulatory reformer Chris Dodd for an opinion.
If Fannie and Freddie employees were actually executive branch employees, they could be fired for accepting a gift of more than $20 per incident ($50 total for the year) that they received because of their position. These exceptions are meant to cover stuff like coffee and bagels at a working breakfast meeting.
Since Fannie and Freddie are not executive branch agencies, I have no idea if they are subject to similar rules.
Did these incidents occur while F&F were still private entities, and the Federal backing was still only implied?
Having federal backing of your debt does not make you a federal agency. It may be the economic equivalent as far as bond purchasers are concerned, but it just isn’t the same. For example, if they were an executive branch agency, most employees would be on the GS pay scale and the rest would be on the senior executive service pay scale. Absolute max for those not in the senior executive service in the DC area for this year is $155,500 which is level 15 step 10. SES max out at around $180K.
How many millions does the head of Fannie get?
F&F were private entities only up to the moment that profits disappeared.
Long before countrywide ceased to exist independantly before the implied guarantee became more explicit.
Having federal backing of your debt does not make you a federal agency.
It’s more than just backing of debt though right? In 2008 the agencies were placed under conservatorship of the FHFA. However I think they’re still pretty much autonomous entities from a management standpoint (and pay scale standpoint), as you mention.
My take (correct me if I’m wrong) is that since the U.S. government is the primary shareholder they get to make most of the rules - i.e. run the company from a board of directors standpoint; but the actual rules of the company aren’t tied to the rules of the government. Much the same as in the private world if say Apple is a primary shareholder of some other company, with Steve Jobs on its board - he/they can drive the direction of the company, but that company isn’t subject to the rules, pay structure, etc. as within Apple.
Will Obama take up the F&F problem now that the financial regulation bill is passed? I think he’ll drag his feet. But it would be smart politics if he took it up now.
I wrote this and found it on the net.
THE WASHINGTON HILLBILLIES
Come and listen to my story bout a man named Dodd
refied his house but it seemed kinda odd
saved eighty grand but he said he didn`t know
law makers get a break cause they`re friends of Angelo
Mozillo that is , CountryWide , Bad loans
Well the first thing ya know Angelo is in some trouble
he say`s HEY DODD NOW THEY SAY I CAUSED A BUBBLE!
Dodd say`s fine I`ll just sponsor us a bill
tell em that they need it and I`ll sell it on the Hill
Well the moral of the story that you all should know
better vote em out if they`re friends of Angelo
or one day soon we`ll be shootin at our food
Bernankes got us lookin at two hundred dollar crude
Oil that is , black gold , OPEC tea
And now it`s time to say goodbye to you and all your kin
and Dodd would like to thank you all for kindly chippin in
you`re all invited back again to this localitee
to pay another trillion for their bogus LTV
Loan to value, that is
Kick your shoes off
Ya`ll come back now ya hear?!
That’s interesting. I had a friend who left my company around 2000 to work for Fannie Mae. One of the benefits was supposedly that any employee would become eligible for interest-free mortgages after working there for 5 years.
FWIW - some significant refutation of the Countrywide VIP loans -
Zero Hedge
Huffington Post (last year)
Thoughts? I haven’t looked that deeply, but it appears it’s much ado about something that’s not a scandal at all - just a case of taking advantage of interest rate changes while in the process of buying a house - just not locking in the rate (something that’s very common).
This might explain were that $12 BILLION went, that Franklin Delano “Frank” Raines said he “lost”, when ran the place.
Housing Market Stumbles ~ WSJ
Construction Slows, Inventories Build Amid Weak Job Growth, Tax-Credit End.
The housing market, whose collapse pulled the economy into recession in late 2007, is stalling again.
In major markets across the country, home sales are deteriorating, inventories of unsold homes are piling up and builders are scaling back construction plans. The expiration of a federal home-buyers tax credit at the end of April is weighing on the market.
The Wall Street Journals’ quarterly survey of 28 major metro areas shows it’s a buyer’s market in much of the country. See full graphic.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Census Bureau said single-family housing starts in June fell by 0.7%, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 454,000. The U.S. started 1.47 million homes in 2006, before the housing bubble popped.
Future construction looks even weaker. Permits for single-family starts fell 3% in June, following big declines in both May and April. “We’re hovering at post-World War II lows,” said Ivy Zelman, president of Zelman & Associates, a research firm.
They really are going out of their way to establish causation between the expiration of the tax credit and this next leg down aren’t they? In doing so they once again dodge the real issue.
They’re NOT making the connection that tax credits don’t actually create support for pricing, which is the connection they SHOULD be making. If the tax credit worked, we wouldn’t see the next leg down.
“We’re hovering at post-World War II lows,” said Ivy Zelman,
That’s because we hovered at post-WWII highs for so long. What goes around comes around. There’s still a tremendous amount of overbuilt inventory to work down yet.
Yeah, we’re not building more houses because we don’t NEED more houses. Unless we plan to “save” homebuilders with massive price supports like we do for farmers, fewer houses under construction is progress.
Please don’t give the government any ideas.
I believe nhz - a former poster here from the Netherlands, stated that there they actually do have ongoing subsidies of the housing industry; direct subsidies I mean (in the U.S. we have the indirect subsidy of the mortgage interest deduction). As a result home prices there have been remained elevated above historic norms for about 30 years or so, IIRC.
I found some comments from him, from last year:
I asked him for more info, to see where we are maybe heading:
I too remember being shocked at the level of “crazy free government cheese,” that NHZ talked about.
That’s nacho cheese, it’s my cheese!
“As a result home prices there have been remained elevated above historic norms for about 30 years or so, IIRC.”
Not to debate whether the subsidizes in The Netherlands are good or bad. But if prices are elevated for 30 years, can you really say they’re elevated above historic norms? 30 years of a trend is a long time to be considered an aberration to some other trend that will come back any day now.
For some, “history” covers a span longer than one own’s lifetime.
But if prices are elevated for 30 years, can you really say they’re elevated above historic norms?
Yes. In fact often they remain elevated for even more than 30 years. However they always eventually return to historic norms (the longest case history known - Amsterdam since the 1600’s.)
Noting that over the 300+ year period prices there increased only 0.2% above inflation - however I believe that stat was from back when this chart came out, when prices had recently run up. Now it’s probably back down to exactly inflation levels.
It only makes sense. People are only willing to spend N% of their income on housing; that percentage remains the same in the long run, with only short-term (relatively) inflections due to speculation and government influence.
Here’s the same chart in English, going back a few more years.
I haven’t looked to see what Dutch prices have done recently, though I suspect they’re finally giving way.
As is sometimes the case, Eddie DOES have a point here. The longer any economic number STAYS at a historicaly different level, the more likely that it may be due to a structural change, and NOT simply waiting to “return to mean.”
The thing about structural changes is - the structure itself tends to change. There are a bunch of articles on the Amsterdam stats. There were structural changes that resulting in long-term fluctuations in the prices - sometimes fluctuations that spanned several decades in fact. E.g. see the 1720-1790 high period, followed by the 1800-1860 low period.
The key though with those is that they were due to large-scale changes - e.g. wholesale political structures, and they were also price swings that took decades - e.g. note that the 1736 peak took 26 years to develop, and the 1785-1815 drop took 30 years to happen. These are “structural changes”. Contrast this though with the recent incredible ramp-up that only took 5 years for almost the same magnitude. That’s a bubble, not a structural change. On this chart bubbles show up as spikes. This one is no different.
I don’t doubt that we may be in for another structural change at some point that may indeed keep prices “high” for an extended period. However the “high” won’t be at the 2.500.00 level, it would be in the 1.800.000 - 2.000.000 range at best, after the current bubble pops.
(Looking at other sources on the web - it appears Dutch prices have come down some - but not much yet - from their 2008 highs)
Looking at the U.S. - I would say that we actually could be at a long-term bottom in prices right now - prices that are slightly above historic norms… if it wasn’t for the still-incredibly-high inventory levels and the still-incredibly-low equity levels out there. Both of those point to inevitable price drops still to come.
We are overhoused. Too many units. Too much square footage, that uses too much energy and costs too much to maintain.
We don’t need new housing in the aggregate.
New housing demand will come from two sources: people wealthy enough to afford a new home who will pay extra to avoid used, and local markets where excess demand exists. Each will be balanced by more vacancy, and eventually demolition, elsewhere.
Recall that the long running suburban housing boom of the 1950s and 1960s was eventually balanced by the destruction of hundreds of thousands of housing units in older central cities and rural areas. And that was with a stronger economy and more population growth than we have now.
The worst part of this is that the existing housing that we “have” to work through is of such crappy quality. Even if i had the cash and prices were way down, I’d still consider building new, because the existing inventory — at least anything built in the past 10-12 years — is just plain offensive to look at.
Hey, have you ever seen any NYC public housing projects?
That may be the endgame here. The poor will take them. If not our poor, someone else’s.
In 30 or so years, when Generation Greed has passed and younger generations reach old age in their wake, they may not be able to pay for housing. They may have to live in abandoned buildings without heat, and eat what they can grow in the yard supplemented by surplus corn.
Sounds like a reality show concept….
“Hey, have you ever seen any NYC public housing projects?
That may be the endgame here. The poor will take them. If not our poor, someone else’s. ”
Agree. When we were looking for a house I told my wife I didn’t want anything to do with houses in a subdivision built in the past 10 years. Those houses will be turned to public housing in the not too distant future.
Which is another reason why I think many of you here don’t take all factors into account when you throw around numbers like 10 million empty homes as justification for continuing falling prices. Yeah there are 10 million empty homes. And 9 million of them are either uninhabitable due to neglect or will be Section 8 / public housing soon. To me the price of those homes could be $1 and it wouldn’t make me buy one. It’s as if that supply doesn’t really exist since there is never going to be a buyer for it no matter what the price.
On the other hand older, established homes in good communities with good schools, parks, mature trees, etc….they will keep their value since - and yes I know the cliche and the jokes - they’re not making any more of those. You can’t just slap together a 15 year old established neighborhood overnight.
Good god I think I agree with Eddie.
of course, Eddie, you do realize that it was your beloved corporatist profit motive that built such uninhabitable subdivisions?
+10
Just back from a month long trip around
the country. Maybe Ben will let me post
my observations.
And 9 million of them are either uninhabitable due to neglect or will be Section 8 / public housing soon.
And every month that goes by will add to that list (uninhabitable).
It would be interesting to know what percentage of vacants are trashed. If anyone would know, it would be Ben.
‘established homes in good communities…will keep their value since…they’re not making any more of those’
But they haven’t kept their ‘value’. I assist in foreclosing on these types of houses all the time. Maybe the FBs could go to the bank and say, ‘but we’ve got good schools’, and they’ll let them keep the house?
(BTW, all neighbohoods are getting older and more established with each passing day, so ‘they’ are making more of those as we type.)
’some other trend that will come back any day now’
So you’re saying the housing bubble is a ‘trend’ that will ‘come back any day now’.
A well established roof in hurricane season is a really bad thing. Not to mention well established kitchens, baths and carpet.
“You can’t just slap together a 15 year old established neighborhood overnight.”
That’s the nice thing about renting. If the neighborhood goes to hell, you can always find a better neighborhood in which to rent.
Not so easy to do with home ownership; you could end up like my old high school chum, who ended up holding a home worth 50% of what he paid for it due to unforeseen decline in the quality of his neighbors.
OK, don’t pile on Eddie. He means that he likes homes with good construction and notes correctly that construction standards went to hell over the past ten years. Although you can’t argue with Ben’s observation that lots of idiots refinanced their good old houses and are losing them. And I hope that Eddie and his family get one of them for a good price.
“And I hope that Eddie and his family get one of them for a good price.”
And I hope the nice neighborhood he chooses to settle in doesn’t soon go to hell, making him wish he had the freedom of a renter to move away.
Wow, this is some serious revisionism by the WSJ.
The recession started because of the credit crunch crisis which was caused by the junk CDOs and over-leveraged derivatives and hedges that were made up of mortgage securities packaged from a combination of good and bad loans.
And this is something we want back?!
Or maybe they just left out that background information to “streamline” the article.
??
Are we reading the same article? Not sure what you’re referring to. Perhaps pull out the section where this is proposed in the article (by the WSJ or otherwise).
Maybe your comment is in the wrong place?
(or maybe I’m just missing something in my reading)
Opening statement:
“The housing market, whose collapse pulled the economy into recession in late 2007, is stalling again.”
Revisonist crap.
If there is more to the article, I didn’t see it. Might be because there was no link to the article and I will not waste time trying to find it if I’m not the one posting it.
Believe it or not, I do have to work.
O… K… were not most of those toxic derivatives based on mortgage securities - i.e. the housing market? And was it not housing delinquencies and foreclosures that caused those derivatives to go bad?
Obviously the creation and massive growth of those derivatives caused the bubble to get so big and collapse under its own weight. But the context was the housing market - it wasn’t stock-based, bond-based, commodity-based derivatives. The creation of these didn’t cause the recession - they caused the collapse which caused the recession. One could easily go back in the cause chain and point to other things that caused the creation of these derivatives too; in that respect you could blame them and not the derivatives.
I-Dosing: How teenagers are getting ‘digitally high’ from music they download from internet. UK ~ 21st July 2010
They put on their headphones, drape a hood over their head and drift off into the world of ‘digital highs’.
Videos posted on YouTube show a young girl freaking out and leaping up in fear, a teenager shaking violently and a young boy in extreme distress.
This is the world of ‘i-Dosing’, the new craze sweeping the internet in which teenagers used so-called ‘digital drugs’ to change their brains in the same way as real-life narcotics.
They believe the repetitive drone-like music will give them a ‘high’ that takes them out of reality, only legally available and downloadable on the Internet.
The craze has so far been popular among teenagers in the U.S. but given how easily available the videos are, it is just a matter of time before it catches on in Britain.
Look up “Oleander” off the “Left Coast Liquid, Vol 1″ album - on Youtube.
It’s in that category of rave stuff. Teenagers, millenials, gen-y’s and gen-x’s are not the only ones who like that kind of stuff
I always disliked House music, bland, boring repetitive….It should be marketed as a sleep aid…for insomniacs its puts me to sleep
Or as a way to commit suicide in a car…oops there is a tree good bye world.
It’s not bad for coding. Drowns out office noise, doesn’t engage your brain or distract from thinking, and just mellow enough to help sooth the caffeine jitters.
Hey another use… we can make millions…..
It is mind numbing corporate “music”…maybe the new muzak?
The problem is nobody would agree to what to listen to. Even I wouldn’t. Some days is crappy house/trance/techno, other days it’s Red Hot Chili Peppers. Other days it’s 80’s. Sometimes it’s the soundtrack to Amadeus. Depends on what my mood is and what I’m working on. The more brainless the task (documentation updating, say) the more interesting the music can be.
Your scorn doesn’t bother me.
I always thought Techno would be great peppy music for walmart shoppers….or corporate elevator music…get happy you’re going to work
Oleander growing outside her door
Soon they`re gonna be in bloom up in Annandale
That’s what you’re talking about, right?
I’m dating myself here…
Live for the Dan!
“Bluetech - Oleander (Phutureprimitive Symbiotic Remix)” is the exact phrase to look up on Youtube. It is quite a trip. I don’t think there is any harm done by listening to music at all. I-dosing? Never heard the term
Sounds like “Reefer Madness”. And a very, very slow news day.
What a load of bullocks.
“Teens get off listening to loud music”
Must have been a really, REALLY slow news day.
Teens are very suggestible. I remember seeing a guy “trip” on an aspirin when I was a kid. He thought it was acid.
Housing resales for June are announced today (I think).
Did you all see Packmans Census Bureau vacancy rate chart yesterday? It’s a doozy.
Oh yea…… Realtors are liars.
Reposting
There will be no strong housing market until this is fixed.
And note how that vacancy rate started rising in the late 1980s.
I found that striking as well, Slim. That must be when the public started concluding that free-appreciation-money was sufficiently appealing that a 2nd home made financial sense.
It also made me think back to FPSS’ forecast that we would return to 1983 pricing.
Conspiratorial, but maybe vacancies went up because home construction companies started selling stock to the public in the 80s. They don’t build to fill a demand for housing - they build to impress their shareholders. Just a thought.
What amazes me is that the vacancy rate was going UP during the bubble. More proof that the underlying cause was speculation, not a housing shortage. Compare that with the 70s when there really WAS a relative shortage of housing.
Vacancies started in the 1980s?
You mean the corporate raiding, junk bond, union busting, job offshoring, deregulation, higher than reported unemployment/inflation, 1980s?
I wonder if there is a correlation?
Yes, the post-CRA-implementation 80’s. Those 80’s.
Just yanking your chain - I have no belief that such is the case - haven’t really thought about what might have caused that bump in the 80’s actually.
And securitization - the core issue underlying all this - the separation of lenders from repayment risk.
All anyone has to do is ask themselves why a lender would lend to someone with little chance of paying back the money.
Answer that, the scales drop from one’s eyes. It just clicks.
I was there. It was definitely the economy and it was definitely caused by those factors.
This current non-depression ain’t my first rodeo.
“Housing resales for June are announced today”
Thursday (tomorrow). I am expecting them to be ‘lower than expected.’
Seeking to get in on these record low rates, my girlfriend started the refi process on her place late last week. She bought at the tippy-top for $450k and between her down payment and paying extra each month has about 30% “equity” - or at least until the refi appraisal comes in next week.
She asked me yesterday why the appraisal is taking longer now than when she bought in 2007. To which I responded, “well, there’s more scrutiny on appraisers now, he’s probably going to have to research more comps is all” (the short, kind answer) My bet is she’s down $75k, but we will see next week.
Hey its only money, she blew in on a condoze instead of her nails.
Get her some flowers or chocolate to console her when she realizes she threw all that money down the drain instead of renting.
A few years ago I about blew a gasket trying to stay quiet when I overheard one of my co-workers saying that the really needed to invest in her nails.
And how exactly would one make a withdrawal on that kind of investment?
Still beats housing right.
At most your out ???$50
Keep us well informed on this one, edge. Good to get realtime reports on industry standards and common practices during these most interesting times.
So you think her 30% equity is closer to 16% (60K of 375K, not 135K of 450K)?
Ouch. That is going to hurt.
Yes, that’s what I can tell from a little rooting around online. What makes this interesting to me is the location, I do not as of yet have a really good feel for how the neighborhoods closer to the CBD are faring. I know my own neighborhood is up the creek, but learning more about the higher priced hoods is an essential part of helping me determine how much further my own has to fall.
U.S. Mortgage Brokers Get Criminal Check, Tests Under New Rules.
California mortgage brokers face closer scrutiny as the state adopts a federal law aimed at curbing the fraud and abuse that helped decimate the housing market.
Brokers in the nation’s most populous state will be required by July 31 to have passed criminal-background and credit checks, as well as licensing exams. California, along with about a third of U.S. states, previously didn’t require mortgage sellers to have individual licenses.
That’s about to change as all states by Jan. 1 must implement the national rules, which Congress developed after record mortgage defaults and foreclosures were triggered by rampant lending to people who couldn’t afford to repay their loans or never intended to. Brokers will be assigned identification numbers to enable regulators and borrowers to track their lending histories.
“When someone buys 100 shares of stock, they must go through a licensed securities broker,” said Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat and co-sponsor of the law, the Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008. “Until recently, some purchased their home — a far more valuable asset — through an independent mortgage broker or lender who may have had a criminal background or no license at all. This lack of accountability enabled unscrupulous brokers to commit fraud at the expense of unsuspecting homebuyers.”
So she allowed 2 more years of fraud before closing the barn door…way to go Finey baby
Maybe we could consider criminal checks for members of Congress to take the overhaul to the next level.
We should limit the current Congress to two terms -one in office, and one in prison.
Don’t be so stingy! 3 terms. One in office and two in prison!
With one of the prison terms highlighted as a weekly reality show.
Roidy
And the ever popular ShivCam(tm)!
And a few “toe tapping” dance routines for variety.
Bernanke looks to reassure Congress that Fed will do what it takes to keep recovery alive.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke heads to Congress Wednesday with a message of reassurance: The Fed stands ready to take new steps to bolster the recovery if the economy worsens.
The Fed chief kicks off back-to-back appearances on Capitol Hill at a delicate time for the economy. The recovery, which had been flashing signs of strengthening earlier this year, is losing momentum. And fears are growing that it could stall.
And the problem is that congress gets elected by people and people are starting to figure out that this recovery isn’t leading to a lot of hiring and the reps are getting wise to the fact that just saying recovery isn’t enough when the people can’t see it. So Bernake is going to face some fairly irate questionners. Not that the Fed can really create jobs by itself, but what does that matter when you can make a little speech to put in the constituent newsletter?
I still say if they want people to spend then pay down everyone credit card by $2-3000…people will probably spend a lot of it on items that they have put off doing…clothes, check engine light on the car…deferred maintenance…upgrading to a laptop so you can be mobile in your job.
Amazing how many jobs i see on CL require you to have a wireless laptop even for an Intern job…
So $3k x 100 million cards is $300 billion…they already threw far more then that down the toilet already with nothing to show for it.
All we need is the big O to give a stern speech about using this money to get a damn job America….no spending on lap dances
What if you have zero debt? Would you still get $2,300? And if this was limited only to taxpayers, wouldn’t this amount to government taxing you $2,300, then giving that $2,300 back to you? It’s a zero sum game except for the 47% of the people who pay zero taxes (the constituents of Democrats, no doubt).
You would get the money too…. a separate card like they did for Katrina folks…
I would limit it to legal Americans…. that shouldn’t be too hard to prove. maybe it’s a way to get the AZ immigration law into the mainstream
What is missing from all the bailouts is spending the money on main st….your local car mechanic, etc.
“You would get the money too….”
Um, no… It sounds like I would get HALF of my own money back. I would pay $6000, only to get the $3000 Katrina-like cash-card back; someone else would get one paid for with the other half of my additional tax burden.
Don’t get me wrong: I’m all for paying a reasonable amount of taxes in order to get the benefits that society provides. But taxing me additionally for cash giveaways in the name of economic stimulus is not that attractive. I’m smart enough to know that that money isn’t actually free, and didn’t grow on trees.
Remember Prime and Bill This money is borrowed from the next generation…like the Trillions we already wasted….
So how do we get cash to very small local businesses right now?
I think its worth a try.
PIC - yep. Sometimes it seems like “borrowing from the future,” is the only plan that the PTB can come up with.
Lap dances provide jobs for strippers, which provide jobs for g-string manufacturers, nail salons, and novelty shoe shops.
Don’t use that Obama card in Vegas.
I can’t believe these clowns are still talking about “recovery.” Recovery to what; building crooked, ugly, McMansions in 3 days with illegal labor, sold to people whom have no intention of living in them, financed by people whom have no accountability using OPM?
…..with Chinese drywall and radon granite counter tops…..
Damn straight, red. We were all really livin’ the dream there for a while ‘cetp you left out a few things: Hummer in every driveway, giant flatscreens that last only two years, granite everything, sculpted Chinese drywall, three-packs of jet-skis, the list goes on…
Now we have to settle for an iPhone and an unemployment check. What happened?
“Now we have to settle for an iPhone and an unemployment check.”
With poor reception!
Most of the houses here in the south Bay are old and unimpressive, but what gets me are the new houses being built on old houses. The architecture is something Howard Roark would hate: False balconies, forms with no function at all. Too much embellishment. There are some exceptions. But those are rare. One house I drive past in the mornings is totally uncharacteristic of the neighborhood. It’s a two story box with embellishments. Has a fugly “landscaped” yard. The foundation is at an odd angle to the street too. This is a very multi-ethnic area. Lots of first generation asians here, many of whom work for Toyota or Honda.
A two story box is a lot more energy efficient than a sprawling ranch.
Sometimes “whatever it takes” just isn’t enough.
The captain of the Titanic did whatever it took to keep the ship afloat and keep everyone safe.
The Japanese and Germans did whatever it took to win WW2.
BP did whatever it took to keep oil out of the gulf.
Bull$hit does not always float.
The Japanese and Germans did whatever it took to win WW2.
Opening a can of worms - are we at the Kamikaze stage yet?
If so, what are today’s financial equivalents of the “Baka” - the Yokosuka MXY7 Ohka - a flying bomb built specifically for Kamikaze missions (e.g. it didn’t even have landing gear)?
Jumbo loans given to anyone with a pulse were suicidal economic stimulants if there ever were any. Taxpayers winding up responsible for the repayment of these would be like having the Japanese government pay huge wrongful-death settlements for lawsuits filed by kamikaze pilots’ wives. We are all apparently unwilling passengers along for the ride on the ultimate financial baka-bomb. There appears to be no actual pilot.
Of course most of the Okhas were shot down while still in their “betty” carrier planes. So we’re expected to save not just the FBs who piloted the suicide loans, but the banks (betty bombers) who wrote them.
Reasons To Fear Deflation
Once it arrives, deflation is hard to cure. Sustained deflation can become a pernicious problem that’s hard to shake even when the government attacks it, as Japan has learned over a prolonged deflationary period that began in 1991. Falling prices cut into revenue at firms that build things and provide services, so they need to cut costs to remain profitable. That usually leads to layoffs and pay cuts. When people bring home less money, they invariably feel worse off and buy less. So demand for products falls further, forcing even deeper price cuts to entice consumers. Breaking the cycle becomes a destructive game of chicken between companies and consumers, with neither willing to take the first step.
A good illustration is the struggling U.S. housing market, where falling prices have kept buyers on the sidelines as they wait for the market to bottom out–while lack of demand sends prices even lower. This is one reason why moderate inflation is considered healthy. If consumers believe overall prices are going up over time, they might wait for discounts or seasonal sales on some stuff, but they won’t wait indefinitely to make ordinary purchases. Deflation, by contrast, can badly distort buying decisions.
This is one reason why moderate inflation is considered healthy. If consumers believe overall prices are going up over time, they might wait for discounts or seasonal sales on some stuff, but they won’t wait indefinitely to make ordinary purchases. Deflation, by contrast, can badly distort buying decisions.
Sounds pretty dang Orwellian to me. People should make buying decisions based on what they believe will happen to the prices? Sounds like speculation to me. Not exactly a healthy environment. But our monetary masters would have us believe it so.
Inflation always comes first; and that very much includes Japan. They had crazy inflation - both monetary and price - before things crashed in the early 90’s. Deflation is a return of prices to correct values, though sometimes with an overshoot.
Trying to keep inflation at bay by artificially propping up prices only postpones the inevitable.
“If consumers believe overall prices are going up over time, they might wait for discounts or seasonal sales on some stuff, but they won’t wait indefinitely to make ordinary purchases. Deflation, by contrast, can badly distort buying decisions.”
packman, I’m with you on this. I think deflation gets a bad name, but is not the correct thing to blame.
The period of deflation is one of _normalization_. It is the flip-side of the inflation coin—and it is the unsustainable effects of the inflation (and associated increasing leverage) that are actually causing the pain that is blamed on deflation.
And the idea that the economy is in the dumps because people’s buying decisions are being distorted by waiting for further price declines is BS. The economy is actually in distress because people are deleveraging. They are unwinding the distorting effects of the inflationary period. And if people can do without an “ordinary purchase” for a time, then they obviously didn’t need it THAT badly; what is the big deal if they decide to wait a bit, until their household balance sheet is in better shape and the prices make sense again?
You, my friends, aren’t drinking enough of the Kool-Aid.
I pretended to, but then spit it out when they weren’t looking.
A good illustration is the struggling U.S. housing market,
That’s the thing, we’ve just had a bout of severe, double digit inflation and now we’re suffering from deflation. It’s just that it was mostly RE prices rather than the entire CPI “basket” that was affected. And the distortions were certainly visible (at least to those of us who were willing to see them) as prices rose and now they’re visible as prices fall.
Funny though - when gas prices go down the media (and economists) never say we’re “suffering from gas price deflation”.
Apparently people have a harder time drumming sympathy for the losers in that scenario - the energy sector - than they do for the housing segment - the FIRE sector.
(Devil’s advocate - it’s actually apples and oranges. Main street people don’t generally buy and then later sell large quantities of gasoline. Nevertheless in the long run lower home prices, like lower gas prices, are better for almost all of us. Thus deflation is a good thing, not bad.)
“Fed will do what it takes to keep recovery alive.”
Is lying about the strength of the recovery part of the menu of policy options?
“Is lying about the strength of the recovery part of the menu of policy options?”
Um, I’m guessing you already know the answer to that one… Talking the markets in the direction that they want has always been near the top of the Fed’s play-book.
Lying is rule #1 at the Fed or any other govenment leadership job. They won’t hire you unless you can pass a test where your known lies are undetected by the best lie-detector machine.
Is there something I missed in all my reading of economics text books through the years about the beneficial effects to a nation’s macroeconomic performance from top government officials lying about the real state of the economy? Maybe Bernanke has a chapter in his text book on the topic; I will have to browse a copy to find out.
The Fed stands ready to take new steps to bolster the recovery if the economy worsens.’
this is what makes the Recession then recovery so hard to predict
I sincerely hope this time the PTB make the connection between a 75% consumer driven economy and people having decent jobs so they can support that economy.
Because if they don’t, the next time will be the LAST time.
Ask the people of GB what’s it like to be a former superpower.
Question, at what point does unemployment become welfare? The new extension takes it out 2-1/2 years. What then? Keep extending and pretending?
Unemployment aid won’t be enough to boost recovery
Extension of unemployment aid won’t be enough to boost recovery, but it could help sustain it.
WASHINGTON (AP) — For jobless Americans struggling to pay their bills and keep their homes, the restoration of unemployment benefits could keep their crisis from getting worse.
The same might be said of the broader economy.
The Senate is expected to vote Wednesday to keep providing unemployment benefits for up to 99 weeks to more than 5 million long-term unemployed. The injection of an estimated $33 billion into a $14.6 trillion economy over the next five months won’t be enough to energize the recovery. But economists say it could at least help sustain it.
The vote comes as evidence mounts that growth is slowing. Consumers, facing lower home values and high unemployment, are saving more and spending cautiously. The housing market is slumping again after a tax credit expired in April. And the impact of last year’s $787 billion stimulus package has begun to fade.
By extending the unemployment aid, Congress will remove one potential drag on the economy, analysts say.
“It reduces the likelihood of a double-dip recession,” said Gus Faucher, an economist at Moody’s Analytics.
During the recession, Congress provided up to 73 extra weeks of unemployment aid, paid for by the federal government. They came on top of the 26 weeks customarily provided by the states.
We are at that point already.
“Question, at what point does unemployment become welfare?”
Week 13
“Question, at what point does unemployment become welfare?”
Yesterday. That was the actual date.
“The new extension takes it out 2-1/2 years.”
Ummmmm…. 99 weeks divided by 52 weeks == what again?
The extended the range of dates for which people are eligible for the full 99 weeks. They did not extend beyond 99 weeks.
52 * 2.5 != 99
Unemployment is the new SSI
And Remember its scary right now to go back to work WMBZ, Employers are are scared sheeetless
If you take a job and get fired even if it’s for some BS reason they can deny you unemployment for at least 8-12 weeks…
So its a big risk to just take ANY job……this has never happened before.
———————-
Question, at what point does unemployment become welfare?
…at what point does unemployment become welfare?
Probably at the same point as TARP.
Some of the so-called reforms of the Banking Takeover Act of 2010 which will be signed today.
“Within 3 months: A new council of regulators meets in October and starts figuring out ways to identify firms that are big enough to pose a danger to the financial system.”
And I’m sure this council will be impartial and will only act in the interests of the country. The amount of money donated to Democrats will have nothing to do with the decisions.
“Within 9 months: Federal Reserve releases new rules curbing the swipe fees that retailers pay banks and credit unions on debit cards.”
Get ready to have a lot fewer options as a consumer to use credit/debit cards at mom and pop operations. If Visa/MC/Amex/Discover can’t make a profit from small retailers by charging sufficient fees, they’ll leave the market. I know the HBB set thinks using cash is wonderful. But I like to live in the 21st century and not carry around bills. What this will do is hurt small stores who will not have the option of providing electronic payment at the expense of large stores who will continue to do so. The very same people who whine about Walmart killing Main St. are sticking the knife deeper into Main St. with this provision.
If Visa/MC/Amex/Discover can’t make a profit from small retailers by charging sufficient fees, they’ll leave the market
They’ll adapt. They won’t be as profitable, but I’m sure they’ll be around.
You’ve never run a business have you? If a business unit is not profitable, the business unit closes. A similar thing happened with payday loan companies. The govt capped the interest rate they could charge people. And the result was thousands of pay day loan centers simply closed since they could not be profitable any longer.
You’ve never run a business have you? If a business unit is not profitable, the business unit closes.
Acutually, I have run a business, profitably.
As I said, they will adapt, they will change their cost structures so that their reduced commissions will be profitable. And why shouldn’t they? Everybody else is adapting, reducing their cost structures to be competitive. Why should Visa be exempt, especially since they are a defacto monopoly in the debit card biz?
Payday loan centers closed? Ah gee. Too bad. So sad. Cry me a river.
Couldn’t have happened to nicer bunch… of sharks.
OTOH, small retailers didn’t HAVE to accept credit cards. Admittedly small retailers are at a real disadvantage, but if, say Wall Mart said that they wouldn’t accept any cards with with fees greater than x%, they’d be in a pretty good bargaining position.
The poor banks!!!!! boo hooo hooo.
The White Horse Tavern of Dylan Thomas fame still won’t take credit cards. They are one of many businesses in the area that chooses to say, “cash only”. Their profitability is incredible. Small businesses with dedicated customer bases can do okay even without electronic payments. People just know to bring cash.
“OTOH, small retailers didn’t HAVE to accept credit cards.”
That’s part of the Old Florida charm that still lingers.
CASH ONLY
Here in Tucson, there are small retail businesses that no longer take plastic. Or, if they do, they post signs saying how expensive taking plastic is. These merchants really appreciate cash, BTW.
One example is our local food co-op — the general manager wrote an editorial about interchange fees in one of last year’s newsletters. I’ll look around and see if I can find the link, because it really did a good job of explaining the problem from a small business perspective.
Correct. It wasn’t long ago that banking was plain vanilla and low profit. Hopefully we’re moving back in that direction, especially since the bankers have shown us that they have no talent or brains and are completely undeserving of their compensation.
Little known fact: it was MBNA, the largest issuer of credit card credit, that was the LEAD proponent and lobbyist for the 2005 bankruptcy reform?
Yeah. That BK reform was totally weighted in the bank’s favor and gave the shaft to the middle and upper middle class. If you did not know who ran the government before the act was passed, you certainly would (or should) know after.
Think of how many more $$$ could be used to support the consumer economy if some of the f’d could file chapter 7 instead of chapter 13. Funny how the act was passed just before we went on an easy credite spree sponsored by the big banks.
Report: Tennessee suffered third-worst May-to-June job losses
Nashville Business Journal
Tennessee suffered some of the worst job losses in the country in June, according to a report issued today by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The state lost 20,800 jobs between May and June, according to seasonally adjusted figures released by BLS — despite the fact that Tennessee’s jobless rate fell from 10.4 percent in May to 10.1 percent in June. Unemployment rates measure workers who are actively looking for jobs — those who have given up are not counted as part of the work force. Tennessee’s work force of about 3 million people shrank by 3,000 people between May and June, BLS reports.
The only states to lose more jobs were California (-27,600) and New York (-22,500). Tennessee also has the third-worst drop by percentage, losing 0.8 percent of its nonfarm jobs, compared with 1 percent for Hawaii and 1.4 percent for New Mexico. By comparison, Kentucky has one of the best months in the study, adding 6,200 jobs month-over-month and 26,500 jobs year-over-year.
I just want to repeat one of prof Bear’s posts from late yesterday, because it looks pretty important:
Obama’s next focus of reform: Housing finance
By Zachary A. Goldfarb
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
After President Obama signs into law an overhaul of financial regulation at a ceremony set for Wednesday, his administration will turn to reforming an area at the root of the financial crisis: the U.S. housing market.
Responding to the collapse in home prices and the huge number of foreclosures, the Obama administration is pursuing an overhaul of government policy that could diverge from the emphasis on homeownership embraced by former administrations.
“In previous eras, we haven’t seen people question whether homeownership was the right decision. It was just assumed that’s where you want to go,” said Raphael Bostic, a senior official in the Department of Housing and Urban Development. “You’re not going to hear us say that.”
Bostic, who has published leading scholarship on homeownership, added that owning a home has a lot of value, but “what we’ve seen in the last four years is that there really is an underside to homeownership.”
The administration’s narrower view of who should own a home and what the government should to do to support them could have major implications for the economy as well as borrowers. Broadly, the administration may wind down some government backing for home loans, but increase the focus on affordable rentals.
The shift in approach could mean higher down payments and interest rates on loans, more barriers to lower-income people buying houses, and fewer homeowners overall, government officials said. But it could also pave the way for a more stable housing market, one with fewer taxpayer dollars on the line and less of a risk that homeowners will not be able to pay their mortgages. And it could spell changes throughout the financial markets, as investors choose new places to put their money if the government withdraws some incentives for investing in the U.S. mortgage market.
…
Looking back 3 years:
(emphasis added later)
Exactly, packman. A lot of poser developments in this area were built during the bubble, and a couple of them had heavy investor involvement. In order to make the mortgage, some of the investors went Section 8 and voila! Folks were moved from urban areas of St. Pete and Tampa, into these developments. I would imagine it’s a bit of a sore point for people who thought they were buying in an “upscale” development.
I’d refrase it
There are many wasy for MEGABANKS to take ovre your house using the Gov. Inflate the buble, trick you into debt, pop the bubble and subsidize rent after foreclosure.
I guarantee that at the bottom MEGABANK inc will own the useable homes. GSE’s will be forced to sell them. Then MEGABANK inc will drink at the gov tit again via rent subsidizing.
Well yeah I think we’re talking semantics here. As you say Megabank is for all intents and purposes our indirect government; the official direct one in DC is their tool, that does their dirty work (e.g. like enforcement).
Speaking in generality and perhaps somewhat hyperbolic - but mostly true nonetheless. It’s what the Fed was created for.
Not sure which scene you guys are recalling from Dr. Zhivago, but I am thinking of the part when Larisa and Dr. Zhivago are living in an abandoned home somewhere out in the middle of the frozen taiga, with wolves keeping a watchful eye on the squatters.
We certainly have enough vacant homes in the U.S. for those sort of developments to ensue.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen it (3 years longer now than back then), but IIRC I/we were thinking of the scene where the government took over their house for coop purposes; earlier in the movie, not the one you mention. I don’t remember actually if it was Zhivago’s house or not, I think so.
It was his father-in-laws house. The family had been moved into one room in the house.
Comment by packman
2010-07-21 08:40:50
” It’s been a while since I’ve seen it (3 years longer now than back then), but IIRC I/we were thinking of the scene where the government took over their house for coop purposes; earlier in the movie, not the one you mention. I don’t remember actually if it was Zhivago’s house or not, I think so. ”
I think the house originally belonged to Zhivago’s older relative, but point taken.
I got to see the Hermitage a few weeks ago, Catherine the Great’s little pad full of Rembrandts and Raphaels. I understood the Bolsheviks’ point of view at that moment. Let’s hope we don’t get there ourselves!
Do Unions Bust Convention Business?
Chicago had been steadily losing conventions to the glitz of Las Vegas as well as sunshine and theme parks of Orlando, Fla., even though exhibitors preferred to show their wares in the city of big shoulders.
“They wanted to come to Chicago, because the people will actually look at their exhibits,” said Illinois Senate President John Cullerton.
But Chicago is a union town — to do business here means playing by union rules.
So, an exhibitor needed to pay the teamsters to haul his exhibit to the convention center and the carpenter’s union to set up a booth. If the carpenters worked past 4:30, they went on overtime, even if they started at 3:00.
Now, you need to plug in your booth to make the whole thing work - you need to pay someone else to do that.
“Instead of a few $100 that it might be in other cities that person is literally spending over $1,200 just to have a computer connected to the Internet and have the power for it,” said exhibitor Mathew Cohn. “It’s a very expensive place to do business.”
One by one, the conventions — which drive 66,000 jobs and generate $251 million in tax revenue — fled for Mickey Mouse and the rolling dice.
When two major conventions pulled out, Illinois got nervous.
“We seem to be in trouble, I mean as a city, we seem to be in trouble,” said Jim Reilly of Chicago’s Metropolitan Pier and Exhibition.
So, the Illinois Legislature passed a “Bill of Rights” for exhibitors.
With the legislation, exhibitors can set up their own booths, contract their own electricians and overtime is limited.
The Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters responded with a lawsuit saying they’ve been singled out and pushed to unemployment.
A union lawyer issued a statement saying: “This Legislation will destroy the historic work of the carpenter in the Chicago tradeshow industry and result in the loss of some of the best tradeshow workers in the country, who will be forced to abandon the trade in order to support their families.”
But the bill of rights suddenly made Chicago more “exhibitor friendly” and the exhodus reversed.
Six new customers decided to hold conventions at McCormick Place. The International Home and Housewares Show negotiated a 5-year commitment and the Convention and Tourism Bureau projected a $1 billion windfall.
“We’ve done this to help the unions,” Cullerton Said. “The unions will have more work.”
This doesn’t just happen in CHicago BTW…
An amusing anecdote that was told to me by a friend. At some trade show the union contract stipulated that the boyz carried everything into the hall, including exhibitor briefcases.
So this guy walks in and a union boy tries to snatch his briefcase from him. Turns out that it was one of the handcuff jobs. When the union turned looked up at the customer, he was staring down the barrel of a gun.
Don’t know if this is a true story, but I thought it was funny.
I remember working for Ma Bell in the 70’s and we were in a Central Office to oversee the installation of some prototype equipment. At one point I picked up a screwdriver to move a panel of equipment farther up in a relay rack to make room for the next panel to be installed. The supervisor forcefully grabbed my arm so he could take the screwdriver out of my hand before any of the union thugs could see me. According to the manager, if I had so much as touched that panel they all would have taken off their tool belts and walked out of the building.
I’ve heard lots very similar stories. I worked for 15 years for manufacturers of that equipment.
At some point you would think people would pause and say “Good God - what’s wrong with this picture?”. Given that union membership is down a lot - apparently some lights have come on in some peoples’ heads.
Union memberhip is down because of unfavorable rule changes made by previous Republican administrations. Not coincidentally, so is the number of middle class households, people with health insurance and quality of work performed by the illegal aliens that companies love to hire at little to no expense. Given a free choice of choosing to work union or non-union the vast majority of people would choose union in a second.
I too heard stories of new-graduated PhD’s having wrenches wrenched out of their hands because tightening a screw was union work. Look, people don’t like nickel and diming of any kind, simply because nickel and diming is below of economies of scale. It takes far less time and money to put in one screw yourself than it does to get a union guy.
Maybe they should include the union labor in the price of the convention rental rate and make the actual union labor “free.” Then people have the choice of getting the union or doing it themselves, union guys get paid a set fee, and there’s no nickel and diming. And it’s up to the union to keep their price down, or they dont get included in the package.
Given a choice of working my a$$ off to put food on my table or having my neighbor do all the work for me I would choose to have my neighbor do the work. What is your point? Sure everybody wants more but those unions aren’t exactly Little Sisters of the Poor. These are politically connected organizations that often use strong arm tactics to improve their lot. Everything they get through their collective experience must come out of somebody else’s pocket.
Can we quit with the whole, “there would have been no middle class without unions” BS? One of the main reasons for the decimation of the middle class was because the middle class decided to borrow its way out of existence. I can give one example after another of middle class people removing themselves from the middle class due to their spending. It had nothing to do with union membership.
Perhaps we could nuke Japan and leave Europe in ruins again. That is what helped the manufacturing based unions achieve such prominence in the 1940s - 1960s in the United States.
NYC - nail on the head.
I’ll state what I’ve stated time and again - our loss of economic prominence that started in the 1970’s wasn’t due to unions, or even changes in domestic legislation. It was due to what happened on the world stage, e.g:
- We lost our competitive edge after the WWII-decimated rest-of-the-world rebuilt their physical infrastructure and caught up to us.
- We made unfair trade easier with things like Nixon’s China visit, NAFTA, etc. This allowed countries with far less labor and environmental regulations than us get a leg up on the world’s competitive stage.
This is all made painfully clear by the trade imbalance switch that was flipped in the 1970’s. Ever since then we’ve struggled to keep from falling behind - in part by paring back the unions (to our benefit) and by creating ever-growing debt bubbles (to our detriment).
So contrary to the statement above that the reduction in the middle class was because of decrease in unions - IMO it was despite the decrease in unions. One need only look at the tremendous growth of companies with weak or no unions - e.g. Toyota, Southwest Airlines, etc - compared with their counterparts to see that.
Thank god the millions of jobs offshored over the last 30 years had nothing to with their borrowing, NYCityBoy or your arguement wouldn’t hold water.
What the heck do you need a carpenter for to set up a friggin’ trade show booth? I’ve been to and exhibited at some random conventions, and the big booths are basically giant lego sets that snap and bolt together and need one guy from the company who knows what he’s doing and a tiny unskilled crew to follow directions, and the small booths get folding tables and bring their own stand-up displays.
Exeter will be glad to tell you. Exeter? Exeter?
Obsessed obsessed obsessed?
But what about the “historic work of the [union] carpenter”? Doesn’t that count for something? LOL! Seriously, unions are basically organized crime. They have driven manufacturing out of this country. Notice how most of the remaining unions are for service jobs that are not outsourcable. Unionized manufacturing? Screw that - I’ll just get it from China!
So now the carpenters local drove manufacturing out of the country….
You chumps come up with some real doozies.
We discussed this yesterday. The unions failed to adapt and curb their more extreme practices.
I’m involved in a few professional medical organizations. We always bitch and moan about having meetings in Chicago and New York, because the unions make things so costly. But our members flock to those cities, and we make it up in volume. We lose money when we meet in Nashville, Denver or Houston.
We lose money when we meet in Nashville, Denver or Houston.
And that’s a shame, because M.D. Anderson (Houston) and Vanderbilt (Nashville) are two of our country’s finest medical centers.
Just wait until the Chinese housing bubble blows up, it’ll makes ours look like a fart bubble in a swimming pool.
It will “look like” losing a huge amount of Face. Therefore, we will never see it.
Prediction: The “losing face” aspect will make the collapse of the Chinese property bubble much more visible, in terms of extreme consequences to Chinese households which absorb the collateral damage of the bubble collapse.
By contrast, American gamblers have plenty of experience with winning and losing to help them make the adjustment.
I would expect a lot of suicides. All joking aside.
Ditto (not to suggest I am a ditto head or anything…).
Looking forward to it with great anticipation — especially to hearing how “no one could have seen it coming”!
You do know the Chinese have a lot of RE investments over here as well, right?
US financial system support up $700 bln in past year-watchdog.
Jul 21, 2010
* Total US govt financial system support seen at $3.7 trln
WASHINGTON, July 21 (Reuters) - Increased housing commitments swelled U.S. taxpayers’ total support for the financial system by $700 billion in the past year to around $3.7 trillion, a government watchdog said on Wednesday.
The Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program said the increase was due largely to the government’s pledges to supply capital to Fannie Mae (FNMA.OB) and Freddie Mac (FMCC.OB) and to guarantee more mortgages to the support the housing market.
Increased guarantees for loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration, the Government National Mortgage Association and the Veterans administration increased the government’s commitments by $512.4 billion alone in the year to June 30, according to the report.
Sell the crap, get ‘em off the books and get out of the dang housing bidness.
Head ‘em up, move ‘em out, rawhide.
Jeezo Pete, I’m so sick of this, it’s such a controlled, rigged market, who the heck can find what the real value is unless it’s just let to hit bottom.
The worst part is the policy deception.
Using Main Street Americans’ tax dollars to enable the defunct GSEs to hold shadow inventory off the market, thereby pushing prices out of reach of young families and other would-be home buyers, all while claiming to be making homes more ‘affordable,’ is plainly despicable.
The way to bring the housing market back is to bust up the trusts (including the defunct GSEs) who are withholding supply from the market, and let prices adjust to levels where would-be buyers can afford to make purchases, based on their household incomes rather than insanely oversized loans (got $729,750 worth of conformability?).
Let the gamblers who bet that “real estate always goes up” and lost take their hits, move the government interventionists to the sidelines, and let the free private market dictate who builds, buys and sells what home, rather than some government agency, and pretty soon the housing market would heal itself.
Private mortgage lending and — dare I even suggest it — private mortgage securitization would magically reappear if prices fell to levels where private lenders (as opposed to the perpetual loss-generating FHA & GSEs) would not fear the risk of catching falling knife collateral after the hopelessly strapped buyer defaults on his unaffordable loan.
Unfortunately, so long as current policies to keep housing unaffordably priced remain in force, no housing recovery is likely to occur.
“Using Main Street Americans’ tax dollars to enable the defunct GSEs to hold shadow inventory off the market”
GS, I saw some data recently on the number of properties held as REO by the GSEs, and it surprised me. It did not look like they were holding properties off the market, or at least not on their books. The curve wasn’t actually climbing—it was relatively stable.
Now granted, the foreclosure moratoria held a LOT of properties off the market, but I think that merely “shifted teh curve to the right”. In other words, as they finally get around to taking those properties on their books as REO, it will be interesting to see if they continue this trend in their REO holdings data.
Holy cripes. Let me see if I have this right.
8/2009 - Administration projects $170B total loss due to F/F
10/8/09 - F/F announce they’ve taken $96B from the treasury so far
12/15/09 - F/F announce they’ve $111B from the treasury so far
12/24/09 - Bailout cap of $400B for F/F lifted on Christmas eve
and now -
7/21/10 - TARP inspector announces F/F have gotten $512.5B just this year, through June???? (total then being somewhere around $610B)
Is this completely out of control, or what?
Noting that this is after home prices finished their precipitous drop and then flattened and even started back up some. How the F bad would this have been if prices had kept going down over the past year? How bad will it be when prices start going down again, as they certainly will (short another massive support program - which wouldn’t surprise me)?
Correction - I misread it. The $512B was total including Veteran’s benefits, FDIC, etc., and including the Federal Reserve programs (presumably including the MBS purchases). It’s not just treasury support of F/F.
Estate tax to return in 2011, and it could hurt ordinary folks.
USA TODAY
In life, George Steinbrenner beat the Red Sox. In death, he beat the IRS.
Steinbrenner’s death on July 13 occurred six months after the federal estate tax expired. Forbes magazine estimates the Yankees owner’s net worth was $1.15 billion, so the timing of Steinbrenner’s death could save his heirs up to $500 million in federal estate taxes.
But future heirs may not be so lucky. The federal estate tax is scheduled to return with a vengeance on Jan. 1, 2011, imposing a levy of up to 55% on estates valued at more than $1 million. And the same congressional paralysis that allowed the tax to expire in 2010 could thwart efforts to pare it back, estate planning attorneys say.
A $1 million exemption would affect a lot of families that are well out of Steinbrenner’s league. “You take a home, an IRA or 401(k) retirement account, some other savings and you get to $1 million pretty easily,” says Richard Behrendt, senior estate planner for Robert W. Baird and a former IRS attorney.
“Estate tax to return in 2011, and it could hurt ordinary folks.
You take a home, an IRA or 401(k) retirement account, some other savings and you get to $1 million pretty easily,” >/i>
In what Universe? IIRC the average 401(k) has a balance of less than 100K and the national median house price is what? 250k?
Most “ordinary folks” don’t have a net worth of 1 million.
And how many “ordinary” folks have a net worth of 1 million AFTER they die? Smacks of bad planning. Says Jonathon Pond, down-to-earth financial advisor: Retire Rich, Die Destitute.
And so what if the heirs are taxed? So they take home $500K instead of $650K or whatever. Big deal. It’s still sort of like free money. If they were proper corporatist hard working “producers,” they wouldn’t need that windfall money at all, would they.
I do admit I’m concerned about intact, operating farms and small businesses worth over $1 M which are passed down in the family. It’s shame if you would have to break up the business to pay taxes. Aren’t there exepctions, or installment plans, for that?
Yes. Installments and deferments.
This is nothing fear mongering and cry baby whining by the rich.
“…nothing but…”
They would be taxed 50% of anything over a million. The heirs will keep the million.
I’m likely to end up with a lot of money to leave to my kids. If my two sons can’t survive splitting a million tax-free then I didn’t raise them right.
And, by the way, I haven’t paid taxes on most of the money I’ve saved, so they should have to.
They should make exceptions, however, for family businesses like small farms, so they don’t get broken up. But I’m not talking about the heavily-government-subsized big farmers, who I think are among the biggest welfare queens in the country.
1million will pay far less in estate taxes.
“…the Yankees owner’s net worth was $1.15 billion, so the timing of Steinbrenner’s death could save his heirs up to $500 million in federal estate taxes.”
The stadium cost is actually 2.3 Billion $$$$$$$$$… of which, 1.2 Billion $$$$$$$$$$ is funded by citizens
Anyone related to that genius should be rewarded tax fee for years to come.
Previously enacted by Shrub Law 20001:
“…Take your millions, invest it, inherit it, all free of taxation while the average American gets ripped off due to the complications of the tax code/emphasis on paycheck income.”
Lil’ Opie,… the Non-Hawaiian socialist
I can’t WAIT for it to come back.
Ordinary folks don’t have a million dollars. That’s why they’re “ordinary.”
What a fear mongering sock puppet. And the sad part is that bubba in his about to be repo’ed home will think this really does affect him.
Of Course Oakland Can’t Afford These Cops
This month, Oakland laid off 80 police officers, just over 10 percent of its total force, in order to balance the city’s budget. As a result, the city’s police chief says cops will no longer respond to 44 categories of crimes, including grand theft. The city’s elected officials regret the change but say they simply cannot afford to maintain current staffing levels. Whether that’s true depends upon your definition of “afford.”
At current levels of compensation, yes, Oakland cannot afford to maintain a police department with 776 employees. That’s because total compensation for an OPD employee averages an astounding $162,000 per year. But at a more reasonable level of pay and benefits, Oakland could afford to maintain its force, or even grow it.
Oakland police officers’ compensation is generous along every dimension. As touted on the department’s own recruiting website, cadets start out at a salary of $64,656 plus benefits. (For comparison, the NYPD pays police academy attendees a starting salary of $44,744). Once an OPD officer finishes training, he or she is entitled to a starting base salary, before overtime and benefits, ranging from $71,841 to $90,459. And the payscale continues upward from there.
–
Once an OPD officer finishes training, he or she is entitled to a starting base salary, before overtime and benefits, ranging from $71,841 to $90,459. And the payscale continues upward from there.
And people wonder why no one wants to be an engineer. Let’s see… inferior pay… check … no pension …. check … no job security .. check.
I know some folks from Oakland and surrounding area.
The words I hear to describe the place are “target rich environment” and “war zone.”
This month, Oakland laid off 80 police officers, just over 10 percent of its total force, in order to balance the city’s budget. As a result, the city’s police chief says cops will no longer respond to 44 categories of crimes, including grand theft.”
typical city reaction ” if you cut our budget you will all pay” ” the streets will never be safe again and your homes may burn down”
like the mafia
And you certainly didn’t see them all offering a 10% pay cut to fund the 10% of the force that was getting laid off.
So much for that Blue shield, badge of Honor, and cops take care of each other…what crapola
Union proud.
Orange nonprofit group lays off hundreds.
ORANGE — A nonprofit in Orange that provides vocational training and job placement services has shut down for at least three weeks after it did not have the money to pay its employees for nearly three months, resulting in layoffs of at least 300 workers.
The First Occupational Center of New Jersey provides services to the poor, elderly and developmentally disabled. More than 60 employees, mostly administrative and executive staff, are owed more than $300,000, said Rocco Meola, the president and chief executive officer.
“We’re basically living week-to-week with our money. It’s not a good way for an agency of this size to operate,” Meola said Monday, adding that he has not been paid either.
The 55-year-old agency receives funding several ways, Meola said, including contracts from state agencies, such as the Department of Human Services’ Division of Developmental Disability and the Department of Labor’s Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, and revenue from four businesses run by the center, including a janitorial and groundskeeping business.
Obama’s next focus of reform: Housing finance
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/20/AR2010072005946.html
Lots of words, but do they have the chutzpah to make the housing sector, just a home again.
There is a La Raza whine at the end of this article.
“The administration’s narrower view of who should own a home and what the government should to do to support them could have major implications for the economy as well as borrowers.”
Good find, wipeout. Does anyone besides me find the above quote just a tad creepy? Since when is it up to them to decide who should own a home? (or rather, who should carry a mortgage). The answer is really simple: them’s that can afford it. Period.
The only people who really “own” homes are those who have no mortgage and own their places free and clear. And even then, you’re still renting from the govmint, which has an ongoing tax lien on the property.
“Good find, wipeout. Does anyone besides me find the above quote just a tad creepy”?
Yes, but then I find most anything gubmint creepy.
The gov shouldn’t have any sort of view on who should own a home but they should keep an eye on the expense of purchased homes relative to income.
“Does anyone besides me find the above quote just a tad creepy?”
There seems to be a prevalence of command and control economic thinking at the top these days.
How did that work out for the former Soviet Union?
There seems to be a prevalence of command and control economic thinking at the top these days.
Yes. By Wall St. Has been since the 1980s. Where have you been?
What should be done with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? Professor Laurence Kotlikoff
is the first guest to respond.
http://www.economist.com/economics/by-invitation/questions/what_should_be_done_fannie_mae_and_freddie_mac
What should be done and what is being done, unfortunately are two different things. F&F are well on their way, they will turn into a full blow government agency and erase the “quasi” prefix.
That should fix it right up.
Fannie and Freddie fix? Cart em’ out back and shoot them like a pair of lame mules.
Roidy
Palm Beach County developer on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition files for bankruptcy. ~ Palm Beach Post
A prominent Palm Beach County developer featured on ABC television’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition for building a dying man and his family a new home filed for bankruptcy this week.
The Chapter 7 bankruptcy case filed Monday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court by JPG Enterprises, Inc., which does business as Majestic Custom Homes, lists more than $7 million in liabilities and $1.6 million in assets.
The company, headed by president John Paul George, built custom homes in Palm Beach, St. Lucie, Indian River and Sarasota counties. Florida Department of State Records show JPG Enterprises was incorporated in 1984.
Attorney Stuart Young, of Young, Brooks & Pefka in West Palm Beach, is representing Majestic. He was in court Tuesday and could not be reached for comment. The phone number for Majestic was disconnected and its Web site disabled.
The company’s office was off Royal Palm Beach Boulevard in suburban West Palm Beach, where it also had model homes. The Palm Beach County Property Appraiser’s Office lists Majestic Land Holdings Inc., as the owner of a handful of properties in the western communities and Wellington.
The company received publicity in 2006 for its construction of a 2,300-square-foot Riviera Beach home for 43-year-old single father Dunstan Rainford. Rainford’s home had been damaged in Hurricane Wilma, which ripped off a portion of his roof.
Rainford suffered from lymphatic cancer and died about seven months after the February whirlwind construction of the home, which is now owned by relatives.
There were signs of financial trouble at Majestic even during filming of the Extreme Makeover program. In a March 2006 Palm Beach Post story, clients complained they were waiting months, or even years, to get work completed on their homes.
At the time, George blamed permit and land surveyor holdups for the delays.
According to the bankruptcy filing, tens of thousands of dollars are owed Majestic in unfulfilled home construction contracts, including from owners whose homes have since been foreclosed on by lenders.
Note to producer: Next time there is a complete collapse in the market which is the premise of your tv show you might want to cancel the show within the first FOUR YEARS!!!!!
Sheeple waking up?
“A year after President Barack Obama’s political honeymoon ended, his job approval rating has dropped to a negative 44 - 48 percent, his worst net score ever, and American voters say by a narrow 39 - 36 percent margin that they would vote for an unnamed Republican rather than President Obama in 2012, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.”
YES WE CAN!!
You’ll learn to love him Eddie.
I still would vote for Obama over Saint Sarah in a heartbeat.
I just have to ask: How does that cleavage strike Conservative Christian eyes?
Well I can tell you that the southern baptists would hate it in church but once the service was over, the lust would be in full force.
“it’s a thin line between Saturday night & Sunday Morning”
(’Specially if Saturday night ends @ 2:35 am Sunday)
Seen that - pretty sure that’s a photoshop pic, isn’t it? If not - holey moley! (Holey moley anyways)
(P.S. count me as one who would really like it if Palin just disappeared - perhaps relegated to just the pages of some magazine.)
Maxim?
Roidy
Well, so much for “hope!”
Well Barry can only get away with the “inherited the mess” whine for so long. I believe he’s a one term pres. However the other side doesn’t much going for it either. Barry will always get 99% of the black vote, the majority of libs, Latinos, and the white guilt crowd also. So if the repubs, think they can take him down, they had better get busy really soon and find someone new and improved, cause if they trot out another old has been like McCain, they will lose period.
I’ll be “wasting” my vote as usual on the 2% party…Libertarian.
My prediction: The 2012 presidential race will look a lot like Clinton-Dole 1996. Or Johnson-Goldwater 1964.
And, if you’re looking for a comparison between a strong Republican and a weak Democrat, think back to any of the three presidential races during the 1980s.
So, be prepared to deal with Obama until 2017, people.
Dream on; the system wouldnt last until 2017 under the obloviator. Republicans would have a veto proof house and senate, but, I’m afraid, by then the systemic financial damage to this country would be fatal. Sarah would beat him if the election were this year; by 2012 we could elect Bugs Bunny.
You’re in for a surprise my friend. Another one.
I’m so amused by either side - Republican or Democrat - pretending they are the only options.
It’s like being forced to choose between horsesh-t or chickensh-t.
We really need another choice. But the PTB have done everything in their power to make the government like a game of Pong - the electorate bounces from one side to the other, from horsesh-t to chickensh-t, because there are no other choices allowed.
I hope the system changes.
I’m so amused by either side - Republican or Democrat - pretending they are the only options.
Unfortunately they are - they have made themselves as such.
It’s kind of like being a fish lover and going to a wedding reception where all they serve is chicken or beef. You may like something else - but you’re not the one calling the shots.
Frustrating.
Just curious how long should it take a president to clean up the kind he inherited?? My guess is 10-20years.
That remains to be seen, whoever takes over from the mess Barry is making may not be up to the task.Not than any elected gas bag could or even would seriously try.
“Not than any elected gas bag could or even would seriously try”
Presidential Polictics = Power = “I’m the Decider!”
Worlds largest financial economy: USA
Nope, no one will try. How old is Ann Coulter?
Ann Coulter?
I’d vote for Ann as Skankbag-N’-Chief.
Roidy
Just curious how long should it take a president to clean up the kind he inherited?? My guess is 10-20years.
So you would have voted for three more terms for Bush?
If said President was cleaning up after Obama’s multiple criminal fiascos, probably about 10-20 thousand years, at least.
I might be surprised, but for now, I seriously doubt the Republican party’s ability to field a candidate who is not so far off the right end of the political spectrum that they have zero chance of getting elected. And then there is that ever-elusive economic recovery, which is quite likely to finally be in full swing by 2012.
If I were a betting man, I would bet on a second term for Obama.
“And then there is that ever-elusive economic recovery, which is quite likely to finally be in full swing by 2012″.
It may be improving, I really don’t know, from what I’m seeing in my area I think it will take longer than 2012. Time will tell, that is for sure.
It just has to be improving enough to support a campaign message (e.g. “Happy days are here again…”).
“…It may be improving, I really don’t know, from what I’m seeing in my area I think it will take longer than 2012.”
I thought Boeing was gonna set SC as an example to the Nation?
“Work ahead,…expect delays”
I’m in a “conundrum” of how to explain this Sit-U-Ation to an 8 year old when his saying might have “Long-Term” implications:
“Work ahead,…expect delays,…for the next 15 years”
I agree. Unless U3 is at 20% I think Obama will win by default as the GOP will probably nominate another unelectable loser. Not necessarily a good thing, but it’s what I think will happen.
The repubs will probably trot out Mitt Romney or (gasp) Jeb Bush. (hurl!!!! talking to Ralph and Buey on the great white telephone.)
Of course, Romney will tout his Olympic Savior credentials.
Kiss of death, but let’s not forget, Romney is the father of universal healthcare.
“Romney is the father of universal healthcare.”
An Inconvenient Truth if ever there was one…
And then there is that ever-elusive economic recovery, which is quite likely to finally be in full swing by 2012.
Which is another reason why Reagan was re-elected in ‘84. This, despite the fact that the “He’s losing it!” talk was already in full swing.
And, add to the above, the fact that his policies were very unpopular in many parts of the country. Like Pittsburgh, where I lived. Only time he went there as President, a riot almost broke out. A friend of mine was there. She almost got crushed by angry unemployed steelworkers.
Oh, and let’s not forget that the Dems did the Gipper a huge favor with the Mondale-Ferraro ticket.
“…the Mondale-Ferraro ticket”
Ho ho, hah hah, hehehehehehe, BwaHaHaAhHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! (Cantankerous Intellectual Bomb-thrower™)
“…the Mondale-Ferraro ticket”
That ranked right up there with McSame/McBoobs
“…the Mondale-Ferraro ticket”
“That ranked right up there with McSame/McBoobs’
Not even close, Mondoll was like , McCain, brain dead, but Ferraro like all libs was not pleasant to the eyes!
Geez, you forgot to mention all those,… GOPOFC&CC = “The Grand Old Pimp of Fiscal Conservatives & Compassionate Conservatives” publicly elucidated party policies that they plan on enacting to restore real estate EQUITY (Shazam!) & provide to provide millions of JOBS! JOBS! JOBS! (Shazam! ll) within the first 19 months of being elected, they do have a plan right?
Your forecasting a second term for the obloviator must be based, Im guessing, on his keen vote grabbing campaigners? Or would it be on his sharp Ivy League geography skills in visiting all those 57 states? Maybe you’re counting on the capitulation of the upper class mailing in all their wealth for distribution to that demographic he favors? Too bad you’re not a betting man. You could clean up!
“Quiet on the set!”
Cheney-Shrub Legacy #3, scene 86, take 69:
“ACTION!”
Cheney-Shrub hand-off the US economy Jan 2009: “It’s all there, you just have to… rebuild it! See ya!”
http://weburbanist.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/chris-jordan-katrina-trash-pile.jpg
Are you guys seeing the “Firefighters and Cops Forced to Join Unions” ad at the top of the page.
I can’t imagine that too many cops or firefighters are upset with their unions and the stupendous compensation packages they have won for them.
My mother was/is a member of a teacher’s union. Say what you will about the teachers unions, but she was very glad that they had her back while she was in the classroom.
recontrust dot com has foreclosure services in 16 states. A quick look at California indicates 32,000 plus or minus upcoming courthouse sales. So if you are looking to buy a foreclosure, this site may be a place to start?
In our county of Oregon alone, B of A has 540 foreclosures listed for sale on the courthouse steps. This number has grown by 7 in just the 2 days I have been following the site. So more are being added than are selling. I also found several friends properties on here, surprise, surprise, surprise! says Gomer Pyle
I wonders, can they legally set up a trustee sale date/time at the courthouse even though they have never consulted the owner of said property. There is a disclaimer that information on the site may be changed at any time.
If california has 32,000 foreclosures on the chopping block thru one lender, how many are there total if you include Wells, Citi, GMAC, Indy, small time lenders etc? And how many foreclosures is BofA selling if recontrust only represents their interests in 16 states?
What a shock… To the gubmint, anyone else paying attention new it would not work. Now what? Why not just forgive everyone’s under water mortgage, nothing a few more trillion can’t fix.
Gov’t watchdogs: mortgage program is not working
Bailout watchdogs say Obama mortgage program is failing to help homeowners facing foreclosure.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Government watchdogs told a Senate panel Wednesday that the Obama administration’s effort to help homeowners avoid foreclosure isn’t working and that the Treasury Department has failed to fix the program.
Special inspector general for the financial bailouts Neil Barofsky said the program has not “put an appreciable dent in foreclosure filings,” during a Senate Finance Committee hearing on the $700 billion bank bailout. He also said the Treasury Department has ignored earlier demands that it set clearer goals for the program.
Elizabeth Warren, who chairs a separate Congressional Oversight Panel on the bailouts, said Treasury’s failure to act more quickly could be hurting the recovery.
More foreclosures could force down the price of homes and further hurt the already-ailing housing industry.
The homeownership program aims to reduce mortgage payments for millions of homeowners who can’t afford their monthly bills. Recent data suggest it has helped about 400,000 households avoid foreclosure. About 530,000 have fallen out of the program.
“Why not just forgive everyone’s under water mortgage, nothing a few more trillion can’t fix.”
To their considerable credit, they did not choose the path of unrestrained moral hazard you suggest.
Besides that, even if they did forgive the underwater portion of the mortgage, who says they won’t be underwater again next year?
The summer of recovery of jobless benefits
Filibuster broken, jobless benefits may flow soon
By ANDREW TAYLOR The Associated Press
Posted: 3:04 p.m. Tuesday, July 20, 2010
WASHINGTON — With a GOP filibuster safely broken, the Senate is poised to pass legislation restoring jobless benefits for millions of people unable to find work in the frail economic recovery.
Wednesday’s vote is a formality after the Democratic-controlled Senate voted 60-40 Tuesday to move ahead on the bill. The measure would then go to the House for one final vote and on to President Barack Obama later this week.
At issue are payments averaging $309 a week for almost 5 million people whose 26 weeks of state benefits have run out. Those people are enrolled in a federally financed program providing up to 73 additional weeks of unemployment benefits.
About half of those currently eligible have seen their benefits cut off since funding expired June 2. The jobless benefits are a lifeline to millions of people struggling to find work in what has so far been a largely jobless recovery.
“I can’t tell you how relieved we will be when Congress passes this. We have in Pennsylvania about 200,000 people who have lost their unemployment compensation coverage because of their inaction,” said Pennsylvania Secretary of Labor and Industry Sandi Vito. “Folks need this money for their mortgages, for food, and so our goal is to get them their payments as quickly as possible.”
The filibuster-breaking vote came moments after Democrat Carte Goodwin was sworn in to succeed West Virginia Democrat Robert Byrd, who died last month at 92. Goodwin was the crucial 60th senator needed to defeat the Republican filibuster. The Senate gallery was packed with Goodwin supporters, who broke into applause as he cast his “aye” vote.
Republicans say they support the benefits extension. But with the exception of Maine GOP moderates Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, who voted with Democrats Tuesday, they insist any benefits be financed by cuts to programs elsewhere in the $3.7 trillion federal budget.
Debtor’s prisons making a comeback for those with unpaid bills
Digital Journal
Minneapolis - Let the punishment fit the crime. But is it wise to return to the 1800s and throw people who don’t pay their bills into prison?
Debtors prisons were abolished by the federal government of the United States in the 1800s. But Walletpop.com reports that in this tight economy, they’re making an unwanted return.
The Star-Tribune says its research of the state’s court documents shows that arrests like Uhlmeyers rose 60% in Minnesota during the past four years. And this is happening in more states than Minnesota. Ed Mierzwinski, consumer program director at the U.S. Public Interest Research Groups (or PIRG), calls this a “very bad situation for consumers.” Mierzwinski pins the problem on what he calls,
“bottom-feeder debt collectors [who] are very aggressive.”
The people who wind up going to prison for their debts are getting caught in a legal loophole which is they are technically being locked up for contempt of court after not appearing for a hearing on their debt. It’s a practice being used increasingly by debt-collection companies. The way it works is that first the collections agency files a lawsuit against the debtor, which requires them to make a court appearance.
If the debtor doesn’t show up, the creditor wins a default judgment against them, which enables the court to set up another hearing where the judge will go through the debtor’s assets and determine some action to be taken. That would include garnishing wages or seizing bank accounts.
Note to polly: Okay if I send you an e-mail about that topic (federal contracting) that we were discussing late last year? I have your e-mail addy.
Yup. Just fine.
Thanks — e-mail coming shortly!
This is complete garbage, unless they control for the possibility that government intervention will artificially engineer home price increases in order to provide evidence the housing bust is over. Such an effort is already clearly in evidence. They may get their “four subsequent quarters” of housing price increases, at the expense of a much longer secular bear market in U.S. housing.
How Housing Slumps End
Agustín S. Bénétrix Barry Eichengreen Kevin H. O’Rourke
21 July 2010
The world’s current economic problems started when housing bubbles burst in several advanced economies. Economic recovery without housing market recovery is unlikely to be sustained. This column presents new research on the probability of housing slumps ending. There is at least a one-in-eight chance of housing slumps in the three big economies (US, Japan and Germany) ending imminently, but there is nothing approaching the same probability elsewhere. If things turn out as projected here, we may be about to have a test of the locomotive theory – whether the big economies can pull along their smaller brethren – both for housing markets and generally.
As concern over the sustainability of public debts has risen to the top of the list of macroeconomic concerns, it has become too easy to forget that this crisis started with a housing slump (Cecchetti 2007). How it ends will also depend, in part, on housing markets.
Construction is a particularly volatile component of economic activity. Changes in house prices can powerfully impact consumer confidence. House-price developments have obvious implications for bank balance sheets and the condition of financial institutions. All these are reasons for worrying that economic recovery without housing-market recovery is unlikely to be sustained.
How house prices now develop in different countries will, of course, depend on country-specific circumstances. But it is nonetheless possible to pick out some general patterns in how housing slumps end, and why.
In recent research, we define the start of a slump as the point in time where the house price index adjusted for inflation is at a local maximum, and its end as the local minimum. To declare a slump definitively over, we also require inflation-adjusted prices to rise on average for four subsequent quarters. Our method identifies 44 slumps (shown in the appendix) with both start and end dates between 1970Q1 and 2009Q1.
…
Our method identifies 44 slumps (shown in the appendix) with both start and end dates between 1970Q1 and 2009Q1.
The danger of trying to use technicals - you tend to miss the big picture.
The danger of trying to use technicals - you tend to miss the big picture.
Exactly. Map vs Terrain.
WSJ Blogs
Real Time Economics
Economic insight and analysis from The Wall Street Journal.
* July 20, 2010, 11:30 PM ET
Survey: Americans Remain Wary of Stock Market
By Sudeep Reddy
A year into the economic recovery, almost half of Americans are still bracing for severe drops in stock prices.
About 45% of people think the stock market will drop by more than 30% in the next year, according to a survey by economists at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University. That’s even worse than the 42% a year ago who thought such a sharp decline in stocks was likely. (In December 2008, the share stood at 56%.)
And they’re not counting on much of a payback, either. The average expected return on investment in the next year was just 1.4%, versus 3.5% three months ago.
…
A year into the economic recovery, almost half of Americans are still bracing for severe drops in stock prices.
Perhaps they’re thinking that stock prices might be a tad too high? Maybe-just-maybe?
Looks safe to stay in the water. The market goes down when everyone is convinced it has nowhere to go but up. Lots of doomsayers is a good thing.
“Lots of doomsayers is a good thing.”
In that case, allow me: Anyone who buys stocks now is likely to lose their shirt on the next leg down in the market.
It’s a hot summer - so what the hey. I’m in.
More bullocks. Half of Americans don’t even own stock.
“A year into the economic recovery, almost half of Americans are still bracing for severe drops in stock prices.”
Thinking like Hulbert, this could be a signal that it is a good time to dollar cost average into stocks, as the eventual end of recession will be accompanied by an uptick in optimism and discretionary investment into stocks. I honestly have no idea what keeps the market propped up at the moment.
Forget your too-big-to-fail entities; how about too-big-to-exist?
Scientists discover monster star
By Moni Basu, CNN
July 21, 2010 2:00 p.m. EDT
(CNN) — Imagine a star so luminous that it would burn the Earth up if it were anywhere near, a star that outshines the sun as much as the sun outshines the moon. A monster even in the abyss of space.
The star is not some scientist’s celestial dream. Astronomers used a Very Large Telescope — the instrument’s official name — to detect the most massive star discovered to date. In scientific lingo, it’s a “hypergiant.”
…
Quick, dump all the toxic assets in that gravity well!
There goes the magnitude scale!
Hi, fellow HBBers. Been absent since moving into the new house because, well, it’s a lot of work. I could write a long post about my experiences in just this first month, but I’ll try to summarize.
I received my 1st time homebuyer tax credit within approximately 7 weeks of settling so all the complaining and griping you hear from people waiting for theirs just means they didn’t do something right or in an organized fashion. That money is promptly going out for a new heat pump (which I knew I’d need when I bought the house).
Overall, this house is in great shape. However, I am finding little things here and little things there - some that I consider urgent (anything plumbing- or electrical-related); some to be dealt with in the future (like a curbside mailbox that looks like it’s ready to drop into the street - I will replace when it does exactly that).
I recently read an article about a man who’d bought his first home in his late 40s. He, essentially, said that waiting so long to buy made it harder for him because he was so used to the rental lifestyle. I must say I tend to agree. One example (of many): even though I’m not cutting my own lawn currently, there’s still the rest of the yardwork to deal with. Which probably wouldn’t be overwhelming if I weren’t still dealing with things I want to take care of on the inside of the house. But every shrub that needs trimming and area that needs weeding makes me sigh when I look at it. I have caught up on the trimming, but not the weeding. I better get to that soon or else my neighbors may stop speaking to me.
Financially, things have been working out well. Obviously, I hope and expect that to continue, or I will be back to renting. However, in the midst of a bunch of mini-crises that shot up as soon as I’d moved in (and I’m sure I overexaggerated them because I was so tired and overwhelmed), I proclaimed that I hated this house, it was the worst decision I’d ever made, and that I’m giving myself 2 years to fall in love with it or come up with Plan B. I get a little more calm and relaxed every day so I really don’t expect to sell in 2 years; however, when buying I stated I was on a “12-year plan” - to stay in the house until my son graduates high school and then go from there (maybe stay, maybe sell and move). I do have to admit that I’m already fantasizing about 12 years from now and what options I may have.
“I proclaimed that I hated this house, it was the worst decision I’d ever made, and that I’m giving myself 2 years to fall in love with it or come up with Plan B.”
Good luck to you. I am sure your investment of time, energy and faith will pay off for you on a personal level over time.
Thanks for a smile, eastcoaster. You’ll be fine.
New Twit’s duct taping a new GOP “Separate but Equal” party together:
“TrueAnger™” + “TruePurity™” = GOPOFC&CC: “The Grand Old Pimp of Fiscal Conservatives & Compassionate Conservatives”
“You “TrueAnger™” PeeParty tea toadlers & The “TrueRogue™” Sarah-The -Barracuda get out there and yell, scream & holler,… whilst us “Over-the-Hill-Gang” …keep repeating the word “Socialist-Muslim” & count the donation money
Founding father: Akin among first members of “Tea Party Caucus”:
BY JAKE WAGMAN STLToday post-dispatch Wednesday, July 21, 2010
U.S. Rep. Todd Akin is Tea Party proud — and not afraid to show it.
Today, Akin, a Town and Country Republican, was among two dozen other House lawmakers to attend the first meeting of the “Tea Party Caucus” on Capitol Hill this morning.
The meeting itself — where members were set to hear from “a handful of Americans” about the effects of the recession and economic policies — was closed to the public.
10-year treasury now down to 2.89.
Damn, this is getting interesting, isn’t it?
Treasury bubble. When will it pop?
This one may not be so clean as the housing bubble popping.
Okay, let’s see if I’m understanding this.
The 2.89 figure refers to the yield on a long-term bond, and, IIRC, prices and yields have an inverse relationship. So, looks like the price is (said with tongue in cheek) just a wee bit high and needs to come down, right?
Yes, or not. There is the belief that the bond market, and not the stock market as many think, is the true seer of the future. That said, falling yields are not a sign of a recovering/reflating economy.
This is so very interesting, we’re living history here that’s for sure.
“There is the belief that the bond market, and not the stock market as many think, is the true seer of the future.”
Does it still work that way when the bubble-blind Fed intervenes (through quantitative easing) into the bond market to suppress interest rates?
P.S. Judged as a pure market signal, a 2.89 percent 10-yr Treasury bond yield is a prediction for deflation over the next 10 years.
The 2.89 figure refers to the yield on a long-term bond, and, IIRC, prices and yields have an inverse relationship. So, looks like the price is (said with tongue in cheek) just a wee bit high and needs to come down, right?
Correct.
I actually bought a 10-year about 3 months ago. The market value on them, if I tried to sell them now, is already up 6%. That’d be a 24% gain annualized.
(I got lucky - though I didn’t put a lot into it)
Everyone’s piling into bonds right now because they’re scared to death - that and/or there’s a lot of shadow market bond buying, perhaps from the Fed (ours or other countries’). Either way, there’s a lot more upward price pressure on bonds than usual, and that’s a bubble.
Like CIBT says though - there’s deflation expectations built in too; goes along with the scared thing. Another round or two of QE and that’ll be gone quick though - people will start getting scared of inflation (again), and prices will plummet.
It may be a while yet though - maybe years even (which is why I was willing to pull the trigger; that and I’m a hedger).
“Does it still work that way when the bubble-blind Fed intervenes (through quantitative easing) into the bond market to suppress interest rates?”
Why does that statement make me picture a pressure gauge with the needle pegged in the red?
“The 2.89 figure refers to the yield on a long-term bond, and, IIRC, prices and yields have an inverse relationship. So, looks like the price is (said with tongue in cheek) just a wee bit high and needs to come down, right?”
But here is the thing: There are conditions under which that 2.89 percent yield could prove very attractive. To name one, suppose we went into a period of 7% annual deflation over the next decade. If my maths are right (and I am not sure they are, as I have never before attempted a deflation adjustment to interest rates), this would translate into a real (deflation-adjusted) rate of return equal to (1.0289*1.07-1)*100 = 10 percent — not quite as good as the return on bubble-era real estate investments, but not too shabby, either.
Are you certain we are not heading into a period of ‘higher than expected’ deflation? And if so, how do you explain the bond market’s persistent mispricing of yields?
Better than pretty good.
Wealth gained via deflation is tax free.
Can’t happen, we are in recovery! Team Barry is all over it.
Well, we haven’t breached DEC 2008 levels quite yet. But summer is fleeting, we should all probably be enjoying this calm.
A larger local company recently put everyone on notice there are lay-offs coming w/in weeks. This is not in the blue collar manufacturing sector. The word is no position is safe. I found out because a scared spouse shared the weight of what they were facing and what the next few weeks may pose for them as a reaction.
I have to say I still feel a bit shaken myself. I really hope they make the cut. Nice family. Their house would immediately be going on the market. At least they’re in a niche w/more action.
Applied Materials to cut 500 in solar reorganization.
Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journel
Applied Materials Inc. said Wednesday it will cut up to 500 jobs as it shifts from selling its SunFab thin-film solar panel manufacturing equipment and concentrates on other energy businesses.
The Santa Clara company said its energy and environmental solutions unit will now focus on selling equipment used to make crystalline silicon solar panels and LED lighting.
The move comes after Applied wrote down $83 million in thin film solar panel manufacturing equipment in the spring as sales plummeted.
CEO Mike Splinter blamed a number of factors for the lack of success in the thin film business that Applied thought several years ago would be quite promising.
One of those factors being China buying up a lot of our solar mfg capacity and moving it to China.
North Atlantic Homes files for bankruptcy
Boston Business Journal
North Atlantic Homes Inc. of Wellesley recently filed for bankruptcy with plans to liquidate the company.
The voluntary petition in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Boston listed Richard Pratt as president and treasurer of the company. Secured claims totaled $1.3 million.
The three main creditors for the company were Middlesex Savings Bank, which has a $370,000 claim; National Lumber with a $20,000 claim for building supplies; and a $900,000 mortgage with
Barry and his team of retards said they were on it since day one? Come on you gubmint worshipers how can this be?
Bernanke: Recovery ‘unusually uncertain’
July 21, 2010: 4:50 PM ET
Washington (CNNMoney.com) — Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned Congress Wednesday that the economic outlook remains “unusually uncertain,” but stopped short of revealing what the Fed might do to sustain the shaky U.S. recovery.
There had been growing expectations on Wall Street that the Fed chairman would give a clearer signal about additional steps the central bank might take to spur the economy in the face of growing weakness.
Unusually uncertain doesn’t sound at all like green shoots. And so our little economic journey continues…
Sounds suspiciously like “unexpected.”
I’m still batting 1000! Why can’t I pick lotto numbers this good?
‘unusually uncertain’
Translation: Even before the moment my lips stop moving, hit the ’sell’ button!
All roads point to deflation at this point, so what’s team Barry gonna do?
Print, baby print?
“Eyes plan to ‘it ‘em ‘ard diz like thiz, eyes will refudiate that trend good sir, and when eyes says refudiate, by allah,… eyes mean refudiate!” lil’ Opie
Alameda dumps developer for ex-Navy base
– Alameda scrapped its contract with a developer early today to bring thousands of homes and offices to the former Navy base, sending the sprawling project back to the drawing board 14 years after the military left.
The City Council voted 4-0, with one abstention, to sever its four-year relationship with SunCal Cos. of Irvine (Orange County), which had planned to build 4,800 homes, a 60-acre sports complex, offices, parks, schools and a ferry terminal at the former Alameda Naval Air Station, which covers one-third of the island city.
Mayor Beverly Johnson and council members Marie Gilmore, Doug de Haan and Frank Matarrese voted to end SunCal’s contract. Councilwoman Lena Tam abstained
“Dhat turkel, he daid,…he just don’t knows it!”
BWAHAHAHicHAHAHicHAHAHAHAHicHAHAHic* (DennisN™)
California city manager’s pension could top $30 million:
By Jim Christie SAN FRANCISCO | Wed Jul 21, 2010
(Reuters) - A municipal manager in California who makes nearly $800,000 a year working for a small, poor city could draw pension payments exceeding $30 million in retirement, according to an activist who has been calling for an overhaul of the state’s public pension system.
That would put Robert Rizzo, chief administrative officer for the city of Bell in Los Angeles County, far ahead of other retired public workers in the state, said Marcia Fritz, who heads the California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility.
“This guy will be our first seven-figure retiree,” said Fritz, whose group has played a leading role in publicizing the issue of California’s public pension liabilities.
At age 62, when Rizzo could also begin receiving Social Security payments, his annual pension would rise to $976,771, topping $1 million two years later. If he lives to age 83, his annual payout would rise to $1.48 million.
“But Vaaiiiiit,…there’s more:”
“…Fritz noted it is not unusual for retired firefighters in California to get bigger pensions than those paid top U.S. military officers who retire much later after many more years in uniform.”
Ho ho, hah hah, hehehehehehe, BwaHaHaAhHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! (Cantankerous Intellectual Bomb-thrower™)
Typically, this is known as: bill ‘em the going rate + OVERTIME!
From the file: “An once of prevention , is worth several Billions pound of cure”
…or…”what ya gonna do now that you lost your census job?”
Resentment grows over out-of-town Gulf oil workers:
By Alexandria Sage FORT JACKSON | Wed Jul 21, 2010
(Additional reporting by Leigh Coleman in Mississippi and Kelli Dugan in Alabama)
“…Barthelemy, who has spent his entire life on these waters, said he has seen out-of-towners run aground or waste precious time getting lost in the complex Louisiana bayou”
BP said it is trying to replace out-of-towners with locals, following pressure from politicians in Gulf Coast states.
“If you ain’t got no inside connections, you’re in trouble,” said Louie Barthelemy of Empire, Louisiana.
His white rubber boots, or “Cajun Reeboks,” identified him as a shrimper — now without a livelihood after the spill.
FATIGUE AND FAT PAY:
Clean-up workers say they’re paid about $1,000 per week after taxes, while boat operators can make more than $1,200 a day, a lucrative, albeit short-term proposition.
Across the Gulf Coast region, more than 41,000 people and more than 2,500 vessels are being used in the response.
Workers wearing protective suits work for 20 minutes pulling up oil-saturated booms, and rest for 40 minutes. Workers who wear the suits get overheated quickly.
Go team Barry…
The United States of…China?
FORTUNE — China’s great outward march of investing into the United States is turning into a mad dash. Chinese investments into the U.S. rose 360% in the first half of this year compared to last year, according to Chinese government figures released Tuesday.
But not everyone — namely U.S. steelmakers who are trying to block Chinese investments in the name of “national security” concerns — is being so welcoming, holding up at least one major deal announced in May.
The Ministry of Commerce in Beijing has not yet released actual figures except to say that the total of its global overseas investments had reached $55.2 billion by the end of June, compared to $43.3 billion for the entirety of 2009. Last year, Chinese companies announced new direct investments in the U.S. of close to $5 billion — up from an average of $500 million a year previously, according to economic consultancy the Rhodium Group.
Deja vu.
All over again.
Yep.
Interestingly though - they’re not interesting in buying our $$$ anymore, only our physical assets.
And FWIW - Japan actually still owns quite a huge chunk of the U.S. They haven’t gone away. Rumors of their demise have been… greatly exaggerated.
I’m for sale too….spread that Yuan over here….please
First time in weeks I laughed so hard and I try to find humor in everything. Barry sez… the financial reform bill he signed today will guarantee that what happened in the financial markets, is now “guaranteed” to “never” happen again! Barry’s read my lips monument. Come on you Barry-tards show us how he’s the one!
Historic financial overhaul signed to law by Obama- AP
Reveling over a new milestone in his presidency, a triumphant Barack Obama on Wednesday signed into law the most sweeping overhaul of lending and high-finance rules since the Great Depression, adding safeguards for millions of consumers and aiming to restrain Wall Street excesses that could set off a new recession.
Jib-Jab / ping-pong / teeter-totter:
The Southern “TrueThumbsuckers™” Strategy Solution:
“TrueDoNothing™ / “TrueObstructionists™ / TrueGridLokers™”
Poor Barry -tards just can’t defend this absolute statement that he just made. However they will default as they always do, to the blame game, come on Barry-tards show us how it’s done!
You be da ones!
“…can’t defend this absolute statement that he just made”
wmbz leaves out: lil’ Opie said: “…” quotation marks in his post…how surprising!
for example: (Notice the quotation marks wmbz…)
President Obama thanked the few Republicans who joined his fellow Democrats to vote for the bill. He called those who did not, “a partisan minority determined to block change.”
“…Mr. Obama signed the bill in Washington’s Ronald Reagan building, named for a president who championed business deregulation.”
BWAHAHAHicHAHAHicHAHAHAHAHicHAHAHic* (DennisN™)
&
Ho ho, hah hah, hehehehehehe, BwaHaHaAhHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! (Cantankerous Intellectual Bomb-thrower™)
Most people know hyperbole when they see it. And most people expect it from salesmen or politicians or preachers.
Thank heavens all is well with starsucks… I have to admit, I have never been in one, but I am told all the “smart” people frequent these special places…
Starbucks ‘ 3rd-qtr profit rises 37 percent to $207.9M; coffee chain boosts dividend 30 pct
CHICAGO (AP) — Starbucks’ efforts to rebuild itself are taking hold: The world’s largest coffee chain said Wednesday that its third-quarter profit rose 37 percent as more customers visited its coffee shops and spent more when they did.
I must admit that I spend about $3/month at Starbucks. It’s delicious.
I’ll admit to the 2 for $3 once a week at McD Gotta drive the GF into Manhattan to her job for 9am Sunday morn…so this week its the mc griddles my fave.
A lot faster then the subway..no traffic at that hour
WOW
GL Homes begins clearing land for 579-home development west of Boynton
By Samantha Frank Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 8:15 a.m. Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Developer GL Homes recently unveiled plans for its newest family community west of Boynton Beach, Canyon Trails, and began taking reservations for the 579 home sites.
The community will be on the east side of Acme Dairy Road about 1 1/2 miles south of Boynton Beach Boulevard. It will feature 16 different floor plans ranging in price from about $260,000 to $400,000. The size of the homes will range from 2,280 to 4,836 total square-feet, with anywhere from three to six bedrooms and either a two- or three-car garage.
The move to build a new community in this tough real estate market might seem counterintuitive, but GL Homes has its reasons, according to Marcie DePlaza, division president of GL Homes.
“It’s bold to open a new community in this environment, but we did it because we felt there was some pent-up demand,” she said. “We think it’s a hot area, very up-and-coming, with real easy access right off the Turnpike.”
She said that during the grand opening for the sales office and 10 model homes, GL Homes took 10 reservations for home sites in Canyon Trails, and they had 350 registered visitors.
The community will have the same amenities of most other family communities, plus an indoor sports complex and arcade room.
Workers have begun clearing the property for Canyon Trails, putting in drainage, roads and buffers, and they expect to deliver the first completed homes in February .
Let me get this straight: Did 652,000 Americans recently leave the U.S. labor force over the course of a single month??!
SignOnSanDiego
Jobless rate improves, but hiring is flat
24,000 in California stopped looking for work
By Dean Calbreath, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Tuesday, July 20, 2010 at 9:38 p.m.
Despite massive layoffs of temporary census workers, the unemployment rate fell in 39 out of 50 states last month, including California, according to data released Tuesday by the U.S. Labor Department.
The rate is falling largely because an estimated 652,000 unemployed workers nationwide, including 24,000 in California, stopped looking for jobs and are no longer counted on unemployment rolls.
Only 21 states had net hiring during June — the lowest number so far this year — compared with 41 in May. The jump in the number of job-market dropouts shows that the economy is still not strong enough to put people to work.
“There’s no favorable way to spin those numbers,” said James Hamilton, an economist at UC San Diego. “Employment has not grown with the population. At the moment, that’s certainly a sign that our economic weakness is continuing.”
…
STATES THAT ARE HIRING AND FIRING
The states with the most hiring last month:
Texas, 14,000
Kentucky, 6,200
Arkansas, 6,000
Louisiana, 5,800
North Carolina, 5,100
The states with the most layoffs last month:
California, 27,500
New York, 22,500
Tennessee, 20,800
Arizona, 11,700
New Mexico, 11,200
*Because of their size, California, New York and Texas often lead the list of hirings or firings.
(Professor Bear’s helpful clarification:
Note that neither California nor New York made the top five list for hirings last month, though they were in the number 1. and number 2. spots for firings.)
most people stop looking because they send out 50 resumes and no one answers..and you post a resume anywhere and you get 40-50 spam job offers a week
And heaven forbid you can call HR and maybe talk to someone who is not an airhead chicky poo….or walk in and be able to hand a resume to someone other then the security guard who wont even give you a visitors pass because you don’t have an appointment
pretty awful Pres. Barry……frustrating as all he!!!!!!