Bits Bucket For July 25, 2010
Post off-topic ideas, links and Craigslist finds here.
The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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Name:Ben Jones
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I’m first!!!
You is! Now what?
To be “fair” we live in a scoreless society, first or last it does not count, everyone’s a winner baby!
No tard left behind. My government will be there to compensate for any shortcoming I may posess.
And maybe even reward you with very important job on Wall St. or gov!
Or a massive tax break….. but only if you’re a connected millionare.
To be “fair” we live in a scoreless society, first or last it does not count, everyone’s a winner baby!
The “scoreless society” is another myth perpetuated to keep our eyes off the ball and to promote and defend disaster capitalism and the crueler aspects of unregulated crony-capitalism.
In fact, we live in the most “winner take all”, “prize goes to the winner only” society of any major industrialized country in the world.
In fact, we live in the most “winner take all”, “prize goes to the winner only” society of any major industrialized country in the world.
F* you, I got mine!
That’s right….. pull yourself up by your boot straps…… boi.
Anyone here from Texas able to confirm if this is true? I can’t find a credible link to the story, it appears there’s some sort of news blackout on it. Given the fact that the Arizona law is being litigated in federal court right now, a blackout wouldn’t surprise me.
Anyway, I’ve always felt that the drug cartels are pretty much proxies for the Mexican government anyway, as far as US invasion goes.
“Los Zetas drug cartel seizes 2 U.S. ranches in Texas
July 24, 11:18 AM
Kimberly Dvorak - San Diego County Political Buzz Examiner
In what could be deemed an act of war against the sovereign borders of the United States, Mexican drug cartels have seized control of at least two American ranches inside the U.S. territory near Laredo, Texas.
Two sources inside the Laredo Police Department confirmed the incident is unfolding and they would continue to coordinate with U.S. Border Patrol today. “We consider this an act of war,” said one police officer on the ground near the scene. There is a news blackout of this incident at this time and the sources inside Laredo PD spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Word broke late last night that Laredo police have requested help from the federal government regarding the incursion by the Los Zetas. It appears that the ranch owners have escaped without incident but their ranches remain in the hands of the blood thirsty cartels.
Laredo Border Patrol is conducting aerial surveillance over the ranches to determine the best way to regain control of the U.S. ranches, according to the Laredo Police department.
The approximate location of the U.S. ranches are 10 miles northwest of I-35 off Mines Road and Minerales Annex Road. Just off 1472 (Mines road) near Santa Isabel Creek south of the city of Laredo, Texas.
The Los Zetas drug cartel is an offshoot of the elite Mexican military trained in special ops. The mercenary organization is said to include members of corrupt Mexican Federales, politicians as well as drug traffickers. The group was once part of the Gulf cartel, but has since splintered and now directly competes with the Gulf cartel for premium drug smuggling routes in the Texas region.
The new leader of Los Zetas is Heriberto “El Lazca” Lazcano and is considered the most violent paramilitary group in Mexico by the DEA.
Recently the drug organization has kidnapped tourists, infiltrated local municipalities and continues to smuggle narcotics into a very hungry U.S. market.
The violence south of the border continues to spin out of control and has left Nuevo Laredo, Mexico on virtual lockdown with businesses refusing to open the doors. Last week a particularly violent attack by the Los Zetas included the use of grenades and resulted in a dozen deaths and 21 injuries.
The hostile takeover of the ranches has met with silence with local and national media; however sources say they could be waiting to report the stories once the ranches are back in U.S. control. This journalist questions if this was a Middle Eastern terrorist attack if the media would sit on their hands.”
Since they’re already here, the Dems and the RINOs will be pushing to give them amnesty.
Certainty!
Why they are just a little misguided, if we give them amnesty and a big hug, along with multiple subsidies, then maybe they will like us.
Or maybe we could get NASA to reach out to them…
Have we apologized to them yet?
Hey - don’t sweat it. These drug cartel folk are ecologically minded. After they murder people, they bury them in pits on Texas ranchland.
No muss, no fuss.
I live about 10 miles from the Mexico border near Sierra Vista, and my next door neighbor is fairly high up in the Border Patrol. I will have to ask him about this the next time I see him.
I did some searching and there are more people denying it than confirming it, but if it is true, it is very interesting that it isn’t being reported more widely.
We often find evidence of illegals camping out not 1000 feet from our house on vacant land. All this drug smuggling around here really makes people jumpy. It is a shame that some people consider it more important to protect the safety of the illegals than citizens. Out here, we have to protect ourselves.
I believe in gun rights, but I have never owned one myself, now my b/f is considering getting one. He travels for work sometimes and worries when I am here alone.
get at least a 38sp and get trained.
LOL, Bill. I’ve been doing some more research on this, the Laredo PD claims no knowledge, but the property in question is outside of the city limits, so they’re referring people to the county sheriff’s office, who is told one caller they’d have to get back to them.
One commentor speculated it could be a military training exercise.
How about they keep the ranches, we get some choice coastline along Baja.
“…we get some choice coastline along Baja”
re-write:
sTrump/Hilton/Marriott… get some choice coastline along Baja
Although anything is possible on the border, something doesn’t add up. If they were a real cartel, they could just buy the ranches. But that wouldn’t make sense as this area is crawling with feds/dea. A better place to operate would be on the other side, which they could own/lease without a problem.
Anyway, what are they going to do with ranches near Laredo? Grow jalapenos or run dove hunting trips? That town is the second most hot/humid place I’ve ever been to after Belize City. And this is July.
“…A better place to operate would be on the other side, which they could own/lease without a problem.”
You sayin’ “ranch” land is cheaper in old Mexico, uh, is that what you’re sayin’?
Dang Mr. Ben, how much “Clarity coffee” have you’ve down this morning?
“Although anything is possible on the border, something doesn’t add up.”
I don’t know anything about that area. However, the more likely scenario, if it might be a good area for human or drug trafficking, would not be so much that it was seized by the cartel, but more like emptied by the cartel. In other words, the ranchers were run off, never to return, under the threat of firepower, violence, death, etc. And then the cartel’s henchman, the US DHS, can post the area with “No Go” signs like they did at the parks in AZ.
But, not being familiar with that area, I don’t know if would make a good corridor for the cartels.
‘the ranchers were run off, never to return’
The ranchers in S TX are pretty powerful and have all the LE firepower to back them up. I’ve never spent any time in S AZ, but from what I hear it sounds like it’s a different ballgame.
As for human smuggling, few know it tops drugs in $ now. When I worked in Alaska one summer in 2001, half the guys I worked with were illegal. I asked them, how did you get here? They told me they flew in, of course. And when I lived in S TX and would talk with IA’s going to work in Houston, for example, I’d ask how they were traveling. Greyhound, they’d say. There isn’t any law against Mexican nationals traveling into the US. The people paying the human smugglers are peasants that don’t know (or are intimidated) that they can make their own way in to work.
They only want to do the jobs that Americans don’t want to…
Just like Reagan actually did!
It isn’t an act of war; it certainly appears that a letter of marque and reprisal would be appropriate against the drug cartel. There is a great distinction between the two.
“It isn’t an act of war”
I take it your not either one of these:
A repubican
From Texas
Stand down the Texas Rangers, call in the National Guard…Oh, wait they’re all “in training” in x2 Muslim Foreign countries.
‘A repubican From Texas’
South Texas has long been overwhelmingly Democrat. Laredo was Lloyd Benson’s home area. As for the rangers, I doubt they’re needed. You wouldn’t believe how much armed-to-the-teeth law enforcement you can find on that part of the border.
There are a lot of criminal types down there, though. But not like Juarez.
eyes just kickin’ the can across the West Texas brush Mr. Ben, being that Ms. Molly is gone & Shrub is eatin’ breakfast in Dallas.
I was afear’in I might have to stop makin’ bacon and join a “wild-cat” cavalry regiment:
“In what could be deemed an act of war against the sovereign borders of the United States”
Isn’t this the exact type of problem that the national guard should be used for ??
“the sovereign borders of the United States?” That’s one of those phrases that isn’t fashionable anymore, at least on Capital Hill. It’s gone the way of words like “dastardly.”
Besides, our borders have never been more secure. Janet said so.
I didn’t invoke any emotion in my statement.
Nonetheless, a sovereign entity invading another sovereign entity would be grounds for a declaration of war. Hugo Grotius’ “On the Law of War and Peace,” written prior to our Constitution, explains the difference between the two.
It isn’t just the act, it is also the actors that make something an act of war. States (or organizations that have pretentions or at least the intention of becomming a state) wage wars. Criminal enterprises commit crimes. This is why at a deep level, I’ve never been comfortable with the “We’re at war now,” response to 9/11: at some level it regards a bunch of @sshole terrorists as our peers. You don’t declare war on roaches, you squash them.
“If I owned both Texas and Hell, I’d live in Hell and rent out Texas”
It’s probably all a big mistake and they are just a misguided bunch of General Sherman’s Mexican renters.
Invite them all to the Oval office for a beer and get this border dispute settled.
Let’s see. I need to get my bearings here. In 2001 a bunch of Muslims who were here legally (though I would have not permitted them in the country) board several airliners and crash them into buildings, killing thousands of Americans.
Government response: Every person in American is a potential terrorist, without regard to race, color, creed or religion. Therefore, I need to be frisked at the airport, my toothpaste removed from my luggage, my shoes inspected, as i walk around barefoot in the airport, and we get a DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY.
The purpose of the department is to provide a secure border and interdict any possible threats to the people of the US of A. They work in conjunction with the FBI, CIA, Border Patrol, etc, etc.
What is the response of our officials to assaults on it’s citizens by a group of illegal alien gang members?
We need to immediately investigate the legal basis for that Arizona law that it may lead to discriminatory behaviour on the part of law enforcement. We don’t need armed troops on the border. It may lead to violence. We do need “comprehensive immigration reform” i.e. amnesty for law-breakers. And, thanks to the Clinton and Bush administrations pandering to Mexico with our CFR leaders, we got NAFTA, which is busily building international highways to bring “goods” across the Southern Border directly to distribution centers in the heart of America. No inspections necessary.
As for any “security”, we don’t have any.
Unfortunately, both political parties are guilty of not providing security for Americans, but of pandering to the illegal support groups in hopes of securing votes.
This story has been going on for some time in the EL Paso area, and along the Arizona border. The “media” just don’t spend too much time covering it, unless a poor Mexican illegal was shot while bringing drugs across the border and then there are calls for the imprisonment of the “shooters” for violating the “civil rights” of the border-crossing businessman. I’m living an Animal Farm nightmare.
“In 2001 a bunch of Muslims who were here legally…board several airliners and crash them into buildings, killing thousands of Americans.
You left out x1 “proper name” word, (its small in detail but large in context): Saudi Muslims
Government response:
“Fly the Bin Laden family members out of the United States, quickly.”
Good overview!
Dio,
When the goal is to destroy things, you don’t worry about borders. You worry about power.
If OH would have the guts to just legalize possession.and make it illegal to sell…why would they bother
I agree dj…
I’m not a conspiracy theory follower but I don’t think I have to be one to say that making crimes out of as many victimless activities as possible adds to the job security of prosecuters, corrections officers, LE, and their support system. It’s one big scam the gullible blue-haired Liberace fan church-goers accept, hook line and sinker. The real victims are all the taxpayers and freedom lovers.
+1 Bill…I totally agree…
“In a state where corruption abounds, laws must be very numerous.” — Tacitus
Bill,
I’d like to know how you define “victimless” crimes. All those US recreational drug users know doubt consider their consumption to be a victimless crime. Meanwhile, the Mexican drug cartels that are sustaining themselves from this “victimless” enterprise are killing tens of thousands of people in horrific ways and paralyzing whole communities because millions of Americans can’t get through daily life without altering their reality.
Sammy:
Its the illegality of it that causes the crime.
And worse think of the Lawyers….how many lawyers would go broke if drugs were legalized? LOTS of them…(no clients)
Take the profit out of it..let people grow their own stuff…but still make it illegal to sell.
The Taliban had the right idea destroy the poppy fields in the name of Allah….but then we had to go and kick the Taliban out so the poppy fields will grow again.
“Los Zetas takeover of Texas Ranches” smacks of Internet hysteria.
Here’s a good source for border-related reporting, sans BS.
http://www.borderlandbeat.com/
There is a news blackout of this incident at this time
This simple phrase really bothers me.
There’s a news blackout on all sorts of things lately - if you’re ABC, NBC, CBS and their numerous “affiliates”. Black Panthers anyone?
There is no verification of this.
And as it’s been pointed out, the MO of drug gangs is to BUY property. It’s not like they don’t have the money.
Nice to see the gossip sewing circle in full action.
Perhaps we can base our Barry-care system on the UK’s, it seems to have been working so well…
Britain Plans to Decentralize Health Care
The New York Times
LONDON — Perhaps the only consistent thing about Britain’s socialized health care system is that it is in a perpetual state of flux, its structure constantly changing as governments search for the elusive formula that will deliver the best care for the cheapest price while costs and demand escalate.
The new British government’s plan to drastically reshape the socialized health care system would put local physicians like Dr. Marita Koumettou in north London in control of much of the national health budget.
Even as the new coalition government said it would make enormous cuts in the public sector, it initially promised to leave health care alone. But in one of its most surprising moves so far, it has done the opposite, proposing what would be the most radical reorganization of the National Health Service, as the system is called, since its inception in 1948.
Practical details of the plan are still sketchy. But its aim is clear: to shift control of England’s $160 billion annual health budget from a centralized bureaucracy to doctors at the local level. Under the plan, $100 billion to $125 billion a year would be meted out to general practitioners, who would use the money to buy services from hospitals and other health care providers.
The plan would also shrink the bureaucratic apparatus, in keeping with the government’s goal to effect $30 billion in “efficiency savings” in the health budget by 2014 and to reduce administrative costs by 45 percent. Tens of thousands of jobs would be lost because layers of bureaucracy would be abolished.
This dumb jackass is circling the drain, he’ll say anything to the Barry-tards to get a vote.
Reid to Netroots: “We’re Going To Have a Public Option”
LAS VEGAS — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, seeking to console liberal activists who were disappointed by the final version of the national health care law, assured them that there would eventually be a public option.
“We’re going to have a public option,” Reid said. “It’s just a question of when.”
Russia has a 13% flat income tax.
Germany and France are cutting spending.
UK is decentralizing the socialist health care scheme and looking to privatize other state run schemes.
The US on the other hand is raising taxes, raising spending, nationalizing health care, banks, auto, education and everything else it can.
The Democrats control both houses and the Presidency. They can do whatever they want. This is what they have chosen to do. It is their dream. They have an agenda and a philosophy of “governance” that they have wanted to impose for a long time. Now, they are cramming everything they can, as fast as they can, because they may not get another chance like this for a long time. They even have plans for cramming down “cap and tax” during the lame-duck session if they loose one or both houses. Welcome to fascist States of Amerika.
Don’t be so hard on Al Gore. He will only benefit millions and millions of dollars from “cap and trade” but I’m sure that giant piece of whale blubber is only doing it for our own good. Where are the people that criticize Bush when it comes to corporatist swines like Gore? (Crickets are chirping)
Hey, Eddie, don’t you know that we won The Cold War? Now, we can become what we fought so hard to defeat. I can’t wait until Dzerzhinsky gets a chance to run that Homeland Security apparatus.
Russia has a 13% flat income tax.
Germany and France are cutting spending.
UK is decentralizing the socialist health care scheme and looking to privatize other state run schemes.
And Brazil is expanding Universal Health Coverage, mixing socialism with capitalism latin style, protecting unions and Brazilian manufacturing by super high duties, giving everybody a month vacation with job security, has increased its middle class markedly the past 20 years, is giving free food to the hungry, is energy independent, has no wars, has a trade surplus and has a higher economic growth rate than all the countries you mentioned.
has a higher economic growth rate than all the countries you mentioned.
Measured over what time period? The last 10 minutes?
Measured over what time period? The last 10 minutes?
I don’t know about the past 10 min. Brazilians take Sunday’s off. But here’s a good chance for you to do some real research for yourself.
bahhh! Research, facts and study might deep-six their supply side lie. Besides, it requires work and work isn’t something normally associated with the right wing.
Amazing. The Brits are deciding that they need to take control of the “health care system” away from a bunch of useless bureaucrats and let their doctors decide how best to spend available funds for patient care?
Tell me it isn’t so.
We just got a massive bill rammed down our throats by the controlling party that does just the opposite. We needed to set up a new bureaucracy to provide better care by following after the system’s of Britain and Canada, which i am hearing constantly from other bloggers here are so much better than ours. We even got a new Tzar, slipped into the leadership of the new “system” by OBAMA, as a Non-confirmed appointee, during the legislative recess.
And yet, their systems are collapsing under their own weight of higher demand for services, with rising costs. Completely unsustainable.
Solution: Provide doctors with a stipend, and let them decide how to get the most and best use to care for their patients. Humm? Let the doctors decide? Probably will work a whole lot better. We’ll see.
And yet, their systems are collapsing under their own weight of higher demand for services, with rising costs. Completely unsustainable.
That sounds a lot like our system, except that we still spene far more per capita than they do and we have millions of people with no insurance.
…and we had corporate insurance bureaucrats deciding what’s best for patients.
Yeah, we had a lot better system
The English system needs reform. The English system can be called pure socialized medicine because the Government pays the doctors, owns the hospitals etc. It is one of the only major countries that does this.
Canada’s system does not operate like England’s. Canada’s system is more like socialized health insurance instead of socialized medicine and Canada’s system is superior to England’s and America’s. In Canada the Doctors are in private practice and the hospitals are private.
Canada’s system is known as a single payer system, where basic services are provided by private doctors (since 2002 they have been allowed to incorporate), …wiki
Here’s a good site that compares US the US health care system with other countries.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=110997469
I would certainly agree that we pay way too much for health care in the US. But I view this phenomenon as a bubble, just like the dot-com, RE, and college education bubbles, that can and will burst on its own. These bubbles are symptoms of a deeper malaise in our society: a cargo-cult worship of false gods, and neglect of the basics of hard work and responsibility.
+1
Some insurers stop writing new coverage for kids
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR (AP) – 1 day ago
WASHINGTON — Some major health insurance companies have stopped issuing certain types of policies for children, an unintended consequence of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul law, state officials said Friday.
Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty said in his state UnitedHealthcare and Blue Cross Blue Shield have stopped issuing new policies that cover children individually. Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner Kim Holland said a couple of local insurers in her state have done likewise.
Starting later this year, the health care overhaul law requires insurers to accept children regardless of medical problems. Insurers are worried that parents will wait until kids get sick to sign them up, saddling the companies with unpredictable costs.
The major types of coverage for children — employer plans and government programs — are not be affected by the disruption. But a subset of policies — those that cover children as individuals — may run into problems. Even so, insurers are not canceling children’s coverage already issued, but refusing to write new policies.
It’s not a consequence, it’s retaliation and would be illegal under the new rules except they haven’t kicked in yet.
amazing children. they are able to insure themselves individually and pay for it.
From The Telegraph.uk web site.
An investigation by The Sunday Telegraph has uncovered widespread cuts planned across the NHS, many of which have already been agreed by senior health service officials. They include:
* Restrictions on some of the most basic and common operations, including hip and knee replacements, cataract surgery and orthodontic procedures.
* Plans to cut hundreds of thousands of pounds from budgets for the terminally ill, with dying cancer patients to be told to manage their own symptoms if their condition worsens at evenings or weekends.
* The closure of nursing homes for the elderly.
* A reduction in acute hospital beds, including those for the mentally ill, with targets to discourage GPs from sending patients to hospitals and reduce the number of people using accident and emergency departments.
* Tighter rationing of NHS funding for IVF treatment, and for surgery for obesity.
* Thousands of job losses at NHS hospitals, including 500 staff to go at a trust where cancer patients recently suffered delays in diagnosis and treatment because of staff shortages.
* Cost-cutting programmes in paediatric and maternity services, care of the elderly and services that provide respite breaks to long-term carers.
The Sunday Telegraph found the details of hundreds of cuts buried in obscure appendices to lengthy policy and strategy documents published by trusts. In most cases, local communities appear to be unaware of the plans.
The Middle Class in America Is Radically Shrinking. Here Are the Stats to Prove it. ~ The Business Insider
The 22 statistics detailed here prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the middle class is being systematically wiped out of existence in America.
The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer at a staggering rate. Once upon a time, the United States had the largest and most prosperous middle class in the history of the world, but now that is changing at a blinding pace.
http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/the-u.s.-middle-class-is-being-wiped-out-here%27s-the-stats-to-prove-it-520657.html?tickers=^DJI,^GSPC,SPY,MCD,WMT,XRT,DIA
Radically…systematically…..blistering!
It felt more like a slow bleed to me, and it has been going on for a looooooooong time.
It depends upon the time when you got thrown out of the airplane.
In the beginning, gravity exerts a high level of acceleration that is a squared term leading to higher velocity. You go faster, and faster and faster……….until, you hit what they call “terminal velocity”.
For most of us, we are still falling faster. You may have hit TV and are just falling a constant rate. It seems like a long time before you are going hit the ground, but it’s still coming at a really good clip.
No golden parachute? No? ………….. Splat.
The only part that hurts is when you suddenly stop falling.
IMHO that part of the problem with this article is that it mixes statistics that are due to increasing income inequality with statistics that are due to the explosion in credit simple fact that a large proportion of people will borrow and spend every penny available to them, irrespective of what their income is. It is certainly easier to live within your means when your income is higher. But many people will never do so regardless of their income until forced to. Tax cuts on the wealthy meant that more money was sent to Wall Street looking for a home. Much of that money ended up LENT to Main Street at interest.
large proportion of people will borrow and spend every penny available to them
Wrong, wrong wrong. This is classic neocon propaganda. In fact, it’s classic class warfare propaganda.
“Let them eat cake ” ring any bells?
“83 percent of all U.S. stocks are in the hands of 1 percent of the people”
Maybe if you look at retail investors alone. But if you include holdings of mutual funds and pension funds, this is BS.
“66 percent of the income growth between 2001 and 2007 went to the top 1% of all Americans.”
AND? Someone makes $1M a year, someone makes $50K a year in 2001. In 2007 the $1M goes to $1.5M. The $50K goes to $100K. In total there is an extra $550K of income. The evil rich guy got 91% of the increase. Yet the middle class guy got a 100% increase in income. This “stat” is about as meaningless as you can get. It is the typical liberal mentality that thinks the economic pie is a fixed size and if an evil rich person gets more that automatically means a poor person loses. It is beyond comprehension to a liberal that an evil rich person can become richer and a poor person can become richer simultaneously.
“36 percent of Americans say that they don’t contribute anything to retirement savings.”
That’s because for that 36%, it is more important to drive a BMW and wear $500 jeans than contribute to retirement.
“A staggering 43 percent of Americans have less than $10,000 saved up for retirement.”
See above.
“Over 1.4 million Americans filed for personal bankruptcy in 2009, which represented a 32 percent increase over 2008.”
Really? Bankruptcies increase in a recession? That’s shocking!! I’m sure this has never happened before.
All this talk of the death of the middle class. And yet on a Friday evening walk into any Chili’s in the country and there’s a 60 minute wait for a table.
“TrueHaskell™”
Can’t find a parking space at the Atlanta airport, has to wait an x1 hour for a table at Chili’s…what’s next? a 3 month waiting list at Zales for a x1 carat diamond ring?
Why use real metrics like sales tax or income tax revenue, or that cars sales are at historical lows when we can just use anecdotes to prove everything is fine?
“And yet on a Friday evening walk into any Chili’s in the country and there’s a 60 minute wait for a table.”
That’s probably a pretty good economic indicator. And i have witnessed this. Lot’s of people eating out on the weekends, and even during the week. Question is: how are they paying for it. I am amazed at the number of people pulling out credit cards for dinner.
Are we really expanding in wealth or are we still thinking we can “consume our equity” and take the rest out on loan?
I don’t know. I don’t trust any data released by the government.
I think as a nation we are more indebted than at anytime in history, and debt is not wealth. At the same time, i have 3 televisions, several stereo systems, 17 guitars, 2 cars, 3 motorcycles, 3 boats and a whole bunch of other “stuff”. 30 years ago, i had 1 car and 2 guitars and 1 motorcycle, no boats and alot less stuff. I guess i’m better off. But it’s 30 working years later.
Didn’t i get something for all those years of working? I did, but in retrospect, it seems like i’m working a lot more for poorer quality stuff. And gas was about 75 cents a gallon back then and cigarettes were 45 cents a pack.
We got more stuff, but i think there is a LOT Of debt out there. A lot that will never get paid back.
Lot’s of people eating out on the weekends, and even during the week ??
Eating, drinking and socializing is the last thing that will be sacrificed…
Anybody watch that TV show, ‘Til Debt do we Part? Features married couples who need a financial intervention, reminds me of Super Nanny. Watch a few episodes and you’ll see why there are so many people at Chili’s. They are hugely in debt, some of these couples spend $3800 more a month than they take in, and they don’t even know it! Gosh, somehow they’ve accumulated $50,000 in credit card debt. The cool thing is that they aren’t told to file bankrupcy (most of them have pretty decent income), they’re put on an austerity diet and are able to be debt free in about 1 1/2 years. Tough love, baby.
All this talk of the death of the middle class. And yet on a Friday evening walk into any Chili’s in the country and there’s a 60 minute wait for a table.
It used to be that way out here, but no more. You can waltz into any chain eatery out here on a Friday night. And our official local unemployment rate is under 7%.
A beter metric of economic activity are sales tax collections. In most communities they are still flat or sinking. If people were truly spending freely like you imply they are municipalities and state governments wouldn’t be having budget crises now, would they?
Sales tax revenue doesn’t say much about the middle class. Everyone pays sales tax. Sales tax recvenue declines could easily be due to less spending by the evil rich. Which I thought was a good thing. Aren’t we always told if the rich were poor, the poor would be rich? Doesn’t work so well in practice, does it?
Chili’s on the other hand is a decisively middle class thing. I used it as an example to refute the ridiculous claim that the middle class is gone.
As for car sales at historical lows? Try again.
Ford overall 28% increase YOY.
GM 36% increase YOY.
Honda 6% increase YOY.
Specifically, Hyundai Sonata up 50%. About as middle class a car as you get. Ford F150, the defining pickup truck of the American consumer is up 29% YOY.
And of course Apple has the best quarter in the history of the company.
But you’re right, the middle class is a thing of the past. It’s only billionaires that eat out at Chili’s, buy Sonatas and F150s and download itunes.
eddie, you really need to remove those blinders for a few days. it might do everyone here a favor. but, of course, you would not think of that as being fair to you.
That’s because for that 36%, it is more important to drive a BMW and wear $500 jeans than contribute to retirement.
I hate finding myself agreeing with Eddie, more and more. I remember the first time I heard of True Religion jeans. I had no idea that people were spending $300 for a pair of blue jeans. I thought paying $65 for a pair of Girbaud jeans in 1988 was completely insane. I had those jeans for nearly 10 years. They proved to be a pretty good investment. I had two pairs and all the rest were Levi’s.
I asked our HELOC’d to the piehole friend about True Religion jeans. She knew all about them. The kids had them. They were the greatest thing ever. I doubt those jeans will make it 8 - 10 years. They will last until the next fad comes along.
All I have to say to our middle class brethren is, “put down the credit card and step away from the counter”.
I doubt those jeans will make it 8 - 10 years ??
Try 8-10 months…2 inches and 10 pounds on a kid in a year…
Maybe a safer alternative than Rose’s Cantina, a different kind of heart burn!
“It is the typical liberal mentality that thinks the economic pie is a fixed size and if an evil rich person gets more that automatically means a poor person loses.”
Ahh. It wasn’t actually detracting from the budget of Bell, CA to have these guys on the payroll, was it?
Really? 60 minutes? The Chili’s I go to is quite prompt at getting us a table. Usually less than 15 minutes on Friday or Saturday night.
It is the typical liberal mentality that thinks the economic pie is a fixed size and if an evil rich person gets more that automatically means a poor person loses
Why would it be odd for people the think the rich got richer at the expense of the poor and the middle class when that is exactly what has happened?
Is there some other matrix of reality people should be expected to perceive rather than reality itself? Do your failed, discredited dogmatic principals trump reality? And if so, how?
American Middle Class is Shrinking
https://mises.org/Community/forums/t/18470.aspx
The 22 statistics detailed here prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the middle class is being systematically wiped out of existence in America.
The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer at a staggering rate. Once upon a time, the United States had the largest and most prosperous middle class in the history of the world, but now that is changing at a blinding pace.
Maybe the boomers are starting to wake up and realize they did not get the brass ring of middle class living like their parents did.
However the Greatest Generation did not have more than one house, more than one television, more than one car, more than one telephone (and it was only a landline), and hardly ever took airplane trips to vacations.
Bill.From yesterdays Bits regarding the Beach House…
I would agree with you that from a “economic” sense it may be better to just do the 3 weeks in Hawaii or wherever…However, convenience plays a big part here just like your suggestion about having a place in Hermosa Beach..Its a one hour drive for all of us and we will likely go in large groups sometimes so there is value in that for us…
Bill, where i grew up people did have 2nd homes…Cabins, on the lake, cheap mostly uninsulated under trees so it really wasn’t that hot… Lake Candlewood in CT nothing fancy and maybe in winter go up and ice skate nothing like a big frozen lake to skate on…
The Middle Class in America Is Radically Shrinking. Here Are the Stats to Prove it.
I have been a part of “the middle class”, one side or the other, for my whole life. I can relate to them better than any other group. I just wish they would stop letting the zealots in both parties rule over them and I wish they would quit borrowing themselves into extinction.
There are few victims in this whole mess. Keeping up with the HELOC’d to the hilt Jones’ has also helped destroy the middle class.
24 hour psychological warfare will do that to ya.
These kind of reports are symptoms of debt. We have too much of it and it is killing the middle class. It’s been a long while of running up debt.
My guess is the rich are getting richer because of the wealth transfer effect of all that debt. Also seems like dealing with the debt has taken on a life of it’s own with the banksters.
The more debt we load up with, the worse this will become.
I’m wondering about the Bush tax cuts. On the one hand we clearly need more revenue. On the other hand it isn’t clear if this makes our tax structure less attractive and will cause us to lose even more jobs.
I’ve been advocating that before we go off all happy assed with taxes to pay down debt we take a careful look at structure. Getting more jobs in the US will do a lot to lower expenses of people on unemployment.
Needs careful thought… probably not going to have a fruitful discourse on this here. I’m not a tax expert and not really sure what we need to do to attract jobs, business and capital. Massive social spending programs are probably not the way to go either. Businesses look long term and get cold feet.
Most people outside the HBB don’t get this.
As for jobs, I am in favor of increasing tariffs in parity, targeted to those nations that post expensive tariffs on U.S. products.
Of course my opinion is that we should make the Bush tax cuts permanent. You are right. An economic crisis, especially one with high unemployment, is not a time to let tax cuts expire.
wmbz: from your link The truth is that the middle class in America is dying — and once it is gone it will be incredibly difficult to rebuild.
Here is Elizabeth Warren’s talk “The Coming Collapse of the Middle Class” 57 min 38 secs. Absolutely relevant and important!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akVL7QY0S8A&feature=related
political talk assumes that there still exists a prosperous and secure middle class. No more.
Got a pretty good comment war raging below this article on the virtues of gold ownership. Buy gold now, or get priced out forever!
IMHO, fears of further dollar collapse against gold are overblown, given that the dollar has already dropped 97 percent relative to gold since 1968 (maybe 75 percent since 2000). A substantial correction in the gold price relative to the dollar and other deflation-prone fiat currencies seems much more likely from here.
Weekend Investor
July 23, 2010, 8:27 p.m. EDT
Bullion buyers bank on gold coins
Precious metal glitters for investors seeking to hedge financial chaos
By Claudia Assis, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Apart from a New York City phone book listing, gold dealer Manfra, Tordella & Brookes, Inc. does no advertising. Lights are on all day because the shop sits in a basement.
Yet MTB, as the firm is known, has never been busier. Every day, people find their way to the Manhattan store with one thing in mind: getting their hands on gold bullion coins, as soon as possible and as much as possible, before the financial Armageddon they fear renders the dollars in their pockets worthless.
Welcome to the world of bullion coin investing, a business that has soared alongside the popularity of gold despite its disadvantages. The world’s thirst for gold coins has risen more than sovereign government mints can quench it, with demand on track this year to outpace 2009, itself a record.
…
—————————————————————————
Bullion coin investing may cost you
(Video link in sidebar)
Investing in bullion coins has risen alongside gold’s popularity, catering to a small subset of investors who want physical possession regardless of how much more they may pay. Claudia Assis reports.
…
“Every day, people find their way to the Manhattan store with one thing in mind: getting their hands on gold bullion coins, as soon as possible and as much as possible…”
In the past, HBB posters have speculated on what would be the next bubble. Looks like we have a strong candidate here.
You should read the rather ‘vigorous’ response to comments on the MW thread suggesting that gold might be in a bubble. Pretty amusing stuff, and highly reminiscent of the HBB ‘troll wars’ circa 2006.
Yep, looks like a good one here.
How’s the weather up your way, Bill? How far up in the mountains do people have to go to cool off?
Palmy, we’re located out in the boonies in a wooded community that’s at 800 to 900 feet elevation. Still, the temp at 1:50 PM is 93 degrees. And my outdoor thermometer is in the shade.
I still like this better than the long, cold winter we just had.
I live at 8,000′ elevation in Mammoth Lakes, CA. Temps have been in the 80’s everyday.
You have to go above 10,000-11,000′ to get under 70 degrees
Well, what percentage of 6+ Billion people do-ya-think are likely to be susceptible to this ancient ailment?:
Gold Fever!
Scratch-the-itch
Higher than 0.08%, what one of the gold salesmen on the MW thread claimed was the current global level of gold ownership.
“…and hence I don’t share your sense of urgency to buy physical gold and bury it out back where my dog buries his bones.”
Hwy plays youtube music: “Who let the dogs out, whowhowho…”
Ho ho, hah hah, hehehehehehe, BwaHaHaAhHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! (Cantankerous Intellectual Bomb-thrower™)
Might have to sterilize my later morning breakfast today by wash ‘er down with a good beer…
Bankruptcy can save your house from foreclosure.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Slick TV commercials and online ads tell delinquent borrowers that they can save their homes by filing for personal bankruptcy. But is it true — or just too good to be true?
Bankruptcy can bring foreclosure proceedings to a halt, end harassment from debt collectors, and give borrowers time to make up missed payments and reorganize their finances. In some cases, bankruptcy can also help mortgage borrowers save their homes permanently.
It’s not, however, going to help every troubled homeowner. If, for example, the homeowner’s biggest problem is not enough money, bankruptcy is not going to solve that.
“It’s the best tool there is for people behind in payments but who have ongoing income,” according to Binghamton, N.Y., attorney Peter Orville, “those who had been making payments and who could be making payments again.”
Please be careful of generalized statements.
Title and lien laws, along with bankruptcy rules vary from State-to-State. Under Florida laws, we are a lien theory State, wherein “title” is given to the buyer at the time of closing and the Mortgagor holds a “lien” on the property which they settle for non-payment through foreclosure proceedings.
We also have “homestead laws” that state that the primary residence cannot be taken back for personal debts. The Courts will not allow foreclosure to settle credit card debts and personal attachments.
There are two exceptions: MORTGAGE DEBTS and TAXES.
I think you will find that bankruptcy will not stop foreclosure here if someone fails to pay their mortgage. However, I am not a real estate attorney. I just play one on Ben’s Blog (HBB), so seek competent legal advice.
A BK can strip a 2nd mortgage away if the house is worth less than the first mortgage.
Had a windstorm late last week up here in the Columbia Basin. Just like Hesperia, CA we are baked in the summer, frozen in the winter, and scoured by wind. Anyway we lost a whack of 3-tab shingles, again; why would the building code allow 3-tab shingles in a windy area? Long story short I may be adding roofer to my resume. Fortunately I didn’t buy a big place, but the heat right now is awful.
It’s not so much the shingles as the number of nails.
Along the Texas coast, it was standard practice to put only 3 nails into a shingle. That rule was change and now 6 nails are required. It’s makes a difference.
Also, many places no longer require heat-set or a tar strip for the shingles. In Texas, the summer sun usually does the job and modern shingles now come with the tar/adhesive strip.
Whad’ya know: REIC groups want to return to life in the good ole days before the collapse of Fannie and Freddie.
Great to know the WSJ is unbiased in its opinions on this debate:
“The administration has yet to spell out the future of Fannie and Freddie, which are playing a vital role propping up the housing market while under the conservatorship of their regulator.”
Thank heavens the housing market is still getting propped up, or we would all be doomed!
As to the notion of “explicit guarantees,” good luck with that, given Congresses’ long proven track record of ad hoc bailouts of everything from farmers to auto manufacturers to banks.
* The Wall Street Journal
* JULY 23, 2010, 7:35 A.M. ET
Groups Push For Continued US Govt Role In Housing Market
(This article was originally published Thursday.)
By Jessica Holzer Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)–A chorus of industry and housing groups are pushing for continued heavy government involvement in ensuring the broad availability of mortgage credit in the U.S.
Several major industry groups, in letters sent to the Obama administration this week, appear to favor a role for the government in the housing market that is broadly similar to what existed before Fannie Mae (FNMA) and Freddie Mac (FMCC) were seized by their regulator in September 2008.
They want the government to provide a guarantee for mortgages in exchange for a fee. In addition, any housing government-sponsored enterprise should have the obligation to provide liquidity to the mortgage market in all environments, they argued.
However, industry wants tougher oversight of housing GSEs and greater clarity about the risk the government is shouldering when it guarantees mortgages.
“Any future role for the government will need to be transparent and clear–that is, institutions or products will either need to be explicitly guaranteed by the government or not guaranteed at all,” Bank of America (BAC) Deputy Counsel Gregory A. Baer wrote in a letter.
The Independent Community Bankers of America noted in its letter that Fannie’s and Freddie’s government ties kept money flowing to the mortgage market during the credit crisis and have helped attract a wide range of investors in U.S. mortgages.
A flurry of letters from banks, state housing finance agencies and affordable housing developers argued that policy makers shouldn’t tinker with the Federal Home Loan Bank system when they rewrite the government role in housing finance.
The 12 regional banks supply loans, known as “advances”, to member banks that use them to make mortgage loans. They also devote 10% of their profits to grants to groups building affordable housing.
The administration has yet to spell out the future of Fannie and Freddie, which are playing a vital role propping up the housing market while under the conservatorship of their regulator.
It will unveil its proposal for revamping the government’s role in housing finance early next year. The administration sought input from stakeholders in a formal comment period that ended Wednesday.
…
Geithner was on Meet The Press this morning. His goals remain the same as he stated in that Newsweek interview I posted some time ago - to prop up house prices.
His statement was that while Fannie and Freddie should not continue in their current form, some kind of government mortgage purchasing should continue in order to allow consumers to get mortgages during recessions.
So - what’s wrong with letting the market sort it out? Why should government be encouraging personal debt in recessionary times? Or any time? This just sounds like a SOP to the FIRE sector.
Also - the host stated that 25% of the US economy is in the financial sector. That was revelatory. He asked Geithner if that’s a good thing. TTT had some response to the question but said nothing.
I had no idea the sector was that gargantuan.
Arizona’s only biomass plant files for Chapter 11
Phoenix Business Journal
The lone company operating a biomass power plant in Arizona has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in an attempt to prevent Salt River Project from terminating its contract.
Snowflake White Mountain Power LLC filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in federal court July 9, after SRP sent the company a notice earlier that day requesting termination of its contract to buy 12 megawatts of power from the plant.
On the same day, creditors filed an involuntary Chapter 11 petition against the company for the same reason.
The biomass plant, near the north-central Arizona town of Snowflake, was promoted as part of a balanced portfolio for renewable energy in Arizona. Its latest financial issues are indicative of the viability challenges dogging many renewable energy projects across the state.
Its latest financial issues are indicative of the viability challenges dogging many renewable energy projects across the state.
No, it’s indicative of how bad the economy is.
“Viability challenges” means depending on infinite government subsidies. What a joke.
Nuclear power, especially meltdown-proof pebble bed reactors, is the only way to go. But the green power mafia has lots of snake oil to peddle before we reach that conclusion.
True only in some states.
The biggest problem with building nuclear plants is the contractor corruption and quality control failures.
Fact.
As opposed to the scrupulously honest and competent offshore oil drillers?
Fact.
Whatever the cause, we need to get nukes in and out of the design pipeline built….. and quickly.
“The wheels of government are clogged, and we are descending into the vale of confusion and darkness. No day was ever more clouded than the present. We are fast verging to anarchy and confusion.”
~ Sounds almost like a contemporary remark. But it goes w-a-a-ay back to a time America was nearly ruined by a terrible episode of inflation. The remark was made by George Washington in a letter to James Madison just before the Constitutional Convention of 1787.
That quote brings to mind an insight I have developed over the years, which is that each generation has a natural tendency to overestimate the gravity of its own challenges compared to those of preceding generations.
By any objective standard, the challenges faced by George Washington had to exceed those we grapple with today.
Yeah, there was no indoor plumbing.
Exactly!
Wall Street Whispers: Will Obama Slay the Fannie and Freddie Beast?
A startling whisper has been reverberating around Washington and in the main stream press: Might President Obama slay the beast of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac once and for all?
Such a move would fundamentally change both the way Wall Street operates and the way Americans think about life.
The Obama administration appears to be suggesting — very subtly — that homeownership isn’t a God-given right. That the American dream has morphed into an American entitlement. That millions of people who should not have been homeowners in the first place ended up paralyzed by unsustainable debt as a result.
…
“Might President Obama slay the beast of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac once and for all?”
If so, I’d have to give him props.
One can only hope, however if F&F are dismantled it’s intent will only morph into some thing else, Barry is all about big gubmint control, period.
‘all about big gubmint control’
Maybe, but these organizations are giant money pits. Consider this; there are over a thousand off-shore entities associated with fannie alone. You know, like the ones that floated to the surface after enron blew up. IMO, something has to be done and it’s easier to just deep six the GSEs. I was a bit surprised that F&F came up in the media so soon after the “reform’ joke was passed. It should be interesting.
If so, I’d have to give him props.
I’m not one that hands out “props” but I would applaud him if he did. That would be a great thing for the country, not so much the 6 percent crowd.
I feel that the likelihood of the government getting its nose out of the lending business under Obama is slim to none. And I believe I see Slim heading to the fire exit.
If Obama does away with the GSEs I am pretty sure you won’t be happy with the “fix”. Something with extreme moral hazard would be the only “solution”. The wheels already came off the bus, there is no avoiding the crash.
We could instead phase out F&F by steadily raise the lending standards and interest rates until they become undesirable. Maybe until it requires 50% down @20%. They would slowly work themselves out of business.
One can only hope. If this is a hidden wish of Obama, I agree with him on this issue. An “ownership society” by any means was what got us into this mess. It’s like the immigration issue. One side points the finger at the other side for creating the problem. But politicians on both sides of the aisle created the two problems of 1) “ownership” by any means and 2) illegal aliens.
When is the last time a statist Democrat killed a massive entitlement, vote buying program? Even the Republicans won’t kill the mortgage monster. There is no way Obama and his cronies will make any substantive change. They might rename things but all changes will be superficial.
Have we learned nothing about the ways of the housing world, and all of its sordid participants, the past 5 years?
Useless rumor and speculation and misdirection.
How about we slay Wall St’s entitlement attitude instead?
The Monitor’s View
Next after Obama signing of financial reform bill: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac
After signing the financial reform bill, Obama must work to end the corruption inherent in any federal institution designed to boost homeownership. Congress was bought off by the housing industry to lower lending standards, creating the market bubble. <b.Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac need to go.
…
“After signing the financial reform bill, Obama must work to end the corruption inherent in any federal institution designed to boost homeownership”.
ROTFLMAO!
~ We will drain the swamp of corruption… Moonbat Polosi ~ 2006
Gators would never drain their own swamp.
http://myronsrandomthoughts.files.wordpress.com/2007/09/alligators.jpg
LOL! Funny imagery in that statement!
That Pelosi is one nasty looking gator. If my dog had a face like that…….
I agree. It’s funny to see people on the HBB get hope for this particular change. I seem to recall seeing those words on many a billboard just a couple years ago.
Cantankerous certainly is invested in the Obamaville bandwagon…his/her support of The Messiah never stops.
“…It’s funny to see people on the HBB get hope for this particular change.”
What was the US soldier numbers in Iraq in Oct 2008?
waiting…
Exactly. Wall Street’s Republicrat marionettes can only advance their agendas and pad their own nests, and those of their patrons and cronies, in a swamp of corruption and a climate of impunity. While the sheeple slumber on.
The question is:
What should be done with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac?
Jul 16th 2010 by R.A. | The Economist
Guest contributions:
Turn them into mortgage mutual fund companies
Laurence Kotlikoff our guest wrote on Jul 16th 2010, 14:54 GMT
FANNIE and Freddie are here to connect lenders and borrowers. They aren’t here to borrow money, promise to repay, and then make mortgages that are highly risky and require taxpayers to cover potential losses. Such casino banking just brought the global economy to its knees.
Like all incorporated financial intermediaries, Fannie and Freddie need to be limited to their legitimate purpose—financial intermediation.
…
Someone forgot to tell Franklin Raines that when he somehow “misplaced” about $12 BILLION when he ran the place.
The Economist
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
Unfinished business
Can the American mortgage market survive without taxpayer support?
Jul 22nd 2010 | Washington, dc
THE hefty financial overhaul that Barack Obama signed into law on July 21st (pictured) left behind one big piece of unfinished business. In 2008 Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, mortally wounded from losses on loans acquired during the bubble, were placed in “conservatorship”, a halfway house between bankruptcy and outright nationalisation. There they remain, their losses duly covered with new injections of capital by the Treasury—$145 billion so far. Tim Geithner, the treasury secretary, has promised to address the matter of Fannie and Freddie by early next year but so far he has no answers, only questions (literally so: in April he asked the public to comment on seven of them).
The hesitancy is understandable. Millstones though they are, the two firms remain critical to the economy. In the first quarter they and Ginnie Mae (which unlike Fannie and Freddie has always enjoyed the explicit backing of the state) guaranteed 96.5% of all newly originated mortgages, according to Inside Mortgage Finance, a newsletter.
It is almost certain that the companies will no longer be allowed to hold a substantial in-house portfolio of securities. Yet the Treasury must still decide what to do with the $5 trillion in mortgages the companies guarantee. It could continue to pump money into the companies to cover losses on the loans as they mature; it could take explicit responsibility for them, inflating the national debt; or it could sell them to private investors.
The cost is apt to be high, regardless. Most of the losses of Fannie and Freddie result from mortgages originated before 2008. Mortgages originated in 2006 and 2007 account for 24% of Fannie’s business but 67% of its credit losses.
In 2008 both firms began tightening their underwriting criteria and raising the fees they charge to guarantee mortgage-backed securities (MBS). Between 2007 and 2009 the proportion of their loans with a loan-to-value ratio of 70% or less rose from 31% to 49%, while the share with a loan-to-value ratio above 95% fell from 10% to 1%, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, their regulator. At Freddie Mac 3.9% of mortgages originated in 2008 were at least 90 days delinquent at the end of March 2010. For mortgages originated in 2009, the equivalent figure was barely 0.1%, although renewed signs of weakness in the housing market may yet cause that figure to worsen. “We’ll be paying for the sins of the past for a long time, even though the current book of business is generating positive economic value,” says one official.
…
“We’ll be paying for the sins of the past for a long time, even though the current book of business is generating positive economic value,” says one official.
– “The current book of business will become sins of the past if the housing market continues to falter into the future.” says Weed.
Tony Hayward quitting? About dang time. Should have done it the day after the drilling rig blew. Actually, sooner, because if sooner, maybe those workers would still be alive.
And, now, Tony, don’t let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-07-25/bp-chief-executive-tony-hayward-said-to-discuss-his-departure-from-company.html
He’ll get a consulting job in the oil industry bidness and make even more money. Just how it works.
I wonder if any oil companies/wells decided to dump oil and other waste products in the gulf under cover of the BP well blow out?
Naah… they wouldn’t do that.
Would they?
can you test the DNA of the oil? Here is the printout your honor its not my oil….my oil is dang dirty oil and what you found floating in the gulf was clean oil….
About damn time. Want to bet he still got a severance package? A nice one?
Not a lot of love at the “love” parade! It has been canceled forever by government decree…
Seventeen killed in mass panic at German “Love Parade”
DUISBURG Germany (Reuters) - A stampede killed at least 17 people after mass panic broke out in a tunnel at a “Love Parade” techno music festival in Germany on Saturday.
The number one reason I hate crowds.
The number one reason I hate techno music.
I dont exactly hate techno music…but it and house music was really designed for the cubicle worker…who does some X on the weekends…
I could see Us techno bopping with our carts at wally mart….lively jumpy uplifting music to shop with.
US aircraft carrier leads drills with South Korea
(AP) Sun Jul 25
ABOARD USS GEORGE WASHINGTON – A nuclear-powered U.S. supercarrier led an armada of warships in exercises off the Korean peninsula Sunday that North Korea has vowed to physically block and says could escalate into nuclear war.
U.S. military officials said the maneuvers, conducted with South Korean ships and Japanese observers, were intended to send a strong signal to the North that aggression in the region will not be tolerated.
Tensions on the Korean peninsula have been particularly high since the sinking in March of a South Korean naval vessel. Forty-six Korean sailors were killed in the sinking, which Seoul has called Pyongyang’s worst military attack on it since the 1950-53 Korean War.
The military drills, code-named “Invincible Spirit,” are to run through Wednesday with about 8,000 U.S. and South Korean troops, 20 ships and submarines and 200 aircraft. The Nimitz-class USS George Washington was deployed from Japan.
“Drills”…or “Blockade”.
Just one error in judgement away from meltdown…
“Forty-six Korean sailors were killed in the sinking, which Seoul has called Pyongyang’s worst military attack on it since the 1950-53 conflict.”
I haven’t been following the particulars of this incident, but is it known FOR SURE that it was North Korea that was involved in this attack?
I ask this question because if a third party wanted to stir up some wrath between two countries this would be a good way to go about doing it.
but is it known FOR SURE ??
No, but why let the truth get in the way of your objective…
yes. the investigators who made the conclusion even included china.
What 3rd parties have submarines?
Russia….can’t see why unless they want to harass China.
China….if they wanted to harass NK they could simply invade.
US….the blowback from getting caught would far outweigh any perceived advantage.
Taiwan….they are trying to patch things up with China now.
Iran…they have the motive but only 3 old Russian diesel boats.
France….Yeah. Those guys do oddball things for stupid reasons. Let’s blame the French.
Who knows who does what and for what reasons?
“Russia ….can’t see why unless they want to harass China.”
Or harass the U.S. and weaken its resolve to stand by its military commitments in that part of the world.
“China… if they wanted to harass NK they could simply invade.”
But they might have other reasons besides harassing NK. Harassing the U.S. might be one of those reasons. Or harassing SK. Or maybe some other reason.
“US … the blowback from getting caught would far outweigh any perceived advantage.”
Maybe not. Who knows what perceived advantage might be gained? And why would the risk of getting caught be all that high? These submarines are essentially invisible.
“Taiwan… they are trying to patch things up with China now.”
Taiwan has a long history of playing the U.S. I wouldn’t put anything past them. Anything goes as long as it keeps money flowing in from the U.S.
Nothing is ever what it seems. Almost nine years ago nineteen hijackers - most of them from Saudi Arabia -crashed planes into the WTC and the Pentagon and becauuse of that we are now mired down in an endless war in Afghanistan. I’m still trying to figure this one out.
I ask this question because if a third party wanted to stir up some wrath between two countries this would be a good way to go about doing it.
I believe that is known as a “false flag” attack. That would never happen. **Cough, Gulf of Tonki, Cough****Cough****.
North Korea = China’s “problem child/sock puppet”
China best make Ding-Dong I’m-ill… “Straighten-up-&-fly-right” or else they may not get much “return” from all those “Foreign I.O.U.’s” they keep stuffin’ in their Gov’t coffers.
China’s army is big enough that the only real question would be whether they could roll over NK in 24 hours or 48 hours. There could be air support from the Russians and the US Navy. The US and ROK troops would merely have to put in a holding operation at the DMZ.
It’s really one of history’s ironies….in Korea, the farmland is predominantly in the south and the mineral wealth is predominantly in the north. Yet NK is a peasant agrarian country and ROK is an industrial country. Too bad the two systems can’t just swap out the land with each other.
What are we going to do about North Korea? In a way it’s a blessing that Kim Jong Il is so crazed and still exerts such control. The entire population is brainwashed and crazy, and nobody in China, Russia or South Korea would want those refugees, who of course would mass across the borders. Maybe his son will be a little more reasonable and we can slowly bring them into the 20th century.
China 1.34 Billion
N. Korea = 24,051,218 (million)
Bugs: “eh, what’s up doc”
A nuclear-powered U.S. supercarrier led an armada of warships in exercises off the Korean peninsula Sunday
Did they do jumping-jacks or burpies? That would be fun to watch.
I’ve been on the road a bit lately, so I don’t know if this has been posted. It’s an interesting look at the foreclosure situation in the blue collar neighborhoods of Chicago, not far from where I grew up.
It sounds like these neighborhoods are really getting slammed (carbon copy anecdotes from the likes of AZ, FL, and NV in my own backyard), and there’s some interesting comments and observations on Federal meddling. Heck, there’s even a bit about a waiter who bought $350k house. No wonder, I can’t afford to live where I grew up - the wait staff is pricing me out! LOL! Good thing I never spent a lot on my education - or I’d really feel like a sucker.
http://tinyurl.com/333lxrp
No new recession, let tax cuts die: Geithner
July 25, 2010 11:05 AM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The economy is not likely to slip back into recession but letting tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans expire is necessary to show commitment to cutting budget deficits, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Sunday.
In appearances on several Sunday talk shows, Geithner said only 2 to 3 percent of Americans — those making $250,000 or more a year — will be affected when tax cuts enacted under former President George W. Bush end on schedule this year.
Sen. Chuck Grassley: “Did you use tax software to prepare your taxes?”
Geithner: “Yes, I did.”
Grassley: “Which brand of tax software?”
Geithner: “I will answer that, but I want to say I take full responsibility. … It was TurboTax.”
I do not understand why everyone keeps saying the Bush Tax Cuts were “only for the wealthy” - ALL Tax brackets were lowered, there was a $1000 child tax credit that phased out at $115,000 MFJ which is barely middle class unless you live in North Dakota and if the credit expire as-is that anachronistic, sexist bullshit “marriage penalty” will return.
I really miss Bush - at the time I could not stand him but damn it he cut taxes for EVERYONE and when he passed out borrowed stimulus he sent EVERYONE a check - only phased out beyond 150k household income. Obama passes out stimulus by enriching unions, gov’t bureaucrats and blue collar make work crap jobs for meth-heads to repair roads that do not need repairing, etc.
Legal
The Men Who Ended Goldman’s War
July 19, 2010, 2:13 am
Last Wednesday at around 3 p.m., the Securities and Exchange Commission and Goldman Sachs settled an epic, seismic battle — one waged over whether the storied investment bank defrauded investors in a transaction that regulators said Goldman had built to self-destruct, The New York Times’s Louise Story reports.
The final terms of the settlement were hashed out over the telephone. On one end, Gregory K. Palm, Goldman’s general counsel, agreed to the exact language his bank would use in statements about the settlement. As one of the longest-serving executives of the bank and a Goldman shareholder, Mr. Palm also had his own reputation and his personal fortune on the line.
On the other end, the S.E.C.’s director of enforcement, Robert Khuzami, was joined by his old friend and deputy, Lorin Reisner. Mr. Khuzami, a former in-house counsel at Deutsche Bank, was well-versed in the inner workings of Wall Street deal-making.
In the end, Goldman decided to steer clear of a protracted and damaging trial by paying a $550 million penalty, which the S.E.C. went out of its way to describe as the largest ever against a Wall Street firm. Goldman acknowledged that its marketing materials for the deal in question, known as Abacus, were lacking, and it agreed to greater disclosure around such transactions in the future — a concession that affects the entire financial community and could eat into some of the lush profits firms earn on complex deals engineered in the shadows.
…
“These f@!king Guys!,” Jon Stewart.
The Government’s Role in the Housing Bubble
Note: I realized after writing this that it came off like a grand theory of everything. My argument is not that the government, all by its little lonesome, caused the housing bubble; it’s that these things, along with many decisions in the private sector, helped create it. Bubbles are a feature of asset markets, and I don’t think that getting rid of either government or free markets could cure us of them.)
I never would have guessed that years in, we’d still be debating the role of the government in the housing bubble. Conservatives are still pinning most of the blame on the Community Reinvestment Act, while liberals are saying that there’s no evidence that government played any significant role–unless, perhaps, it was all the fault of Alan Greenspan.
As it happens, I think that the government did play a role. A big role. But I think it’s rather subtler, and thus, rather more problematic, than most people on either side are discussing.
To me, the unsung villain of the mortgage crisis is the 30-year fixed rate self-amortizing mortgage with no prepayment penalty. This hothouse creature is beloved of liberals, who like any product that gives the consumer the power to shaft banks whenever it is to their advantage. And it is beloved of conservatives because it smacks of sober citizens taking on modest, stable obligations they can meet.
But this product is about as stable as a nitroglycerine shot with a TNT chaser. The 30 year fixed rate mortgage was ultimately at the heart of the Savings and Loan crisis. Yes, yes, deregulation set the stage for the ultimate denouement–but the Savings and Loans were deregulated in such a haphazard fashion in part because they were being slowly driven into bankruptcy by their huge collection of low-interest, long-term real estate loans, in an environment where Paul Volcker had briefly driven short-term interest rates up to 20%. While fraud and abuse were certainly rampant, the enormous scope of the problem was not due to S&L officers suddenly becoming more thievish, or regulators more tolerant of thievery, but because everyone in the industry was flopping as wildly a a beached sturgeon in an attempt to keep their banks solvent atop large portfolios of low-interest loans. Meanwhile, whenever interest rates dropped, people would refinance, meaning that even the high-interest loans they did make didn’t help much.
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2010/07/the-governments-role-in-the-housing-bubble/60333/
You might want to review what NEIL BUSH was up to at Silverado.
Or the Keating 5 at Lincoln.
You see, it WAS mostly fraud that brought that industry down.
I don’t understand why no prepayment penalties is so evil? Banks get their interest stacked up front …..
To me, the unsung villain of the mortgage crisis is the 30-year fixed rate self-amortizing mortgage with no prepayment penalty.
I spend a lot of time in Maine these days, and enjoy shopping at the local farmers’ market up to a point–that is, the price point. Prices at most farmers’ markets are so high that ordinary consumers shy away, let alone the poor. I for one am not ready to spend $2 on a tomato. Fortunately, though, the Wholesome Wave Foundation recently started up a “Veggie Prescription” program in Maine giving physicians the opportunity to “prescribe” farmers market vouchers for low-income patients–allowing them up to $40 in free food. The foundation plans to study the patients’ over time, and if the results of this study show improved health, hopes these findings will spur local, state and national governments — as well as health insurance companies — to consider ways to help more people buy fresh produce.
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2010/07/fat-and-the-farm/60328/
BP Hires Prison Labor to Clean Up Spill While Coastal Residents Struggle
Hiring prison labor is more than a way for BP to save money while cleaning up the biggest oil spill in history. By tapping into the inmate workforce, the company and its subcontractors get workers who are not only cheap but easily silenced—and they get lucrative tax write-offs in the process.
http://www.thenation.com/article/37828/bp-hires-prison-labor-clean-spill-while-coastal-residents-struggle
And who said slavery was dead?
That is unethical — prisoners have reduced autonomy. Although it is perfect for BP and their MO.
With the ever-expanding list of laws that most Americans aren’t even aware of, the prison-industrial complex and their corporate overlords will never be lacking for cheap labor.
No worries, Polly assures us that we don’t need to know about most laws.
what wrong with that???????? They need to develop a work ethic in case they get released soon.
Noo Horleans had to import 15,000 illegals to clean up the Katrina mess…you noticed jesse or al were no where to be found in demanding people from the projects and 9th ward get the jobs first. So they spent their $2000 cash card on booze and lap dances…
They haven’t run out of million dollar homes yet in San Diego County. Here are the counts of current MLS listings in this price range (Data from Redfin dot com):
$1m-$1.25m 451
$1.25m-$1.5m 456
$1.5m-$2m 441
$2m-$3m 453
$3m+ 463
—————
Total number of SD County MLS listings w/ asking prices over $1m =
451 + 456 + 441 + 453 + 463 =
5(500-50)+(1+6-9+3+13) =
2500 - 250 + 14 = 2,264 homes.
Are their 2,264 prospective buyers currently in the market for San Diego homes at $1m+ price points?
There are only 53 listed above $10m, and of these, only seven are above $25m. Hurry up, real estate investors, and get one of these $10m+ San Diego homes before they are all gone!
The flip side is that there are 2,264-53 = 2,211 listings from $1m to $10m. That is an average listing density of $9,000,000/2,211 = one home per every $4,071 difference in price on the $1m-$10m range. That is a pretty dense distribution of $1m+ listings. Anyone shopping in this price range has a great selection!
Now for the low-end distribution:
Under $100K 238
$100K-$125K 193
$125K-$150K 299
$150K-$175K 268
$175K-$200K 425
$200K-$225K 366
$225K-$250K Over 500 results!
$250K-$275K 497
$275K-$300K Over 500 results!
$300K-$325K 448
$325K-$350K Over 500 results!
$350K-$375K 489
$375K-$400K Over 500 results!
$400K-$425K 374
$425K-$450K Over 500 results!
$450K-$475K 320
$475K-$500K 461
$500K-$550K Over 500 results!
$550K-$600K Over 500 results!
$600K-$650K 433
$650K-$700K 450
$700K-$750K 349
$750K-$800K 375
$800K-$900K 477
$900K-$1m 308
Conclusion: THE LOW END IS GETTING CRUSHED, JUST AS I PREDICTED IT WOULD YEARS AGO.
Here is some missing detail (had to split out some ranges by house/condo to avoid the 500 home max number listed):
Range Houses Condos&Townhouses Total
$225K-$250K 265 265 530
$275K-$300K 359 230 589
$325K-$350K 387 197 584
$375K-$400K 440 161 601
$425K-$450K 382 133 515
$500K-$550K 447 139 586
$550K-$600K 494 113 607
With these data, the above can be restated as follows:
Range / Number / Range divided by number of homes
Under $100K 238 $420.17
$100K-$125K 193 $129.53
$125K-$150K 299 $83.61
$150K-$175K 268 $93.28
$175K-$200K 425 $58.82
$200K-$225K 366 $68.31
$225K-$250K 530 $47.17
$250K-$275K 497 $50.30
$275K-$300K 589 $42.44
$300K-$325K 448 $55.80
$325K-$350K 584 $42.81
$350K-$375K 489 $51.12
$375K-$400K 601 $41.60
$400K-$425K 374 $66.84
$425K-$450K 515 $48.54
$450K-$475K 320 $78.13
$475K-$500K 461 $54.23
$500K-$550K 586 $85.32
$550K-$600K 607 $82.37
$600K-$650K 433 $115.47
$650K-$700K 450 $111.11
$700K-$750K 349 $143.27
$750K-$800K 375 $133.33
$800K-$900K 477 $209.64
$900K-$1m 308 $324.68
The right column is an indicator of density, or how tightly packed in the homes in a given range are. For instance, if the 308 homes in the top bin were listed so there was an even density of listings on the range from $900K-$1m, the average difference between a given list price and the next one higher or lower would be $324.68.
Those listings below $1m are packed in like sardines, especially between $125K and $600K.
Another perspective: There are more than 10 homes listed per $1000 difference in price range between $0 and $1,000,000.
Got inventory?
Why didn’t Barry just send AF-1 over and fly this POS back for a beer and a round of golf…
White House backed release of Lockerbie bomber Abdel Baset al-Megrahi
The Australian ~
THE US government secretly advised Scottish ministers it would be “far preferable” to free the Lockerbie bomber than jail him in Libya.
Correspondence obtained by The Sunday Times reveals the Obama administration considered compassionate release more palatable than locking up Abdel Baset al-Megrahi in a Libyan prison.
The intervention, which has angered US relatives of those who died in the attack, was made by Richard LeBaron, deputy head of the US embassy in London, a week before Megrahi was freed in August last year on grounds that he had terminal cancer.
The document, acquired by a well-placed US source, threatens to undermine US President Barack Obama’s claim last week that all Americans were “surprised, disappointed and angry” to learn of Megrahi’s release.
Scottish ministers viewed the level of US resistance to compassionate release as “half-hearted” and a sign it would be accepted.
The US has tried to keep the letter secret, refusing to give permission to the Scottish authorities to publish it on the grounds it would prevent future “frank and open communications” with other governments.
In the letter, sent on August 12 last year to Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond and justice officials, Mr LeBaron wrote that the US wanted Megrahi to remain imprisoned in view of the nature of the crime.
From a diplomatic point of view… it’s tit for tat:
In April 14, 1988 the cruiser USS Vincennes mistakenly shot down, via a pair of surface-to-air missles, an Iranian airliner, killing 290 passengers.
Later in 1988, in December, Pan Am flight 103 was destroyed by a bomb over Lockerbie, Scotland.
Officially hell was to be paid for those responsible for the bombing, but unofficially - both sides are sort of even.
Inquiring minds might want to read up on what happened to the submarine USS Scorpion that went down with all hands in the mid-Sixties.
So what did happen (I read the wiki)?
Go back to Wiki and read the book review of “Scorpion down”.
There is no conclusive proof of what actually happened but I remember much fanfare about the US Thresher going down and absolutely nothing about the Scorpion. The Thresher was proven to be an accident, not so the Scorpion; there are several versions as to what happened to the Scorpion, one of them that it was sunk in retaliation for the accidental sinking of a Russian sub by an American submarine some months earlier. Tit for tat.
This is not in itself proof of anything, but it seems more than coincidence of having the very unusual event of two world power nuclear submarines being lost at sea under mysterious circumstances just a few months apart.
Next Up: Why did the battleship USS Maine blow up in Havana?
The reports at the time blamed the sinking on Spain and led the U.S. into the Spanish-American War. But what really happened?
While you at Wiki read up on what really went down regarding Jessica Lynch (remember her?).
Tit-for-tat is geopolitics 101 and ANYONE can be thrown under that bus.
He only killed 270 people so it makes sense that he should be released on humanitarin grounds rather then to spend his last 3 months in a Libyan prisson.
The Obama administration always does what I would do.
“I’m 49 years old now, thanks to God…”
Sunday morning news & a beer:
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/miller-259098-platform-well.html
White House sends 2012 rescue team to Florida
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The White House has quietly launched an effort to confront the political backlash along the Gulf Coast over its handling of the BP oil spill – giving special attention to Florida, the only state in the region President Barack Obama won in 2008 and one he will need again when he runs for re-election in 2012.
The White House dispatched political and communications aides to the Gulf Coast states on July 12, with Alabama and Mississippi each receiving one, sources familiar with the effort said. Some aides went to Louisiana. Florida received four.
The battleground state will be a heavy lift. In interviews along the coast, Florida Democrats accused the administration of largely ignoring their calls and letters, and complained of a White House that’s out of touch.
Alex Sink, Florida’s chief financial officer and presumptive Democratic gubernatorial nominee, even characterized Vice President Joe Biden’s recent visit to the state as “a screw-up,” saying she was “embarrassed” by his speech.
Barry needs to call his bud up and tell him to chillax…
Chavez warns of US oil cutoff in Colombia dispute
Chavez threatens to suspend US oil sales if Venezuela attacked by neighboring Colombia ~July 25, 2010
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — President Hugo Chavez threatened on Sunday to halt oil sales to the United States if Venezuela faces any military attack by its U.S.-allied neighbor Colombia.
Chavez said in a speech to thousands of supporters that if there is an “armed aggression against Venezuela” from Colombia backed by the U.S., “we would suspend shipments of oil.”
Chavez said that “we wouldn’t send one more drop” of oil to the United States, which is the top buyer of oil from the South American country.
If actually carried out, such a threat would be titanic economic blow for Chavez’s government, which depends heavily on oil sales. It’s likely Chavez made the warning in part to put the U.S. and Colombia on notice that he will not stand for a more aggressive international campaign to denounce allegations that leftist Colombian rebels are finding safe haven in Venezuela.
Herein lies an opening for China.
Oil that is not sold to the U.S. may end up being sold to China.
You betcha.
Kind of changing the subject but on the same line of foreign policy: I read some blog earlier today that because the US debt crisis will force a big chunk of tax revenues to pay interest on the debt, our “foregn policy will be held hostage.”
I was thinking, hmm…maybe that would be a good thing - make us stop being the world’s policeman!
Bill:
Why do we still pay for our troops to be overseas? If Germany France japan etc want our military to protect them…then pay us for it.
Because…by golly we did so for years - the Republicrat meme is that we have to meddle in other nations.
Growth in U.S. Probably Cooled as Spending Slowed, Trade Deficit Swelled
The U.S. economy expanded at a slower pace in the second quarter as consumer spending cooled and the trade deficit swelled, economists project a report this week will show.
That the trade deficit rose even though consumer spending decreased shows just how upside down we are.
Sounds like a huge stock-market rally is in order!
From today’s Meet The Press - host reveals that the financial sector is 25% of the economy. Does that mean 25% of GDP? But regardless of the exact meaning, it means that the politicians are paid very well to keep the system as it is. It’s going to take a serious shakeup at all levels of government to loosen their grip on government.
MR. GREGORY: As someone’s who concerned about the overall growth of the economy , the role of education, innovation, manufacturing, does it trouble you that 25 percent of our economy is the financial sector , which doesn’t actually make anything besides money?
SEC’Y GEITHNER: I don’t know what — how large the system ’s going to be in the future . You can’t really tell. But what we’re determined to do, and what the reforms will do is to make sure this system goes back to its core purpose of taking the savings of Americans and from investors around the world and allocating those to people with an idea, not just the largest companies in the country , but to small businesses with an idea and a plan for growing. That’s what systems have to do well. Our system , at its best, was the model for the world in doing that, and these reforms will make sure we preserve that basic strength.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38384219/ns/meet_the_press-transcripts
The financial sector makes money? Ha! They reallocate it maybe, shift it around a bit, but make money? No.
Now excuse me while I go change the distributions on my 401k…
Mucho gracias if you change them toward my way
Yep, lil’ Opie the (non-Hawaiian) Socialist-Muslim is the ring-leader starting in 2004…
What is goin’ happen when Cheney finds out that he doesn’t qualify for the Federal “Witness Protection Plan” ?
Wikileaks Releases Stunning Afghan War Logs — Is Iraq Next?
By Kevin Poulsen
The logs cover 2004 through December 2009. Most of the entries in the logs, which Wikileaks has made available in in CSV and SQL formats, are classified at the Secret level. Some are Confidential, and about 3,000 are unclassified. The subjects are broad ranging, from military engagement and IED attacks, to local politics and reconstruction, and unquestionably offer the most detailed and up-to-date view of an ongoing conflict that’s ever been available
Wikileaks doesn’t identify its source for the logs.
Army intelligence analyst Bradley Manning, who’s being held on charges of leaking some classified material to Wikileaks, claimed in online chats to have leaked a database of half-a-million events from the war in Iraq covering the same time period.
Like the Afghan database, the Iraq database purportedly contains latitude-and-longitude information, timestamps and casualty figures, according to the description Manning gave ex-hacker Adrian Lamo, who turned him in to authorities. Manning has not been charged with that purported leak.
Saving America’s Mother Vine
A North Carolina brush crew’s weedkiller almost ends the 400-year run of the nation’s oldest cultivated grapevine.
By David Zucchino, Los Angeles Times / July 25, 2010
Don’t…Stop!…Don’t…Stop!…Don’t…Stop!…
Reporting from Manteo, N.C. —
It began as a fleck of brown on a leaf. Then several leaves curled and died. Soon the sickness spread.
The Mother Vine, believed to be the nation’s oldest cultivated grapevine, was in distress. Planted about 400 years ago, most likely by Croatan Indians or Sir Walter Raleigh’s settlers, the vine has survived hurricanes, nor’easters and suburbanization.
Now it had been brought low by that scourge of modernity, chemical weedkiller. A power company contractor removing brush from power poles in late May had accidentally sprayed the most famous planting along North Carolina’s Outer Banks.
“When I was told a 400-year-old grape vine had been sprayed with herbicide, well, it wasn’t exactly what I wanted to hear,” said Chuck Penn, a Dominion spokesman. “We were distraught. You’re talking about an historical icon.”
You decide:
Arizona immigration law tints neighborhood dispute:
“Meanwhile, Brewer has contended that most illegal immigrants entering her state are drug smugglers.”
To some Arizonans, it’s an illustration of how incidents in the state now get interpreted through the prism of the new law.
The 44-year-old U.S. citizen was watering chile plants in his front yard when a neighbor confronted him and shot him to death, according to police documents.
Varela’s brother, Antonio, told police that the neighbor, Gary Kelley, who is white, called Juan Varela by an ethnic slur and said he had to “go back to Mexico” now that Gov. Jan Brewer had signed SB 1070. The family campaigned to publicize the death, culminating with the county prosecutor’s decision last month to add a hate-crime allegation to the second-degree murder charges filed against Kelley.
Let’s toss out SB 1070 because one nut Gary Kelley shot and killed his neighbor because he thinks SB 1070 gave him permission.
Doh!
by: Tony Caputo
FBI STATS
With all the negative reports being printed in the news media here are the statistics they fail to report.
•83% of warrants for murder in Phoenix are for illegal aliens.
•86% of warrants for murder in Albuquerque are for illegal aliens.
•75% of those on the most wanted list in Los Angeles , Phoenix and Albuquerque are illegal aliens
•24.9% of all inmates in California detention centers are Mexican nationals
•40.1% of all inmates in Arizona detention centers are Mexican nationals
•48.2% of all inmates in New Mexico detention centers are Mexican nationals
•29% (630,000) convicted illegal alien felons fill our state and Federal prisons at a cost of $1.6 billion annually
•53% plus of all investigated burglaries reported in California, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona and Texas are perpetrated by illegal aliens.
•50% plus of all gang members in Los Angeles are illegal aliens
•71% plus of all apprehended cars stolen in 2005 in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California were stolen by Illegal aliens or ”transport coyotes”.
•47% of cited/stopped drivers in California have no license, no insurance and no registration for the vehicle. Of that 47%, 92% are illegal aliens.
•63% of cited/stopped drivers in Arizona have no license, no insurance and no registration for the vehicle. Of that 63%, 97% are illegal aliens
•66% of cited/stopped drivers in New Mexico have no license, no insurance and no registration
for the vehicle. Of that 66% 98% are illegal aliens.
•380,000 plus “anchor babies” were born in the US to illegal alien parents in just one year, making 380,000 babies automatically US citizens (which is UN-Constitutional; illegal).
•97.2% of all costs incurred from those illegal births were paid by the American taxpayers.
U.S. News & World Report Money
Downward Pressure on Home Prices Mounts
The inventory of unsold existing homes rose nearly 5 percent in June from a year earlier
By Luke Mullins
Posted: July 22, 2010
The tally of unsold homes on the market increased in June, a signal that real estate prices may face additional downward pressure in the coming months.
The inventory of unsold existing homes rose to just under 4 million in June, a nearly 5 percent increase from a year earlier, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. The nearly 3 percent increase from May helped push the months supply of unsold homes at the current sales pace—a key inventory yardstick—to 8.9 from 8.3. Although that’s down from 9.4 a year earlier, it’s well above the six month supply typically associated with a balanced housing market.
…
I’m seeing more price drops (in the last week) in my Phoenix neighborhood.
Playing around w/ Redfin dot com this weekend, I saw a really good one in our own hood just a couple of weeks back: A virtually identical home to the one we rent, walking distance away up the street, sold for $460K — $80K less than an investor paid to buy our place six years ago. This is actually one of the first times a 4br home has sold for under $500K in our area, so I am taking it as an indication the local market’s real estate bubble fever may finally have broken.
Uncle Sam’s catch-and-release fishing tactics have led to yet another version of the time-tested tale of the big one that got away.
The Financial Times
Slapped wrist and back to business for Goldman
By Francesco Guerrera
Published: July 23 2010 17:47 | Last updated: July 23 2010 18:56
Now that it has settled its fraud case against Goldman Sachs, the Securities and Exchange Commission should move its Washington headquarters from F street to the banks of the Potomac.
The proximity to the water would enable the federal watchdogs to indulge their most recent hobby: catch-and-release fishing.
This popular form of the sport works like this: you arm yourself with the best equipment to go after the biggest fish in the river. After hours of patient waiting and careful scouring of the murky surface, you feel a tug on the rod – the fish has taken the bait. As the animal struggles to wriggle free, you lift it up into the boat, unhook it and release it once again into the wild.
And then you hold a press conference warning other fish in no uncertain terms that, unless they swim on the straight and narrow, they, too, will one day be caught and released.
Maybe the last part is not usually part of an angler’s day out but, then again, unlike the SEC, amateur fishermen do not have to deal with a spiky Congress and a media baying for blood. In most other respects, though, last week’s conclusion of a two-year probe into whether Goldman, the biggest name on Wall Street, defrauded investors in a mortgage-backed security was disappointingly anticlimactic.
Analysts and government officials resorted to the banking cliché of a “win-win” to describe the settlement, but the best that can be said is that it was logical and understandable.
It was logical for Goldman to pay $550m and admit omitting information in the prospectus for the Abacus collateralised debt obligation, the complex financial deal at the heart of the SEC’s case. The agreement will make the civil fraud charges disappear, decreasing the likelihood of private lawsuits and keeping Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman’s chief executive, in his seat.
And it was understandable the agency settled for the biggest fine levied “in the history of the SEC” – a cute distinction given that companies such as Prudential Financial and AIG have paid bigger sums to other US authorities. The outcome enables the agency to look tough while avoiding a no-holes-barred court battle that could have ended in defeat, especially because its arguments were less than bullet-proof.
Bitterly divided on the merits of the case, Goldman and the SEC found common ground on the reasons for ending it. But logic and expediency do not a win-win make. Indeed, for Goldman, the settlement could end up being a Pyrrhic victory.
…
Clients wondering about conflicts of interests now know that the bank omitted important information in a document to investors on at least one transaction and can read the cringingly frank internal e-mails about “shitty” deals and “monstruosities” (sic) Goldman sold during the crisis.
Its shareholders, meanwhile, have seen their investment fall by 20 per cent since the SEC’s charges in April – a plunge partly due to Goldman’s bizarre decision not to disclose that it was under regulatory scrutiny.
For the SEC, the question is: what now? The Goldman case was the most advanced, and presumably the strongest, being pursued by its newly formed CDO unit. Given that no other bank appears to have received a “Wells notice” – the formal notification that the SEC is close to pressing charges – the next crackdown on Wall Street’s excesses during the crisis could be years in the making.
More worryingly, the penalty levied on Goldman, equivalent to a couple of weeks’ profits, is unlikely to have a deterrent effect on the rest of the financial industry.
Robert Khuzami, the SEC’s enforcement chief, called it “a stark lesson to Wall Street firms that no product is too complex, and no investor too sophisticated, to avoid a heavy price”. But the reality is that most banks would gladly give up less than a month’s profits to get rid of the regulators. As one banker told me last week: “It’s just the cost of doing business.”
After the most devastating crisis in generations, taxpayers and investors had the right to expect more than this business-as-usual kind of justice.
First time I have seen this “they OVER loaned me” comment from
Terminally ill Jupiter Farms woman behind on home loan alleges collector taunted, harassed her
By Kimberly Miller Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 9:54 p.m. Sunday, July 25, 2010
A Palm Beach County woman diagnosed with terminal brain cancer is suing her home loan servicer following what she said were relentless harassing phone calls that further harmed her health when she fell behind on payments.
The suit, filed by Angela Birster, 45, along with her husband, Paul Birster, 47, accuses American Home Mortgage Servicing Inc. of violating state and federal consumer collection laws, as well as intentionally inflicting emotional distress.
“Had the exact same thing happen to me. The collector called me names and belittled me saying that I was worthless and a low life for not paying my debt. “How Rude”. Of course I ended up losing the house after they OVER loaned me and put me out of my home. They knew I would not be able to keep up the payments when they loaned me money and charged me a hefty 17 grand in fees etc. That went into their own pockets.”
Bill
1:42 AM, 7/26/2010