Bits Bucket For August 1, 2010
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The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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My moms birthday….drivin to CT…
We used to have fights over who would get the frosting flowers on a cake. I loved that sugary frosting and I still do. Butter cream is awesome, too. Have fun. Enjoy the day. All of this stupidity will still be there tomorrow.
Thanks man….yeah nice day nice talk, just catching up on things….
And of course the frugal factor sets in
Brothers wife finds a big fruit tart cake normally around $15 mislabeled as a brownie cake for $3.98
I never knew cheap pies tasted so good.
Happy Birthday to your mom!
Hope your mother had a good b-day
Ben Bernanke’s assets surely are managed by a blind trust; fingers crossed!
For guys such as Bernanke I don’t think their policy decisions are influenced by personal wealth considerations.
Call me naive, but I don’t believe Bernanke is a corrupt individual.
WHAT?!!!
He’s a tool of the corrupt banksters. He may not take money or otherwise benefit directly, but he’s their lackey and he benefits them mightily.
He’s corrupt all right. Just not absolutely corrupt.
“… he’s their lackey and he benifits them mightily.”
Yes, he does. But that’s because he has little choice. This is the no win position that has been left to him.
He knew what the situation was when he accepted the position.
Alan Greenspan set the path before him. He, however, thinks he is intellectually superior in his understand of the “business cycle” and the failings of the economy during the 1930’s crash and downturn.
As I posted yesterday, if Bernanke can achieve full employment and a resurgence in business with high levels of debt and ZERO interest rates, it is in marked contrast to Paul Volker who did just the opposite. Paul Volker took interest rates up to 16 or 17% for an extended period of time. Caused a bunch of businesses to struggle with finance, flushed out the deadbeats and within a couple of years, the economy rebounded and employment surged.
Naturally, government policy in spending and taxes plays a part, but if either extreme policy is shown to work, then we can conclude that it doesn’t really matter what the FED does. We need to fight them every step of the way, because from one extreme to the other, we still manage to keep businesses running. It will be interesting to see if Ben’s delusional dreams can bring about any benefits for the American public at large. I think his shenanigans will fail, the economy will teeter back into depression and all but the rich will be worse off.
You are describing his perception of the situation and his management policy. I’m not addressing any of this, I’m addressing his character.
My point is I don’t think Bernanke is a tool of the banksters such as Senator Dodd is a tool of the banksters. But this doesn’t necesssairly mean I think his course of action is the correct one to take.
“It will be interesting to see if Ben’s delusional dreams can bring about any benefits for the American public at large. I think his shenanigans will fail, the economy will teeter back into depression and all but the rich will be worse off.”
And as the Fed and its lackeys help create great huddled masses yearning to breathe free, many millions of tired, hungry, and poor Americans; the elite ruling rich and powerful will reap the benefits, as usual. That’s not a delusion, it’s part of a working game plan for forming a New World Order.
Combo, if you were given the opportunity to be Fed chairman, knowing full well you’d be a tool of the banksters and knowing you really couldn’t change the system, would you take the job?
Caused a bunch of businesses to struggle with finance, flushed out the deadbeats ??
Oh my goodness…Nothing could be further from the truth…Granted, any business with a weak balance sheet was Immediately
toast.
With that said, Volkers actions crushed many, many thousands of good sound bushiness with the punitively high interest rates and more so from the “speed” in which he ratcheted them up…Nobody saw this coming and no matter how prudent you were you lost your azz…I know many good people who “never” recovered…
I will not go into numbers but I will say this, during that period I lost 70% of my net worth which was considerable…I basically came away with my house…I came very close to loosing it all with a homemaker wife and three children under five…The most stressful period of my life…
“My point is I don’t think Bernanke is a tool of the banksters such as Senator Dodd is a tool of the banksters.”
Combo, I’ve said it before, I love having you on the HBB. I love reading your posts and your “Cash is King” mantra has been a mainstay of this blog for years now. But I disagree with you on this one. I can’t even quantify how much I disagree.
There is no way Bernanke would be in his current position if he wasn’t a tool of the banksters. None. Zero. Zip, Nada. Nil. That is the number one requirement of the job.
With that said, Volkers actions crushed many, many thousands of good sound bushiness
He also caused the S&L crisis. At the same time he was doing that Reagan was getting Greenspan in place to screw over all working Americans by raising payroll taxes. They promised never to dip into SS and then began doing that immediately. The rise in payroll taxes allowed Reagan to do his “trickle down” tax cuts. He also allowed the federal government’s budget to go parabolic.
Volcker, the saint, is a banker’s banker through and through. He was a central figure in the gutting of America.
‘to be Fed chairman, knowing full well you’d be a tool of the banksters and knowing you really couldn’t change the system’
Some big banks (or whatever they are) literally own the Federal Reserve, so I doubt he considers himself a ‘tool’ of the stockholders. This is just part of what’s dishonest about the system; Just because the elected President nominates the chairman, it is presumed he holds some duty to the public. If this is so, why is some long-time Fed employee picked and not an outsider? And why is reforming or eliminating the fed always off the table?
‘if Bernanke can achieve full employment and a resurgence in business with high levels of debt and ZERO interest rates, it is in marked contrast to Paul Volker who did just the opposite’
About those rates; how can they be zero in the environment of the largest government debt in human history?
Some big bank literally own the Federal Reserve
I think the two main players in the system are Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase. Their CEOs are Lloyd Blankfein and Jamie Dimon. Earlier in 2010 Obama went out of his way to point out that these two fellows, in particular, were smart bankers and had earned their bonuses. Holy $hit, anybody that can’t put all of that together and draw the rightful conclusion is pretty damn naive.
I love Combo but I disagree totally that Bernanke is not a bankster’s banker. I had another post that I think died, regarding this subject.
Not only does this show what Bernanke is but it also shows what Obama is. He is owned by the Fed system.
‘He also caused the S&L crisis’
I don’t know about ’caused’. As it was unfolding, we got the Dallas Morning News every day and I’d read about the scandals. The one that stuck in my head was one revelation that a Dallas office tower had been flipped seven times in one day, each for a higher amount of course, and each time financed by the same S&L. Fees galore for everyone involved. There wasn’t anything that could have kept the S&L system from crumbling IMO.
About those rates; how can they be zero in the environment of the largest government debt in human history?
Because the Congress under the Federal Reserve Act gave the authority for them to do so. It is why Americans are so conflicted and suffer cognitive dissonance when discussing “Capitalism”. We all understand what “free enterprise and free markets” are. But we are told that the current “capitalism” we are experiencing is Free markets. It isn’t. It’s CONTROL of CAPITAL, by the FED, for the Banks and their buddies.
They can print up whatever they want. Buy up whatever they want. And sell the paper at any price they want.
The government, and, by extension, the People, have nothing to say about it.
I guess you can say fraud caused it but there was no way the S&L system could survive the interest rate shock. They were legally unable to charge above a certain amount of interest on loans. But yet they had to pay market rates for deposits. I have no idea how you get that math to work out without a huge liquidity crisis.
Dallas office tower had been flipped seven times ??
Similar to 2004-2007 the money was flowing but this time it was commercial real estate…I had friends in upper management at a few and they were begging me to take the loans…Lack of federal oversight on these S&L’s were a big problem…
What I mean is how can rates be so low when debt is so high?
A few years back the financial press would expound on what rates of various terms and yield curves ‘told’ us about was happening in the economy. What does the return to almost zero rates tell us today?
BTW, SCDave, in response to your comments, I am not saying that Volker is some saint. I am simply pointing out the irony of having 2 extreme policies at work during a recessionary economy, with high unemployment.
How is it possible to have such extremes with similar economic environments? And, yes, government policy under Reagan was expansionary, but nothing compared with Obama.
As for your misfortune, you have my sympathy. I owned a Real Estate Company with a couple partners at that time. We were not well financed and had reasonable overhead, even low, but the high interest rates cut sales to a complete halt. I had spent about 2 years building up the company.
Sales were moderate and we made money, but………I couldn’t see any future. The high rates killed us.
After 6 months of losing money, I pulled out and went back to school to finish my engineering degree. I thought I would get into a real profession, with some stability. That worked out for a while. Now, I’m unemployed, again, with few prospects. I thought about going back into Real Estate.
Wonder how that would work out?
“About those rates; how can they be zero in the environment of the largest government debt in human history?”
Because money is still being destroyed, due to tumbling home prices caused by all the foreclosures, faster than the Fed is creating it and the govt is borrowing it.
To paraphrase Field of Dreams- “Is this hell?” “No, it’s deflation.”
Got cash?
About those rates; how can they be zero in the environment of the largest government debt in human history?
How can they not be? If they weren’t zero or close to it, there would be no way to pretend we could pay it off. Imagine if the US were paying 7% to service its debt…
“…it is in marked contrast to Paul Volcker who did just the opposite. Paul Volcker took interest rates up to 16 or 17% for an extended period of time.”
How did American household balance sheets look in 1980 versus now? Uh-huh.
If you slap 16% or 17% interest rates on to households, firms and government entities with no allocable savings, implying that they have to borrow at similar rates to get liquid capital, what is the likely prospect for economic recovery?
What does the return to almost zero rates tell us today?
I would think that would tell us that Bernanke is losing the deflation battle.
I did one of my favorite Sunday activities today. I walked over to K-Mart. I love that because I have to walk along 8th Street to get there. For those that don’t know, 8th Street runs right through NYU territory. I saw several parents and kids looking around today, getting ready for school year 2010/11. They will be shelling out $50,000 per year. Good luck and god bless.
The feel of 8th Street is economic depression. I noticed about 2 years ago how many stores had closed down. It is worse today than it was 2 years ago. Surely, there are no viable businesses in New York City. Actually, that is not true. There are few viable businesses at the rents being required to keep the commercial borrowers afloat. They can’t lower those rents or they go bust. So, the business sits empty, waiting for that perfect tenant that will pay their price. If they don’t find that tenant they will just default on the loan. That is Plan B.
I believe Ben is hinting at economic stagnation. There is nobody that wants to borrow to buy these assets at these prices. In that environment does it even matter what the interest rate is? It is like pricing a house so high that nobody wants to buy it. Does it matter if a house worth $300,000 is priced at $500,000 or $50,000,000? No. Does it matter if the interest rate to borrow money is 4% or 24% if you can’t find anybody to borrow?
Similar to what Ben said, the Fed is part of the private banking system, not part of the Federal Government. How could the top employee of the private banks not have his loyalty with the private banks? I don’t think Bernanke is corrupt, I think he is the figurhead of the interests that have corrupted the US Government.
“…would you take the job?”
Somebody’s gotta do it…
“…how can they be zero in the environment of the largest government debt in human history…”
without a deliberate policy of using quantitative easing to push them down to zero and keep them pinned to the floor for an extended period?
Diogenes….Your story is exactly what I was trying to say…His actions buried a lot prudent hard working people…It was indiscriminate..
What I mean is how can rates be so low when debt is so high?
In brief, they shouldn’t be. The rates do not reflect what the real price of money should be. The FED has and continues to send out false signals to the market that there is plentiful “capital” for business expansion and investments.
But that “capital” is not in the form of real savings. Most balance sheets are impaired.
Look at the ridiculous rules for accounting on the banks.
They are holding grossly reduced paper at full face value. They are insolvent. The price of borrowing should be high.
But that would cut loans to marginal borrowers who need to try and float their businesses.
The FED pushed the rates so low, they are now trapped. They can’t put them back where they should be because that would wipe out many marginal enterprises at a time of very high unemployment. (They will most likely be wiped out anyway, just further down the road).
The current collapse was precipitated by the FED trying to take some steam out of the Housing Bubble. No sooner did the rates get back to a more historical level, then the whole deck of cards started crashing.
They tried to re-inflate the economy, but the damage was done. Now, they don’t know what to do, except try to hold on and force-feed money into the system to get business back into borrow and spend mode.
We have ventured into an area never before seen by our FED, but a likely scenario has already been played out by Japan. Demographics included.
“How is it possible to have extremes with similar economic environments?” (Comparing Volcker to Bernanke).
The two economic environments aren’t all that similar.
Volcker’s environment was a high inflationary one. His remedy to bring inflation down was to make money expensive but available.
Bernanke’s economic environment is one of deflation. His remedy is to make money cheap - but his problem is he can’t make this cheap money available. No matter how cheap he makes the price of money he can’t get it to go where he wants it to go.
The current price of assets is too high. The economy can’t recover until those asset prices come down to their true value.
If asset prices come down to their true value the economic system will be completely destroyed.
How do you reconcile those two facts?
“They can print up whatever they want. Buy up whatever they want.”
That is the shocking part. Prior to the financial crisis du juor, my understanding of the Fed’s role in the financial system was that they could legally control the money supply and regulate the price of money through the discount rate and Fed Funds rate channels. The possibility that they could morph into a hedge fund with carte blanche to print unlimited amounts of fiat money, to be used to buy up and fix the prices of whatever asset classes it chooses to control, all the while pretending that ‘the market’ is setting prices,
simply never occurred to me.
Stupid me.
“They were legally unable to charge above a certain amount of interest on loans. But yet they had to pay market rates for deposits.”
I vaguely recall an analogous regulatory bind crushed Enron. I believe they had to buy electricity at market rates, but were limited by regulation to maximum amounts they could charge their retail customers. A spike in wholesale prices drove a stake through the vampire’s heart.
Good point NYCityBoy….
I would gladly borrow at the 16%-17% rate. Right now, no one is lending. Capital leases were running at 50% for a new company (14 mos in business and FY2010). And since banks aren’t lending to new companies (unless you have 700+ credit and can fully collateralize the credit line or note), I was looking at ~30% through a private party for a 36-mo note. So yeah, I’ll take a 16% rate on a note any day.
“What does the return to almost zero rates tell us today?”
Interpretation 1: There is almost zero demand for credit; hence the price of credit is almost zero.
Interpretation 2: ‘Someone’ is deliberately holding those rates down to almost zero.
Interpretation 3: Both factors are in play to some extent.
“If asset prices come down to their true value the economic system will be completely destroyed.”
If asset prices SLOWLY come down to their true value the economic system just might survive.
“The FED pushed the rates so low, they are now trapped.”
The metaphorical expression, ‘pushing on a string,‘ comes to mind.
The curious part is the great lengths to which they go to pretend to be entirely in control of the situation, as though it is all contained. Do they really believe this, or are they merely putting on a brave face?
“If asset prices come down to their true value the economic system will be completely destroyed.
How do you reconcile those two facts?”
I refuse to accept the second one. For capitalism to work, people who make foolish investment decisions, based on false premises (e.g. ‘real estate always goes up’), have to lose money. While a writedown of asset prices to market value may make it feel as though the economic system is getting completely destroyed to those who gambled foolishly and lost, those on the other side of the market, such as young families trying to plant roots in a new city, may find green shoots of opportunity.
This can only work if prices are allowed to adjust to where the market wants to take them. Otherwise, liquidity freezes.
Reference the rate at which homes are currently selling in San Diego compared to a few years ago if you don’t understand what I mean; or imagine how your car would run if you never changed the oil.
My point is I don’t think Bernanke is a tool of the banksters such as Senator Dodd is a tool of the banksters.
Bernanke is a tool of the president. This will become evident when Obama is running for reelection.
“Bernanke is a tool of the president”
That couldn’t be more false. The president is a tool of Bernanke.
Austerity is a BitSH.
We are in the business posturing and pouting stages of this Fiasco and make no mistake, it’s all about money and business.
FB, Homedebtors, businesses, commercial LL’s, whoever, are folding their arms, digging their heels in and swearing that they WON’T give away their properties, goods, services or rentals away at these lowered prices…Oh Yeah, John Wayne-ing it and hanging tough posturing!
There is gonna be one helleva lot of stiff posturing with bottom lips out in the next couple of years and then….
like NYCitBoy said earlier, on to the very end of the All American Plan B…
“The feel of 8th Street is economic depression. I noticed about 2 years ago how many stores had closed down. It is worse today than it was 2 years ago. Surely, there are no viable businesses in New York City. Actually, that is not true. There are few viable businesses at the rents being required to keep the commercial borrowers afloat. They can’t lower those rents or they go bust. So, the business sits empty, waiting for that perfect tenant that will pay their price. If they don’t find that tenant they will just default on the loan. That is Plan B.”
Got True Grit Pilgrim ?
“like NYCitBoy said earlier, on to the very end of the All American Plan B”
I don’t need some Cheesehead validating me or my thoughts. We squareheads are just fine without the approval of you Badgers.
Someday you and I, Mikey, will get together for a long night of boozing. We will solve all of the world’s problems by 1 a.m. and then create a bunch of new ones by 4 a.m. That will be sweet. I am looking forward to it.
“……They can’t lower the rents, or they go bust……”
Seeing the same thing around here. I’ve been looking for six months for some reasonably priced shop/garage space to rent. Can’t find anything even close to reasonably priced.
This is where “supply vs. demand” falls on it’s face. People have paid way too much for all kinds of assets (homes, commercial property, equipment, education, you name it), especially when you throw “globalization” into the picture.
Someone has to be thrown under the bus. Too bad it won’t be the people most responsible for causing it.
NYCityBoy
Hey !!
I’m a displaced Northern Minnesota Range Rat.
Jack Daniels damned near anytime.
Snowbound in the dead of winter with no chance of survival, a few Black Berry Brandy shots with good draft beer chasers.
Pizza too…house special garbage pizza’s with everything on them.
(I have to eat pizza when I go boozing and solving world problems)
bernanke is the nerdy little kid who all of sudden begins to get alot of attention from the popular kids in high school (goldman sachs, geithner, obama admin, bush admin) and he is responding just like that nerdy little high school kid…doing what makes them happy because he wants to be liked by all the popular kids.
in the end though…he’s just gonna end up with a bucket full of pig blood dumped all over him at the prom.
Bernanke is a tool of the bankers, plain and simple. Read up on Soviet history and you will find an army of men like him. They are willing to sell their soul to the system to rise in power and status. If Ben Bernanke didn’t exist he would have been created.
Everybody needs to watch the Johnny Bravo episode of the Brady Bunch. Often times the only thing that matters is finding somebody that can fill the suit. Bernanke fills the suit.
The economy can’t recover until those asset prices come down to their true value.
If asset prices come down to their true value the financial system will be completely destroyed.
There, fixed it for you. The economy is separate from but dependent on the financial system. Given that the gov has a printing press there are all sorts of ways that the current kerfuffle with the financial system could be resolved. It’s just that each one has various winners and losers and right now the gov has chosen to resolve the problem by stretching it out, choosing the banksters to be the winners and the people and the real economy as the losers.
Not what I would choose but then I’m not a bankster or a major campaign contributor.
The economy is separate from but dependent on the financial system.
You sure that isn’t actually the other way around?
“Calif makes it harder for utilities to cut service”
California has made it tougher for utilities to cut service to customers struggling to pay bills.
The Public Utilities Commission voted unanimously Thursday to bar utilities from demanding additional deposits from low-income customers. Utility companies are also now required to inform customers who are behind on their bills that they have a right to arrange payment plans.
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2010/07/30/1233183/calif-makes-it-harder-for-utilities.html
The road to hell has a huge road crew with many shovels.
The road to hell is a “shovel ready” project.
Awesome!
While it is very sad that some people have difficulty paying their utility bills, another government intrusion will only make matters worse for everyone else. People who get behind on bills, seldom catch up with “payment plans”. They are already past due, and if they can’t pay the current bills, what would make you think they can and will pay current and past due amounts. It won’t happen. It just puts an additional burden on the Utility, which means everyone else.
If people can’t pay their utility bills, they need to make other living arrangements….
And these people that can’t pay their utility bills do they run the AC like wild? Do they have the heat blasting while windows are open?
It sounds so nice to pay the bills of the poor. But like so many stories there is always more than meets the eye. Don’t expect the “journalists” to figure this out. I think HBBers know that these do-gooder programs always have very negative side effects.
Reminds me of health care.
But like so many stories there is always more than meets the eye.
Since Enron, California electricity rates have been sky high. One doesn’t have to do much to have a monthly bill of a $150-200 for a mild month or $500+ in a hot month.
If people can’t pay their utility bills, they need to make other living arrangements….
Tent cities?
Mking it easier for their customers to dig a deeper hole every month instead of cutting their losses.
New Poll from Rasmussen:
” Seventy-three percent (73%) of Americans believe that Goldman Sachs is likely to have committed fraud as charged by the federal Securities and Exchange Commission. Seven-out-of-10 Americans believe that government and big business work together against the interests of consumers and investors.
Eighty percent (80%) say Wall Street benefited more from the bailout of the financial industry than the average U.S. taxpayer.
Sixty-eight percent (68%) of Americans say most of the taxpayer money given out as bailouts went to the very people who created the country’s current economic crisis.
A plurality (46%) of Americans say the government is more concerned with making sure that Wall Street is profitable than with ensuring that the financial system works well for all.
Highlighting their preference for free markets, only 29% of Americans believe the U.S. economy will be helped more by decisions made by government officials than by decisions made by business leaders to help their own businesses grow. “
How could this not be 100% on every question? Oh, yeah, that’s right. Some people are bought and some people are idiots.
‘Seventy-three percent (73%) of Americans believe that Goldman Sachs is likely to have committed fraud as charged by the federal Securities and Exchange Commission.’
Didn’t Gollum’s token settlement with the SEC constitute a tacit acknowledgment of fraud? Given their deep, deep pockets, I would assume they could have hired attorneys to fend off the charges if they were innocent.
It’s all a matter of profit/loss. Gollum Suchs is always able to extort enough money from its various “enterprises”, that any fines they incur from the SEC or other governmental authority is a pittance compared to the Billions they take in.
We all know they are playing games front-running stocks, high-speed “flipping” of securities, and have underwritten massive amounts of fraudulent paper. The basically stole from people they did “business’ with and have reaped a fantastic bonus pool of money to hoard.
Yes they did and yes they still are.
I have a friend that is getting into this, “be your own banker” thing. I had never heard of this prior to him mentioning it. I don’t know a lot about it and don’t know if I even want to read a book on it. I figured there might be a few opinions on the subject here. Does anybody have any knowledge of this subject?
Google-up: “the long run blog be your own banker”.
Do bridge loans. 1%origination, 10% for 3 months,
1% for each additional month. Stay local. Works.
I thought I’d pass along an observation from the past week; I was asked to inspect a bunch of houses in the Verde Valley and the Prescott AZ area. Part of the deal was to remove UHS signs. Turns out they were all for sale on the MLS and all had signs posted. The client was an auction firm who had been handed all of these houses by Fannie Mae.
One example was a really nice mcmansion on 2 acres in Prescott. Views, huge decks, etc. It was priced at $375k and hadn’t sold, even though this is about $100k less than the listed houses around it. So now it’s going to auction. I spoke with one agent that had one of the houses and was told fannie had cut down the number of days they had to get them sold from 90 to 60 days. I was also told that REO sales had really dropped off after the tax credit expired.
One more thing; these houses all have the FNM HomePath literature on the kitchen counters. The terms had been something like 3% down and they’d pay 3% closing costs or appliances, so basically nothing down.
Ben, I will also share a fun story with the boys and girls. I hope this doesn’t make me a caricature of myself (scratches head).
You will love this. My co-worker is buying in Jersey. The people selling this house appear to be the typical dazed and confused house sellers. I would love to meet them and ask them a few questions. They began in October 2009 in wildly overpricing their house. They priced at $475,000. The house sat like an ugly girl at a school dance for quite a while. It got little to no attention, from what I can tell.
Price drops ensued. The priced dropped from the ridiculous level to less ridiculous levels, finally sitting at $399,000. In rides my co-worker on a donkey to save the day. He offers $360,000. Insulted, they counter with $395,000. He does not respond. They then counter themselves at $380,000. He is intrigued.
Feeling that these people had met him halfway a contract is consummated at $380,000. Oy.
In walks the appraisal. The appraisal comes in at $350,000. Woo hoo. That is great. We told my co-worker that this was a gift. His mortgage broker told him that they could get a new appraisal, obviously hoping to keep the price high. I shouted, “fire that mother-blanker”. The sellers tried to force him to stay with the $380,000 offer.
They are now at $350,000. A new contract has been signed. That is more than 25 percent below their initial listing price.
I still remember the laughter that ensued in 2006 when I stated that New Jersey real estate prices would get crushed. To admit when you are wrong is a great thing. To be right, in the first place, is even better.
“In walks the appraisal. The appraisal comes in at $350,000.”
I imagine a key purpose of the Fed’s MBS purchase program is to avoid crushing appraisals en masse.
So now it’s going to auction ??
was told fannie had cut down the number of days they had to get them sold from 90 to 60 days ??
Ben…So are you saying that after 60 days on the market, if it does not sell, Fannie will just hand it off to a Auction House ??
In the case of these houses that’s what is happening. Fannie Mae and Freddie have these asset managers, and I’ve been told they crack the whip on the listing agents to get the houses sold. If an agent isn’t performing, they’ll yank all the listings and change agents.
It looks like an evolution of the way this things are handled. A year or two ago, similar houses would just be sitting in some stage of foreclosure or pre-foreclosure, usually under the watch of of BOA, or CitiMortgage, etc. Then some line is crossed and the GSE takes over, if it was a conforming loan I guess. Nowadays, if the GSE gets it, it goes on the market right away around here.
For clarification, there are 3 general types of foreclosures based on the loan involved. GSE, HUD/VA and everything else.
“Nowadays, if the GSE gets it, it goes on the market right away around here.”
Perhaps they are finally getting back to their ‘affordable housing’ mission?
The 60 day window helps preserve the condition and value of the property by minimizing the time a property is vacant and subject to vandalism and deterioration.
In some areas the GSEs are not doing postponements even in cases where there is a short sale approval letter. The GSEs are insisting that the short sale has to be closed before the foreclosure sale or they will take the property to auction.
I watch FNMA properties daily and have for about 16 months now. What Ben states confirms what I’m seeing. Typically, FNMA will post a new listing on homepath. It will show the local lying broker info. Since early May, I’ve observed “new listings” posted on homepath of the same house that just disappeared weeks earlier. Except this time, the house is listed with an auction house.
What strikes me is the auction house is usually a thousand miles away or more from the REO. It seems to me that if you’re having that much difficulty selling, you lower the price. Ahhhh…. the price. But why won’t they lower the price? Read on my brothers and sisters.
Last winter, Mrs Exeter and I swallowed our pride and engaged the services of a lying realtor and went to look at a house that happened to be a owned by FNME. It was grossly overpriced but I figured I’d play smackdown and offer cash. Our “realtor” said FNME wouldn’t sell it for less than __ dollars. We said “fine, keep it”.
Come to find out, the FNME SOP for appraising a new listing is for 3 local lying realtors to provide a BPO(brokers price opinion). FNME then averages the three numbers and sticks a price on it. FNME has NO IDEA of the actual value of these places. They rely on the NAR Crime Syndicate for pricing so no wonder FNME is dumping these lying #$%^suckers in favor of auction houses.
Ben,
About that collecting of UHS signs….
I’ve noticed here in Boise that quite a few UHS signs are now appearing mounted in a front window. Do you think this is to slow down people like you from pulling UHS signs under Fannie/Freddy’s direction?
No, because I’ve got a key, lockbox code or can change the lock if I can’t get in. These auction companies are like this; if there is another auction co’s sign they want it removed too. It’s not FNM doing this, it’s the auction co.
About exeters price info; I knew about the BPO deal, but I hadn’t heard about the averaging. There is more to this under the surface. As I’ve been told, some BPOs are more accurate than others usually depending on who’s doing it and their overall prospect of getting the listing. (The lenders don’t pay much so a broker will put more effort into the number if they might get a chance to earn a commission).
A BPO is just what they think it will sell for, and there is a quick sale and long wait BPO. In this market the quick sale would be the highest IMO, but I’m not a broker. I know of some brokers that really know their micro markets and can be stunningly accurate about what it eventually sells for. I also hear some people say that when the number comes down from FNM’s asset manager, they know immediately it will never sell for that amount.
This is a moving target and I’m guessing the buying market is drying up. The credit things gone, rates have been super low and (this is a biggie) the GSEs are even offering zero down financing on their own REOs! (Talk about nerve!) So maybe the next angle is auctions; the banks are starting to do it too, so we’ll have to watch where this goes.
One thing; FNM, for instance, has been selling tens of thousands of REOs each quarter, but they are foreclosing on tens of thousands more than they are selling.
Arizona, take off your rainbow shades
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news...
http://www2.nationalreview.com/memo...
Both links are bad.
1 more try, but till that
Memo outlines backdoor ‘amnesty’ plan
By Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times
With Congress gridlocked on an immigration bill, the Obama administration is considering using a back door to stop deporting many illegal immigrants - what a draft government memo said could be “a non-legislative version of amnesty.”
The memo, addressed to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Alejandro Mayorkas and written by four agency staffers, lists tools it says the administration has to “reduce the threat of removal” for many illegal immigrants who have run afoul of immigration authorities.
“In the absence of comprehensive immigration reform, USCIS can extend benefits and/or protections to many individuals and groups by issuing new guidance and regulations, exercising discretion with regard to parole-in-place, deferred action and the issuance of Notices to Appear,” the staffers wrote in the memo, which was obtained by Sen. Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Republican.
The memo suggests that in-depth discussions have occurred on how to keep many illegal immigrants in the country, which would be at least a temporary alternative to the proposals Democrats in Congress have made to legalize illegal immigrants.
Chris Bentley, a USCIS spokesman, said drafting the memo doesn’t mean the agency has embraced the policy and “nobody should mistake deliberation and exchange of ideas for final decisions.”
“As a matter of good government, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will discuss just about every issue that comes within the purview of the immigration system,” he said in an e-mail statement. “We continue to maintain that comprehensive bipartisan legislation, coupled with smart, effective enforcement, is the only solution to our nation’s immigration challenges.”
He said the Homeland Security Department “will not grant deferred action or humanitarian parole to the nation’s entire illegal immigrant population.”
The memo does talk about targeting specific groups of illegal immigrants.
Mr. Grassley said it confirms his fears that the administration is trying an end-run around Congress.
Story Continues →
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news...
This is theone that says…
Oops, we can’t seem to find that page
Why not try searching for it using our site search. Or check out one of our other pages… start with the home page to get the lastest news and updates
The other one was coppies of the actual doccuments.
Then the NRO link must be this…
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/242187/what-amnesty-memo-means-rosemary-jenks
Links don’t work.
While thinking about yesterday’s thread during my morning walk, I thought I’d share a chapter from my book.
I’m a freelancer. Sometimes I get calls from aspiring freelancers who are looking for advice. These calls almost always go as follows:
Caller: Hi, my name is _________ and I’m interested in doing what you do.
Me: Oh well, that’s great. So, how much money have you saved up?
Caller: Uh, what do you mean?
Me: How much money do you have in the bank for living expenses in case you fall short in any given month?
Caller: Oh, I hadn’t thought about that.
Me: You know it’s not like you hang out your shingle and they beat a path to your door. And besides, people don’t always pay on time.
Caller: Well, let me think about this. Thanks. Bye.
Never to heard from again.
Here’s another variation. Another contractor SW engineer told me that once some direct hire said “you make too much money. I cannot stand contractors, all overpaid.” So my colleague got a little “yellow stickie” and wrote down an 800 number on it and handed it over to the direct hire. He said, this is the phone number of my recruiter. You can be like me instead of complain about me. By the way, it may be months in between gigs. Also by the way, you may have to work thousands of miles from home and pay for extra housing away from home.
The direct hire looked at him and said “I can’t do that. I have kids in school. I cannot go hundreds of miles away.” So much for the iittle yellow stickie.
Being a job shopper in the 60’s was a great way
to make money, it got me started.
Job shopping still works very well.
Well it’s certainly very rewarding. Before I became a high tech nomad in 2000, I never thought living like a college student (move around a lot, rent, have no family ties) but also like a serious professional could be very rewarding financially. And the surprising thing is I get barbs from people who say I would be better off if I had a family. Well maybe in their own minds. But having no burden is certainly not an impediment in this economic crisis, no?
WSJ Blogs
Developments
Real estate news and analysis from The Wall Street Journal
* July 30, 2010, 9:57 AM ET
Volcker: Fannie and Freddie ‘Need to Go’
In an interview with SmartMoney, former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker offered his thoughts on the financial regulatory bill, before weighing in on what isn’t in the bill: the revamp of mortgage-finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Mr. Volcker doesn’t specify how he would go about remaking the mortgage market, but suggests that the hybrid shareholder-owned, government-sponsored structure of the old Fannie and Freddie needs to be discarded. At the same time, he says the current arrangement of government control for the market shouldn’t be a permanent fix.
…
Housing policy must be set on sustainable basis
By Hank Paulson
Friday, July 30, 2010
The financial reform bill enacted last week is a significant step toward a much-needed modernization of our regulatory structure. It will provide tools to help mitigate and manage the next financial crisis. But the job remains unfinished until Congress addresses the housing policies that fueled the crisis — a big part of which requires reforming and dramatically scaling back Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two government-sponsored housing enterprises that brought our nation’s financial system and our entire economy to the brink of collapse.
A significant root cause of the crisis was the combined weight of government policies promoting homeownership; these are apparent in the housing GSEs, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), the Federal Home Loan Banks, the federal tax deduction for mortgage interest and various state programs. Homeownership was overstimulated to the point that it was unsustainable and dangerous to the broader economy.
…
Congress to try to recoup Fannie, Freddie costs
By ALAN ZIBEL (AP) – 2 days ago
WASHINGTON — Lawmakers plan to study ways to get back some of the $145 billion the government has pumped into giant mortgage buyers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., said in a statement Thursday that hearings to be held in September will look at “innovative ideas for recovering the costs” resulting from the September 2008 federal takeover of the two companies.
Lawmakers also plan to examine ways to reform the entire system for providing mortgages to Americans, which could include a dramatic overhaul of Fannie and Freddie, or their eventual elimination.
The financial overhaul signed by President Barack Obama didn’t address that issue, despite protests from Republicans that it was incomplete without a such a plan. The administration is holding a public conference on Aug. 17 in Washington to discuss the mortgage system.
Fannie and Freddie own or guarantee about half of all U.S. mortgages, or nearly 31 million home loans worth more than $5 trillion. They buy home loans from lenders, package them into bonds with a guarantee against default and sell them to investors.
During the housing boom years, Fannie and Freddie faced political pressure to expand homeownership and competitive pressure from Wall Street to back ever-riskier loans. Defaults and foreclosures piled up, and the government had to take them over.
Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., said in a statement that lawmakers plan “a complete restructuring of the tangle of housing finance tools so that we move forward in a way that protects taxpayers, prevents economic turmoil and appropriately serves all aspects of the housing market.”
…
Until politicians feel like reforming the FIRE sector is in their own personal best interests, it won’t happen. If there is a high incumbent win rate this November, we’ll muddle on, bleeding from a thousand cuts. If there is a shakeup in DC and around the country, then, for a while, we’ll see some real attempt to reform the FIRE sector, until that batch of politicians becomes captured.
Step 1 for getting out of a hole: STOP DIGGING!
Congress to try to recoup Fannie, Freddie costs
By ALAN ZIBEL (AP) – 2 days ago
WASHINGTON — Lawmakers plan to study ways to get back some of the $145 billion the government has pumped into giant mortgage buyers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
…
“Step 1 for getting out of a hole: STOP DIGGING”!
Not gonna happen…We’re gonna need a bigger shovel!
If we just dig deep enough we can end up in China (where all the best stuff is).
I sure hope this guy’s opinion proves spectacularly wrong. Otherwise, the U.S. housing market is destined to remain FUBAR.
Breaking Down the Housing Policy Debate
Jul 29 2010, 5:51 PM ET | Comment
With the Wall Street regulation bill behind Congress, it has already begun to tackle the next big fiscal issue: housing policy reform. With the government sponsored entities (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shaping up to be the most costly of all bailout recipients, it’s a problem that deserves serious attention. What should Washington decide?
First, here’s a spoiler for how the debate will end: the government will maintain its strong influence in the housing market for decades, if not centuries, to come. The reason why has to do with a very unusual alliance when it comes to housing policy. Bankers and progressives will find themselves on the same page. Banks want government guarantees so they don’t have to worry about risk and can keep making easy money off real estate. Progressives want government to expand home ownership so that everyone can live the American Dream.
…
For the good of humanity, anyone that uses the phrase “American Dream” in any kind of serious manner should be executed immediately along with any genetic offspring.
Would “American Nightmare” suit you better?
I agree, but only if they use that phrase in the context of pushing for new legislation.
For the record, i think the term “African-American” should be discarded even faster. It makes every black person on the planet an “American”. I have needed to correct a number of people who referred to some Jamaicans as “african-american”.
I asked, did you have the opportunity to check their citizenship status to determine if they were, in fact, Americans? Of course not.
You can’t tell someone’s nationality by race. So why conjoin the 2?
It’s the most ridiculous term coined yet, but is an enabler to allow certain people to lay claims on any benefits the society may have.
After all, were all Americans.
Even though the NAACP still exists, you are not allowed to use the 4th letter in the word to refer to black people. In time African American will be deemed by most dark-skinned people to be derogatory.
I have no name for my background because I have some “Native American Indian” blood in my veins as well as European.
It makes me the more proud that I cannot be pigeonholed into a group.
I like the term Native American. I was born here, I therefore am native.
I’ve found the term “American mutt” to be useful.
“I like the term Native American. I was born here, I therefore am native.”
That’s what Juan Jr. said too.
“They call it the American Dream… because you have to be ASLEEP to believe it! - George Carlin
+1 I hope that etched in granite somewhere.
That couple in Panama that killed for property , and got away with it for several years ..It would be hard to repeat here , but not impossible . The weak link in the USA real estate chain is the Closing Attorney . I once had an Attorney steal the proceeds of a property sale, but at least he did not kill for it . We recovered about a third of it . But the Attorney was disbarred and did spend almost 3 years in the State Prison . That was almost worth it , for Me , and have dispised lawyers ever since .
Housing Market Sinks Beneath the Waves
By Bill Bonner
07/30/10 Paris, France –
…
Already, millions of people are underwater. As housing prices fall, millions more will slip beneath the waves. Some will go down with the ship. But many will take to the life boats – sending back the keys instead. This will add to the number of foreclosures and to the inventory of unsold and vacant houses.
When does it end? It ends when it comes to rest on the bottom.
Where’s that? No one knows. But just as houses tend to be priced at more than they’re really worth in a bubble, they tend to be priced at less than they are really worth in a bust.
You can get a rough idea where the bottom in housing might be by doing a little math. You should be able to buy a house at a price where, financially, the decision to buy or rent is relatively neutral. There’s no particular reason why a person should invest in a house rather than in stock or in other investments. His goal is to maximize his quality of life…and his wealth. So, if he can rent a house for less than he can buy it…he should rent, because that gives him the same quality of life at a lower cost, leaving him more money to put to work increasing his wealth. On the other hand, if he can buy more cheaply, he should buy…for the same reasons.
If houses are going up, he’ll pay more for a house – in anticipation of the capital gains. But if prices are flat or falling – he’ll look only to the stream of income he can get from the house (or the enjoyment he’ll get from it personally)…and put on an additional discount to protect himself from capital losses.
Three years ago, it cost much more to buy a place than it did to rent it. A house you might have rented for $1,500 a month might have sold for $300,000. There’s no way that was a good investment. A 6% mortgage alone would be $1,500 a month in interest. Once you’d paid upkeep and property taxes, you’d be in the hole.
Now, that house is down a bit…say, to $200,000 or $250,000. But it’s still a long way from the point where it makes sense to buy rather than rent. Figure you need about 10% per year to pay taxes and maintenance. Plus another 7% for the cost of money. So a house purchase makes sense when you can rent for 17% of the purchase price. Or, to look at it from the other direction, if a house will rent for $1,500 per month, you can pay $108,000 for it.
Now, assume that the price overshoots on the downside. You might expect to pick up the house at a price under $100,000…say $79,000 or $89,000. Most areas are far from yielding bargains like that.
Hypothetically, a 51 year old like me, who has been renting most of his adult life, is not necessarily better off buying. Particularly true because one would want his house paid for before major illnesses (knock on wood) happen. If I had a fifteen year mortgage the house would be paid off by age 66. The mortgage payments would be much higher than with a 30 year mortgage. A 30 year mortgage is great for people who a) never ever intend to leave the community where they buy, b) can pay it off by retirement, and c) have a job that won’t get outsourced.
Renting is the best bet for mobile people until it no longer pays to be mobile.
You forgot a major factor in home ownership, the length of time an average owner stays before selling, which I think is around 7 years.
So, a 30 year mortgage is almost all interest the first seven years of payments and with a new
mortgage and new “owners”, the banks again
start the cycle of interest only all over again.
One thing ALL mortgage seekers should look for is the term “no pre-payment penalty.” What that means is if you can sock extra money towards the mortgage, you don’t have to pay extra for the privilege. One extra payment a year cuts eleven years off a thirty year mortgage. The easy way to do this (the way we have set up) is to take the monthly nut, cut it in half, and pay that every two weeks. Since many jobs get paychecks on a biweekly basis, this is an easy budgeting tool.
And then, if you have a real problem, you can go back to the normal number of payments per year. But I bet you won’t, because you won’t even be thinking about it.
You got a point. Most people don’t stay in their same houses for the length of the mortgage. Places change over time. Detroit, for example, has changed for the worse. Imagine buying a house in 1980 and having it paid off this year, but the value is less now than in 1980.
If a homeowner is lucky enough to have the house worth the equity after seven years, moving up to a larger or more expensive house could still be a problem by tacking another 30 year mortgage, particularly if the buyer is using the equity of the “old” house for the down payment on the “new” house. Then it’s certainly worse than renting.
1. “… the length of time an average owner stays before selling, … is around 7 years”
2. “… a 30 year mortgage is almost all interest the first seven years of payments…”
Putting 1. and 2. together shows the reason banksters love low interest rates and high housing prices, as most folks living on Main Street apparently don’t realize that in a low-appreciation, low-rate environment, the lender takes almost all the gains from seven-years of occupancy financed on a 30-yr fixed loan.
P.S. Some friends of ours (young couple) bought a home 100 yards up the road from us last year under the $8K first-time home buyer tax credit incentive program (they were bonafide first-time buyers). Not sure, but I would guess they used a 30-yr fixed loan, given that ARMS are out of style.
Fast forward a year or so, and it turns out the guy, sole breadwinner with homemaker wife, just got a great new job in the SF Bay Area. Unsurprisingly, they plan to rent the place out, embarking on a new venture in absentee landlording.
I guess YOU will have to watch their house and report back ….
I’ll bet they ask you to knock on the door if the tenants rent check “got lost in the mail”
See what fun you will have later on this year.
County’s housing market sees ray of sunshine at last
Drop in foreclosure, default rates bests most areas in U.S.
By Dean Calbreath, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Sunday, August 1, 2010 at 12:01 a.m.
There is good news for the San Diego County housing market, but experts caution that we’re not out of the woods yet.
There is good news for the San Diego County housing market, but experts caution that we’re not out of the woods yet.
Over the past year, mortgage defaults and home foreclosures have dropped sharply in San Diego County, sparking hopes that the worst of the housing crash is in the past and that the market will continue to improve in the near future.
Between the first half of 2009 and the first half of 2010, mortgage defaults in San Diego County dropped by more than 40 percent, according to two recent studies by real estate research firms MDA DataQuick in La Jolla and RealtyTrac in Irvine. Both reports found that January through June was the lowest six-month period for defaults in the county since the first half of 2007, before the economy slid into recession.
Properties that have been seized and held by banks — known as “real estate owned,” or REO — have dropped 12 percent, says RealtyTrac. And trustees’ deeds, which banks file after foreclosing on homes, have fallen 6 percent, DataQuick reported.
San Diego still has a high foreclosure and default rate, ranking 31st out of 206 metropolitan areas nationwide by RealtyTrac. But it is improving at a faster rate than most other areas. RealtyTrac said properties with default and foreclosure filings rose more than 8 percent nationwide in the past year, compared to a 14 percent decline in San Diego and 13 percent decline statewide.
“We’re definitely not out of the woods,” cautioned Gary London, who heads San Diego’s London Group Realty Advisors. “Even though we project foreclosures will keep dropping, that will happen frustratingly slowly. On the other hand, factors are coming together that will lead to an improving market, with fewer people losing their jobs, more being hired and a higher confidence on the part of homeowners not to do something drastic.”
London projects that the county will average 2,135 defaults per month this year, 33 percent lower than 2009’s average of 3,192.
But the improvement is not necessarily as glowing as it seems at first glance. Even though foreclosures are dropping, debtors are still losing their homes, often by selling them at a loss through “short sales.” And analysts warn that a number of factors could lead to another spike in foreclosures, including weakness in the job market, mortgage rate adjustments and a “shadow inventory” of debt-laden homes that have not yet hit the market.
“There’s certainly a risk we could see a second spike in foreclosures,” said RealtyTrac spokesman Dan Blomquist. “Although San Diego and California have been consistently (improving) over the past six months, the trend is fragile, and if we don’t start seeing job growth soon, we could see a second bump.”
…
Glossary of a downturn
Mortgage delinquencies: Mortgages that are more than one month overdue on their payments.
Mortgage defaults: Mortgages that have received a notice of default saying they are more than 90 days past due.
Foreclosures: Homes that are seized by banks after receiving a notice of default. Currently, it takes an average of nine months to move from default to foreclosure.
Real estate owned (REO): Property that has been seized by a lender and is being temporarily held on the lender’s books.
Short sales: Homes that are sold at a loss to resolve outstanding mortgage debts.
Nearly half of U.S. small businesses think economy got worse
Denver Business Journal
Nearly half of small business owners think the economy is worse off today than it was a year ago, according to a survey conducted this summer by the National Small Business Association.
Nearly 60 percent of the 400 small business owners surveyed expect the economy to be flat in the coming year, while 29 percent expect another recession.
More than 70 percent cited economic uncertainty as the most significant challenge to the future growth and survival of their business. Only 22 percent plan to add employees over the next 12 months.
I wonder what their “expectations” were in 2007? or maybe January of 2000? I find most of these surveys pretty useless. Forcasting economic activity is a lot like alchemy. Or perhaps astrology.
If any of us know the future, we would all be rich. It does give an idea of the general mood of the country, but i don’t think it has too much value as a predictor of future trends.
Conn. casino bartenders, others vote to unionize
Bartenders, beverage servers at Connecticut casino vote in favor of union representation
MASHANTUCKET, Conn. (AP) — Bartenders, beverage servers, and other workers at the Foxwoods Resort Casino voted Saturday in favor of having union representation.
The National Labor Relations Board, which ordered the election, said the result was 190-145.
Brian Petronella, president of Local 371 of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union called it a victory for the 400 bartenders and other beverage workers who would be represented.
Petronella said that although he expected the casino, which is owned by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, to file objections to the election, “more than likely down the road we will be negotiating a contract with Foxwoods.”
In ordering the election, the NLRB overrode objections by the casino that Mashantucket Pequot labor relations law should apply. Foxwoods said in a statement Saturday that the result would not become official unless the NLRB certifies it after legal objections have been resolved.
“Mashantucket Pequot laws provide a fair process for employees to select union representation and pursue collective bargaining if they so desire,” Jackson King, the tribe’s general counsel, said in the statement. “We continue to believe that tribal law should apply in these matters and will continue to pursue that challenge through all appropriate legal channels.”
Triton Boats sold, 135 workers losing jobs now
The Ashland City Times
Brunswick Corporation on Thursday announced that it has sold Triton Boats to Fishing Holdings, an affiliate of Platinum Equity. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
“This decision was part of our ongoing strategic review to further refine our product portfolio and best focus our resources on those brands and marine segments that we believe are core to our success going forward,” said Brunswick Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Dustan E. McCoy in a news release.
“As such, Brunswick will maintain its leadership position in the recreational and fishing boat markets, with a strong presence in the freshwater and sportfishing segments as well as leading brands in the runabout/cruiser and yachts segments.”
Withdrawing from Afghanistan
A German writer says it’s time for NATO to pack its bags.
“Afghanistan is a nightmare, a graveyard of empires. The British came first, followed by the Soviets; now NATO and the UN are losing their innocence on the battlefields of Afghanistan. In total, the US, its allies and private security firms have almost 200,000 soldiers stationed in the country, roughly equal to the number the Soviets stationed there in the 1980s. It wasn’t enough then, and it won’t be enough now. And increasing that number would be militarily difficult and politically impossible. The West has bitten off more than it can chew.”
Pull out and pull out, now.
We should have come to the conclusion long before now that a lot of these ass-backwards countries are the way they are, because a majority of the population likes them that way.
Things seemed to work a lot better when we kept our nose out of other people’s business. Especially when the business we are sticking our nose into is half a world away, and our so-called “ally” (Pakistan) is basically playing both sides.
Patton, Sherman and many others have said that war, once started, is something you need to end as soon as possible, by whatever means at your disposal.
So we designed or military forces to do so, at great expense. Then we continually send them out to get bogged down, fighting guys carrying AKs, RPGs, and sharp sticks.
“Pull out and pull out, now.”
That`s too easy so I`m gonna let it go.
Dutch become 1st NATO member to quit Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - The Netherlands became the first NATO country to end its combat mission in Afghanistan, drawing the curtain Sunday on a four-year operation that was deeply unpopular at home and even brought down a Dutch government.
The departure of the small force of nearly 1,900 Dutch troops is not expected to affect conditions on the ground. But it is politically significant because it comes at a time of rising casualties and growing doubts about the war in NATO capitals, even as allied troops are beginning what could be the decisive campaign of the war.
How come they never show “Rambo III” on cable? You know, the one where Rambo fights the Soviets in Afghanistan. The first and second Rambo movies are in pretty heavy rotation on AMC but never the third.
I suppose the cable-viewing audience doesn’t want to be reminded that the people we are currently fighting were once hailed as “freedom fighters” — by a US President no less.
Palin is wrong!! Barry probably has nuts, although the bigot/racist J.Jackson wanted to de-nut him. Barry loves illegal aliens, as do most in his party, they are a big chunk of their voter base.
Palin: Obama lacks ‘the cojones’ to tackle immigration (AP)
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said Sunday that Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) has “the cojones” that President Obama “does not have” to take on illegal immigration. Appearing on “Fox News Sunday,” Palin blasted Obama for suing Arizona to block the state’s controversial new law without addressing “sanctuary cities” — in which local law enforcement are prohibited from asking people about their immigration status.
The former governor said the president and congressional Democrats “are all wet” on plans to allow the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans to expire. “It’s idiotic to think about increasing taxes at a time like this,” Palin said. She added that her “palm isn’t large enough” to write all her notes down and she proceeded to read prepared notes about tax policy from a sheet of paper.
Palin declined to address “fickle” polls showing that she remains unpopular with independents. “I don’t blame people for not knowing what I stand for,” Palin said. “If I believed everything I read in the media, I wouldn’t like me either.”
Memo outlines backdoor ‘amnesty’ plan
By Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times
With Congress gridlocked on an immigration bill, the Obama administration is considering using a back door to stop deporting many illegal immigrants - what a draft government memo said could be “a non-legislative version of amnesty.”
The memo, addressed to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Alejandro Mayorkas and written by four agency staffers, lists tools it says the administration has to “reduce the threat of removal” for many illegal immigrants who have run afoul of immigration authorities.
“In the absence of comprehensive immigration reform, USCIS can extend benefits and/or protections to many individuals and groups by issuing new guidance and regulations, exercising discretion with regard to parole-in-place, deferred action and the issuance of Notices to Appear,” the staffers wrote in the memo, which was obtained by Sen. Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Republican.
The memo suggests that in-depth discussions have occurred on how to keep many illegal immigrants in the country, which would be at least a temporary alternative to the proposals Democrats in Congress have made to legalize illegal immigrants.
Chris Bentley, a USCIS spokesman, said drafting the memo doesn’t mean the agency has embraced the policy and “nobody should mistake deliberation and exchange of ideas for final decisions.”
“As a matter of good government, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will discuss just about every issue that comes within the purview of the immigration system,” he said in an e-mail statement. “We continue to maintain that comprehensive bipartisan legislation, coupled with smart, effective enforcement, is the only solution to our nation’s immigration challenges.”
He said the Homeland Security Department “will not grant deferred action or humanitarian parole to the nation’s entire illegal immigrant population.”
The memo does talk about targeting specific groups of illegal immigrants.
Mr. Grassley said it confirms his fears that the administration is trying an end-run around Congress.
Sarah Palin said…
cha-ching! $$$$$$$$$$
Sarah Palin said…
cha-ching! $$$$$$$$$$
Sarah Palin said…
cha-ching $$$$$$$$$$
Sarah Palin said…
cha-ching! $$$$$$$$$$
Sarah Palin said…
cha-ching! $$$$$$$$$$
The “TrueRogue™” Sarah The Barracuda
Sara Palin and her cast idiots celebrate stupidity. It’s cool to be stupid declares Sara!
Burning questions……..
-Question #1……So, who exactly were the “VIP”s at Hillary Jr’s wedding that justified the FAA issuing a TFR, closing all the airspace within 1.5 miles of the ceremony? In fact, why was it 1.5 miles? That’s not far enough away to deter a terrorist attack by air.
Or was it, as I suspect, another example of our new “ruling class” using the power of the Federal Government to benefit themselves? (In this case, by keeping all those pesky cameramen and their helicopters away from the ceremony).
-Question #2……Chelsea was once the victim of an assault…….someone beat the crap out of her with the “Ugly Stick”. True or False?
-Question #3……Why are “NASCAR Dads” typically Republicans, when their favorite sport is so obviously Socialist?
The cars are mandated to be the same, as are the engines, as are all the drivers, who are picked more on their ability to look good on TV, and to sell the products of their sponsors, than for their driving ability.
Would AJ Foyt be able to get anywhere CLOSE to a race car in today’s environment?
In fact, every Major League sport in the USA can be defined as Socialist. Why are true Republicans not boycotting them all on principle?
-Question #2……Chelsea was once the victim of an assault…….someone beat the crap out of her with the “Ugly Stick”. True or False?
Don’t know about the ugly stick, nice fishing rod though.No one can help the looks they are born with, but Chelsea is Butt ugly,she comes by that honestly however.
As are the vast majority of the left wing moonbats, funny how the prema-pissed are “blessed” that way. Weened on sour pickles, I guess.
As she has gotten older, Chelsea looks ever more like her mother. Scary, isn’t it.
-Question #4……Who was Bill checking out at the wedding when Hillary elbowed hin in the ribs?
Number 3 - NASCAR - socialist? Socialism is fine as long as it is voluntary by all participants. If it requires the use of force, it should be stopped. Whoever does not like the NASCAR rules does not have to participate right? But I don’t like the rule that I have to pay for subsidized housing. If I omit the tax money I send to the government I will go to jail.
See the difference? Force.
It’s a socialist system for rich guys, and it’s pretty much the only game in town.
Do you think Tony Stewart keeps his mouth shut because he has nothing to say ? He does it because he doesn’t want to screw with his “benefits”.
A lot of people didn’t want to use public money to finance NASCAR’s racetracks, but it was done anyway.
Just bust a move
Hillary are you ready? We gotta get going.
I`ll be there in a minute Bill.
Bill says “neato”… checks his libido
And rolls to the church in his new tuxedo
He walks the bride to start the wedding
Now where`s that girl he might be getting
Bil starts thinkin, then he`s blinkin
A bride maid looks and thinks that he`s winkin
She thinks he`s kinda cute so she winks back
Now Bill is feelin fine cus the girl is stacked
Reception’s jumpin, bass is pumpin
Look at the girl and Bill`s heart starts thumpin
Says she wants to dance to a different groove
Now you know what to do Bill, bust a move
If you want, you’ve got it
If you want it baby you’ve got it
Just bust a move
Question #5……If Chelsea has a baby, is Bill going to hand out cigars?
In fact, every Major League sport in the USA can be defined as Socialist.
So true. In American sports we rewrd the basement dwellers with first round draft picks, forcing player sto play for teams they don’t like.
In “socialist” Europe basement dwellers get demoted to the minor leagues.
Scores should be equalized. Weak teams that are outscored by stronger ones should have their scores subsidized by the leagues.
Scoreboard points should be deducted from the winning team each time a game is played. These points are then to be pooled by the leagues and doled out to weak teams as necessary in order to level the playing fields.
The goal is to have every game end in a tie.
Raul Castro says state will reduce economic role
By WILL WEISSERT The Associated Press
Posted: 2:43 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 1, 2010
HAVANA — Raul Castro said Sunday that his government will scale back controls on small businesses, lay off unnecessary workers and allow more self-employment — major steps in a country where the state dominates nearly every facet of the economy.
Cuba’s president, however, also squashed notions of sweeping economic reform remaking life on the communist-run island.
Castro spoke before parliament, which opened its biannual session without Fidel Castro, who has made a slew of recent public appearances of late but missed another chance to share a major public stage with his younger brother.
Instead, lawmakers got Raul, who scoffed at what he said was speculation by the media that Cuba planned to dig itself out of a financial crisis by implementing major economic changes.
“With experience accumulated in more than 55 years of revolutionary struggle, it doesn’t seem like we’re doing too badly, nor that desperation or frustration have been our companions along the way,” the president said.
Still, Castro went on to suggest that potentially landmark reforms are on the horizon, saying authorities will “update the Cuban economic model.” They plan to reduce state control of small businesses, authorize more Cubans to become self-employed and build a new tax structure that will compel state employees to contribute more.
About 95 percent of all Cubans currently work for the government and Castro has suggested that as many as one in five state employees are redundant. He promised job cuts, calling for “the reduction of work forces that are considerably bloated in the state sector.”
There has never been a better time to rent — a luxury yacht, that is!
Luxury Yacht Sales Sink as Costs Add Up
By Jason Notte 07/20/10 - 07:00 AM EDT
MIAMI (TheStreet) — Hundreds of feet of decking, swimming pools and helipads may hide it well, but even luxury yacht owners are struggling.
The superyacht or megayacht segment of the industry — ships commonly defined as 80 feet or longer — has boomed worldwide despite a slump in purchasing price. According to the 2009 Luxury Yachting Index, compiled by yachting firm Camper & Nicholsons and the Luxury Institute, there were 3,800 such yachts in existence worldwide at the end of 2008, the last year for which statistics were available. Camper & Nicholsons estimates that number is now around 4,200.
In 2008, 330 superyachts were sold, 15 more than in 2007, but the total dollar value plummeted 20% from the year before, with Camper & Nicholson saying sellers were letting superyachts go for up to 25% less than their asking price. At the end of 2008, just as the global recession hit its stride, the number of superyacht listings doubled to 1,000 from 500 — though some of those listings resulted from yacht owners trading in old product for new. However, the number of superyachts available for charter jumped to 1,000 from 830 in a year, a trend that continues today as Johnny Depp, U2’s The Edge and the owner of the world’s largest sail-driven superyacht, The Maltese Falcon, are letting the paying public borrow their big boats for the summer.
The completion of the world’s biggest and most expensive yacht — the 557-foot, $1 billion Eclipse, owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich — earlier this year may signal a global revival of these superships’ fortunes. However, the $36.5 million annual cost of maintaining the Eclipse, which is roughly the size of a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser and has three helicopter pads, two swimming pools (including the world’s largest, which converts into a dance floor) and a crew of 80, are reminders of how these multimillion-dollar tub toys can drown their owners in associated costs.
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No one could have seen this coming.
Home / Business / Local
Drug war fallout, real estate slide keep tourists away
Rocky Point falling on rocky times
Tim Steller Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Sunday, August 1, 2010 12:00 am
KELLY PRESNELL / ARIZONA DAILY STAR Boats of the area’s shrinking fishing fleet lie at rest in the harbor near the bones of a multi-story high rise condo building in Puerto Penasco, Sonora, Mexico, Wed., July 21, 2010 (WED., JULY 21, 2010). Work on the Harbor View Yacht Club building stopped sometime in 2007.
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Sinking property values
The continuing fear is especially distressing for American property owners in Rocky Point. In the last decade, thousands of condominiums were built along Sandy Beach, the miles-long beach that stretches northwest of Rocky Point.
Many investors bought more than one condo during the real-estate run-up, only to see their value crash along with the U.S. housing market. As prices have gone down, work stopped on a half-dozen projects that remain incomplete.
Residents and property owners grew especially angry in May, when the U.S. Consulate in Nogales, Sonora, issued a warning that travelers should not drive Mexican Highway 8, the road between the border and Rocky Point, at night. They based their warning on unconfirmed reports that unofficial checkpoints had been set up on the road at night.
A homeowners association at the Las Palomas development, for example, sent an e-mail to members asking them to call the Nogales consulate to protest the travel warning and demand it be withdrawn.
“The careless travel warning and misinformed press are threatening your Memorial Day, your rental incomes, your ability to invite friends and family to a place we love,” the e-mail said.
However, last week, the U.S. Consulate confirmed that the warning remains in effect.
For now, though, people in Rocky Point’s hospitality business are enjoying the seasonal rush of Mexican tourists, especially from Chihuahua, the state east of Sonora, and one of the hotbeds of drug-war violence. Rocky Point’s airport received its first charter flight from Chihuahua Friday, a Boeing 737 with 111 passengers on board.
“In Nogales, in Ciudad Juárez, yes, it is serious, but here it’s calm,” said fish vendor Marco Antonio Vargas while sitting on a tub at Richard’s Fish Market. With a wry smile, he added, “The people from Chihuahua come here to relax and not see so many bodies.”
BY THE NUMBERS
Passenger vehicle crossings at Lukeville show how traffic has dropped:
Fiscal year Vehicles
2002 433,000
2003 423,000
2004 395,000
2005 401,000
2006 426,000
2007 451,000
2008 421,000
2009 347,000
* ABREAST OF THE MARKET
* AUGUST 1, 2010
Big Investors Fear Deflation
Bill Gross Among Those Bracing for Possible Decline in Prices: ‘It’s Happening’
By GREGORY ZUCKERMAN
Some of the world’s leading investors are becoming more worried about deflation and are re-shaping their portfolios to prepare for a possible period of falling prices.
Bond-fund heavyweight Bill Gross, investment manager Jeremy Grantham and hedge-fund managers David Tepper and Alan Fournier are among the best-known investors who are bracing for a possible bout of deflation, a development that could cripple global economies and world stock markets.
The investors cite weak economic figures and a mounting consensus that global policy makers are reluctant, or unable, to take further steps to boost economic growth as reasons for their market positions.
“Deflation isn’t just a topic of intellectual curiosity, it’s happening,” says Mr. Gross, who runs the $239 billion mutual fund Pimco Total Return Fund, citing an annualized 0.1% decline over the past two years in the U.S. consumer-price index. “It’s an uncertain world that’s tipping toward deflation.”
These investors are walking a fine line. Deflation scares immediately following the 2008 financial crisis didn’t materialize, in large part because central banks intervened.
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You can bet Gross is positioning PimpCo to unload lots of high quality long-term debt on anyone who falls for his deflation scare.
Coming soon to a vacant McMansion in your ‘hood: Section 8 tenants.
* PAGE ONE
* AUGUST 2, 2010
Housing Bust Opens New Doors for Subsidized Tenants
Landlords Woo Folks on Government Aid to Fill Empty Homes
By DAWN WOTAPKA
[John Gurzinski for The Wall Street Journal
Shawnetta Newburn and her family at home. Landlords are wooing tenants who receive government subsidies.]
HENDERSON, Nev.—When Shawnetta Newburn left her drug-infested St. Louis neighborhood in search of a better life for her family in Las Vegas, she didn’t expect to live in a house with frills worthy of a McMansion.
But Paradise awaited.
That’s the name of the gated community where Ms. Newburn, a single mother who makes $10.50 an hour as a pawn-shop cashier, rents a three-bedroom townhouse with soaring ceilings, a gas-fueled fireplace and an oversize walk-in closet in the largest bedroom. The master bath even includes an enclosed toilet room, a feature popular in mini-mansions.
“The only time I ever saw that was on TV or something,” she says during a tour of the approximately 2,000-square-foot home. “I never thought I’d have anything like this.” The development has a kidney-shaped swimming pool.
Her previous apartment in St. Louis resembled public housing, she says, and her three sons were crammed into one bedroom. After her refrigerator caught fire, her landlord replaced it with an outdated brown model. She now has gleaming-white appliances.
Ms. Newburn can thank the housing bust. She participates in a government program for low-income families that subsidizes about half of her $1,400 monthly rent. The program, known as Section 8, has for decades put families in functional but basic homes and apartments, sometimes in less-than-desirable communities.
But overbuilding during the housing boom has left so many homes available that landlords, desperate for renters, are wooing Section 8 recipients, whose government subsidies, delivered electronically, guarantee the landlord gets paid. As a result, Section 8 recipients suddenly have a housing smorgasbord.
Plenty of average housing stock remains in many places, but in certain markets, there are also more upscale selections. On the website GoSection8.com, landlords nationwide tout boom-era showpieces—replete with “great rooms,” backyard swimming pools and built-in stainless-steel barbecue grills—that once sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Las Vegas has been one of the nation’s hardest-hit real-estate markets.
Some renters are getting pickier. “More and more, I’m seeing tenants turn down places,” says Arman Davtyan, owner of seven Las Vegas properties rented to Section 8 tenants. Instead, they’re going for “another property that’s either bigger or in a better area or has more bedrooms,” he says. “Before, they tended to take whatever they could get.”
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Welcome to Paradise
View Slideshow
Dawn Wotapka
The houses in Paradise, a community in Henderson, Nev., are typical of the upgraded homes some tenants rent using a government subsidy.
* More photos and interactive graphics
Hey how come my comment arent showing up?