Bits Bucket For August 26, 2010
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The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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Name:Ben Jones
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So when is BB going to fire up the choppers and start making some drops?
Fed to Outline Future Actions Friday.
WASHINGTON — With fresh signs that the housing market is weakening, the Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, on Friday will offer his outlook on the economy, explain the Fed’s recent modest move to halt the slide and possibly outline other actions.
Mr. Bernanke’s speech, at an annual Fed symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyo., will be his first public comments since the Fed announced it would invest proceeds from its holdings of mortgage bonds to buy more long-term Treasury securities to prop up the recovery.
It is not known what Mr. Bernanke will say, but some insight may come from an episode in his past: his concern, soon after he became a Fed governor, that the economy was at risk of deflation as the nation gradually recovered from the dot-com bust a decade ago.
Mr. Bernanke’s worry then is similar to what troubles the Fed now, and his views will have no small bearing on the Fed’s course of action. These days the Fed confronts the combination of persistently high unemployment and an inflation rate so low that it worries economists.
Bernanke’s helicopter is being moved to the launch pad
Who hoo I can see the light at the end of the tunnel…I can buy a new computer with my stimulus…..damn I’m a renter so I don’t qualify
… his concern, soon after he became a Fed governor, that the economy was at risk of deflation …
When the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem starts looking like a nail.
Another case in point: Stupid Economy – It’s About Small Business
Key point from the above article:
The real problem with the Senate small business lending bill is that it is focused on increasing lending to small business through private banks (which is in and of itself a major roadblock) and on tax breaks. These are the same two areas of focus that have dominated the small business discussion in Washington for two years now. And for the past two years, Congress and the White House have enacted legislation that has sought to increase lending to small businesses and provide tax breaks or tax incentives. I have a small piece of advice for President Obama, THIS HAS NOT AND WILL NOT WORK TO CREATE JOBS!!! I feel like I am taking crazy pills. How many times do we have to try the same thing, expecting different results, before the men in white coats come to take us away?
I will get skewered for saying this but here’s a great 3 step program to reduce unemployment:
1. drop minimum wage to say $6/hr
2. drop all employer taxes and responsibilities for employees earning till 200% of minimum wage (or rationalize it to a total of say $2/hr including everything)
3. provide public transportation; government provide transportation vouchers
People need people, always have and always will. Just make the process of hiring simpler and more cost-effective, especially when it helps get people off UI.
I will get skewered for saying this but here’s a great 3 step program to reduce unemployment:
+1
Who has more discretionary income to drive our consumer powered economy? Someone making $6 or someone making $15hr?
Neither of which can still afford a new car or house.
Seems like we should just make the minimum wage $300 an hour. That should generate tons of discretionary income.
Actually, those don’t seem to be bad ideas generally.
According to Tom’s inflation calculator, current min wage should be $9hr, based on the min wage of 1980. (3.10hr) Current min wage is $7hr.
So you think people should make LESS than they were making in 1980? Are you willing to work for min wage? Yeah, I didn’t think so.
That’s the same attitude over the last 30 years that got us into this mess. A consumer driven economy without, well, consumers, is DOA. Even my little niece understands that you can’t give what you don’t have.
Like I say - let’s make it $300. Problem solved.
That min wage wouldn’t go very far around here. But it is interesting to think about. It seems like “Healthy San Francisco” definitely encouraged some restauteurs to head across the Bay for space. So I think that would push the jobs out of high cost states. Or leave them to be playgrounds for the rich or young and single.
Transit subsidy is a great idea!
Maybe we can setup a voluntry job relocation project. Move out of work people to places with moderate paying jobs, a transit subsidy and moving expenses. Into an area with a large number of empty foreclosures and reasonably transit. Rebuilding communities and lives at the same time.
I’ll pay you $9/hr, but we’ll cut the illegals pay to $2/hr. No benes either. Maybe they’ll go back.
I’m going to make a wild guess that at some point, yet ANOTHER “incentive” is going to be passed in order to goad people into buying houses. Whether that be another tax incentive or whatever who knows. But I’m almost certain that something like that is in the pipeline.
How about fixed rates at 2.75 % as a wild guess .
Probably a good guess. The government could set rates “temporarily” (read: indefinitely) and subsidize the lenders to “encourage” them to lend at these rates, while of course providing government backing if/when things go wrong again.
I’d be curious if this path has been taken in other countries.
Though FWIW - in essence this is exactly what’s being done now, just not in an official capacity. The government/Fed is setting rates extremely low and providing backing via the Fed’s MBS purchases, FHA backing, and Fannie and Freddie.
Problem is this just remains pushing on a string, due to unemployment and still-high housing prices.
I’m not so sure. After this latest meltdown in sales numbers, the PTB are waking up to the fact that they are doing nothing but cannibalizing future sales. You have to face the music sometime, and I think that time is coming, if not here.
We can only hope,Grizzly.
Your dreaming. In the Great Depression, a group of very wealthy businessmen tried to stage a coup d tat against the government because they weren’t real happy with FDR’s policies.
The very people same business leaders who helped cause the depression in the first place.
No, I think you’re dreaming. Wake up. This is not the Great Depression. This is 2010. It may be another depression, but it’s not the same.
My point is that the PTB are NOT EVER going to reform without being forced to and “market forces” are not enough to force them. Because reform is about giving up power and they will make irrational and very bad decisions (for the rest of us) in order to keep that power.
And they have plenty of money to ride out whatever happens.
Even if what they do isn’t effective, they have to flail their arms to make it look like they’re “doing something.” If that means another stupid counterproductive tax incentive that gets baked into the price of houses and then some, then so be it.
Print baby print! Nothing like New Made up fresh money for our crying economy that wants more.
Treasuries Rise as Report to Show Jobless Claims Held Near Nine-Month High.
Treasuries advanced, rebounding from yesterday’s drop, before a U.S. report that economists said will show jobless claims held near a nine-month high.
The so-called five-year, five-year forward break-even rate, a measure that the Federal Reserve uses to measure price expectations, fell to its lowest level in 2010 this week. Nouriel Roubini, the New York University economist who predicted the global financial crisis, said U.S. growth will be “well below” 1 percent in the third quarter and put the odds of a renewed recession at 40 percent. The Treasury Department plans to sell $29 billion of seven-year notes today.
“The bond market is reflecting the nature of the risk in the economy,” said Harvinder Sian, a senior fixed-income strategist at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc in London. “It’s perhaps too early to talk about a double-dip scenario, but data seems to be pointing toward that direction. The trend remains favourable for fixed-income assets.”
“It’s perhaps too early to talk about a double-dip scenario”
It’s funny when these “strategists” try to sound all calm and rational, when they know damn well that if one is going to panic, one might as well be the first to do so.
“It’s perhaps too early to talk about a double-dip scenario”
Yes, but it’s not too early to talk about a double-dipsh*t scenario, which is what we’re seeing from eCONomists, Wall Street and Washington.
I believe that would be a triple-dipsh*t scenario. You forgot to add in the REIC, which makes it a quadruple.
“What about: stocks, renting, buying on margin, lottery, casino gambling, brides, prostitutes?”
Thanks to all for completely validating my “5 day stock purchase/sell cooling off theory.” Hopefully, y’all got the point and are playing “rope-a-dope.”
For those who DIDN’T get the point: Don’t get involved in a transaction unless it is good for both parties and not just a gamble, like the fixed-income purchasers are currently doing.
( With the new strains of clap, Prostitution/Keynesianism is a perfect example).
Enough of the “RE only goes up”, “the stock market has trended UP since 1929” and “She knows how to rock your socks” stuff !
I’m OK in that department no need to look elsewhere…
She knows how to rock your socks” stuff
“For those who DIDN’T get the point: Don’t get involved in a transaction unless it is good for both parties and not just a gamble, like the fixed-income purchasers are currently doing.”
Nice theory—but you are ignoring the fact that it is _impossible_ to know whether a stock-market transaction is good for the other party (assuming you could even know that it is good for yourself). Regardless of which side of the transaction the other party is on (buying or selling), you do not know their current portfolio exposure (long or short) to this issue, so it is impossible to know whether they are even increasing or decreasing their exposure.
OK. Let’s make this a tad more simple.
Substitute “stock trading” for “house flipping” and you’ll understand the concept…just as John Bogle of Vanguard fame recently stated when he said that investors will go back to basics,i.e., P/E ratios and dividends.
Stock speculation will be relegated to retired used house flippers.
Stock speculation will be relegated to retired used house flippers.
There is “stock speculation” right now…..it is being done by HFT computers. They account for the vast majority of the daily trading volume……there are effectively no more “investors”……
Exactly. The big boys game the market with their “special” programs.
There is nothing inherently wrong with day trading or house flipping.
The problem with house flipping during the bubble was simply that banks didn’t care if a flipper could actually afford to finance a home or flipper home for a reasonable amount of time, making it that flippers with no money could buy up huge swaths of homes, which constrains supply and edges out legitimate purchasers with real funds to purchase them.
Fix the financing regulations, and I don’t think anyone on this site would care if flippers bought up every house in the US - as long as they could actually afford it.
Adding unnecessary regulation because you have deemed the activity a bogeyman is not very intelligent.
Also there are currently real costs (in terms of higher taxes and transaction fees) to owning stocks for a short period of time, so the market doesn’t need to be changed to Bogel’s model of investing.
Bogel’s method assumes that those costs can be subverted over time by buying the correct stocks and holding them for a long period of time. It is merely a theory and not a law of investing.
There is nothing inherently wrong with day trading or house flipping.
There is a big, huge difference between the two - that being overhead.
Day trading - agree. Electronic trading has become so efficient there’s practically zero overhead.
House flipping - not so much. Not only is there tons of overhead - generally at least days of work (thousands of $$) going into any given transaction, that flipping adds a tremendous amount of overhead - i.e. work that produces zero benefit to society, but also it introduces long-term overhead and risk in that such transactions can be wrongly handled, leaving ambiguity and lawsuits down the road when it’s not clear who actually owns a house, or what are the tax implications of flipping, etc.
Thus yes, there is something inherently wrong with it.
Flipping does not generate zero benefit to society.
Most people don’t want to renovate their own house in cases where flippers renovate the houses. In cases where they buy and hold, you are correct that there are costs to such activity, so the market limits the number of companies that are willing to do it.
In any case, you seem to advocate piss poor and inefficient record keeping as a symptom of flipping rather than a symptom of piss poor and inefficient record keeping.
The tax implications are also very clear.
In, short, I disagree.
Doesn’t the definition of “flipping” though preclude renovation? I think flippers generally purchase a house and then sell it before construction is even complete.
Nevertheless - maybe some do renovate. However that’s bad, and yes is counterproductive. It means that they’re trying to sell to other people who may only like a portion of the renovations. If instead the end-buyer bought pre-renovation, and had the renovations they wanted done - they’d get a more desirable end product for the same cost.
And the overhead isn’t just “record keeping”. It’s also:
- advertising
- taxes and fees
- inspections and appraisals
- maintenance during the unoccupied flip period (if the flip is done post-construction)
And I disagree that the tax implications are clear. E.g. if a person flips a home from out-of-state, in what state do they pay the capital gains tax? What if they move while the flip is happening? Etc. We’ve seen tons of articles posted on HBB about flippers trying to game the system - there’s tons of overhead not only in the gaming, but in the detective work by the authorities to try to detect and prevent such gaming.
is this faster puddycat?
Being that initial jobless claims never went below 400k, and barely even dipped below 450k - how could anyone claim we ever exited the first dip?
Stop asking the hard questions. Just stick to gun, gay, and abortion rights.
Don’t forget the Ground Zero mosque controversy!
Have they revised last week’s numbler (500K) yet?
GDP = private consumption + gross investment + ***!!!GOVERNMENT SPENDING!!!*** + (exports − imports), or
The DOW is only ~500 points away from its 12 month low last September. Yet, according to Eddie, we’re to believe that a sharp turnaround of more than 2000 points is to occur within the next 4 months. Uh huh, riiiiight…
Anything is possible, but there’s a difference between dead cat bounces and turnarounds. All I ask is that he acknowledge that difference.
Is the U.S. the Next Bear Stearns?
The U.S. government is handling its finances just like Bear Stearns, paying for long-term liabilities with short-term funding, says Jason Trennert, chief investment strategist at Strategas Research Partners.
The difference is that the government prints its own currency. “But the private sector has shown that’s not a very good way of running a railroad,” he told WSJ.com.
About 60 percent of the Treasury’s debt matures within three years. That begs the question of why the government isn’t issuing debt as long-term as it can, Trennert says. After all, some companies are looking at issuing 100-year bonds to lock in these low interest rates.
Trennert sees two possible explanations.
“First, you want the deficit to look as low as possible now, so you keep your interest expenses low,” Trennert said.
“The other reason is more frightening. Marginal buyers of debt, in particular the Chinese, have shown they don’t want to lend long-term. They want the leverage that comes with having Uncle Sam go back to them every week or two.”
That means the deficit could represent a national security issue, Trennert says. “I don’t want to be overly conspiratorial, but certainly you’re conceding some sovereignty when you fund yourself this way.”
“I don’t want to be overly conspiratorial, but certainly you’re conceding some sovereignty when you fund yourself this way.”
and when you give your jobs away merely for more profit, and when you have open borders, and when lobbyists have more power than voters and……
You mean we have given away national sovereignty to someone other than the oil exporters too?
+1 Rio. I want to see a REAL study/report on the job losses to foreign entities. Like, which jobs, which fields, when, and how many over, say, the past 15 years. I wouldn’t be surprised if the overall number isn’t to far off from the current unemployment..approx 15-20 million.
It’s probably a lot higher actually, in terms of the number of jobs overseas, and maybe even in terms of jobs lost here to outsourcing. Keep in mind outsourcing was going on like crazy even when unemployment was bottoming at 4.5% in 2006/2007. I was involved directly with engineering outsourcing to China during that time period in fact.
Worth of note - “outsourcing” isn’t necessarily a black and white thing. E.g. in the tech field when components are bought there’s a choice to be made between different manufacturers - very often a Chinese company is chosen since it can produce the same product for cheaper. This isn’t directly moving jobs overseas, however it is indirectly doing so, when U.S. companies lose contracts to Chinese companies. Same’s true of all industries of course - furniture, food, drywall, clothes, etc. Any time you buy anything with “Made in China” stamped on it, you’re contributing to outsourcing.
More BS from Intel CEO, looking for cheap chip labor.
http://www.fastcompany.com/1685109/americas-looming-tech-crunch-blame-immigration-laws-venture-capital-failings?partner=rss
Otellinis warning is stark: “The United States a less attractive place to invest–and create jobs–than places in Europe and Asia that are “clamoring” for Intel’s business.” And Intel is just the start.
I think Europeans know how to keep cheap labour out more than US.
Intel Capital was a big investor in two local companies (I worked for both.) They cut all funding last year to both. One died immediately, the other limps along.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=18725
Is offshore outsourcing good or harmful for America? To convince Americans of outsourcing’s benefits, corporate outsourcers sponsor misleading one-sided “studies.”….Now comes an important new book, Outsourcing America, published by the American Management Association. The authors, two brothers, Ron and Anil Hira, are experts on the subject.
The authors note that despite the enormity of the stakes for all Americans, a state of denial exists among policymakers and outsourcing’s corporate champions about the adverse effects on the US. The Hira brothers succeed in their task of interjecting harsh reality where delusion has ruled.
In what might be an underestimate, a University of California study concludes that 14 million white-collar jobs are vulnerable to being outsourced offshore. These are not only call-center operators, customer service and back-office jobs, but also information technology, accounting, architecture, advanced engineering design, news reporting, stock analysis, and medical and legal services. The authors note that these are the jobs of the American Dream, the jobs of upward mobility that generate the bulk of the tax revenues that fund our education, health, infrastructure, and social security systems.
Nothink economists assume that new, better jobs are on the way for displaced Americans, but no economists can identify these jobs. The authors point out that “the track record for the re-employment of displaced US workers is abysmal: “The Department of Labor reports that more than one in three workers who are displaced remains unemployed, and many of those who are lucky enough to find jobs take major pay cuts.
Many former manufacturing workers who were displaced a decade ago because of manufacturing that went offshore took training courses and found jobs in the information technology sector. They are now facing the unenviable situation of having their second career disappear overseas.”
Outsourcing is rapidly eroding America’s superpower status. Beginning in 2002 the US began running trade deficits in advanced technology products with Asia, Mexico and Ireland. As these countries are not leaders in advanced technology, the deficits obviously stem from US offshore manufacturing. In effect, the US is giving away its technology, which is rapidly being captured, while US firms reduce themselves to a brand name with a sales force.
This may be the most terrifying thing I have read in a long time.
There was a bit of a debate yesterday about government workers and having a good year and the value of stability. I am a government worker. I have been here for 5 years. I spent a lot of time in private practice - in big NYC law firms and for a multinational corporation. I have also spent some time out of work.
I am terrible at being out of work. I hate it. It eats into my psyche like nothing else. Oh, I get up in the morning. Do all the right job search stuff. Use the contacts. Make sure to get enough social interaction to avoid depression. And I am a natural saver, so I had a pile of cash around the two times it happened. And this is the other thing. I don’t have an entrepreneurial bone in my body. I like working, not selling myself. Just the way I am wired.
So I made a choice not to jump on the bandwagon that was playing the last time I was out of work (everyone who was getting a job was going to work for a hedge fund). I got the government job. I know it pays a lot less than I could get for my skills and experience in a good job market, but that is OK. I know that what I am doing is ethical (wasn’t always the case in private practice) and as long as I do my job, I am very unlikely to be out of work. It is a trade off I was glad to make. And while I am, of course, glad right now to have made that choice, I was also very content to have made it 4 years ago when everyone else was making money hand over fist. It was worth it to me.
I am a government worker.
Thank you for serving us, polly.
..and I for one, am glad that you are in DC and watching out for the American Peoples interests Polly!
I do feel better that we know at least one person who knows the difference between right and wrong working for us.
Bear Hugs Polly
And You are exactly the kind of people who are out of work today….or else we would be in a real decent recovery putting those sharp entrepreneurial minds and their money together.
Its the hardest thing when you always had jobs by just walking in and asking….or even my side dj business was mostly overbookings from 5-6 dj companies who we trusted each other to get the job done right.
—————————
I don’t have an entrepreneurial bone in my body. I like working, not selling myself. Just the way I am wired.
Nothink economists assume that new, better jobs are on the way for displaced Americans, but no economists can identify these jobs.”
fixing up and selling homes to each other thats the new job sheezzz these guys don’t know anything
Article points to extreme deflation as millions of workers are displaced.
My cousin is one of those soon to be out of work due to outsourcing. He makes bank as a programmer for one of the largest insurance firms in the country. He fully acknowledges he will probably never make the kind of money he is making now, again. Fortunately for him, he is like Polly, and hoards his money. I’d venture to guess he could go at least 5 years without working, maybe more. But he’s the exception, I’m sure. Politicians are ruining this country in the name of greed and corruption. The same people charged with helping us out of this depression are the very ones responsible for sending us into it. And yet, the same old re-treads get re-elected (McCain anyone?).
RIO …good post as usual . It should be clear to everybody by now what the problem is . While Corporate America was selling America down the tubes ,the Money Changers distracted us with easy credit and the myth of the fake wealth of real estate and the jobs that were created as a result of that scam . As the monopolies grew stronger (including the Health care monopolies),we gave it all away to the middle-men of Commerce and Banking .What Country could be this stupid to not protect its borders and not protect its commerce ,jobs, and manufacturing base ? I don’t think people are going to like it when they witness a long-standing unemployment rate of say 25 to 30 % or more . Thank you Politicians for not watching over this great Country and thank you people for the mistake of having trust in our Politicians to do the right thing . The Country was stolen from the middle class and the rich get richer .
Nothink economists assume that new, better jobs are on the way for displaced Americans, but no economists can identify these jobs
WRONG - Economists and think tanks funded by corporate titans put out articles to get the sheeple to accept and even argue for what they call free markets. They are not free markets. How anyone can believe that outsourcing labor to countries with no human rights, no environmental standards will improve the lives of US citizens is beyond me. It’s the emperors new clothes.
Thanks for your kind words, Mikey and Slim. I appreciate it.
And, NYCdj, I know I am the sort of person who would be out of work right now. Exactly the sort. A dear friend is out of work now. We were unemployed together the last time. She has had at least 2 jobs while I have been in DC with substantial wait times between them. And I’ll tell you a secret. I was pretty darned good at what I did when I was in private practice. She is better at what she does. Lots better. And trilingual. She has had a few interviews, but nothing has panned out yet. There might be a way for her to do some part time consulting, but her family needs her to have a regular income, preferably with group health insurance. I ache for them.
Your words hit close to home, Polly. I tried private practice for awhile, but it wasn’t a good fit for me. Too much focus on making money. So I’ve spent the majority of my career in academic medicine at UC. I get to see all kinds of patients, including the indigent, who really need care. I get to do research and teach residents and medical students. I am permitted time for involvement in national organizations. And I make plenty of money, even if it is half that of my buddies in private practice around the country. And I think I’m a lot happier than they are, too.
Thanks Polly
I’d say everyone on this board was good at their work, but few have the sales skills to be independent. Sure I could walk in to companies get jobs in the past and talk wedding couples into signing a deposit on the spot. But to be full time on my own with only my wits…..maybe should have could have…
That’s why I hand it to AZslim for being her own safety net, with friends, biking, radio, house repairs etc. But it seems like a vast amount of people are going to be forced into this route very quickly and none of them are prepared.
———————-
I was pretty darned good at what I did when I was in private practice.
[blushing] Aw, shucks, DJ. [blushing]
Re: white collar job outsourcing. I believe it. And I’ve experienced it right now. I was working for a services company. The company was acquired by another global outsourcing company. Today the workers are trying to improve margins by offshoring their own tasks. Considering these are tasks that companies are paying $200 an hour to a consulting firm for, outsourcing overseas seamlessly helps no one but the bottom line. On troubling sign, the company is also bringing workers in from the foreign headquarters on temporary assignments in the US for they typical office functions: accounting and so on. Even after covering travel and housing they come out way ahead. This was my cue to start looking elsewhere.
…and when you give your jobs away merely for more profit…
Quit complaining, we got to purchase $20 DVD players in return…..
/sarcasm
The Chineese have us where they want us, don’t they?
We send them our money AND our job base AND our raw materials, they send us the junk made from the raw materials and jobs we sent to them AND they loan us back the money we sent to them to use to buy the junk they are sending us.
I still say Combo we will bundle a Million mortgages together and sell them to he Chinese in exchange for our dollars back….
we do have plenty of empty homes for them to move into.
I don’t think the Chineese want mortgages, they want raw materials: Our grain, our coal, our steel, etc.
Plus they want control of the transportation infrastructure - ports, railroads - so they can insure and profit from the delivery of this raw material.
Plus they want dollars: Dollars are claims on American assets as described above.
Plus they want dollars
I wouldn’t be so sure about that one. They’ve been talking down the dollar a lot lately, and putting their lack-of-money where their mouth is - they’ve been net sellers of treasury holdings over the past year.
Correction: The Chineese don’t want our steel; They want our iron ore so they can make their own steel.
Because the Chinees have a trillion-or-so dollars socked away I’d say it’s a sign they like collecting them.
They did like collecting them, until their recent bout of nervousness.
Maybe that’s why Buffet bought a RR….as a blocking move?
Plus they want control of the transportation infrastructure - ports, railroads -
Then there’s the Chinese theft of intellectual property and military technology.
Oh, worse than plastic junk my friend. Just got back from picking up something at W@lmart. Yes, yes, plastic crap, but I needed teriaki marinade and it was on the way home. Anyway, I walked past the tub freezers in the food section: one tub of wild salmon fillets, one of talapia. Origin for both… wait for it… chicomland. Salmon?!
Moral of this story? Read the fine print.
These politicians and bureaucrats have only a couple concerns, how can I keep my job [get re-elected] and how can I skim off a few $$ for my Swiss bank account.
It is unfathomable that they’re allowed to continue to manage this government and come Nov we should be installing a group of bunglers.
Politicans and bureaucrats? Morel like the corporate masters who started this BS. Polticians are following along. The few who resist are called socialists.
BINGO
This won’t end without riots unfortunately our abillity to put things back together after riots will be limited.
the deficit could represent a national security issue
This cannot be overstated.
As it stands now - if there were another significant world war - we would probably lose. E.g. just look at the difference in the debt level now vs. 1940 (even after it was up a lot due to the New Deal). In 1940 it was 45% of GDP and fairly flat, currently it’s 92% and rising fast.
Bonds historically have been an important resouce in war. IIRC the reason the Rothschilds became wealthy is that they bought up the bonds from the Brits financing the Napoleonic Wars. They gambled on who was going to win and won handsomely.
We have the government we deserve.
And it’s going to get worse before it gets better… if ever.
+1
If this was posted earlier my apologies:
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The American home is shrinking. Toll the bell for the McMansion.
After years of growth, the Census Bureau recently reported that median new home size fell to 2,135 square feet in 2009 after peaking at more than 2,300 earlier in the decade.
“Home buyers are asking for less, cutting back on options and reducing square footage,” said Steven Pace of the North Carolina-based Pace Development Group, which builds both custom and tract houses ranging in price from below $250,000 to more than $2 million.
They’re saying, ‘Maybe we don’t need that 5,000 square footage;” he said. “‘Maybe our bath doesn’t need to be big enough for our whole family and all our neighbors to take a shower at the same time.’”
On a broader scope, the survey revealed that, despite the recent hoopla about the new urbanism and return to cities, most Americans still lead a “Leave it to Beaver” lifestyle.
Of the more than 76 million owner-occupied homes in 2009, 63 million were traditional detached, single-family residences. And city dwellers, you’re outnumbered: Far more homeowners live in the suburbs than in cities.
______________________________________________________
Makes sense. The 5K sq ft house on a 1/8 acre where you can reach out and touch your neighbor from a window never made any sense to me.
Also makes sense that he “new urbanism” is a myth. Despite the best efforts of liberals, families are not moving back to the inner city. People still like their space, albeit instead of 5K sq ft, now it’s 3K. But I don’t see a family of 4 clamoring to live in a 600 sq ft apartment downtown anytime soon. And that family of 4 also isn’t clamoring to raise their kids surrounded by gangs, filth and vagrants. Not that it will stop the liberals from continuing to try.
Wannabe politican loses house, car and bank accounts and goes to the in exchange for time in the big house for slick scam.
Milwaukee County
Former Waukesha candidate gets 2 ½ years in prison on fraud
Pleaded guilty to cell phone scam
By John Diedrich of the Journal Sentinel
Aug. 25, 2010 |(7) Comments
A political activist and unsuccessful candidate for public office in Waukesha was sentenced this week to 2 1/2 years in federal prison and ordered to pay $1.1 million in restitution after he pleaded guilty to stealing thousands of cell phones and reselling them, according to federal court documents.
Troy Fullerton, 34, of Waukesha worked for Verizon Wireless, handling government cell phone accounts from July 2006 until he resigned in March 2009. He ordered 5,010 cell phones from Verizon, purportedly as replacement phones for clients. Instead, he sold them through a side business to other companies, according to the FBI.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Keith Alexander recommended 33 months in prison - at the low end of the federal sentencing guidelines - while Fullerton’s attorney, Thomas Brown, suggested a year and a day in prison, according to minutes of the sentencing held Monday.
U.S. District Judge Rudolph Randa sentenced him to 30 months and let him report to prison in October.
Restitution was ordered paid to Verizon and an insurance company. The judge authorized government seizure of a house owned by Fullerton in Waukesha as well as a 2003 Cadillac and about $470,000 in funds held in Fullerton’s business account.
Fullerton ran unsuccessfully for the Waukesha County Board and as a Republican for the state Legislature. In 2006, he was vice president of the Waukesha Taxpayers League, according to news accounts.
http://tinyurl.com/2fv3937
He would have made the perfect politician… and might yet.
“‘Maybe our bath doesn’t need to be big enough for our whole family and all our neighbors to take a shower at the same time.’”
Sounds like quite the neighborhood!
“Toll the bell for
the McMansion.Toll Brothers.““Also makes sense that he “new urbanism” is a myth. Despite the best efforts of liberals, families are not moving back to the inner city”
In general, inner city schools are noticably weaker. I do see empty nesters sometimes moving back into the cities in yuppified high end condos or the more modest safer neighborhoods. But not the families. Locally the numbers are still outbound. The O/A craving of the better paid for “the best” schools is almost fanatical. Not that the search for top education is a bad thing. Just saying, they’ll be no wholesale move back to the cities until the gaping difference in urban vs suburban district strength is brought back to a better balance. Also in general those gentile presenting Volvo driving Moms also like bringing up their chicks where the probability of facing violence is low. Translation: If they want to resurrect the cities our leaders are going to have to deal with certain groups and their behaviors instead of just cardoning them in areas where we don’t have to interact.
GOOD. All I seem to see when I visit my folks back in NC are these huge, fugly looking Mcmansions. I for one would welcome at least more reasonable sized homes.
“Also makes sense that he “new urbanism” is a myth.”
It depends. For instance, in Denver Washington Park does seem to draw people in. Granted, these are SFHs not high rise apartments (they have those too near downtown Denver). It seems to attract those who work downtown. Definitely not my cup of tea, but many seem drawn to it, judging by the premium people will pay to live in places like Wash Park.
“Not that it will stop the liberals from continuing to try.”
Oh please. Is anyone forcing you to live downtown or in a ghetto?
You still calling for DJIA = 12K by year end?
MarketWatch dot com
Bulletin
U.S. stocks close lower;
Dow ends below 10,000 for first time since July 6
No reply, I see.
I’ll take that as a “Perhaps not.”
You know good and well that Eddie has more important things to do on down-market days than hang around answering questions from losers who don’t spend at least 10k a month on their cash-back cards.
The headline should read: Team Barry is sweating bullets trying to come up with a bullsh!t economic plan to save their seats in the mid-term elections.
Obama, Mindful of Elections and Weak Reports, Holds Economic Talks
VINEYARD HAVEN, Mass. — Amid the latest signs of a faltering recovery, President Obama held a lengthy conference call with economic advisers on Wednesday to discuss a course of action in a partisan election season that leaves them little room to maneuver.
The call, which the president held from his vacation retreat, was with his Treasury secretary, Timothy F. Geithner; Christina D. Romer, the soon-departing chairwoman of the Council of Economic Advisers; and Lawrence H. Summers, director of the White House National Economic Council. The discussion came as the second report in two days pointed to a weaker-than-expected housing sector — a weakness that acts as a drag on the broader economy.
“The discussion focused on recent data reports, global markets and economic growth,” said a White House statement afterward. “The economic team provided an update on the next steps to keep the economy growing, including assistance to small businesses and the extension of tax cuts to the middle class.”
Maybe they should spend the $$$ on providing some jobs to keep spirits up and to have a recent job on the resume….even my bro is tired of UI, the 99 weeks without any “intern” work or school requirements was a bad idea.
For my bro (electrician) he would have gladly worked say 20 hrs week for some non profit like Habitat if he could still get UI.
——————————–
bullsh!t economic plan to save their seats in the mid-term elections.
Team Barry is sweating bullets trying to come up with a bullsh!t economic plan to save their seats in the mid-term elections.
Two hikers are out hiking. All of a sudden, a bear starts chasing them.
They climb a tree, but the bear starts climbing up the tree after them. The first hiker gets his sneakers out of his knapsack and starts putting them on.
The second hiker says, “What are you doing?”
The first responds, “I figure when the bear gets close to us, we’ll have to jump down and make a run for it.”
The second says, “Are you crazy? Don’t you know you can’t outrun a bear?
The first guy says, “I don’t have to outrun the bear… I only have to outrun you!”
Moral of the story: all Barry needs to do is to discredit the Republicans. He doesn’t need to solve any stinkin problem.
The first guy says, “I don’t have to outrun the bear… I only have to outrun you!”
Every time I think the dollar is going to collapse, I think of that sentence above. When I think of that sentence above, I’m not so sure the dollar will collapse, but will rather slowly do what it’s going to do.
When talking about dollar collapse, the question is do you have to outrun: that wiry-Chinese, or that overweight looking Welfare-state German?
Every time I think the dollar is going to collapse, I think of that sentence above. When I think of that sentence above, I’m not so sure the dollar will collapse, but will rather slowly do what it’s going to do.
Yep. FWIW - It’s interesting and insightful to read about the instances of various currency collapses though history, and think about that happening to the dollar. However all rapid currency collapses share one thing in common - they are not in the major reserve currency of the world. In every case the primary impetus for the collapse was for people dumping that currency in favor of a different, more stable, and more widely-used (worldwide) currency. In the case of the dollar, there isn’t one.
E.g. in Zimbabwe people dumped their dollar and started using the South African Rand and the US$. However is it really feasible for people living in the U.S. to start using say Japanese Yen? They’re not exactly easy to get here, as the Rand and US$ are in Zimbabwe.
Eventually the US$ may collapse, even with a rapid finish, but I think it won’t be until after a long grind-down period where it slowly loses its lead as the world’s reserve currency, and that will take years.
Even scarier, what if the dollar does collapse suddenly? Zimbabwe had a couple of alternatives to keep their limited economy going. There doesn’t seem to be a viable ‘plan B’ in the US besides the economic machine grinding to a halt.
If right now the dollar collapses suddenly - the entire world’s economy will go with it. Seriously. There is no easy alternative.
… and as we speak politicians are out there spending hundreds of millions of their own dollars in an attempt to buy their seats. ( like Meg Whitman in Cali) Somehow I fail to see any encouraging signs of improvement, even if in fact November switches things up.
Why Housing Is Even Worse Than You Think
US News
Shocking. More than three years after the housing bust began, forecasters are still overestimating the strength of the housing market. The latest sales numbers for existing homes, which took a steep, unexpected plunge, triggered a fresh bout of national gloom and stock-market sell-offs. Record-low interest rates aren’t luring buyers, and neither are falling prices that are 30 percent below their peaks, or more. The pace of sales is the lowest in 15 years.
None of that is the shocking part, however. What’s really unnerving is that all of this has happened despite a government effort to prop up housing that has been the biggest stimulus package of them all.
The plunge in sales startled the markets because earlier this year it looked like sales were picking up. Of course that’s when the federal home-buyer tax credit was still in effect, offering buyers an extra few thousand dollars’ worth of incentives. Everybody knew sales would fall after the credit expired at the end of April, which is exactly what happened.
We’re now remembering that, oh yeah, maybe sales were artificially high because of artificial incentives to buy a house. But we’re forgetting lots of other extraordinary incentives that aren’t the usual workings of a free market, either. The Federal Reserve has helped drive interest rates to record lows by purchasing about $1.5 trillion worth of mortgage-backed securities, creating demand for mortgages that dried up during the financial crisis.
“The Federal Reserve has helped drive interest rates to record lows by purchasing about $1.5 trillion worth of mortgage-backed securities, creating demand for mortgages that dried up during the financial crisis.”
I seriously question if the Fed’s purchase of garbage mortgages has created more demand for garbage elsewhere, or merely kept the garbage vendors from a reckoning.
+1
As we can see from the numbers, the MBS purchases created anemic demand for mortgages, at best. The primary purpose was and end-around bailout of the banks, bypassing congress and all of the associated uglies (media/public firestorm) that go with that. All clean and neat (like a guillotine).
“The primary purpose was and end-around bailout of the banks, bypassing congress and all of the associated uglies (media/public firestorm) that go with that.”
+infinity.
And the Fed can hold these toxic MBS until maturity, and never really recognize the losses publicly; after all, they have all of that “income” from Treasuries to balance out the losses.
In other words, the losses from the MBS _DO_ flow onto the US Treasury’s balance sheet, but in such a stealthy mode and at such a slow rate and hidden under such totally bogus pile of BS “earnings” that the American taxpayer will never realize that they got eff’ed.
But they did.
the American taxpayer will never realize that they got eff’ed.
But they did.
All hidden under the guise of inflation, which is supposedly good.
Inflation = economic spackling.
“None of that is the shocking part, however. What’s really unnerving is that all of this has happened despite a government effort to prop up housing that has been the biggest stimulus package of them all.”
FAIL!
Capital Investment Slowdown in U.S. Signals Reluctance to Hire
Employers are reluctant to take on more staff until they see more evidence of durable growth, keeping unemployment near a 26-year high and holding back the consumer spending that makes up 70 percent of the economy.
A slowdown in U.S. business investment may soon hit the job market, further hindering a recovery in the world’s largest economy.
Capital spending, one of the few bright spots in the recovery, declined in July, according to Commerce Department figures released yesterday in Washington. Sales of new homes fell to the lowest level since data began in 1963, another report from the same agency showed, indicating a lack of jobs is crippling housing.
Employers are reluctant to take on more staff until they see more evidence of durable growth, keeping unemployment near a 26-year high and holding back the consumer spending that makes up 70 percent of the economy. A Labor Department report next week may show that private payrolls failed to grow in August for the first time in eight months, said Michael Feroli, chief U.S. economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in New York.
… and to see durable growth the USA will need jobs and industries that are more than the Mickey Mouse we have now.
Roidy
… and this business about seventy-percent of the economy being based on consumer spending needs to change.
Most of those “consumers” spend half their money on taxes of all sorts and the other half on debt service. A quarter of them are out of work.
Time wasn’t too long ago that only 50-60% of the U.S. economy was based on consumer spending. But that was when we still made things here.
Back before the 80’s when had a trade surplus less than 50% of our economy was consumer-driven.
Thanks for adding that detail, packman.
Yep and then we decided in the 1980s that supply side economics, offshoring jobs, corporate raiding, massive deregulation and repeal of consumer and workers rights was a good idea.
When they said “trickle down” I couldn’t believe people thought this was good. I knew we were doomed right then.
Yep and then we decided in the 1980s that supply side economics, offshoring jobs, corporate raiding, massive deregulation and repeal of consumer and workers rights was a good idea.
LOL. I figured you’d jump on that comment.
Only one problem - the trade deficit actually started in 1971, getting in full swing by 1977.
So much for that theory.
To add to that - the real reason we lost our trade advantage is simply that by the 1970’s the rest of the world (mainly Japan and German) had rebuilt their infrastructure enough after being destroyed in WW2 to compete with us again. The U.S. economy / dollar were so strong we couldn’t compete on a cost/quality basis, and so started buying their stuff instead of ours.
Economic policy had nothing to do with it, with the probable exception of all the union-driven and EPA-driven* regulations that kept the costs of U.S. products per unit of quality higher than they should have been.
*Note that I don’t object to EPA regulations, except that I think they should be enforced worldwide, not just in the U.S.
Where were all of you when we here in the heartland were getting slaughtered with imports in the 70’s and 80’s and off shoring in the 90’s and 00’s. All I heard then was that imports and foreign labor were needed to keep inflation in check. Now that the white collar crowd faces the same fate we’re suddenly getting religion? Folks, it aint gonna stop; just like that old saying that ends with “…..and then they came for me.”
packman, I was there and you couldn’t be more wrong.
Ever heard of the Business Roundtable? Or how about US corps selling there IP to Japan, who then turned right around and sold it back to us as consumer items for huge profits?
Ever heard of Edwards Deming? He is why Japan built better cars (and TVs and appliances) than we did. The Big 3 made shite for cars. I know. I worked on them. And so did most of all the other consumer manufacturers.
I also remember the pollution of that time. You have NO IDEA how bad it was.
So while the big corps were busy cannibalizing each other, screwing their customers and destroying labor (and thus eventually their consumer base), foreign countries were busy investing in quality and their labor.
We screwed OURSELVES with greed and laziness at the highest levels.
Ok - I’m scratching my head here.
Deming did his training of the Japanese in 1950. Business Roundtable started in 1972. Our trade deficits started in the 1970’s. So why are we talking about the 1980’s here? My original comment was referring to before the 80’s. Sorry I guess I should have been more specific and actually said before 1976, since 1975 was our lost positive trade balance. (Though we negative ones in ‘71, ‘72, and ‘74 also)
“So why are we talking about the 1980’s here?”
Because The Ronald was President.
Paint-and-Caulk Replaces Show Kitchens at Home Depot, Lowe’s
~Bloomberg
Dyane Townley craves new kitchen counters for her home in Greensboro, North Carolina. Husband Jeff, a Honda Aircraft Co. engineer, wants a bigger back deck. With money tight, the Townleys are putting those dreams on hold.
Many Americans, having splurged on show kitchens, spa bathrooms and surround-sound media rooms during the housing boom, are doing the same. Spending on home renovation for the 12 months ending Sept. 30 will fall 25 percent to $107.7 billion compared with the same period in 2007, according to Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.
The pullback is hurting companies large and small — from Home Depot Inc. and Lowe’s Cos. to building contractors and interior design shops.
“There are still consumers putting in new kitchens,” Robert Niblock, the chairman and chief executive officer of Lowe’s, said in a telephone interview. “But they’re doing it because they’re going to be in their homes longer. That’s the change from the go-go days.”
“That’s the change from the go-go days.”
The go-go days are gone-gone. But what drives me crazy is this: why can’t the herd accept that it was a windfall and that “normal” is something else altogether? I’ve had a windfall or two in my life, or a lucky streak, if you want to call it that. And never “upgraded” my lifestyle, knowing that it wouldn’t last.
Most people aren’t like that. Look at professional athletes - give them a few mil, and most of them blow through it in no time.
Lots of people would say that they wouldn’t upgrade their lifestyles, but the pressures are subtle. They see their friends and neighbors doing it, and the subtle pressures are to do the upgrade themselves. And for that matter there is the pressure in a lot of cultures to appear to be successful. Everyone around you is moving up - what was just fine a few years ago is now no longer good enough. So people fall into the trap and do this stuff.
Ultimately it was the free and easy money that people could get from a HELOC that made all of this seem so easy. It was sort of like paying with monopoly money - you just borrow against your equity and you get the new kitchen.
BINGO! Lotsa points for this one!
How true, no government social engineering initiative could have led so many to buy houses they could never afford, than the subltle, often unseen, pressures of friends, coworkers, and families.
…than the subtle, often unseen, pressures of friends, coworkers, and families…
Bingo!
Remember, if you don’t buy things you can’t afford
with money you don’t have to impress people
you never have met, then:
1) Nobody will every again be your friend.
2) No women will ever again love you.
3) You will be topic of endless neighborhood gossip.
4) People will give you cold stares and turn their backs
on you when you are standing in the checkout line
at the supermarket.
5) You will voted off the island and drown in a dark
sea filled with man-eating sharks.
I’m just putting the finishing touches on a new roof, which I am happy to say we didn’t borrow money for. Instead we blew two weeks’ vacation and did it ourselves.
“Most people aren’t like that. Look at professional athletes - give them a few mil, and most of them blow through it in no time.”
Exactly how the “poor” behave too.
“Exactly how the “poor” behave too.”
Because the poor have millions to piss away right?
…..idiot.
Because the poor have millions to piss away right?
Actually yes, they very much did, in the 1997-2007 timeframe. They borrowed it and blew it all on houses or commercial properties that were worth much less than what they paid for them.
(Caveat: I don’t proposed this as generally true for the “poor” - IMO a poor and harsh label, but more for the “financially foolish” and greedy.)
Many inner city poor blow their money on booze, cigarettes, drugs, and “bling”, and don’t save in order to better themselves.
Many inner city poor blow their money on booze, cigarettes, drugs, and “bling”, and don’t save in order to better themselves.
Speaking as someone who has lived in the inner city, I’ve seen this kind of behavior more times than I can count.
And for that matter there is the pressure in a lot of cultures to appear to be successful
China 1.3+ Billion
India 1.15+ Billion
USA 314 Million
Total collapse of Gov’t due to economics…or “other” things?
Place you bets
I used to love going to home and garden shows. But now I’m afraid to walk the aisles, much less pause to look at a hot tub or a wooden outbuilding. The salespeople are so downright desperate that they nearly physcially pull me over to their booth, or worse, they give me an incredibly dirty look, as if I have to promise to buy something just for the priviledge of looking. The small businesses who sell the stuff i could actually use — quilts or poofy decor or wall hangings or the little garden plants and small-time arists — are the first ones to pull out of the shows, leaving only the big soulless chain stores and brands.
The Home Despot folks were the worst. We are offering free kitchen design services!… no thanks I’m just here to look sorry I rent... [pause] oh well, do you have any friends who need a kitchen remodel?… OK oK I’ll tell them [runs away, only to be accosted by somebody else.]
It’s like the in-person version of a telemarketing call, when the caller switches to the Plan B script. It was much easier when it was busy. I see no reason to pay $10 to put up with it, so I no longer go to the shows.
No problem Oxide, just wear your “yeahIbeentoprisongangstarap” scowl
Cali Swag District:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HY9uZWCh4go
crank it up at work they will think you are the coolest dude/chick
What I’d like to see is a dude making a sudden move in those saggy pants. Look out below!
I have been seeing those scowls on the young men in my area, some girls too!
This should scare all of us ….check out her age:
http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/crime/blog/2010/08/young_female_murder_suspect_ca.html
Three or four years ago, I forgot exactly when, I was helping out at the booth of a local non-profit group. We all noticed that, at this particular home show, the traffic was way down.
Not to mention the bored-looking vendors at the other booths. Some of them looked like they could fall asleep.
Us? We had free American flags to give away, and, boy were we busy doing that.
HomeCheapo and (b)Lowes has to be the worst retail outlets on the planet.
Utter and complete junk…. crap….$hit material…. and the worst thing about it? It’s all priced 2x over what I pay at regular supply houses… and NONE of it meets specifications!!!!
The typical customer at these Fraud Houses have NO idea what they’re buying and are completely clueless about pricing. They have no idea they’re getting overcharged. HomeCheapo and Lowes depends on this fact.
I’ve heard HomeCheapo referred to as the Wal-Mart of the Building Materials Industry.
Yeah Slim…. I’d say that’s an understatement.
I never buy my lumber from those places. Twisted, brittle 2×4’s and separating plywood don’t make for a fun time.
But if you’re looking for lumber to use as cripples, HD’s a good place to shop.
Here is how I can tell the home “improvement” thing is over: No more hot dog stands at the Home Depots. Not enough traffic to support them, I’m sure.
If it doesn’t rain Saturday morning, I have a home improvement project. It’s called expanding my veggie garden.
I need to get this done before things like the KXCI Community Radio pledge drive (Slim: “Thank you for calling KXCI. May I take your pledge, please?”) and 10/10/10, which is a massive community weatherization project.
Will need to get some materials for bordering the garden, and hey, guess what. There’s a pile of used brick and concrete a few blocks away. Owner of the house next to the pile said, “Take it! Please!”
So, sorry Cheapo and Blowes, this DIY project will cost me nothing but time and sweat.
Fun fact: The rental I moved out of recently has been rented. The rent is $500 higher than what I was paying. I lived there for close to 4 years and paid the same rent the whole time. I figured he’d increase the rent $100 or $200 but I was very surprised that he raised it $500 and got someone in.
It’s hard to find a good house to rent, especially like that one. Excellent neighborhood, nicely updated house built in the 20s, huge fenced yard. Close not too far from Emory.
Sure you can rent/buy a McMansion surrounded by weeds in a ghost subdivision for cheap. But does anyone want that? I sure don’t. Which is why as I have said before there are lots of micro-housing markets that are doing just fine because - yes I know, I know - they’re not making any more of it. A neighborhood like where I used to live cannot be recreated. Those houses cannot be recreated. And there are people willing to pay a high premium to live there.
I feel pretty good now knowing I lived all those years paying well below market prices for rent. Also a a landlord myself, I welcome the spike in rent charged. Life is good.
“I lived all those years paying well below market prices for rent.”
Either that or your landlord found himself a sucker after you moved out.
Check back in a year and see whether the tennant kept making those higher rental payments. If he skipped out early without making all of his rent payments your former landlord may still be a loser. If he makes all of his rent on time then your former landlord has come out ahead. hard to tell at this point.
+1.
And if the new tenant turns the house into a suburban “grow op”, then suddenly it will make sense why he wasn’t too concerned about paying above-market rent on the place.
You’re assuming his story is true. Landlords don’t share detailed information about the financial agreement with the future tenant, with the departed one. Eddie is trolling, as usual.
I sadly have to agree that those houses cannot be re-created, unless we see a HUGE shift in our culture in the next 20 years. But how much of Generation iPod is interested in fine craftsmanship? Do they even know what it IS? I don’t mean the odd artist profiled on PBS. I mean thousands in the construction industry building millions of cute houses.
I mean thousands in the construction industry building millions of cute houses.
Good point.
Especially that when you consider that foremen/women and site supervisors have a huge problem every day. It’s a workforce that shows up drunk and/or high. Or they’re coming off a drunk and/or high state.
I’m not saying that all construction workers are like this, but a significant portion of them are. It makes job site supervision into one whale of a challenge.
The workers that forman supervise are drunk, high, and undocumented. Even worse are those that supervise the foreman. Even the most sober union worker can’t do much with air-puffed floorplans, overwrought elevations, beige plastic siding, subpar materials, Chinese drywall, and one poor lonely little ornamental pear tree, all of which make the house look, feel, sound, and act like the POS it is.
A few weeks ago I was out looking at houses. Found one that I really liked. Good layout, nice piece of scenic property, the quality of materials was high. But if you look out at the back deck not one screw had even hit a support beam. It was as though there was no supervision and the guy doing it didn’t take a second to check his work that he was on the right line. Inside there were signs of water damage everywhere from a leaky roof. Lots of patchwork plaster on the walls. The place looked new, never lived in. Built in 2007 MLS Listing. It was such a waste. The builder must have taken absolutely no pride in their work.
Nope…you cant even get them to buy cd’s instead of crappy MP3’s..
I see a lot of people homes cat sitting…yes they have the big laptop, maybe cable with the 32″ walmart special lcd tv and mostly Ikea furniture…
So it seems a disposable lifestyle is ok with them.
But how much of Generation iPod is interested in fine craftsmanship?
The BS just never ends from this guy.
Should the Fed buy stocks? You’ve gotta be kidding me. I mean, really. I think the effetes have gone stark, staring mad.
http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/investing/should-the-fed-buy-stocks-to-help-support-the-markets/19608258/
The Fed has been buying stocks for a while, I think.
Yes, the question should be: should the Fed buy MORE stocks?
My guess is that the FED is buying stocks indirectly.
They go to GS and say
We’d like to lend you a billion dollars. If you take this loan you have to invest it in these indexes. We won’t make you pay for any losses and you can keep the gains.
I just wish they’d make the same deal with me.
Should the Fed buy stocks?
The top 1% own 40% of all stocks and mutual funds
The top 10% own 80% of all stocks and mutual funds
The bottom 90% own 19% of all stocks and mutual funds
source:
http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html
Will the Fed buy stocks?
The top 10% own 80% of all stocks and mutual funds
The bottom 90% own 19% of all stocks and mutual funds
Hmmm.
LOL, I’ll be back
It’s worse (or better depending) than my rounding portrayed.
The top 10% own 81.2% of stocks and mutual funds
The bottom 90% own 18.8% of stocks and mutual funds.
Stocks and mutual funds
Owned by top 1% 38.3%
Owned by next 9% 42.9%
Owned by bottom 90% 18.8%
Sourced: in the above post
My “hmm” was regarding that 10% plus 90% = 100% = all people, but 19% + 80% = 99% of stocks/MF. Thus all people are buying 99% of stocks and mutual funds. Who’s buying the other 1% I wonder?
Co-chair of Obama debt panel under fire for remarks
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — An advocacy group is calling for the ouster of former Sen. Alan Simpson, the co-chairman of President Obama’s bipartisan debt commission, who described Social Security as a “milk cow with 310 million tits!” in an email.
Ashley Carson, executive director of the Older Women’s League, wrote in a blog post in April that Simpson is targeting Social Security to fix the deficit even though it “doesn’t contribute” to the country’s debt problem. She also accused Simpson of “disgusting ageism and sexism” in characterizing those who oppose cuts to benefits as “Gray Panthers” and “Pink Panthers.”
“milk cow with 310 million tits!”
Ah… isn’t it “teets?”
Not that many. The seniors don’t oppose cuts for younger people, provided they aren’t affected.
Have lots of kids. Then there will be plenty of people to support you when your turn comes.
Try again. It’s “teats.” And in a farm environment it’s not at all vulgar. But since it was uddered (sorry, couldn’t help it) by a republican, then the MSM has to emit its collective gasp!
Or in French, Tetons. Hence the name bestowed on a mountain range here by early and lonely French-Canadian trappers.
One of these days when we go back to “Freedom Fries” we should rename the park “Great Bosoms National Park”.
I am calling for the ouster of Ashley Carson, since she claims Social Security doesn’t contribute to the country’s debt problem.
Who cares if Alan Simpson used some colorful language? His statement is closer to the truth than Ashley’s.
I am calling for the ouster of Ashley Carson, since she claims Social Security doesn’t contribute to the country’s debt problem.
Has the SSA ever sold a single bond ever been sold to finance itself? It’s been a pay as you operation from day 1. If anything, the SSA has purchased billions of dollars worth of Treasury notes the years.
Special, non-negotiable treasuries ISTR. So it’s always pay as you go, the only question is who exactly is paying.
SSA definitely has its own problems, especially now that they are paying out more than they take in, way ahead of schedule. The trust fund will be exhausted ahead of schedule unless some combination of benefit decreases and payroll tax increses is enacted.
But to say that it contributes to the “debt problem” is disingenious. We might not like its “pay as you go system” which is financed by the payroll tax, but until now SSA has been helping to finance the deficit, not cause it.
Well to those of us who don’t think that the trust fund is much help in paying for an ageing society, it’s depletion is a non-event. The day before it is exhausted, a fairly large proportion of general fund outlays would be dedicated to paying for retirees via repayment of the afformentioned non-negotiable treasuries. The idea that the day after those bonds run out we’ll suddenly be less willing to pay for grandma’s SS check out of general revenues is some sort of bizzare political fiction.
It Pays to Riot in Europe
Telegraph (UK) | August 25th, 2010 | By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
Ireland must now pay more than Greece to borrow.
Dublin has played by the book. It has taken pre-emptive steps to please the markets and the EU. It has done an IMF job without the IMF. Indeed, is has gone further than the IMF would have dared to go.
It has imposed draconian austerity measures. The solidarity of the country has been remarkable. There have no riots, and no terrorist threats.
Yet as of today it is paying 5.48pc to borrow for ten years, or near 8pc in real terms once deflation is factored in. This is crippling and puts the country on an unsustainable debt trajectory if it lasts for long.
Yet Greece is able to borrow from the EU at 5pc and from the IMF at a staggered rate far below that (still too high for the policy to work, but that is another matter). These were the terms of the €110bn joint bail-out.
To add insult to injury Ireland is having SUBSIDIZE Greece to meet its share of the rescue fund.
I am sure you can all see the absurdity of this. It has moral hazard written all over it, and shows what happens once a dysfunctional system twists itself into ever greater knots rather confronting the core issue.
Yes, I know that the Irish and Greek maturities are different but the fact is that Greece has extracted better terms by letting matters get further out of hand.
George Papandreou’s PASOK has benefitted from dilly-dallying on the first set of austerity measures, and – not to be too diplomatic about it – by insulting the Germans with demands for war reparations. Hotheads also set fire to downtown Athens and Thessaloniki, improving the effect.
“Ireland must now pay more than Greece to borrow.”
Lets discuss it over a drink.
A few years ago all the EU talk was about admitting Turkey.
Now it about perhaps kicking out Greece and some of the other PIIGS countries.
U.S. Millionaire Index Turns Sharply Bearish
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Spectrem millionaire investor confidence index fell to its lowest level in more than a year in August as wealthy U.S. investors worried about politics and unemployment, according to Spectrem Group.
The Spectrem Millionaire Investor Confidence Index fell 11 points in August to -18, its lowest level since June 2009, when it fell a record 18 points to -20 shortly after the S&P 500 index hit a 12-year low.
The move returns the index to mildly bearish territory after 12 straight months in neutral.
The Chicago-based consulting firm, which specializes in affluent and retirement markets, defines neutral as between -10 and +10 in the index, which ranges from -100 to +100.
“The millionaires’ decline is particularly troubling since it suggests millionaires, typically more sophisticated than the broader affluent population, are reverting to a bearish frame of mind,” said George Walper, president of Spectrem Group.
“…typically more sophisticated than the broader affluent population,…”
I’m sure they thought the same thing until Madoff was arrested.
Looking ahead: Thursday ~ USA Today ~ 8:00 AM EST
• Nearly nine years after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, New York officials are expected to give the final OK for developer Larry Silverstein to build two office towers at Ground Zero. He’ll receive $1.6 billion in taxpayer funding and subsidies.
• Look if you dare: New weekly unemployment claims from the Labor Department, and the Realtors’ forecast for commercial properties.
• Environmental groups release a report on coal-ash contamination of drinking water in 21 states. They will say state officials are not properly monitoring drinking water or surface water with arsenic and other heavy metals, and they want the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to intervene.
• It’s Women’s Equality Day, marking the signing in 1920 of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote. Rallies and commemorations are planned nationwide.
It’s Women’s Equality Day, marking the signing in 1920 of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote. Rallies and commemorations are planned nationwide.
bunch of Liberal freak-fests…
You would think that conservatives would be thanking those ugly liberal freaks for giving them Sarah Palin.
Nah.
Bush gave Obama. Obama is giving us Sarah Palin.
It’a all relative. Obama looks better compared to Bush. The way things are going, Palin will look better compared to Obama in no time.
President Palin! That’s one cruel joke…..
(shudder)
How far we have fallen from the days of the Rushmore presidents. These days they’re not even worth carving in jello.
+1 pack.
That is S-O-O-O-O-O-O stolen!!!
Is it? I actually hadn’t heard it - just made it up. Reinventing the wheel, I guess.
Got stucco?
Boy, can you get stucco!
Oh no no, I mean I’m stealing it from YOU.
Ah - gotcha.
Steal away.
I could see this catching on actually. “Our current batch of jello presidents”. Has a nice ring to it.
The big question is deciding who’s what flavor. We’d have to make sure and reserve cherry for Palin, of course, if she happened to make it.
(Yes, I said that.)
Take a look at the campaign contribution of this Silverstein guy. He’s bought quite a few dems.
From what I’ve seen of the recent primary elections, wanna-be-politician-multimillionaires are buying primary victories directly without help from contributions. No wonder TV stations are luvvin’ all this political division and playing it up. Where do you think all those millions go?????
They should just split this country into virtual hereditary fiefdoms and be done with it already.
You mean you didn’t know? That was done a long time ago.
American Eagle’s Net Slumps; Store Closings Planned ~ WSJ
American Eagle Outfitters to close 50-100 Stores
American Eagle Outfitters Inc.’s fiscal second-quarter earnings tumbled 66% on wider losses related to its failed Martin + Osa chain and as the apparel retailer reported weaker margins and higher overhead costs.
“The second quarter was a challenging period, resulting in a miss to our sales and profit plans,” Chief Executive Jim O’Donnell said. “Given the inconsistencies in business trends and unpredictable consumer behavior, we have intensified our actions to improve efficiencies, streamline our process and strengthen profitability.”
The plan includes work-force reductions and an evaluation of its stores.
I’m not surprised. Their stuff is expensive.
When I lived in Pittsburgh, a friend’s brother managed an American Eagle store. Place had good stuff. And friend made a lot of purchases via his brother’s employee discount.
“Place had good stuff.”
It does have nice stuff. I don’t shop there for myself, but I usually buy the teen and pre-teen neices gift cards to that store. Not only do they like the brand, but nearly all of the clothing is parent-pleasing, so I never have to worry about ending up in the middle of a fight.
Where is their stuff made? Nothing more lol than $100 shirts on the rack of some places with Made In China on the tag. Mass profit.
I know where there stuff is made … mostly China. We sell to them and they buy as cheap as all the other big names! Cheap cheap cheap is the name of the game!!
15 Signs Housing Market Is Headed for a Collapse
For decades, owning a home has been touted as the very heart of “the American Dream”, but today that dream is out of reach for an increasing number of Americans. Why? It is because there are not nearly enough jobs for everyone. Without a jobs recovery, there simply is not going to be a housing recovery. Unfortunately, as the U.S. economy continues to come apart like a 20 dollar suit, even more Americans are going to lose their jobs and the U.S. housing industry will continue to experience a very painful decline.
http://www.comcast.net/slideshow/finance-housingcollapse/
I’m sick of hearing “No jobs, that’s why people aren’t buying” line. How about the prices are too freaking high!! Bring the prices down and we will buy! This is the recovery of the lost decade, reset the prices back to the year 2000 and more people will buy!!!!
“How about the prices are too freaking high!!”
They are, but in a lot of flyover country they have come down and they still aren’t moving. You can get starter homes out here for around 150K (or even less) but they aren’t selling.
In a lot of those areas, $150,000 is still too high. They get paid less than people on the coasts, and they know prices are still going to continue to fall.
The killer out here has been a lack of jobs. The median hh income is in the 70’s, so it’s not like they can’t afford it. But a lot of people have lost their jobs out here and have been foreclosed on. New construction has been at a near standstill for over two years now. IIRC, the median price is about 190K, so there is definitely some room to go down. Meanwhile new hh formation has stopped as the young pups can’t find work and many are boomeranging back to mom n dad. About 30% of my daughter’s senior class joined the military, so those kids aren’t staying here and buying houses, which suits me fine as the city has grown enough.
Prices are still way to high in the suburbs of Chicago. In my suburb, the asking prices are typically no different than 2005/2006. And if the asking price is lower, it is usually a foreclosure/short sale.
At least until recently, if someone priced their place a little less than similar homes for sale, some FB would jump at the chance to grab that falling knife since they were getting such a great deal.
Its jobs AND prices. It takes a steady ongoing income stream to afford property taxes and maintenance, even if you pay cash for the house. Look for property taxes to go up as states and municipalities raise mill rates to pay for their borrowing.
reason # 9 Prices Are Still Too High
Great picture to start the slide show too.
WASHINGTON (AP) — One in 10 American households with a mortgage was at risk of foreclosure this summer as the government’s efforts to help have had little impact stemming the housing crisis.
The Mortgage Bankers Association says about 9.9 percent of homeowners had missed at least one mortgage payment as of June 30. That number, which is adjusted for seasonal factors, was down slightly from a record-high of more than 10 percent as of April 30.
“Save the Dream Tour” :
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/26/1793075/loan-modification-event-starts.html
* One out of every seven mortgages were either delinquent or in foreclosure during the first quarter of 2010.
* According to Realty-Trac, a total of 1.65 million U.S. properties received foreclosure filings during the first half of 2010.
* U.S. Banks repossessed 269,962 U.S. homes during the second quarter of 2010, which was a new all-time record.
“America was a special place …where the society was more central than the national political state. [There was] a belief that ordinary people have a right to govern themselves.”
~John Taylor Gatto
It ended when too much money was concentrated in the hands of too few.
The Fall 2008 bailouts only worsened the picture.
It ended when too much money was concentrated in the hands of too few.
Not saying I think that’s a good thing, but I disagree that’s the root of the problem.
Even *IF* our politicians weren’t bought off by monied interests, the majority of the population would still gladly vote to restrict the rights of others, and to take more than they give.
IMO, that’s the root of decay of this country. Lack of personal responsibility, and lack of respect for individual rights (personal property rights, at the core).
If that wasn’t an issue, government - especially federal - would be much smaller, and the monied interests would have less influence.
Lack of personal responsibility, and lack of respect for individual rights (personal property rights, at the core).
And where do you think they learned this?
And where do you think they learned this?
Honestly?
I think religion is the root of people not respecting individual rights (the bible says it’s true, so it’s the RIGHT way and we must legislate it). For many people, the Constitution is irrelevant when it comes to religious beliefs vs individual rights.
As far as personal responsibility…as soon as we started bailing people out for bad decisions, it has become a death spiral. People see others get bailed out even if they’re irresponsible, so they are less careful next time. Moral hazard. Unfortunately, people feel the need to keep voting the money of those who are personally responsible to support those who aren’t.
They learned it when they saw their votes nullified by courts in favor of business interests.
They learned it from working for decades only to be fired right before retirement.
They learned it from watching their jobs go offshore and having to get jobs that paid a lot less.
They learned from retraining for new jobs, only to see those jobs go away as well.
They learned it from being ripped off by banks and businesses and shoddy products and not having any recourse for justice.
They learned it from seeing their parents working 2 jobs and getting farther and farther behind.
They learned from seeing prices go up but not their paychecks.
They learned it from several decades of recessions that left the average person worse off each time and careers forever destroyed.
That’s were they effing learned it!
That’s were they effing learned it!
what does this have to do at ALL about respecting individual rights or personal responsibility?
Seriously, you think your statements above address that in any way?
When were votes were nullified by courts?
How does being fired somehow teach one to not respect another individual’s rights, or to not be responsible for yourself?
How does losing your job in any way affect that? Guess what - no one OWES you a job. Period.
If you buy a poor product, you made a bad choice. How is that relevant?
You’re totally out in left field here. Perhaps you don’t understand what individual rights and personal responsibility are?
Are you really this sheltered?
Really? Look in the mirror. YOU and others like you are what’s wrong with this country and why we’re in the mess we’re in.
You have no clue what the difference is between happenstance and injustice. None.
You seem to think it’s a one way street and it’s the corporate way or the highway. Good job they’ve done, haven’t they?
You do know you have more than 60% chance of becoming impoverished, right? Don’t think it can’t happen to you. It can and very likely will.
Then you’ll understand, only it will be too late.
Really? Look in the mirror. YOU and others like you are what’s wrong with this country and why we’re in the mess we’re in.
So rather than actually address the question, you’ll attack me…if only there were a term for that kind of behavior….hrm….
And only if there were another term, for attacking some position I never even posited….man, if only the english language were richer…….
Seriously, eco, you’re bringing the weak sauce here.
Again, your statements..what does it have to do with respecting the rights of other individuals, or taking responsibility for your own actions?
I don’t agree with what everyone says or does, but I’d rather than can say/do them then I be limited in what I can say and do. And I’ve been screwed over and bought crappy products. I’ve been laid off. I’ve been discriminated against. But I still stand by my word and my commitments. I have no interest in taking from another person by force, either directly or by proxy through the government.
So rather than try to attack me personally, can you address the topic at hand?
Really? Look in the mirror. YOU and others like you are what’s wrong with this country and why we’re in the mess we’re in.
Seriously, is that the best you can do?
but I’d rather
thanthey can say/do them then I be limited in what I can say and doIt ended when too much money was concentrated in the hands of too few
This is exactly the reason
With a strong middle class politicans have to listen to a large number of people to get money and elected.
Concentration of wealth, power, and the media means they only have to listen to a few.
Concentration of wealth, power, and the media means they only have to listen to a few.
That’s only a problem if you give “government” a lot of power and concentrate it in one place.
If government had less power, or if the power were better distributed (say, to the local level, rather than federal), then that wouldn’t matter much.
It’s even WORSE at the local level.
yeah, but the guy doing it worse in san francisco can’t screw you down in los angeles, or out in barstow. Consolidate at the federal level, and we are all screwed.
It’s even WORSE at the local level.
Care to back that one up?
You’re claiming that the rich banksters have more influence at the local level than the federal? What is your basis for that conclusion?
Years of seeing the corruption.
You can google your own town/city and see for yourself.
I’ve personally seen far too many cases that without the feds, there would never have been any justice.
You can google your own town/city and see for yourself.
You’re the one making the assertion, not me.
You’re saying it’s worse at the local level than the federal. So, what is your basis for comparison?
Sorry, but “the proof is left as an exercise to the reader” does not have a place in intellectual discourse. If you make a claim, it’s up to you to provide a basis for your claim.
Are you deaf AND blind? I just posted it. And it’s not an “assertion.” It’s fact. Something you have no clue about.
Sorry you’re too lazy to do your own research. Too bad for you.
But here, if you promise not strain your pinky finger, you can google “fbi reports on local government corruption”
You really should do the required reading first before making your… assertions.
Are you deaf AND blind? I just posted it.
You posted a definition of the measure you use for control of governments (local and federal) by monied interests? And given a quanitative example/analysis of why local governments are more greatly controlled than federal? I must have missed it, unless this is what you mean:
I’ve personally seen far too many cases that without the feds, there would never have been any justice
I hate to break it to you, but that’s not exactly a verifiable fact.
Okay, here I go again. I’m going to get all librarian on you. Permit me to recommend a couple of John Taylor Gatto books on the state of our schools:
The Underground History of American Education
Dumbing Us Down
Happy reading!
I just put “Dumbing Us Down” on reserve from my library, Slim. Thanks for the lead!
on reserve from my library
I don’t have a public library that’s too good for me here.
But I have a darn good private one. (Mostly bought at US public libraries by the pound.)
Books in English are cool.
We’re extremely fortunate. I think our library has won honors and awards, its that good. Unfortunately, they put helped put two local video stores out of business because they lend movies and music CDs free. I might have to wait three months to see a new release if others beat me to the reserve line, but our family doesn’t care.
We have a private library of our own, but its been sitting in boxes for two years because we thought this rental situation would only be temporary. Lately we’ve been taking about unpacking that stuff. I’ll be sure to post on the HBB as soon as we are done, because that will coincide with the next leg down in housing.
Keep this up, Slim, and we’re going to start calling you “Laura”.
“Enough of us retain a memory of what it means to be American, and it has nothing to do with race, ethnicity, religious belief or the date of one’s citizenship. It has to do with a batch of exceptional ideas and a few simple rules of conduct”.
“Be considerate; tend your garden; mind your own business; lend a hand; keep your clothes on and your hands to yourself; honor your family and your country; don’t air your dirty laundry or vocabulary in public. And for God’s sake, don’t talk about religion. Oh, and resist spectacle.”
~ Kathleen Parker
All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand pile at school.
These are the things I learned:
Share everything.
Play fair.
Don’t hit people.
Put things back where you found them.
Clean up your own mess.
Don’t take things that aren’t yours.
Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody.
Wash your hands before you eat.
Flush.
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
Take a nap every afternoon.
When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the
Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.
And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK.
Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.
Take any one of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your family life or your work or government or your world and it holds true and clear and firm. Think what a better world it would be if we all - the whole world - had cookies and milk at about 3 o’clock in the afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap. Or if all governments had as a basic policy to always put things back where they found them and to clean up their own mess.
And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out in the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.
(Source: “ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN” by Robert Fulghum)
“..And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK.”
When I began elementary school (1951) the reading books used Alice and Jerry as characters, I think the dog was named Jip but not sure. I guess they finally got old and died.
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
Cookies are too fattening and milk is full of bad stuff.
Peanuts and beer are good for you.
Italian food and red wine are good for you.
No wonder you are so cranky.
“Be considerate; tend your garden; mind your own business; lend a hand; keep your clothes on and your hands to yourself; honor your family and your country; don’t air your dirty laundry or vocabulary in public. And for God’s sake, don’t talk about religion. Oh, and resist spectacle.”
I know maybe 3 people who act like this and I’m one of them.
U.S. Jobless Claims Decline More Than Forecast
(Source: Bloomberg)
Applications for unemployment benefits in the U.S. fell more than forecast last week, easing concern the labor market was rapidly deteriorating as the economy slows.
Initial jobless claims dropped by 31,000, the first decline in a month, to 473,000 in the week ended Aug. 21, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. The number of people receiving unemployment insurance decreased, while those getting extended benefits climbed.
People who have jobs are keeping them, but those who don’t are frozen out. Once the former no longer fears, they’ll turn on the latter. “Get a job!”
That means last week was revised up to 504,000.
What will this week’s number look like next week?
Only 20 MILLION more to go!
Why We Are Totally Finished
In A Nutshell: Corporatocracy Has Replaced Capitalism
by D Sherman Okst
Capitalism Fixes Problems & Preserves Democracy: Capitalism is what we should be relying on to fix our problems. Capitalism has it’s own ecosystem, just like biology’s ecosystem. An economic ecosystem that weeds out the weak, has parasites that eat the failures and new bacteria that evolves and grows replacements for that which failed. A system that keeps everything in balance.
The problem is we are no longer a capitalistic society. What we were taught in school is now utter and absolute nonsense. Capitalism is a thing of the past.
As outlined in “It’s Not A Financial Crisis - It’s A Stupidity Crisis”, we created two back to back bubbles. The air out of the Tech Bubble was sucked up for fuel by our next stupidity crisis: The Housing Bubble.
Now, after the second Stupidity Crisis there isn’t a third bubble to inflate. If we still lived in a capitalistic environment the banks and financial institutions that created loans for folks who should have remained renters and then sold those loans as investments to pensions and countries would have been cleansed by capitalism’s ecosystem.
But that isn’t what happened.
In a very anti-capitalistic move the government decided that stupidity and criminal activity should be rewarded. I’d say they took our money, but it is worse, we didn’t have that much money. So they borrowed the money in our name. The loan has a variable rate. They borrowed so much money that our kids cosigned the loan. In fact, our kid’s future kid’s signed on the dotted line.
That is unequivocally immoral.
They gave that borrowed money to a bunch of morons as a reward for stupidity. Morons who created sub-prime loans, liar loans, no income no documentation loans and other fraudulent instruments. Morons bundled that trash, got it rated AAA and then sold these turds or weapons of mass destruction that they had the audacity to name complex financial instruments or derivatives to pension funds, countries and other “investors”.
Then it all blew up.
Big surprise.
Now, after the second Stupidity Crisis there isn’t a third bubble to inflate.
Sure there is - treasuries. Huge price bubble.
Problem is though that unlike treasuries this bubble has created very few jobs; with the money instead largely going to line the pockets of the unproductive.
(Before you knee-jerk libruls start with the “you unemployed-person hater!” rants - I was talking about Wall Street CEOs
)
We could have a stupid viagra bubble…. imagine the inflation generated there, would keep the masses occupied while the PTB took full control…..just a stupid thought.
——————–
Now, after the second Stupidity Crisis there isn’t a third bubble to inflate.
Morons who created sub-prime loans, liar loans, no income no documentation loans and other fraudulent instruments. Morons bundled that trash, got it rated AAA and then sold these turds or weapons of mass destruction that they had the audacity to name complex financial instruments or derivatives to pension funds, countries and other “investors”
Moron:
(n) idiot, imbecile, cretin, moron, changeling, half-wit, retard (a person of subnormal intelligence)
Yep, them moron’s…they be a complain’in ’bout satellite reception sittin’ on some Island beach checking their Swiss account balances, while pondering the meaning of certain HBB posters who are daily wailing away: “Dis all the “gubmint’s” fault!”…”Dis all the “gubmint’s” fault!”
“I’d say they took our money, but it is worse, we didn’t have that much money. So they borrowed the money in our name.”
Identity theft!
If I borrow money in someone else’s name I get prosecuted.
The end game of capitalism is monopoly and oligopoly. Once you get to this stage companies are powerfull enough to manipulate gov and there is little opposition. Thus you end up with corporatism.
The solution
1. Tax the elite
2. Break up monopolies and oligopolies
3. Create a level playing field for start ups.
4. Regulate or Socialize conduits
1. Highways
2. Transmission lines
3. Cable
4. Water Lines
5. Internet
etc
Then let anyone that wants to compete do so on an open and level playing field.
None of this will happen so we will end up with a massive number of poor and a small number of elites atleast until the riots. Before modern weapons the elites would fall when they had stolen all that they could and the poor rebelled. I think with modern day weopons it is less common for the poor to win.
Look at China, Iran, Iraq,N.Korea countries that fall now adays fall due to military coups not due to riots of formerly middle class workers. Thus countries like Saudi Arabia have mercinaries as well as a small elite military. Iran has the basil and separates it’s military command.
I question your assertion, “The end game of capitalism is monopoly and oligopoly.” IMHO, the end game of socialism or any collective/central planning is, almost by definition, monopoly! Your assertion allows for an incomplete understanding of capitalism and is based upon a few characteristics of capitalism. Capitalism in my understanding is an economic or societal system that protects private property. The government is a necessary component but today we have a coercive state operating within out true government.
our not our
slow down …
“The government is a necessary component but today we have a coercive state operating within
outour true government.”our not our not out
Academic bull aside, capitalism was always corporatism.
Normally I don’t post stuff this long, but this was sent to me via email by a friend. It boils it all down to a simplicity.
“545 PEOPLE — By Charlie Reese
Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.
Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?
Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?
You and I don’t propose a federal budget. The president does.
You and I don’t have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.
You and I don’t write the tax code, Congress does.
You and I don’t set fiscal policy, Congress does.
You and I don’t control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.
One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.
I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.
I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don’t care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator’s responsibility to determine how he votes.
Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.
What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits…. . The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.
The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? Nancy Pelosi. She is the leader of the majority party. She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.
It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million can not replace
545 people who stand convicted — by present facts — of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can’t think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.
If the tax code is unfair, it’s because they want it unfair.
If the budget is in the red, it’s because they want it in the red ..
If the Army & Marines are in IRAQ , it’s because they want them in IRAQ . If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it’s because they want it that way.
There are no insoluble government problems.
Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like “the economy,” “inflation,” or “politics” that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.
Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.
They, and they alone, have the power..
They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses.
Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees…
We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!
Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.
Sales Tax
School Tax
Liquor Tax
Luxury Tax
Excise Taxes
Property Tax
Cigarette Tax
Medicare Tax
Inventory Tax
Real Estate Tax
Well Permit Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Inheritance Tax
Road Usage Tax
CDL license Tax
Dog License Tax
State Income Tax
Food License Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Gross Receipts Tax
Social Security Tax
Service Charge Tax
Fishing License Tax
Federal Income Tax
Building Permit Tax
IRS Interest Charges
Hunting License Tax
Marriage License Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Personal Property Tax
Accounts Receivable Tax
Recreational Vehicle Tax
Workers Compensation Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax
IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
Gasoline Tax (currently 44.75 cents per gallon)
Utility Taxes Vehicle License Registration Tax
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Taxes
Telephone Recurring and Nonrecurring Charges Tax
Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago, & our nation was the most prosperous in the world.
We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.”
“We had absolutely no national debt,…”
We had no freeway system, either. If you like public infrastructure, you need to pay for it.
We do with the taxes on gasoline. Next question…
I meant to delete the stuff on taxes, it was an addition and not part of Reese’s rant.
Gas taxes didn’t pay for the highway system they only help maintain it.
Department of highway and transportation is funded by the federal gov.
Gas taxes didn’t pay for the highway system they only help maintain it.
Right..but at this point, after all the taxes we’ve paid, the interstate system is paid for…
And now we have tolls to pay for construction, in addition to gas taxes, and federal taxes that get re-distributed as road funds.
How many times over do we need to pay for these roads?
The toll to cross the Tacoma Narrows Bridge is $4. $4!!!!!! I’m sure that was an expensive bridge to build, and I’m all for those who use it paying for it, but who really believes that toll will go away after the bridge is paid for? Are they just going to demo the toll booths? Of course not!
And,
no schools
no airports
no wastewater treatment plants
no canal system
no water treatment plants
no ports
no civilian marine fleet
no public universities
no reservoir systems
etc
etc
etc
etc
etc
Very simplistic and full of misinformation.
E.g. we did have a national debt 100 years ago. We did have excise taxes. Etc.
Many of those taxes aren’t federal, and thus aren’t the responsibility of those 545.
As I said above, I meant to delete the stuff on taxes, it was not part of Reese’s rant. Sorry.
Thanks for that list!
Because the poor and lower middle class people “paying no taxes” pay the following taxes in a much higher percentage of their meager incomes than do the rich “producers” pay.
The poor pay a higher percentage of their income in taxes than do the rich. I’ve sourced it about 5 times from different sources.
The poor pay:
Sales Tax,School Tax,Liquor Tax,Luxury Tax,Excise Taxes,Property TaxCigarette TaxMedicare TaxInventory TaxReal Estate TaxWell Permit TaxFuel Permit TaxInheritance TaxRoad Usage TaxCDL license TaxDogLicense TaxState Income TaxFood License TaxVehicle Sales TaxGross Receipts TaxSocial Security TaxService Charge TaxFishingLicense TaxBuilding Permit TaxIRS Interest ChargesHuntingLicense TaxMarriage License TaxPersonal Property Tax
Accounts Receivable TaxRecreational Vehicle TaxWorkers Compensation TaxWatercraft Registration TaxTelephone Usage Charge TaxTelephone Federal Excise TaxTelephone State and Local TaxIRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee TaxGasoline Tax (currently 44.75 cents per gallon)Utility Taxes Vehicle License Registration Tax
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Taxes
Telephone Recurring and Nonrecurring Charges Tax
I used to pay a 911 tax on my phone bill.
One problem: I lived in an area that had no 911 service.
Rio
Don’t block the view of the emperors new clothes.
We need to support the elite because they are the only ones that are productive and create job.
create job
Weren’t you intending for the j-word to be plural?
Well i have one to add to the list. Reentered the US after my cruise this summer and checked in with customs. Thought it would be a good idea.
Do you have a cbp decal on your boat sir?
No, what is that?
Every boat over 30 ft. is required to have one.
How do I get one?
You can pay online. $27.50 per year.
Thanks.
“Dis all the “gubmint’s” fault!”…”Dis all the “gubmint’s” fault!”
I sense a “Long-Term” pattern developing…
This is Dennis’ solution.
Two of the most successful parts of the US government have been the jury trial system, where people in the community are drafted to ascertain the facts at trial, and the drafted military, which as a broad cross section of society defeated the Axis enemy in WWII.
I propose we do the same thing for Congress. Each congressional district would select someone from the equivalent of a “jury pool” to serve a term in the House. Imagine receiving a letter.
Greetings! Your friends and neighbors have selected you for a two year term in the US House of Representatives. You are to present yourself to the Sergeant at Arms on 20 January next. Transportation and housing will be provided you…..
There would be no worry about people spending all their time running for re-election - most people would view it as a burden and be glad it’s over after two years.
For the Senate….just repeal the 17th Amendment.
I’d like to add an early Greek Republic aspect to your idea Dennis. If after your tour of political duty you had screwed up too much (corruption, incompetence), you would be exiled. Might help ensure the job was taken seriously.
Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.
Uh… no. This is the very core of large corporations. Create a problem, then sell you solution. And if there are not enough people buying, pass a law to MAKE them buy.
Uh… no. This is the very core of large corporations
Citation, please? If things are as you say, you should have no problem giving me 10 examples of this, right?
Insurance.
Cars (most of this country does NOT have reliable mass transit, if any at all)
Utilities (most towns or cities don’t give you a choice)
Fees (you name it)
Farm seeds (Monsanto ring any bells?)
Plastic instead of paper
Foreign consumer products (maybe you have choices where you live, most of us don’t)
There’s seven.
There’s seven.
seven what? I don’t see a single example of one company creating a problem and also selling a solution to it, which is the assertion you made.
Want to try again? Give one example. Identify the problem they’ve created, then the solution that they’re selling.
I’d love to help you out. Which way did you come in?
Cute. Answer the question eco.
It looks to me like not one of those “problems” was created by a large corporation. Utilities? Like heat and water? Seeds, to grow food? The need to carry your groceries home in something? I don’t get it.
Answer the question eco.
Eco’s just proving there’s no substance to his/her claims. Which is a shame…it’d be nice to have a real conversation about these topics, with facts, examples, etc, rather than simply hot air.
One of many reasons this country is in decline…
seven what? I don’t see a single example of one company creating a problem and also selling a solution to it, which is the assertion you made.
Let’s look bigger than one company. You don’t see any created problems and legislated potential solutions? How not?
Health Insurance?
Big Pharma?
Military Industrial complex?
Unaffordable Housing?
Wall Street and Banks potential collapse?
No? If you don’t see it, is it because you don’t want to? What part of your philosophy would seeing this go against?
No? If you don’t see it, is it because you don’t want to? What part of your philosophy would seeing this go against?
That’s not the statement eco made, but fine, let’s explore this.
Please identify a problem created by private industry, and a solution sold by private industry.
If you want to introduce the idea of a legislated solution to a problem supposedly caused by private industry, we’ll have to open the door to identifying the legislation that lead to the problem in the first place.
Rather than move the goal posts in an attempt to say “I didn’t mean XXX, I meant YYY, so my point stands”, let’s evaluate the initial claim.
If you (and I know you didn’t make it directly, Rio) can’t back up the claim, why make it in the first place? Make a claim you can support from the start..otherwise you’re just spewing crap.
Please identify a problem created by private industry, and a solution sold by private industry.
“Private” industry? “Private”? Did you miss the “to-big-to-fail” thing? Or the Bank Bailouts? Or the housing bubble? What IS “private” industry in this day and age in American?
It is useless to argue with you on this point as you are too vested in a different basis of political and economic perception than most.
If you don’t believe that corporations dominate politics, then it’s a waste of time (tonight at 12:45 am) arguing with you on this point.
If you don’t believe that corporations dominate politics, then it’s a waste of time (tonight at 12:45 am) arguing with you on this point.
Who’s argued anything? All I did was ask for an example. I did not disagree, nor state things were different than what eco posited.
What perception am I vested in?
You know full well what is meant by “private industry”. As in not a government agency, or a problem created directly by government actions or legislation.
Here, I’ll give you an example: the BP oil spill. Yes, the gov’t was complicit in many ways, but it was a private entity that caused the problem. Eco’s claim would have merit if he/she could show that BP also sold a solution to such a problem - namely insurance, cleanup services, etc.
As far as I can tell, you’re both simply avoiding discussing any facts or backing up assertions. “If you don’t see what I say is true without any proof, then you’re not even worth conversing with”. Really - is that what they taught you in debate class? Is that what your college philosophy essays said?
Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.
Uh… no. This is the very core of large corporations. Create a problem, then sell you solution. And if there are not enough people buying, pass a law to MAKE them buy.
The misunderstanding can be explained if someone does not believe, understand or accept that the American political system is owned and controlled by corporate interests. It is.
If someone refuses to believe this because of ideological or political reasons, no matter the evidence, then that is that.
If someone refuses to believe this because of ideological or political reasons, no matter the evidence, then that is that.
before making that statement, it might be prudent to provide at least some evidence of your claim, no?
before making that statement, it might be prudent to provide at least some evidence of your claim, no?
No. That is not necessary in relation to my qualified statement.
No. That is not necessary in relation to my qualified statement.
why should one, “believe, understand or accept that the American political system is owned and controlled by corporate interests”, as you put it, without evidence?
why should one, “believe, understand or accept that the American political system is owned and controlled by corporate interests”, as you put it, without evidence?
This is why arguing with you on this point is probably not productive. You see through facts that disagree with your pre-conceived notions, no mater the fact’s validity.
Dozens of posters have posted hundreds of stories and facts the past years as evidence that American politics are “owned” by corporate interests. You’ve been around. You’ve seen them. For you to continually deny the obvious in light of the facts and long record of evidence frames your posts (on this issue) in a certain light.
What perception am I vested in?
Obviously, if you don’t believe that American politics are “owned” by corporate interests, this must be your erroneous perception.
Dozens of posters have posted hundreds of stories and facts the past years as evidence that American politics are “owned” by corporate interests. You’ve been around. You’ve seen them. For you to continually deny the obvious in light of the facts and long record of evidence
What have I denied? I love all the strawmen being put up against me here…
If you read my posts, you’ll see I’ve not offered any position, agreement, or disagreement. I simply suggest that one back up the assertions they make.
But please, continue to attack me personally and positions I haven’t put forth rather than address to the topic at hand.
The root of this thread is the assertion that politicians create problems, then campaign against them. It was followed by the claim that this is the core of corporate behavior as well. I’m still waiting for someone to back up that assertion.
I’m still waiting for someone to back up that assertion. drumminj
If you are still waiting so after so many have backed it up, over years, you will still be waiting so no matter how many times they do it more.
The bottom line: New claims north of 400K indicates ongoing labor market recession. That the porcine beauticians are labeling a new claims figure of 473K as good news shows just how desperate they are for a shard of hope.
Aug. 26, 2010, 9:42 a.m. EDT
US Stocks Advance, Boosted By Drop In Jobless Claims
By Kristina Peterson
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stocks advanced modestly Thursday as investors welcomed a bigger-than-expected drop in weekly jobless claims and hoped that the market’s recent battering has been overdone.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 27 points, boosted by rare encouraging news from the labor market.
Initial unemployment claims declined by 31,000 to 473,000 in the week ended Aug. 21, the Labor Department said in its weekly report. New claims for the previous week, ended Aug. 14, were revised upward to 504,000 from 500,000. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had predicted filings would decline by 10,000.
…
to be revised.
31,000! Whooppee! Break out the champagne!
One entire small town. Or just barely enough to fill a sports stadium.
market pulse
Aug. 26, 2010, 10:01 a.m. EDT
Foreclosure inventory down, new delinquencies up
Amy Hoak
CHICAGO (MarketWatch) — The percentage of homes somewhere in the foreclosure process fell in the second quarter, the first drop since 2006 and the largest quarter-to-quarter drop since 2005, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported on Thursday. Still, the group’s quarterly delinquency report showed that short-term delinquencies are increasing, which could signal another rise in foreclosures to come.
…
Against a backdrop of flat/rising prices even.
What happens when prices start back down again?
What happens when prices start back down again?
Sorry, that’s not allowed anymore, per the Federal Reserve……
‘per the Federal Reserve’
I see we have another believer in the all-powerful fed. I heard this same line back in 2005. Funny how the fed didn’t keep millions of people from losing everything, and tens of thousands more every month.
Here’s a thought; if you have this inside knowledge that these people can levitate housing prices, why are you giving this away? It’s gold, John, pure gold! You should be quietly snapping up houses so you can sell them to us bitter renters for a mighty profit in the near future!
Shhh…
You’re giving away Eddie’s secret plan.
The Federal Reserve will continue to:
1.) Buy 10-year treasuries with printed money to keep the 10-year yield low, or drive it lower still = low(er) mortgage rates = support for home prices
2.) Buy all the Ginnie Mae securities (again with printed money) the FHA can produce = continued (or additional) no and low down-payment loans = steady stream of “qualified” borrowers
3.) Buy toxic MBS from the financial institutions at par (even though they are worth pennies on the dollar) with printed money so they will have the capital to make more mortgage loans, if they make more bad loans, don’t worry, the Fed will buy those at par too
The reason that so many people lost their homes initially was because it took the Fed a while to get ramped up on the QE. Once they got started you saw prices stabilize and FHA lending go through the roof. There will be much more of the same in 2011, much more. I’m guessing at least $2 trillion but probably a lot more. FHA will probably be the sole lender by the end of the decade - handing out low and no down loans to whoever wants them.
Can they get prices to significantly rise, probably not, but they can sure stop prices from falling significantly. They already have, and will continue to try to do so. You and I might not buy a home with no/low down-payment and a 2-3% mortgage interest rate, but there are millions that will. It will all end terribly but they (the Fed) will keep on trying until somebody stops them. I don’t see anyone in power telling Bernanke to stop.
I’m at a meeting with a bunch of coworkers, and they are stunned with my new rental (3/2 two blocks from the beach). I’ve been told I am “lucky.” Lol. The tides have turned… now renters are lucky!
Maybe in a year or two people will be camping out for rental lotterries.
Maybe in a year or two people will be camping out for rental lotterries.
(Smugly chuckles) They ain’t makin’ any more new rentals.
umm… where does “luck” enter into the equation?
As the red-hot summer sales season winds down, it’s never been less expensive to take out a mortgage loan.
market pulse
Aug. 26, 2010, 10:08 a.m. EDT
30-year fixed-rate mortgage at record low again
By Sue Chang
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Freddie Mac (FMCC 0.33, -.00, -1.21%) said Thursday the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage average again fell to a record low of 4.36% with an average 0.7 point for the week ending Aug. 26. In the previous period, the average was 4.42%, and the year-ago average was 5.14%. “Existing home sales plunged 27% in July, while new homes fell 12% to a new all-time record low, which led to some market concerns that the housing market may slow the economic recovery. As a result, long-term bond yields fell to the lowest levels since January 2009, allowing fixed mortgage rates to ease to new record lows this week,” said Amy Crews Cutts, Freddie Mac’s deputy chief economist, in a statement.
Aug. 26, 2010, 30-year fixed-rate mortgage at record low again
The future “pent-up” demand suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrre looks promising for reverse mortgages & home loan re-financing.
Devalued Homes Anchor Prospective Job Seekers
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129427659
Florida Association of Realtors came out with their July stats - looks like a rough month. After a spring bounce (normal for FL), the median price just dropped like a rock:
Jun-09 148.0
Jul-09 147.6
Aug-09 147.4
Sep-09 142.0
Oct-09 140.3
Nov-09 139.0
Dec-09 140.4
Jan-10 130.9
Feb-10 131.3
Mar-10 137.0
Apr-10 140.1
May-10 140.4
Jun-10 143.4
Jul-10 138.0
Sales are down tons as well:
Jun-09 15850
Jul-09 15882
Aug-09 13850
Sep-09 14419
Oct-09 15160
Nov-09 14026
Dec-09 14630
Jan-10 10465
Feb-10 11890
Mar-10 16294
Apr-10 16781
May-10 16745
Jun-10 18038
Jul-10 13589
Note the June->July comparisons of 2009 vs. 2010.
Sales of course were impacted by pull-forward due the tax credit, but still bad given that.
Looks like the dead cat is falling again. It’ll be interesting to see the nationwide Case/Shiller stats for July when they come out (which won’t be for several weeks yet).
Fed is doing another trillion dollars in QE. Hard to have drop in nominal prices when they do that. I bought an inexpensive house in Feb. for the tax credit, tax deductions and it doubled by rent space with only a 50% increase in monthly payments with taxes and insurance included. I took full advantage of a FHA loan only 3.5% down and bought more palladium stocks and wrote a call option on them several times since then. The government is determined to destroy the value of the dollar and I don’t see the sense in fighting that in my investment decisions. Disagree with the policy and will vote to throw the bums out but gave up hope that the free market price of houses will ever be restored within the next ten years.
Not sure this has posted. Received weird message. So will re-post. Sorry if it actually posted.
palladium stocks
Now there is a good investment choice!
Palladium is at a low because there is less demand for it after cash-for-clunkers. And in an obscure note, I can’t find a longer-term quote, but palladium likely fell when Obama put the brakes on that Yucca Mountain nuclear dump. It was scheduled to use tons (literally) of palladium.
OX:
here is a good start:
http://www.kitco.com/charts/livepalladium.html
‘The government is determined to destroy the value of the dollar and I don’t see the sense in fighting that in my investment decisions. Disagree with the policy’
‘I took full advantage of a FHA loan’
You don’t disagree so much that you refuse to go to the Feds for a loan. Call it ‘if you can’t beat em, join em’, but don’t pretend that you are against this stuff if you sign up for govt money.
BTW, I was looking around your city in June. Good luck with that ‘cheap’ house!
Yup, they think it’s different here. We do lag behind the big trends by a few years, being backwards and all. Late to the party, late to get busted. I feel sorry for some people I know that bet big this year. Capitalist optimists. Very sad. Within the next year or two, it will be the same wave that blots out the sun here in Abq. I’m sure they’ll all be crying it was “unexpected”.
Doesn’t “pending crisis” suggest it is not already occurring?
David Callaway
Aug. 26, 2010, 12:01 a.m. EDT
Jackson Hole more goat rodeo than Bretton Woods
Commentary: Fed’s weekend conclave unlikely to solve pending crisis
By David Callaway, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Anyone hoping the Federal Reserve’s annual hoedown of global central bankers this weekend in Jackson Hole, Wyo. might be the Bretton Woods of our time is in for a disappointment.
There’s never a good time, publicity-wise, for a group of elite bankers and economists to be seen gathering at a famous resort, even if some of them do bother to wear sport coats with their cowboy boots and spend the weekend prattling about things like quantitative easing and desired amounts of fiscal stimulus.
But this year the meeting, hosted by the Kansas City Federal Reserve, seems especially ill-timed. Disagreements among each other about the need for more spending among governments to prop up the major economies has surged into the headlines in recent weeks, shaking investor confidence in banking policymakers worldwide. If this group can’t tell whether we’re headed for Japanese-style deflation or German style hyper-inflation, then investors certainly don’t want to be in the game at all.
As the economic recovery showed signs of sputtering, at least seven of 17 Fed officials spoke against or expressed reservations about a plan to alter the way the Fed manages its huge portfolio of securities before the move was approved on Aug. 10.
The result is that the markets in the past few weeks have turned into a financial goat rodeo, as an old Canadian buddy of mine used to term anything that was screwed up beyond repair. The world is flocking to the bond markets for safety and any type of corporate yield it can find in this non-interest rate environment, causing rifts in every other asset class, from equities to commodities to currencies.
…
Got to sell the fear!
Saw a report (Zero Hedge) that per David Rosenberg not a single new home over $750k sold in either June or July. Wow.
That matches my observation here (as well as the recent “no more McMansions” stories). Being in the outskirts of DC - building is ramping up again big-time. But it’s all townhomes and condos - I see hundreds of new ones, but not a single SFH going up anywhere.
“…not a single new home over $750k sold in either June or July.”
And yet they are still building them in San Diego, and offering them at prices ‘from the $700’s.’ Another WOW.
Correction - apparently Rosenberg misinterpreted the data. The report gives numbers in 1000s, and shows a “Z” for homes over 750k - however Z doesn’t mean actually zero, it means “less than 500″.
(May still be zero, but not likely)
One sold on my street within the last two months at >$750K.
The data involves NEW homes, not used homes….
Yes I know - I said new homes.
Responding to SV guy’s comment that one sold on his street….thought he may be confused (unless he lives in a new development and a spec home just sold)…..
Nationwide? If so, that’s amazing, even if “zero” really does mean “fewer than 500.”
I guess that means that essentially nothing sold in Silicon Valley except for condos.
But it’s all townhomes and condos - I see hundreds of new ones, but not a single SFH going up anywhere.
You have no idea how much internal swearing I am doing right now…
Can you say why? Just curious.
I just mourn the death of the single-family home. I really don’t like that we are limited to condo/townhome/McMansion. I dunno, something about townhomes bug me.
Agree wholeheartedly. It’s unfortunate though that most people simply can’t afford SFH any more, at least for a while. They’ll make a comeback at some point I’m sure.
I do look with dismay at all the townhomes around - though it’s hard not to feel pretentious as well. As prices have gotten so high - who am I to scoff at those who can’t afford a SFH?
In a perfect world all could have custom SFH on an acre or so, but unfortunately unless we have extreme population shrinkage it’s not possibly without completely killing the landscape. One thing nice about condos - every one that’s not a SFH is more parkland or farmland or other open space.
I just mourn the death of the single-family home.
The smallest house I could find to rent on the east side of Seattle is an 1820sq ft one-story. Honestly I appreciate the room, but ideally I’d be in something more in the 1200-1500 sq ft range since it’s just me and my dog. Instead, it seems everything out here is 4 bedrooms and 3000sq ft.
Austerity now? Why?
It’s the system dudes. Do you know why most neocons and even some real conservatives don’t have much credibility when they call for austerity? Because these same “conservatives” are not rioting in the street about the perversion of American capitalism. Why are not the “conservatives” railing against our NOT-CONSERVATIVE monopolistic, crony-capitalistic, too big to fail oligarchy?
My conservative friends, the above described situation is of much greater danger to the United States than the wedge issues that are used to divide Americans. The above issues should unite liberals and conservatives together and not divide us.
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/26/fiscal-austerity-and-americas-future/?src=busln
The financial crisis may be behind us, but the link to the likely intense debate this fall regarding fiscal policy is direct. We are told that fiscal austerity requires outright and immediate further cuts in the benefits previously promised to people at the federal, state and local level.
Never mind that this is simply not true — at least in the form currently presented (here are a primer on short-term issues and another on the longer-term perspective). A vocal class of people — including some at the upper end of the income distribution – incessantly insist that entitlements must be cut while refusing to address the real causes of both our recent surge in government debt (the financial crisis, caused by perverse incentives in the financial system) and the genuine longer-term issues we face (which are about controlling the future increase in health care costs, not cutting the level of benefits today).
The self-described fiscal conservatives really cannot be taken seriously. In the financial reform debate, they either didn’t show up or preferred to keep the existing system in place, and they refuse to put serious health cost control measures on the table.
If the “conservatives” don’t really want to reduce the shocks that have caused government debt to explode recently — or to deal with the underlying, longstanding health care cost issues in a reasonable fashion — what exactly is going on?
what exactly is going on?
Is this a trick question? You mean besides the looting, pillaging and plundering?
Press Release - Weekly Application Survey
Title: Mortgage Refinance Applications Continue to Increase as Rates Decrease in Latest MBA Weekly Survey
Source: MBA
Date: 8/25/2010
WASHINGTON, D.C. (August 25, 2010) — The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending August 20, 2010. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 4.9 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 4.5 percent compared with the previous week.
The Refinance Index increased 5.7 percent from the previous week and is at its highest level since May 1, 2009. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 0.6 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 1.1 percent compared with the previous week and was 38.8 percent lower than the same week one year ago.
“The volume of refi applications last week was up 26% over their level four weeks ago. Mortgage rates dropped to their lowest level in the survey, going back to 1990, as incoming data continue to indicate that economic growth has slowed,” said Michael Fratantoni, MBA’s Vice President of Research and Economics. “We are at a new 15 month high for the Refinance index. With rates this low, many borrowers who refinanced in the past two years may well have an incentive to refinance again, and this is likely increasing refi application activity.”
…
More and more refi’s, at ever-lower and ever-lower rates. Historically low, in fact.
Obviously unsustainable. We are painting ourselves into a corner. How in the world are we going to get out? Any significant interest rate rise will absolutely kill the economy.
(P.S. this also applies to U.S. treasury debt.)
? Any significant interest rate rise will absolutely kill the economy.
Of course by that time the elite will have extradited their wealth leaving the FED and GSE’s with a bag of flaming craaap, and thus the US tax payers.
The elite will be sitting on the sidelines with cash to buy up all of the pieces for pennies on the dollar and cement their hold on gov.
“The elite will be sitting on the sidelines with cash to buy up all of the pieces for pennies on the dollar and cement their hold on gov.”
I think you may have figured out how we will get out.
“We are at a new 15 month high for the Refinance index. With rates this low, many borrowers who refinanced in the past two years may well have an incentive to refinance again, and this is likely increasing refi application activity.”
Quote that should follow the above:
We can’t wait to report on the fee income that these serial refinancers generate!
I hadn’t realized till reading this story that FBhood is a heritable trait.
Upside-down owners play waiting game
By Jennifer Davies, UNION-TRIBUNE
Wednesday, August 25, 2010 at 6:04 p.m.
Jesse Park knows he is woefully upside down on the La Costa condo he and his wife purchased in January 2006.
Back then, they bought the place for $389,000. Just last year, a similar condo in his complex sold for $209,000.
As disappointing as the price plunge is, Park, 37, a paramedic with Cal Fire, said as long as he can make his payments, he’s willing to wait out the downturn.
It’s a lesson he learned from his parents, who purchased a home in Poway during the last boom-and-bust housing cycle.
“They bought at the height of the market and it took about 10 years to get it back,” he said. Still, Park added, wistfully: “If it takes 10 years, that would be rough.”
Sadly, economists say it could take 10 years — maybe more — for San Diego home prices to rebound. A recent survey said that it might be 2024 before San Diego County as a whole returns to its bubble-inflated heights.
So what does that mean for the estimated 28 percent of local homeowners who are upside-down on their houses? What about those who have just seen their equity slashed to gut-wrenching lows?
…
$389,000/$209,000 La Costa condo + a paramedic with Cal Fire
Seems like the condo lost quite a bit of oxygen, the month to month method of resuscitation must be exhausting…
If you don’t get wage inflation of 5% or more for the next 10 years than how are the prices going to come back to bubble peaks in 10 years ? In fact. we are getting wage deflation if anything lately and it looks like it will continue .
Yes. It’s kind of hard to stop 30 years worth of momentum.
Texas state fair will have a fried beer vendor.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/082610dnmetstatefair.8afa26cc.html
I wasn’t sure how to parse that sentence….was it a “fried beer” vendor or a fried “beer vendor”? :lo:
That’s nothing, at the Western Idaho Fair there’s a guy demonstrating how best to wash a chicken!
http://www.idahostatesman.com/2010/08/22/1310868/really-washing-your-chicken.html
Learn something new everyday!
“The Bitter Truth” About America’s Future: Big CEOs Bash Obama
Aug 26, 2010 ~ Aaron Task ~ Tech Ticker
President Obama has many battles to fight on the economic front: high unemployment, slowing growth, trillion dollar deficits, to name a few. Some of these issues he inherited but some he exacerbated says key members of “big business.”
This week, Intel CEO Paul Otellini and Jim Tisch, CEO of Loews Corp. both blamed the President’s policies for creating an environment of “uncertainty” that is crippling America’s economy.
The Obama administration is “flummoxed by their experiment in Keynesian economics not working,” Otellini said Monday in a speech in Aspen.
Higher taxes and more regulation add an additional $1 billion to building a semiconductor manufacturing plant in the U.S. vs. overseas, the CEO said.
As a result, “the next big thing will not be invented here. Jobs will not be created here,” Otellini said, warning of “an inevitable erosion and shift of wealth, much like we’re seeing today in Europe…this is the bitter truth.”
Loews’ Tisch made similarly themed comments in a Bloomberg interview on Wednesday. “Part of the problem is that business has very little confidence in what’s been going on and very little visibility,” he said.
Tisch has also been highly critical of the President’s response to the Deepwater Horizon explosion and leak. Loews owns 50% of Diamond Offshore Drilling - the U.S.’s largest deep-water driller.
Bitter CEO’s who want to preserve tax breaks for themselves and
This week, Intel CEO Paul Otellini and Jim Tisch, CEO of Loews Corp. both blamed the President’s policies for creating an environment of “uncertainty” that is crippling America’s economy.
Really
I’d say the massive build of of debt over the last 30 years created this uncertainty. I’d say CEO’s who command 1000x the income of their average workers, and pay less than 20% effective tax rate create uncertainty. There’s an easy way to level the playing field with countries that don’t have labor standards, allow slave labor, and destroy the environment. It’s called a trade policy. I’m sure these two were all for our the globilization that has occurred with no rules.
Exactly. Those 2 are at the CORE of offshoring our jobs. Lowes for buying cheap Chinese crap and Intel for sending most of it’s fab plants overseas.
Mortgage rates hit low of 4.36 percent
Average rates for 30-year fixed mortgages drop to low of 4.36 percent on economy concerns.
NEW YORK (AP) — Mortgage rates fell to the lowest level in decades for the ninth time in 10 weeks, as concerns grow that the economy is weakening.
Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate for a 30-year fixed loan was 4.36 percent this week, down from 4.42 percent last week. That’s the lowest since Freddie Mac began tracking rates in 1971.
The average rate on 15-year fixed loan dropped to 3.86 percent from 3.90 percent the previous week. That’s the lowest on records starting in 1991.
rates going down, time to buy!
rates could go up, time to buy!
I love the realtor mentality.
Fed Seeks Delay of Bank Data Release While Considering Appeal
The Federal Reserve Board sought to delay the court-ordered release of documents identifying banks that might have failed without the U.S. government bailout while it considers an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Fed asked the U.S. Court of Appeals in New York yesterday to delay implementation of a ruling that compels the central bank to release the documents.
“The stay is necessary to permit the board to consult with the Department of Justice regarding an appeal to the Supreme Court,” Fed spokesman David Skidmore said.
The appeals court on Aug. 20 denied the Fed’s request to reconsider its decision requiring it to release records of the $2 trillion U.S. loan program.
I can’t help but think that there will be a news leak or two.
Was the suit brought under the Freedom of Information Act? It would be interesting for the Supremes to issue an opinion on that.
“…identifying banks that might have failed without the U.S. government bailout…”
It would be most interesting to compare this list to 2009 bonus payments, no?
I’m not sure my blood pressure could take it.
Continuing my chat with PB early this morning in the previous thead…
I made the pilgrimage in 1985 when I took a vacation in Austria. I stopped at the open air market over the covered portion of the Wien river in Vienna to buy some flowers and then took the tram to the great cemetery to the SE of town. It all seemed familiar to me, probably because portions of the film The Third Man were filmed there. You turn a corner and there it is, the musician’s special place. Beethoven is buried there, and about five graves over is Brahms. A group of Lehars and Strauses fill out the area, and there is a statue erected to the memory of Mozart because no one really knows where he’s buried. IIRC Haydn is buried down at Esterhazy.
It’s difficult to put flowers on Beethoven’s grave because it is so covered with them by the faithful. It is somewhat easier to find a spot on Brahm’s grave. I set up my camera on a tripod, set the timer, and took a picture of me placing flowers on Brahm’s grave.
Vienna is my favorite city in Europe. Unlike Rome, it was the center of an empire within human memory. I was traveling alone and single people don’t get their own table in Europe. One evening I was seated with an elderly couple and spoke with them as best I could with my limited high school German. She was a young girl in the closing days of WWI and actually saw the last Hapsburg Emperor Carl go by in his carriage. She recalled how handsome he was. Vienna was indeed the center of empire within human memory.
I was traveling alone and single people don’t get their own table in Europe.
I wish that there were communal tables in this country. You can meet some very interesting people that way.
Then Japanese hibachi grill places have communal tables in the USA.
What a combination: paycheck to paycheck + backpack… as salvation
Pastor at backpack giveaway: ‘We’re putting God’s army on you’:
By ERIKA I. RITCHIE / THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
…For Marcia Culver, a Garden Grove mother of four, the free backpacks couldn’t come at a better time.
“We bought a house last year, and thank God we still have our jobs, but we have been living paycheck to paycheck,” Culver, 35, said.
“We’re about to put God’s army on you – an army of angels,” Munsey told the capacity-filled sanctuary cheering in delight. “When you walk out tonight, you’ll have more than a backpack because you’re getting our prayers and Psalms 91, God’s assurance package.”
A second giveaway geared toward the Latino community will take place Friday, kicking off a new, monthly Spanish ministry.
Saddleback Church Pastor Rick Warren and pastors from other churches throughout the country joined the celebration and spoke words of encouragement for the opportunities the church and its ministries will have in the community and in the world.
“The church is a giver not a taker,” Munsey said. “We’re introducing why a church exists to a new generation. We want to send a message of giving, and it has to start with the young. We want these kids to know we’re there for them. I don’t know how long the economy issues will continue, but we want this to be a lasting memory for them.”
Pastors Phil and Jeannie Munsey bought the backpacks and the 2,000-member congregation stuffed them over the past seven weeks. There was paper, crayons, pencils and sharpeners, rulers and all the necessities an elementary school child will need. It also included a Psalms 91, a Bible verse meant to assure all of God’s love and protection.
Not to wade into a religious debate, but I don’t recall hearing that the churches in the recipients’ home countries are doing the same sort of thing. If anything, they’re as indifferent to the people going north to find work as the national governments are.
Not to sound cold hearted, but I wish Saddleback would teach some cause and effect, and lay low on the magical thinking. They certainly are targeting the right culture. Gotta go, I see Mary in my grilled cheese sandwich.
““The church is a giver not a taker,” Munsey said. “We’re introducing why a church exists to a new generation. We want to send a message of giving, and it has to start with the young.”
Pastor Rick Warren Asks For Money…And He Gets It!
Lake Forest : CA : USA | Jan 04, 2010
Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, told his congregation a few days ago that the church had a singificant financial need. Warren, the author of the very popular book, “The Purpose Driven Life,” petitioned the congregants for a large sum of money - specifically $900,000. The pastor said that due to the poor economy, “ten percent of our church family” had lost their jobs and as a result, Saddleback’s “caring for (its) community rose dramatically while (its) income stagnated.” As a result, Warren brought the need to the church faithful.
Did they raise $900,000? And how! In fact, Warren told the church on Saturday that $2.4 million came in as a result of the pastor’s plea.
I’ll let you decide for yourself if you think it is right or wrong for a pastor to ask for money. I have my opinion and you have yours. But whether or nt we agree with Pastor Warren’s plea, his people responded.
I don’t know if DinOR is listening, but here’s the latest news from Tamarack.
The Valley County Sheriff has ordered an immediate evacuation (level three) for subdivisions bounded by Hurd Creek (southern boundary) and Poison Creek (northern boundary). A level two evacuation remains in effect for rest of the Tamarack area.
Fire officials say the 550 acre Hurd Fire burned actively overnight due to low relative humidity — 14 percent — which is one of the reasons sheriff’s officials ordered the level two evacuation.
Linkey
http://www.idahostatesman.com/2010/08/26/1315893/valley-county-elevates-evacuation.html
“TrueBambooLie™”
Foot Massage Price Doubles With Chinese Doubting Inflation Data:
Aug. 26 (Bloomberg)
“…then the government has an inflation problem that it either hasn’t figured out how to measure, or has chosen to ignore. Other vital Chinese statistics, like retail sales and unemployment, have also been murky. In the case of inflation, misjudging could prevent the kind of swift action needed to tame prices now, and force the government to apply harsher measures later, such as an increase in interest rates or an appreciation of the currency to curb growth. There are political risks too: Social unrest in China has been triggered when ordinary workers can’t keep up with the cost of living.”
Data ‘Oddity’
Unlike most countries, China refuses to release in detail how much weighting it gives different product categories when calculating inflation, a situation that World Bank senior economist Louis Kuijs called an “oddity.” An official with the statistics bureau said there has been no major change in the basket that makes up the price index since 2005. Plans call to adjust the weighting next year to reflect housing costs more and food prices less, said the official, who declined to be identified because of agency rules.
Chinese consumers, when asked, will detail how household expenses have changed in the past decade. Medical costs are the No. 1 concern for 84 percent of China’s rural residents, according to a recent survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit. Officially, medical prices are only up 2.8 percent so far this year. That number does not include the cost of gifts to hospital doctors and administrators to ensure adequate care.
Housing and rising rental costs also eat up more of Chinese budgets.
Getting a handle on rising prices is a particular challenge in China. Hundreds of millions of rural Chinese keep moving to cities, pushing up rents and food prices in urban coastal areas. The prices charged by millions of restaurants, coffee shops, and fitness centers go largely unrecorded as entrepreneurs evade taxes. A standard foot massage, popular in Chinese cities, has risen from around $10 in 2008 to about twice that today
By periodically releasing wheat, rice, and corn from its reserves, the government has avoided the 100 percent price surge that hit global grain markets in 2007 and 2008. Beijing continues to cap prices on everything from phone bills to water, electricity, and fuel prices, and when it wants to cool growth the government orders banks to stop lending.
“The government has tended to use less mainstream instruments that economists don’t like so much,” said Kuijs of the World Bank.
“A whole parade of official sources have issued statements over the past few weeks predicting, with the unruffled, enigmatic certainty one normally associates with a blackjack dealer dealing a fixed deck, that inflation will come in right at 3 percent this year.”
–Dexter Roberts. With assistance from Miao Han, Li Yanping, Penny Peng, Vincent Ni and Helen Sun. Editors: Stephanie Phang, Christine Spolar
Snowmass Foreclosure Crystallizes Hypo’s U.S. Property Woes
Snowmass Village, the Colorado ski town neighboring Aspen, got a lift in 2007 when Hypo Real Estate Holding AG agreed to arrange $520 million of loans to complete a $1 billion year-round resort.
Three years later, construction has halted on parts of the 19-acre Base Village in Snowmass, where some buildings are wrapped in plastic, and Hypo has been seized by the German government. When the lender, whose 2009 implosion was Germany’s biggest bank failure since World War II, tried to foreclose on the developers in July, it was met by a countersuit that accused it of a “shameful repudiation” of its obligations.
The resort’s fate is a microcosm of all that has gone wrong for the bank as it handed out more than $8 billion to finance U.S. real estate projects during the property bubble. They include the Landmark, a luxury condominium and retail development near Denver, and a stalled hotel-condominium project in Phoenix. Hypo has taken control of both properties in the past 18 months, according to Real Capital Analytics.
“Hypo Real Estate jumped on the biggest and most spectacular real estate projects in the U.S. because that was the easiest way to grow quickly,” said Wolfgang Gerke, president of the Bavarian Center of Finance in Munich, where Hypo is based. “Their megalomania was what brought them down in the end.”
What a shame. Snowmass is my favorite ski resort. The new base village has been the talk of the town for years. It’s sad to think that shrink-wrapped construction sites will greet visitors for the foreseeable future. Another victim of the Great Housing Bubble.
I like you, Elanor, and I grew up skiing/snowboarding, but these sorts of stories warm my heart. What happened to sleepy mountain towns over the past 20 years is nothing short of criminal. Everything turned into “high end” and unless you were top 10% in income, or better, it was sayonara. Ordinary people were completely priced out of enjoying them, and I welcome a move back to a time where a nice, hard working family can actually rent a small vacation cabin and go skiing, or just enjoy the sights.
Ordinary people were completely priced out of enjoying them, and I welcome a move back to a time where a nice, hard working family can actually rent a small vacation cabin and go skiing, or just enjoy the sights.
Preach it!
Many years ago, my Aunt Jean recommended a great vacation place to my parents: Nantucket Island. Jean’s husband and three kids really enjoyed it.
Being the Frugal Slim Family, we’d wait until September before loading up the elderly used car for a trip from western PA to MA.
I can remember spending several day’s at Jean’s house (outside of NYC) as we waited for Hurricane Donna to pass through. That was in September 1960, and I was a very disappointed two-year-old. Why? Because I wanted to go outside and play, but no one would let me do that.
Any-hoo, we’d park the car at the ferry slip and rent bicycles over on Nantucket. Dad would carry me in the baby seat behind him, and that was my first introduction to life on two wheels. (Thanks, Dad!)
Over the years, we Slims noticed that Nantucket got more and more expensive. And infested with Beautiful People. That greatly offended my parents, who, shall we say, are not into celebrity worship.
In the mid-1970s, we stopped going there. And we still miss it.
Actually I agree wholeheartedly with you, Grizz. I guess I wasn’t being clear about precisely what makes me sad: It’s the spectacle of a shuttered, shrink-wrapped construction site. Personally, I liked Snowmass the way it was before they started fancifying it. I just wish they had finished what they started instead of leaving an eyesore.
From AOL:
Five Things The Airlines Don’t Want You To Know:
Fewer checked bags means more sandbags in the cargo hold
Next time the pilot makes an announcement that you’re being delayed at the gate while a few extra bags are loaded below, consider what might be being hoisted into the cargo holds instead. Adding sandbags to correct weight and balance in an airplane by providing ballast and redistributing weight has long been a common practice in the airline industry. But ever since the new checked bag fees were introduced on many airlines, with fewer passengers checking bags as a result, there’s been an upturn in the need to add ballast before takeoff, particularly on smaller commuter flights that are more sensitive to weight issues.
“The weight balance of the aircraft is set up to where they’re usually expecting a certain amount of bags to balance out the plane,” explains the captain for a major U.S. airline. “So if we have 50 passengers on board, we expect 50 bags and that offsets the weight of the passengers and balances out the aircraft to give it the right center of gravity for take off.
“But what happens now, with charging so much for bags, is that people carry on so there’s a weight balance problem. Because of that we end up carrying sometimes 500 or 600 pounds of sand bags to even us out.”
Didn’t know that (it’s interesting) - but it doesn’t seem like a big deal. That’s like 3-4 people. Not a lot of extra weight for a passenger plane, especially of that’s worst case (as the wording implies).
I would prefer seeing a charge for CARRYON and checked bags fly free. I seldom have a carryon larger than a computer case and I see people moving their household onboard as carryon.
I’m with you, Jim. You can’t fly anymore without seeing lazyarse folks sitting at the back of the plane “drop off” their 19″ suitcase in the bins at the front because they can’t be bothered to drag it an extra 20 feet.
Amen. This is a much better idea than the idiocy of charging for checked baggage, which has had predictable consequences.
I wouldn’t. When I travel I pack a small wheeled bag so that there’s no risk of the airline losing my clothes. I am a frequent flier so I can check for free, but once was enough for lost luggage. And I know how to pack light.
And I know how to pack light.
I don’t now that I live in Brazil. Last month:
3-70lb bags 1-50lb roller carry-on. 1-20lb backpack.
There is a lot of stuff you can’t find easily in Rio.
Like:
Books, (my kind of Books)
Pure maple syrup
Bays spice
Other kinds of Spices (taco mix, chili mix, )
Cranberry sauce
Trader Joe stuff
Ranch Dressing dry mix
Replacement parts for American appliances
Horseradish
Good BBQ sauce
A really good American made guitar and music stuff
Makers Mark, Wild Turkey,
Mac and computer Stuff (They got it but it’s very expensive)
So many odds and ends that my back hurt. Brazil is cool. So is America.
Enjoy your lost luggage then, ya’ll.
I traveled regularly in the late 70s and all 80s, sporadically in the 90s and early 00s, mostly on business. Since 2005 most travel for personal, vacation, and fun purposes. I never lost a bag except for on time. I had a bag delayed in 1984 traveling St Louis to Tampa, Ozark Airlines.
Lambert field closed 15 minutes after I checked my bag due to blizzard. I spent the two days holed up at the Marriott and caught the first available flight out after the airport reopened. The bag made it to me within 8 hours.
A steadfast rule I have though is that I watch until the checking agent has put the destination tag on my bags and I verify they have the correct destination.
U.S. Stocks Fluctuate on Spain Budget Concerns, Jobless Claims
U.S. stocks fell, a day after the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index halted a four-day slide, as concern about Spain’s fiscal stability and a slowdown in manufacturing wiped out early gains triggered by a drop in jobless claims.
Guess? Inc. fell 11 percent after its forecast trailed analyst estimates. Cisco Systems Inc. and Intel Corp. lost the most in the Dow Jones Industrial Average after a court ruled Spain’s method of auditing sales tax was illegal and the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City said manufacturing growth stalled in the region.
NewPage Is `Increasingly Toxic’ as Cerberus Buys Debt, CreditSights Says
NewPage Corp., the coated-paper maker owned by Cerberus Capital Management LP, is looking “increasingly toxic,” according to CreditSights Inc.
“In light of the latest coated-paper data in North America we now believe the impetus on the operating front has slowed,” and the firm “looks increasingly toxic,” analysts Rahul Gandhi and Chris Ucko at the New York based bond-research firm said in an Aug. 25 report. Investors should “stay out of the name,” they said.
NewPage’s $1.77 billion of 11.375 percent senior secured bonds due 2014 have declined 10.5 cents to 81.25 cents on the dollar since the day before the Miamisburg, Ohio-based company reported a $174 million second-quarter loss on Aug. 5, according to Trace, the bond-price reporting system of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
Its second-lien debt is priced near 33 cents on the dollar, showing the market is “starting to price in the risk of potential default on the company’s cash coupons,” due in the fourth quarter, the analysts wrote.
DOW 10,000!
Bets on closing under 10k?
I give it about an 8.3% chance.
I’ll go out on a thin limb, and say it closes below the magic 10,000 today.
Tomorrow some “unexpected” good news will close it over 10,000 going into the weekend.
Well there you go. They’d better hope the serfs have something better to do that watch CNBC tonite.
Color me shocked. It was looking for sure like the PPT was in the zone today. They sure doinked one off the rim at the end there though.
The Fed Can Print More Money, But It Can’t Print Jobs
CNBC
Did the Fed choose stimulus over dollar stability? The greenback fell and gold rose after the FOMC signaled today that it would keep its balance sheet steady by reinvesting the proceeds of mortgage bonds into Treasurys. This is the first Fed policy shift in about a year. It comes in response to a slower economy and disappointing job numbers, with the Fed downgrading its economic outlook in its FOMC statement.
“Fiscal policy is the obstacle right now, not a shortage of money.”
By itself, this is a modest move. But it could be the start of something bigger. If recovery conditions continue to slow, the Fed could be more aggressive by monetizing more Treasury debt and expanding the balance sheet to print money. If it does that, the dollar will depreciate more and gold will rise more. A lot more.
But here’s the central problem. The Fed can print more money, but it can’t print jobs — or capital formation, or productivity. With a trillion dollars of excess bank reserves already in the system, there’s no shortage of money. The recovery is being held up by the tax-and-regulatory threats and anti-business attitude coming out of Washington.
The recovery is being held up by the tax-and-regulatory threats and anti-business attitude coming out of Washington.
Banks might have money, but they are loathe to lend it out. I have a friend who runs a a drilling site clean up business and he’s turning away customers because of cash flow issues. He says no one will give him credit, not even with the purchase orders in hand.
“He says no one will give him credit, not even with the purchase orders in hand”.
That’s really to bad, small community and regional banks meat and potatoes are small business. They keep shutting out hard working small business and they are cutting their own throats.
The recovery is being held up by the tax-and-regulatory threats and anti-business attitude coming out of Washington.
And there you have it. The banks don’t like the new rules and are holding the entire economy hostage by not lending and blaming the government at the same time.
You know, the same GD SOBs who got us into this mess.
And people wonder why I HATE banks.
Scarcity of jobs puts more at risk of foreclosure
One in 10 homeowners with a mortgage face foreclosure, risks closely tied to high unemployment.
WASHINGTON (AP) — One in 10 American households with a mortgage is at risk of losing its home, and the foreclosure crisis could worsen if jobs remain scarce.
About 9.9 percent of homeowners had missed at least one mortgage payment as of June 30, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Thursday. That number, adjusted for seasonal factors, was barely down from a record-high of more than 10 percent as of April 30.
The Labor Department said requests for unemployment benefits fell sharply last week. The drop in first-time claims to a seasonally adjusted 473,000 was the first decline in a month and a hopeful sign after a raft of dismal economic reports.
Still, unemployment claims remain much higher than they would be in a healthy economy. Employers are reluctant to hire as economic growth appears to be slowing.
31,000 is not “sharply.”
The news that former Bush-Cheney campaign manager Ken Mehlman is now openly gay and will fundraise and strategize for the campaign to legalize gay marriage is a stunning reversal. During Mehlman’s tenure as head of the Republican National Committee and as an adviser to the 2004 Bush campaign, Mehlman helped spearhead some of the most aggressively anti-gay initiatives in American politics.
Though his sexuality was something of an open secret in Washington circles, in his public career Mehlman worked on , beginning with the proposed 2004 constitutional amendment to outlaw gay marriage.
This is probably true of most politicians that they are willing to do and say anything to get elected. It boggles my mind that they will drum up hatred against themselves and the ones they care about all for politics and power.
his sexuality was something of an open secret in Washington circles
As was the case with my former Congressman, Jim Kolbe. He was closeted for many years, but got outed back in ‘96. IIRC,
The Advocatedid the honors.Well, you’re probably thinking that being outed spelled the end of his political career, what with his being a Republican from a conservative state.
Nope.
He got elected in ‘96 and served until the ‘06 election year. He’s retired and living in Tucson now.
Oops. I didn’t mean to put a strikeout on the magazine title. It’s The Advocate.
Yep. The party that is the most hostile to gays turns out to have… a lot of gay members.
You can’t buy hypocrisy like that!
Oh, and another little known fact: the party that is the most hostile toward abortion has… medical insurance that pays for abortions.
Yep, gotta love those Repubs.
Lincoln / Nixon / Cheney-Shrub
Pick one…to emulate for “TrueAmerican™” Republican values.
Come on PPT, can’t go below 10,000. Show us your magic.
Back up to 10,017. PPT says “Heck, we’re not even breakin’ a sweat.”
Manipulating the market probably doesn’t cost much money by their standards when volume is low. Maybe it’ll get a little more expensive in a couple more weeks when everybody comes back from vacation.
Awesome!
The turkey is cooked. Next stop DOW 7000.
“The turkey is cooked. Next stop DOW 7000″.
Yep at some point, but tomorrow the PPT will come off the golf course long enough to get “it” up, for the weeks end.
Oof!
——————————————————-
Dow Jones Industrial Average
Market closed
DJIA 9,986
Change -74.25 -0.74%
Volume 176.23m
Aug 26, 2010 4:02 p.m.
A no-show for 12 years, worker in Norfolk still paid
Local Government News Norfolk ~ The Virginian-Pilot
A Community Services Board employee collected a salary with benefits for 12 years and never showed up for work, several City Council members said Wednesday.
Councilman Tommy Smigiel said this and other recent revelations, including the alleged misuse of city credit cards and other city funds, are doing “serious damage” to Norfolk’s image.
The head of the agency refused to identify the employee but acknowledged in response to inquiries from The Virginian-Pilot that an employee was “on the board’s payroll who had not reported to work in years.”
Maureen Womack, the agency’s executive director, said she fired the employee, informed the board that governs her agency and asked City Attorney Bernard A. Pishko to investigate the matter earlier this summer. Pishko’s investigation is nearly complete and will soon be turned over to the Norfolk police, she said.
Womack also refused to divulge the employee’s salary.
The council also was told in a recent closed meeting that at least one other staffer, a Community Services Board supervisor, is being investigated for alleged complicity.
Council members described the investigation as unbelievable and unprecedented.
“It’s so astounding to me, I don’t know what to say,” Councilman Barclay C. Winn said. “I’m embarrassed.”
This does NOT happen without someone KNOWING about it.
Have I mentioned those BIL/political favor deals?
PPT efforting relentlessly.
BB better get to printing, flying and dropping money into our pockets.
Optimists Cut U.S. Forecasts as Jobs, Spending Outlook Dims
Economists who projected the U.S. recovery would gain speed in the second half of the year are now scaling back those forecasts as the outlook for jobs and business investment dims.
ABC radio news is reporting the close below 10,000 as if someone just died. Wonder how they will sound when it’s back down to 8000 next year, or when ever it happens.
Ping-Pong, the problem with this sad assed two party f’d up BS system. One major fault, the masses “trust” politicians no matter how many times they are dry humped.
Trust on Issues
Voters Now Trust Republicans More On All 10 Key Issues
August 26, 2010
Voters now trust Republicans more than Democrats on all 10 of the important issues regularly tracked by Rasmussen Reports.
The GOP has consistently been trusted on most issues for months now, but in July they held the lead on only nine of the key issues.
Republicans lead Democrats 47% to 39% on the economy, which remains the most important issue to voters. Those numbers are nearly identical to those found in June. Republicans have held the advantage on the economy since May of last year.
But for the first time in months, Republicans now hold a slight edge on the issues of government ethics and corruption, 40% to 38%. Voters have been mostly undecided for the past several months on which party to trust more on this issue, but Democrats have held small leads since February. Still, more than one-in-five voters (22%) are still not sure which party to trust more on ethics issues.
Still, more than one-in-five voters (22%) are still not sure which party to trust more on ethics issues.
I say it’s the ones who are black on the right and white on the left and I’ll fight anybody who says otherwise.
The party that hates gays but has a lot of them in the ranks? The party that is against abortion, but has medical insurance that pays for abortions? The party that pushed the hardest for FIRE deregulation and globalization?
TRUST?!
We’re screwed. We’ll have the government, that as complete and utterly contemptible morons we are, we deserve. And that’s why PTB don’t give a damn what we want. Why should they?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yi6XV8yBFoU
Jib-Jab / Ping-Pong / Teeter-Totter:
Republican who helped Shrub campaign against gay marriage is homosexual:
By Toby Harnden in Washington / Published 26 Aug 2010 Telegraph UK
The Republican campaign manager who helped win a second term for President George W Shrub on his anti-gay marriage platform has been accused of hypocrisy after he announced that he is homosexual.
“TrueDeceiver’s™ / TrueHypocrite™” ?
“TruePurity™” ?
“…He hit back against accusations of hypocrisy, saying that one person could not have changed the Cheney-Shrub campaign strategy”
He might be correct here, because Hwy not voting for them amounted to nothing.
LOL!
Bernanke’s best tool now to revive the economic recovery may be his powers of persuasion.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The economy appears to be stalling. Yet the Federal Reserve has run out of simple steps it can take to revive it.
That’s the test facing Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke as he addresses a conference Friday in Jackson Hole, Wyo. Without any easy options left, Bernanke must try to prevent another recession by persuading people and businesses to feel confident enough about the future to spend more today.
Weak consumer spending and a scarcity of jobs have put the economy at risk of lapsing into another downturn. Short-term interest rates near zero have yet to rejuvenate the economy. The benefits of federal stimulus programs are fading, and Congress has declined to pass any major new economic aid.
Look deep into my eyes… you are getting sleepy… sleepy… sle…
Obama Administration Seeks to Tighten U.S. Trade Laws
The Obama administration plans to step up enforcement of trade laws against nations, such as China and Vietnam, that help subsidize companies exporting cheap goods to the U.S.
The U.S. Commerce Department developed 14 proposals to crack down on illegal import practices and require parties to pay the full amount of any duties, according to a statement today. The process to adopt the plan, which the department said is especially aimed at countries where the government has control over markets, will begin later this year.
“Generally, this is targeted at China, and China will see it as such,” said David Spooner, a former Bush administration official now a trade lawyer with Squire Sanders in Washington who represented Chinese companies in a tariffs disputes. “The aim is to raise the price of goods from China.”
The plan is part of the administration’s effort to double exports in the next five years to spur job growth, a goal President Barack Obama set in his State of the Union speech in January. Doubling exports would help support 2 million new jobs, the administration said.
“The plan is part of the administration’s effort to double exports in the next five years ”
Do US Treasuries count as export? We’re exporting a lot of those and we’re on track to doubling those in the next 5 years.
The plan is part of the administration’s effort to double exports in the next five years to spur job growth, a goal President Barack Obama set in his State of the Union speech in January. Doubling exports would help support 2 million new jobs, the administration said.
Doubling exports? Doubling? Rock on Dude! Finally.
Besides Obama calling BS on the Supreme Court, this is the best I’ve heard from him.
He should pick this fight, make his case to America strongly, forcefully and continually and he might strike a nerve.
Beware: This may end up being a warmed-over version of Smoot Hawley, trade being a two-way street and all.
trade being a two-way street and all.
Oh yea? In America since when?
Oh yea? In America since when?
Are you claiming trade currently isn’t a two-way street?
China offers something American consumers want - namely, cheap goods. China wants something we want - dollars.
How is that not a two-way street?
Just because American consumers are stupid doesn’t mean it’s not a two-way street.
Are you claiming trade currently isn’t a two-way street?
Of course I am claiming that trade currently is NOT a two way street. Do you think I am not?
China offers something American consumers want
If Americans totally understood what they had to give up for those cheap goods (jobs, security, the ability to be responsible for their economic destiny) Americans would not have done it. We got hosed by greedy, self-absorbed, parasite evil-doers.
We were shafted by NAFTA, China becoming a MFN. etc etc.
American’s are starting to understand. It’s so basic.
We got hosed by greedy, self-absorbed, parasite evil-doers.
I’m not a fan of the average American consumer, either, but I’m not sure I’d call them ALL those names!
Since August 11,2010 the tally for U.S. exports is 1.8 trillion dollars. Somebody(s) somewhere(s) is buying what we produce.
Since August 11,2010 the tally for U.S. exports is 1.8 trillion dollars. Somebody(s) somewhere(s) is buying what we produce.
Right on. By Aug 11, 2015 the goal will be 3.6 Trillion.
And an impersonal shout out:
You know what? After this BS economy, the lies, the corporate BS, I don’t give a damn about being scared of currency collapses, trade wars, bank failures, deflation, inflation or anything. Their lies don’t scare me any more.
It’s time we protect, promote and defend American citizens, our jobs, our way of life and our long term future. It that involves stepping on some Chinese toes, tightening our belt, and sacrificing so be it.
And yes, my future is tied in with the USA economy.
28% of Ga. mortgages underwater ~ Atlanta Business Chronicle
Some 28 percent of homeowners in Georgia were underwater in their mortgages in the second quarter.
CoreLogic reported Thursday 449,969 negative equity mortgages out of the Peach State’s 1,601,921 total mortgages.
A borrower is in negative equity if he or she owes more on the mortgage than the home is worth.
CoreLogic also reported 11 million, or 23 percent, of all residential properties with mortgages in the United States were in negative equity at the end of the second quarter, down from 11.2 million and 24 percent from the first quarter of 2010. Foreclosures, rather than meaningful price appreciation, were the primary driver in the change in negative equity.
Negative equity remains concentrated in five states: Nevada, which had the highest percentage negative equity with 68 percent of all of its mortgaged properties underwater, followed by Arizona (50 percent), Florida (46 percent), Michigan (38 percent) and California (33 percent).
Giant corporate American chemical companies (Monsanto, DuPont) controlling the food supply, with some Chinese chemicals thrown in to boot- enjoy that frankenfood.
Grant began to back-pedal on price in April after Monsanto’s new Smartstax corn and Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybeans, the company’s most advanced and expensive seeds, fell short of sales targets for 2010 planting. Grant, also facing a glut of generic glyphosate herbicide from China, was forced to retract his 2007 pledge to double earnings in five years.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-24/dupont-gains-on-too-big-for-britches-monsanto-as-farmers-switch-seeds.html
GrizzlyBear-
Thank you for that link. I follow Articles & Documentaries on our food supply. I’ll read it tonight. Much appreciated.
Previously:
“Today it’s being reported that the US Gov’t has,…REVOKED 100% the Corporate Charter to engage in ANY business in the US of A from: MONSANTO”
(Suddenly Hwy drops his garden spade, stands up and stares blankly at his heritage grape tomatoes…speechless)
“In other news, it’s being reported that Xe Corporation has won yet another “non-bid” contract to protect un-named US Gov’t officials from being harassed by their local constituents…”
Monsanto dropped $1.39, or 2.4 percent, to $55.93, having plunged 32 percent in 2010
Some farmers believe they have been buying something they don’t need
(Monsanto)… is trying to spur a recovery by breaking with his previous strategy. He’s cutting prices on the newest innovations, while offering seeds with fewer genetic bells and whistles
(Hwy reads between their genetic lines)…Monsinto to farmers: “…you don’t know Shasta, we are the geniuses…now go sign on the dotted line for yet BIGGER & more expensive Deere equipment, you’re gonna need it,… oh, and purchase tons more chemical fertilizer, …or would you rather not “farm” 10,000 acres?
“These f@!king Guys!,” Jon Stewart.
BWAHAHAHicHAHAHicHAHAHAHAHicHAHAHic* (DennisN™)
Ho ho, hah hah, hehehehehehe, BwaHaHaAhHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! (Cantankerous Intellectual Bomb-thrower™)
How can a settlement in the millions make amends for damages in the trillions?
The Financial Times
US judge rejects Citi’s $75m deal with SEC
By Jean Eaglesham and Justin Baer
Published: August 17 2010 01:07 | Last updated: August 17 2010 01:07
A federal judge on Monday refused to approve Citigroup’s $75m deal with the Securities and Exchange Commission to settle charges related to subprime mortgages.
Attorneys for the bank and the regulator will have to submit a new round of court filings next month, after Judge Ellen Huvelle requested more information on the settlement deal reached by Citigroup with the SEC.
The judicial demand comes after Bank of America earlier this year increased its settlement with the SEC to $150m. That followed court refusal to rubber stamp an initial $33m agreement to settle charges related to the bank’s acquisition of Merrill Lynch.
…
Another new listing in my neighborhood. 1600 sq feet, 3 beds, 2 baths. Bought by an older couple for $154,000 in 1993. Refinanced for $459,000 in 2006. Listed at $399,000 as a short sale. Will go for much less, I predict, as there are several larger houses for the same price, not short sales, just sitting there. Tons of inventory, prices slowly falling.
Devalued Homes Anchor Prospective Job Seekers
(read and audio too- under 5 minutes.)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129427659
(HBBers nailed this issue before the MSM.)
HBBers nailed this issue before the MSM.
As we have done on many other housing bubble-related issues. (Yay, team!)
Az Slim
So true, and so often. HBBers are like a family. Only, you’re all smart and aren’t annoying.
New Jersey Loses $400 Million in Education Funding Over Silly Application Error
New Jersey was not among the winning states announced yesterday in the Obama administration’s “Race to the Top” contest for federal education funding. The only reason? A single clerical error on its application. And it’ll cost the state $400 million.
New Jersey missed the cut by 3 points, by the Education Department’s scoring system. But for one response on page 261 of the lengthy application, the state was awarded 0.2 points out of 5. Why? The question asked for fiscal year 2008 and 2009 figures, and the New Jersey employee filling out the application responded with 2011 figures. Had they filled in the right year, the response would’ve likely earned 5 points, the application would’ve passed, and New Jersey would’ve received $400 million in education funding.
So that sucks.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is so angry, he could eat a whole elementary school!
Christie slapped two thick three-ringed binders on the podium containing more than 1,000 pages of the state’s “Race to the Top” application and appendices, noting that just one piece of paper contained the error.
“The first part of it is the mistake of putting the wrong piece of paper in,” Christie said. “It drives people crazy and, believe me, I’m not thrilled about it. But the second part is, does anybody in Washington, D.C. have a lick of common sense? Pick up the phone and ask us for the number.”
http://gawker.com/5622065/new-jersey-loses-400-million-in-education-funding-over-silly-application-error
In the same vein, the application for HUBZone certification for my biz just got bounced.
Reason: On one of the questions, I answered as if I were the owner of my business, rather than an employee. Turns out that, in that case, I should have characterized myself as an employee.
Hey, it’s just one question. And now I know how to answer it. (I called the SBA and asked them why I’d been bounced.)
And I can re-submit my application in a month.
“… does anybody in Washington D.C. have a lick of common sense?”
Reminds me of and incident I once heard at work:
A guy put in a job transfer to another part of the company. The new job required that one drive a motor vehicle. The guy ended up not getting the job. It was years later when he learned of the reason:
The job application asked if there any special skills the applicant was bringing to the new job. He responded that he could drive a stick shift.
He was turned down for the job because he was deemed not qualified because all the company vehicles in the part of the company he was trying to transfer into are equiped with automatic transmissions.
Gee gov. maybe you shouldn’t have been so damn cheap and maybe hired someone to, I dunno, PROOF the thing before you sent it?
Pot, meet kettle.
I think it probably had more to do with that republican governor New Jersey `s got than anything.
More news from the ministry of propaganda. So thick you need a bulldozer.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Workers with specialized skills like electricians, carpenters and welders are in critically short supply in many large economies, a shortfall that marks another obstacle to the global economic recovery, a research paper by Manpower Inc (NYSE:MAN - News) concludes.
“It becomes a real choke-point in future economic growth,” Manpower Chief Executive Jeff Joerres said. “We believe strongly this is really an issue in the labor market.”
The global staffing and employment services company says employers, governments and trade groups need to collaborate on strategic migration policies that can alleviate such worker shortages. Skilled work is usually specific to a given location: the work cannot move, so the workers have to.
The shortage of skilled workers is the No. 1 or No. 2 hiring challenge in six of the 10 biggest economies, Manpower found in a recent survey of 35,000 employers. Skilled trades were the top area of shortage in 10 of 17 European countries, according to the survey.
While the short-term way to address to shortages is to embrace migration, the long-term solution is to change attitudes toward skilled trades, Manpower argues.
Since the 1970s, parents have been told that a university degree — and the entry it affords into the so-called knowledge economy — was the only track to a financially secure profession. But all of the skilled trades offer a career path with an almost assured income, Joerres said, and make it possible to open one’s own business.
In the United States, recession and persistent high unemployment may lead parents and young people entering the workforce to reconsider their options.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Lack-of-skilled-workers-rb-1457929627.html?x=0
“Since the 1970s, parents have been told that a university degree was the only track to a financially secure profession.”
Imagine for a second that this is part of a wider subtle campaign to get Americans to lower their expectations for the future? Yeah, it’s a bit convoluted - but the PTB must surely know by now that universities are cranking out more debt laden grads than the system can absorb.
In the late 1980s they told us there would be a dire shortage of aircraft mechanics. So, I went to A&P school. Guess what? The shortage never really materialized. Sure, by the late 1990s hiring was strong - but look how long that lasted. By 2001 the industry was in free fall again.
“In the late 1980s, they told us there would be a dire shortage of aircraft mechanics…….”
Let me fix it for you: “…….aircraft mechanics who will work for table scraps, because their business model depends on it.”
Five hundred years from now, Manpower Inc. will be releasing research papers saying that there will be a shortage of intergalactic spacecraft mechanics.
If we actually had a “free market” economy, the problem would fix itself…….employers would have to pay more to get the skilled people they needed, and other employers would have to follow suit, people would get into the field because of the attractive salaries, and eventually, equilibrium ensues…..
Instead, business starts crying about “shortages of qualified people”, threatens to move their factory/shop, and the local idiot savants in state and local government start “job training programs”, designed by the business, to fill the so-called shortage. Essentially, outsourcing their training department to local government.
Robert Scheer’s Columns
They Go or Obama Goes
Posted on Aug 25, 2010
By Robert Scheer
Barack Obama and the Democrats he led to a stunning victory two years ago are going down hard in the face of an economic crisis that he did nothing to create but which he has failed to solve. That is somewhat unfair because the basic blame belongs to his predecessors, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, who let the bulls of Wall Street run wild in the streets where ordinary folks lived. And there was universal Republican support in Congress for the radical deregulation of the financial industry that produced this debacle.
The core issue for the economy is the continued cost of a housing bubble made possible only after what Clinton Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers back then trumpeted as necessary “legal certainty” was provided to derivative packages made up of suspect Alt-A and subprime mortgages. It was the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, which Senate Republican Phil Gramm drafted and which Clinton signed into law, that made legal the trafficking in packages of dubious home mortgages. In any decent society the creation of such untenable mortgages and the securitization of risk irrationally associated with it would have been judged a criminal scam. But no such judgment was possible because thanks to Wall Street’s sway under Clinton and Bush the bankers got to rewrite the laws to sanction their treachery.
It is Obama’s continued deference to the sensibilities of the financiers and his relative indifference to the suffering of ordinary people that threaten his legacy, not to mention the nation’s economic well-being.
…
There is no way that Obama can begin to seriously reverse this course without shedding the economic team led by the Clinton-era “experts” like Summers and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner who got us into this mess in the first place. They are spooked by one overwhelmingly crippling idea—don’t rattle the financial titans whom we must rely on for investment.
…
Obama gained credibility through sacking Gen. Stanley McChrystal for making untoward remarks. Why not sack Summers and Geithner for untoward policies that have inflicted such misery on the general public?
Click here to check out Robert Scheer’s new book, “The Great American Stickup: How Reagan Republicans and Clinton Democrats Enriched Wall Street While Mugging Main Street.”
Shorting Economists: The ‘Experts’ Keep Getting it Wrong
Posted on Aug 19, 2010
By Steven Hill
That modern-day guild known as “economists” has been on a self-righteous rampage lately. This latest rash of finger-wagging was kicked off by the Greek debt crisis. Looking at tiny Greece, these economic Cassandras foresee a menacing future for the entire global economy if President Barack Obama and Europe don’t rein in their budget deficits.
Of course, dramatic tales of impending collapse are good for the economics business. Gloom and doom sell magazines and get you on talk shows. But it is not obvious to me why anyone should take seriously most of the people calling themselves economists. After all, the vast majority of these same “experts,” despite spending millions on research and analysis, completely missed an $8 trillion housing bubble in the United States, as well as housing bubbles in the U.K., Spain and Ireland.
…
This story brings to mind a point in the 19th Century when the entire Central Valley was literally under water.
Central Valley awash in worthless homes
SANTA ANA
August 26, 2010 7:36am
• Many markets have at least half of homes underwater
• Stockton has more than 80,000 homes underwater
• UPDATED @ 8:05 a.m. with Bakersfield number, additional details
Mortgages exceed home values across the Central Valley, with more than six out of ten homes in Stockton, for example, underwater, according to new reports Thursday from real estate information company CoreLogic Inc. of Santa Ana.
While Stockton is the deepest underwater market reported by CoreLogic, it has plenty of company.
• In Modesto, 59.6 percent, or 58,892, of all residential properties with a mortgage were in negative equity for second quarter 2010. An additional 4.9 percent, or 4,875, were in near negative equity in Modesto.
• In Stockton, 62.4 percent, or 80,505, of all residential properties with a mortgage were in negative equity for second quarter 2010. That’s nearly three times the national average. An additional 4.1 percent, or 5,257 homes, were in near negative equity in Stockton.
• In Fresno, 46.8 percent, or 71,850, of all residential properties with a mortgage were in negative equity for second quarter 2010. An additional 4.6 percent, or 6,985, were in near negative equity in Fresno.
• In metropolitan Sacramento, 43.4 percent, or 214,468, of all residential properties with a mortgage were in negative equity for second quarter 2010. An additional 4.6 percent, or 22,726, were in near negative equity in Sacramento–Arden-Arcade–Roseville.
• In Visalia-Porterville, 44.8 percent, or 31,027, of all residential properties with a mortgage were in negative equity for second quarter 2010. An additional 4.8 percent, or 3,346, were in near negative equity in Visalia-Porterville.
• In Bakersfield-Delano, 52.0 percent, or 79,891, of all residential properties with a mortgage were in negative equity for second quarter 2010. An additional 4.8 percent, or 7,298, were in near negative equity in Bakersfield-Delano.
…
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
A new normal for real estate?
The bad news continues to get worse. With existing home sales experiencing a record decline and dropping way beyond what all economists expected, who knows when the housing market will recover, if ever. Everyone, from politicians and government officials to underwater homeowners and developers, are desperately following every bit of real estate data that comes out, looking for any signs that point to a brighter future.
Many experts say that real estate will not get better until unemployment improves. However, some economists also say that a higher than average unemployment rate may be the new normal. It will not be above 10%, like it is currently, but it may never get back down to the average of 5%. If that is the case, could the current deflating, stagnant housing market be real estate’s new normal?
…
Manchester United owners the Glazers default on more American shopping mall mortgage payments - report
25 Aug 2010 10:37:00
For all the latest reports and transfer rumours, visit our dedicated section here.
Manchester United’s owners, the Glazer family, are facing up to more financial issues relating to their business interests in the United States, according to a report from The Guardian.
Four more of the shopping malls owned by the family have fallen into default on their mortgages, meaning that nine in total have defaulted — with four of those actually going bankrupt.
A further 29 out of the 68 malls owned by the Glazers’ First Allied Corporation are now so empty of retail units that the revenue they generate does not cover the mortgage payments.
The interest rate charged on United’s enormous ‘payment-in-kind debts’ is set to rise from 14.25 per cent to 16.25% this month, so the news comes at a bad time for the Glazers.
…
“Payment-in-kind debts”. Lol, what a scam.
In case one wonders what “payment-in-kind” is all about (aka PIK) its where you get to fork over your hard-earned money to buy a bond from a company and the company pays you interest on the bond “in kind”, meaning they pay you in the form of another bond.
The rich are very different from you and me: They have everything to lose.
* The Wall Street Journal
* WRITING ON THE WALL
* AUGUST 26, 2010
Prozac for the Rich
The Bush Tax Cuts Should Be Extended, If Only to Avoid Withdrawal
* By DAVID WEIDNER
Pity the rich. They are a fragile bunch.
Give them a sunny economic outlook and there’s no vacation home they won’t buy. Hint that the economy is in the tank and threaten a tax increase, and they’ll hoard and panic like a squirrel in an October snow.
Witness the trepidation of Blackstone Group LP co-founder Stephen Schwarzman. Asked about potential new taxes for the private-equity industry, Mr. Schwarzman lost a little perspective. A “war,” he called it. “It’s like when Hitler invaded Poland in 1939.”
Not everyone who’s affluent shares Mr. Schwarzman’s level of alarm, but the reality of our economic situation has as much to do with our psychology as it does with the raw numbers. And even the numbers point to extending the Bush tax cuts, at least until the economy is back on its feet.
Sure, there’s economic disparity. Yes, the deficit is a lingering issue. Certainly, the economic benefit of cutting taxes is debatable.
But as much as it irks our sense of fairness, the rich have the power when it comes to stimulating the economy. The affluent not only sit on a load of disposable income, they are decision makers in the corporate world. They’re the ones who have piled up cash in their companies, fearing the worst during the last three years. They’re the ones who have resisted hiring.
Did I mention the affluent are fragile?
They scare easily. Even before the financial crisis hit and the markets swooned, the richest Americans were cutting back. A survey by the American Affluence Research Center in early 2008 found that 55% of wealthy Americans, those earning more than $315,600 annually, were cutting spending.
…
the American Affluence Research Center in early 2008 found that 55% of wealthy Americans, those earning more than $315,600 annually, were cutting spending.
Glenbeckinstan: “dude’s & dudette’s… you can’t take it with you, buy Gold!”