The Housing Bubble

The Reno paper had a longish story about their local residential RE market.

What struck me was this guy who thought he’d finance a retirement - in Texas - with his house in Reno. There are so many things that don’t make sense in his story.

Texas is a poor choice for retirement. Having no state income tax they really sock it to you on property tax. Right when this guy retires to a lower income, he wants to move to Texas?

It would make more sense, with respect to the job market and to taxes, to work in Texas and retire to Reno!

I guess I never understood the siren call of RE investing in Reno of all places. There was a story about a year ago about some dufus schoolteacher in someplace like Walnut Creek or Lafayette (CA) that took 100% of her retirement savings to buy 10 houses in Reno with minimal downpayment. She obviously went bankrupt. Investing 100% in RE is insane. Even investing a smaller portion but putting it all into one market is insane.

Gonna be a great day. I feel so much better now that I’ve paid for a bunch of WS ultra-rich types to keep the lifestyle to which they have become accustomed.

If I would just stop being a saver and start living debt, then I would be happy and prosperous, too.

Roidy

Another worthless political lifer gets his azz handed to him, by one of those tea party nuts. These wins really drive the bed wetting, thumb sucking party hacks crazy and nervous. Good!

Tea Party-Backed O’Donnell Stuns in Delaware Senate Primary(AP)

Tea Party favorite Christine O’Donnell soundly defeats veteran politician Mike Castle for the Republican Senate nomination in Delaware, posing a major upset to the political establishment.

We need the ultra wealthy elites…… we NEED them.

Mortgage Applications Index in U.S. Declines for a Second Week

The Mortgage Bankers Association’s index fell 8.9 percent in the week ended Sept. 10, the Washington-based group said today. Refinancing declined by 11 percent, while applications for purchases dropped 0.4 percent.

Demand for homes is being hampered by unemployment near a 26-year high. At the same time, lending rates near record lows may support refinance applications among homeowners who still have equity in their homes and can qualify for loans.

Real IRA says it will target UK bankers
the guardian
Banks and bankers are now potential targets for the Real IRA, leaders of the dissident republican terror group have warned in an exclusive interview with the Guardian. Despite having only 100 activists they also said that targets in England remained a high priority.

In an attempt to tap into the intense hostility towards the banks on both sides of the Irish border they branded bankers as “criminals” and said: “We have a track record of attacking high-profile economic targets and financial institutions such as the City of London. The role of bankers and the institutions they serve in financing Britain’s colonial and capitalist system has not gone unnoticed.

“Let’s not forget that the bankers are the next-door neighbours of the politicians. Most people can see the picture: the bankers grease the politicians’ palms, the politicians bail out the bankers with public funds, the bankers pay themselves fat bonuses and loan the money back to the public with interest. It’s essentially a crime spree that benefits a social elite at the expense of many millions of victims.”

Sleazy Megabanks doing what sleazy megabanks do best:

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/09/15/1825108/major-banks-boost-payday-loan.html

SoCal home sales drop 13.8 percent in August

Channel 7 Evening News Los Angeles (last night) -A renter talks up renting, and a buyer talks about waiting,rental firm talks about deals… hooray!
This video segment on MSM is exactly what I’ve been waiting for.

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/consumer&id=7668299

U.S. Home Prices Face Three-Year Drop as Inventory Surge Looms
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-15/u-s-home-prices-face-three-year-drop-as-inventory-surge-looms.html

Fed $$$ at work in sunny Mesa, AZ:

Mesa, Chandler (Arizona) receive $5.3 million to buy foreclosed homes - East Valley Tribune 9-14-10

Mesa and Chandler have secured $5.3 million in federal funds to continue buying foreclosed homes in especially troubled areas.

This is the second round of funds for the cities, which have gutted rundown homes and resold them to low- to moderate-income people. Also, some funds have refurbished apartments to be used by nonprofit organizations.

Mesa was awarded $4 million last week, in addition to $9.6 million it received previously. The city has used its first round of money after buying 37 homes and 33 apartments.

Mesa’s purchases have been south and east of downtown in the 85204 zip code, which suffers from the city’s highest foreclosure rate. The city has purchased some of the most blighted properties in that area, giving them a new look with paint, landscaping and interiors to buildings dating from the 1950s and 1960s.

“You get a practically new home when all is said and done,” said Ray Thimesch, who coordinates the city’s neighborhood stabilization program.

Mayor Scott Smith said he typically prefers to let market forces address problems, but he said government intervention was necessary to turn around some areas where developers aren’t willing to invest.

“This is an area where the market has failed us as a community,” Smith said.

Mesa is still renovating some homes, and will use proceeds from the sales to buy and restore other homes until the fund is depleted. The city aims to renovate about 50-60 houses.

Mesa’s new $4 million should allow it to renovate another 35 homes, Thimesch said.

($4 million / 35 homes = $114,285.71 per home worth of “renovations”. Most if not all of these places were worth much less than $114,000 before renovations.)

How many times so far did responsible homeowners have to resend aid to the irresponsible ones?

Responsible homeowners resent aid to the irresponsible

Suing: Anthony and April Soper of Lake Stevens, Wash., might be part of a class action lawsuit against Bank of America over mortgage modification.

By Steve G. Schneider for USA TODAY

Are the homeowners profiled in the article “Loan modification snags spark suits” seriously expecting average Americans to support their lawsuit? The cover story refers to a couple in Lake Stevens, Wash., suing Bank of America because their $4,000 monthly mortgage was not permanently reduced (Money, Friday).

Photographs that accompanied the story show what appears to be a large luxury home and manicured lawn. Call me old fashioned, but I fail to see why U.S. taxpayers and Bank of America should subsidize extravagant home buyers with champagne tastes and beer budgets.

Helping folks dealing with chronic unemployment, disease or other tragedy is one thing. Using tax dollars to finance designer kitchens and professional landscaping is quite another. Even in the event of bankruptcy or foreclosure, it’s likely that the couple will continue to reside in their luxury home, free of payments, for two years before the bank actually takes the home back.
…

“I don’t see how it went down that much in those years. It should have gone up,” Says woman who refinanced her house in 2004 for $145,000 and is trying to sell it for $90,000

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100912/BUSINESS05/100919919/0/FRONTPAGE

This article points out the precise reason that it is absolutely essential for the PTB to ensure that another sharp decline in U.S. housing prices or in commercial real estate does not occur. The big question is whether this plan is feasible, given other constraints.

Banks bounce back, but can they handle next crisis?
…
“They have more capital. Much better management of their liquidity. In general, they’re being more cautious,” says Simon Johnson, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “But the overall culture remains the same, and the system is largely unreformed.”

Last year’s government-run stress tests led to the nation’s 19 largest banks raising $205 billion in capital to buttress themselves against future losses. Another sharp decline in U.S. housing prices or in commercial real estate could yet hammer bank balance sheets. Likewise, if Europe’s major banks suffer significant losses on their holdings of government debt from countries such as Greece or Ireland, U.S. banks could feel the aftershocks. If the economy sinks into a double-dip recession, U.S. banks would need to raise an additional $80 billion in capital, the International Monetary Fund concluded this summer.

“Stability is tenuous. … Bank balance sheets remain fragile, and capital buffers may still be inadequate in the face of further increases in non-performing loans,” said the 51-page IMF study.
…

Some of you Harry Reid lovers on this sight must be getting indigestion . He is running against “Alley Cat Angle” . She will win .

Special Report: Blue-collar, unemployed and seeing red

FERNDALE, Michigan (Reuters) - Scott Stevenson was only 10 years old when he first heard grown-ups voice the gloomy words that, in retrospect, predicted the disappointing arc his life has taken.

“I remember them actually telling us that our generation would be the first not to be better off than our parents,” said the 39-year-old Stevenson. “It was fifth grade and I remember thinking, ‘How do you know?’”

Three decades later, the pessimistic prognostication he was so quick to dismiss as a boy now seems, as he put it, “like a prophecy.”

Stevenson is one of the 14.9 million U.S. workers who are officially jobless, according to the latest statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor. More depressingly, he is also among the 6.2 million unfortunate enough to have been that way for 27 weeks or more — a beleaguered cohort that the government dubs the “long-term unemployed.”

Over the past four years, Stevenson has lost almost everything. His $38,000-a-year factory job as well as the three-bedroom home it helped him buy are gone. Two years ago, when his mortgage company finally foreclosed on him, he moved into the basement of his parents’ home.

“I hate it,” he said. “It’s driving me nuts. I’m almost 40 years old and I’m not able to take care of myself. But I don’t have any other option.”

In June, after 99 weeks on the dole, his unemployment benefits ran out. He hasn’t had to sell his truck and work tools — yet — and he recently picked up some temporary contract work that put a little cash in his pocket. But he spends most of his days at his parents’ home, trawling the Internet for jobs that don’t pan out or playing computer games — “anything,” he said, “that doesn’t cost money.”

On warm days, he takes his bike out for a ride around the neighborhood. It’s an older subdivision than where he lived, filled with solid-looking but modestly sized brick homes.

It sits alongside I-696, a highway dedicated to Walter Reuther, the union organizer whose strikes against Ford Motor Co and General Motors in the early 1940s forced the U.S. car industry to recognize the United Auto Workers union. In the process, Reuther helped produce this country’s blue-collar, middle class, a group whose prosperity helped shape the post-war U.S. economy and was, for decades, the envy of workers worldwide.

Reuther died in 1970 and the dream he helped create began unraveling soon thereafter as employment in manufacturing — the sector that, together with construction, reliably sustained the blue-collar middle class — steadily shrank.

But the U.S. recession and the nearly simultaneous restructuring of the auto industry have delivered the most savage one-two punch that class has absorbed in a generation. Of the more than 8 million U.S. jobs lost in the downturn, nearly half were in either manufacturing or construction — higher-wage sectors that traditionally provided entry-level jobs that turned into well-paying careers jobs for people like Stevenson, whose formal education stopped after high school.

In a midterm election year, where the economy is issue No. 1, his plight and that of millions of men and women like him helps explain the sagging support for President Barack Obama’s Democratic party, which is expected to see its majorities in the House of Representatives and Senate eroded in the November 2 vote.

One of the people voting Republican that day will be Stevenson’s mom, 63-year-old Joan Stevenson. The daughter of a machinist and a self-described “Jack Kennedy Democrat,” she voted for Obama in 2008 but has been disappointed by how little his administration’s polices have helped unemployed workers like her son.

“The Democratic Party isn’t what it used to be for us,” she said. “The philosophy used to be if the Democratic Party was in power everybody got a piece of the pie, and if the Republicans were in power the rich got a piece of the pie. Now, nobody is getting a piece of the pie.”

Outlook Clouds Fed Move
Officials Disagree Over Threshold for Further Action to Boost Economy.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704285104575491813115042140.html

`Death Spiral’ Awaits State-Worker Pensions as Illinois Leads Underfunding
(Who didn’t see this coming?)
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-15/-death-spiral-awaits-state-worker-pensions-as-illinois-leads-underfunding.html

WT Economist.

The Good News — It’s always fun to hate your parents and older people.

The Bad news — You’re gonnan get old too.

(unless of corse, somebody from AARP squashes you with an electric scooter..or something)

Up the Revolution …and NEVER trust anyone under 55 !!

Okay, where do you learn all those cute hyper text protitcals to make things bold, struck through, etc ? Oh now i see, in the below box.

PB - response to this from yesterday:

Comment by Professor Bear
2010-09-14 22:14:55

What I can’t fathom is why the Fed’s ZIRP seems to (so far) be working to prop up asset prices when Japan’s version (apparently) failed.

My response would be:
- Even though the Japs have had a ZIRP for 15 years now - they didn’t have nearly the aggressive QE that the U.S. has done.
- I wouldn’t call Japan’s attempt to prop up prices a failure. Contrary to popular myth Japan has not experienced significant deflation, only lack of inflation; at least in general prices (like us, they did have significant real estate depreciation). Without their ZIRP, I’m certain they would have experienced massive deflation.

States cutting benefits for public-sector retirees

By GEOFF MULVIHILL and SUSAN HAIGH (AP) – 5 hours ago

TRENTON, N.J. — The security guards at the headquarters of New Jersey’s pension fund have never seen anything like it before: lines of public employees extending out the door and into the street.

Day after day, workers come in droves to apply for retirement. They often line up before dawn.

The rush has been set off in part by Republican Gov. Chris Christie’s campaign in this cash-strapped state to make government employment — and retirement — less lucrative.

Since 2008, New Jersey and at least 19 other states from Wyoming to Rhode Island have rolled back pension benefits or seriously considered doing do — and not just for new hires, but for current employees and people already retired.

After telegraphing his intentions for months, Christie spelled out the details of his proposal Tuesday. They include: repealing an increase in benefits approved years ago; eliminating automatic cost-of-living adjustments; raising the retirement age to 65 from 60 in many cases; reducing pension payouts for many future retirees; and requiring some employees to contribute more to their pensions.

“We must reverse the damage caused by fairy-tale promises that have fattened benefits and pensions to unsustainable levels,” the governor said.

To be sure, the looming benefit changes are not the only reason many public employees in New Jersey are retiring. Some say they want out for the usual reasons — to spend time with the grandchildren or go fishing, for example — or complain that government layoffs and other cutbacks are making work unbearable. But other employees figure that by retiring now, they can lock in certain benefits before it is too late.

William Liberty started as a trash collector in Lindenwold 37 years ago and worked his way up to a job as public works supervisor. But his pay has been frozen for two years and he has to take an unpaid furlough day a month. And given Christie’s pension cut proposals, “it’s going to get worse,” Liberty said.

He hoped to keep the job until he turned 65. But at 62, he went last week to the state pension office to see about retiring soon.

Christie has warned that New Jersey’s pension fund will go belly up unless something is done to close the $46 billion gap between how much the state expects to bring into the system and how much it has promised to workers. Other states’ pension funds are in shaky condition, too.

Re: joey from yesterday:

the rich country’s wages would fall and the poor country’s wages would rise.

So, in theory, wages must eventually equalize across the globe.

Then what? Is that the end of wage increases for mankind?

..ask him that next the time you run into him..

Please expain your theory on why wage increases are a good thing (as I think you’re implying).

(I’m talking across society, not for each individual person.
Wage increases for each person are normal due to gains in experience over their lifetime. However this is offset by higher-paid retirees being replaced by lower-paid newbies.)

anyone here know anything thing about the rockville, md company…Human Genome Sciences Inc.?

they have a job opportunity i may be interested in. i’m reading through their 10K…just wondering about its long-term outlook.

Sleaze-Bag homes sez…

Beazer Homes cuts guidance on new home orders

LONDON (MarketWatch) — Beazer Homes USA Inc. on Wednesday cut its guidance on new home orders for the year, citing a slower-than-expected improvement in orders following the expiration of a home-buyer tax credit in April. The company, which had previously said orders for fiscal 2010 would be above the previous year’s level, said it needs to book 767 orders in the final quarter to match the year-earlier total of 4,205. It said it expects orders will be somewhere between 700 and 800 in the final quarter. “Although housing affordability is at record levels, prospective home buyers continue to exercise caution in committing to a home purchase transaction,” Beazer said.

Bankrupt, USA: Why our cities aren’t too big to fail

FORTUNE — Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, has dodged a debt bullet. The only problem is that the gun is still loaded.

The Keystone State’s cash-strapped capital was scheduled to default on a $3.3 million bond payment on Wednesday. It avoided that debilitating fate when Pennsylvania’s governor, Ed Rendell, pledged to resolve the problem with $4.4 million from the state’s own challenged coffers.

This gives Harrisburg a chance to fight again another day. But its problems are far from over, and that’s bad news for investors in the $2.8 trillion muni-bond market.

States from California to Illinois have been in deep crisis since the recession began, hammered by drastic cuts in tax revenue and inflexible spending demands for things like health care, debt service and pension plans. Forty-eight states grappled with fiscal shortfalls in their 2010 fiscal budgets. Totaling $200 billion, or 30% of state budgets, this fiscal shortfall is the largest gap on record, according to the DC-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which sees at least 46 states facing shortfalls this fiscal year.

Tool maker cuts jobs
Layoffs could reach 140 at Hanover factory

A Baltimore County-based power tools manufacturer will lay off more than 100 employees in its Hanover office next month.

Notice of the impending layoffs at Apex Tool Group, located on Standard Drive in Hanover, was posted last month on the state Labor, Licensing and Registration Department’s website.

“With the downturn in the economy, manufacturing has had its share of downsizing,” said Kirkland Murray, president of the Anne Arundel Workforce Development Corp.

Federal agencies cutting, revising $337 million worth of IT contracts
Washington Post

The Office of Management and Budget on Wednesday plans to announce the cancellation or restructuring of three multiyear information technology contracts totaling $337 million, according to senior administration officials.

The changes are part of the Obama administration’s budgetary and management reforms designed to cut billions of dollars in wasteful and no-bid government programs and contracts.

According to the OMB, the Environmental Protection Agency plans to save $180 million and the Department of Housing and Urban Development will pocket about $44 million by restructuring two long-term IT contracts. The Small Business Administration should save $113 million by canceling a contract.

The EPA contract is meant to replace an older financial system that had inconsistent data and costly maintenance, among other problems. CGI Federal, based in Fairfax, has received $83.1 million in contracts for the program being restructured, according to the Obama administration’s IT Dashboard, a public Web site that compiles data on federal agencies’ IT programs. The company referred questions to the EPA.

Here’s an observation by Mac Slavo, a small business owner.

“A close friend and Citibank credit card holder recently saw a rate increase from roughly 10% to 29.99% on his existing balance. Already running on a tight budget, his payment increased from a monthly $150 per month to over $400 per month. Our friend, rather than simply stopping his payments because he was no longer able to afford them, promptly took his Citibank card to a local outdoor goods store, purchased several thousand dollars worth of guns, ammunition, and camping gear. He never made another payment. That’s a $20,000 delinquency on Citibank’s books – and that debt will never be collected. We can talk about the ethics and morality of this move, but that is irrelevant at this point. Tens of thousands, perhaps millions, of Americans are doing exactly the same thing with credit cards and home loans.”

~ Going Out With a Bang.

Head Of NJ Teachers’ Union Makes $550,000 A Year–2X As Much As The Governor And 10X The Average American

NJEA head Vince Giordano
As Governor Chris Christie goes to war with the NJ teachers union, let’s review what he’s up against.

NJEA director Vince Giordano received $421,615 in salary and $128,508 in deferred compensation last year, according to tax filings released last spring.

NJEA president Barbara Keshishian earned $256,450 last year. VP Wendell Steinhauer and Secretary-Treasurer Marie Blistan were paid $170,974 each.

Meanwhile, the governor earned a measly $175,000.

Christie’s war with the union escalated earlier this summer when a union official suggested praying for the governor’s death. Last week, Christie lambasted a teacher at a public forum.

Government wants tax-credit back. What will this do to buyers who used the credit as downmpayment on new homes from homebuilders who manipulated the credit for this purpose?

http://realestate.msn.com/blogs/listed.aspx?feat=1804249&gt1=35000

Bank Repossession of Homes Sets New Record in August

http://tinyurl.com/3xqpddu

The nation’s banks repossessed a record number of homes in August, according to industry sources. RealtyTrac, an online foreclosure sale site, will release its monthly numbers on Thursday, but sources there confirm the number of repossessions will come in just shy of 100,000 for the month.

That is the highest since the site began tracking in 2005. July’s repossession number was the second highest on record. The last highest was 93,777 in May of 2010.

Notices of Default, which are the first step in the foreclosure process, are up slightly but mostly thanks to a jump in California, where the numbers had been artificially low of late, as banks tried to modify borrowers.

“With respect to the NOD increase, I think it is the modification redefault wave beginning to build and new modifications slowing to a trickle, indicating banks have lost their primary borrower re-leveraging tool,” says mortgage industry consultant Mark Hanson.

Yesterday J.P. Morgan Chase (NYSE: jpm) cited the “shadow inventory” of foreclosed properties as one of their primary reasons for pushing back their expectations for a housing recovery as far as 2014. No question, a growing supply of repossessed properties will put further downward pressure on home prices, especially given the current 12.5 month supply of existing homes already for sale.

The question now is: Where does the government go from here? Some argue that housing needs to correct on its own, without artificial stimulus, as painful as it will be, in order to recover fully. What the Obama Administration has to decide is, will that correction, involving millions of foreclosures, take too large a toll on the greater economy?

Link coming up…Bank Repossession of Homes Sets New Record in August.

I suppose it’s nationwide in the USA. Just shy of 100,000 homes repossessed in the month of August alone. Add that to the shadow inventory!

Got cash?

For all of you self-proclaimed specific-gravity specialists out there who think oil only floats on water:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0o-68fW5pY

“Subprime Goes to College”

More than half of Washington Post’s revenue/profit comes from Kaplan, a for-profit college. These very-expensive colleges enroll poor students and talk them into taking on student loans that they will never pay back. The beauty for the companies is that the government is on the hook for the losses. My younger son has a couple of illiterate high school buddies who have enrolled because they can’t find employment other than McDonald’s. One is majoring in “construction management” at ITT and the other one is majoring in “criminal justice” at Heald. Both of them flunked out of community college, but are passing at tech school. I know others who have enrolled at Kaplan for nursing training.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-05-27/frontpoint-s-eisman-bets-for-profit-education-stocks-to-fall-on-loan-rules.html

Mohegan Sun laying off 355, closing food outlets.

Citing a relentless decline in revenues, Mohegan Sun announced today it is laying off 355 employees — the casino’s first mass layoffs since it opened in 1996 — and said it would close one of its two buffet restaurants, a snack bar in its race book and two food-court outlets that will reopen under third-party management.

Mitchell Etess, Mohegan Sun’s president and chief executive officer, told reporters that 475 positions were being eliminated. He said 120 employees whose jobs were being eliminated would be shifted into other positions at Mohegan Sun, leaving a net loss of 355 employees. In addition, he said, the new operators of the food-court outlets would provide jobs.

The food outlets closing include the Sunburst Buffet, Chief’s Bagels, Subs and Sweets and Woodland Wok.

Prior to the layoffs, Mohegan Sun employed about 9,000 full-time employees at its Uncasville casino. Since the fall of 2008, about 900 jobs have been trimmed through attrition.

“We’ve worked hard the last two years to reduce our labor expenses while waiting for the economy to improve, but the economy has not improved, the economy has not stabilized,” Etess said in addressing the need for the layoffs. “The recovery is much slower than expected … consumer confidence is sagging … unemployment is rising.”

He said the casino could no longer rely on attrition to pare its workforce and still meet its financial obligations.

“We were not ‘attritioning’ fast enough,” he said.

Retirement on Hold: American Workers $6 Trillion Short- Reuters

The $6.6 trillion figure is based on projections of retirement and income for American workers ages 32-64. The study’s authors say they arrived at the amount using conservative assumptions, including a 3 percent rate of return on assets and no further cuts in pension coverage or increases in the Social Security retirement age.

All you George Bush apologists have only one leg to stand on.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/crime/os-one-legged-man-crash-zellwood-20100915,0,3312549.story

S.C., Columbia home sales continue to fall. ~ The State

Despite a boost earlier this year from a federal tax credit, home sales in Columbia are on target for their worst year in recent memory.

After a steady start to the year, area sales ballooned 23 percent in the second quarter as first-time home buyers rushed to beat the June deadline for an $8,000 federal tax credit.

But when the credit ended, sales tumbled 28 percent in July compared to a year earlier and fell another 27 percent in August, according to a new report from the S.C. Realtors trade group.

Sales so far this year are down slightly from last year’s numbers.

But without the tax credit in place, many industry professionals are worried that sales will continue to plummet.

Statewide, sales fared slightly better, with a 21 percent drop in August.

S.C. sales are still 9 percent ahead of 2009 on the year, bolstered largely by a rebound along the coast that took the brunt of the housing crunch in the state.

Jobless claims jump 31% in July

September 14th, 2010, 1:00 am
posted by Mary Ann Milbourn

California unemployment claims jumped 30.6 % in July to 808,083 after Congress ended a seven-week impasse and approve a bill that allowed extended jobless benefits through November, the state Employment Development Department reports.

The number of claims processed by EDD fell 15.4% in May and and 4.9% in June when previous legislation allowing extended benefits expired without Congressional action.

Year over year, claims continue to mount. EDD handled 208,000 more claims this year than in July of 2009 and nearly double the requests filed in July 2008. In 2008, California’s unemployment rate was 7.3%. This year it was 12.3% in July.

http://economy.ocregister.com/2010/09/14/jobless-claims-jump-31-in-july/40483/ - 116k -

Did this save or create jobs?

Feds Spent $800,000 of Economic Stimulus on African Genital-Washing Program

September 13, 2010
CNS News.
By Matt Cover

(CNSNews.com) – The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), spent $823,200 of economic stimulus funds in 2009 on a study by a UCLA research team to teach uncircumcised African men how to wash their genitals after having sex.

The genitalia-washing program is part of a larger $12-million UCLA study examining how to better encourage Africans to undergo voluntary HIV testing and counseling – however, only the penis-washing study received money from the 2009 economic stimulus law. The washing portion of the study is set to end in 2011.

“NIH Announces the Availability of Recovery Act Funds for Competitive Revision Applications,” the grant abstract states. “We propose to evaluate the feasibility of a post-coital genital hygiene study among men unwilling to be circumcised in Orange Farm, South Africa.”

Because AIDS researchers have been unsuccessful in convincing most adult African men to undergo circumcision, the UCLA study proposes to determine whether researchers can develop an after-sex genitalia-washing regimen that they can then convince uncircumcised African men to follow.

http://www.alternativeright.com/main/blogs/malinvestments/stihie-stimulus-money-for-african-genital-washing/ - 37k

“The situation that confronts us is IMO, that we are in a heck of a mess, but our ‘leadership’ is getting away with turning attention away from the mistaken policies of the past and compounding the problems with more of the same. This isn’t about blame. There is a economic problem here that could get very serious and IMO all the cards should be on the table when talking about it.”

I agree. The debts, public and private, are so great they cannot be paid, and no matter how much fun all the consumption is, the U.S. cannot continue borrowing to support jobs all over the world. So how radical do we get?

How about this one? Our problem is lots of people — the rich, the Arabs, the Chinese — have pieces of paper saying they get a share of whatever Americans produce in the future. And Americans don’t have that many pieces of paper, meaning they will get less of what they produce in the future.

And the rich, the Arabs and Chinese keep buying more such pieces of paper, providing a ready alternative to hiring Americans to produce anything today.

So, have the federal government give lots of new, similar pieces of paper to Americans, and legal immigrants prorated based on the number of years they have worked here, and businesses that hire Americans based on the number they employ (on the books). Make those in debt pay it off. Exclude those who already get government pensions. Have the Federal Reserve monetize the debts, which will carry zero interest rate and have principal payable beginning 200 years from now and extending for 200 additional years.

Thus, our public and private debts disappear or will be paid in dollars worth far less. The Chinese, Arabs and rich will decide they don’t want more of our pieces of paper anymore, causing our currency to fall and forcing Americans to hire other Americans to produce what they want, or which they will be able to afford less but will be able to get jobs making it.

Of course, responsible savers in the U.S. would be wiped out. But young people would start out with nothing instead of in the hole.

What say you, Mr, Weinmar?

A word from Sir Al Greasepan the universally admired monetary genius…

Greenspan, in switch, now favors higher taxes
Former Fed chief: U.S. must cut deficit to allow more private investment.

NEW YORK — Former Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan, reversing a long-standing aversion to higher taxes, said Wednesday tax rates must rise and the fiscal stimulus wound down in order to reduce the U.S. budget deficit and allow private investment to expand.

“I am in favor for the first time in my memory of raising taxes,” Greenspan told an audience at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. He said the economy could not recover while the high deficit remains high.

Greenspan warned that the deficit, swollen by massive stimulus spending, was crowding out capital investment. We “must find a way to simmer down fiscal activism and allow the economy to heal,” he said, adding that stimulus spending had been far less successful than anticipated.

Argentines Say Buy Now as 25% Inflation Outlook Buoys Car Sales
Bloomberg

Argentines are stepping up purchases of cars and televisions in a bid to beat inflation consumers see accelerating to 25 percent, the second-highest in the world after Venezuela.

Record demand for autos and domestic appliances are fueling economic growth, which Deputy Economy Minister Roberto Feletti estimates at 9 percent this year, the fastest since 2005. The consumer boom will fade by the end of this year as higher prices for food and everyday goods drain household income, said former Economy Vice Minister Orlando Ferreres.

“Inflation will tend to accelerate and output will stagnate,” said Domingo Cavallo, who as economy minister from 1991 to 1996 cut the annual increase in consumer prices — which had reached 5,000 percent in 1989 — to zero by fixing the currency at par to the U.S. dollar. A “climate of stagflation” is coming to South America’s second-biggest economy, he said.

Bill Clinton: New-look GOP makes Bush look liberal

MINNEAPOLIS(AP) – Former President Bill Clinton said Tuesday that the Republican Party is embracing “ideology over evidence” and pushing out pragmatic voices that would make even his White House successor seem like a liberal.

Clinton, speaking at a Democratic fundraiser in Minneapolis, said there was no mistaking that Republicans have tacked hard right and questioned whether former President George W. Bush would fit in among the party’s candidates this year.

“A lot of their candidates today, they make him look like a liberal,” Clinton told an enthusiastic crowd at a downtown hotel as he campaigned for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mark Dayton.

Clinton pointed to the tea party movement’s influence on the GOP.

“The Boston Tea Party was protesting abuse of power. This is now trading public power for the abuse of private power,” Clinton said, just as a tea party-backed candidate was declared the winner Tuesday night in Delaware’s hotly contested Republican primary for U.S. Senate

The word on the vine is that John “Lurch” Kerry may take over Hilary’s job. She is rumored to be stepping down fairly soon. Wonder why? Perhaps she may run against Barry after all, who knows.

Pipemaker plans layoffs at Birmingham, Ala. plant
The Associated Press

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - American Cast Iron Pipe Co. says it plans to lay off another 59 workers in Birmingham.

The layoff announced Tuesday is the company’s second in a little more than two months.

The Birmingham News reports the Birmingham-based maker of iron and steel pipes used for water, oil and natural gas transmission says the layoffs will take effect Oct. 8, and the workers are eligible for recall if business conditions improve.

The company released 80 workers in Aguust.

McWane Cast Iron Pipe and U.S. Pipe and Foundry have idled or closed plants in Birmingham this year, costing almost 500 jobs. The companies cite the weak housing market as a factor.

Key House Democrat: Japan forex move ‘disturbing’

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Rep. Sander Levin, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, on Wednesday called Japan’s intervention overnight in the foreign exchange market to weaken its currency “a deeply disturbing development.” Levin, a Democrat from Michigan, said his panel will closely monitor the yen’s value relative to the dollar. Levin made the comment at the opening of two days of committee hearings into the foreign exchange market, specifically focusing on exchange rate of China’s currency versus the dollar.

CNBC: Home Price Double Dip Begins

and… off we go!!!!

Home Price Double Dip Begins

Well we’re here.

Here is one team I don`t want to be on, the UCLA research team.

Feds Spent $800,000 of Economic Stimulus on African Genital-Washing Program

Monday, September 13, 2010
By Matt Cover

(CNSNews.com) – The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), spent $823,200 of economic stimulus funds in 2009 on a study by a UCLA research team to teach uncircumcised African men how to wash their genitals after having sex.

The genitalia-washing program is part of a larger $12-million UCLA study examining how to better encourage Africans to undergo voluntary HIV testing and counseling – however, only the penis-washing study received money from the 2009 economic stimulus law. The washing portion of the study is set to end in 2011.

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/75198 - 74k

WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s largest banks have an obligation to pay some of the cost for bailing out mortgage buyers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac because they sold them bad mortgages, a government regulator said Wednesday.

Edward DeMarco, the acting director for the Federal Housing Finance Agency, said the banks this summer have refused to take back $11 billion in bad loans sold to the two government-controlled companies, in written testimony submitted for a House subcommittee hearing Wednesday. A third of those requests have been outstanding for at least three months.

DeMarco said the banks have a legal obligation to buy back the loans and called the delays “a significant concern.” He said the government may take new steps to force those buybacks if “discussions do not yield reasonable outcomes soon.”

Poor Kalifornia they have two poor choices both stink to high heaven.I’m sure they’ll choose the best turd. The brown one.

Meg Whitman Becomes Biggest Self-Funded Candidate in History

Meg Whitman, the former EBay Inc. chief executive officer, has contributed $119 million of her own fortune to her campaign for California governor, making her the biggest self-funded candidate in U.S. history.

Whitman, 54, a Republican running against Jerry Brown, California’s attorney general and former governor, put $15 million into her campaign on Sept. 13, bringing her total contributions to $119 million, according to the California Secretary of State’s website. She and Brown are competing to succeed Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who can’t run this year.

“Meg Whitman will be independent of special interests and will only be accountable to the people of California when she becomes governor,” Darrel Ng, a Whitman spokesman, said today in a statement sent by e-mail.

http://money dot cnn dot com/2010/09/15/real_estate/california_home_price_rebound/index.htm

Worth noting is that the higher prices are AFTER the federal tax credit ran out, but BEFORE the state tax credit ran out.

If the trend continues upwards in the coming months (CA stopped accepting applications for the credit on 9/15), it will only be due to general lack of supply and affordability.

Time will tell.

U.S. Home Prices Face 3-Year Drop as Inventory Surge Looms

By John Gittelsohn and Kathleen M. Howley - Sep 15, 2010 12:14 PM ET

The slide in U.S. home prices may have another three years to go as sellers add as many as 12 million more properties to the market.

Defaulted mortgages as of July took an average 469 days to reach foreclosure, up from 319 days in January 2009. That’s an indication lenders — with the help of the government loan modification programs — are delaying resolutions and preventing the market from flooding with distressed properties, said Herb Blecher, senior vice president for analytics at LPS.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-15/u-s-home-prices-face-three-year-drop-as-inventory-surge-looms.html - 66k -