I guess this will come as a surprise, to all the FB’s saying they will not leave ‘their’ homes. Go get some boxes and start packing.
Largest Bank Will Resume Foreclosure Push in 23 States
Bank of America announced on Monday that it would resume home foreclosures in nearly two dozen states, despite the running controversy over how banks handled tens of thousands of cases of homeowners facing eviction.
Bank of America, the nation’s largest bank and the servicer of roughly one in five American mortgages, insisted that it had not found a single example where a foreclosure proceeding was brought in error.
The move is also likely to encourage other giant lenders, like JPMorgan Chase, to resume the foreclosure process that threatens two million homeowners.
Have they straightened out all their problems so quickly? Or just chosen to ignore them and go ahead anyway, lest their stock prices sink even further?
Recovery will never happen if we continue to allow the banksters to ignore the rule of law.
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Comment by denquiry
2010-10-19 08:45:47
Screw the recovery. The banksters have to keep the CDO illusion alive and maintain the bankster bonuses. Since the banksters control the pols expect no changes.
“Both J.P. Morgan Chase and Citigroup managed to play down the foreclosure debacle during recent earnings reports. Bank of America can’t afford to do the same when it reports third-quarter results Tuesday.
Bank of America has been at the center of the mortgage storm since it halted foreclosures earlier this month in all 50 states because of faulty affidavits. It has the largest mortgage-servicing arm among big banks and also could be on the hook for problems with loans originated by Countrywide Financial, which it bought in 2008. Its shares were hit hardest during last week’s selloff of big bank stocks. …”
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A group of investors holding $16.5 billion of mortgage bonds took a step toward a possible suit against a Bank of America Corp unit for failing to correctly handle loans that were packaged into bonds.
Back when BofA was a California only bank no one seemed to like them. I always sensed that BofA felt that retail customers were a nuisance.
Of course now that they’ve been through so many mergers they bear no resemblance to the original bank they once were. IIRC they are HQ’d in North Carolina these days.
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Comment by DennisN
2010-10-19 08:10:07
They were much nicer back when they were the Bank of Italy.
Along with the late unlamented GTE, (and possibly the breathtakingly bad Blue Cross/Anthem,) The Worst Corporate Entity I’ve ever had to deal with in my entire life. Incompetent to the point of criminal, arrogant, unaccountable to customers, mired in deadweight bureaucracy, and bloated with their own inevitability. Even Greece is better run than BofA.
If any of us managed our business the way they do, we’d be in prison.
If any of us managed our business the way they do, we’d be in prison.
And the way they’re managing it now isn’t going to be attracting new customers in droves. It will also drive a lot of existing customers elsewhere. See:
BTW, during my recent trip to the Midwest, I flew Southwest. They now have an ad on the cargo door side of their planes. It says, “Free Bags Fly Here.” And there’s an arrow pointing at the cargo door. (Take that, other airlines!)
Oh, one of our flight attendants sang for us. She was pretty darn good.
Comment by Eddie
2010-10-19 12:53:18
I’ve been a bofa customer for 10+ years. Never had an issue. I know a lot of people hate the “mega” banks. I do business with nothing but mega banks. A mega bank has branches and ATMs everywhere, a call center open around the clock as well. You don’t get that from mom and pop bank.
Comment by polly
2010-10-19 16:48:11
Why do you need to have ATMs available everywhere? My banks reimburse me for any ATM fees charged by the bank that is providing the ATM. With very, very minimal planning, I can use any ATM and never pay a fee.
More power to them. Lots of people on here are biased against banks to the point of irrationality. Should people that bought overpriced homes they couldn’t afford be able to continue to stay in their homes without paying their mortgage because of a technicality? Anyone that does should question their own morals and ethics rather than those of the banks. My personal belief is that anyone challenging a foreclosure proceeding when in fact they are not paying their mortage should be fined at least $25,000 min. for nuissance. Courts have better things to worry about. Get the hell out of the home.
If you really believe that the resolution of contract disputes should revolve around technicalities (i.e., its perfectly fine to breach first then look for a technicality to prevent the other side from exercising remedies), rather than focusing on intent and damages suffered, if any, then I only pray you do not go to law school. This Country is screwed up enough as it is.
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Comment by alpha-sloth
2010-10-19 09:57:35
I guess we little people should shut up and take a Wall Street lawyer’s word for it that everything’s kosher about Wall Street’s slicing, dicing, and distributing of mortgage notes. How dare we challenge them to show us proof that they indeed have the right to seize our property.
Comment by alpha-sloth
2010-10-19 10:28:14
I only pray you do not go to law school. This Country is screwed up enough as it is.
Did they teach sucking-up (”Jim A - I think you are one of the better posters”) and wrapping yourself in the flag (”God bless this Country.”) in your fancy law school, or did you pick up those skills on your own?
Comment by SaladSD
2010-10-19 10:37:14
The point is, it’s NOT your property if you haven’t paid for it.
Comment by X-GSfixr
2010-10-19 10:44:32
“Technicality”……like determining who actually holds the note on the property in question?
I think I’ll foreclose on Natalie. Zero proof that I’m legally allowed to foreclose? BFD. Take my word for it……better yet, try to prove that I’m not.
I’m suffering damage, because Natalie isn’t sending me any money; I have a bunch of peelers that are depending on me, and I need cash to “make it rain”.
Comment by ecofeco
2010-10-19 11:37:30
The point is that the law says you cannot take something from someone if you can’t prove you own it.
The banks can’t prove they own it. Yet.
The law also says that in property dispute, the current possessor is the de facto owner until proven otherwise. That would be… the person(s) living in the house.
The banks have also been taking away people’s home who own them free and clear. And there have been enough instances that almost half the states AGs are taking notice.
I have no sympathy at all for the homemoaners, but standing to sue is a pretty significant “technicality.” From what I’m reading more lawyers than not are failing their clients by not raising the issue.
Comment by exeter
2010-10-19 19:08:12
“I only pray you do not go to law school.”
WTF do YOU know about Law?? Oh yeah, “your husband is a lawyer”. And he has a KnowNothing freeloader lawyer without a license in the house. I wouldn’t seek your opinion on the color of a carnival tee shirt. You don’t know jack about law.
The beauty of a system of law is that morals and ethics need not be labored over.
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Comment by snake charmer
2010-10-19 07:34:17
Well, then there are markets, which, according to Nobel Prize-winning doctrine, allegedly are more effective in shaping human and corporate behavior than law, morals, or ethics. Whatever one might think about that proposition, our current state of affairs vividly demonstrates what happens when markets, law, morals and ethics all are disposed of to encourage financial speculation and the preservation of unrealistically high asset prices.
Comment by Professor Bear
2010-10-19 08:31:41
“…which, according to Nobel Prize-winning doctrine, allegedly are more effective in shaping human and corporate behavior than law, morals, or ethics…”
Please show us a reference so we don’t have to conclude you are engaged in a creative writing exercise.
Yes I do. I searched the linked page for any mention of “law,” “morals,” and “ethics” and there are none.
So I guess you are going to now proclaim that economics, as described by Nobel Prize winners, is devoid of “law, morals and ethics”?
Comment by snake charmer
2010-10-19 11:26:32
You bet I am. What do you think this profession has done over the past few decades other than provide intellectual cover for greed?
Why are you so cranky today, by the way? You would think I was a newcomer here instead of someone who has blogged for almost six years and 1,000 total posts. That’s what I get for taking a hiatus! Have a cup of coffee and we’ll make friendly again.
Comment by Professor Bear
2010-10-19 13:36:12
“Have a cup of coffee and we’ll make friendly again.”
Sorry — blame it on getting awakened at 2a from loud thunder due to nearby lightening. I’ll try not to be so cantankerous.
Comment by snake charmer
2010-10-19 14:29:05
Fair enough. And I’ll admit that I engaged in more hyperbole than I should have upthread. Nobody won a Nobel for saying that markets should supplant morality, even though it seems that way to me sometimes.
Your reference to the “little people” and “big biz” only bolster the point that you speak of a position of unfair bias, rather than being able to focus on intent and damages, or the lack thereof. Courts need to focus on intent and equity, not technicality lotteries.
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Comment by alpha-sloth
2010-10-19 06:57:45
Your reference to people’s examining their ethics and morals shows the weakness of the legal basis of your argument.
Comment by Prime_Is_Contained
2010-10-19 10:25:24
“Courts need to focus on intent and equity, not technicality lotteries.”
No, courts need to focus on the clear language of the contract. When courts start making sh*t up on their own, such as deciding after the fact what a contract intended, or that a contract is inequitable, bad things happen. They should stick with applying the law to the clear language (e.g. whether a valid contract was entered into by the parties, whether it remained in effect, whether it was enforcable, etc).
What one party calls a “technicality”, another party may call a valid, pre-intended exit contingency.
Comment by Natalie
2010-10-19 10:47:13
Prime - the issues being raised are outside of the 4 corners of the contract (e.g., whether a violation of a regulation outside of the contract which caused no harm excuses performance or should limit remedies under the contract). Thus, although you appear to be disagreeing, I think your reasoning suggests you would agree with me. The rule of law in every State that I know of is 4 corners if no ambiguity, and then look to intent and equities in the case of ambiguity. Using regulatory violations outside of the contract as a defense payment under the contract or to limit remedies under the contract when there was no harm should not be allowed.
Comment by Hwy50ina49Dodge
2010-10-19 11:10:49
“…Using regulatory violations outside of the contract as a defense payment under the contract or to limit remedies under the contract when there was no harm should not be allowed.”
Ha, what were “the rules” when the contract was written?” Well Natalie, are you the kinda person that wants to create “new rules” half-way through a game of monoploy, (…just when things aren’t going to swell for yourself)?
Well yes, but it IS important to make sure that the entity that is foreclosing IS the entity that the borrower is stiffing. That’s what all the paperwork that the banks are rushing is intended to prove.
No. The robosigner debate did not revolve around making sure it was the right entity that was foreclosing. Rather, it was a stall tactic pursued by people who wanted to stay in their house without paying. Don’t be fooled. Obviously, if the person was paying or the wrong bank was foreclosing that is an issue. 99% of the time that was not the case. I think people are getting their stories mixed up.
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Comment by Jim A.
2010-10-19 06:50:46
I don’t think you get my point. The paperwork and rules that the banks have been skipping are indeed intended to prevent some third party from getting title to a house. So far, this has not been a problem, except in one or two isolated cases. But just like straw buyers, it may well become a problem when fraudsters figure out how easy foreclosure actions are in some jurisdictions.
Comment by oxide
2010-10-19 06:58:26
“Stall tactic?” No, more like Due Process and Property Rights. How very Constitutional.
Since foreclosure is such a serious legal action, an FB can take the bank to court if there is a possible mistake on the foreclosure. Therefore, there is a regulation that when a loan officer signs off on a foreclosure, he must sign a notarized affidavit* that he is familiar with the facts of the case. This implies an individual review, mainly to assure that (1) the foreclosing entity owns title — or is acting on behalf of the title owner (?) (2) The FB is not making payments.
Of course, individual review wasn’t a problem when there were far fewer foreclosures. But now banks are finding out that it’s a lot harder rubberstamp taking property away than it was to rubberstamp giving property out.
—–
*This is why Obama vetoed that bill. Vetoing out-of-state notary affidavits slowed the out-of-state foreclosures.
Comment by oxide
2010-10-19 07:00:06
Sorry, I do have a link.
www DOT pbs.org/newshour/newshour_index.html
It’s not the greatest source, but it covers the basics.
Comment by Natalie
2010-10-19 08:27:50
Jim A - I think you one of the better posters and agree if the banks didn’t follow the prescribed legal procedures they should be subject to a fine. I believe that such issues are irrelevant, however, as between the mortagee and the mortgagor when there is no legitimate dispute as to whether payments were actually being made and who held the mortgage. Otherwise, you create a system as we have here, breach first and then look for technicalities later to prevent the exercise of remedies and reap even more benefits from your breach. I do not think such behavior should be encouraged.
Comment by Jim A.
2010-10-19 09:32:37
And at the end of the day, the FBs should not and are not going to be able to simply squat in their houses forever. My worry is that by streamling the assignment and foreclosure process the lenders have opened a hole that fraudsters will start driving through. We haven’t seen it yet, but that doesn’t mean that we won’t.
Comment by oxide
2010-10-19 09:49:19
What I’m worried about is that if BoA hurries too much, they’ll have millions of FB challenging the foreclosure in court. Oh, the FB’s will lose, but the delay alone would drive me crazy.
My worry is that by streamling the assignment and foreclosure process the lenders have opened a hole that fraudsters will start driving through. We haven’t seen it yet, but that doesn’t mean that we won’t.
I think the fraudsters are driving through it already. Think Fraudster Freeway and you’ll get the drift.
Comment by Eddie
2010-10-19 12:57:20
How will fraudsters take advantage of this? I don’t see how there is fraud to be had once the foreclosure process gets this far down the road. Are you talking about someone making up a title and claiming the house from BofA or something along those lines?
Comment by Jim A
2010-10-19 20:02:43
Eddie I’m speculating that with banks NOT forclosing for extended periods of time, it might not be too hard for a fraudster to file for foreclosure with a fradulent lost note affidafid seize the house and resell it to some flipper at a deep discount before anyone realized what was going on.
“My personal belief is that anyone challenging a foreclosure proceeding when in fact they are not paying their mortage should be fined at least $25,000 min. for nuissance.”
My personal belief is that any bank found wrongfully evicting a homeowner who is current on their payments should have to pay the homeowner $250,000 min., and the manager in charge of the wrongful foreclosure should have to serve jail time for felony theft.
And don’t post a sob story about grannie getting evicted. As a % of all foreclosures, how many are reversed? If it’s more than 1 in 1000 I’d be surprised. It takes months if not years to foreclose. If the debtor is paying, there are multiple opportunities to show the payments. It’s not like 1 day eeeeevil bank manager wakes up and goes to foreclose on some unsuspecting person. I know that how you characterize banks. But you know very well practically nobody who is paying their mortgage is being foreclosed on.
“Lots of people on here are biased against banks to the point of irrationality.”
Just because someone views banksters as a bunch of scoundrels, liars and thieves doesn’t necessarily indicate they are being irrational. What if lots of banksters really are scoundrels, liars and thieves?
It’s hard to pick a favourite in a battle between unethical bankers and unethical FBs. I suppose the billions in pay the bankers get for ruining the economy is factor for considering who to hate more. Although, ultimately, the FBs have to get out of those houses, unless they start paying for them.
So many people deserving scorn, so little time.
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Comment by Professor Bear
2010-10-19 07:15:57
“Although, ultimately, the FBs have to get out of those houses, unless they start paying for them.”
Patience. It’s happening while we type.
Comment by oxide
2010-10-19 09:51:09
I dunno, it’s not so hard to choose when one entity is being bailed out and the other isn’t.
Comment by Chris M
2010-10-19 10:22:49
The squatting FBs are getting more of a bailout than I am. I actually have to pay for my housing.
“Lots of people on here are biased against banks to the point of irrationality.”
Guilty as charged. The other day while I was reading a guide to the candidate’s positions, I saw that one of the candidates for county commissioner used to be the VP of the local BofA. I decided then and there to vote against him.
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Comment by DennisN
2010-10-19 09:44:48
“VP” is banker-speak for “branch manager”. He’s not a high ranking officer in all probability.
“My personal belief is that anyone challenging a foreclosure proceeding when in fact they are not paying their mortage should be fined at least $25,000 min. for nuissance. Courts have better things to worry about.”
My personal belief is that any bank found guilty of wrongfully evicting a home owner should be required to pay said home owner at least $250,000 min. for nuisance, and the bank manager in charge of overseeing the action should be sent to prison for felony theft of someone else’s home. Home owners have better things to worry about than jack-booted thugs coming to the door to kick them out on the street.
curious that the reaction is that either all the mortgages records are perfectly recorded or they’re not. binary. Millions of mortgages, transfers and payments.
The breadth and depth of information and its accuracy will be the test.
My personal belief is that anyone challenging a foreclosure proceeding when in fact they are not paying their mortage should be fined at least $25,000 min. for nuissance.
Interesting. So if someone is a day late on a mortgage payment, anyone anywhere in the world should be able to foreclose on that person, regardless of whether they own the note or not.
Let me ask you: What should be the.fine for bank staff members who foreclose on the wrong house, on a fully paid-up house, or otherwise fail to follow legal rules in foreclosure? And what should be the fines for bank executives, corporate directors and shareholders who supervise such staff members?
Assuming you are referring to actual mistakes as opposed to intentional actions I am not sure I see the correlation. Fighting foreclosure when you know you are not paying and who the lender is not a mistake. I am actually in favor of the government streamlining the process and pushing them through rather than slowing them down. Obviously, I dont support foreclosing on ppl that pay or by banks that don’t own the mortgage, but that is not the majority of cases I am seeing involving a dispute. Housing needs to be affordable and within hisorical norms, and I’m not talking about Obama infusions.
Natalie, you don’t have to defend the banks to take the position that people need to get the hell out of their houses. BofA is a villain in the piece, not to mention their evil twin, Countrywide. And yes, freeloaders need to vacate their foreclosed houses. Bias against banks is not irrational. You are a product of your environment, and hence have more bias than the rest of us.
I am not defending the banks, I just hate it when people use technicalities as weapon in a contractual dispute when there is no legitimate dispute that the one trying to exploit the technicality actually breached the contract first and is desperately searching for a bargaining chip when equity would weigh against it. I see it all the time. Most judges can see through it and dismiss such claims quickly, but there are also some nut jobs on the bench.
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Comment by alpha-sloth
2010-10-19 09:06:27
Asking to be shown that the person kicking you out of your house actually has the legal standing to do so is a technicality to you?
Comment by Natalie
2010-10-19 09:22:08
I think you are being lead around by the attorneys using stall tactics. The vast majority of such cases do not center around legitimate disputes as to who holds the mortage. Rather, in most cases the deadbeats admit they haven’t paid and know that the person foreclosing is their lender, but argue there is a typo on p. 23 or the bank used a robosigner which means they get to keep the house for free right? God bless this Country. I am attorney so I know the drill. If you are in breach have an attorney look at the documents and find any minor mistake they can and use it as a defense to payment. Such behavior should not be encouraged.
Comment by alpha-sloth
2010-10-19 09:30:20
I am attorney so I know the drill. If you are in breach have an attorney look at the documents and find any minor mistake they can and use it as a defense to payment. Such behavior should not be encouraged.
Sounds like standard operating procedure in commercial litigation. Oh, that’s right. Only the big boys get to do that stuff. The little people need to pay and shut up.
Comment by X-GSfixr
2010-10-19 10:53:37
So Natalie is complaining about errors in the contract, when it was the BANKS that drew up the contracts.
Yeah, why quibble about due process and all that old paradigm stuff……..we’re in the 21st Century. Just pay the bank your money, or GTFOO the house, and maybe, if we feel generous, we’ll sort it out later.
Comment by Natalie
2010-10-19 11:17:44
I really appreciate the dubious comments that I am generally opposed to due process. I think part of the difference in opinion is that I actually am involved in lawsuits rather than just have some theory about how the law should work, and realize that there are mistakes made and/or gray areas in every transaction if you look hard enough. The real difficulty is figuring out which ones should matter and which ones shouldn’t. At some point you have to look at the big picture and begin to draw some lines. Otherwise, you will always be lost in the weeds.
Comment by awaiting wipeout
2010-10-19 11:41:02
(11:17:44 )
Natalie,
Your post was logical and well stated. I am no fan of the banks, nor the loanmoaners, and like definitive evidence, myself. Sometimes, both parties present truths, and the sorting of cause and effect begins. Fair accessment, Natalie.
Comment by DennisN
2010-10-19 12:11:07
In civil litigation, the level of proof required is “proponderance of the evidence”, not the “beyond a reasonable doubt” required in criminal cases. Having most but not all of your paperwork in perfect order probably qualifies as proponderance of the evidence in these foreclosure suits.
Comment by X-GSfixr
2010-10-19 13:39:15
“…..look at the big picture…..”
Some more “ends justifies the means” talk.
Yeah, gray areas in contracts are easy to work out when both parties act like adults, and don’t try to rig the process in an attempt to screw the other side in every way possible.
Everybody in the country (except people who work for the banks) believes the banksters are a bunch of scumbags. With plenty of justification. They screwed themselves out of any credibility by their own actions, and now they are whining that they aren’t getting the benefit of the doubt.
Meanwhile, lobbying their Congressional fluffers to pass the “2010 We-fooked-up-big-time, and we need this CYA law passed to keep us from going broke” Bill.
By a voice, vote, naturally. Must have been tough to speak, having a certain part of the bankster’s anatomy inserted in the same orifice.
Comment by 45north
2010-10-19 16:10:25
“Don’t delude yourself: God is not to be fooled; whatever someone sows, that is what he will reap.”
Galations 6:7
Senior management at the banks ignored the advice of their dedicated and experienced managers and gave mortgages to people who would never have qualified in the past. In effect senior managers became parasites on their companies. On the other hand people just plain borrowed too much. Foolishly and stupidly.
God bless you Natalie!
Comment by Contrarian
2010-10-19 21:07:34
Natalie, through her restraint and persistence, got the better of this thread, no matter how much scorn or vitriol gets heaped on her.
Repeat after me (you know who you are): snark, even funny and articulate snark, does not mean you’ve won an argument or convinced anyone who is not already on your side.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A group of investors holding $16.5 billion of mortgage bonds took a step toward a possible suit against a Bank of America Corp unit for failing to correctly handle loans that were packaged into bonds.
I don’t really give a rat’s arse about the FBs being able to ’stall’ and stay in their houses for six more months. Does anyone really think that will make a difference in how this plays out?
What I find interesting about the FBs demanding proof that someone actually holds their note, is that it’s starting to look like that proof may not exist. Or if it exists, it shows ownership by someone other than the presumed owner.
What better way to destroy the creators of this mess than to have them sued into oblivion- as they deserve to be? What else can stop them, now that they’ve bought our government?
They can’t buy every jury. Juries made up of people who will have, I suspect, very little sympathy for the banksters, and their bankster games.
We may (may, mind you) have found their achilles’ heel. (with au jus )
Gallup Finds U.S. Unemployment at 10.0% in Mid-October
Unemployment is essentially the same as the 10.1% at the end of September.
PRINCETON, NJ — Unemployment, as measured by Gallup without seasonal adjustment, is at 10.0% in mid-October — essentially the same as the 10.1% at the end of September but up sharply from 9.4% in mid-September and 9.3% at the end of August. This mid-month measurement confirms the late September surge in joblessness that should be reflected in the government’s Nov. 5 unemployment report.
It appears that Gallup is duplicating the BLS methods and producing an unemployment rate separate from the government. If you believe the Gallup numbers, we now have data twice a month.
First came the layoffs, then the cutbacks in programming. Now the Crystal Cathedral, the beleaguered glass megachurch in Orange County, has filed for bankruptcy protection.
The church decided to file for Chapter 11 after some of its creditors sued for payment, according to church officials. Hundreds of creditors could be owed between $50 million and $100 million, according to documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Santa Ana on Monday…..
The church owes $7.5 million to vendors and has a $36 million mortgage on the property.
Some bank is really going to get a headache in the form of that giant church building as a REO. Who the heck would buy it?
The church owes $7.5 million to vendors and has a $36 million mortgage on the property.
According to documents, the church has assets of between $50 million and $100 million. The board of directors authorized a bankruptcy filing Aug. 27, according to court papers.
So why exactly should an entity that has more assets than liabilities be granted bankruptcy?
Assets don’t necessarily equal cash flow.
And if documents say they have assets of “between $50 million and $100 million” who knows how accurate they are.
I don’t know about you, but I always have a much better idea of my actual net worth…
Well the story says that they have debts of ~$45 million and assets North of $50 million. Why should a court force creditors to take a loss when they have the capacity to pay if they were liquidated? So I suspect that those estimates of the worth of their assets are….optimistic.
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Comment by Hwy50ina49Dodge
2010-10-19 11:20:47
“…So I suspect that those estimates of the worth of their assets are….optimistic.”
More like a house of smoke & mirrors, take a gander at their church for instance:
A fitting monument to the Age of Debt. As one who takes church where I find myself (as did Jesus), I never understood the psychology of these pyramids of man.
I think it would make a great lair for an evil genius. You could build a huge death ray behind those giant glass panels and threaten all of SoCal with destruction!
I could manage quite nicely in a shack like this somewhere up there on Misty Morning Lane in Pearly Gates Estates with the Big Shots when I die…
Huh…Say What !?!
WHO says mikey has a reservation 2 levels below the Devil shoveling coal.
Ooops!!
Comment by mikey
2010-10-19 16:32:20
Somebody is a little “touchy” about all my “We need Firing Squads” posts, so we’ll just wait a little while down here and clear all of those minor mikey misunderstandings up later.
I know it was it…somebody in here squealed to God !!
Comment by Hwy50ina49Dodge
2010-10-19 17:10:50
WHO says mikey has a reservation 2 levels below the Devil shoveling coal.
Post that on an icicle WisconSIN January morning, I’ll have the Bailey’s waiting…
I’m having a delightful moment of schadenfreude over the bankruptcy of the Crystal Cathedral. I worked near it 15 years ago, and there was never such an ugly, overdone megachurch. They raked in the money back then. Their pastor finally stepped down at age 80, after hanging in by his fingernails following a well publicized assault on a flight attendant. His son succeeded him for a short time, but was dumped a short time later. What will Orange County do with this white elephant if they can’t get themselves out of BK?
During WW1, domestic sauerkraut makers renamed their product “liberty cabbage”. When people tell you your house stinks, tell them that’s the smell of freedom.
I hope this isn’t a double post double post. Somebody makes wine from tent caterpillars.
“Four local wine connoisseurs invited to taste the wine described it as dry, pale and crisp. They compared it to a pinot grigio or white bordeaux.
The comparison came before they were told exactly what went into the wine. Afterward, they joked that it was the best insect wine they’ve ever tasted. It’s also the only one they’ve ever tasted.”
No, my wine is 100% vinifera grape wine. About 95% cabernet and 5% merlot. It was going to be 100% cab but at the last moment I saw my newly-planted merlot vines had a couple of ripe clusters so I threw them in the pot too.
Comment by Hwy50ina49Dodge
2010-10-19 17:07:41
It was going to be 100% cab but at the last moment I saw my newly-planted merlot vines had a couple of ripe clusters so I threw them in the pot too.
You’re a dangerous person, likable, but dangerous…
Comment by alpha-sloth
2010-10-19 17:32:40
I may have to try making some caterpillar wine. Sounds tasty, and what a great gift idea. Maybe I’ll try it with Japanese beetles too. They’d have a belly full of leaves and flowers, just like a caterpillar. And they’re the kind of bug you don’t mind slaughtering en masse. Maybe the wine will have a hint of my blackberries that they’re so fond of eating.
But you also save a bunch of CO2 by making and consuming locally, so make sure to drink that wine near to home, or transport it when you would have been making the trip anyway…like for Thanksgiving.
Maybe a partial answer for me on my question yesterday….
“There’s been a complete turn around on the shadow inventory and the banks are starting to dump this stuff?”
Do you have an idea of what caused this to turn around?
“Meanwhile, Fannie Mae imposes a $100 fee on contractors for each day they fail to notify the firm that the foreclosure process was a success and that it has the right to move ahead with the resale of a home. On top of that, Fannie charges a penalty - which escalates for larger mortgages - on contractors who delay selling off such properties.”
What I meant by turn around was the reasoning and posturing by those economist and ‘experts’ that had been defending the shadow inventory had flipped, and we were being told it was crucial for an economic recovery that the foreclosure inventory be purged. This had been reflected on the ground, as I’ve been commenting on things like the GSEs pulling listings from brokers after 60 or 90 days and going to these ‘auctions.’ These auctions are sort of a game, but we can track what gets accepted and the price it closes at on county sites, so it was clear that 60% or so were actually selling at steep discounts. The mentality has come around to the way of thinking shared by many here.
What caused it? I can only guess that it was gravity; for instance Fannie Mae had over $10 billion a quarter in carrying costs for REOs. Once the GSEs started to liquidate, the banks have to feel pressure to stop holding back as well. And the political pressure; for example; I was listening to a candidate from the mid-west, and in his list of ways to cut costs, he mentioned eliminating the GSEs. There’s a big jobs problem and the public isn’t in the mood for handouts or even stimulus stuff. What’s going on inside the GSE regulator? We never know for sure, but it looks like a liquidation has started, as they don’t even know if they’ll be around much longer.
Perhaps the sudden ‘need for speed’ is related to the discovery that there may be some missing links in the chain of mortgage ownership? Time for a ‘bum rush’ before the whole thing collapses?
Some say there’s no such thing as a coincidence. I’m inclined to believe it where the banksters are concerned.
“…we were being told it was crucial for an economic recovery that the foreclosure inventory be purged…”
Does anyone have a clue about how this epidemic of housing market bulimia got started among economists? Nobody could have seen it coming (or at least I couldn’t have)…
I guess our Asian bankers are beginning to lay down the law?
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Comment by Professor Bear
2010-10-19 08:34:01
But why should they care if the American Treasury is tapped to fund the effort to keep housing prices propped up on a permanently high plateau by withholding supply from the market?
Comment by In Colorado
2010-10-19 08:37:25
But who does the treasury borrow the money from? In the end The Fed Reserve could finance the whole thing, but at a terrible price.
Maybe it was the passage of the financial reform bill. Banks can no longer count on being bailed out, and it sounds like Timmy boy is DONE with buying stuff 100 cents on the dollar.
So banks are selling their inventory assets for what they can get before other banks can dump their inventory and prices drop further.
Kinda like a stock panic when a stock is falling. Sell as quick as you can before the other guy does. Except here, you gotta liquidate before you sell. I guess real estate is about get unsticky real fast.
The banks are getting daily infusions from the Fed via interest games. Still their expenses are going up and the revenue going down. Hence the need for more “help”.
“Andrea Bopp Stark, a lawyer with the Molleur Law Office in Biddeford, Maine, said that a number of her clients should be eligible for loan modifications through a Treasury Department program but that servicers “are in such a state of disarray that they often can’t give homeowners basic answers about the state of their loan modification request.”
Then a few weeks or months later, the same servicers evict homeowners as if those applications were never filed. ”
_______
Bigger Brother can be really cruel at times. All this baiting and switching has to frustrate hopeful FBs. Walking away has its benefits.
“Without hope - they would have left a long time ago with assets!!!”
Whether by accident or design, the end result you suggest seems painfully on target.
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Comment by In Colorado
2010-10-19 07:55:04
I have steered firnds to BK attorneys for this very reason. If you have to raid the 401K to pay the bills then its time to see the lawyer.
But people are terrified of having “bad credit” so they balk at filing for BK. What they don’t realize is that their credit rating probably sucks already.
Comment by DennisN
2010-10-19 08:33:36
I don’t know BK law, but aren’t IRA and 401(k) funds immune to seizure in a personal liquidation? All the more reason not to raid them when you begin to slide downhill.
I have steered firnds to BK attorneys for this very reason. If you have to raid the 401K to pay the bills then its time to see the lawyer.
But people are terrified of having “bad credit” so they balk at filing for BK. What they don’t realize is that their credit rating probably sucks already.
I’ve done business with a bankruptcy attorney. (Don’t worry, people. She was a design client and nothing more.)
Any-hoo, she said that a lot of people would come into her office, firmly convinced that their lives were over. When they left, they felt an enormous sense of relief.
Why? Because, after talking to her, they saw a way out of their problems. And the chance to start over.
Comment by polly
2010-10-19 10:22:39
DennisN - in a word, yes. IRAs and 401(k)s are not assets for bankruptcy. It used to be that the rule only applied to 401(k)s because they are technically still owned by the employer, not the person in bankruptcy, but Congress changed that since it was patently unfair to people whose employers didn’t provide 401(k) programs.
People aren’t getting run through the programs because the programs are *voluntary*. The banks don’t have to participate if they don’t feel like it. Some of them made a big deal about talking about how they staffed up to participate to they would look like good guys to Congress and, presumably, the Treasury Department, but they had no real incentive to do so. It may have had the side effect of getting people to cough up their last few resources to stay in the house, but I don’t see that as the real intent. The designers of the program certainly wanted to help folks but also knew they needed legislation for a mandatory program, would never get such legislation passed, and it would probably be unconstitutional anyway. So they went with what they could do. It had the unintended consequence of causing a bunch of people to cough up their last financial resource for hopes of a modification that was never going to come, but I don’t believe that was the intent of the designers of the program. You are talking about the folks from the first two years of a new administration. They are, as a general rule, idealists.
“But aren’t IRA and 401(k) funds immune to seizure in a personal liquidation?”
What Polly said…and the only reason I participate in these “investment” vehicles, really. Not that I’m anywhere BK but I’ve always had a morbid fascination with insolvency and which assets were excluded.
Worse comes to worse, I will walk with my retirement, a depreciated car, my musical instruments, and my homestead exemption.
Comment by Contrarian
2010-10-19 21:01:37
Not so, Polly, on your explanation for the differing treatment (at one point) of 401Ks vs. IRAs. The balance in an employee’s 401K account has never been the employer’s property, technically speaking or otherwise. This is basic ERISA law; the employer, as the often-plan administrator, may have administrative control of the money, but the money is the employee’s. And, the PA is subject to serious fines and other penalties if it fails to do so in the plan participants’ interests.
BTW, this is separate and apart from the possibility that an employee might forfeit matching company contributions if s/he has not vested in the matches yet.
Comment by Prime_Is_Contained
2010-10-21 10:21:05
“This is basic ERISA law; the employer, as the often-plan administrator, may have administrative control of the money, but the money is the employee’s.”
My understanding was that the assets were technically owned by the trust that is the legal structure behind the retirement plan. So while the account’s assets are held For Benefit Of the employee by the trust, they are not technically owned by the employee.
Builders Probably Began Work on Fewer U.S. Houses in September
(Bloomberg)
Builders in the U.S. probably began work on fewer homes in September, a sign the residential real estate market will be slow to recover from the worst recession since the 1930s, economists said before a report today.
Housing starts fell 3 percent to a 580,000 annual rate, according to the median estimate of 71 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Building permits, a proxy of future production, were little changed, the survey showed.
Mounting foreclosures, near record-low home sales and a lack of jobs will make it difficult for housing, the industry that precipitated the economic slump, to rebound. Broadening foreclosure moratoria caused by faulty documentation at some of the nation’s biggest banks also raises the risk the mending process will be delayed even more.
Builders Probably Began Work on Fewer U.S. Houses in September
What in the name of hades is this “probably” stuff? Are journalists all meteorologists now, as in “it’s probably going to rain today”. Why don’t they say something like “There’s a 60% chance builders began work on fewer homes in September”? Probably? I’m probably gonna take a dump after my third cup of coffee.
i am working on 15 houses across 2 of the largest counties in california. in 2 cases it is employee houses being built by the state. in the other cases they are SFRs on a single privately owned lot. most of them are financed by the homeowner with cash.
My parents have just started building a vacation home on their Lake Michigan property. It’s a modest 3BR with a view over the dunes. I don’t know if I’d have the guts to build right now, but since they are doing it, I might as well enjoy the property. You only live once, and you can’t take it with you.
“South Africa Stops Fighting ‘Currency Wars’ Amid Soaring Rand”
“Local farmers are ‘in despair’ as the strong curency has made exports of corn ‘uneconomical’, Grain SA, which represents the industry, said on Oct. 13.”
Lots of irony here, IMO. Money is pouring into South Africa which pushes up the value of their currency as measured against other currencies. This make the farmers unhappy because the prices of their farm products become more expensive on the world market.
But at the same time the US dollar its taking a hit against other currencies of the world. This makes American farmers happy because US farm products become cheaper to sell to the rest of the world.
A declining currency appears to help domestic exporters but it screws domestic consumers.
And just the opposite seems to be true: A currency that is growing stronger helps domestic consumers but screws domestic exporters.
Which is good for an exporting country IF what is exported happens to employ a lot of people. The problem for us is US farming doesn’t employ a lot of people. US farmers are very efficient - efficient to a fault one might say.
The only way the US will benifit, employment wise, from increasing exports is to somehow insure that whatever that it is that is being exported employs a lot of people. But I have no idea what that could be.
The aspect of this that alarms me is the volatility. Speculation against the dollar crushes these small exporting countries. I expect the dollar will turn on a dime and roar off in another direction and then back and forth, causing the maximum amount of pain for everybody.
I expect we’ve already caused some great disruptions in China, though they will never say so. These guys at the Fed, who play shell games with the world, should be put out of our misery.
“The only way the US will benifit, employment wise, from increasing exports is to somehow insure that whatever that it is that is being exported employs a lot of people.”
We export financial swindles all over the world. That employs lots of people in the banking sector. Unfortunately for us, suckers all over the world have become suspect of our “financial innovations”.
Sarcasm aside, it certainly matters what you import (oil & other nat. resources, consumer goods) and what you export (food, military, airplanes, pharma). We’re lacking a large export oriented industrial base that would allow us to benefit from a lower US$. Also forcing the $$ down via QE has the nasty side effect of forcing commodities up. As consumers are forced to spend more on basic needs they will spend less on discrentionary items. But of course QE is not intended to help J6P in the first place.
I would think that Germany will again play the PIIGS card once the Euro will reach uncomfortable heights. They can control the Euro by supporting the PIIGS or creating a panic by threaten to let them fail. A much less dangerous approach then QE by the FED or the currency peg practiced by China.
The editor of an Alaska online newspaper found himself in handcuffs last night after trying to interview GOP Senate hopeful Joe Miller at a Town Hall event in a local middle school.
On Sunday, Miller’s private security guards handcuffed and detained Hopfinger after he tried to ask the candidate about his time at the Fairbanks Northstar Borough. Miller was accused of using borough equipment in the unsuccessful 2008 attempt to oust state Republican Party Chairman Randy Ruedrich.
Hopfinger said that he followed Miller through the school hallway, hoping to get an on-the-record explanation about the issue. At some point, he said, he found himself alone among reporters and “surrounded by a bunch of security guard types and Miller supporters.” Miller never told him to stop asking questions, he said. But his backers did.
“I figure I’m at a public school and they are telling me I’m trespassing,” he said. “And it was just a matter of seconds, I’m challenging this trespass issue and the next thing you know they got me detained and I’m in handcuffs and they put me in another corridor of the building. So for 25 minutes no one even knew where the hell I was… They said we were going to call the police and I said, ‘Fine, call the police.’”
Ah, you are familiar with the story. Sorry if this is a double post, but three hours is long enough to wait for the Filter to do its work. As old Ate-Up (where are you, bro?) would say- ‘Feed that sucker some fiber!’
Shannyn Moore
It is bizarre enough to have a reporter “arrested” by private security, but those of us who drive past The Drop Zone, the business behind Miller’s security, every day aren’t surprised by their over-reach or connection to Joe Miller.
The only thing more extreme than the weather and wildlife in Alaska is the politics. The Drop Zone was a sponsor of Palin apologist and former radio host, Eddie Burke. The DZ bragged to patrons about their security squad being littered with former Blackwater operatives. Not disclosing full names and a preference for cash transactions were commonplace. A poster of President Obama as the Joker hangs in their front window.
No “if”. Miller’s a shoo-in for election. It will be interesting. Alaska is the most socialist state (number one recipient of pork barrel spending; double that of the second place state, Hawaii), distribution of oil revenues by annual check to each citizen, but he seems to be a pure libertarian. Will he continue to fight for the pork like Stevens and Murkowski? I wonder.
Silly you…….and how quaint. You still believe that politicians will do what they say they will do.
You’ll hear him whine about waste, fraud and abuse. Except of course, if it money spent in Alaska. Then it will all be “necessary”, “vital”, and when an expenditure can’t be justified by anything else, will be for “national security”.
(My personal favorite is all the newly minted “Weapons of Mass Destruction Rapid Response” teams that have sprung up everywhere out here in BFE……..nevermind the fact that you could light off a 5 megaton airburst out here, and if it was done at the right time of day, no one would even notice).
Commodities to Extend Rally on Federal Reserve’s `Game Changer,’ UBS Says
Commodities will rally if the U.S. Federal Reserve eases monetary policy next month, according to UBS AG, which describes a likely second round of quantitative easing as a “game changer” for copper, gold and palladium.
The additional measures will increase capital flows to emerging markets, reinforcing commodity-intensive growth, analysts Julien Garran, Tom Price and Edel Tully said in a note. The Swiss bank raised its forecast for palladium next year by 19 percent, for gold by 8 percent and for copper by 7 percent. Other top picks included iron ore, thermal coal and zinc.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said last week that additional stimulus may be warranted because inflation is too low and unemployment too high. The comments have prompted a decline in the dollar, boosting commodities including gold, which traded near a record today. The renewed easing may total more than $1 trillion, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
Reminds me of childhood poker games. First only jokers were “wild”, then to make the game more interesting came “one-eyed jacks” aslo were wild. Soon that wasn’t enough and twos, fours, and sixes were added. At a certain point of modifying the rules by “game changing” the game no longer worked and we went outside and rode our bikes instead.
Where do these clowns come up with these numbers? $250.00 measly dollars is chump change, doubt it will “buy” many votes, but who knows people are smart.
Democrats make pre-election pitch to help seniors
WASHINGTON (AP) - Democrats are making a pre-election pitch to give Social Security recipients a one-time payment of $250, part of a larger effort to convince senior voters that their party, and not Republicans, will best look out for the 58 million people who get the government retirement and disability benefits.
The $250 check is meant to make up for a second year without a cost-of-living increase due to low inflation.
President Barack Obama has urged Congress to approve the $250 payment. House and Senate Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid say they will bring up the legislation when lawmakers return for the lame-duck session in November. In the meantime, Democrats are using the proposal to augment their campaign pitch that Republicans would undermine Social Security.
House and Senate Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid say they will bring up the legislation when lawmakers return for the lame-duck session in November.
Hmmm -
If dems win - why pass it? Save it for 2 years and repeat.
If dems lose - why pass it? They are going home come January and why reward those geezers who didn’t vote for them.
Big banks have stopped foreclosures in 23 states due to legal challenges to their ownership of mortgage notes. On Wednesday, JP Morgan upped their total to 41 states in which foreclosure operations had ceased.
Why the halt in foreclosures? It seems that the banks have ignored long established state property and title procedures and may not actually own the title to the homes subject to foreclosure (and others subject to the same procedures).
It’s the ‘ownership’ of notes like these that I’m curious about.
(sorry if this is a double post, but again, four hours is a long enough wait. Get wid it, Mr. Filter)
Mortgage backed security ess-tee-are-i-pee-ess (I spelled this phonetically in case it’s that word that’s causing the problem)
These are tertiary securities, similar to US Treasury issued separate trading of registered interest and principal of securities, involving repackaging the interest and principal components of mortgage-backed securities. The holder can select a combination of principal and/or interest payments that typically provides: discount strips—these have a predominance of interest payments and therefore have a higher prepayment risk; premium strips—these have a predominance of principal repayments and therefore have a lower pre-payment risk; interest only strip (IO), principal only strip (PO)—these are created by separating the cash flows from principal and interest into two different securities. The two securities provide a leveraged or geared exposure to the market. Because of the nature of the underlying mortgage-backed issue, IOs appreciate in value if interest rates rise since the cash flow rises, because there will be a less prepayment. POs tend to be speculative instruments. See also real-estate mortgage investment conduit.
Wall Street Reform - Main Street Recovery: How do we get there?
Below, is an email and an article from a former employee of Wall Street who blew the whistle on corruption of home mortgages. I contacted her after I read her article since I had been one of the homeowners caught up in the ugly ponzie scheme engineered by Wall Street and the deceptive lending practices which caused the financial disaster we see before us today.
…
The Bottom Line
Just walk away from your mortgage?
Boston Business Journal - by George Donnelly
Date: Monday, October 18, 2010, 11:31am EDT - Last Modified: Monday, October 18, 2010, 4:29pm EDT
It seems like not paying one’s mortgage is becoming something of a new, and just short of stylish, lifestyle. And I’m not talking about those who cannot afford their mortgages. I’m referring to “strategic default,” the act of not paying even if one can afford it.
The sheer volume of mortgage and default distress has dulled the shame of default, especially in regions of the country where home values have plummeted more than 50 percent — Florida, Nevada, Arizona, parts of California, for example. About 11 million borrowers, or about 23 percent of mortgage holders, are believed to be underwater with their home loans.
So hopelessly underwater are these homeowners that they stop paying their mortgages, despite being able to pay, and let the foreclosure process run its course.
…
If the bank lost the paperwork chances are you can successful challenge the foreclosure and drag the process out for years.
Why not? Law and ethics are for suckers, everybody else gets a bailout. That’s the new paradigm in the US where the rule of law has completely broken down. See Angelo Mozillo, no jail time. He even got to keep the vast majority of his ill gotten gains. Nobody bails out J6P, so he just has to create his own bailout via default. Of course this won’t end well but that should have been clear when the original bailout was passed.
So hopelessly underwater are these homeowners that they stop paying their mortgages, despite being able to pay, and let the foreclosure process run its course.
Well I’m a bit suspicious of the banks’ assertions of “strategic default.” Now of course it happens, and the bank is within their rights to try and get their money. But when you scratch the surface of published estimates of strategic defaults, you find the assumption is that anybody who is paying everything but the mortgage is choosing strategic default. Of course banks did a very poor job of estimating FBs ability to pay all their bills in the first place, so their assertion that anybody who dares to pay their other bills first, must therefore be able to pay the mortgage as well rings pretty hollow to me.
The debate over whether it is “OK” for a home owner to walk away from an underwater mortgage seems to be raging like wildfire from household to household across America.
We moved here in early 2002. Local prices are not even close to what they were back then. They’re about 30% higher. Taxes are significantly higher to boot.
We moved here in early 2002. Local prices are not even close to what they were back then. They’re about 30% higher.
If your house was reasonably priced in 2002, has roughly followed the inflation rate higher now, and with interest rates being so low, it is possible that prices 30% higher than 2002 there are understandable?
(Not knowing where you live and the economy there)
“The debate over whether it is “OK” for a home owner to walk away from an underwater mortgage seems to be raging like wildfire from household to household across America.”
Yes,
just like ya’ll predicted.
Makes me worried about some of the other predictions you all make/made…
*puts hands in pockets and continues whistling thru the grave yard*
The tyrannical Fed is taking care of big banks. Regular folks have to take care of themselves. It’s a rational decision to walkaway from a property that has fallen over 50 pct.
I watched a clip from this show, they have some really far out folks running for Gov. in NY. May as well vote for the “Rent Is 2 Damn High” Party candidate. That was his answer to every question.
As CBS 2’s Marcia Kramer reports, the race for governor looked more like the race for a circus ring leader.
In a new poll released Monday, 70 percent of New Yorkers said they are unhappy with the dysfunction in Albany. And this debate probably did nothing to change their minds.
Call it a seven-ring circus.
Jimmy McMillan, of the “Rent Is 2 Damn High” Party, had the same answer to everything from rotten bus and subway service to no jobs and high taxes.
And then there was Manhattan madam Kristin Davis, who said she provided hookers for Eliot Spitzer, who answered a question about the about the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
“The key difference between the MTA and my former escort agency is that I operated one set of books and my former agency delivered on-time, reliable service,” Davis said.
The answer might have been tongue in cheek, so to speak, but Davis also called for the legalization of marijuana to raise $2.5 billion to cut the deficit and rejected business taxes.
“Businesses will leave the state quicker than Carl Paladino in a gay bar,” Davis said.
That is awesome. Maybe I’ll move to NY just for the theatrics. Here in Oregon, we just have a retread pseudo-hippie Dem going against a guy who had an NBA career free-throw percentage of 45%.
DEL MAR — The Del Mar City Council “felt the love” from the overwhelming majority of those who attended its first public meeting on a potential purchase of the Del Mar Fairgrounds since news broke of the deal two weeks ago.
About ten people addressed the council during its update on the $120 million purchase agreement with the governor’s office for the fairgrounds, all but one expressing complete support.
Del Mar had been negotiating with the state since July 2009, after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he may be willing to sell the fairgrounds to help cash-strapped California cope with its budget crisis. The vast majority of these discussions took place in closed-session.
…
Yesterday, I think its was Bill and Big V who got into a “spirited” discussion of marriage. In the future, instead of attacking Bill’s position, I think it would be better to CHALLENGE his position with suggestions/strategies for how men could compensate for the problems he points out.
Males are naturally more cautious about marriage than females because of what I suspect are deep biological reasons that “present” as political reasons.
These “reasons” need to be taken into consideration when marriage laws and policies are produced because younger males are watching and learning about marriage from the experiences of older males.
When a male marries a female, he is inviting the “state” into the relationship; an entity far more powerful than him with ENFORCEMENT power.
If this power is used to crush his “deep biological reasons that present as political reasons”, many males will seek to avoid the institution.
The position of Bill in La should be challenged (with compensatory suggestions) instead of attacked.
As a side bar I know of at least one marriage that ain’t gonna happen because of the housing bubble. An “older couple” thats has been dating for 7 years. They are both retired with decent pensions and each with nice houses. no ones talkin, but I suspect the reason they recently broke up is because neither one wants to give up their house in order to move in with the other. I think thats what happened.
Its sad too because they are a perfect match in every other way.
In addition, each is starting to have a few health problems which would be better dealt with if they lived together.
‘Males are naturally more cautious about marriage than females because of what I suspect are deep biological reasons that “present” as political reasons.’
How about the “legal” reasons to avoid marriage, which include a male’s potential best response to laws passed to thwart the “walkaway” problem?
You are looking at marriage from a Western-Christian viewpoint. And we all know how evil the West and Christianity are…
You need to look at it from a Eastern-Islam viewpoint.
For them man:
Get to marry up to four wives
Get to divorce them by saying “I divorce you” three time
The ex-wives get practically nothing in divorce
Divorce the oldest wife and get a new one for your stable every few years
You can cheat by having temporary “pleasure marriages”
You can beat your wives and no one cares
You can kill you daughters for honor violations
Funny how I never seem to hear a peep from NOW and feminists about this…
“Funny how I never seem to hear a peep from NOW and feminists about this…”
TESTIFY, 2banana! The silence is deafening, eh? You might also include the misogynistic third world cultures from south of the border. Ladies, go ahead and complain about American men all you want. Sure, we have our share of wife beaters, etc. But an American woman is most likely to get a much fairer shake from an American man than any other culture. This is generally speaking, of course.
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Comment by In Colorado
2010-10-19 08:03:38
When I lived in Mexico City American men were considered “good catches” by middle class Mexican women because of the way they treat their wives.
But an American woman is most likely to get a much fairer shake from an American man than any other culture. This is generally speaking, of course.
I can’t say that I’ve had the greatest luck in love, but when it comes to fellas, I’ll take the Americans any day.
Comment by palmetto
2010-10-19 08:53:11
Exactly, In Colorado. Many foreign women prize an American husband. With good reason. American men (in general, as a group, despite the bad apples) are about as good as it gets, and they know it.
Comment by palmetto
2010-10-19 09:35:41
“I can’t say that I’ve had the greatest luck in love, but when it comes to fellas, I’ll take the Americans any day.”
Well said, Slimmie. Same goes for American women, btw. Guys who complain about American women ought to enjoy the rich, cultural experience of a foreign predator wife or girlfriend with an extended family. Whooooeeee!
My point, and I do have one, is this: You American ladies and gents, learn to love and appreciate each other, cast aside the annoyances with petty foibles, because you’re the best you’ve got. Generally speaking, of course. There are always exceptions.
Comment by RioAmericanInBrasil
2010-10-19 10:45:08
You American ladies and gents, learn to love and appreciate each other, cast aside the annoyances with petty foibles, because you’re the best you’ve got.
And learning a foreign language is really hard.
Comment by palmetto
2010-10-19 11:30:32
“And learning a foreign language is really hard.”
It’s just a cultural thing, Rio. Folks tend to have a preference for their own cultures and customs. Which is pretty obvious from the behavior of a number of immigrant groups in the US. They just had a story on that lady down in Tex, 101 years in the US and can’t (or won’t) speak a word of English. She just became a citizen. Boo-yah.
How long d’ya think I’d last south of the border without any Spanish or Portuguese?
How long d’ya think I’d last south of the border without any Spanish or Portuguese?
Not very long.
BTW, one of the problems that children have when their families return to Mexico is their Spanish. They don’t speak it very well, if they speak it all.
Their poor Spanish skills are a real drawback when they go to school. Reason: Mexican schools don’t have Spanish as a Second Language programs. Los estudientes y maestros hablan Espanol solamente.
Comment by palmetto
2010-10-19 12:45:17
I watched a young girl, couldn’t have been more than 9 years old, interpreting for her parents in a local retail store. Not only interpreting, but seeking out a clerk and asserting to them that her parents needed help, and leading them over to her parents.
It was amazing to see. I quite admired her.
Comment by polly
2010-10-19 17:15:52
“It was amazing to see. I quite admired her.”
She will probably be an amazing business owner someday. Can you imagine sitting across the table from someone who has been handling business transactions for her family since she was 9 or younger? I’d get trampled on.
Comment by Hwy50ina49Dodge
2010-10-19 17:58:14
Not only interpreting, but seeking out a clerk and asserting to them that her parents needed help
“…was she a citizen-legal by-product of an illegal “I-wish-to-destroy-America” immigrant ?
The truth is that women don’t need men anymore. Not for sustenance, not for physical protection, certainly not to make babies. We can enjoy you, even want you, but your presence is for the most part entertainment, and ultimately superfluous.
So save your umbrage, it makes you sound like resentful old coots.
Peep.
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Comment by RioAmericanInBrasil
2010-10-19 14:00:14
The truth is that women don’t need men anymore.
Ahansen, Of course the majority of women need men and always will.
Millions of years of evolutionary behavioral and emotional patterns developed to insure the survival of our species cannot be undone by the availability of new medical procedures, pleasureful devices and fatter paychecks.
Comment by ahansen
2010-10-19 14:53:54
And don’t forget “skills,” Rio. And re-orientation of cultural expectations (especially among the younger of us.)
Not saying the species might not have to revert to a less “civilized” scenario at some point in the not-too-distant future, but as our society stands today, men per se are unnecessary. That’s why I qualified my statement with the word “want.”
Besides the men I adore, I also love having my kittycats around; but I don’t need them to survive. Same goes for chocolate. I don’t believe I’m the first to argue that men in modern western society are redundant.
I think we’re quibbling over semantics.
Comment by palmetto
2010-10-19 15:15:54
“I don’t believe I’m the first to argue that men in modern western society are redundant.”
Somebody sounds like a resentful old cougar.
Comment by RioAmericanInBrasil
2010-10-19 15:25:05
I think we’re quibbling over semantics.
Maybe, but the level of “want” might make the quibbling important or not.
For example, you say women don’t need men but may want them. I say women in society, need men way more than you need your cats or chocolate.
But let’s say you were right and women didn’t need men but only want them. I will say that most women want men so badly and rightly so that the “want” is as powerful as a “need” is, and therefore just as important as a “need”.
but as our society stands today, men per se are unnecessary.
In addition to the women point, children do and always will need a father. A women parent can never be a complete substitute for a good father and vice-versa. Therefore, a normal, happy, well functioning human society needs men. Women are part of society therefore women need men.
Comment by Hwy50ina49Dodge
2010-10-19 15:57:04
ultimately superfluous
Some Dad’s giving loving care to their off-spring = “ultimately superfluous” ?
Lost-in-translation…
Comment by Contrarian
2010-10-19 21:19:28
The anger and contempt in ahansen’s post forfeits, at least for me, a good chunk of the respect I formerly had for her.
Comment by Hwy50ina49Dodge
2010-10-19 23:15:43
you say women don’t need men but may want them.
Forth issue a global multitude of “moans” of agreement…
Sorry I missed the discussion, sounds like it was interesting.
It wasn’t until rather late in life that I discovered that “marriage” is basically a cooperative survival mechanism. It gets a bad name when the parties involved, instead of working as a team for survival purposes, do a lot of stuff that hinders survival rather than promotes it.
The best marriages are those where the partners have decided to work as a team to promote their mutual survival and that of their children. When one party betrays this pact, it goes awry.
In more “civilized” times, this aspect of marriage is forgotten and is all about “June, Moon, Spoon” or sex or some such thing.
However, the original purpose is still there, even if it is heavily obscured. It is interesting to note the mating patterns in a retirement community. Many jokes are made about the older men seeking a “nurse with a purse”. I have observed that this is not unusual. Those December marriages that seem to work out best are those where certain dynamics are understood and agreed to, and the proper exchange is put forth. Any man or woman who suffers through the old age of the other, certainly deserves an exchange for their efforts. Because many times the children aren’t there, or are non-existent.
And with all due respect to Bill, who has a number of points of view with which I agree, those things about which he bellyaches with regard to the supposed predatory nature of the fairer sex cut both ways.
My sis, for example, was milked like a cow by a widower with a bunch of loser couch potatos for children, and I had a front row seat for the event. A real slick dick, but of course, no one could tell sis. Mr. Slick Dick was a real charmer on the surface and preyed on childless, prosperous women somewhat past their prime, holding out the hope of domestic bliss with an instant family in the suburbs. I watched this go down with disgust, as sis anted up $$ for past debts, cars and the latest electronic gewgaws and designer clothing for the tribe.
Slick Dick was looking for a supplemental meal ticket for his tribe, since his (rather hefty) salary didn’t quite cover the lifestyle to which he had become accustomed, his debts from a failed business venture and the “gimmes” of his children. You might say he was looking to further his survival and those of his children, in itself not a bad thing. However, those survival plans did not include his various partners. Not even a bit of enduring affection or courtesy in exchange for having their lives eased somewhat. Uh-uh. Milk the cow dry and move on to greener pastures, sometimes the move to greener pastures overlapped while he and his tribe were still squeezing the udders to get those last drops out.
That’s partly why we need to separate “religious marriage” from domestic contracts…
Let your version of a higher power decide who gets to marry, but any societal benefits and obligations should be spelled out in a contract.
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Comment by palmetto
2010-10-19 07:55:22
Well, I have a rather unique perspective, having been raised in a family where the father was significantly older than the mother, and the mother was the chief bread-winner. It was interesting, to say the least.
The one thing I would fault my mother for was that she often didn’t recognize my dad’s contributions. He wasn’t exactly Mr. Mom, but he did do a lot for the kids and also in terms of upkeep for the household. These are contributions that men have traditionally been accused of not recognizing in their wives.
“Collapse of the HBB” is causing a decline in divorces? The Filter’s a little slow sometimes, but surely we’re not collapsing here? And I would think if we had to rant to our spouses instead of each other, divorces would increase.
If I found someone I was perfect with, selling my house (or renting it out at least) would be a no brainer. And I mean even today - when I just finally bought my first house. I’d walk away from it for a perfect match. Has to be more to it.
But, then again, I’m a woman who’s also more anti- than pro-marriage so what do I know?!
The problems for married men cited by Bill are being reversed by the recession. Bill is concerned about women who marry so that they can sit around and mooch off the man. But women now bring in 47% of the family income. Unfortunately, it’s not because their income has gone up - the husband’s has gone down. And women have higher rates of college graduation than men, too.
“Bill is concerned about women who marry so that they can sit around and mooch off the man.”
Sigh. This is a mid-20th century marriage/divorce/alimony fantasy construct that many men have dined out on for years. It’s pretty much obsolete and old-hat, but makes for good fodder at dinner parties and on blogs and also on dates as a way of or milking a lady for some athletic, love-the-one-you’re-with sex. It’s a game and a challenge. Bill may or may not realize that he has created this construct for himself, and it works for him. It’s a way of getting laid, that’s all. Not to be taken seriously.
It’s a way of getting laid, that’s all. Not to be taken seriously.
In Rio, those two sentences would not be seen together very often.
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Comment by palmetto
2010-10-19 11:34:18
Not clear on this point. In Rio, people do or don’t take getting laid seriously? Explain.
Comment by RioAmericanInBrasil
2010-10-19 13:15:07
Not clear on this point. In Rio, people do or don’t take getting laid seriously? Explain.
Good question. And now you have me thinking. I wrote it thinking that Cariocas (persons born in Rio) take it much more seriously than Americans.
I think they do it more often. Studies show their time spending doing it is about 4 times longer than Americans and Northern Euros. They work at the craft. They flirt more. Numbers are given out like popcorn. In Rio there are many love motels that couples rent from $10-$200 per hour that are frequented by rich and poor alike. I think there is more infidelity. Prostitution (not pimping) is legal. Men are still catcalling and whistling a lot and are always trying to pick up women.
That’s why I think they take it more seriously.
But maybe some social scientist could read the above and come to the conclusion they take it less seriously as in it’s more of a common part of life?
Comment by Blue Skye
2010-10-19 14:07:23
All getting laid is local.
Comment by Hwy50ina49Dodge
2010-10-19 14:56:26
“They work at the craft.”
You mean beyond the “missionary position”?
BWAHAHAHicHAHAHicHAHAHAHAHicHAHAHic* (DennisN™)
Comment by Dale
2010-10-19 16:11:43
“All getting laid is local.”……….sure, if you don’t count 1-900 numbers (have those been outsourced as well?)
Comment by Dale
2010-10-19 16:15:49
Here is one for Bill:
I used to have this girlfriend that was always trying to force her religion on me…….. she only wanted to do it in the missionary position (budump bump!)
Citing health care law, Boeing pares employee plan
WASHINGTON(AP) – Aerospace giant Boeing is joining the list of companies that say the new health care law could have a potential downside for their workers.
In a letter mailed to employees late last week, the company cited the overhaul as part of the reason it is asking some 90,000 nonunion workers to pay significantly more for their health plan next year. A copy of the letter was obtained Monday by The Associated Press.
“The newly enacted health care reform legislation, while intended to expand access to care for millions of uninsured Americans, is also adding cost pressure as requirements of the new law are phased in over the next several years,” wrote Rick Stephens, Boeing’s senior vice president for human resources.
True. My solution: Do as the illegals do. Mirror them. Got a medical issue? Go to the ER get treatment and walk away. If enough middle class white people started doing what the Mexicans did then there would be change for the better. As it is the white folks are paying enough to absorb the unpaid costs of non-payers. Whites could overwhelm the system with nonpaying patients which would end the system thereby forcing the creation of a new more effective medical system.
Think Gandhi moving against the existing medical occupation.
Disclosure: I refuse to have any and all medical insurance because it makes no sense to fund a third party to hike medical rates 30% per year.
If enough middle class white people started doing what the Mexicans did then there would be change for the better. As it is the white folks are paying enough to absorb the unpaid costs of non-payers. Whites could overwhelm the system with nonpaying patients which would end the system thereby forcing the creation of a new more effective medical system.
Now this sounds like my kind of revolt!
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Comment by awaiting wipeout
2010-10-19 10:28:37
lint & AZ Slim,
I agree with lint and you. Our health invidvidual insurance premium has almost doubled in 5 years, along with more out of pocket expenses. (We’re generally healthy.) The illegals using Kaiser (CA covers them free) have no co-pays. Meanwhile, our standard of living has tanked, and they get free $ and perks, living subsidized. I’m rethinking ….
Google around for that letter that was sent to Sen. Paul Sarbanes. Seems that one of his constituents wanted to be reclassified as an illegal alien so that his family could get the bennies.
No. They’ll do the diagnostics and treatment for emergency only. If you have a breast mass they’ll give you a referral to a surgeon. If the breast mass was gigantic, broke through the skin, and caused an infection, they’d admit you to treat it and hopefully someone would biopsy it while you were in the hospital, but they might not. And none of the treatment would be covered. If you have any money, they’ll drain your bank account , and when that’s gone you could get emergency Medicaid to cover the treatment. But you can’t have a car and get Medicaid, let alone a house. Forget buying insurance for a preexisting condition, at least until that part of the health reform bill kicks in.
Opting out of health insurance is a safe gamble for a 30-year-old, but I wouldn’t recommend it for a 50-year-old.
Comment by awaiting wipeout
2010-10-19 18:20:22
REHobbyist
I hope your treatment is going well. You certainly has a great attitude, along with your positive prognosis. In Ca, your home and some assets (IIRC $80K) are excluded when applying for state aid to cover you for medical. I just went through this with my parents. They got help for my dying father. (Suspect Lipitor Parkinson’s)
We’ll have a public option by then.
Boeing will be HQ in China by then.
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Comment by X-GSfixr
2010-10-19 13:46:37
“…….China by then.”
And change their name to Bo Eng.
Comment by Hwy50ina49Dodge
2010-10-19 15:05:35
“…As it is the white folks are paying enough to absorb the unpaid costs of non-payers. Whites could overwhelm the system with nonpaying patients”
Fresno / Bakersfried / Modesto…basically anyplace rural CA that might have a minority of whitieees /Kentucky / LA / SC / NC / TX / OK / KS / TN / WV / FL / AL / MS / GA …
Yeah, I’m quite certain that most welfare whitieees are paying enough personal income… to not be a part of the “total problem”.
Given that one of the primary requirements of the law is that 85% of the money brought in by the insurance companies has to be paid out in medical claims (called medical losses by the industry), won’t this have a tendancy to reduce the price of insuraance overall? They will only be able to divert 15% of the money brought in to administration, trying to kick people out of the plans and profit. If they aren’t going to reduce the cost of the plans in reaction to this requirement, they are going to have to allow more services to be covered, lower deductiobles and co-pays, etc. or violate the pay out requirement.
If they aren’t going to reduce the cost of the plans in reaction to this requirement, they are going to have to allow more services to be covered, lower deductiobles and co-pays, etc. or violate the pay out requirement.
Which is why I think we’re going to see insurance companies announcing that they’re leaving the health insurance business. May not happen right away, but I think we’ll see it well before 2014.
On a related note, the money in *selling* insurance policies isn’t in selling health insurance. Or homeowner’s. Or auto.
Instead, it’s in selling life insurance. Boy, do those policies come with sweet sales commissions. That’s why you’re going to get the life insurance hard sell, even if you go to an agent for some other type of policy.
If they can only use 15% for administration (which I assume includes salaries and bonuses) then it’s in their best interest to raise both price of insurance and payouts. The bigger the 85% is in real terms, the bigger the 15% can be too. Or maybe I’m completely misunderstanding.
Only if you don’t raise it so high that you reduce the number of people who buy it too much.
The thing to remember is this. Old system: They raise the price of a policy a dollar and don’t increase payouts for insured health care at all, they get to keep the dollar. New system: They raise the price of a policy a dollar and they must increase the payouts for insured health care by $0.85 and only get to keep $0.15. So if they want to keep an extra dollar, they actually have to increase the cost of the policy by about $6.67 and increase benefits payout by $5.67. Since it is very hard to communicate how the increase in payouts benefits customers (other than reducing co-pays), they are likely to loose people who are on the edge of being able to afford the insurance. Only keeping $0.15 reduces the incentive to increase the price.
A clever marketing person might be able to figure out how to sell it in the individual market, but a lot of those folks are already on the edge of being able to afford health insurance at all. For a big contract like Boeing? The HR folks don’t care about the details of the medical payout. They are worried about the premium prices. You are better off reducing the cost of the insurance, losing only $0.15 for each dollar you reduce it and keeping the giant contract.
A clever marketing person might be able to figure out how to sell it in the individual market, but a lot of those folks are already on the edge of being able to afford health insurance at all.
Count me as one of those folks. That’s why I’m so torqued about only having private insurance as my option, rather than having a public option in the mix.
Did we find the new Hitler? or is she saying what most policitians are not willing to admit?
————————-
Multiculturalism in Germany has ‘utterly failed’, claims Chancellor Angela Merkel
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said her country’s attempts to build a post-war multicultural society have ‘utterly failed’.
In a landmark speech, she broke one of Germany’s last taboos and courted anti-immigration support by claiming those from a different background failed to live happily side-by-side with native Germans.
There are about seven million foreign residents living in the country. Some 4.3million of these are Muslim and there are more than 3,000 mosques across Germany.
Mrs Merkel said the so-called ‘multikulti’ concept – ‘that we are now living side by side and are happy about it’ – does not work. ‘This approach has failed, utterly,’ she said just days after a poll showed a third of all Germans viewed immigrants as nothing more than welfare cheats.
Addressing fears of ‘German-ness’ being lost amid new mosques, headscarves in classrooms and Turkish ghettos in cities like Berlin, she added: ‘We feel bound to the Christian image of humanity – that is what defines us. Those who do not accept this are in the wrong place here.’
Mrs Merkel joined leading political and business leaders who have questioned immigration policies in recent months.
Bundesbank board member Thilo Sarrazin recently moved the debate centre-stage when he wrote a book that said the country’s four million Muslims were ‘dumbing down’ society and that the national Christian identity of Germans was in danger of being lost.
He also referred to a study by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, which showed that more than a third of those surveyed thought Germany was being ‘over-run by foreigners’ and that more than one in ten called for a ‘fuehrer’ to run the country ‘with a strong hand’.
~ She is correct IMO, but many people just can’t grasp why it go does not and will not work.
“German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said her country’s attempts to build a post-war multicultural society have ‘utterly failed’.
In a landmark speech, she broke one of Germany’s last taboos and courted anti-immigration support by claiming those from a different background failed to live happily side-by-side with native Germans.
There are about seven million foreign residents living in the country. Some 4.3million of these are Muslim and there are more than 3,000 mosques across Germany.
Mrs Merkel said the so-called ‘multikulti’ concept – ‘that we are now living side by side and are happy about it’ – does not work. ‘This approach has failed, utterly,’ she said just days after a poll showed a third of all Germans viewed immigrants as nothing more than welfare cheats”.
“Addressing fears of ‘German-ness’ being lost amid new mosques, headscarves in classrooms and Turkish ghettos in cities like Berlin, she added: ‘We feel bound to the Christian image of humanity – that is what defines us. Those who do not accept this are in the wrong place here.’”
Really shouldn’t have any organized decisive religion in a modern society. Practice this fantasy at home in your bedroom on your own time.
Germans have taxes taken out of their paychecks that go to the church they claim to be a member of.
This is messy as they have no tradition of immigration and their sense of “German-ness” is somewhat based (beyond religion) on things that probably won’t adapt well.
I think they are also embarrassed /horrified that some of the worst characters in the last decade (hijackers, etc) have spent time there… They like order and the idea that that kind of thing simmering under the surface of their picture-postcard landscape does (and should) frighten them.
FWIW, Germany does not have “separation of church and state” like we do. In fact, it has two state churches: Catholic and Lutheran (or as the call it “evangelical”).
What I think she is saying is that Germany is culturally a Christian nation. Not in a Protestant Fundy kind of way though.
Hey, we’re finding out the results of that social experiment right here, right now!
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Comment by whyoung
2010-10-19 13:23:03
The guest worker situation is different than the illegal immigrant situation…
People that are allowed in indefinitely as legal workers and then left in a limbo because there is not a clear and expected path to citizenship and assimilation are in a different situation.
People who have lived there for decades and had children there (who are not citizens of Germany even though born there) are a problem that a reasonable person could have seen coming a long time ago.
And since reunification and new mobility of European workers in the EU it’s gonna be a real challenge for them.
Most of Europe is like that. Once an outsider, always an outsider. People in the US move on average every 5 years. In Europe, it’s probable every 200 years.
I’m partly of German descent. My take on the sitch is that Germany, like a lot of other European countries, is based primarily on ethnicity. Meaning that if you’re not German, well, sorry, Charlie, you’re not going to fit in here.
The one exception seems to be England. One of the most ethnically diverse places on the planet. A lot of the non-English folks are from the former Empire, but not all.
There are no parallels between the German immigration “problem” and the American problem. It is difficult to immigrate to Germany and very difficult to become a citizen. Unlike the US, Germany has a need for foreign workers. So after years of welcoming these Turkish workers and denying them citizenship, they are scapegoating them because they didn’t assimilate, even though they have been prevented from assimilating. The problem is of Germany’s own making.
I think the term is “ethno-state”. Most countries in the world are ethno-states to a large degree. The US to a much lesser degree due to its history of immigration from many ethnic groups.
People are still quite tribal.
The problem that goes along with this, but in Europe and Russia especially, is ethnic nationalism. This led to the slaughter of some 80 million people in the first half of the 20th century. I suppose Japan, another homogeneous society, should be included in that calculation.
So - how to get the benefits of ethnic grouping, without the costs? That’s the 64,000 USD question.
Forcing Germany to dilute itself is probably a good thing for the planet. Reminds me of a joke: “A German was crowing about his country defeating the British soccer team in some major international soccer competition. He said, “We defeated the British at their national sport!” A Brit overheard and replied, “Well, we’ve defeated the Germans at their national sport - twice!”
Home starts rises slightly, building permits fall
Housing construction up 0.3 pct. in September; building permits fall 5.6 pct.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Home construction rose slightly last month on the strength of single-family homes, but the market was still too weak to propel growth in the battered industry.
Construction of new homes and apartments rose 0.3 percent in September from a month earlier to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 610,000, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. August’s figure was revised upward to an annual rate of 608,000 from an earlier estimate of 598,000.
Construction was driven by a 4.4 percent monthly increase in single-family homes, which are about 80 percent of the market. Construction of condominiums and apartments fell by nearly 10 percent.
The number of building permits issued to build new homes, a sign of future activity, fell 5.6 percent from a month earlier to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 539,000. That drop, however, was driven by a 20 percent decline in those for condominiums and apartments. Permits for single-family homes rose 0.5 percent.
High unemployment, slow job growth, and tight credit have kept people from buying homes. The housing market suffered its worst summer in more than 10 years, despite the lowest mortgage rates in five decades.
Housing starts are up 28 percent from their bottom in April 2009, but are down 73 percent from their peak in January 2006.
BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s central bank surprised on Tuesday with its first increase of interest rates in nearly three years, a move that reflects its concern about rising asset prices and stubborn inflation.
It said it was raising benchmark rates by 25 basis points, taking one-year deposit rates to 2.5 percent and one-year lending rates to 5.56 percent.
The impact was felt by global markets across the board. Oil prices fell, stock markets turned negative in Europe and the dollar rose as investors were caught off guard by the tightening step.
“The interest rate rise is entirely outside of market expectations,” said Zhu Jiangfang, chief economist at CITIC Securities in Beijing.
“The recent rise in headline inflation has put the real rate into negative territory. And I think that’s why the central bank needs to raise interest rates in such a hasty way,” he said.
My personal belief is that flat home prices and shrinking volume are leading indicators of further home price declines, but over at DataQuick, they tend to see the world differently than I do.
By the way, a one-month decline of 1.9 percent occurs at an annualized rate of ((1-1.9/100)^12-1)*100 = -20.6 percent.
San Diego County housing prices slow to a crawl September median was up 1.7 percent from year-ago levels, DataQuick says By Roger Showley
Originally published October 18, 2010 at 10:52 a.m., updated October 18, 2010 at 4:20 p.m. Prices have fallen five times in 2010 so far, MDA DataQuick reports
Download: September home prices
San Diego County’s median home price slipped to $330,500 last month as demand cooled in the wake of the end to buyer rebates, MDA DataQuick reported Monday.
The median was 1.9 percent lower than August’s $337,000 but up 1.7 percent from year-ago levels.
It was the smallest year-over-year rise since October last year and confirmed what many economists have been saying — prices may soften in the next few months.
DataQuick analyst Andrew LePage said the pricing trend might reflect the temporary rise that occurred when federal and state homebuyer tax credits were instituted late last year and early this year.
“They could end up flat, which is what I predicted,” he said.
September’s median is only $500 higher than it was last December, after rising to a high of $340,000 in May.
In the meantime, he said, the market mix of high-, low and median-priced homes has settled into a stable pattern, but the one unknown is how the foreclosure paperwork problems lenders and service providers are wrestling with will affect the market. Bank of America has halted all foreclosures until it determines how many foreclosures are gummed up because the required reviews did not take place. The bank reported lifting the moratorium on 23 states Monday, but California remains covered by the halt.
“This may all blow over in a few months, or it could end up having a substantial impact on the housing market,” he said.
LePage said there is clearly a pent-up demand for home buying, given the drop in interest rates to historically low levels, and stable or falling prices in many neighborhoods. This also is historically the low part of the buying year, as consumers turn their thoughts to the holidays and away from moving.
“I would expect a normal seasonal slowdown,” he said, “but the extent to which it slows could be exacerbated by the foreclosure paperwork fiasco if more lenders halt activity. There just won’t be as many homes to sell, and some people will step back. If they don’t have to buy, this is another reason to stay on the sidelines.”
…
It’s about time for most of the for sale signs to be retired here until spring. Apparently REOs will not have that indulgent luxury. Comps should be interesting by the time May rolls around.
A wind tunnel big enough to hold a small neighborhood is about to unleash hurricane force winds — all in the name of safety.
The 21 thousand square-foot test chamber is part of the Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) Research Center, which celebrates its official grand opening today.
The test facility, located in rural Chester County, South Carolina, is funded by the insurance industry and can simulate hailstorms, wildfires and category 4 hurricanes.
Around 2 p.m. Eastern Time, researchers will bombard a pair of two-story houses with water cannons and winds between 110 and 120 miles per hour.
One house is built using conventional construction standards applied to most homes in the Midwestern US. The other house is built using storm-resistant materials and methods, such as hurricane straps — which strengthen the connections between roofs and walls.
With 105 fans, each six feet in diameter, the test chamber can produce winds up to 140 miles per hour. Water cannons can simulate rain or hail. And researchers can add burning embers to the wind tunnel to simulate the effects of wildfires.
IBHS officials say the research conducted in this wind tunnel will eventually lead to new ways of building safer homes and businesses.
In the wake of the worst recession since World War II, people are getting closer — children are moving back in with their parents, more families are living together and fewer people are getting divorced. A new report suggests that the recession may be pushing more couples to live together, even though fewer of them are getting married.
Between 2009 and 2010 there was a 13% increase in opposite-sex couples living together and an analysis, notes demographer Rose M. Kreider in a new working paper based on Census Bureau data. She finds that 24% of men in newly formed couples in 2010 didn’t work last year compared to 14% in 2009. Meanwhile, the percentage of couples in which one partner was employed and the other was unemployed increased to 15% in 2010 from 8% in 2008, suggesting economic concerns are pushing people together.
The problem of long-term unemployment, which has been exacerbated in the last year, may be playing a role. “Pooling resources by moving in together may be one method of coping with extended unemployment of one of the partners,” Kreider says.
…
The American public has arrived at the same dismal conclusion as many economists: We’re in for a long and painful economic recovery.
…
The recession technically ended in the summer of 2009, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, but there’s still a lot of ground to make up before consumers feel like the economy — and their personal finances — have bounced back.
Of those surveyed, 74% said their personal financial situation was the same or worse than it was a year ago. Eliminating personal debt was their biggest concern, with 20% saying so, followed by 15% who said potential job loss was their biggest worry. Recovering retirement savings and education costs were also high up on the list.
Concerns over a prolonged recovery, potential job loss and the urge to pay down debt have put a dent in consumer spending. And this survey indicates it will continue to do so: 39% said they plan to spend less on nonessential items in the next year, 48% plan to keep their spending the same and just 8% said they plan to spend more.
So Mrs Exeter and I made a 50% cash offer on a shack on yesterday. I talked to my Wall Street accountant friend who keeps the company of corporate banking thugs. He stated that they will accept a contract offer if cash with no contingencies and a quick turnaround. I gave them 72 hours to respond and just heard back that attorney is reviewing offer. Mrs and I couldn’t care less if it’s accepted or not as our priority is to strike at something with all the risk picked out of it. Our measure is this: Our offer today is exactly what we believe we can sell it for tomorrow. Not next year or 30 years from now. Tomorrow. And in this case, that number is 50% of asking.
There is much more detail to this, especially regarding the realturd(which substantiates my anti-realtor rhetoric). The detail will forever crush what little regard anyone here had for realturds.
Well RunJoeyRun, how about this. My risk is about 50% less and we’re reasonably confident we could sell the dump for the same amount rather quickly. 50% reduction today versus 50% reduction over tens of years amounts to a 50% reduction.
Jobless benefits about to crash
Neither party has done much to address the debt-ridden unemployment insurance system. (Washington)
With no end in sight to the nation’s high unemployment, the government program to help the jobless is heading for a crash.
And with Democrats and Republicans now divided over what used to be routine extensions of unemployment insurance benefits, there’s little prospect anytime soon for the sort of costly and complex rescue that’s necessary, according to one of the program’s champions.
“I am worried,” said Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), who got some temporary unemployment fixes in the $787 billion economic stimulus bill. “It is going to take a degree of bipartisanship … that we haven’t seen.”
The sour economy, with unemployment stuck above 9 percent for a year and a half, has been the backdrop for this fall’s midterm elections, but long-term fixes for the unemployment insurance system have hardly been a hot campaign issue.
Democratic and Republican leaders alike say that helping the unemployed is a top priority. But critics say neither side has done enough to avert the looming insolvency of the outmoded unemployment system, which reaches less than half of the jobless and yet is shuddering under $40 billion in debt.
Jobless benifits about to crash = Less spending in a consumer-based economy where spending is already down = Furthur slowdown of money velocity = Deflationary hard times for those without money.
“I am worried,” said Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), who got some temporary unemployment fixes in the $787 billion economic stimulus bill. “It is going to take a degree of bipartisanship … that we haven’t seen.”
Yeah - we bribed and hammered the $1 trillion obama stimulus and obama care roughshod through the congress and now we wonder about bipartisanship on the eve of getting our @sses thrown out of congress…
Congressional salaries really aren’t that large. There’s an argument that we really should be raising Congressional salaries, as underpaid Congressmen are more likely to accept bribes.
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Comment by palmetto
2010-10-19 10:24:28
Sorry, I should have said “total compensation package”. I’d take that “compensation package” any day. But, I’d hate to go through the election cycle to get it.
How true…..as soon as the election is over they will get back to paying off their cronies on Wall Street,union thugs and fellow government (leeches) workers.
Americans are wusses. They’ll just go home and watch dancing with the stars.
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Comment by measton
2010-10-19 11:36:19
Hard to watch dancing with the stars when your home has been reposed and you don’t have enough money for food. Even if you had a TV the crying from your hungry children would just ruin the show.
Nope when people start going hungry they get mad, I don’t care how lazy they are.
Comment by In Colorado
2010-10-19 13:12:32
They didn’t revolt during the Great Depression, and there were no food stamps or UEI back then. Just bread lines and soup kitchens.
And by home, I meant their parent’s basement or wherever they can crash and mooch a meal. As long as the xbox and TV work they’ll be content.
Those who subscribe to the theory that the stock market follows a random walk would acknowledge the probability of hitting the DJIA = 12K target by year-end just went down considerably.
No pro gold discussion ever gets into about how one recognizes we’re on the other side and it’s time to divest which leads me to believe everyone’s just talking their book.
Well, since its almost certain that the next UE numbers will show an increase in unemployment there is only a single logical outcome: The stock market will rally.
I only have one thing to say about todays activity on the stock market…..”pump & dump”. Thats all this market has become. The Fed, their cronies on the business channels etc…The dollars weak…the dollars strong……SHEESH!
Just relax; the DJIA = 11K plunge protection floor is holding firm. Next month it will probably be a DJIA = 12K plunge protection floor, as the stock market always goes up.
Always look at gold in terms of its current price versus its likely future price.
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Comment by lint
2010-10-19 07:38:26
“Always look at gold in terms of its current price versus its likely future price.”
Nonsensical.
Comment by Professor Bear
2010-10-19 08:38:33
“Nonsensical.”
Same way as it was ‘nonsensical’ to look at housing prices that way circa 2005. Like housing, gold prices always go up.
Comment by lint
2010-10-19 08:56:24
Housing prices should be viewed in terms of gold as well. Is it that difficult to understand the utilization of a standard in order to benefit from a stable reference point so as to understand what deviation a thing is from said reference point?
Professor bear, your comments reveal more about your desires to obscure in opposition to clarify.
Comment by Professor Bear
2010-10-19 09:12:26
Lint,
Your comments suggest you may be trying to lure greater fools into buying your gold.
Comment by lint
2010-10-19 09:25:28
Professor,
To date the greater fool has clearly been the dollar holder. It is self evidently so. That variable(hyperinflation of the money supply) which has made gold more dear in terms of dollars has continues to be expanded with no end in sight.
Please articulate why a gold holder will be a bag holder in 12 months. Please assign a probability for this outcome.
Comment by REhobbyist
2010-10-19 09:48:50
Actually, Bear, lint buys silver for his clients.
Comment by Blue Skye
2010-10-19 10:10:00
We have had several decades of inflation and gold languished. We are now in deflation and gold is soaring, well kind of. There is therefore the possibility that something else is going on.
Comment by Professor Bear
2010-10-19 11:41:10
“To date the greater fool has clearly been the dollar holder.”
‘Tomorrow is another day.’
– Scarlett O’Hara –
Gone with the Wind
Comment by alpha-sloth
2010-10-19 13:46:31
Gold is the stable reference point? Someone alert Einstein.
WILMINGTON, Del. – Republican Senate nominee Christine O’Donnell of Delaware on Tuesday questioned whether the U.S. Constitution calls for a separation of church and state, appearing to disagree or not know that the First Amendment bars the government from establishing religion.
The exchange came in a debate before an audience of legal scholars and law students at Widener University Law School, as O’Donnell criticized Democratic nominee Chris Coons’ position that teaching creationism in public school would violate the First Amendment by promoting religious doctrine.
Coons said private and parochial schools are free to teach creationism but that “religious doctrine doesn’t belong in our public schools.”
“Where in the Constitution is the separation of church and state?” O’Donnell asked him.
When Coons responded that the First Amendment bars Congress from making laws respecting the establishment of religion, O’Donnell asked: “You’re telling me that’s in the First Amendment?”
“You actually audibly heard the crowd gasp,” said Widener
I think the gripe is that creationism shouldn’t be taught in science class, not that it shouldn’t be taught at all. I think a few religious studies classes would benefit students.
Steve it’s not a “gripe”, it’s the first amendment. Creationism shouldn’t be taught in any class, if parents want their kids to learn creationism take them to Sunday school.
I’d be OK with Thor because almost everyone has come to realize that Thor is fiction. When everyone realizes that all the others are fiction as well, then they can be taught in public school.
You had better watch who you’re calling “fiction,” sonny boy. I may be an older God, but I still have most of my powers.
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Comment by measton
2010-10-19 11:27:19
If you are going to strike me down do it with a lightning bolt so I can be sure it’s you and not just a deranged suicide bomber.
Comment by X-GSfixr
2010-10-19 11:40:41
What was wrong with the good old days when I grew up, when science was taught in public schools, and theology was taught in “Sunday School”.
What’s the Islamic/Buddhist/Druid version of “Creationism”? Are they not equally as valid as the Christian interpretation?
Here’s the deal……the evangelists don’t care about teaching “Creationism” to their kids. That brainwash/indoctrination has already happened. They want to use the public schools to teach it to everybody else’s kids.
Comment by Al
2010-10-19 12:29:35
measton,
Thor’s more of a hammer guy than a lightning guy. Not that he can’t use lightning; he just likes the hammer. Leaves a nice dent. He might also sick his goats on you.
I’m pretty sure it’s legal to teach comparative religion classes in public schools, but I doubt if many offer them or have much participation if they do.
In the parochial schools I went to in the early 70’s, they were mandatory. We also took field trips to synagogues, charismatic churches, etc.
As an ex-catholic in the last few years I’ve found myself in the odd position of having to “defend” the church from people whose dislike is based on misinformation. If you’re going to dislike it, and there can be very valid reasons for doing so, it should be at least for real reasons.
No WHERE in the US Constitution is the phrase: ““separation of church and state” - not mentioned even in the footnotes.
Of course, liberals and liberal lawyers on the SCOTUS think abortion is explicitly constitutional right explicitly defined by the 4th Amendment as debated by the founding fathers and just totally ignore the entire 2nd Amendment so this is no surprise.
It is funny - kooky global warming crap (among other stuff) which requires more faith than letting your daughter go to a campaign rally with Bill Clinton is pushed in the schools like there is no tomorrow but frame any debate with any kind of Christianity in it and it OK to ignore all those ideas.
and the right wing bananas don’t understand that if the state can’t establish a religion then there is separation between church and state.
Not sure what to make of your “oh yea but joey spit gum at me” straw man arguments. I support the 2nd and suspect they use the 4th to keep their records safe?
You’re off the reservation by the 3rd paragraphs rambling tirade.
The theory of global warming is not faith. It is a theory regarding a complicated system that is supported by scientific observations and extrapolation. It is currently supported by most scientists in the field but is of course subject to change. Despite all this it does describe a potential risk to the country and the world that would bring misery to a large number of people. The consequences could be easily remedied by fostering conservation and family planning. Unfortunately the religious right will have nothing do to with it. They prefer war famine and disease for population control and to manage limited resources.
The theory of global warming is not faith. It is a theory regarding a complicated system that is supported by scientific observations and extrapolation. It is currently supported by most scientists in the field but is of course subject to change.
Funny - I remember the Global Cooling scare from the 1970s. And THAT theory was supported by most scientists and scientific observations and extrapolation.
And the Theory of Evolution is just that - a theory. And the theory that gays are just born that way is just that - a theory. And an abortion is the theory that it is just a blob of tissue. Etc.
So why don’t we debate and learn in public schools different sides of a theory instead of banning and ignoring one side completely?
Because liberals and socialists don’t want ANY debates or competing ideas. Theirs is the only way to think and anyone who disagrees with them is EVIL.
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Comment by alpha-sloth
2010-10-19 11:11:49
Perhaps, like many, you misunderstand what a scientific theory is.
Comment by measton
2010-10-19 11:25:17
I know I should never try to teach a pig to sing but
“Funny - I remember the Global Cooling scare from the 1970s. And THAT theory was supported by most scientists And the Theory of Evolution is just that - a theory”
Can you show me where “most” scientists supported this?
This is what Wikipedia says about it
Global cooling was a conjecture during the 1970s of imminent cooling of the Earth’s surface and atmosphere along with a posited commencement of glaciation. This hypothesis had mixed support in the scientific community, but gained temporary popular attention due to a combination of press reports that did not accurately reflect the scientific understanding of ice age cycles, and a slight downward trend of temperatures from the 1940s to the early 1970s.
“And the Theory of Evolution is just that - a theory”
Yes a theory supported by mountains and mountains of evidence from multiple scientific fields of study. Are you really that dense. The basics of evolution can be proven in models where a selective pressure is applied to a population of fast breeding orgainisms. There is no evidence for creationism other than faith. There is no way to debate faith as our recent posts show. You don’t believe in , understand or care about the scientifitc process. Actually you hate the scientific process because it reveals the weaknesses in your man made faith.
Science and intellect can’t prove or disprove God but surely point out that those who claim to know God best and claim to have devine insight are fools and or charlatans. This is why most religious leaders hate the intellectual and science.
Comment by 2banana
2010-10-19 15:11:14
Are you really that dense.
No one, including Christians, debate micro-evolution. That is, if you put a bunch of birds on an island with hard nuts they will develop thicker beaks over time. Or is you put a bunch of squirrels in Florida they will lose thick fur over time.
What this debate is ALL about is - where did mankind come FROM.
Evolutionists - the theory we came from nothing, are here by chance, that we are nothing special and are guided only by our genes.
Creationists - the theory we came from a creator
Both are theories. Neither can be proved. In schools and government - One is vehemently excluded and the other is taught as the golden truth.
Closed minds and censorship. What the left does.
PS – Relying on Wikipedia is like relying on a politician. It changes depending on the currents fashionable winds of the day.
PSS- This is why most religious leaders hate the intellectual and science. .
Who? I can name dozens are famous scientists that were/are Christians or men of faith. Many were even priests. You want to see real hate? Go look at the hate of the leaders of atheists to include communists who outlawed Christianity.
Comment by measton
2010-10-19 17:24:38
more bananas
Evolutionists say nothing about whether we came from a creator or not.
They say that we evolved from one cell organisms into modern man over 3-4 billion years.
This of course is at odds with religious men who say the earth isn’t that old and that man was made in God’s image from the start. After they were told they couldn’t teach directly from the bible they came up with creationism.
Again creatinonism is not backed by any science or reproducible fact.
“Relying on Wikipedia is like relying on a politician. It changes depending on the currents fashionable winds of the day.”
Ok so post something that shows that the vast majority of scientists thought global cooling was fact. You can’t because they didn’t. Your debate skills clearly show why you turned to faith.There must be great comfort for you on Sunday when everyone says the same thing you do.
“Closed minds and censorship. What the left does.”
Really are they allowing other religions to be taught in Bible Thumper school these days. How about evolution??
Recent poll shows athiests and agnostics know more about world religions than the faithfull.
Dictators either co-opt or destroy all potential power bases. Religion is a power base - See Taliban Al Quida and read up on early Christianity for examples. I’d also say that those in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones, and Religion lives in a mighty big glass house, maybe you should start with stoning as an example.
Comment by measton
2010-10-19 17:42:56
I have a theory that the world, all of us including our memories were dropped from a candy crapping unicorn yesterday. I demand that this be taught in school.
Like I said it’s impossible to debate a person of faith because they do not rely on facts, or the scientific process. Because science has been effective at pointing out the GIANT holes in their belief system, they come up with creationism in the hope that they can keep a few of the dullards on the fringe from seeing the light.
The gasp in the room was not due to the idea that the phrase “separation of church and state” is not in the Constitution. Even junior high students are taught that the phrase was written in one of Jefferson’s personal letters. The crowd gasped when Coons paraphrased the Establishment Clause and O’Donnell didn’t know what it was.
As for the second Amendment, right wingers keep forgetting about that pesky “well regulated militia” phrase of the Second Amendment. Congress ought to be able to regulate guns as much as they do nuclear power plants.
At the time of the US Constitution being signed - every able bodied male was in the militia.
If you truly believe your drivel - then why are not gun control laws exempted for all active and national guard soldiers?
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
Funny how liberal always forget to mention the 2nd part of the 2nd amendment. Kinda makes sense with the definition of the militia in the 1780s.
PS - When, in the course of all human history, did a government EVER need to explicitly spell out that it needed the right to arm its soldiers? Never.
Now, with the context of the Bill of Rights granting specific rights to all Americans, the 2nd Amendment (2nd for pete’s sake - right after 1st Amendment) grant rights to…
and pencils too, oxide? Permits to write and blog?
What part of shall not infringe don’t you get?
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Comment by oxide
2010-10-19 11:31:03
I thought permits to write and blog were covered under “speech.”
The part of “shall not infringe” that I don’t understand is the “well regulated militia” part. One could argue that the Founding Fathers infringed it themselves.
But hey, if you want to go by the “definition of the militia of the 1780’s,” why, I can agree with that. I’ll just run down to Atlantic Guns and buy me a musket.
And why is it OK for conservatives to interpret the Bill of Rights six ways to Sunday when it benefits their agenda, but when Dems want to back up their own agenda, they are required to point to exact text?
Oh well. I don’t have time to argue this today. We’re just going to have differences on this. Isn’t this why we have a Supreme Court?
“Congress can’t make laws prohibiting the free exercise of religion, anywhere, anyplace, or any time.”
unless it is the government itself that is doing the exercising - like teaching creationism - which is a religious doctrine, not a scientific one - in a public school
Show me where the Constitution somehow limits the free speech of government..
Government can say whatever it pleases. If we don’t like it, we have remedies as provided elsewhere in the Constitution.
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Comment by joeyinCalif
2010-10-19 17:44:42
lemme put that another way..
Since government cannot make ANY laws prohibiting the free exercise of religion, it cannot make a law prohibiting the free exercise of religion in a school, or in a government building.. or anywhere else.
Comment by alpha-sloth
2010-10-19 18:28:23
Using tax dollars to teach a specific religion or religious viewpoint is ‘respecting the establishment of religion’. Teaching a religious studies class is not.
Comment by joeyinCalif
2010-10-19 19:01:49
How is teaching religion the establishment of a religion? Does teaching something officially establish it?
Does teaching a foreign language establish that as the official language?
Penis : vagina = “Intelligentleman Design” slide shows should have a similar audience audible effect.
(Reminds Hwy of a biology course back-in-the-day…Prof goes on about the “interaction” of penis : vagina mechanismal operations…one lone hands raises in the back of the lecture hall…”Prof, how’d that happen?” …Prof: “how’d what happen?” …student: “How’d the penis get into that position in the 1st place?”)
“You actually audibly heard the crowd laugh their arses off,”
We could have a new American proverb “He who owns a home will get screwed”.
Demand is soaring for luxury rentals
In iffy market, paying $20K/month is seen as smarter than owning.
The market for high-end apartments, with monthly rents starting at $10,000, is on fire. Rental units with the same super-fancy finishes and building amenities as the most desirable condos are being snapped up.
The boom is being driven by high-net-worth families who can afford to put a hefty down payment on a $4 million-plus condo or co-op but choose not to do so now. Despite a recent firming of the city’s residential real estate market, more wealthy New Yorkers are deciding that now is the time to play it safe—and rent.
New York Governor Debate: The Circus Is in Town (and ‘the Rent Is Too Damn High’)
The circus came to town Monday night, a seven-ring affair that featured candidates for New York governor. Though voters may have expected a spirited exchange between the two frontrunners, Andrew Cuomo and Carl Paladino, what they’ll likely remember are the self-described madam who provided escorts to Eliot Spitzer, the former Black Panther and, most of all, the “Rent Is Too Damn High” Party candidate.
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
She might be referring to Witchcraft! its tough being a fiscal conservative being lumped in with all the wackos
The first attempts to reduce foreclosures dur-
ing the Great Depression focused on encouraging
lenders and borrowers to renegotiate loan terms
through mediation boards and other voluntary
arrangements. However, the clamor for compul-
sory foreclosure moratoria grew louder as the
Depression worsened and the number of foreclo-
sures rose. On February 8, 1933, Iowa became
the first state to enact a moratorium on mortgage
foreclosures. Over the subsequent 18 months, a
total of 27 states enacted legislation to limit or
halt foreclosures (Skilton, 1944, p. 78).
And recall from Depression history that there were numerous farm foreclosures. Some of them were stopped by neighboring farmers who surrounded the foreclosed property so they could fend off the foreclose-ers.
China’s central bank surprised on Tuesday with its first increase of interest rates in nearly three years, a move that reflects concern about resurgent asset prices and could mark the start of a more aggressive phase of monetary tightening in the world’s fastest-growing major economy.
Is this a sign China is going to play ball and allow their currency to rise? Is it a sign that they don’t have as much room to engage in a currency war, ie a small amount of food inflation might play greater havoc in China than in the US?
* REVIEW & OUTLOOK
* OCTOBER 19, 2010
The Housing Bust Lobby Obama is right to resist the foreclosure wails from the political left.
More than three years into the housing bust, the foreclosure mitigation lobby apparently wants to keep the fun going. That will surely be the result if the political uproar over bank “robo-signers” becomes a moratorium on foreclosures.
So far the Obama Administration, to our surprise and perhaps its own, has behaved with admirable sobriety despite the wailing from the political left. Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan indulged in some familiar bank-bashing in an op-ed on the weekend, but he also says a moratorium would be a mistake. Perhaps this is because he knows something about mortgage contracts, including that bank process errors don’t add up to an injustice to homeowners who haven’t been paying their mortgages for months or years. He also notes that stopping a foreclosure creates unintended victims—such as the potential new buyer.
…
The moratorium lobby also argues that keeping people in homes they can’t afford will somehow help the economy. This is of a piece with more than three years of failed policies intended to prevent housing markets from finding a bottom. These policies—begun under George W. Bush and continued under President Obama—have succeeded mainly in prolonging the agony and delaying a recovery.
In a slow-growth, high-unemployment economy still mending from a financial crisis, there are only so many trillion-dollar markets the politicians can destroy without sending America back into recession. Mr. Obama has often seemed indifferent to the economic consequences of political decisions, but on this issue he has correctly perceived the horrendous cost of blowing up the mortgage market again.
“These policies—begun under George W. Bush and continued under President Obama—have succeeded mainly in prolonging the agony and delaying a recovery.”
Begun by Bush? How about begun by Carter and the creation of the CRA? Or do we know think forcing banks to lend money to those who can’t pay it back is still a good idea?
How about begun by Carter and the creation of the CRA?
I do believe I’ve read many times that people losing their houses cross all ethnic and economic lines now. It is way beyond sub-prime, CRA, type loans. Even on Nov 9, 2008 when it was mainly “contained” to sub-prime:
Comptroller of the Currency John C. Dugan said he categorically disagrees with suggestions that the Community Reinvestment Act is partly responsible for the ongoing credit crisis.
“CRA is not the culprit behind the subprime mortgage lending abuses, or the broader credit quality issues in the marketplace,” source: occ dot gov
I’ve also read that it is the upper income people who are more prone to walk away now.
In light of the above observations, I think unduly blaming the CRA’s was a dishonorable and disingenuous tactic utilized by certain special interests interested in shifting blame away from themselves and onto groups of Americans who have been prejudiced against in the past.
Started 35 years ago and greatly expanded in the 90s by Clinton.
“During one of the Congressional hearings addressing the proposed changes in 1995, William A. Niskanen, chair of the Cato Institute, criticized both the 1993 and 1994 sets of proposals for political favoritism in allocating credit, for micromanagement by regulators and for the lack of assurances that banks would not be expected to operate at a loss to achieve CRA compliance. He predicted the proposed changes would be very costly to the economy and the banking system in general.”
And he was 100% correct.
The CRA was a liberal feel good program. No job? No credit? No assets? No worries. We’ll force the banks to give you a loan anyway. Banks were forced to lend, so they had to make lemons out of lemonade and came up with the sub-prime derivative market.
But why let these pesky facts get in the way of a good lie? It was all Boooooooooosh!!
Exactly. If it was such a horrible program, how did it manage to do just fine for so long? Worked right up until we repealed Glass-Steagall, by odd coincidence. Then it suddenly took over Wall Street, and forced them to make billions of dollars doling out shoddy mortgages.
..intended to prevent housing markets from finding a bottom
that’s not it at all..
I’ve always said the PTB’s basic intentions were to control the speed of the decline, not to prevent it. They know full well there is no way to prevent it.
And it is they who want to maintain that control, not to allow some other group, political, legal or otherwise, to control the speed.
Congress will face a runaway train on taxes and spending when it reconvenes after the elections. The solution is to restrain both—especially to stop the $6 trillion tax increase scheduled to take place on Jan. 1—in order to restore business confidence and help job growth.
Instead, Congress is more likely to do nothing and count on the central bank to flood the economy with more money. In his speech at the Boston Federal Reserve Bank on Friday, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke practically promised to oblige by resuming the large purchases of Treasury notes carried out to help stop the 2008 financial crisis. It’s a sweeping manipulation of longer-term government interest rates and the dollar that the Fed should consider only in the direst of national emergencies or with specific congressional authorization.
…
“Additionally, if we were inclined to take a short position in bonds we wouldn’t choose to short the bonds issued by an entity with unlimited access to money. We would, instead, choose to short the bonds of entities that are now cash-strapped or are likely to become cash-strapped during the next major economic downturn. General examples of attractive short-sale candidates are municipal bonds and junk bonds.”
Merideth Whitney suspects that the next big bailout will be the bailout of states. You could get hammered if you shorted municiple debt and then the printing press hose was directed at the states. Junk bonds sounds like a better short bet.
Arkansas Industrial Jobs Declined 9% Over the Past Two Years
Manufacturers’ News, Inc.
Industrial employment in Arkansas fell 9% over the past two years, according to the 2011 Arkansas Manufacturers Register, an industrial directory published annually by Manufacturers’ News, Inc. (MNI) Evanston, IL. MNI reports Arkansas lost 20,309 manufacturing jobs over the past two years.
Manufacturers’ News reports Arkansas is now home to 3,779 manufacturers employing 205,313 workers.
“Decreased demand continues to affect Arkansas’ manufacturing industries, particularly the transportation sector and industries related to the housing market,” says Tom Dubin, President of the Evanston, IL-based publishing company, which has been surveying industry since 1912.
California cities are lowering standards to raise revenue
Financially struggling municipalities that once shunned such businesses as casinos, tattoo parlors and certain big-box retailers are considering easing rules to plug budget gaps. ~ Los Angeles Times
Like many municipalities across the state and nation, Turlock, Calif., is struggling to plug a sizable budget hole. So city officials are looking to court big-box retailers.
It’s not exactly a novel plan for ginning up jobs and sales tax revenue in a slow economy. But it’s remarkable for Turlock considering that six years ago this city of 70,000 waged a successful campaign to block Wal-Mart Stores Inc. from building a proposed supercenter. Local residents were concerned about traffic, visual blight and harm to mom-and-pop businesses. But City Councilman Ted Howze said the biggest worry now was how to stave off deep cuts to city services.
On the contrary. The House passed a bill limiting tax breaks to companies who shipped jobs offshore. The Republicans filibustered it in the Senate. Sometimes it amazes me how some of these jokers get any votes at all.
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Comment by palmetto
2010-10-19 11:47:44
Here’s the strategy of the neopubs (not to be confused with true republicans):
You get the base all fired up on social issues, like abortion, homsexuality, etc. You get them all fired up about it, get them screaming and yelling. You pump up the economy with credit, dot.com and housing bubbles. This hides the decline in standard of living. While all this is going on, you quietly offshore the jobs and eliminate benefits, etc.
It’s a typical pickpocket con job. One person distracts the victim while the partner picks the pocket or snatches the purse.
Comment by In Colorado
2010-10-19 13:03:24
To be fair the dot com bubble happened during the clinton administration. But your point is well taken.
Comment by Hwy50ina49Dodge
2010-10-19 17:31:38
The Republicans filibustered it in the Senate. Sometimes it amazes me how some of these jokers get any votes at all.
“TrueBeliever’s™ / “TrueDeceiver’s™” “TrueHypocrite™” / “TruePurity™” = “TrueHabit™” secure within their “TrueHabitat™”
New slant on MERS. I was just listening to a couple of guys on CNBC talking about MERS. One discussed how MERS was seen as a way to avoid paying recording fees to county governments, and now counties will try to go after the fees they lost. Yet another bag-holder!
“…how MERS was seen as a way to avoid paying recording fees to county governments”
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Conspiracy by “TrueProfessional’s™” = ““TrueFinancialinnovation™”
Meanwhile back at the “TrueRouge™” ranch,…“TrueAnger™” is focused on the anti-American activities of the (non-Hawaiian) Kenyan Muslim-Islamist, aka, lil’ Opie
George Salt had a great comment on this yesterday. Good enough that I saved it. George Salt said:
“… it is becoming clear that the bankers created MERS as part of a scheme to circumvent the need to file papers with county governments for the purpose of shirking filing fees and facilitating the process of slicing, dicing and pooling mortgages and then selling them as mortgage backed securities. In other words, they set out to create a privatized, unregulated, shadow land title system. But instead of being a paragon of free market efficiency, the system they created is proving to be a morass of shoddy paperwork, lost documents and outright fraud. It will take a decade or more to sort all this out. “
Way OT but interesting: I made the news last night. Seems that our weekly walk around Downtown Tucson was inconvenienced by some dude who’d watched too many car chase movies.
I’m in the photo taken by Anonymous. Look for the safety vest wearer carrying the trash bag. (It was the monthly Meet Me at Maynards cleanup of Downtown. We picked up trash along the three-mile MMM course.)
Author Adam Ferguson – “When Money Dies” The Nightmare of the Weimar Collapse will be republished. Puplava interviewed him this week. The book was first published in the 70’s. It’s on my must read list.
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — If you want to take the pulse of how many Americans feel about justice meted out to Wall Street, take a look at the more than 200 comments posted to MarketWatch’s story on the settlement between prosecutors and Angelo Mozilo, the former chief executive of Countrywide Financial.
…
Hey I’m ok….needed some time off my mom was sick and no internet….
last night was very interesting…new show host Yes Peter Schiff started a new live 2 hour a day radio show 6-8 pm…and my host Larry Shiller is on from 8-10 mondays….
He said send a resume and we will talk……..There was an ad placed on CL 2 weeks ago but i didn’t reply because it was 5 days, well now I know who it is..
(Of course the unintended consequences of such an attack against large volumes of saltwater is that they make floatsum of those heavy lead balls, thereby perhaps lifting the waterline…),
“…fire like theirs no tomorrow!” Cap’t Yellowbeard
I am growing very tired of the President and his socialist agenda. What makes it worse is that he wants us to live frugal, state serving, and socialist lives, but he himself practices nothing of the sort. Case in point, grand State dinners, vacations, excessive golf games, celebrities in the white house, lucrative book deals, and shutting down Los Angeles freeways so he can come fund raise for the loser Boxer. It is as if he does not even realize he and his liberal cronies are screwing up the nation; nice job, change we did not expect. Sounds like a true socialist system where the masses get nothing and the elite eat off the cream at the top; time for some fresh faces in Washington. Boxer will lose if my vote counts for anything.
Case in point, grand State dinners, vacations, excessive golf games, celebrities in the white house, lucrative book deals, and shutting down Los Angeles freeways so he can come fund raise for the loser Boxer.
All presidents have had State Dinners. They’ve all gone on vacations. Remember Reagan and his Rancho Cielo near Santa Barbara? Seemed like the guy all but lived there. Same for GW Bush and his Trinity Ranch.
As for excessive golf games, well, you would have loathed Ike. He practically moved to the golf course. Lucrative book deals? Well, those have been part of the publishing industry for decades. Presidential books have been perennial bestsellers. Even the poorly written ones like Clinton’s.
Shutting down freeways? Well, look at it this way: If someone took a potshot at the motorcade, we’d never hear the end of it. Doesn’t matter who’d be inside the Beast (the nickname for the presidential limo), there’d be howls about the lack of security that allowed this thing to happen.
“What makes it worse is that he wants us to live frugal, state serving, and socialist lives.”
I’d say he and a lot of other washington folks would love for us to spend like drunken sailors, even to the point of this
In a troubling sign for Democrats as they head into the midterm elections, their signature tax cut of the past two years, which decreased income taxes by up to $400 a year for individuals and $800 for married couples, has gone largely unnoticed.
In a New York Times/CBS News Poll last month, fewer than one in 10 respondents knew that the Obama administration had lowered taxes for most Americans. Half of those polled said they thought that their taxes had stayed the same, a third thought that their taxes had gone up, and about a tenth said they did not know. As Thom Tillis, a Republican state representative, put it as the dinner wound down here, “This was the tax cut that fell in the woods — nobody heard it.”
Actually, the tax cut was, by design, hard to notice. Faced with evidence that people were more likely to save than spend the tax rebate checks they received during the Bush administration, the Obama administration decided to take a different tack: it arranged for less tax money to be withheld from people’s paychecks.
provision of the stimulus bill had cut taxes for 95 percent of working families by changing withholding rates
it arranged for less tax money to be withheld from people’s paychecks.
So they just changed the withholding. The people would have gotten that money back anyway, in their tax refund. How exactly is that a “tax cut”? I think at the time, people definitely did notice this ploy from the Democrats. And the people all realized that it was NOT a tax cut.
“I am growing very tired of the President and his socialist agenda.”
I’m still waiting for the socialized healthcare, free universities and 8 weeks of paid vacations. Otherwise its feels pretty much like the previous admininstration.
In Colorado
I voted for W under my prior Republican umbrella, and O isn’t any worse or better. You’re right. I’m a Political Atheist, at this point in my life.
Wake me up please when socialism comes. We’ll know it by such things as affordable comprehensive public transit systems, subsidized K-to-university education, guaranteed 12+ months maternity leave, limits on the power of corporations, taxes that take a higher percentage from the rich than from the poor, etc. What we’ve got now is more like GWB-lite for a third term.
Wake me up please when socialism comes. We’ll know it by such things as affordable comprehensive public transit systems, subsidized K-to-university education, guaranteed 12+ months maternity leave, limits on the power of corporations, taxes that take a higher percentage from the rich than from the poor, etc.
Spot on.
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Comment by exeter
2010-10-19 19:00:05
Repost for Bush/teaparty retardicans-
You need a conversation with Dan Webster on the socialism boogeymen but let me help you.
The primary fundamental of “socialism” is worker ownership of production capacity. There isn’t a nation on the globe that’s further from that fundamental than the US. And no… there is no wiggle room on this one. The productive capacity was offshored over the last 30 years. It’s not even on this continent anymore.
Nice try though.
The collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008 sparked a global financial crisis that pushed the U.S. economy into the worst recession since the Great Depression. Two years later, billions upon billions of taxpayers’ dollars have been spent on government bailouts to save the banks that started the contagion, yet not one person has been held accountable or slapped with criminal contempt.
In his new documentary Inside Job, filmmaker Charles Ferguson spoke to some of the biggest names from Wall Street to Washington to academia to get a first hand account of what caused the 2008 financial meltdown and how the financial system reach its breaking point.
Ferguson points to 20 years of deregulation, rampant greed (a la Gordon Gekko) and cronyism. This cronyism is in large part due to a revolving door between not only Wall Street and Washington, but also the incestuous relationship between Wall Street, Washington and academia.
The sword of academia and media has been severely blunted by monied interests.
Don’t forget the mainstream media in that mix. PBS is stuffed full of academics with a moneyed agenda. And at least PBS asks decent questions. Thank god I don’t get cable and have to watch the experts blabber nonstop on CNBC.
I watched CNBCs History of Sears last night. Its storyline during the Depression produced these tidbits: The CEO of Sears who took over after the originators early demise often had to front his suppliers cash after the banks called the lenders’ loans. He felt it was the cost of staying in business through the Depression. I’m not sure we’ve talked about the possiblility of banks calling loans.
Sears was one of the largest employers of its time. When asked what it was like to lead such a large company, the CEO responded, “What do you mean lead? I consider these people my co-workers.” (wording may not be exact) Can you imagine that sentiment today?
During the Depression, the catalog business took as little as $1/week for payment w/o charging interest. I suppose that made sense if product pricing was experiencing downward pressure. It might be the only way to nudge people out of waiting for lower prices.
On an aside:
Hey look at that! Cramer’s having another meltdown. Somebody get that guy his medication!
Sears was one of the largest employers of its time. When asked what it was like to lead such a large company, the CEO responded, “What do you mean lead? I consider these people my co-workers.” (wording may not be exact) Can you imagine that sentiment today?
I think that Southwest Airlines employees still think of each other as Coworkers. Even if they’re Herb Kelleher. Or Colleen Barrett. Or Gary Kelly.
I don’t see how anyone can stomach that man whacking away at his buzzers and sirens. It’s so distracting that he could switch to the weather forecast and I’d never know it.
Oct. 19 (Bloomberg) — Pacific Investment Management Co., BlackRock Inc. and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York are seeking to force Bank of America Corp. to repurchase soured mortgages packaged into $47 billion of bonds by its Countrywide Financial Corp. unit, people familiar with the matter said.
There has to be something behind this move. I heard that BlackRock is now the largest holder of Bank of America, owning 5.35% of the outstanding BAC shares, for a total value of $6.6 billion.
Funny how when the DOW retreats the note takers use words like pounded, hammered, worries, ugly etc…Yet when it runs up a thousand points in a sort period of time it’s all sunshine and lollipops.
~ Wall Street Pounded by Tech, China Worries- Reuters
Results and outlooks from consumer and technology titans Apple and IBM sent U.S. stock indexes lower on Tuesday as disappointed investors worried about the strength of corporate earnings.
Oct. 19 (Bloomberg) — Treasury 30-year bonds rose, pushing yields down from near a two-month high as stocks fell after China’s unexpected increase in interest rates discouraged demand for riskier assets.
U.S. government debt earlier fell amid speculation the Federal Reserve will increase inflation by purchasing bonds to spur the economy in a strategy called quantitative easing. Fed Bank of Dallas President Richard Fisher said the U.S. economy is operating at close to “stall speed” and cast doubt on the effectiveness of additional monetary easing.
“The market has had a cautious risk-off position, which has boosted the dollar and made less risky assets like Treasuries more favorable,” said Eric Lascelles, chief rates strategist and economist at Toronto-Dominion Bank’s TD Securities unit in Toronto. “The market is in a comfortable spot around these levels and shouldn’t deviate far from here until we get more information on QE.”
…
Federal agencies probing foreclosure problems
Federal task force to investigate allegations of errors in foreclosure documents.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says federal agencies are investigating allegations of widespread errors in foreclosure documents.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs says in a statement that an interagency task force on financial fraud has launched an investigation into the foreclosure process. He also says the Federal Housing Administration, a federal agency that guarantees mortgages, is investigating, too.
“We remain committed to holding accountable any bank that has violated the law,” Gibbs says.
Gibbs says the administration supports an effort by attorneys general in 50 states to investigate the matter. Several administration officials, however, have said over the past week that they don’t back a nationwide halt to foreclosures.
Nearly 1,000 LAUSD workers to lose jobs on Nov. 30
South Bay education news
Nearly a thousand support staff in the Los Angeles Unified School District will soon lose their jobs, while more than three times as many will be forced to transfer to new positions in an upheaval that one official termed “musical chairs.”
So-called reduction-in-force notices were sent out to about 4,600 classified staff on Friday, district officials said. Of those workers, about 990 were told they will be laid off Nov. 30.
The remaining personnel were ordered to report to new work sites - and in many cases to fulfill different duties at a lower salary or for fewer hours - on Dec. 1.
Employees ranging from office technicians and cafeteria workers to custodians to secretaries are affected.
It won’t hurt them one bit, the world will still turn. We should be doing the same, to much fat.
Leaked Budget Reveals UK Plan To Fire 1% Of The National Population
The UK austerity measures are starting to go from bad to worse.
Photographers snapped photos of Treasury Secretary Danny Alexander holding an open copy of the unreleased Strategic Defence and Security Review, according to Daily Mail. Now British are going crazy guessing whether or not this was an intentional leak to the press.
Regardless, the cuts are severe: 490,000 public sector layoffs by 2015.
That amounts to a massive part of the government — indeed, nearly one percent of the UK population. A equally significant cut in the US would mean firing the entire population of Iowa.
Housing Starts Rise to Five-Month High in Sign of Stabilization
Oct. 19 (Bloomberg) — Builders in the U.S. unexpectedly began work on more homes in September, a sign the real estate market is stabilizing at depressed levels. Housing starts rose to a 610,000 annual rate, the most since April and up 0.3 percent from a revised 608,000 rate in August that was higher than previously estimated, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington.
Building permits dropped to the lowest level in more than a year as a plunge in the volatile multifamily area overshadowed a gain in single- family applications.
I can’t imagine the old moonbat doesn’t want to keep her seat at the head of the table.
Democrat says he’s heard Pelosi won’t run again for Speaker
A House Democratic lawmaker said late last week that he’d heard Nancy Pelosi wouldn’t seek another term as Speaker.
Rep. Mike McIntyre (D-N.C.) said that not only would he not back Pelosi (D-Calif.) for Speaker again, but also that he’d heard she would not seek another term in that position.
“From what we’re hearing, she’s probably not going to run for Speaker again,” McIntyre told WWAY-TV in North Carolina. “And if she does, I’m confident she’s going to have opposition, and I look forward to supporting that opposition.”
There’s a link to a story posted by SUGuy further down the thread that you may want to read. In it, a supposed WH insider makes the claim that all eyes should be on Pelosi right now. The insider claims that she is about to do or say something big that will reveal a lot about what’s going on over there.
I thought the French retirement system was one of the very best in the world? Far superior to ours, what happened, is the bill coming due?
French retirement protests take violent turn
PARIS – Masked youths clashed with police and set fires in cities across France on Tuesday as protests against a proposed hike in the retirement age took an increasingly radical turn. Hundreds of flights were canceled, long lines formed at gas stations and train service in many regions was cut in half.
President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged to crack down on “troublemakers” and guarantee public order, raising the possibility of more confrontations with young rioters after a week of disruptive but largely nonviolent demonstrations.
Sarkozy also vowed to ensure that fuel was available to everyone. Some 4,000 gas stations were out of gas Tuesday afternoon, the environment minister said. The prime minister said oil companies agreed to pool gasoline stocks to try to get the dry gas stations filled again.
Prime Minister Francois Fillon said, “The government will continue to dislodge protesters blocking the fuel depots. … No one has the right to take hostage an entire country, its economy and its jobs.”
The population is tall and skinny. Very fit people. Pretty too.
Comment by joeyinCalif
2010-10-19 15:01:06
i was speaking figuratively, of course, but since you mention it..
“We are confronting a major public health problem,” said Le Guen, author of “Obesity, the New French Disease,” which was just published and is one of many new books on the topic.
“First things first: given all the bad-mouthing the French receive, you may be surprised that I describe their society as “productive.” Yet according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, productivity in France - G.D.P. per hour worked - is actually a bit higher than in the United States.”
The point is that to the extent that the French have less income than we do, it’s mainly a matter of choice. And to see the consequences of that choice…This translates into lower personal consumption: a smaller car, a smaller house, less eating out.
But there are compensations for this lower level of consumption. Because French schools are good across the country, the French family doesn’t have to worry as much about getting its children into a good school district. Nor does the French family, with guaranteed access to excellent health care, have to worry about losing health insurance or being driven into bankruptcy by medical bills.
Perhaps even more important, however, the members of that French family are compensated for their lower income with much more time together. Fully employed French workers average about seven weeks of paid vacation a year. In America, that figure is less than four.
So which society has made the better choice?
Comment by joeyinCalif
2010-10-19 16:23:15
..Nor does the French family, with guaranteed access to excellent health care, have to worry about losing health insurance or being driven into bankruptcy by medical bills.
guaranteed access..
The French family is deluded into feeling safe and secure while the entire country is being driven into bankruptcy.
Comment by Hwy50ina49Dodge
2010-10-19 17:16:21
This translates into lower personal consumption: a smaller car, a smaller house, …less eating out.
BWAHAHAHicHAHAHicHAHAHAHAHicHAHAHic* (DennisN™)
Comment by RioAmericanInBrasil
2010-10-19 19:03:38
The French family is deluded into feeling safe and secure while the entire country is being driven into bankruptcy.
They actually are not. However that is a common misrepresentation foisted upon the American public in order to distract us from our own, much greater problems and to keep Americans from realizing that compared to much of Europe, we work harder and get a lot less of what really matters such as health-care, time off, education, child care and other safety net components.
Comment by alpha-sloth
2010-10-19 19:16:58
Stupid French. It’s like they think life should be pleasant.
Comment by Hwy50ina49Dodge
2010-10-19 20:34:47
“Stupid French. It’s like they think life should be pleasant.”
Mr. Cole’s response verbatim: “Dad…especially after they’re having a couple Merlot’s”
Last Saturday, I was at a pre-game tailgate hosted by the University of Michigan College of Engineering. At one table, I got to talking with a guy who graduated just two years ahead of me. He’s now retired, and I asked why. Answer: He was a government employee.
I thought the French retirement system was one of the very best in the world? Far superior to ours,
The French national retirement system is far superior to ours, one of the best in the world.
what happened, is the bill coming due?
Yes the bill is coming due
This is why they are changing the retirement age from 60 to 62.
Now how in the world could this rational change imply the entire system was a failure? It can’t but Rush and Beck would twist this and are twisting it to imply the French retirement system is a failure.
Fact is it is not.
You might think it’s a rational change, but the French people disagree and are up in arms about it.
Who are we to believe.. you or them?
Weather we believe it is “rational” or not is not germane to the greater point that increasing the French retirement age from 60 to 62 does not seem to be a remedy necessitated by a system in grave danger of collapse.
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Comment by joeyinCalif
2010-10-19 20:26:35
collapse?
If a measly little 2 year retirement extension causes violence and civil unrest the system is inflexible and, consequently, very fragile.
Defend it all you like, but I wouldn’t recommend standing anywhere near it as austerity measures are intensified..
Comment by RioAmericanInBrasil
2010-10-19 21:07:22
If a measly little 2 year retirement extension causes violence and civil unrest the system is inflexible and, consequently, very fragile.
Ahhhh, now I understand the threat to you. Good. Think about it very carefully.
Comment by RioAmericanInBrasil
2010-10-19 21:16:47
but I wouldn’t recommend standing anywhere near it as austerity measures are intensified..
Ladies and gentleman I give you another valid option to austerity measures.
1. Protect your manufacturing through duties.
2. Progressively tax the rich and corporations at the same percentages they were taxed in the 50’s and 60’s and 70’s.
3. Increase safety net programs.
Value your middle-class and people more than you value your 1/5 of 1% Wall-Street and banker parasitical blood suckers.
Other countries do it. We used to. Man up.
Comment by joeyinCalif
2010-10-19 21:48:08
Canada’s public health care at crossroads
Private medicine makes inroads as nation struggles with long waits
[snip] “I’ve had an issue for the last few months with swollen glands. It’s something that’s been bothering me,” Irving said. “I know if I were to wait for one on the Ontario side with the public [system], it would take several months.”
[snip]
Meanwhile, Canada’s provinces are struggling with their tax structures, hoping the funds they devote to health care can keep up with a rapidly aging population and skyrocketing medical costs. In Ontario, medical costs eat up close to 50% of all provincial revenue.
[snip]
Privatization is inching its way into the system, as evidenced by treatment centers that are beginning to pop up in the nation’s eastern province of Quebec as well as British Columbia in the west. The heartland province of Alberta also is questioning the status quo.
[snip]
…yes, there have been isolated incidents in which patients waiting for treatment have died. And many others with waits imposed upon them endure months of significant pain.
“That is common. I’m the chief of staff of [Ottawa] Hospital. That discomfort and pain, I see that daily,” Turnbull said. “Is there a health-related cost to wait times? Absolutely.”
Hospital crowding
Balancing free health care with the needs of its people, though, is becoming more difficult for Canada. The frigid nation is finding many of its hospitals overcrowded and there is a question of whether those who need to be admitted actually will.
Why can’t a little country with all the natural resources in the world, and only one-tenth our population, make socialized medicine work?
Comment by RioAmericanInBrasil
2010-10-20 10:40:53
Why can’t a little country with all the natural resources in the world, and only one-tenth our population, make socialized medicine work?
It is working. It is working for their population better than our American system is working for us. Of course every country in the entire world has health-care system challenges.
Violent and short lived move down in metals is one of dozens of gifts given to those folks wanting to hedge against hyperinflation but have not done so.
A few more days of horror in the metals market will give the Asian tigers plenty of time to stock up cheap for the next massive bull run.
We’ve watched some serial asset booms during the past decade. Is there to be another after this commodities boom or will subdued availability of credit end this era of boom/bust?
Any ideas? Might be fun to take a flier on something contrary before the drum beaters catch on. Of course, most pioneers get eaten.
Who knows perhaps she had his crack in her purse, and told him to f-off.
Southern California Mayor Resigns After Purse-Snatching Arrest
October 19, 2010 - Associated Press
A suburban Southern California mayor has resigned days after his arrest for a purse-snatching and wild ride through streets with a woman clinging to his sport utility vehicle.
San Gabriel Mayor Albert Y.M. Huang says in an e-mail Tuesday to The Associated Press that he’s confident his reputation will be restored but he’s decided to resign because of overwhelming media attention. KFI radio was first to report his resignation.
Investigators say the 35-year-old mayor and a woman were squabbling outside a restaurant on Friday when Huang fled in his SUV with her purse and the woman clinging to the side of the vehicle. Speeds reached 45 mph over more than a quarter-mile before the SUV was stopped.
Huang was arrested and booked for investigation of felony assault, felony robbery and misdemeanor battery.
It wouldn’t be the first time drugs mixed with politics in that nutty town..
In 1989, Vice-Mayor Frank Blaszcak lost his City Council seat by nine votes after a free-for-all campaign that included allegations of drug dealing and mooning residents at a City Council meeting.[11][12]
Blaszcak ultimately hired renown attorney Melvin Belli and sued eleven well-known city developers and real estate brokers and cleared his name.[citation needed]
Melvin Belli.. now there’s a blast from the past..
$100 billion a month…Taint enough we be needin mo money!
Officials hint Fed on the verge of more easing
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A string of Federal Reserve officials on Tuesday indicated the central bank will soon offer further monetary stimulus to the economy, with one saying $100 billion a month in bond buys may be appropriate.
While some internal reticence to the unconventional policy was still evident, the consensus view at the Fed sees the economy as weak enough to warrant further support, most likely through increased purchases of Treasury debt.
The U.S. economy is expected to have grown just 1.9 percent in the third quarter, a level considered too low to bring down unemployment. The debt purchases would help lower long-term interest rates in the hope of boosting demand.
Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart’s willingness to cite a specific dollar figure for purchases, one largely in tandem with market expectations, was seen as another hint that planning is actively underway.
Bob Boardman was a nurse, a guitarist, a skilled woodworker and an avid hiker. Unfortunately, the 63-year-old man from Port Angeles is also now a statistic: the first person ever to have died because of an incident involving an animal in Olympic National Park.
According to the Peninsula Daily News, Boardman, his wife and a family friend were on a day hike on Saturday. They’d just reached the top of Klahhane Ridge and had stopped for lunch when they were approached by a mountain goat.
Park officials say this ram was known for its aggressive behavior. In the past they’d shot it with bean bags and thrown rocks at it in an attempt to stop it from following hikers on the ridge. But they’d always stopped short of killing it because it hadn’t actually attacked anyone. That changed on Saturday.
No one who’s still alive actually saw what happened next. Boardman had made his wife and friend go back down the trail to safety while he tried to shoo the ram away. All they heard was a scream.
When they scrambled back up the trail they saw Boardman lying on the ground, with the ram standing atop him. Boardman had been gored in the thigh and was bleeding heavily.
An off-duty park ranger out for a hike with his family was finally able to beat back the ram. But by the time he was able to reach Boardman it was nearly an hour after the attack, and he no longer had a pulse.
Rangers shot and killed the ram shortly thereafter. They said they recognized it because of the blood on its horn.
And people wonder why I hike with my S&W .38 in my holster. It would be very rare to have an animal like a bighorn sheep, or a cougar, attack, but I’d rather be prepared.
The problem ahansen had IIRC was that she couldn’t draw from her holster in time. The dogs had to drive the bear off.
I know a guy who hikes with his in the Apache/Gila National Forests in AZ/NM. Except he claims his is as much for the two-legged critters he comes across as it is for the four-legged ones…
Science may have found silver bullet for common cold
Richard Gray
October 18, 2010
Scientists are hailing a breakthrough that could lead to one of medicine’s holy grails - a cure for the common cold.
Researchers have found they can attach tiny studs of silver to harmless bacteria, giving them the ability to destroy viruses. They tested the silver-impregnated bacteria against norovirus, which causes winter vomiting outbreaks, and found they leave the virus unable to cause infections.
The researchers believe the same technique could help to combat other viruses, including influenza and those responsible for causing the common cold.
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Professor Willy Verstraete, a microbiologist at the University of Ghent in Belgium, who unveiled the findings at a meeting of the Society for Applied Microbiology in London last week, said the bacteria could be incorporated into a nasal spray, water filters and hand washes to prevent the spread of viruses.
”We are using silver nanoparticles, which are extremely small but give a large amount of surface area as they can clump around the virus,” he said. ”There are concerns about using such small particles of silver in the human body and what harm it might cause to human health, so we have attached the silver nanoparticles to the surface of a bacterium. It means the particles remain small, but they are not free to roam around the body.”
The bacterium used, Lactobacillus fermentum, is normally considered a ”friendly” bacterium, and is often found in yoghurt. Grown in a solution of silver ions, the bacteria excrete tiny particles of silver, 10,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair, which stud the outside of the cells.
Although the ”friendly” bacteria eventually die, they remain intact and the dead cells carrying the silver particles can then be added to solutions to create nasal sprays or hand washes.
The sheriff for Cook County, Ill., which includes Chicago, is refusing to enforce foreclosure evictions for Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Co. and GMAC Mortgage/Ally Financial until they can prove those foreclosures were handled legally, CNBC is reporting.
Today’s announcement by Sheriff Thomas Dart comes after GMAC and Bank of America, the country’s largest mortgage servicer, announced rollbacks from foreclosure moratoriums, the news organization says.
Dart’s office released a statement indicating that Bank of America, GMAC and JPMorgan Chase account for approximately a third of the 3,700 eviction orders filed with the Cook County sheriff.
He’s a wannabe political animal. Just a little guy trying to get some mileage out of a national “story”. He’s been declaring his own moratoriums off and on almost since this began. They always get headlines when they “start” - but never when they “end”.
He’s a sheriff in a place where most people don’t even know the term outside of a western, and where being mayor of the city proper is the only thing that matters. His name was floated to run, but so far nothing has come of it.
He either plays the foreclosure card or rounds up the wackos in the forest preserves to get noticed, those are his options.
1) It’s happening because a raft of new laws enacted in the past year, including the financial overhaul package, have led to an acute shrinking of revenue for the banks. So they are scraping together money however they can.
2) Wall Street banks are this week expected to announce bumper profits, paving the way for huge bonuses to bankers, putting their staff in London back under scrutiny as the rest of the country braces for swingeing cuts in public spending.
Investment banks will disclose third-quarter results that will underline a healthy return to profitability since the banking meltdown of 2008.
Last week, JP Morgan kicked off the reporting season by revealing big increases in income and profits, as well as announcing it had set aside more than £4bn for pay and bonuses.
Here ya go, anecdotal evidence: “…like when a black female subordinate finds a black stiff superiors trout penis in their glass of white milk.”
Anita Hill from my wife to you:
“Good morning, Anita Hill, it’s Ginni Thomas. I just wanted to reach across the airwaves and the years and ask you to consider something. I would love you to consider an apology some time and some full explanation of why you did what you did with my husband. So give it some thought and certainly pray about this and come to understand why you did what you did. OK, have a good day.”
Has a “SUPREME” court justice ever resigned on account of he never said anything worth remembering, you know just sat there with his robe & conservative smirk, yet mute? Now might be a good time.
Name:Ben Jones Location:Northern Arizona, United States To donate by mail, or to otherwise contact this blogger, please send emails to: thehousingbubble@gmail.com
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I guess this will come as a surprise, to all the FB’s saying they will not leave ‘their’ homes. Go get some boxes and start packing.
Largest Bank Will Resume Foreclosure Push in 23 States
Bank of America announced on Monday that it would resume home foreclosures in nearly two dozen states, despite the running controversy over how banks handled tens of thousands of cases of homeowners facing eviction.
Bank of America, the nation’s largest bank and the servicer of roughly one in five American mortgages, insisted that it had not found a single example where a foreclosure proceeding was brought in error.
The move is also likely to encourage other giant lenders, like JPMorgan Chase, to resume the foreclosure process that threatens two million homeowners.
Have they straightened out all their problems so quickly? Or just chosen to ignore them and go ahead anyway, lest their stock prices sink even further?
Methinks it’s the latter. We shall see…
From an HBBer perspective, foreclosures need to happen. Let all the poisons that lurk in the mud hatch out. When the prices fall, recovery will occur.
Recovery will never happen if we continue to allow the banksters to ignore the rule of law.
Screw the recovery. The banksters have to keep the CDO illusion alive and maintain the bankster bonuses. Since the banksters control the pols expect no changes.
“Both J.P. Morgan Chase and Citigroup managed to play down the foreclosure debacle during recent earnings reports. Bank of America can’t afford to do the same when it reports third-quarter results Tuesday.
Bank of America has been at the center of the mortgage storm since it halted foreclosures earlier this month in all 50 states because of faulty affidavits. It has the largest mortgage-servicing arm among big banks and also could be on the hook for problems with loans originated by Countrywide Financial, which it bought in 2008. Its shares were hit hardest during last week’s selloff of big bank stocks. …”
http://tinyurl.com/263flrf
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A group of investors holding $16.5 billion of mortgage bonds took a step toward a possible suit against a Bank of America Corp unit for failing to correctly handle loans that were packaged into bonds.
I would believe nothing that “Bank of America announced”.
Are you suggesting that you place no trust in the Bank of America?
Back when BofA was a California only bank no one seemed to like them. I always sensed that BofA felt that retail customers were a nuisance.
Of course now that they’ve been through so many mergers they bear no resemblance to the original bank they once were. IIRC they are HQ’d in North Carolina these days.
They were much nicer back when they were the Bank of Italy.
Along with the late unlamented GTE, (and possibly the breathtakingly bad Blue Cross/Anthem,) The Worst Corporate Entity I’ve ever had to deal with in my entire life. Incompetent to the point of criminal, arrogant, unaccountable to customers, mired in deadweight bureaucracy, and bloated with their own inevitability. Even Greece is better run than BofA.
If any of us managed our business the way they do, we’d be in prison.
If any of us managed our business the way they do, we’d be in prison.
And the way they’re managing it now isn’t going to be attracting new customers in droves. It will also drive a lot of existing customers elsewhere. See:
Bank of America’s New Egalitarianism Means Higher Fees For Most Customers
BTW, during my recent trip to the Midwest, I flew Southwest. They now have an ad on the cargo door side of their planes. It says, “Free Bags Fly Here.” And there’s an arrow pointing at the cargo door. (Take that, other airlines!)
Oh, one of our flight attendants sang for us. She was pretty darn good.
I’ve been a bofa customer for 10+ years. Never had an issue. I know a lot of people hate the “mega” banks. I do business with nothing but mega banks. A mega bank has branches and ATMs everywhere, a call center open around the clock as well. You don’t get that from mom and pop bank.
Why do you need to have ATMs available everywhere? My banks reimburse me for any ATM fees charged by the bank that is providing the ATM. With very, very minimal planning, I can use any ATM and never pay a fee.
More power to them. Lots of people on here are biased against banks to the point of irrationality. Should people that bought overpriced homes they couldn’t afford be able to continue to stay in their homes without paying their mortgage because of a technicality? Anyone that does should question their own morals and ethics rather than those of the banks. My personal belief is that anyone challenging a foreclosure proceeding when in fact they are not paying their mortage should be fined at least $25,000 min. for nuissance. Courts have better things to worry about. Get the hell out of the home.
Morals and ethics? Like the banksters have shown? Don’t make me laugh.
And yes, let’s fine the little people when they dare to demand that big biz follow the law.
If you really believe that the resolution of contract disputes should revolve around technicalities (i.e., its perfectly fine to breach first then look for a technicality to prevent the other side from exercising remedies), rather than focusing on intent and damages suffered, if any, then I only pray you do not go to law school. This Country is screwed up enough as it is.
I guess we little people should shut up and take a Wall Street lawyer’s word for it that everything’s kosher about Wall Street’s slicing, dicing, and distributing of mortgage notes. How dare we challenge them to show us proof that they indeed have the right to seize our property.
I only pray you do not go to law school. This Country is screwed up enough as it is.
Did they teach sucking-up (”Jim A - I think you are one of the better posters”) and wrapping yourself in the flag (”God bless this Country.”) in your fancy law school, or did you pick up those skills on your own?
The point is, it’s NOT your property if you haven’t paid for it.
“Technicality”……like determining who actually holds the note on the property in question?
I think I’ll foreclose on Natalie. Zero proof that I’m legally allowed to foreclose? BFD. Take my word for it……better yet, try to prove that I’m not.
I’m suffering damage, because Natalie isn’t sending me any money; I have a bunch of peelers that are depending on me, and I need cash to “make it rain”.
The point is that the law says you cannot take something from someone if you can’t prove you own it.
The banks can’t prove they own it. Yet.
The law also says that in property dispute, the current possessor is the de facto owner until proven otherwise. That would be… the person(s) living in the house.
The banks have also been taking away people’s home who own them free and clear. And there have been enough instances that almost half the states AGs are taking notice.
The banks have been hoisted on their own petard.
Too bad, so sad.
I have no sympathy at all for the homemoaners, but standing to sue is a pretty significant “technicality.” From what I’m reading more lawyers than not are failing their clients by not raising the issue.
“I only pray you do not go to law school.”
WTF do YOU know about Law?? Oh yeah, “your husband is a lawyer”. And he has a KnowNothing freeloader lawyer without a license in the house. I wouldn’t seek your opinion on the color of a carnival tee shirt. You don’t know jack about law.
The beauty of a system of law is that morals and ethics need not be labored over.
Well, then there are markets, which, according to Nobel Prize-winning doctrine, allegedly are more effective in shaping human and corporate behavior than law, morals, or ethics. Whatever one might think about that proposition, our current state of affairs vividly demonstrates what happens when markets, law, morals and ethics all are disposed of to encourage financial speculation and the preservation of unrealistically high asset prices.
“…which, according to Nobel Prize-winning doctrine, allegedly are more effective in shaping human and corporate behavior than law, morals, or ethics…”
Please show us a reference so we don’t have to conclude you are engaged in a creative writing exercise.
Recognize this?
http://tinyurl.com/2an8uhv
“Recognize this?”
Yes I do. I searched the linked page for any mention of “law,” “morals,” and “ethics” and there are none.
So I guess you are going to now proclaim that economics, as described by Nobel Prize winners, is devoid of “law, morals and ethics”?
You bet I am. What do you think this profession has done over the past few decades other than provide intellectual cover for greed?
Why are you so cranky today, by the way? You would think I was a newcomer here instead of someone who has blogged for almost six years and 1,000 total posts. That’s what I get for taking a hiatus! Have a cup of coffee and we’ll make friendly again.
“Have a cup of coffee and we’ll make friendly again.”
Sorry — blame it on getting awakened at 2a from loud thunder due to nearby lightening. I’ll try not to be so cantankerous.
Fair enough. And I’ll admit that I engaged in more hyperbole than I should have upthread. Nobody won a Nobel for saying that markets should supplant morality, even though it seems that way to me sometimes.
Your reference to the “little people” and “big biz” only bolster the point that you speak of a position of unfair bias, rather than being able to focus on intent and damages, or the lack thereof. Courts need to focus on intent and equity, not technicality lotteries.
Your reference to people’s examining their ethics and morals shows the weakness of the legal basis of your argument.
“Courts need to focus on intent and equity, not technicality lotteries.”
No, courts need to focus on the clear language of the contract. When courts start making sh*t up on their own, such as deciding after the fact what a contract intended, or that a contract is inequitable, bad things happen. They should stick with applying the law to the clear language (e.g. whether a valid contract was entered into by the parties, whether it remained in effect, whether it was enforcable, etc).
What one party calls a “technicality”, another party may call a valid, pre-intended exit contingency.
Prime - the issues being raised are outside of the 4 corners of the contract (e.g., whether a violation of a regulation outside of the contract which caused no harm excuses performance or should limit remedies under the contract). Thus, although you appear to be disagreeing, I think your reasoning suggests you would agree with me. The rule of law in every State that I know of is 4 corners if no ambiguity, and then look to intent and equities in the case of ambiguity. Using regulatory violations outside of the contract as a defense payment under the contract or to limit remedies under the contract when there was no harm should not be allowed.
“…Using regulatory violations outside of the contract as a defense payment under the contract or to limit remedies under the contract when there was no harm should not be allowed.”
Ha, what were “the rules” when the contract was written?” Well Natalie, are you the kinda person that wants to create “new rules” half-way through a game of monoploy, (…just when things aren’t going to swell for yourself)?
Well yes, but it IS important to make sure that the entity that is foreclosing IS the entity that the borrower is stiffing. That’s what all the paperwork that the banks are rushing is intended to prove.
No. The robosigner debate did not revolve around making sure it was the right entity that was foreclosing. Rather, it was a stall tactic pursued by people who wanted to stay in their house without paying. Don’t be fooled. Obviously, if the person was paying or the wrong bank was foreclosing that is an issue. 99% of the time that was not the case. I think people are getting their stories mixed up.
I don’t think you get my point. The paperwork and rules that the banks have been skipping are indeed intended to prevent some third party from getting title to a house. So far, this has not been a problem, except in one or two isolated cases. But just like straw buyers, it may well become a problem when fraudsters figure out how easy foreclosure actions are in some jurisdictions.
“Stall tactic?” No, more like Due Process and Property Rights. How very Constitutional.
Since foreclosure is such a serious legal action, an FB can take the bank to court if there is a possible mistake on the foreclosure. Therefore, there is a regulation that when a loan officer signs off on a foreclosure, he must sign a notarized affidavit* that he is familiar with the facts of the case. This implies an individual review, mainly to assure that (1) the foreclosing entity owns title — or is acting on behalf of the title owner (?) (2) The FB is not making payments.
Of course, individual review wasn’t a problem when there were far fewer foreclosures. But now banks are finding out that it’s a lot harder rubberstamp taking property away than it was to rubberstamp giving property out.
—–
*This is why Obama vetoed that bill. Vetoing out-of-state notary affidavits slowed the out-of-state foreclosures.
Sorry, I do have a link.
www DOT pbs.org/newshour/newshour_index.html
It’s not the greatest source, but it covers the basics.
Jim A - I think you one of the better posters and agree if the banks didn’t follow the prescribed legal procedures they should be subject to a fine. I believe that such issues are irrelevant, however, as between the mortagee and the mortgagor when there is no legitimate dispute as to whether payments were actually being made and who held the mortgage. Otherwise, you create a system as we have here, breach first and then look for technicalities later to prevent the exercise of remedies and reap even more benefits from your breach. I do not think such behavior should be encouraged.
And at the end of the day, the FBs should not and are not going to be able to simply squat in their houses forever. My worry is that by streamling the assignment and foreclosure process the lenders have opened a hole that fraudsters will start driving through. We haven’t seen it yet, but that doesn’t mean that we won’t.
What I’m worried about is that if BoA hurries too much, they’ll have millions of FB challenging the foreclosure in court. Oh, the FB’s will lose, but the delay alone would drive me crazy.
My worry is that by streamling the assignment and foreclosure process the lenders have opened a hole that fraudsters will start driving through. We haven’t seen it yet, but that doesn’t mean that we won’t.
I think the fraudsters are driving through it already. Think Fraudster Freeway and you’ll get the drift.
How will fraudsters take advantage of this? I don’t see how there is fraud to be had once the foreclosure process gets this far down the road. Are you talking about someone making up a title and claiming the house from BofA or something along those lines?
Eddie I’m speculating that with banks NOT forclosing for extended periods of time, it might not be too hard for a fraudster to file for foreclosure with a fradulent lost note affidafid seize the house and resell it to some flipper at a deep discount before anyone realized what was going on.
“My personal belief is that anyone challenging a foreclosure proceeding when in fact they are not paying their mortage should be fined at least $25,000 min. for nuissance.”
My personal belief is that any bank found wrongfully evicting a homeowner who is current on their payments should have to pay the homeowner $250,000 min., and the manager in charge of the wrongful foreclosure should have to serve jail time for felony theft.
+1
And this happens how often….
And don’t post a sob story about grannie getting evicted. As a % of all foreclosures, how many are reversed? If it’s more than 1 in 1000 I’d be surprised. It takes months if not years to foreclose. If the debtor is paying, there are multiple opportunities to show the payments. It’s not like 1 day eeeeevil bank manager wakes up and goes to foreclose on some unsuspecting person. I know that how you characterize banks. But you know very well practically nobody who is paying their mortgage is being foreclosed on.
“Lots of people on here are biased against banks to the point of irrationality.”
Just because someone views banksters as a bunch of scoundrels, liars and thieves doesn’t necessarily indicate they are being irrational. What if lots of banksters really are scoundrels, liars and thieves?
It’s hard to pick a favourite in a battle between unethical bankers and unethical FBs. I suppose the billions in pay the bankers get for ruining the economy is factor for considering who to hate more. Although, ultimately, the FBs have to get out of those houses, unless they start paying for them.
So many people deserving scorn, so little time.
“Although, ultimately, the FBs have to get out of those houses, unless they start paying for them.”
Patience. It’s happening while we type.
I dunno, it’s not so hard to choose when one entity is being bailed out and the other isn’t.
The squatting FBs are getting more of a bailout than I am. I actually have to pay for my housing.
“Lots of people on here are biased against banks to the point of irrationality.”
Guilty as charged. The other day while I was reading a guide to the candidate’s positions, I saw that one of the candidates for county commissioner used to be the VP of the local BofA. I decided then and there to vote against him.
“VP” is banker-speak for “branch manager”. He’s not a high ranking officer in all probability.
“Lots of people on here are biased against banks to the point of irrationality.”
And equally biased against FB’s, yes?
“What if lots of banksters really are scoundrels, liars and thieves?”
(Hwy draws a venn diagram, little circle labeled: mini-Bankster’s drawn slightly inside Ginormous circle labeled: Mega-bankster’s)
I think you’re on to something Mr. Bear,…
“My personal belief is that anyone challenging a foreclosure proceeding when in fact they are not paying their mortage should be fined at least $25,000 min. for nuissance. Courts have better things to worry about.”
My personal belief is that any bank found guilty of wrongfully evicting a home owner should be required to pay said home owner at least $250,000 min. for nuisance, and the bank manager in charge of overseeing the action should be sent to prison for felony theft of someone else’s home. Home owners have better things to worry about than jack-booted thugs coming to the door to kick them out on the street.
curious that the reaction is that either all the mortgages records are perfectly recorded or they’re not. binary. Millions of mortgages, transfers and payments.
The breadth and depth of information and its accuracy will be the test.
“…either all the mortgages records are perfectly recorded or they’re not…”
Propaganda at its worst.
What came first the dot or the dash
My personal belief is that anyone challenging a foreclosure proceeding when in fact they are not paying their mortage should be fined at least $25,000 min. for nuissance.
Interesting. So if someone is a day late on a mortgage payment, anyone anywhere in the world should be able to foreclose on that person, regardless of whether they own the note or not.
Let me ask you: What should be the.fine for bank staff members who foreclose on the wrong house, on a fully paid-up house, or otherwise fail to follow legal rules in foreclosure? And what should be the fines for bank executives, corporate directors and shareholders who supervise such staff members?
Assuming you are referring to actual mistakes as opposed to intentional actions I am not sure I see the correlation. Fighting foreclosure when you know you are not paying and who the lender is not a mistake. I am actually in favor of the government streamlining the process and pushing them through rather than slowing them down. Obviously, I dont support foreclosing on ppl that pay or by banks that don’t own the mortgage, but that is not the majority of cases I am seeing involving a dispute. Housing needs to be affordable and within hisorical norms, and I’m not talking about Obama infusions.
99.9% of people getting foreclosed on by robo-signers were not paying their mortgage. Good lord stop making these deadbeats victims.
I want banks to have to follow the rule of law. This is fundamental to due process.
And I want people who are not paying their mortgage to be foreclosed on. This is fundamental to contracts.
It is not one or the other. Banks can still foreclose. They just have to do it the right way.
Natalie, you don’t have to defend the banks to take the position that people need to get the hell out of their houses. BofA is a villain in the piece, not to mention their evil twin, Countrywide. And yes, freeloaders need to vacate their foreclosed houses. Bias against banks is not irrational. You are a product of your environment, and hence have more bias than the rest of us.
I am not defending the banks, I just hate it when people use technicalities as weapon in a contractual dispute when there is no legitimate dispute that the one trying to exploit the technicality actually breached the contract first and is desperately searching for a bargaining chip when equity would weigh against it. I see it all the time. Most judges can see through it and dismiss such claims quickly, but there are also some nut jobs on the bench.
Asking to be shown that the person kicking you out of your house actually has the legal standing to do so is a technicality to you?
I think you are being lead around by the attorneys using stall tactics. The vast majority of such cases do not center around legitimate disputes as to who holds the mortage. Rather, in most cases the deadbeats admit they haven’t paid and know that the person foreclosing is their lender, but argue there is a typo on p. 23 or the bank used a robosigner which means they get to keep the house for free right? God bless this Country. I am attorney so I know the drill. If you are in breach have an attorney look at the documents and find any minor mistake they can and use it as a defense to payment. Such behavior should not be encouraged.
I am attorney so I know the drill. If you are in breach have an attorney look at the documents and find any minor mistake they can and use it as a defense to payment. Such behavior should not be encouraged.
Sounds like standard operating procedure in commercial litigation. Oh, that’s right. Only the big boys get to do that stuff. The little people need to pay and shut up.
So Natalie is complaining about errors in the contract, when it was the BANKS that drew up the contracts.
Yeah, why quibble about due process and all that old paradigm stuff……..we’re in the 21st Century. Just pay the bank your money, or GTFOO the house, and maybe, if we feel generous, we’ll sort it out later.
I really appreciate the dubious comments that I am generally opposed to due process. I think part of the difference in opinion is that I actually am involved in lawsuits rather than just have some theory about how the law should work, and realize that there are mistakes made and/or gray areas in every transaction if you look hard enough. The real difficulty is figuring out which ones should matter and which ones shouldn’t. At some point you have to look at the big picture and begin to draw some lines. Otherwise, you will always be lost in the weeds.
(11:17:44 )
Natalie,
Your post was logical and well stated. I am no fan of the banks, nor the loanmoaners, and like definitive evidence, myself. Sometimes, both parties present truths, and the sorting of cause and effect begins. Fair accessment, Natalie.
In civil litigation, the level of proof required is “proponderance of the evidence”, not the “beyond a reasonable doubt” required in criminal cases. Having most but not all of your paperwork in perfect order probably qualifies as proponderance of the evidence in these foreclosure suits.
“…..look at the big picture…..”
Some more “ends justifies the means” talk.
Yeah, gray areas in contracts are easy to work out when both parties act like adults, and don’t try to rig the process in an attempt to screw the other side in every way possible.
Everybody in the country (except people who work for the banks) believes the banksters are a bunch of scumbags. With plenty of justification. They screwed themselves out of any credibility by their own actions, and now they are whining that they aren’t getting the benefit of the doubt.
Meanwhile, lobbying their Congressional fluffers to pass the “2010 We-fooked-up-big-time, and we need this CYA law passed to keep us from going broke” Bill.
By a voice, vote, naturally. Must have been tough to speak, having a certain part of the bankster’s anatomy inserted in the same orifice.
“Don’t delude yourself: God is not to be fooled; whatever someone sows, that is what he will reap.”
Galations 6:7
Senior management at the banks ignored the advice of their dedicated and experienced managers and gave mortgages to people who would never have qualified in the past. In effect senior managers became parasites on their companies. On the other hand people just plain borrowed too much. Foolishly and stupidly.
God bless you Natalie!
Natalie, through her restraint and persistence, got the better of this thread, no matter how much scorn or vitriol gets heaped on her.
Repeat after me (you know who you are): snark, even funny and articulate snark, does not mean you’ve won an argument or convinced anyone who is not already on your side.
http://www.nctimes.com/business/article_0fd85e5f-4567-51ff-ae53-2f6fd7c95c93.html
Gee, I wonder why they resumed foreclosures?
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A group of investors holding $16.5 billion of mortgage bonds took a step toward a possible suit against a Bank of America Corp unit for failing to correctly handle loans that were packaged into bonds.
B of A got to keep their “stock prices up and year end bonus for top exec’s in place”. Kick the can down for another year or two.
I don’t really give a rat’s arse about the FBs being able to ’stall’ and stay in their houses for six more months. Does anyone really think that will make a difference in how this plays out?
What I find interesting about the FBs demanding proof that someone actually holds their note, is that it’s starting to look like that proof may not exist. Or if it exists, it shows ownership by someone other than the presumed owner.
What better way to destroy the creators of this mess than to have them sued into oblivion- as they deserve to be? What else can stop them, now that they’ve bought our government?
They can’t buy every jury. Juries made up of people who will have, I suspect, very little sympathy for the banksters, and their bankster games.
We may (may, mind you) have found their achilles’ heel. (with au jus )
Gallup Finds U.S. Unemployment at 10.0% in Mid-October
Unemployment is essentially the same as the 10.1% at the end of September.
PRINCETON, NJ — Unemployment, as measured by Gallup without seasonal adjustment, is at 10.0% in mid-October — essentially the same as the 10.1% at the end of September but up sharply from 9.4% in mid-September and 9.3% at the end of August. This mid-month measurement confirms the late September surge in joblessness that should be reflected in the government’s Nov. 5 unemployment report.
Who needs jobs when we have Bernanke?
Quick we better get some more cash to the bankers and buy up more bad paper.
This is something new and interesting.
It appears that Gallup is duplicating the BLS methods and producing an unemployment rate separate from the government. If you believe the Gallup numbers, we now have data twice a month.
Is Jesus a FB?
First came the layoffs, then the cutbacks in programming. Now the Crystal Cathedral, the beleaguered glass megachurch in Orange County, has filed for bankruptcy protection.
The church decided to file for Chapter 11 after some of its creditors sued for payment, according to church officials. Hundreds of creditors could be owed between $50 million and $100 million, according to documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Santa Ana on Monday…..
The church owes $7.5 million to vendors and has a $36 million mortgage on the property.
Some bank is really going to get a headache in the form of that giant church building as a REO. Who the heck would buy it?
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-crystal-cathedral-20101019,0,2990606.story
The church owes $7.5 million to vendors and has a $36 million mortgage on the property.
According to documents, the church has assets of between $50 million and $100 million. The board of directors authorized a bankruptcy filing Aug. 27, according to court papers.
So why exactly should an entity that has more assets than liabilities be granted bankruptcy?
Reorganization and possible liquidation?
Assets don’t necessarily equal cash flow.
And if documents say they have assets of “between $50 million and $100 million” who knows how accurate they are.
I don’t know about you, but I always have a much better idea of my actual net worth…
The “assets” could include a bunch of commercial/residential property, on the books @peak bubble prices.
Or Beanie Babies.
Because the story also says they owe creditors between $50 million and $100 million. Chapter 11 is a reorganization, not a liquidation.
Well the story says that they have debts of ~$45 million and assets North of $50 million. Why should a court force creditors to take a loss when they have the capacity to pay if they were liquidated? So I suspect that those estimates of the worth of their assets are….optimistic.
“…So I suspect that those estimates of the worth of their assets are….optimistic.”
More like a house of smoke & mirrors, take a gander at their church for instance:
http://blog.aia.org/mt-static/plugins/Ajaxify/tinymce/jscripts/tiny_mce/plugins/imagemanager/images/favorite_architecture_images/64_crystal_cathedral_lg_600_x_480.jpg
It’s a huge upgrade from a manger in Bethlehem.
Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
A fitting monument to the Age of Debt. As one who takes church where I find myself (as did Jesus), I never understood the psychology of these pyramids of man.
Who the heck would buy it?
I think it would make a great lair for an evil genius. You could build a huge death ray behind those giant glass panels and threaten all of SoCal with destruction!
Nyah ha ha!!!
Or maybe a nice, sunny mosque?
How bout a big party location for us atheist heathens!
Or a giant greenhouse for medicinal mary jane? (Or maybe both?)
Solar power plant.
Get a load of the decor in this heavenly church-McMansion.
http://www.cynthiaweston.com/
I could manage quite nicely in a shack like this somewhere up there on Misty Morning Lane in Pearly Gates Estates with the Big Shots when I die…
Huh…Say What !?!
WHO says mikey has a reservation 2 levels below the Devil shoveling coal.
Ooops!!
Somebody is a little “touchy” about all my “We need Firing Squads” posts, so we’ll just wait a little while down here and clear all of those minor mikey misunderstandings up later.
I know it was it…somebody in here squealed to God !!
WHO says mikey has a reservation 2 levels below the Devil shoveling coal.
Post that on an icicle WisconSIN January morning, I’ll have the Bailey’s waiting…
I think the only fitting denouement would be to turn it into a late-night party mansion like that one in “Eyes Wide Shut.”
“Hundreds of creditors could be owed between $50 million and $100 million…”
Sounds like Jesus was living beyond his means.
“Is Jesus a FB?”
Spoiled, IMHO. He should really consider Fargo, ND as a return destination rather than the middle east. It would save us lives and money.
Haven’t you heard? He’s coming back to Salt Lake City.
Technically, Kansas City. Mormons purport that to be the original location of the Garden of Eden. Whatever.
“Who the heck would buy it?”
Another up and rising Protestant Fundamentalist megachurch? SoCal is rife with them.
Got many with $40Million cash to burn?
Maybe not, but who says they pay full price?
And some Megachurches do have a lot of dough.
I’m having a delightful moment of schadenfreude over the bankruptcy of the Crystal Cathedral. I worked near it 15 years ago, and there was never such an ugly, overdone megachurch. They raked in the money back then. Their pastor finally stepped down at age 80, after hanging in by his fingernails following a well publicized assault on a flight attendant. His son succeeded him for a short time, but was dumped a short time later. What will Orange County do with this white elephant if they can’t get themselves out of BK?
http://www.galenfrysinger.com/crystal_cathedral.htm
I watched parts of power hour once or twice. That Shuller dude gave me the creeps, something slimy about him.
Ironic. They must have HELOCed their way along. The building cost $18M to build and now they owe $36M on it.
Sounds like prosperity gospel to me….
My house stinks.
I’ve got two fermentations going: my batch of wine and my batch of sauerkraut. The combined smell is …. ah …. unique.
During WW1, domestic sauerkraut makers renamed their product “liberty cabbage”. When people tell you your house stinks, tell them that’s the smell of freedom.
Ha! I will call this year’s batch of applejack “liberty cider”.
Sounds/smells good to me….I love both!!
Lane
Mmmmmmmm………Cabbage wine. (no thanks)
I hope this isn’t a double post double post. Somebody makes wine from tent caterpillars.
“Four local wine connoisseurs invited to taste the wine described it as dry, pale and crisp. They compared it to a pinot grigio or white bordeaux.
The comparison came before they were told exactly what went into the wine. Afterward, they joked that it was the best insect wine they’ve ever tasted. It’s also the only one they’ve ever tasted.”
http://www.walterreeves.com/insects_animals/article.phtml?cat=21&id=469
No, my wine is 100% vinifera grape wine. About 95% cabernet and 5% merlot. It was going to be 100% cab but at the last moment I saw my newly-planted merlot vines had a couple of ripe clusters so I threw them in the pot too.
It was going to be 100% cab but at the last moment I saw my newly-planted merlot vines had a couple of ripe clusters so I threw them in the pot too.
You’re a dangerous person, likable, but dangerous…
I may have to try making some caterpillar wine. Sounds tasty, and what a great gift idea. Maybe I’ll try it with Japanese beetles too. They’d have a belly full of leaves and flowers, just like a caterpillar. And they’re the kind of bug you don’t mind slaughtering en masse. Maybe the wine will have a hint of my blackberries that they’re so fond of eating.
I think I’ll make a batch of pizza dough too. That way I can have three fermentations going on simultaneously.
Al Gore’s gonna come after me for producing all that CO2.
Might as well go for broke and make a batch of bleu cheese too.
But you also save a bunch of CO2 by making and consuming locally, so make sure to drink that wine near to home, or transport it when you would have been making the trip anyway…like for Thanksgiving.
Maybe a partial answer for me on my question yesterday….
“There’s been a complete turn around on the shadow inventory and the banks are starting to dump this stuff?”
Do you have an idea of what caused this to turn around?
“Meanwhile, Fannie Mae imposes a $100 fee on contractors for each day they fail to notify the firm that the foreclosure process was a success and that it has the right to move ahead with the resale of a home. On top of that, Fannie charges a penalty - which escalates for larger mortgages - on contractors who delay selling off such properties.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/15/AR2010101506541_2.html?sid=ST2010101406553
And the great dump off begins!
I guess we are not going Japanese, after all then?
Turning Japanese? You think we’re turning Japanese? Do you really think so?
What I meant by turn around was the reasoning and posturing by those economist and ‘experts’ that had been defending the shadow inventory had flipped, and we were being told it was crucial for an economic recovery that the foreclosure inventory be purged. This had been reflected on the ground, as I’ve been commenting on things like the GSEs pulling listings from brokers after 60 or 90 days and going to these ‘auctions.’ These auctions are sort of a game, but we can track what gets accepted and the price it closes at on county sites, so it was clear that 60% or so were actually selling at steep discounts. The mentality has come around to the way of thinking shared by many here.
What caused it? I can only guess that it was gravity; for instance Fannie Mae had over $10 billion a quarter in carrying costs for REOs. Once the GSEs started to liquidate, the banks have to feel pressure to stop holding back as well. And the political pressure; for example; I was listening to a candidate from the mid-west, and in his list of ways to cut costs, he mentioned eliminating the GSEs. There’s a big jobs problem and the public isn’t in the mood for handouts or even stimulus stuff. What’s going on inside the GSE regulator? We never know for sure, but it looks like a liquidation has started, as they don’t even know if they’ll be around much longer.
I don’t think there’s much chance the GSEs will get their money back from the banks and other entities that sold them all those rotten mortgages.
Maybe that’s the goal of shutting them down, so they can’t ask for a refund?
Perhaps the sudden ‘need for speed’ is related to the discovery that there may be some missing links in the chain of mortgage ownership? Time for a ‘bum rush’ before the whole thing collapses?
Some say there’s no such thing as a coincidence. I’m inclined to believe it where the banksters are concerned.
I think that Ben has it right, alpha. And it can’t happen too soon.
“…we were being told it was crucial for an economic recovery that the foreclosure inventory be purged…”
Does anyone have a clue about how this epidemic of housing market bulimia got started among economists? Nobody could have seen it coming (or at least I couldn’t have)…
“What caused it? I can only guess that it was gravity; for instance Fannie Mae had over $10 billion a quarter in carrying costs for REOs.”
I thought they had an uncapped credit line at the Treasury to take care of ‘unforseeable’ costs like this one?
I guess our Asian bankers are beginning to lay down the law?
But why should they care if the American Treasury is tapped to fund the effort to keep housing prices propped up on a permanently high plateau by withholding supply from the market?
But who does the treasury borrow the money from? In the end The Fed Reserve could finance the whole thing, but at a terrible price.
Maybe it was the passage of the financial reform bill. Banks can no longer count on being bailed out, and it sounds like Timmy boy is DONE with buying stuff 100 cents on the dollar.
So banks are selling their inventory assets for what they can get before other banks can dump their inventory and prices drop further.
Kinda like a stock panic when a stock is falling. Sell as quick as you can before the other guy does. Except here, you gotta liquidate before you sell. I guess real estate is about get unsticky real fast.
The banks are getting daily infusions from the Fed via interest games. Still their expenses are going up and the revenue going down. Hence the need for more “help”.
“Andrea Bopp Stark, a lawyer with the Molleur Law Office in Biddeford, Maine, said that a number of her clients should be eligible for loan modifications through a Treasury Department program but that servicers “are in such a state of disarray that they often can’t give homeowners basic answers about the state of their loan modification request.”
Then a few weeks or months later, the same servicers evict homeowners as if those applications were never filed. ”
_______
Bigger Brother can be really cruel at times. All this baiting and switching has to frustrate hopeful FBs. Walking away has its benefits.
Many (including myself) have said it -
These programs are nothing more than a program for squeezing EVERY last dime from FB until they are kicked out with nothing.
Give them some false hope and they will make a few more payments - even raid their 401ks.
Without hope - they would have left a long time ago with assets!!!
And how could we prop up (until the next election) the cost of housing or pay huge banker’s bonuses if we let that happen.
“Without hope - they would have left a long time ago with assets!!!”
Whether by accident or design, the end result you suggest seems painfully on target.
I have steered firnds to BK attorneys for this very reason. If you have to raid the 401K to pay the bills then its time to see the lawyer.
But people are terrified of having “bad credit” so they balk at filing for BK. What they don’t realize is that their credit rating probably sucks already.
I don’t know BK law, but aren’t IRA and 401(k) funds immune to seizure in a personal liquidation? All the more reason not to raid them when you begin to slide downhill.
I have steered firnds to BK attorneys for this very reason. If you have to raid the 401K to pay the bills then its time to see the lawyer.
But people are terrified of having “bad credit” so they balk at filing for BK. What they don’t realize is that their credit rating probably sucks already.
I’ve done business with a bankruptcy attorney. (Don’t worry, people. She was a design client and nothing more.)
Any-hoo, she said that a lot of people would come into her office, firmly convinced that their lives were over. When they left, they felt an enormous sense of relief.
Why? Because, after talking to her, they saw a way out of their problems. And the chance to start over.
DennisN - in a word, yes. IRAs and 401(k)s are not assets for bankruptcy. It used to be that the rule only applied to 401(k)s because they are technically still owned by the employer, not the person in bankruptcy, but Congress changed that since it was patently unfair to people whose employers didn’t provide 401(k) programs.
People aren’t getting run through the programs because the programs are *voluntary*. The banks don’t have to participate if they don’t feel like it. Some of them made a big deal about talking about how they staffed up to participate to they would look like good guys to Congress and, presumably, the Treasury Department, but they had no real incentive to do so. It may have had the side effect of getting people to cough up their last few resources to stay in the house, but I don’t see that as the real intent. The designers of the program certainly wanted to help folks but also knew they needed legislation for a mandatory program, would never get such legislation passed, and it would probably be unconstitutional anyway. So they went with what they could do. It had the unintended consequence of causing a bunch of people to cough up their last financial resource for hopes of a modification that was never going to come, but I don’t believe that was the intent of the designers of the program. You are talking about the folks from the first two years of a new administration. They are, as a general rule, idealists.
“But aren’t IRA and 401(k) funds immune to seizure in a personal liquidation?”
What Polly said…and the only reason I participate in these “investment” vehicles, really. Not that I’m anywhere BK but I’ve always had a morbid fascination with insolvency and which assets were excluded.
Worse comes to worse, I will walk with my retirement, a depreciated car, my musical instruments, and my homestead exemption.
Not so, Polly, on your explanation for the differing treatment (at one point) of 401Ks vs. IRAs. The balance in an employee’s 401K account has never been the employer’s property, technically speaking or otherwise. This is basic ERISA law; the employer, as the often-plan administrator, may have administrative control of the money, but the money is the employee’s. And, the PA is subject to serious fines and other penalties if it fails to do so in the plan participants’ interests.
BTW, this is separate and apart from the possibility that an employee might forfeit matching company contributions if s/he has not vested in the matches yet.
“This is basic ERISA law; the employer, as the often-plan administrator, may have administrative control of the money, but the money is the employee’s.”
My understanding was that the assets were technically owned by the trust that is the legal structure behind the retirement plan. So while the account’s assets are held For Benefit Of the employee by the trust, they are not technically owned by the employee.
Builders Probably Began Work on Fewer U.S. Houses in September
(Bloomberg)
Builders in the U.S. probably began work on fewer homes in September, a sign the residential real estate market will be slow to recover from the worst recession since the 1930s, economists said before a report today.
Housing starts fell 3 percent to a 580,000 annual rate, according to the median estimate of 71 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Building permits, a proxy of future production, were little changed, the survey showed.
Mounting foreclosures, near record-low home sales and a lack of jobs will make it difficult for housing, the industry that precipitated the economic slump, to rebound. Broadening foreclosure moratoria caused by faulty documentation at some of the nation’s biggest banks also raises the risk the mending process will be delayed even more.
Builders Probably Began Work on Fewer U.S. Houses in September
What in the name of hades is this “probably” stuff? Are journalists all meteorologists now, as in “it’s probably going to rain today”. Why don’t they say something like “There’s a 60% chance builders began work on fewer homes in September”? Probably? I’m probably gonna take a dump after my third cup of coffee.
Why are they still building at all? It’s not as if we need more houses!
it is an individual choice not a collective one.
i am working on 15 houses across 2 of the largest counties in california. in 2 cases it is employee houses being built by the state. in the other cases they are SFRs on a single privately owned lot. most of them are financed by the homeowner with cash.
I suppose there will always be a small market for custom homes from buyers with cash.
And those homes will either be gorgeous or butt ugly depending on the buyer. But they all be well-built.
Employee houses being built by the state of California? Oh. My. God.
My parents have just started building a vacation home on their Lake Michigan property. It’s a modest 3BR with a view over the dunes. I don’t know if I’d have the guts to build right now, but since they are doing it, I might as well enjoy the property. You only live once, and you can’t take it with you.
Good for them, give’em Hwy’s personal tankxs for spending $$$$$$$$ in America, bless’em!
“South Africa Stops Fighting ‘Currency Wars’ Amid Soaring Rand”
“Local farmers are ‘in despair’ as the strong curency has made exports of corn ‘uneconomical’, Grain SA, which represents the industry, said on Oct. 13.”
Lots of irony here, IMO. Money is pouring into South Africa which pushes up the value of their currency as measured against other currencies. This make the farmers unhappy because the prices of their farm products become more expensive on the world market.
But at the same time the US dollar its taking a hit against other currencies of the world. This makes American farmers happy because US farm products become cheaper to sell to the rest of the world.
A declining currency appears to help domestic exporters but it screws domestic consumers.
And just the opposite seems to be true: A currency that is growing stronger helps domestic consumers but screws domestic exporters.
Which is good for an exporting country IF what is exported happens to employ a lot of people. The problem for us is US farming doesn’t employ a lot of people. US farmers are very efficient - efficient to a fault one might say.
The only way the US will benifit, employment wise, from increasing exports is to somehow insure that whatever that it is that is being exported employs a lot of people. But I have no idea what that could be.
Anyway, just throwing this out for discussion.
The aspect of this that alarms me is the volatility. Speculation against the dollar crushes these small exporting countries. I expect the dollar will turn on a dime and roar off in another direction and then back and forth, causing the maximum amount of pain for everybody.
I expect we’ve already caused some great disruptions in China, though they will never say so. These guys at the Fed, who play shell games with the world, should be put out of our misery.
“I expect the dollar will turn on a dime…causing the maximum amount of pain for everybody.”
That, or the technocrats have finally cracked the code and discovered the pathway to heaven on earth.
“The only way the US will benifit, employment wise, from increasing exports is to somehow insure that whatever that it is that is being exported employs a lot of people.”
We export financial swindles all over the world. That employs lots of people in the banking sector. Unfortunately for us, suckers all over the world have become suspect of our “financial innovations”.
Sarcasm aside, it certainly matters what you import (oil & other nat. resources, consumer goods) and what you export (food, military, airplanes, pharma). We’re lacking a large export oriented industrial base that would allow us to benefit from a lower US$. Also forcing the $$ down via QE has the nasty side effect of forcing commodities up. As consumers are forced to spend more on basic needs they will spend less on discrentionary items. But of course QE is not intended to help J6P in the first place.
I would think that Germany will again play the PIIGS card once the Euro will reach uncomfortable heights. They can control the Euro by supporting the PIIGS or creating a panic by threaten to let them fail. A much less dangerous approach then QE by the FED or the currency peg practiced by China.
More money for SA, less money for Main St.
When Politicians Have Their Own Mercenaries
The editor of an Alaska online newspaper found himself in handcuffs last night after trying to interview GOP Senate hopeful Joe Miller at a Town Hall event in a local middle school.
On Sunday, Miller’s private security guards handcuffed and detained Hopfinger after he tried to ask the candidate about his time at the Fairbanks Northstar Borough. Miller was accused of using borough equipment in the unsuccessful 2008 attempt to oust state Republican Party Chairman Randy Ruedrich.
Hopfinger said that he followed Miller through the school hallway, hoping to get an on-the-record explanation about the issue. At some point, he said, he found himself alone among reporters and “surrounded by a bunch of security guard types and Miller supporters.” Miller never told him to stop asking questions, he said. But his backers did.
“I figure I’m at a public school and they are telling me I’m trespassing,” he said. “And it was just a matter of seconds, I’m challenging this trespass issue and the next thing you know they got me detained and I’m in handcuffs and they put me in another corridor of the building. So for 25 minutes no one even knew where the hell I was… They said we were going to call the police and I said, ‘Fine, call the police.’”
Ex-Blackwater. Think of the no-bid contracts if this guy gets elected and ends up on the right committee.
“Ex-Blackwater”
Ah, you are familiar with the story. Sorry if this is a double post, but three hours is long enough to wait for the Filter to do its work. As old Ate-Up (where are you, bro?) would say- ‘Feed that sucker some fiber!’
Shannyn Moore
It is bizarre enough to have a reporter “arrested” by private security, but those of us who drive past The Drop Zone, the business behind Miller’s security, every day aren’t surprised by their over-reach or connection to Joe Miller.
The only thing more extreme than the weather and wildlife in Alaska is the politics. The Drop Zone was a sponsor of Palin apologist and former radio host, Eddie Burke. The DZ bragged to patrons about their security squad being littered with former Blackwater operatives. Not disclosing full names and a preference for cash transactions were commonplace. A poster of President Obama as the Joker hangs in their front window.
No “if”. Miller’s a shoo-in for election. It will be interesting. Alaska is the most socialist state (number one recipient of pork barrel spending; double that of the second place state, Hawaii), distribution of oil revenues by annual check to each citizen, but he seems to be a pure libertarian. Will he continue to fight for the pork like Stevens and Murkowski? I wonder.
Silly you…….and how quaint. You still believe that politicians will do what they say they will do.
You’ll hear him whine about waste, fraud and abuse. Except of course, if it money spent in Alaska. Then it will all be “necessary”, “vital”, and when an expenditure can’t be justified by anything else, will be for “national security”.
(My personal favorite is all the newly minted “Weapons of Mass Destruction Rapid Response” teams that have sprung up everywhere out here in BFE……..nevermind the fact that you could light off a 5 megaton airburst out here, and if it was done at the right time of day, no one would even notice).
CSA = Confederate State of Alaska!
On a positve note - they are one of the few states in the union with a budget surplus…
…of federal money.
Commodities to Extend Rally on Federal Reserve’s `Game Changer,’ UBS Says
Commodities will rally if the U.S. Federal Reserve eases monetary policy next month, according to UBS AG, which describes a likely second round of quantitative easing as a “game changer” for copper, gold and palladium.
The additional measures will increase capital flows to emerging markets, reinforcing commodity-intensive growth, analysts Julien Garran, Tom Price and Edel Tully said in a note. The Swiss bank raised its forecast for palladium next year by 19 percent, for gold by 8 percent and for copper by 7 percent. Other top picks included iron ore, thermal coal and zinc.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said last week that additional stimulus may be warranted because inflation is too low and unemployment too high. The comments have prompted a decline in the dollar, boosting commodities including gold, which traded near a record today. The renewed easing may total more than $1 trillion, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
At what point does a “game changer” turn into a “game ender”?
Reminds me of childhood poker games. First only jokers were “wild”, then to make the game more interesting came “one-eyed jacks” aslo were wild. Soon that wasn’t enough and twos, fours, and sixes were added. At a certain point of modifying the rules by “game changing” the game no longer worked and we went outside and rode our bikes instead.
game changer = it’s different this time
“The renewed easing may total more than $1 trillion, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc”.
Taint enough, come on BB throw out 5 or 6 trillion let’s get this party crunk back up!
Huh. Kitco is loading slow.
Then try goldseek.com
You guys sure?
Metals Stocks
Oct. 19, 2010, 10:04 a.m. EDT
Gold futures tumble more than $35
But lower prices may boost investor demand, analyst says
There has already been a lot of covering/profit-taking ahead of the announcement. We’ll see.
Where do these clowns come up with these numbers? $250.00 measly dollars is chump change, doubt it will “buy” many votes, but who knows people are smart.
Democrats make pre-election pitch to help seniors
WASHINGTON (AP) - Democrats are making a pre-election pitch to give Social Security recipients a one-time payment of $250, part of a larger effort to convince senior voters that their party, and not Republicans, will best look out for the 58 million people who get the government retirement and disability benefits.
The $250 check is meant to make up for a second year without a cost-of-living increase due to low inflation.
President Barack Obama has urged Congress to approve the $250 payment. House and Senate Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid say they will bring up the legislation when lawmakers return for the lame-duck session in November. In the meantime, Democrats are using the proposal to augment their campaign pitch that Republicans would undermine Social Security.
House and Senate Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid say they will bring up the legislation when lawmakers return for the lame-duck session in November.
Hmmm -
If dems win - why pass it? Save it for 2 years and repeat.
If dems lose - why pass it? They are going home come January and why reward those geezers who didn’t vote for them.
Sounds like the abortion issue for the GOP.
It’s easy to promise to do something “after the election”.
$250 bucks is about as laughable as an $8000 credit for buying a half million dollar house.
Since $250 to each SS recipient is less than the rounding error, I guess they can say this program is “free”.
Caution: I know nothing about this source, but it seems a bit “out there.”
Where’s The Note? Shock and Awe for Big Banks
Sunday, 17 October 2010, 2:35 pm
Column: Michael Collins
Where’s The Note? Shock and Awe for Big Banks
Michael Collins
Big banks have stopped foreclosures in 23 states due to legal challenges to their ownership of mortgage notes. On Wednesday, JP Morgan upped their total to 41 states in which foreclosure operations had ceased.
Why the halt in foreclosures? It seems that the banks have ignored long established state property and title procedures and may not actually own the title to the homes subject to foreclosure (and others subject to the same procedures).
Related Stories on Scoop
* Too Big To Fail Global Banks Will Collapse 03/09/2010
test
It’s the ‘ownership’ of notes like these that I’m curious about.
(sorry if this is a double post, but again, four hours is a long enough wait. Get wid it, Mr. Filter)
Mortgage backed security ess-tee-are-i-pee-ess (I spelled this phonetically in case it’s that word that’s causing the problem)
These are tertiary securities, similar to US Treasury issued separate trading of registered interest and principal of securities, involving repackaging the interest and principal components of mortgage-backed securities. The holder can select a combination of principal and/or interest payments that typically provides: discount strips—these have a predominance of interest payments and therefore have a higher prepayment risk; premium strips—these have a predominance of principal repayments and therefore have a lower pre-payment risk; interest only strip (IO), principal only strip (PO)—these are created by separating the cash flows from principal and interest into two different securities. The two securities provide a leveraged or geared exposure to the market. Because of the nature of the underlying mortgage-backed issue, IOs appreciate in value if interest rates rise since the cash flow rises, because there will be a less prepayment. POs tend to be speculative instruments. See also real-estate mortgage investment conduit.
DEMAND TO SEE THE NOTE BEFORE YOU WALK AWAY–
10/16/10 · 9:05 am :: posted by crusader
Wall Street Reform - Main Street Recovery: How do we get there?
Below, is an email and an article from a former employee of Wall Street who blew the whistle on corruption of home mortgages. I contacted her after I read her article since I had been one of the homeowners caught up in the ugly ponzie scheme engineered by Wall Street and the deceptive lending practices which caused the financial disaster we see before us today.
…
The Bottom Line
Just walk away from your mortgage?
Boston Business Journal - by George Donnelly
Date: Monday, October 18, 2010, 11:31am EDT - Last Modified: Monday, October 18, 2010, 4:29pm EDT
It seems like not paying one’s mortgage is becoming something of a new, and just short of stylish, lifestyle. And I’m not talking about those who cannot afford their mortgages. I’m referring to “strategic default,” the act of not paying even if one can afford it.
The sheer volume of mortgage and default distress has dulled the shame of default, especially in regions of the country where home values have plummeted more than 50 percent — Florida, Nevada, Arizona, parts of California, for example. About 11 million borrowers, or about 23 percent of mortgage holders, are believed to be underwater with their home loans.
So hopelessly underwater are these homeowners that they stop paying their mortgages, despite being able to pay, and let the foreclosure process run its course.
…
If the bank lost the paperwork chances are you can successful challenge the foreclosure and drag the process out for years.
Why not? Law and ethics are for suckers, everybody else gets a bailout. That’s the new paradigm in the US where the rule of law has completely broken down. See Angelo Mozillo, no jail time. He even got to keep the vast majority of his ill gotten gains. Nobody bails out J6P, so he just has to create his own bailout via default. Of course this won’t end well but that should have been clear when the original bailout was passed.
So hopelessly underwater are these homeowners that they stop paying their mortgages, despite being able to pay, and let the foreclosure process run its course.
University of Arizona Law Professor Brent White made the same point.
Well I’m a bit suspicious of the banks’ assertions of “strategic default.” Now of course it happens, and the bank is within their rights to try and get their money. But when you scratch the surface of published estimates of strategic defaults, you find the assumption is that anybody who is paying everything but the mortgage is choosing strategic default. Of course banks did a very poor job of estimating FBs ability to pay all their bills in the first place, so their assertion that anybody who dares to pay their other bills first, must therefore be able to pay the mortgage as well rings pretty hollow to me.
test
The debate over whether it is “OK” for a home owner to walk away from an underwater mortgage seems to be raging like wildfire from household to household across America.
Prices are getting back to something like the year 2000. What will the debate look like when they get to 1980?
Some will still claim they are not “giving their house away” for less than a 2007 price. That is just the way some morons are.
Prices in many parts of LA still look like 2007.
And some morons seem quite content to pay those prices, which is probably what leads to the morons you cite.
“What will the debate look like…”
FPSS will crow loudly, while Eddie will be hard to find.
Where are you seeing prices like the year 2000?
Good point. Correction; 2004 according to Case Shiller.
I bought in ‘99. If the value of my house were to retreat to its 1985 level, I’d still have 47% equity.
And I have no intention of “liberating” that equity, prefering as I do keeping it chained in the basement.
We moved here in early 2002. Local prices are not even close to what they were back then. They’re about 30% higher. Taxes are significantly higher to boot.
We moved here in early 2002. Local prices are not even close to what they were back then. They’re about 30% higher.
If your house was reasonably priced in 2002, has roughly followed the inflation rate higher now, and with interest rates being so low, it is possible that prices 30% higher than 2002 there are understandable?
(Not knowing where you live and the economy there)
“The debate over whether it is “OK” for a home owner to walk away from an underwater mortgage seems to be raging like wildfire from household to household across America.”
Yes,
just like ya’ll predicted.
Makes me worried about some of the other predictions you all make/made…
*puts hands in pockets and continues whistling thru the grave yard*
The tyrannical Fed is taking care of big banks. Regular folks have to take care of themselves. It’s a rational decision to walkaway from a property that has fallen over 50 pct.
I watched a clip from this show, they have some really far out folks running for Gov. in NY. May as well vote for the “Rent Is 2 Damn High” Party candidate. That was his answer to every question.
As CBS 2’s Marcia Kramer reports, the race for governor looked more like the race for a circus ring leader.
In a new poll released Monday, 70 percent of New Yorkers said they are unhappy with the dysfunction in Albany. And this debate probably did nothing to change their minds.
Call it a seven-ring circus.
Jimmy McMillan, of the “Rent Is 2 Damn High” Party, had the same answer to everything from rotten bus and subway service to no jobs and high taxes.
And then there was Manhattan madam Kristin Davis, who said she provided hookers for Eliot Spitzer, who answered a question about the about the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
“The key difference between the MTA and my former escort agency is that I operated one set of books and my former agency delivered on-time, reliable service,” Davis said.
The answer might have been tongue in cheek, so to speak, but Davis also called for the legalization of marijuana to raise $2.5 billion to cut the deficit and rejected business taxes.
“Businesses will leave the state quicker than Carl Paladino in a gay bar,” Davis said.
That is awesome. Maybe I’ll move to NY just for the theatrics. Here in Oregon, we just have a retread pseudo-hippie Dem going against a guy who had an NBA career free-throw percentage of 45%.
“Here in Oregon, we just have a retread pseudo-hippie Dem going against a guy who had an NBA career free-throw percentage of 45%.”
BWAHAHAHicHAHAHicHAHAHAHAHicHAHAHic* (DennisN™)
California seems to be divesting from the real estate business.
Del Mar holds first public update on Fairgrounds sale
Public overwhelmingly supports city’s plan as council releases more details
By Jonathan Horn
Monday, October 18, 2010 at 8:32 p.m.
DEL MAR — The Del Mar City Council “felt the love” from the overwhelming majority of those who attended its first public meeting on a potential purchase of the Del Mar Fairgrounds since news broke of the deal two weeks ago.
About ten people addressed the council during its update on the $120 million purchase agreement with the governor’s office for the fairgrounds, all but one expressing complete support.
Del Mar had been negotiating with the state since July 2009, after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he may be willing to sell the fairgrounds to help cash-strapped California cope with its budget crisis. The vast majority of these discussions took place in closed-session.
…
Typical. Sell low after buying high. They make me sick.
Yesterday, I think its was Bill and Big V who got into a “spirited” discussion of marriage. In the future, instead of attacking Bill’s position, I think it would be better to CHALLENGE his position with suggestions/strategies for how men could compensate for the problems he points out.
Males are naturally more cautious about marriage than females because of what I suspect are deep biological reasons that “present” as political reasons.
These “reasons” need to be taken into consideration when marriage laws and policies are produced because younger males are watching and learning about marriage from the experiences of older males.
When a male marries a female, he is inviting the “state” into the relationship; an entity far more powerful than him with ENFORCEMENT power.
If this power is used to crush his “deep biological reasons that present as political reasons”, many males will seek to avoid the institution.
The position of Bill in La should be challenged (with compensatory suggestions) instead of attacked.
As a side bar I know of at least one marriage that ain’t gonna happen because of the housing bubble. An “older couple” thats has been dating for 7 years. They are both retired with decent pensions and each with nice houses. no ones talkin, but I suspect the reason they recently broke up is because neither one wants to give up their house in order to move in with the other. I think thats what happened.
Its sad too because they are a perfect match in every other way.
In addition, each is starting to have a few health problems which would be better dealt with if they lived together.
But noooooo, “Im not givin up MY house!”
(((shakin my head)))
‘Males are naturally more cautious about marriage than females because of what I suspect are deep biological reasons that “present” as political reasons.’
How about the “legal” reasons to avoid marriage, which include a male’s potential best response to laws passed to thwart the “walkaway” problem?
You are looking at marriage from a Western-Christian viewpoint. And we all know how evil the West and Christianity are…
You need to look at it from a Eastern-Islam viewpoint.
For them man:
Get to marry up to four wives
Get to divorce them by saying “I divorce you” three time
The ex-wives get practically nothing in divorce
Divorce the oldest wife and get a new one for your stable every few years
You can cheat by having temporary “pleasure marriages”
You can beat your wives and no one cares
You can kill you daughters for honor violations
Funny how I never seem to hear a peep from NOW and feminists about this…
“Funny how I never seem to hear a peep from NOW and feminists about this…”
TESTIFY, 2banana! The silence is deafening, eh? You might also include the misogynistic third world cultures from south of the border. Ladies, go ahead and complain about American men all you want. Sure, we have our share of wife beaters, etc. But an American woman is most likely to get a much fairer shake from an American man than any other culture. This is generally speaking, of course.
When I lived in Mexico City American men were considered “good catches” by middle class Mexican women because of the way they treat their wives.
But an American woman is most likely to get a much fairer shake from an American man than any other culture. This is generally speaking, of course.
I can’t say that I’ve had the greatest luck in love, but when it comes to fellas, I’ll take the Americans any day.
Exactly, In Colorado. Many foreign women prize an American husband. With good reason. American men (in general, as a group, despite the bad apples) are about as good as it gets, and they know it.
“I can’t say that I’ve had the greatest luck in love, but when it comes to fellas, I’ll take the Americans any day.”
Well said, Slimmie. Same goes for American women, btw. Guys who complain about American women ought to enjoy the rich, cultural experience of a foreign predator wife or girlfriend with an extended family. Whooooeeee!
My point, and I do have one, is this: You American ladies and gents, learn to love and appreciate each other, cast aside the annoyances with petty foibles, because you’re the best you’ve got. Generally speaking, of course. There are always exceptions.
You American ladies and gents, learn to love and appreciate each other, cast aside the annoyances with petty foibles, because you’re the best you’ve got.
And learning a foreign language is really hard.
“And learning a foreign language is really hard.”
It’s just a cultural thing, Rio. Folks tend to have a preference for their own cultures and customs. Which is pretty obvious from the behavior of a number of immigrant groups in the US. They just had a story on that lady down in Tex, 101 years in the US and can’t (or won’t) speak a word of English. She just became a citizen. Boo-yah.
How long d’ya think I’d last south of the border without any Spanish or Portuguese?
How long d’ya think I’d last south of the border without any Spanish or Portuguese?
Not very long.
BTW, one of the problems that children have when their families return to Mexico is their Spanish. They don’t speak it very well, if they speak it all.
Their poor Spanish skills are a real drawback when they go to school. Reason: Mexican schools don’t have Spanish as a Second Language programs. Los estudientes y maestros hablan Espanol solamente.
I watched a young girl, couldn’t have been more than 9 years old, interpreting for her parents in a local retail store. Not only interpreting, but seeking out a clerk and asserting to them that her parents needed help, and leading them over to her parents.
It was amazing to see. I quite admired her.
“It was amazing to see. I quite admired her.”
She will probably be an amazing business owner someday. Can you imagine sitting across the table from someone who has been handling business transactions for her family since she was 9 or younger? I’d get trampled on.
Not only interpreting, but seeking out a clerk and asserting to them that her parents needed help
“…was she a citizen-legal by-product of an illegal “I-wish-to-destroy-America” immigrant ?
That would be because your only knowledge of either organization comes from the Rush Limbaugh show.
The truth is that women don’t need men anymore. Not for sustenance, not for physical protection, certainly not to make babies. We can enjoy you, even want you, but your presence is for the most part entertainment, and ultimately superfluous.
So save your umbrage, it makes you sound like resentful old coots.
Peep.
The truth is that women don’t need men anymore.
Ahansen, Of course the majority of women need men and always will.
Millions of years of evolutionary behavioral and emotional patterns developed to insure the survival of our species cannot be undone by the availability of new medical procedures, pleasureful devices and fatter paychecks.
And don’t forget “skills,” Rio. And re-orientation of cultural expectations (especially among the younger of us.)
Not saying the species might not have to revert to a less “civilized” scenario at some point in the not-too-distant future, but as our society stands today, men per se are unnecessary. That’s why I qualified my statement with the word “want.”
Besides the men I adore, I also love having my kittycats around; but I don’t need them to survive. Same goes for chocolate. I don’t believe I’m the first to argue that men in modern western society are redundant.
I think we’re quibbling over semantics.
“I don’t believe I’m the first to argue that men in modern western society are redundant.”
Somebody sounds like a resentful old cougar.
I think we’re quibbling over semantics.
Maybe, but the level of “want” might make the quibbling important or not.
For example, you say women don’t need men but may want them. I say women in society, need men way more than you need your cats or chocolate.
But let’s say you were right and women didn’t need men but only want them. I will say that most women want men so badly and rightly so that the “want” is as powerful as a “need” is, and therefore just as important as a “need”.
but as our society stands today, men per se are unnecessary.
In addition to the women point, children do and always will need a father. A women parent can never be a complete substitute for a good father and vice-versa. Therefore, a normal, happy, well functioning human society needs men. Women are part of society therefore women need men.
ultimately superfluous
Some Dad’s giving loving care to their off-spring = “ultimately superfluous” ?
Lost-in-translation…
The anger and contempt in ahansen’s post forfeits, at least for me, a good chunk of the respect I formerly had for her.
you say women don’t need men but may want them.
Forth issue a global multitude of “moans” of agreement…
Sorry I missed the discussion, sounds like it was interesting.
It wasn’t until rather late in life that I discovered that “marriage” is basically a cooperative survival mechanism. It gets a bad name when the parties involved, instead of working as a team for survival purposes, do a lot of stuff that hinders survival rather than promotes it.
The best marriages are those where the partners have decided to work as a team to promote their mutual survival and that of their children. When one party betrays this pact, it goes awry.
In more “civilized” times, this aspect of marriage is forgotten and is all about “June, Moon, Spoon” or sex or some such thing.
However, the original purpose is still there, even if it is heavily obscured. It is interesting to note the mating patterns in a retirement community. Many jokes are made about the older men seeking a “nurse with a purse”. I have observed that this is not unusual. Those December marriages that seem to work out best are those where certain dynamics are understood and agreed to, and the proper exchange is put forth. Any man or woman who suffers through the old age of the other, certainly deserves an exchange for their efforts. Because many times the children aren’t there, or are non-existent.
And with all due respect to Bill, who has a number of points of view with which I agree, those things about which he bellyaches with regard to the supposed predatory nature of the fairer sex cut both ways.
My sis, for example, was milked like a cow by a widower with a bunch of loser couch potatos for children, and I had a front row seat for the event. A real slick dick, but of course, no one could tell sis. Mr. Slick Dick was a real charmer on the surface and preyed on childless, prosperous women somewhat past their prime, holding out the hope of domestic bliss with an instant family in the suburbs. I watched this go down with disgust, as sis anted up $$ for past debts, cars and the latest electronic gewgaws and designer clothing for the tribe.
Slick Dick was looking for a supplemental meal ticket for his tribe, since his (rather hefty) salary didn’t quite cover the lifestyle to which he had become accustomed, his debts from a failed business venture and the “gimmes” of his children. You might say he was looking to further his survival and those of his children, in itself not a bad thing. However, those survival plans did not include his various partners. Not even a bit of enduring affection or courtesy in exchange for having their lives eased somewhat. Uh-uh. Milk the cow dry and move on to greener pastures, sometimes the move to greener pastures overlapped while he and his tribe were still squeezing the udders to get those last drops out.
Sis moved on. It was an expensive lesson.
That’s partly why we need to separate “religious marriage” from domestic contracts…
Let your version of a higher power decide who gets to marry, but any societal benefits and obligations should be spelled out in a contract.
Well, I have a rather unique perspective, having been raised in a family where the father was significantly older than the mother, and the mother was the chief bread-winner. It was interesting, to say the least.
The one thing I would fault my mother for was that she often didn’t recognize my dad’s contributions. He wasn’t exactly Mr. Mom, but he did do a lot for the kids and also in terms of upkeep for the household. These are contributions that men have traditionally been accused of not recognizing in their wives.
If one would give up freedom for security, then he will loose both and deserves neither!
I know several that won’t get married due to Social Security/pension reductions that would occur.
Not to mention the amount of marriages that start/end just to stay on a spouse’s company health insurance.
Bwahahahahaha, I know a couple just now getting around to dee-vorce because the master insurance policy is gone.
Ain’t love grand?
But actually divorces are declining because of the collapse of the HBB. People can’t afford to divorce - probably a mixed blessing.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/08/27/129476703/birth-rates-divorce-rates-decline-in-a-sour-economy
“Collapse of the HBB” is causing a decline in divorces? The Filter’s a little slow sometimes, but surely we’re not collapsing here? And I would think if we had to rant to our spouses instead of each other, divorces would increase.
Oops. HB.
Look for an increase in domestic murders in about 6-12 months.
But noooooo, “Im not givin up MY house!”
If I found someone I was perfect with, selling my house (or renting it out at least) would be a no brainer. And I mean even today - when I just finally bought my first house. I’d walk away from it for a perfect match. Has to be more to it.
But, then again, I’m a woman who’s also more anti- than pro-marriage so what do I know?!
The problems for married men cited by Bill are being reversed by the recession. Bill is concerned about women who marry so that they can sit around and mooch off the man. But women now bring in 47% of the family income. Unfortunately, it’s not because their income has gone up - the husband’s has gone down. And women have higher rates of college graduation than men, too.
http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Wives+gain+breadwinners+real+progress/3632152/story.html
“Bill is concerned about women who marry so that they can sit around and mooch off the man.”
Sigh. This is a mid-20th century marriage/divorce/alimony fantasy construct that many men have dined out on for years. It’s pretty much obsolete and old-hat, but makes for good fodder at dinner parties and on blogs and also on dates as a way of or milking a lady for some athletic, love-the-one-you’re-with sex. It’s a game and a challenge. Bill may or may not realize that he has created this construct for himself, and it works for him. It’s a way of getting laid, that’s all. Not to be taken seriously.
But, you know, a life-sized inflatable doll would be a much more honest way of acknowledging that you’re too cheap to spring for a decent meal.
“But, you know, a life-sized inflatable doll would be a much more honest way of acknowledging that you’re too cheap to spring for a decent meal.”
……PLUS……. You can deflate her in the morning!!!!!!!
sort of like the old joke about the difference between a woman and a toilet.
It’s a way of getting laid, that’s all. Not to be taken seriously.
In Rio, those two sentences would not be seen together very often.
Not clear on this point. In Rio, people do or don’t take getting laid seriously? Explain.
Not clear on this point. In Rio, people do or don’t take getting laid seriously? Explain.
Good question. And now you have me thinking. I wrote it thinking that Cariocas (persons born in Rio) take it much more seriously than Americans.
I think they do it more often. Studies show their time spending doing it is about 4 times longer than Americans and Northern Euros. They work at the craft. They flirt more. Numbers are given out like popcorn. In Rio there are many love motels that couples rent from $10-$200 per hour that are frequented by rich and poor alike. I think there is more infidelity. Prostitution (not pimping) is legal. Men are still catcalling and whistling a lot and are always trying to pick up women.
That’s why I think they take it more seriously.
But maybe some social scientist could read the above and come to the conclusion they take it less seriously as in it’s more of a common part of life?
All getting laid is local.
“They work at the craft.”
You mean beyond the “missionary position”?
BWAHAHAHicHAHAHicHAHAHAHAHicHAHAHic* (DennisN™)
“All getting laid is local.”……….sure, if you don’t count 1-900 numbers (have those been outsourced as well?)
Here is one for Bill:
I used to have this girlfriend that was always trying to force her religion on me…….. she only wanted to do it in the missionary position (budump bump!)
Interesting.
Bravo my friend, bravo.
I wish you’d alter your nickname so it is not self-effacing though.
Citing health care law, Boeing pares employee plan
WASHINGTON(AP) – Aerospace giant Boeing is joining the list of companies that say the new health care law could have a potential downside for their workers.
In a letter mailed to employees late last week, the company cited the overhaul as part of the reason it is asking some 90,000 nonunion workers to pay significantly more for their health plan next year. A copy of the letter was obtained Monday by The Associated Press.
“The newly enacted health care reform legislation, while intended to expand access to care for millions of uninsured Americans, is also adding cost pressure as requirements of the new law are phased in over the next several years,” wrote Rick Stephens, Boeing’s senior vice president for human resources.
Someone has to pay for the health care for all those millions of illegals.
And that someone is the middle class (union members exempted for the moment).
True. My solution: Do as the illegals do. Mirror them. Got a medical issue? Go to the ER get treatment and walk away. If enough middle class white people started doing what the Mexicans did then there would be change for the better. As it is the white folks are paying enough to absorb the unpaid costs of non-payers. Whites could overwhelm the system with nonpaying patients which would end the system thereby forcing the creation of a new more effective medical system.
Think Gandhi moving against the existing medical occupation.
Disclosure: I refuse to have any and all medical insurance because it makes no sense to fund a third party to hike medical rates 30% per year.
If enough middle class white people started doing what the Mexicans did then there would be change for the better. As it is the white folks are paying enough to absorb the unpaid costs of non-payers. Whites could overwhelm the system with nonpaying patients which would end the system thereby forcing the creation of a new more effective medical system.
Now this sounds like my kind of revolt!
lint & AZ Slim,
I agree with lint and you. Our health invidvidual insurance premium has almost doubled in 5 years, along with more out of pocket expenses. (We’re generally healthy.) The illegals using Kaiser (CA covers them free) have no co-pays. Meanwhile, our standard of living has tanked, and they get free $ and perks, living subsidized. I’m rethinking ….
I’m rethinking ….
Google around for that letter that was sent to Sen. Paul Sarbanes. Seems that one of his constituents wanted to be reclassified as an illegal alien so that his family could get the bennies.
Can you go to ER for a mammogram?
No. They’ll do the diagnostics and treatment for emergency only. If you have a breast mass they’ll give you a referral to a surgeon. If the breast mass was gigantic, broke through the skin, and caused an infection, they’d admit you to treat it and hopefully someone would biopsy it while you were in the hospital, but they might not. And none of the treatment would be covered. If you have any money, they’ll drain your bank account , and when that’s gone you could get emergency Medicaid to cover the treatment. But you can’t have a car and get Medicaid, let alone a house. Forget buying insurance for a preexisting condition, at least until that part of the health reform bill kicks in.
Opting out of health insurance is a safe gamble for a 30-year-old, but I wouldn’t recommend it for a 50-year-old.
REHobbyist
I hope your treatment is going well. You certainly has a great attitude, along with your positive prognosis. In Ca, your home and some assets (IIRC $80K) are excluded when applying for state aid to cover you for medical. I just went through this with my parents. They got help for my dying father. (Suspect Lipitor Parkinson’s)
The part of the law Boeing is talking about does not take effect until 2018.
We’ll have a public option by then.
Boeing will be HQ in China by then.
“…….China by then.”
And change their name to Bo Eng.
“…As it is the white folks are paying enough to absorb the unpaid costs of non-payers. Whites could overwhelm the system with nonpaying patients”
Fresno / Bakersfried / Modesto…basically anyplace rural CA that might have a minority of whitieees /Kentucky / LA / SC / NC / TX / OK / KS / TN / WV / FL / AL / MS / GA …
Yeah, I’m quite certain that most welfare whitieees are paying enough personal income… to not be a part of the “total problem”.
They’ve been doing this again and again over the last decade.
Given that one of the primary requirements of the law is that 85% of the money brought in by the insurance companies has to be paid out in medical claims (called medical losses by the industry), won’t this have a tendancy to reduce the price of insuraance overall? They will only be able to divert 15% of the money brought in to administration, trying to kick people out of the plans and profit. If they aren’t going to reduce the cost of the plans in reaction to this requirement, they are going to have to allow more services to be covered, lower deductiobles and co-pays, etc. or violate the pay out requirement.
If they aren’t going to reduce the cost of the plans in reaction to this requirement, they are going to have to allow more services to be covered, lower deductiobles and co-pays, etc. or violate the pay out requirement.
Which is why I think we’re going to see insurance companies announcing that they’re leaving the health insurance business. May not happen right away, but I think we’ll see it well before 2014.
On a related note, the money in *selling* insurance policies isn’t in selling health insurance. Or homeowner’s. Or auto.
Instead, it’s in selling life insurance. Boy, do those policies come with sweet sales commissions. That’s why you’re going to get the life insurance hard sell, even if you go to an agent for some other type of policy.
they pay nicely on individual health policies also,advanced commissions….
polly,
If they can only use 15% for administration (which I assume includes salaries and bonuses) then it’s in their best interest to raise both price of insurance and payouts. The bigger the 85% is in real terms, the bigger the 15% can be too. Or maybe I’m completely misunderstanding.
Only if you don’t raise it so high that you reduce the number of people who buy it too much.
The thing to remember is this. Old system: They raise the price of a policy a dollar and don’t increase payouts for insured health care at all, they get to keep the dollar. New system: They raise the price of a policy a dollar and they must increase the payouts for insured health care by $0.85 and only get to keep $0.15. So if they want to keep an extra dollar, they actually have to increase the cost of the policy by about $6.67 and increase benefits payout by $5.67. Since it is very hard to communicate how the increase in payouts benefits customers (other than reducing co-pays), they are likely to loose people who are on the edge of being able to afford the insurance. Only keeping $0.15 reduces the incentive to increase the price.
A clever marketing person might be able to figure out how to sell it in the individual market, but a lot of those folks are already on the edge of being able to afford health insurance at all. For a big contract like Boeing? The HR folks don’t care about the details of the medical payout. They are worried about the premium prices. You are better off reducing the cost of the insurance, losing only $0.15 for each dollar you reduce it and keeping the giant contract.
A clever marketing person might be able to figure out how to sell it in the individual market, but a lot of those folks are already on the edge of being able to afford health insurance at all.
Count me as one of those folks. That’s why I’m so torqued about only having private insurance as my option, rather than having a public option in the mix.
Did we find the new Hitler? or is she saying what most policitians are not willing to admit?
————————-
Multiculturalism in Germany has ‘utterly failed’, claims Chancellor Angela Merkel
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said her country’s attempts to build a post-war multicultural society have ‘utterly failed’.
In a landmark speech, she broke one of Germany’s last taboos and courted anti-immigration support by claiming those from a different background failed to live happily side-by-side with native Germans.
There are about seven million foreign residents living in the country. Some 4.3million of these are Muslim and there are more than 3,000 mosques across Germany.
Mrs Merkel said the so-called ‘multikulti’ concept – ‘that we are now living side by side and are happy about it’ – does not work. ‘This approach has failed, utterly,’ she said just days after a poll showed a third of all Germans viewed immigrants as nothing more than welfare cheats.
Addressing fears of ‘German-ness’ being lost amid new mosques, headscarves in classrooms and Turkish ghettos in cities like Berlin, she added: ‘We feel bound to the Christian image of humanity – that is what defines us. Those who do not accept this are in the wrong place here.’
Mrs Merkel joined leading political and business leaders who have questioned immigration policies in recent months.
Bundesbank board member Thilo Sarrazin recently moved the debate centre-stage when he wrote a book that said the country’s four million Muslims were ‘dumbing down’ society and that the national Christian identity of Germans was in danger of being lost.
He also referred to a study by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, which showed that more than a third of those surveyed thought Germany was being ‘over-run by foreigners’ and that more than one in ten called for a ‘fuehrer’ to run the country ‘with a strong hand’.
~ She is correct IMO, but many people just can’t grasp why it go does not and will not work.
“German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said her country’s attempts to build a post-war multicultural society have ‘utterly failed’.
In a landmark speech, she broke one of Germany’s last taboos and courted anti-immigration support by claiming those from a different background failed to live happily side-by-side with native Germans.
There are about seven million foreign residents living in the country. Some 4.3million of these are Muslim and there are more than 3,000 mosques across Germany.
Mrs Merkel said the so-called ‘multikulti’ concept – ‘that we are now living side by side and are happy about it’ – does not work. ‘This approach has failed, utterly,’ she said just days after a poll showed a third of all Germans viewed immigrants as nothing more than welfare cheats”.
Number of Mosques in Germany - 3000
Number of Churches in Saudi Arabia - 0
So Merkel is now a hitler?
” a third of all Germans viewed immigrants as nothing more than welfare cheats.”
Only a third?
Only a third?
The other two thirds are welfare cheats.
“Addressing fears of ‘German-ness’ being lost amid new mosques, headscarves in classrooms and Turkish ghettos in cities like Berlin, she added: ‘We feel bound to the Christian image of humanity – that is what defines us. Those who do not accept this are in the wrong place here.’”
Really shouldn’t have any organized decisive religion in a modern society. Practice this fantasy at home in your bedroom on your own time.
Germans have taxes taken out of their paychecks that go to the church they claim to be a member of.
This is messy as they have no tradition of immigration and their sense of “German-ness” is somewhat based (beyond religion) on things that probably won’t adapt well.
I think they are also embarrassed /horrified that some of the worst characters in the last decade (hijackers, etc) have spent time there… They like order and the idea that that kind of thing simmering under the surface of their picture-postcard landscape does (and should) frighten them.
They like order
Here’s what “they” like in mathematical form:
$1.00
Here’s what “they” don’t like what-so-ever:
(-$1.00)
This can result in Societal “distortions” if left unchecked.
FWIW, Germany does not have “separation of church and state” like we do. In fact, it has two state churches: Catholic and Lutheran (or as the call it “evangelical”).
What I think she is saying is that Germany is culturally a Christian nation. Not in a Protestant Fundy kind of way though.
IIUC tithing is NOT voluntary in Germany. You WILL pay taxes to the local Organized Church.
If you are registered. My German in laws were not, so they didn’t pay. And IIRC it wasn’t a true “tithe” (10%) but much less.
The unseen cost of cheap labor?
The long ignored consequences of having “guest workers” and not deciding what would happen if they stayed for 40+ years and had families there.
Hey, we’re finding out the results of that social experiment right here, right now!
The guest worker situation is different than the illegal immigrant situation…
People that are allowed in indefinitely as legal workers and then left in a limbo because there is not a clear and expected path to citizenship and assimilation are in a different situation.
People who have lived there for decades and had children there (who are not citizens of Germany even though born there) are a problem that a reasonable person could have seen coming a long time ago.
And since reunification and new mobility of European workers in the EU it’s gonna be a real challenge for them.
Most of Europe is like that. Once an outsider, always an outsider. People in the US move on average every 5 years. In Europe, it’s probable every 200 years.
My FIL is a German national. In the sixties he accept a transfer to his employer’s Canadian division. His friends were shocked that he accepted.
I’m partly of German descent. My take on the sitch is that Germany, like a lot of other European countries, is based primarily on ethnicity. Meaning that if you’re not German, well, sorry, Charlie, you’re not going to fit in here.
The one exception seems to be England. One of the most ethnically diverse places on the planet. A lot of the non-English folks are from the former Empire, but not all.
There are no parallels between the German immigration “problem” and the American problem. It is difficult to immigrate to Germany and very difficult to become a citizen. Unlike the US, Germany has a need for foreign workers. So after years of welcoming these Turkish workers and denying them citizenship, they are scapegoating them because they didn’t assimilate, even though they have been prevented from assimilating. The problem is of Germany’s own making.
I think the term is “ethno-state”. Most countries in the world are ethno-states to a large degree. The US to a much lesser degree due to its history of immigration from many ethnic groups.
People are still quite tribal.
The problem that goes along with this, but in Europe and Russia especially, is ethnic nationalism. This led to the slaughter of some 80 million people in the first half of the 20th century. I suppose Japan, another homogeneous society, should be included in that calculation.
So - how to get the benefits of ethnic grouping, without the costs? That’s the 64,000 USD question.
Forcing Germany to dilute itself is probably a good thing for the planet. Reminds me of a joke: “A German was crowing about his country defeating the British soccer team in some major international soccer competition. He said, “We defeated the British at their national sport!” A Brit overheard and replied, “Well, we’ve defeated the Germans at their national sport - twice!”
Home starts rises slightly, building permits fall
Housing construction up 0.3 pct. in September; building permits fall 5.6 pct.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Home construction rose slightly last month on the strength of single-family homes, but the market was still too weak to propel growth in the battered industry.
Construction of new homes and apartments rose 0.3 percent in September from a month earlier to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 610,000, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. August’s figure was revised upward to an annual rate of 608,000 from an earlier estimate of 598,000.
Construction was driven by a 4.4 percent monthly increase in single-family homes, which are about 80 percent of the market. Construction of condominiums and apartments fell by nearly 10 percent.
The number of building permits issued to build new homes, a sign of future activity, fell 5.6 percent from a month earlier to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 539,000. That drop, however, was driven by a 20 percent decline in those for condominiums and apartments. Permits for single-family homes rose 0.5 percent.
High unemployment, slow job growth, and tight credit have kept people from buying homes. The housing market suffered its worst summer in more than 10 years, despite the lowest mortgage rates in five decades.
Housing starts are up 28 percent from their bottom in April 2009, but are down 73 percent from their peak in January 2006.
China surprises with first rate rise since 2007
BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s central bank surprised on Tuesday with its first increase of interest rates in nearly three years, a move that reflects its concern about rising asset prices and stubborn inflation.
It said it was raising benchmark rates by 25 basis points, taking one-year deposit rates to 2.5 percent and one-year lending rates to 5.56 percent.
The impact was felt by global markets across the board. Oil prices fell, stock markets turned negative in Europe and the dollar rose as investors were caught off guard by the tightening step.
“The interest rate rise is entirely outside of market expectations,” said Zhu Jiangfang, chief economist at CITIC Securities in Beijing.
“The recent rise in headline inflation has put the real rate into negative territory. And I think that’s why the central bank needs to raise interest rates in such a hasty way,” he said.
Let’s hope then that QE2 was just a monetary policy game of chicken.
Gotta love it. Incessant bad news at home, the stock market rallies. Bad news in China, it tanks.
My personal belief is that flat home prices and shrinking volume are leading indicators of further home price declines, but over at DataQuick, they tend to see the world differently than I do.
By the way, a one-month decline of 1.9 percent occurs at an annualized rate of ((1-1.9/100)^12-1)*100 = -20.6 percent.
San Diego County housing prices slow to a crawl
September median was up 1.7 percent from year-ago levels, DataQuick says
By Roger Showley
Originally published October 18, 2010 at 10:52 a.m., updated October 18, 2010 at 4:20 p.m.
Prices have fallen five times in 2010 so far, MDA DataQuick reports
Download: September home prices
San Diego County’s median home price slipped to $330,500 last month as demand cooled in the wake of the end to buyer rebates, MDA DataQuick reported Monday.
The median was 1.9 percent lower than August’s $337,000 but up 1.7 percent from year-ago levels.
It was the smallest year-over-year rise since October last year and confirmed what many economists have been saying — prices may soften in the next few months.
DataQuick analyst Andrew LePage said the pricing trend might reflect the temporary rise that occurred when federal and state homebuyer tax credits were instituted late last year and early this year.
“They could end up flat, which is what I predicted,” he said.
September’s median is only $500 higher than it was last December, after rising to a high of $340,000 in May.
In the meantime, he said, the market mix of high-, low and median-priced homes has settled into a stable pattern, but the one unknown is how the foreclosure paperwork problems lenders and service providers are wrestling with will affect the market. Bank of America has halted all foreclosures until it determines how many foreclosures are gummed up because the required reviews did not take place. The bank reported lifting the moratorium on 23 states Monday, but California remains covered by the halt.
“This may all blow over in a few months, or it could end up having a substantial impact on the housing market,” he said.
LePage said there is clearly a pent-up demand for home buying, given the drop in interest rates to historically low levels, and stable or falling prices in many neighborhoods. This also is historically the low part of the buying year, as consumers turn their thoughts to the holidays and away from moving.
“I would expect a normal seasonal slowdown,” he said, “but the extent to which it slows could be exacerbated by the foreclosure paperwork fiasco if more lenders halt activity. There just won’t be as many homes to sell, and some people will step back. If they don’t have to buy, this is another reason to stay on the sidelines.”
…
It’s about time for most of the for sale signs to be retired here until spring. Apparently REOs will not have that indulgent luxury. Comps should be interesting by the time May rolls around.
Things are sure to pick up after the Super Bowl in February.
You misspelled Souper Bowl.
Does it come with a salad?
Yay!
Giant Wind Tunnel Tests Full-Size Houses
A wind tunnel big enough to hold a small neighborhood is about to unleash hurricane force winds — all in the name of safety.
The 21 thousand square-foot test chamber is part of the Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) Research Center, which celebrates its official grand opening today.
The test facility, located in rural Chester County, South Carolina, is funded by the insurance industry and can simulate hailstorms, wildfires and category 4 hurricanes.
Around 2 p.m. Eastern Time, researchers will bombard a pair of two-story houses with water cannons and winds between 110 and 120 miles per hour.
One house is built using conventional construction standards applied to most homes in the Midwestern US. The other house is built using storm-resistant materials and methods, such as hurricane straps — which strengthen the connections between roofs and walls.
With 105 fans, each six feet in diameter, the test chamber can produce winds up to 140 miles per hour. Water cannons can simulate rain or hail. And researchers can add burning embers to the wind tunnel to simulate the effects of wildfires.
IBHS officials say the research conducted in this wind tunnel will eventually lead to new ways of building safer homes and businesses.
Can they test the house for CDOs, robo signed notes, government tax credits and insane property taxes to pay for public union pensions?
Better headline: Houses Say “Blow Me”.
New Era unemployment insurance: Live with a partner.
WSJ Blogs
Real Time Economics
Economic insight and analysis from The Wall Street Journal.
* Chicago Fed: Cars Drag Down Midwest Manufacturing Activity
* More Americans Expect Recovery Will Take Years
* September 27, 2010, 5:03 PM ET
Economy Brings Couples Together, but Not in Marriage
By Phil Izzo
In the wake of the worst recession since World War II, people are getting closer — children are moving back in with their parents, more families are living together and fewer people are getting divorced. A new report suggests that the recession may be pushing more couples to live together, even though fewer of them are getting married.
Between 2009 and 2010 there was a 13% increase in opposite-sex couples living together and an analysis, notes demographer Rose M. Kreider in a new working paper based on Census Bureau data. She finds that 24% of men in newly formed couples in 2010 didn’t work last year compared to 14% in 2009. Meanwhile, the percentage of couples in which one partner was employed and the other was unemployed increased to 15% in 2010 from 8% in 2008, suggesting economic concerns are pushing people together.
The problem of long-term unemployment, which has been exacerbated in the last year, may be playing a role. “Pooling resources by moving in together may be one method of coping with extended unemployment of one of the partners,” Kreider says.
…
What a bunch of euro-trash Socialist!
* September 28, 2010, 5:00 AM ET
More Americans Expect Recovery Will Take Years
Real Time Economics HOME PAGE »
By Sara Murray
The American public has arrived at the same dismal conclusion as many economists: We’re in for a long and painful economic recovery.
…
The recession technically ended in the summer of 2009, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, but there’s still a lot of ground to make up before consumers feel like the economy — and their personal finances — have bounced back.
Of those surveyed, 74% said their personal financial situation was the same or worse than it was a year ago. Eliminating personal debt was their biggest concern, with 20% saying so, followed by 15% who said potential job loss was their biggest worry. Recovering retirement savings and education costs were also high up on the list.
Concerns over a prolonged recovery, potential job loss and the urge to pay down debt have put a dent in consumer spending. And this survey indicates it will continue to do so: 39% said they plan to spend less on nonessential items in the next year, 48% plan to keep their spending the same and just 8% said they plan to spend more.
I’ll take a long and painful recovery any day over another recession/depression. Thank goodness that’s off the table now!
Au&Ag are doing an about face this AM. Uncle buck is doing some climbing, oil heading down.
Churn ‘em and Burn ‘em. Suck them one day, shake them out the next.
They don’t want anyone feeling safe. If people feel safe in gold and all flock there then that might tip the tightrope walking FED.
The goal is stagflation where the FED will retain some power. If it falls to massive inflation or deflation then they’ve lost control.
So Mrs Exeter and I made a 50% cash offer on a shack on yesterday. I talked to my Wall Street accountant friend who keeps the company of corporate banking thugs. He stated that they will accept a contract offer if cash with no contingencies and a quick turnaround. I gave them 72 hours to respond and just heard back that attorney is reviewing offer. Mrs and I couldn’t care less if it’s accepted or not as our priority is to strike at something with all the risk picked out of it. Our measure is this: Our offer today is exactly what we believe we can sell it for tomorrow. Not next year or 30 years from now. Tomorrow. And in this case, that number is 50% of asking.
There is much more detail to this, especially regarding the realturd(which substantiates my anti-realtor rhetoric). The detail will forever crush what little regard anyone here had for realturds.
Can’t wait to hear, exeter. Where is the house? Is it bank-owned? Details, man.
“The detail will forever crush what little regard anyone here had for realturds.”
How dare you withhold this information? How DARE you?
You offer to pay today’s true value, and somehow conclude that the risk is removed?
Since prices are falling and will continue to do so for years, I don’t see any logic in that.
Well RunJoeyRun, how about this. My risk is about 50% less and we’re reasonably confident we could sell the dump for the same amount rather quickly. 50% reduction today versus 50% reduction over tens of years amounts to a 50% reduction.
..My risk is about 50% less..
How so? Because you offered 50% less than someone’s wishing price?
..we could sell the dump..
..and you made an offer on a dump..
Well.. whatever the case may be.. in the spirit of good will and camaraderie, I do hope your offer on that dump is accepted.
You missed this part;
50% reduction today versus 50% reduction over tens of years amounts to a 50% reduction.
And I wish you well in the aquisition of your own dump.
50% is good, …how’s the ‘hood?
Here’s a little more good news…
Jobless benefits about to crash
Neither party has done much to address the debt-ridden unemployment insurance system. (Washington)
With no end in sight to the nation’s high unemployment, the government program to help the jobless is heading for a crash.
And with Democrats and Republicans now divided over what used to be routine extensions of unemployment insurance benefits, there’s little prospect anytime soon for the sort of costly and complex rescue that’s necessary, according to one of the program’s champions.
“I am worried,” said Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), who got some temporary unemployment fixes in the $787 billion economic stimulus bill. “It is going to take a degree of bipartisanship … that we haven’t seen.”
The sour economy, with unemployment stuck above 9 percent for a year and a half, has been the backdrop for this fall’s midterm elections, but long-term fixes for the unemployment insurance system have hardly been a hot campaign issue.
Democratic and Republican leaders alike say that helping the unemployed is a top priority. But critics say neither side has done enough to avert the looming insolvency of the outmoded unemployment system, which reaches less than half of the jobless and yet is shuddering under $40 billion in debt.
Jobless benifits about to crash = Less spending in a consumer-based economy where spending is already down = Furthur slowdown of money velocity = Deflationary hard times for those without money.
“I am worried,” said Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), who got some temporary unemployment fixes in the $787 billion economic stimulus bill. “It is going to take a degree of bipartisanship … that we haven’t seen.”
Yeah - we bribed and hammered the $1 trillion obama stimulus and obama care roughshod through the congress and now we wonder about bipartisanship on the eve of getting our @sses thrown out of congress…
There needs to be a serious discussion about drastically cutting the salaries and perks of CONgress, including their medical care.
Congressional salaries really aren’t that large. There’s an argument that we really should be raising Congressional salaries, as underpaid Congressmen are more likely to accept bribes.
Sorry, I should have said “total compensation package”. I’d take that “compensation package” any day. But, I’d hate to go through the election cycle to get it.
How true…..as soon as the election is over they will get back to paying off their cronies on Wall Street,union thugs and fellow government (leeches) workers.
Imagine how pleased the unemployed will be when their checks are canceled while food and gas prices soar as a result of monetary tinkering.
See recent news clips from france for details.
Americans are wusses. They’ll just go home and watch dancing with the stars.
Hard to watch dancing with the stars when your home has been reposed and you don’t have enough money for food. Even if you had a TV the crying from your hungry children would just ruin the show.
Nope when people start going hungry they get mad, I don’t care how lazy they are.
They didn’t revolt during the Great Depression, and there were no food stamps or UEI back then. Just bread lines and soup kitchens.
And by home, I meant their parent’s basement or wherever they can crash and mooch a meal. As long as the xbox and TV work they’ll be content.
Yoo hoo, Eddie — time to buy the dip, on the year-end march to DJIA = 12K?
Too late. He already went “all-in” last week.
Those who subscribe to the theory that the stock market follows a random walk would acknowledge the probability of hitting the DJIA = 12K target by year-end just went down considerably.
10,940
Change
-203.78 -1.83%
Sold my 40,000 coconuts last week, I was early again, but this time it didn’t bite me in the arse.
Dude, I’m not a trader that buys and sells every day. A down day. It happens. I’m in it for the long term not for day to day fluctuations.
You’re the type of person that screams global warming because it hits 90 on a day where the average is 88.
Nobody ever posts a ‘Craigslist find’ any more. Here’s one:
My house for your bike:
http://daytona.craigslist.org/mcy/2013709439.html
That house is only 100 miles from Oil City, Pennsylvania!
1980 High Prices Vs 1980 Highs
Adjusted For Inflation 1980 High Prices Adj For Inflation
Gold $850.00 $2,275
Silver 49.00 $132.00
Dips will be bought.
“Adjusted for inflation.”
You might think of how to adjust for deflation.
obviously too young to remember what happened just moments after those highs were reached…
No pro gold discussion ever gets into about how one recognizes we’re on the other side and it’s time to divest which leads me to believe everyone’s just talking their book.
Would today be a good day to buy the dip?
Dow 10,994 -150 -1.34%
Nasdaq 2,434 -47 -1.88%
S&P 500 1,169 -16 -1.35%
GlobalDow 2,009 -27 -1.30%
Gold 1,341 -31 -2.29%
Oil 80.88 -2.20 -2.65%
GlobalDow 2,009 -27 -1.30%
Nikkei 225 9,539 41 0.43%
Hang Seng 23,764 294 1.25%
Shanghai 3,146 49 1.58%
Well, since its almost certain that the next UE numbers will show an increase in unemployment there is only a single logical outcome: The stock market will rally.
I only have one thing to say about todays activity on the stock market…..”pump & dump”. Thats all this market has become. The Fed, their cronies on the business channels etc…The dollars weak…the dollars strong……SHEESH!
Just relax; the DJIA = 11K plunge protection floor is holding firm. Next month it will probably be a DJIA = 12K plunge protection floor, as the stock market always goes up.
Protect your perspective! Always look at the DOW in terms of gold!
The dow is tanking in terms of the global currency…gold.
Always look at the DOW in terms of gold
Always look at gold in terms of its current price versus its likely future price.
“Always look at gold in terms of its current price versus its likely future price.”
Nonsensical.
“Nonsensical.”
Same way as it was ‘nonsensical’ to look at housing prices that way circa 2005. Like housing, gold prices always go up.
Housing prices should be viewed in terms of gold as well. Is it that difficult to understand the utilization of a standard in order to benefit from a stable reference point so as to understand what deviation a thing is from said reference point?
Professor bear, your comments reveal more about your desires to obscure in opposition to clarify.
Lint,
Your comments suggest you may be trying to lure greater fools into buying your gold.
Professor,
To date the greater fool has clearly been the dollar holder. It is self evidently so. That variable(hyperinflation of the money supply) which has made gold more dear in terms of dollars has continues to be expanded with no end in sight.
Please articulate why a gold holder will be a bag holder in 12 months. Please assign a probability for this outcome.
Actually, Bear, lint buys silver for his clients.
We have had several decades of inflation and gold languished. We are now in deflation and gold is soaring, well kind of. There is therefore the possibility that something else is going on.
“To date the greater fool has clearly been the dollar holder.”
‘Tomorrow is another day.’
– Scarlett O’Hara –
Gone with the Wind
Gold is the stable reference point? Someone alert Einstein.
Boing hikes employee medical cost due to provisions of the healthcare law that will take effect in 2018.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101018/ap_on_bi_ge/us_health_costs_boeing?boeingboeinggone
WILMINGTON, Del. – Republican Senate nominee Christine O’Donnell of Delaware on Tuesday questioned whether the U.S. Constitution calls for a separation of church and state, appearing to disagree or not know that the First Amendment bars the government from establishing religion.
The exchange came in a debate before an audience of legal scholars and law students at Widener University Law School, as O’Donnell criticized Democratic nominee Chris Coons’ position that teaching creationism in public school would violate the First Amendment by promoting religious doctrine.
Coons said private and parochial schools are free to teach creationism but that “religious doctrine doesn’t belong in our public schools.”
“Where in the Constitution is the separation of church and state?” O’Donnell asked him.
When Coons responded that the First Amendment bars Congress from making laws respecting the establishment of religion, O’Donnell asked: “You’re telling me that’s in the First Amendment?”
“You actually audibly heard the crowd gasp,” said Widener
More Tea please
I think the gripe is that creationism shouldn’t be taught in science class, not that it shouldn’t be taught at all. I think a few religious studies classes would benefit students.
Everyone loves Thor don’t they??
Steve it’s not a “gripe”, it’s the first amendment. Creationism shouldn’t be taught in any class, if parents want their kids to learn creationism take them to Sunday school.
I’d be OK with Thor because almost everyone has come to realize that Thor is fiction. When everyone realizes that all the others are fiction as well, then they can be taught in public school.
In two days it will be Thor’s Day.
You had better watch who you’re calling “fiction,” sonny boy. I may be an older God, but I still have most of my powers.
If you are going to strike me down do it with a lightning bolt so I can be sure it’s you and not just a deranged suicide bomber.
What was wrong with the good old days when I grew up, when science was taught in public schools, and theology was taught in “Sunday School”.
What’s the Islamic/Buddhist/Druid version of “Creationism”? Are they not equally as valid as the Christian interpretation?
Here’s the deal……the evangelists don’t care about teaching “Creationism” to their kids. That brainwash/indoctrination has already happened. They want to use the public schools to teach it to everybody else’s kids.
measton,
Thor’s more of a hammer guy than a lightning guy. Not that he can’t use lightning; he just likes the hammer. Leaves a nice dent. He might also sick his goats on you.
Hmmmm. Maybe all this mess is Ragnarök.
I’m pretty sure it’s legal to teach comparative religion classes in public schools, but I doubt if many offer them or have much participation if they do.
In the parochial schools I went to in the early 70’s, they were mandatory. We also took field trips to synagogues, charismatic churches, etc.
As an ex-catholic in the last few years I’ve found myself in the odd position of having to “defend” the church from people whose dislike is based on misinformation. If you’re going to dislike it, and there can be very valid reasons for doing so, it should be at least for real reasons.
http://www.cracked.com/article_18757_5-things-you-wont-believe-arent-in-bible.html
5 Things You Won’t Believe Aren’t In the Bible
She is correct.
No WHERE in the US Constitution is the phrase: ““separation of church and state” - not mentioned even in the footnotes.
Of course, liberals and liberal lawyers on the SCOTUS think abortion is explicitly constitutional right explicitly defined by the 4th Amendment as debated by the founding fathers and just totally ignore the entire 2nd Amendment so this is no surprise.
It is funny - kooky global warming crap (among other stuff) which requires more faith than letting your daughter go to a campaign rally with Bill Clinton is pushed in the schools like there is no tomorrow but frame any debate with any kind of Christianity in it and it OK to ignore all those ideas.
Talk about closed minds and censorship.
and the right wing bananas don’t understand that if the state can’t establish a religion then there is separation between church and state.
Not sure what to make of your “oh yea but joey spit gum at me” straw man arguments. I support the 2nd and suspect they use the 4th to keep their records safe?
You’re off the reservation by the 3rd paragraphs rambling tirade.
The theory of global warming is not faith. It is a theory regarding a complicated system that is supported by scientific observations and extrapolation. It is currently supported by most scientists in the field but is of course subject to change. Despite all this it does describe a potential risk to the country and the world that would bring misery to a large number of people. The consequences could be easily remedied by fostering conservation and family planning. Unfortunately the religious right will have nothing do to with it. They prefer war famine and disease for population control and to manage limited resources.
The theory of global warming is not faith. It is a theory regarding a complicated system that is supported by scientific observations and extrapolation. It is currently supported by most scientists in the field but is of course subject to change.
Funny - I remember the Global Cooling scare from the 1970s. And THAT theory was supported by most scientists and scientific observations and extrapolation.
And the Theory of Evolution is just that - a theory. And the theory that gays are just born that way is just that - a theory. And an abortion is the theory that it is just a blob of tissue. Etc.
So why don’t we debate and learn in public schools different sides of a theory instead of banning and ignoring one side completely?
Because liberals and socialists don’t want ANY debates or competing ideas. Theirs is the only way to think and anyone who disagrees with them is EVIL.
Perhaps, like many, you misunderstand what a scientific theory is.
I know I should never try to teach a pig to sing but
“Funny - I remember the Global Cooling scare from the 1970s. And THAT theory was supported by most scientists And the Theory of Evolution is just that - a theory”
Can you show me where “most” scientists supported this?
This is what Wikipedia says about it
Global cooling was a conjecture during the 1970s of imminent cooling of the Earth’s surface and atmosphere along with a posited commencement of glaciation. This hypothesis had mixed support in the scientific community, but gained temporary popular attention due to a combination of press reports that did not accurately reflect the scientific understanding of ice age cycles, and a slight downward trend of temperatures from the 1940s to the early 1970s.
“And the Theory of Evolution is just that - a theory”
Yes a theory supported by mountains and mountains of evidence from multiple scientific fields of study. Are you really that dense. The basics of evolution can be proven in models where a selective pressure is applied to a population of fast breeding orgainisms. There is no evidence for creationism other than faith. There is no way to debate faith as our recent posts show. You don’t believe in , understand or care about the scientifitc process. Actually you hate the scientific process because it reveals the weaknesses in your man made faith.
Science and intellect can’t prove or disprove God but surely point out that those who claim to know God best and claim to have devine insight are fools and or charlatans. This is why most religious leaders hate the intellectual and science.
Are you really that dense.
No one, including Christians, debate micro-evolution. That is, if you put a bunch of birds on an island with hard nuts they will develop thicker beaks over time. Or is you put a bunch of squirrels in Florida they will lose thick fur over time.
What this debate is ALL about is - where did mankind come FROM.
Evolutionists - the theory we came from nothing, are here by chance, that we are nothing special and are guided only by our genes.
Creationists - the theory we came from a creator
Both are theories. Neither can be proved. In schools and government - One is vehemently excluded and the other is taught as the golden truth.
Closed minds and censorship. What the left does.
PS – Relying on Wikipedia is like relying on a politician. It changes depending on the currents fashionable winds of the day.
PSS- This is why most religious leaders hate the intellectual and science. .
Who? I can name dozens are famous scientists that were/are Christians or men of faith. Many were even priests. You want to see real hate? Go look at the hate of the leaders of atheists to include communists who outlawed Christianity.
more bananas
Evolutionists say nothing about whether we came from a creator or not.
They say that we evolved from one cell organisms into modern man over 3-4 billion years.
This of course is at odds with religious men who say the earth isn’t that old and that man was made in God’s image from the start. After they were told they couldn’t teach directly from the bible they came up with creationism.
Again creatinonism is not backed by any science or reproducible fact.
“Relying on Wikipedia is like relying on a politician. It changes depending on the currents fashionable winds of the day.”
Ok so post something that shows that the vast majority of scientists thought global cooling was fact. You can’t because they didn’t. Your debate skills clearly show why you turned to faith.There must be great comfort for you on Sunday when everyone says the same thing you do.
“Closed minds and censorship. What the left does.”
Really are they allowing other religions to be taught in Bible Thumper school these days. How about evolution??
Recent poll shows athiests and agnostics know more about world religions than the faithfull.
Dictators either co-opt or destroy all potential power bases. Religion is a power base - See Taliban Al Quida and read up on early Christianity for examples. I’d also say that those in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones, and Religion lives in a mighty big glass house, maybe you should start with stoning as an example.
I have a theory that the world, all of us including our memories were dropped from a candy crapping unicorn yesterday. I demand that this be taught in school.
Like I said it’s impossible to debate a person of faith because they do not rely on facts, or the scientific process. Because science has been effective at pointing out the GIANT holes in their belief system, they come up with creationism in the hope that they can keep a few of the dullards on the fringe from seeing the light.
The gasp in the room was not due to the idea that the phrase “separation of church and state” is not in the Constitution. Even junior high students are taught that the phrase was written in one of Jefferson’s personal letters. The crowd gasped when Coons paraphrased the Establishment Clause and O’Donnell didn’t know what it was.
As for the second Amendment, right wingers keep forgetting about that pesky “well regulated militia” phrase of the Second Amendment. Congress ought to be able to regulate guns as much as they do nuclear power plants.
“well regulated militia”
At the time of the US Constitution being signed - every able bodied male was in the militia.
If you truly believe your drivel - then why are not gun control laws exempted for all active and national guard soldiers?
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
Funny how liberal always forget to mention the 2nd part of the 2nd amendment. Kinda makes sense with the definition of the militia in the 1780s.
PS - When, in the course of all human history, did a government EVER need to explicitly spell out that it needed the right to arm its soldiers? Never.
Now, with the context of the Bill of Rights granting specific rights to all Americans, the 2nd Amendment (2nd for pete’s sake - right after 1st Amendment) grant rights to…
1. to the people
or
2. to the government’s army.
?
and pencils too, oxide? Permits to write and blog?
What part of shall not infringe don’t you get?
I thought permits to write and blog were covered under “speech.”
The part of “shall not infringe” that I don’t understand is the “well regulated militia” part. One could argue that the Founding Fathers infringed it themselves.
But hey, if you want to go by the “definition of the militia of the 1780’s,” why, I can agree with that. I’ll just run down to Atlantic Guns and buy me a musket.
And why is it OK for conservatives to interpret the Bill of Rights six ways to Sunday when it benefits their agenda, but when Dems want to back up their own agenda, they are required to point to exact text?
Oh well. I don’t have time to argue this today. We’re just going to have differences on this. Isn’t this why we have a Supreme Court?
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..
seems simple enough..
Congress can’t make laws prohibiting the free exercise of religion, anywhere, anyplace, or any time.
“Congress can’t make laws prohibiting the free exercise of religion, anywhere, anyplace, or any time.”
unless it is the government itself that is doing the exercising - like teaching creationism - which is a religious doctrine, not a scientific one - in a public school
unless?
Show me where the Constitution somehow limits the free speech of government..
Government can say whatever it pleases. If we don’t like it, we have remedies as provided elsewhere in the Constitution.
lemme put that another way..
Since government cannot make ANY laws prohibiting the free exercise of religion, it cannot make a law prohibiting the free exercise of religion in a school, or in a government building.. or anywhere else.
Using tax dollars to teach a specific religion or religious viewpoint is ‘respecting the establishment of religion’. Teaching a religious studies class is not.
How is teaching religion the establishment of a religion? Does teaching something officially establish it?
Does teaching a foreign language establish that as the official language?
teaching one exclusively is
“You actually audibly heard the crowd gasp,”
Penis : vagina = “Intelligentleman Design” slide shows should have a similar audience audible effect.
(Reminds Hwy of a biology course back-in-the-day…Prof goes on about the “interaction” of penis : vagina mechanismal operations…one lone hands raises in the back of the lecture hall…”Prof, how’d that happen?” …Prof: “how’d what happen?” …student: “How’d the penis get into that position in the 1st place?”)
“You actually audibly heard the crowd laugh their arses off,”
In one of my operating system classes a professor was heard to say something along these lines in response to a question:
Of course, a user could spawn a child user, but that’s not the same process at all.
We pretty much bust a collective gut and he turned an interesting shade of pink.
We could have a new American proverb “He who owns a home will get screwed”.
Demand is soaring for luxury rentals
In iffy market, paying $20K/month is seen as smarter than owning.
The market for high-end apartments, with monthly rents starting at $10,000, is on fire. Rental units with the same super-fancy finishes and building amenities as the most desirable condos are being snapped up.
The boom is being driven by high-net-worth families who can afford to put a hefty down payment on a $4 million-plus condo or co-op but choose not to do so now. Despite a recent firming of the city’s residential real estate market, more wealthy New Yorkers are deciding that now is the time to play it safe—and rent.
http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20101017/REAL_ESTATE/310179974
“The market for high-end apartments, with monthly rents starting at $10,000, is on fire.”
Would paying a $10K monthly qualify as throwing money away on rent?
Filed under:
“Extending Shrub’s tax exemptions is pro-American”
This guy is funny to say the least.
New York Governor Debate: The Circus Is in Town (and ‘the Rent Is Too Damn High’)
The circus came to town Monday night, a seven-ring affair that featured candidates for New York governor. Though voters may have expected a spirited exchange between the two frontrunners, Andrew Cuomo and Carl Paladino, what they’ll likely remember are the self-described madam who provided escorts to Eliot Spitzer, the former Black Panther and, most of all, the “Rent Is Too Damn High” Party candidate.
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/10/19/new-york-governor-debate-the-circus-is-in-town-and-the-rent-i/?ncid=webmail
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
She might be referring to Witchcraft! its tough being a fiscal conservative being lumped in with all the wackos
The first attempts to reduce foreclosures dur-
ing the Great Depression focused on encouraging
lenders and borrowers to renegotiate loan terms
through mediation boards and other voluntary
arrangements. However, the clamor for compul-
sory foreclosure moratoria grew louder as the
Depression worsened and the number of foreclo-
sures rose. On February 8, 1933, Iowa became
the first state to enact a moratorium on mortgage
foreclosures. Over the subsequent 18 months, a
total of 27 states enacted legislation to limit or
halt foreclosures (Skilton, 1944, p. 78).
And recall from Depression history that there were numerous farm foreclosures. Some of them were stopped by neighboring farmers who surrounded the foreclosed property so they could fend off the foreclose-ers.
I heard on NPR this morning that Maine currently requires “in-person” mediation.
(Hwy hopes to visit these odd Americans living in that region of our great Nation one day.)
China’s central bank surprised on Tuesday with its first increase of interest rates in nearly three years, a move that reflects concern about resurgent asset prices and could mark the start of a more aggressive phase of monetary tightening in the world’s fastest-growing major economy.
Is this a sign China is going to play ball and allow their currency to rise? Is it a sign that they don’t have as much room to engage in a currency war, ie a small amount of food inflation might play greater havoc in China than in the US?
* REVIEW & OUTLOOK
* OCTOBER 19, 2010
The Housing Bust Lobby
Obama is right to resist the foreclosure wails from the political left.
More than three years into the housing bust, the foreclosure mitigation lobby apparently wants to keep the fun going. That will surely be the result if the political uproar over bank “robo-signers” becomes a moratorium on foreclosures.
So far the Obama Administration, to our surprise and perhaps its own, has behaved with admirable sobriety despite the wailing from the political left. Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan indulged in some familiar bank-bashing in an op-ed on the weekend, but he also says a moratorium would be a mistake. Perhaps this is because he knows something about mortgage contracts, including that bank process errors don’t add up to an injustice to homeowners who haven’t been paying their mortgages for months or years. He also notes that stopping a foreclosure creates unintended victims—such as the potential new buyer.
…
The moratorium lobby also argues that keeping people in homes they can’t afford will somehow help the economy. This is of a piece with more than three years of failed policies intended to prevent housing markets from finding a bottom. These policies—begun under George W. Bush and continued under President Obama—have succeeded mainly in prolonging the agony and delaying a recovery.
In a slow-growth, high-unemployment economy still mending from a financial crisis, there are only so many trillion-dollar markets the politicians can destroy without sending America back into recession. Mr. Obama has often seemed indifferent to the economic consequences of political decisions, but on this issue he has correctly perceived the horrendous cost of blowing up the mortgage market again.
“These policies—begun under George W. Bush and continued under President Obama—have succeeded mainly in prolonging the agony and delaying a recovery.”
Begun by Bush? How about begun by Carter and the creation of the CRA? Or do we know think forcing banks to lend money to those who can’t pay it back is still a good idea?
“…to lend money to those who can’t pay it back is still a good idea?”
Will whoever advocated lending money to those who can’t pay it back please step forward and defend yourself?
How about begun by Carter and the creation of the CRA?
I do believe I’ve read many times that people losing their houses cross all ethnic and economic lines now. It is way beyond sub-prime, CRA, type loans. Even on Nov 9, 2008 when it was mainly “contained” to sub-prime:
Comptroller of the Currency John C. Dugan said he categorically disagrees with suggestions that the Community Reinvestment Act is partly responsible for the ongoing credit crisis.
“CRA is not the culprit behind the subprime mortgage lending abuses, or the broader credit quality issues in the marketplace,” source: occ dot gov
I’ve also read that it is the upper income people who are more prone to walk away now.
In light of the above observations, I think unduly blaming the CRA’s was a dishonorable and disingenuous tactic utilized by certain special interests interested in shifting blame away from themselves and onto groups of Americans who have been prejudiced against in the past.
The CRA wasn’t a problem, until the banksters figured out how to get cash off the deal up front, while dumping all the risk onto other people.
And I’ve never seen anyone hold a gun to a bankster’s head, in order to get a loan. Especially between 1998-2007 or thereabouts.
Started 35 years ago and greatly expanded in the 90s by Clinton.
“During one of the Congressional hearings addressing the proposed changes in 1995, William A. Niskanen, chair of the Cato Institute, criticized both the 1993 and 1994 sets of proposals for political favoritism in allocating credit, for micromanagement by regulators and for the lack of assurances that banks would not be expected to operate at a loss to achieve CRA compliance. He predicted the proposed changes would be very costly to the economy and the banking system in general.”
And he was 100% correct.
The CRA was a liberal feel good program. No job? No credit? No assets? No worries. We’ll force the banks to give you a loan anyway. Banks were forced to lend, so they had to make lemons out of lemonade and came up with the sub-prime derivative market.
But why let these pesky facts get in the way of a good lie? It was all Boooooooooosh!!
It was all Boooooooooosh!!
“Spiced tea” DRUNK with his puppet master:
“Cheney-I-someday-aplogize-for-shooting-you-my-friend”
BWAHAHAHicHAHAHicHAHAHAHAHicHAHAHic* (DennisN™)
“TrueHaskell™” = “But, but, but…”
Of course only a retard will fail to disclose the fact that default rates are lower in areas subject to CRA compliance.
Another strike tardboi.
CRA was started 35 years ago. If people couldn’t pay those loans back, don’t you think we would have heard about it by now???
Exactly. If it was such a horrible program, how did it manage to do just fine for so long? Worked right up until we repealed Glass-Steagall, by odd coincidence. Then it suddenly took over Wall Street, and forced them to make billions of dollars doling out shoddy mortgages.
..intended to prevent housing markets from finding a bottom
that’s not it at all..
I’ve always said the PTB’s basic intentions were to control the speed of the decline, not to prevent it. They know full well there is no way to prevent it.
And it is they who want to maintain that control, not to allow some other group, political, legal or otherwise, to control the speed.
How does the writer know we are not in a dire national emergency?
* OPINION
* OCTOBER 19, 2010
How the Fed Is Holding Back Recovery
By promising to print more money, it’s giving Congress an excuse to avoid critical tax and spending cuts.
By DAVID MALPASS
Congress will face a runaway train on taxes and spending when it reconvenes after the elections. The solution is to restrain both—especially to stop the $6 trillion tax increase scheduled to take place on Jan. 1—in order to restore business confidence and help job growth.
Instead, Congress is more likely to do nothing and count on the central bank to flood the economy with more money. In his speech at the Boston Federal Reserve Bank on Friday, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke practically promised to oblige by resuming the large purchases of Treasury notes carried out to help stop the 2008 financial crisis. It’s a sweeping manipulation of longer-term government interest rates and the dollar that the Fed should consider only in the direst of national emergencies or with specific congressional authorization.
…
A true gem:
“Additionally, if we were inclined to take a short position in bonds we wouldn’t choose to short the bonds issued by an entity with unlimited access to money. We would, instead, choose to short the bonds of entities that are now cash-strapped or are likely to become cash-strapped during the next major economic downturn. General examples of attractive short-sale candidates are municipal bonds and junk bonds.”
http://tinyurl.com/295xvll
Merideth Whitney suspects that the next big bailout will be the bailout of states. You could get hammered if you shorted municiple debt and then the printing press hose was directed at the states. Junk bonds sounds like a better short bet.
Arkansas Industrial Jobs Declined 9% Over the Past Two Years
Manufacturers’ News, Inc.
Industrial employment in Arkansas fell 9% over the past two years, according to the 2011 Arkansas Manufacturers Register, an industrial directory published annually by Manufacturers’ News, Inc. (MNI) Evanston, IL. MNI reports Arkansas lost 20,309 manufacturing jobs over the past two years.
Manufacturers’ News reports Arkansas is now home to 3,779 manufacturers employing 205,313 workers.
“Decreased demand continues to affect Arkansas’ manufacturing industries, particularly the transportation sector and industries related to the housing market,” says Tom Dubin, President of the Evanston, IL-based publishing company, which has been surveying industry since 1912.
Arkansas transportation sector = Mud-bogger 4×4 trucks, bass boats
Arkansas housing manufacturing = Double-wides
I keed, I keed………
California cities are lowering standards to raise revenue
Financially struggling municipalities that once shunned such businesses as casinos, tattoo parlors and certain big-box retailers are considering easing rules to plug budget gaps. ~ Los Angeles Times
Like many municipalities across the state and nation, Turlock, Calif., is struggling to plug a sizable budget hole. So city officials are looking to court big-box retailers.
It’s not exactly a novel plan for ginning up jobs and sales tax revenue in a slow economy. But it’s remarkable for Turlock considering that six years ago this city of 70,000 waged a successful campaign to block Wal-Mart Stores Inc. from building a proposed supercenter. Local residents were concerned about traffic, visual blight and harm to mom-and-pop businesses. But City Councilman Ted Howze said the biggest worry now was how to stave off deep cuts to city services.
Here is a big secret -
The factories no one likes that actually produce things…
They pay lots of taxes and pay decent wages/benefits.
I would take a few sizable factories to all the walmarts, casinos and tatoo parlors that would want to move in to a town.
Here is a big secret -
The factories no one likes that actually produce things…
They pay lots of taxes and pay decent wages/benefits.
So true. But why is not the TeaParty fighting like crazy on this MOST important issue that faces America?
On the contrary. The House passed a bill limiting tax breaks to companies who shipped jobs offshore. The Republicans filibustered it in the Senate. Sometimes it amazes me how some of these jokers get any votes at all.
Here’s the strategy of the neopubs (not to be confused with true republicans):
You get the base all fired up on social issues, like abortion, homsexuality, etc. You get them all fired up about it, get them screaming and yelling. You pump up the economy with credit, dot.com and housing bubbles. This hides the decline in standard of living. While all this is going on, you quietly offshore the jobs and eliminate benefits, etc.
It’s a typical pickpocket con job. One person distracts the victim while the partner picks the pocket or snatches the purse.
To be fair the dot com bubble happened during the clinton administration. But your point is well taken.
The Republicans filibustered it in the Senate. Sometimes it amazes me how some of these jokers get any votes at all.
“TrueBeliever’s™ / “TrueDeceiver’s™” “TrueHypocrite™” / “TruePurity™” = “TrueHabit™” secure within their “TrueHabitat™”
Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone explains the Tea Party and Rand Paul’s sell-out to the GOP:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/210904
New slant on MERS. I was just listening to a couple of guys on CNBC talking about MERS. One discussed how MERS was seen as a way to avoid paying recording fees to county governments, and now counties will try to go after the fees they lost. Yet another bag-holder!
“…how MERS was seen as a way to avoid paying recording fees to county governments”
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Conspiracy by “TrueProfessional’s™” = ““TrueFinancialinnovation™”
Meanwhile back at the “TrueRouge™” ranch,…“TrueAnger™” is focused on the anti-American activities of the (non-Hawaiian) Kenyan Muslim-Islamist, aka, lil’ Opie
George Salt had a great comment on this yesterday. Good enough that I saved it. George Salt said:
“… it is becoming clear that the bankers created MERS as part of a scheme to circumvent the need to file papers with county governments for the purpose of shirking filing fees and facilitating the process of slicing, dicing and pooling mortgages and then selling them as mortgage backed securities. In other words, they set out to create a privatized, unregulated, shadow land title system. But instead of being a paragon of free market efficiency, the system they created is proving to be a morass of shoddy paperwork, lost documents and outright fraud. It will take a decade or more to sort all this out. “
MERS in action…in Nevada!
http://www.nvb.uscourts.gov/Opinions/Riegle/07-16226%20Opinion.pdf
Way OT but interesting: I made the news last night. Seems that our weekly walk around Downtown Tucson was inconvenienced by some dude who’d watched too many car chase movies.
I’m in the photo taken by Anonymous. Look for the safety vest wearer carrying the trash bag. (It was the monthly Meet Me at Maynards cleanup of Downtown. We picked up trash along the three-mile MMM course.)
And you look extremely stylish too!
Author Adam Ferguson – “When Money Dies” The Nightmare of the Weimar Collapse will be republished. Puplava interviewed him this week. The book was first published in the 70’s. It’s on my must read list.
Ha! I’ll look forward to it.
I don’t expect that to happen here. Perhaps a new book on “Stagflation” is warranted, however. “When Money Is Very, Very Ill.”
David Weidner’s Writing on the Wall
Oct. 19, 2010, 12:01 a.m. EDT
The nation tires of Wall Street ‘justice’
Commentary: A special prosecutor is needed
By David Weidner, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — If you want to take the pulse of how many Americans feel about justice meted out to Wall Street, take a look at the more than 200 comments posted to MarketWatch’s story on the settlement between prosecutors and Angelo Mozilo, the former chief executive of Countrywide Financial.
…
“When is Angelo going to get an orange jumpsuit to match his orange face?”
I LOL’d.
Hey I’m ok….needed some time off my mom was sick and no internet….
last night was very interesting…new show host Yes Peter Schiff started a new live 2 hour a day radio show 6-8 pm…and my host Larry Shiller is on from 8-10 mondays….
He said send a resume and we will talk……..There was an ad placed on CL 2 weeks ago but i didn’t reply because it was 5 days, well now I know who it is..
http://wstcwnlk.com
http://www.schiffradio.com
http://www.americansolutionsradio.com
Hope you get it, that would be interesting.
Looks like investors are taking some profits today!
Looks like investors are taking some profits today!
That’s your problem, like most “TrueBeliever’s™ / “TrueDeceiver’s™” you’re to inclusive.
“Looks SOME like investors are taking some profits today!”
Of some minor economic interest, I believe:
FARTS–Forced ARTificial Scarcity.
lavi d = “TrueGenius!™”
Many Cheers! Many Tankxs!
“It’s a leaking ship trying to stay afloat by threatening the ocean with its cannons.”
Wished I’d seen this quote before posting the above link…
Priceless, lavi.
(Of course the unintended consequences of such an attack against large volumes of saltwater is that they make floatsum of those heavy lead balls, thereby perhaps lifting the waterline…),
“…fire like theirs no tomorrow!” Cap’t Yellowbeard
I am growing very tired of the President and his socialist agenda. What makes it worse is that he wants us to live frugal, state serving, and socialist lives, but he himself practices nothing of the sort. Case in point, grand State dinners, vacations, excessive golf games, celebrities in the white house, lucrative book deals, and shutting down Los Angeles freeways so he can come fund raise for the loser Boxer. It is as if he does not even realize he and his liberal cronies are screwing up the nation; nice job, change we did not expect. Sounds like a true socialist system where the masses get nothing and the elite eat off the cream at the top; time for some fresh faces in Washington. Boxer will lose if my vote counts for anything.
Case in point, grand State dinners, vacations, excessive golf games, celebrities in the white house, lucrative book deals, and shutting down Los Angeles freeways so he can come fund raise for the loser Boxer.
All presidents have had State Dinners. They’ve all gone on vacations. Remember Reagan and his Rancho Cielo near Santa Barbara? Seemed like the guy all but lived there. Same for GW Bush and his Trinity Ranch.
As for excessive golf games, well, you would have loathed Ike. He practically moved to the golf course. Lucrative book deals? Well, those have been part of the publishing industry for decades. Presidential books have been perennial bestsellers. Even the poorly written ones like Clinton’s.
Shutting down freeways? Well, look at it this way: If someone took a potshot at the motorcade, we’d never hear the end of it. Doesn’t matter who’d be inside the Beast (the nickname for the presidential limo), there’d be howls about the lack of security that allowed this thing to happen.
I seem to remember hearing the word Kennebunkport a lot late 80s early 90s.
That was the guy who promised “No Nude Taxes”, at least according to Johnny Carson.
“What makes it worse is that he wants us to live frugal, state serving, and socialist lives.”
I’d say he and a lot of other washington folks would love for us to spend like drunken sailors, even to the point of this
In a troubling sign for Democrats as they head into the midterm elections, their signature tax cut of the past two years, which decreased income taxes by up to $400 a year for individuals and $800 for married couples, has gone largely unnoticed.
In a New York Times/CBS News Poll last month, fewer than one in 10 respondents knew that the Obama administration had lowered taxes for most Americans. Half of those polled said they thought that their taxes had stayed the same, a third thought that their taxes had gone up, and about a tenth said they did not know. As Thom Tillis, a Republican state representative, put it as the dinner wound down here, “This was the tax cut that fell in the woods — nobody heard it.”
Actually, the tax cut was, by design, hard to notice. Faced with evidence that people were more likely to save than spend the tax rebate checks they received during the Bush administration, the Obama administration decided to take a different tack: it arranged for less tax money to be withheld from people’s paychecks.
provision of the stimulus bill had cut taxes for 95 percent of working families by changing withholding rates
it arranged for less tax money to be withheld from people’s paychecks.
So they just changed the withholding. The people would have gotten that money back anyway, in their tax refund. How exactly is that a “tax cut”? I think at the time, people definitely did notice this ploy from the Democrats. And the people all realized that it was NOT a tax cut.
“I am growing very tired of the President and his socialist agenda.”
I’m still waiting for the socialized healthcare, free universities and 8 weeks of paid vacations. Otherwise its feels pretty much like the previous admininstration.
Don’t forget mandatory sick days!
In Colorado
I voted for W under my prior Republican umbrella, and O isn’t any worse or better. You’re right. I’m a Political Atheist, at this point in my life.
Wake me up please when socialism comes. We’ll know it by such things as affordable comprehensive public transit systems, subsidized K-to-university education, guaranteed 12+ months maternity leave, limits on the power of corporations, taxes that take a higher percentage from the rich than from the poor, etc. What we’ve got now is more like GWB-lite for a third term.
Time for your tea!
limits on the power of No-bid corporations
Filed under:
“Extending Shrub’s tax exemptions is pro-American”
Wake me up please when socialism comes. We’ll know it by such things as affordable comprehensive public transit systems, subsidized K-to-university education, guaranteed 12+ months maternity leave, limits on the power of corporations, taxes that take a higher percentage from the rich than from the poor, etc.
Spot on.
Repost for Bush/teaparty retardicans-
You need a conversation with Dan Webster on the socialism boogeymen but let me help you.
The primary fundamental of “socialism” is worker ownership of production capacity. There isn’t a nation on the globe that’s further from that fundamental than the US. And no… there is no wiggle room on this one. The productive capacity was offshored over the last 30 years. It’s not even on this continent anymore.
Nice try though.
From the Tech ticker
The collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008 sparked a global financial crisis that pushed the U.S. economy into the worst recession since the Great Depression. Two years later, billions upon billions of taxpayers’ dollars have been spent on government bailouts to save the banks that started the contagion, yet not one person has been held accountable or slapped with criminal contempt.
In his new documentary Inside Job, filmmaker Charles Ferguson spoke to some of the biggest names from Wall Street to Washington to academia to get a first hand account of what caused the 2008 financial meltdown and how the financial system reach its breaking point.
Ferguson points to 20 years of deregulation, rampant greed (a la Gordon Gekko) and cronyism. This cronyism is in large part due to a revolving door between not only Wall Street and Washington, but also the incestuous relationship between Wall Street, Washington and academia.
The sword of academia and media has been severely blunted by monied interests.
Simple explanations, and classic villains. What more can we ask for?
Don’t forget the mainstream media in that mix. PBS is stuffed full of academics with a moneyed agenda. And at least PBS asks decent questions. Thank god I don’t get cable and have to watch the experts blabber nonstop on CNBC.
I watched CNBCs History of Sears last night. Its storyline during the Depression produced these tidbits: The CEO of Sears who took over after the originators early demise often had to front his suppliers cash after the banks called the lenders’ loans. He felt it was the cost of staying in business through the Depression. I’m not sure we’ve talked about the possiblility of banks calling loans.
Sears was one of the largest employers of its time. When asked what it was like to lead such a large company, the CEO responded, “What do you mean lead? I consider these people my co-workers.” (wording may not be exact) Can you imagine that sentiment today?
During the Depression, the catalog business took as little as $1/week for payment w/o charging interest. I suppose that made sense if product pricing was experiencing downward pressure. It might be the only way to nudge people out of waiting for lower prices.
On an aside:
Hey look at that! Cramer’s having another meltdown. Somebody get that guy his medication!
Sears was one of the largest employers of its time. When asked what it was like to lead such a large company, the CEO responded, “What do you mean lead? I consider these people my co-workers.” (wording may not be exact) Can you imagine that sentiment today?
I think that Southwest Airlines employees still think of each other as Coworkers. Even if they’re Herb Kelleher. Or Colleen Barrett. Or Gary Kelly.
“Hey look at that! Cramer’s having another meltdown. Somebody get that guy his medication”!
That clown will blow a valve one day.
Total Hollywood! Not a legitimate bone in that man.
I don’t see how anyone can stomach that man whacking away at his buzzers and sirens. It’s so distracting that he could switch to the weather forecast and I’d never know it.
Interesting development…
Oct. 19 (Bloomberg) — Pacific Investment Management Co., BlackRock Inc. and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York are seeking to force Bank of America Corp. to repurchase soured mortgages packaged into $47 billion of bonds by its Countrywide Financial Corp. unit, people familiar with the matter said.
There has to be something behind this move. I heard that BlackRock is now the largest holder of Bank of America, owning 5.35% of the outstanding BAC shares, for a total value of $6.6 billion.
This smells rotten too me.
Bond Boomerang.
And not just BOA. Watch for more in the future.
Funny how when the DOW retreats the note takers use words like pounded, hammered, worries, ugly etc…Yet when it runs up a thousand points in a sort period of time it’s all sunshine and lollipops.
~ Wall Street Pounded by Tech, China Worries- Reuters
Results and outlooks from consumer and technology titans Apple and IBM sent U.S. stock indexes lower on Tuesday as disappointed investors worried about the strength of corporate earnings.
Sometimes they use the term “taking profits” when there is a big decline. Lipstick on a pig kinda thing. (Not that I have anything against pigs)
Bloomberg
U.S. 30-Year Bonds Gain as China Rate Boost Damps Risk Appetite
October 19, 2010, 2:05 PM EDT
By Cordell Eddings
Oct. 19 (Bloomberg) — Treasury 30-year bonds rose, pushing yields down from near a two-month high as stocks fell after China’s unexpected increase in interest rates discouraged demand for riskier assets.
U.S. government debt earlier fell amid speculation the Federal Reserve will increase inflation by purchasing bonds to spur the economy in a strategy called quantitative easing. Fed Bank of Dallas President Richard Fisher said the U.S. economy is operating at close to “stall speed” and cast doubt on the effectiveness of additional monetary easing.
“The market has had a cautious risk-off position, which has boosted the dollar and made less risky assets like Treasuries more favorable,” said Eric Lascelles, chief rates strategist and economist at Toronto-Dominion Bank’s TD Securities unit in Toronto. “The market is in a comfortable spot around these levels and shouldn’t deviate far from here until we get more information on QE.”
…
It cannot get much more wierd than this, can it? Rising interest rates in China spook investors to accept lower interest rates in the US. OK!
The bond vigilantes are taking action against Megabank, Inc!
Mortgage woes sink banks
A bondholders’ group is seeking to force Bank of America to buy back $47 billion in bad mortgages.
The
bondPimpco vigilantes are taking action against Megabank, Inc!Oh goodie this will really speed things up!
Federal agencies probing foreclosure problems
Federal task force to investigate allegations of errors in foreclosure documents.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says federal agencies are investigating allegations of widespread errors in foreclosure documents.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs says in a statement that an interagency task force on financial fraud has launched an investigation into the foreclosure process. He also says the Federal Housing Administration, a federal agency that guarantees mortgages, is investigating, too.
“We remain committed to holding accountable any bank that has violated the law,” Gibbs says.
Gibbs says the administration supports an effort by attorneys general in 50 states to investigate the matter. Several administration officials, however, have said over the past week that they don’t back a nationwide halt to foreclosures.
Nearly 1,000 LAUSD workers to lose jobs on Nov. 30
South Bay education news
Nearly a thousand support staff in the Los Angeles Unified School District will soon lose their jobs, while more than three times as many will be forced to transfer to new positions in an upheaval that one official termed “musical chairs.”
So-called reduction-in-force notices were sent out to about 4,600 classified staff on Friday, district officials said. Of those workers, about 990 were told they will be laid off Nov. 30.
The remaining personnel were ordered to report to new work sites - and in many cases to fulfill different duties at a lower salary or for fewer hours - on Dec. 1.
Employees ranging from office technicians and cafeteria workers to custodians to secretaries are affected.
The indoctrination centers are losing staff? Quick…add more fluoride to the water!
Quick…add more fluoride to the water!
How can I apply this tactic to the Masters-of-the-Universe on Wall St.?
It won’t hurt them one bit, the world will still turn. We should be doing the same, to much fat.
Leaked Budget Reveals UK Plan To Fire 1% Of The National Population
The UK austerity measures are starting to go from bad to worse.
Photographers snapped photos of Treasury Secretary Danny Alexander holding an open copy of the unreleased Strategic Defence and Security Review, according to Daily Mail. Now British are going crazy guessing whether or not this was an intentional leak to the press.
Regardless, the cuts are severe: 490,000 public sector layoffs by 2015.
That amounts to a massive part of the government — indeed, nearly one percent of the UK population. A equally significant cut in the US would mean firing the entire population of Iowa.
Housing Starts Rise to Five-Month High in Sign of Stabilization
Oct. 19 (Bloomberg) — Builders in the U.S. unexpectedly began work on more homes in September, a sign the real estate market is stabilizing at depressed levels. Housing starts rose to a 610,000 annual rate, the most since April and up 0.3 percent from a revised 608,000 rate in August that was higher than previously estimated, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington.
Building permits dropped to the lowest level in more than a year as a plunge in the volatile multifamily area overshadowed a gain in single- family applications.
I can’t imagine the old moonbat doesn’t want to keep her seat at the head of the table.
Democrat says he’s heard Pelosi won’t run again for Speaker
A House Democratic lawmaker said late last week that he’d heard Nancy Pelosi wouldn’t seek another term as Speaker.
Rep. Mike McIntyre (D-N.C.) said that not only would he not back Pelosi (D-Calif.) for Speaker again, but also that he’d heard she would not seek another term in that position.
“From what we’re hearing, she’s probably not going to run for Speaker again,” McIntyre told WWAY-TV in North Carolina. “And if she does, I’m confident she’s going to have opposition, and I look forward to supporting that opposition.”
There’s a link to a story posted by SUGuy further down the thread that you may want to read. In it, a supposed WH insider makes the claim that all eyes should be on Pelosi right now. The insider claims that she is about to do or say something big that will reveal a lot about what’s going on over there.
I thought the French retirement system was one of the very best in the world? Far superior to ours, what happened, is the bill coming due?
French retirement protests take violent turn
PARIS – Masked youths clashed with police and set fires in cities across France on Tuesday as protests against a proposed hike in the retirement age took an increasingly radical turn. Hundreds of flights were canceled, long lines formed at gas stations and train service in many regions was cut in half.
President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged to crack down on “troublemakers” and guarantee public order, raising the possibility of more confrontations with young rioters after a week of disruptive but largely nonviolent demonstrations.
Sarkozy also vowed to ensure that fuel was available to everyone. Some 4,000 gas stations were out of gas Tuesday afternoon, the environment minister said. The prime minister said oil companies agreed to pool gasoline stocks to try to get the dry gas stations filled again.
Prime Minister Francois Fillon said, “The government will continue to dislodge protesters blocking the fuel depots. … No one has the right to take hostage an entire country, its economy and its jobs.”
Spoiled brats are very difficult to deal with. Don’t create them, and you won’t have to.
The spoiled brats would be the French government.
Off with their heads just like last time.
Last time, the revolution was sparked by hunger.
This time, the problem is obesity.
Apparently you have not been to France.
The population is tall and skinny. Very fit people. Pretty too.
i was speaking figuratively, of course, but since you mention it..
“We are confronting a major public health problem,” said Le Guen, author of “Obesity, the New French Disease,” which was just published and is one of many new books on the topic.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/03/world/europe/03iht-obese.html
——
fat.. lazy.. spoiled.. entitled.. and angry.
fat.. lazy.. spoiled.. entitled.. and angry.
But you don’t seem angry.
OK just kidding, but don’t forget about the hard working productive part of the French that produce more per hour worked than Americans.
French Family Values
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/29/opinion/29krugman.html
“First things first: given all the bad-mouthing the French receive, you may be surprised that I describe their society as “productive.” Yet according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, productivity in France - G.D.P. per hour worked - is actually a bit higher than in the United States.”
The point is that to the extent that the French have less income than we do, it’s mainly a matter of choice. And to see the consequences of that choice…This translates into lower personal consumption: a smaller car, a smaller house, less eating out.
But there are compensations for this lower level of consumption. Because French schools are good across the country, the French family doesn’t have to worry as much about getting its children into a good school district. Nor does the French family, with guaranteed access to excellent health care, have to worry about losing health insurance or being driven into bankruptcy by medical bills.
Perhaps even more important, however, the members of that French family are compensated for their lower income with much more time together. Fully employed French workers average about seven weeks of paid vacation a year. In America, that figure is less than four.
So which society has made the better choice?
..Nor does the French family, with guaranteed access to excellent health care, have to worry about losing health insurance or being driven into bankruptcy by medical bills.
guaranteed access..
The French family is deluded into feeling safe and secure while the entire country is being driven into bankruptcy.
This translates into lower personal consumption: a smaller car, a smaller house, …less eating out.
BWAHAHAHicHAHAHicHAHAHAHAHicHAHAHic* (DennisN™)
The French family is deluded into feeling safe and secure while the entire country is being driven into bankruptcy.
They actually are not. However that is a common misrepresentation foisted upon the American public in order to distract us from our own, much greater problems and to keep Americans from realizing that compared to much of Europe, we work harder and get a lot less of what really matters such as health-care, time off, education, child care and other safety net components.
Stupid French. It’s like they think life should be pleasant.
“Stupid French. It’s like they think life should be pleasant.”
Mr. Cole’s response verbatim: “Dad…especially after they’re having a couple Merlot’s”
Hwy: BWAHAHAHicHAHAHicHAHAHAHAHicHAHAHic* (DennisN™)
“fat.. lazy.. spoiled.. entitled.. and angry.”
Yep, that’s Wall St. for you.
Vive la Révolution!
Not as good as the municipal workers in the US who can retire at age 55.
Tell me about it!
Last Saturday, I was at a pre-game tailgate hosted by the University of Michigan College of Engineering. At one table, I got to talking with a guy who graduated just two years ahead of me. He’s now retired, and I asked why. Answer: He was a government employee.
He was a government employee.
I presume he went to the same job …every-work-day to qualify?
I thought the French retirement system was one of the very best in the world? Far superior to ours,
The French national retirement system is far superior to ours, one of the best in the world.
what happened, is the bill coming due?
Yes the bill is coming due
This is why they are changing the retirement age from 60 to 62.
Now how in the world could this rational change imply the entire system was a failure? It can’t but Rush and Beck would twist this and are twisting it to imply the French retirement system is a failure.
Fact is it is not.
..this rational change
You might think it’s a rational change, but the French people disagree and are up in arms about it.
Who are we to believe.. you or them?
You might think it’s a rational change, but the French people disagree and are up in arms about it.
Who are we to believe.. you or them?
Weather we believe it is “rational” or not is not germane to the greater point that increasing the French retirement age from 60 to 62 does not seem to be a remedy necessitated by a system in grave danger of collapse.
collapse?
If a measly little 2 year retirement extension causes violence and civil unrest the system is inflexible and, consequently, very fragile.
Defend it all you like, but I wouldn’t recommend standing anywhere near it as austerity measures are intensified..
If a measly little 2 year retirement extension causes violence and civil unrest the system is inflexible and, consequently, very fragile.
Ahhhh, now I understand the threat to you. Good. Think about it very carefully.
but I wouldn’t recommend standing anywhere near it as austerity measures are intensified..
Ladies and gentleman I give you another valid option to austerity measures.
1. Protect your manufacturing through duties.
2. Progressively tax the rich and corporations at the same percentages they were taxed in the 50’s and 60’s and 70’s.
3. Increase safety net programs.
Value your middle-class and people more than you value your 1/5 of 1% Wall-Street and banker parasitical blood suckers.
Other countries do it. We used to. Man up.
Canada’s public health care at crossroads
Private medicine makes inroads as nation struggles with long waits
[snip]
“I’ve had an issue for the last few months with swollen glands. It’s something that’s been bothering me,” Irving said. “I know if I were to wait for one on the Ontario side with the public [system], it would take several months.”
[snip]
Meanwhile, Canada’s provinces are struggling with their tax structures, hoping the funds they devote to health care can keep up with a rapidly aging population and skyrocketing medical costs. In Ontario, medical costs eat up close to 50% of all provincial revenue.
[snip]
Privatization is inching its way into the system, as evidenced by treatment centers that are beginning to pop up in the nation’s eastern province of Quebec as well as British Columbia in the west. The heartland province of Alberta also is questioning the status quo.
[snip]
…yes, there have been isolated incidents in which patients waiting for treatment have died. And many others with waits imposed upon them endure months of significant pain.
“That is common. I’m the chief of staff of [Ottawa] Hospital. That discomfort and pain, I see that daily,” Turnbull said. “Is there a health-related cost to wait times? Absolutely.”
Hospital crowding
Balancing free health care with the needs of its people, though, is becoming more difficult for Canada. The frigid nation is finding many of its hospitals overcrowded and there is a question of whether those who need to be admitted actually will.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/canadian-health-care-at-the-crossroads-2010-10-18
———
Why can’t a little country with all the natural resources in the world, and only one-tenth our population, make socialized medicine work?
Why can’t a little country with all the natural resources in the world, and only one-tenth our population, make socialized medicine work?
It is working. It is working for their population better than our American system is working for us. Of course every country in the entire world has health-care system challenges.
But that does not mean it is not working.
Violent and short lived move down in metals is one of dozens of gifts given to those folks wanting to hedge against hyperinflation but have not done so.
A few more days of horror in the metals market will give the Asian tigers plenty of time to stock up cheap for the next massive bull run.
A few more days of horror in the metals market will give the Asian tigers plenty of time to stock up cheap for the next massive bull run.
Well, I sold all of my paper silver at $22.50 thinking I’d buy it back at $19.
Now I’m thinking I should buy it back at $22.50. LOL
You should have waited until around 25 which is pretty close to the 50% fib retracement ratio.
Now you may have a chance to buy back at 20 to 21.50.
The last frontier, or is it?
We’ve watched some serial asset booms during the past decade. Is there to be another after this commodities boom or will subdued availability of credit end this era of boom/bust?
Any ideas? Might be fun to take a flier on something contrary before the drum beaters catch on. Of course, most pioneers get eaten.
Who knows perhaps she had his crack in her purse, and told him to f-off.
Southern California Mayor Resigns After Purse-Snatching Arrest
October 19, 2010 - Associated Press
A suburban Southern California mayor has resigned days after his arrest for a purse-snatching and wild ride through streets with a woman clinging to his sport utility vehicle.
San Gabriel Mayor Albert Y.M. Huang says in an e-mail Tuesday to The Associated Press that he’s confident his reputation will be restored but he’s decided to resign because of overwhelming media attention. KFI radio was first to report his resignation.
Investigators say the 35-year-old mayor and a woman were squabbling outside a restaurant on Friday when Huang fled in his SUV with her purse and the woman clinging to the side of the vehicle. Speeds reached 45 mph over more than a quarter-mile before the SUV was stopped.
Huang was arrested and booked for investigation of felony assault, felony robbery and misdemeanor battery.
perhaps she had his crack in her purse…
It wouldn’t be the first time drugs mixed with politics in that nutty town..
In 1989, Vice-Mayor Frank Blaszcak lost his City Council seat by nine votes after a free-for-all campaign that included allegations of drug dealing and mooning residents at a City Council meeting.[11][12]
Blaszcak ultimately hired renown attorney Melvin Belli and sued eleven well-known city developers and real estate brokers and cleared his name.[citation needed]
Melvin Belli.. now there’s a blast from the past..
“mooning residents at a City Council meeting”
Now there’s a campaign tactic you don’t often see.
$100 billion a month…Taint enough we be needin mo money!
Officials hint Fed on the verge of more easing
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A string of Federal Reserve officials on Tuesday indicated the central bank will soon offer further monetary stimulus to the economy, with one saying $100 billion a month in bond buys may be appropriate.
While some internal reticence to the unconventional policy was still evident, the consensus view at the Fed sees the economy as weak enough to warrant further support, most likely through increased purchases of Treasury debt.
The U.S. economy is expected to have grown just 1.9 percent in the third quarter, a level considered too low to bring down unemployment. The debt purchases would help lower long-term interest rates in the hope of boosting demand.
Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart’s willingness to cite a specific dollar figure for purchases, one largely in tandem with market expectations, was seen as another hint that planning is actively underway.
There is a kernel of truth in there somewhere behind all that camo.
White House Insider: What The Hell Have We Done?
http://newsflavor.com/politics/world-politics/white-house-insider-what-the-hell-have-we-done/#ixzz12qMpNa77
Bob Boardman Killed By Mountain Goat During Hike
Bob Boardman was a nurse, a guitarist, a skilled woodworker and an avid hiker. Unfortunately, the 63-year-old man from Port Angeles is also now a statistic: the first person ever to have died because of an incident involving an animal in Olympic National Park.
According to the Peninsula Daily News, Boardman, his wife and a family friend were on a day hike on Saturday. They’d just reached the top of Klahhane Ridge and had stopped for lunch when they were approached by a mountain goat.
Park officials say this ram was known for its aggressive behavior. In the past they’d shot it with bean bags and thrown rocks at it in an attempt to stop it from following hikers on the ridge. But they’d always stopped short of killing it because it hadn’t actually attacked anyone. That changed on Saturday.
No one who’s still alive actually saw what happened next. Boardman had made his wife and friend go back down the trail to safety while he tried to shoo the ram away. All they heard was a scream.
When they scrambled back up the trail they saw Boardman lying on the ground, with the ram standing atop him. Boardman had been gored in the thigh and was bleeding heavily.
An off-duty park ranger out for a hike with his family was finally able to beat back the ram. But by the time he was able to reach Boardman it was nearly an hour after the attack, and he no longer had a pulse.
Rangers shot and killed the ram shortly thereafter. They said they recognized it because of the blood on its horn.
And people wonder why I hike with my S&W .38 in my holster. It would be very rare to have an animal like a bighorn sheep, or a cougar, attack, but I’d rather be prepared.
The problem ahansen had IIRC was that she couldn’t draw from her holster in time. The dogs had to drive the bear off.
I know a guy who hikes with his in the Apache/Gila National Forests in AZ/NM. Except he claims his is as much for the two-legged critters he comes across as it is for the four-legged ones…
Geez it was in Olympic National Park.
Maybe the bighorn sheep was the ghost of OlyGal.
Oh my, where is OlyGal when you need her?
Boardman had made his wife and friend go back down the trail to safety
“48 hours” investigation scenario “Coming Soon!”
Define: “Friend”
So, Mr. Cole and Hwy are doing a re-enactment via season 8 Monk:
(Hwy walking oddly holding out his hands mid-air: “Here’s what happened!”)
Mr. Cole: “Dad, the “friend” had a rams horn in his backack, then…
Bob Boardman was ….. a skilled woodworker (snicker)
I think the goat was framed by his wife and the ‘family friend’.
lmao!
warped minds think alike?
Boardman
Well, in all honesty, from my POV, …could be a wood-worker or a longboarder. “warped” is just another word for shapin’ as far as I’m concerned.
Science may have found silver bullet for common cold
Richard Gray
October 18, 2010
Scientists are hailing a breakthrough that could lead to one of medicine’s holy grails - a cure for the common cold.
Researchers have found they can attach tiny studs of silver to harmless bacteria, giving them the ability to destroy viruses. They tested the silver-impregnated bacteria against norovirus, which causes winter vomiting outbreaks, and found they leave the virus unable to cause infections.
The researchers believe the same technique could help to combat other viruses, including influenza and those responsible for causing the common cold.
Advertisement: Story continues below
Professor Willy Verstraete, a microbiologist at the University of Ghent in Belgium, who unveiled the findings at a meeting of the Society for Applied Microbiology in London last week, said the bacteria could be incorporated into a nasal spray, water filters and hand washes to prevent the spread of viruses.
”We are using silver nanoparticles, which are extremely small but give a large amount of surface area as they can clump around the virus,” he said. ”There are concerns about using such small particles of silver in the human body and what harm it might cause to human health, so we have attached the silver nanoparticles to the surface of a bacterium. It means the particles remain small, but they are not free to roam around the body.”
The bacterium used, Lactobacillus fermentum, is normally considered a ”friendly” bacterium, and is often found in yoghurt. Grown in a solution of silver ions, the bacteria excrete tiny particles of silver, 10,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair, which stud the outside of the cells.
Although the ”friendly” bacteria eventually die, they remain intact and the dead cells carrying the silver particles can then be added to solutions to create nasal sprays or hand washes.
Tankxs!
Sheriff takes hard stand against foreclosures
The sheriff for Cook County, Ill., which includes Chicago, is refusing to enforce foreclosure evictions for Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Co. and GMAC Mortgage/Ally Financial until they can prove those foreclosures were handled legally, CNBC is reporting.
Today’s announcement by Sheriff Thomas Dart comes after GMAC and Bank of America, the country’s largest mortgage servicer, announced rollbacks from foreclosure moratoriums, the news organization says.
Dart’s office released a statement indicating that Bank of America, GMAC and JPMorgan Chase account for approximately a third of the 3,700 eviction orders filed with the Cook County sheriff.
Yippee!
“How-thick-is-my-steak-tonight” score:
“Peasant’s-without-legal-defense-funds” fraudsters = 1
“Megabank-I-need-this-years-bonus” Corporate fraudsters = (-19 million+)
He’s a wannabe political animal. Just a little guy trying to get some mileage out of a national “story”. He’s been declaring his own moratoriums off and on almost since this began. They always get headlines when they “start” - but never when they “end”.
i recommend the county nip this in the bud.. fire his rogue-cop ass.
He’s a sheriff in a place where most people don’t even know the term outside of a western, and where being mayor of the city proper is the only thing that matters. His name was floated to run, but so far nothing has come of it.
He either plays the foreclosure card or rounds up the wackos in the forest preserves to get noticed, those are his options.
wikipedia has a page on him..
second largest Sheriff department in the United States.. (2nd only to LA, calif)
former Illinois State Senator..
yeah.. i guess he is a political animal.
Filed under: “Forget-me-not!
BWAHAHAHicHAHAHicHAHAHAHAHicHAHAHic* (DennisN™)
In finance, Black Monday refers to Monday, 19 October, 1987, when stock markets around the world crashed, shedding a huge value in a very short time.
I love seeing propaganda in the media:
1) It’s happening because a raft of new laws enacted in the past year, including the financial overhaul package, have led to an acute shrinking of revenue for the banks. So they are scraping together money however they can.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Say-goodbye-to-traditional-apf-1888087707.html?x=0
2) Wall Street banks are this week expected to announce bumper profits, paving the way for huge bonuses to bankers, putting their staff in London back under scrutiny as the rest of the country braces for swingeing cuts in public spending.
Investment banks will disclose third-quarter results that will underline a healthy return to profitability since the banking meltdown of 2008.
Last week, JP Morgan kicked off the reporting season by revealing big increases in income and profits, as well as announcing it had set aside more than £4bn for pay and bonuses.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/oct/18/wall-street-banks-announce-profits
As Billy Crystal used to say, “Mahhhvelous.”
Here ya go, anecdotal evidence: “…like when a black female subordinate finds a black stiff superiors trout penis in their glass of white milk.”
Anita Hill from my wife to you:
“Good morning, Anita Hill, it’s Ginni Thomas. I just wanted to reach across the airwaves and the years and ask you to consider something. I would love you to consider an apology some time and some full explanation of why you did what you did with my husband. So give it some thought and certainly pray about this and come to understand why you did what you did. OK, have a good day.”
BWAHAHAHicHAHAHicHAHAHAHAHicHAHAHic* (DennisN™)
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/10/19/scotus.thomas.hill/?hpt=T1
Has a “SUPREME” court justice ever resigned on account of he never said anything worth remembering, you know just sat there with his robe & conservative smirk, yet mute? Now might be a good time.
You’re just annoyed with Thomas because he used to be in-house counsel for Monsanto.