Bits Bucket For October 29, 2010
Post off-topic ideas, links and Craigslist finds here
The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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Portrait emerges of woman whose mummified body was found in car
Though she had two master’s degrees, she had filed for bankruptcy and was homeless when she was befriended by a real estate agent who let her sleep in a car. But after she died in the front seat, it was not reported to authorities.
By Joseph Serna, Los Angeles Times
October 28, 2010
The real estate agent allowed the woman to sleep in her father’s old sedan.
But sometime in the last 10 months, the homeless woman died in the car. And for reasons that Costa Mesa police are still trying to determine, the real estate agent decided not to report the woman’s death to authorities. Detectives said she drove the car with the mummifying corpse covered with clothing in the passenger’s seat. She used baking powder to reduce the smell.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-mummy-20101028,0,5871551.story - 178k -
This story certainly goes far to justify Exeter’s opinion of Realtors ™.
Maybe the real estate agent was just a big Weekend at Bernie’s fan.
Maybe he was using her as a diamond lane dummy.
what a bizarre story.Imagine going through the drive thru.I’ll take a big mac for the stiff overe here.
Was she a Congressmen?
I still think she was keeping her around to have ’someone’ to practice her house sales pitch on. Just in case she ever went back to being a real-a-tard she wouldn’t be cold… so to speak.
although she was a vagabond for 10 years, i see the dead woman had family who cared enough to report her missing in December. So, they must have kept in touch very regularly.
And that raises the possibility that there’s something more to the story, and maybe foul play, imo.
…but, she had two master’s degrees!
I used to rent from a lady who had two master’s degrees.
Believe me, I saw enough wacko behavior from her and her brother (who also was quite well educated) to last a lifetime. Make that two lifetimes.
Getting away from that family — and their close friends — was THE reason why I bought the Arizona Slim Ranch.
Getting two master’s degrees in useless majors might drive someone over the brink. All that time and money spent for - well, not naught, but the cost to benefit ratio is very high. High cost for little benefit.
She was a teacher. that means she got automatic pay increases for having a “master’s degree”. In many municipalities, the “government” will pay the tuition cost, so she probably did not have a huge student loan bill.
But it just goes to show how truly stupid many “teachers” happen to be. And they can’t be fired.
Anyone who can’t handle finance should not be teacher anywhere, and there are lots and lots of these morons in public schools everywhere.
do any of you recall the “professors” in California that used their economic degrees to justify the high prices of housing there and then “bought IN” to the high costs. they were a couple and I can’t recall the city or their names, it has been so long. I wonder how their “analysis” worked out for them?
I wonder how much she owed on student loans.
LOL!!!
Treasury Links Foreclosure Ills to Lower Housing Prices
By SEWELL CHAN
Published: October 27, 2010
WASHINGTON — The uncertainty over the legal status of foreclosed homes in the nation could further depress home prices and delay the recovery of the housing market, the Obama administration said on Wednesday.
A report this week by the special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program said that 5.5 million homes had been the subject of foreclosure filings and that 1.7 million homeowners had lost their homes since January 2009.
“A program that began with much promise now must be counted among those that risk generating public anger and mistrust,” the official, Neil M. Barofsky, concluded.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/28/business/28housing.html
“could further depress home prices and delay the recovery of the housing market”
Hmm… It seems the definition of recovery in the housing market is rising prices…
To me it should be something along the lines of “prices in realistic relationship with incomes”
I would argue that recovery is should be defined in terms of suppy and demand being in balance. The best indicator of this is probably the “months of supply” metric, although this is subject alot of hard to eliminate seasonal factors, becuase shifting sales from a high sales month to a low sales month or vice versa can disproportionly affect hte MoS metric. Of course this will only happen when market clearing prices have been acheived. But yes, the idea that higher prices are better is wrong-headed. Higher prices are good for sellers, and bad for buyers, and mostly irreleveant to those of us who are neither.
“Regulation of derivatives transactions that are privately negotiated by professionals is unnecessary.”
~ Alan Greenspan, July 30, 1998.
He thought these private parties would suffer from any ill consequences of their deals, with no collateral damage for the broader banking industry.
He thought it so much he didn’t bother looking closely as the whole thing spiraled out of control.
“He thought it so much he didn’t bother looking closely as the whole thing spiraled out of control.”
If he back-tracked on this thinking then he wouldn’t be considered infallible and people would stop calling him “Maestro”.
For a needy guy like Greenspan giving up the title of Maestro would be tough to cope with.
When are we going to hear Greenspan, Cheney, Angelo & Paulson died?
The dose makes the poison. When derivitivs were a small addendum to the economy, the costs of regulating them may well exceed the benefit. But when they become as huge as they did in the credit bubble, not regulating them counts as crazy negligent.
well.. that’s taken out of context… and misquoted. It is not the sentence he spoke.
The correct quote is:
“In conclusion, the Board continues to believe that, aside from safety and soundness regulation of derivatives dealers under the banking or securities laws, regulation of derivatives transactions that are privately negotiated by professionals is unnecessary.”
——-
But put the entire thought in context: He’s speaking out against unnecessary, costly, misguided attempts at govt regulation.
In my testimony I shall step back from these issues of immediate concern and address the fundamental underlying issue, that is, whether it is appropriate to apply the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) to over-the-counter derivatives….
[snip]
The Commodity Exchange Act of 1936 and its predecessor the Grain Futures Act of 1922 were a response to the perceived problems of manipulation of grain markets that were particularly evident in the latter part of the nineteenth and early part of the twentieth centuries. For example, endeavors to corner markets in wheat, while rarely successful, often led to temporary, but sharp, increases in prices…
[snip]
It is not possible to corner a market for financial futures where the underlying asset or its equivalent is in essentially unlimited supply. Financial derivative contracts are fundamentally different from agricultural futures owing to the nature of the underlying asset from which the derivative contract is “derived.”…
[snip]
http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/testimony/1998/19980724.htm
The (mis)quote is in the “Conclusion” at the bottom..
“Regulation of mortgage (derivatives) transactions that are privately negotiated by professionals is unnecessary.”
~ Alan Greenspan, July 30, 1998.
———————————————————————————-
And we all know how that is working out.
Foreclosure Freeze Cuts Sales, Supply in Hardest-Hit U.S. States
U.S. home foreclosure sales are slowing in the states hardest-hit by the real estate crash as banks review their practices and delay seizures.
In Arizona, California and Nevada, foreclosure auctions on courthouse steps, known as trustee sales, are down 42 percent since Sept. 20, according to ForeclosureRadar, a real estate tracking service in Discovery Bay, California. In Florida’s Miami-Dade and Broward counties, fewer foreclosures have led to 18 percent declines this month in the number of repossessed homes listed for sale, said Ron Shuffield of Esslinger, Wooten, Maxwell Inc., a realty firm based in Coral Gables, Florida.
In a real estate market where as many as 7 million homes face foreclosure or have already been seized by lenders, according to Zillow Inc., a clog in the pipeline may delay a housing recovery, which won’t occur until home prices stop falling. That could in turn postpone a U.S. economic recovery. Distressed properties accounted for 31 percent of all U.S. home sales last month, RealtyTrac Inc. said Oct. 14.
It has to hit bottom before recovery can begin. What a novel concept.
Maybe they are teaching this at Realators Anonymous.
“Maybe they are teaching this at Realators Anonymous.”
They would never make it through steps 4 and 5
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
You’re right. There is as much bankster bashing on Active Rain as there is anywhere else. The used house salesfolk are completely oblivious to their role in the meltdown. Most will probably remain so too.
SPIN METER: Despite claims, bailouts not over yet
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Treasury Department says its bank bailouts are over, but the spending continues.
In a Sept. 22 speech, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the bailouts “are completely behind us.”
That’s not quite correct. In the final six months in which it could spend money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, Treasury set aside $243 million for new contracts for law firms, accountants and money managers to help run what’s left of the bailouts — on top of the $529 million already spent on work by staff, private companies and other agencies. Many of the contracts last until 2019, and there’s nothing to stop the government from hiring even more help if it’s needed to chase down the remaining bailout money.
Treasury’s authority to spend more from the $700 billion fund expired on Oct. 3. The law requires officials to recoup as much as possible of the $185 billion still in the hands of shaky private companies. After all collections are made, the government expects to be out about $51 billion, mostly from housing programs.
Geithner and Bernanke are highly political creatures. One doesn’t get to the top of a massive organization without being one. They know that the term bailout is reviled. So now, they need a new name for them. They might start calling them “jelly doughnuts.” I mean, come on, who can dislike a jelly doughnut?
We’ve had some discussion the last few days about stimulus spending being put to better use in infrastructure. I’ve got an idea, not as good as the Joule as money, but pretty good.
Are we not at the point technologically where we don’t need phone or cable companies to provide end user internet access? Would it be such a huge initiative to set up P2P nets across cities and towns that only link in through government (or private) T1 or T3 nodes? Rural has its issues obviously, but even that could be solved by allowing a bit higher transmitter power for wifi devices outside city limits.
Is the main problem with this plan that the phone and cable companies finally go obsolete, or nearly so?
We need a significant productivity/efficiency enhancing improvement in our society to break us out of the funk, something akin to the IC engine or the microchip in yesteryear.
If not my idea, what is this thing we need to develop?
“what is this thing we need to develop?”
Frugality.
We already have the technology, at least in theory if not in practice. It would make existing infrastructure largely obsolete, so there would be employment opportunities for millions.
If the economy was closed and dollars spent for infrastructure here didn’t immediately leak out and land somewhere else then spending for infrastructure would be a great idea.
But our economy isn’t closed; Money spent for infrastructure - or for anything else - doesn’t change hands very many times before it is gone. That’s because so much of the stuff that is bought here is made somewhere else.
Until this situation is addressed any spending HERE will end up paying the wages for somebody in a place located somewhere else.
I’m still puzzled by your logic. You seem to say that because we run a trade deficit, any money invested in our own country, including things like upgrading our electric grid or internet, is a waste, because some of the money spent will leave the country.
Aren’t you letting the perfect be the enemy of the good?
Holy cow! I agree with Alpha!
The Chinese just built the world’s fastest supercomputer, using American computer chips. Following your logic, they just wasted their time and money, and we’re the true beneficiaries of their investment. After all, some of the money they used ended up here.
I never said it was a waste, I’m saying we will not get the full benifit of the spending: The benifit of the spending will be shared with those who live in the country where the money eventually ends up.
If the money was slow to going to these countries then the benifit realized here of this spending would be large. But the money is not slow in leaving the country hence the benifit of the spending is small.
I agree, until we become more self sufficient we’re bailing water out of the Titanic one bucket at a time.
What could help with our trade deficit more than making our electric grid more efficient, and developing alternative energies? Wasting energy, that we buy abroad, is the very kind of ‘hole in the tub’ that drains our cash away.
How about this:
When you are broke, you need to stop sending money off the farm. Sure, home improvements are nice, but they do not fix the primary problem, which is recklessly spending more than we earn. The first step is to bring that in line.
We have adequate infrastructure to make and sell things. I see a lot of already good roads being paved over with fresh asphault. This adds nothing to our wealth, rather the contrary.
I’ve seen these kinds of pointless projects as well. I don’t think this is what is meant by upgrading infrastructure.
GDP = private consumption + gross investment + government spending + (exports − imports)
its the export-import part that is the problem
and the government spending part.
Until this situation is addressed any spending HERE will end up paying the wages for somebody in a place located somewhere else.
I was shocked one day to notice that the manhole covers were made in India.
How could it be cost-effective to manufacture, halfway around the world, something so simple to make and so heavy to ship ?
NY Times had a story about that. They are made by a barefoot man who stokes the furnace himself from melted down scraps.
at my company we ship eveything to Singapore then re-ship to the final destination often in Asia
its a 5% tax in Sinapore about 40% here in the USA
eventually we may decide to stop shipping stuff to Sinapore we’ll just make it there as well see were this is going
“How could it be cost-effective to manufacture, halfway around the world, something so simple to make and so heavy to ship ?”
do you know how much a house costs in India?
google that …and thats why.
hmmm…my conclusion seems to have been incorrect.
“Would it be such a huge initiative to set up P2P nets across cities and towns that only link in through government (or private) T1 or T3 nodes?”
Are you talking about local govt setting up these nets? Will they negotiate with each building owner (as cell providers must do now) to install their WiFi nodes, or just take the space via eminent domain? Would they become regulated monopolies?
Run this by AFSCME. I bet they’ll love it.
A couple of towns in Texas put their wifi equipment on stop lights.
At least five places – Addison, Corpus Christi, Farmers Branch, Granbury and Linden – offer citywide coverage for a monthly fee that ranges from $12 to $30. They are among some 90 other communities nationally that have installed citywide systems, according to MuniWireless.com.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/city/collin/plano/stories/110407dnmetcitywifi.2cdf21c.html
Well, here’s the deal.
In Addison, 1Mbps for around $30/month. I can’t tell if it has been activated yet.
“The provider of citywide Wi-Fi Internet service in Farmers Branch has ceased operations without explanation, leaving subscribers without service since around the end of December.”
Linden TX has a population of under 3,000. Community wi-fi never happened. Granbury TX appears to have a working system. $20/month but the max speed isn’t specified.
Corpus Christi “set up the wireless network in 2005 initially for a meter reading project that involved the installation of 120,000 water and gas meters. The same wireless network allows city employees working in different departments to perform daily tasks outside the office. Using the same infrastructure, the city has created several large Wi-Fi hotzones that provide Internet access. They have reported over 20,000 user sessions per month…” Huh? Less than 700 sessions per day? That’s not a lot of subscribers for what appears to be a free service.
P2P, each user is a node, if each post office or school had a T3 public access and a good wifi repeater all the end user would need is a simple open source software to turn his/her wifi into a local repeater.
Is the main problem with this plan that the phone and cable companies finally go obsolete, or nearly so?
Dude, you like so-o-o hit the nail right on the head. Thwack!
If not my idea, what is this thing we need to develop?
I don’t have a problem with your idea, but I think the biggest thing that could unleash more new ideas would be “socialist” healthcare. I bet if people weren’t tied to their employer due to health insurance concerns you’d see people trying a lot more new things. We discuss the downside of having moved from pensions to 401(k)s here, but the big upside was portability…you don’t have to stay with one employer. We should do the same for health care so that you don’t have to stay with any employer if you don’t want to.
I bet if people weren’t tied to their employer due to health insurance concerns you’d see people trying a lot more new things.
If such a thing were to happen, our new National Anthem will be “Take This Job and Shove It.” And I’m partial to the Johnny Paycheck version of this song.
Would it be such a huge initiative to set up P2P nets across cities and towns that only link in through government (or private) T1 or T3 nodes?
Related
Good link Lavi, that means we are almost there.
Freeing up bandwidth for more advanced uses was one of the prime motivations of the government’s transition from analog NTSC broadcast television to digital ATSC television. My local PBS station now simulcasts 3 SD and 1 HD stations in the bandwidth formerly required for a single SD analog channel. PBS in the SF bay area required analog channels 9, 32, and 54 to even approach this capacity.
ATSC has been a complete success in places like Boise, with a mountaintop transmitter 4,000 feet above the valley and no serious causes of mulitpath distortion. I understand it’s not so great in some other places.
At my location, hilly, with me being in a lower lying area - it’s just a gift to the cable companies. Before, I could get marginal signals. The picture quality just wasn’t that great. Now, my tv goes out on rainy days and at various times in the evening when there is, I suppose, some kind of unusual atmospheric condition. I watch A LOT less TV nowadays. If I want reliable TV, I will have to go to cable. This transition has been a gift to the cable companies.
Clear. 4G wireless. 40+ cities already covered. Full coverage in most cities within the the next 5 years.
Unlimited use. No monthly cap. $45-60 per month.
Which is great, but P2P removes the phone company from the equation. The internet doesn’t need to be owned by telecoms.
Happy Friday.
Economy in U.S. Likely Grew as Consumer Spending Climbed
The U.S. economy probably grew at a faster pace in the third quarter as consumer spending climbed, a sign the expansion is developing staying power, economists said before a report today.
With a growing economy (durable goods orders and consumer spending, lower first-time jobless claims, etc), is there still a solid rationale for QE2?
It’s already priced into the market so what the h@ll, give it a whirl.
? Where was QE1 applied? To consumers? No. To durable goods manufacturers? No. To the unemployed? No. How do any of these things apply to the need for Zombie Bank Transfusion 2?
QE 1 went right into the accounts of aig, goldman,chase etc. The working stiff never saw a dime.We have friends in low places.
…economists said before a report today.
Before?? They are guessing what the results might be?
..and people wonder why everything is “unexpected”. Well, there’s your answer.
Tom sullivan from fox business is a so called economist who is trying for a short sale on his sacramento home.
I’ve heard him.. long time ago. He used to host a call-in radio program out of KNBR San Francisco? .. or some station in the bay area..
Mostly he was handing out pedestrian consumer advice. Once in a while he’d be ticked off and go on a rant about larger issues.
“consumer spending climbed”
Of course it did. There is $60 billion in food stamps and unemployment insurance out there.That`s a lot of “bang for the buck”. Pay no attention to that realtor driving around with a corpse. ALL IS WELL!!
Pelosi fires back at Gingrich over food stamps
By: CNN Congressional Producer Evan Glass
At a press conference in her home town of San Francisco, Pelosi explained that the program’s multiplier effect –the amount of money generated in the local economy as the result of the subsidy– far exceeds the nearly $60 billion spent this year by the federal government and is a sure-fire way to stimulate the economy. For every dollar a person receives in food stamps, Pelosi said that $1.79 is put back into the economy. The U.S. Department of Agriculture cites an even higher figure of $1.84.
“It is the biggest bang for the buck when you do food stamps and unemployment insurance. The biggest bang for the buck,” she said.
Wow, then why not food stamps for EVERYONE?
consumer spending is climbing because people are not paying thier house payments and instead buying new cars and more cr@p at walmart.
Wow, then why not food stamps for EVERYONE?
It’s entirely possible to live for free in the US without assets or income.
Just ask any one of the numerous stinky guys you encounter in any major city with filthlocks, wrapped in a torn sleeping bag, wearing shit-stained jeans and holding a sign that says, “Why lie, I need beer”
I prefer working for a living, thank you.
“It’s entirely possible to live for free in the US without assets or income. “
Uh, no.
yeah.. Food stamps are some kind of perpetual motion machine. More money comes out than what went in.
I hope Pelosi patented it before announcing it to the world.
Are people who complain about unemployment insurance and food stamps but do not equally complain about outsourcing, downsizing and growing wealth inequality…
A. Correct?
B. Ignorant?
C. Intellectually dishonest?
D. Too politically biased to even try to make the connection?
E. On their way to a Tea Party meeting?
That does nothing but illustrate people are inclined to look out for #1.
Reverse the question to see what i mean.
Are people who complain about outsourcing etc, but who do not care about the bloated, corrupt welfare system and it’s unsustainable burdens:
A, B, C, and D.
E would be “In their Lexus and on their way to the supermarket to spend their food stamps.”
Reverse the question to see what i mean.
Are people who complain about outsourcing etc, but who do not care about the bloated, corrupt welfare system and it’s unsustainable burdens:
Cute but no. It does not work nearly as well your way.
Because:
Food stamps and unemployment insurance do not cause outsourcing and wealth inequality even close to the degree (if at all) that outsourcing etc. leads to wealth inequality and the need for food stamps and unemployment insurance.
Yours is not even in the same ballpark.
Yeah! And gas stamps.She should tell Beranke about this!
Indeed!
There is $60 billion in food stamps and unemployment insurance
Speaking of domestic $$$$$$$$$$$$ circulation of “Bang-for-your-buck!”
http://www.costofwar.com/
Thank god the repubs didn’t vote down ending tax breaks for offshoring jobs back in September.
Oh wait…
HYPOCRITS.
Newark council approves budget with 16 percent tax increase, 866 layoffs.
NEWARK — The Newark City Council voted to adopt the 2010 municipal budget with 866 projected layoffs and a 16 percent tax increase in an afternoon meeting today.
While expressing deep concerns over the process by which this year’s budget had been approved, the council voted 6 to 3 to adopt, saying if they delayed any longer the city could not meet its operating expenses for the remainder of the year.
“We are sitting here with our backs against the wall,” said Council President Donald Payne. “We have to make sure that the workers in this town are being paid.”
“We are sitting here with our backs against the wall.”
It’s tragic that it has to come to this - having their backs against the wall - for our so-called leaders to make the tough decisions.
“We have to make sure that the *government* workers in this town are being paid.” (everyone else can eat cake..)
Government is sooooo damn expensive. Why havent’ we outsourced it yet?
“Why havent’ we outsourced it yet?”
They’re working on that…
Yeah.. Some public employees can easily be outsourced. Public school teachers, for instance, can telecommute from anywhere. Even India.
How many bureaucrat jobs are nothing but information shufflers? Half or more is my guess.
“Public school teachers, for instance, can telecommute from anywhere.”
Joey — have you been getting out ahead of the pending legislation to legalize whacky tobacky?
Oh ye of little faith..
Lemme see what i can dig up..
Here’s one. An ad for a teacher, although it looks to be a private school.
——
Telecommute Math Adjunct Teacher
A company providing K-12 sevices seeks Florida-certified math teachers for part-time online positions. Candidates must be able to work outside of normal school hours to ensure student and parent contact. Conduct educational programming through a mix of synchronous and asynchronous services.
Requirements:
* Certified in Middle School Math
* Highly qualified to teach middle school math
* Microsoft OS and MS Office skills
* Online instruction experience helpful
Location: Florida, anywhere —[even India?]
Compensation: TBD
working on it…it’s already happened. the presidency itself is pretty much outsourced to china.
i.e. china is pulling the strings.
Anyone see Citizens Against Government Waste’s ad on CNBC’s Squak Box this AM?
Just remember, be careful what you ask for. Here’s example consequences where residents of Obion county do not want to tax themselves to pay for fire fighters.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/tennessee-familys-home-burns-ground-firefighters-stand-watch/story?id=11806407
It is so amazing the number of people that depend on fire fighters to put out a house fire.For a couple hundred bucks a person could set up there own fire hose and pump system.Usually by the time the fire dpeartment arrrives the house is already burned down.
Have you or someone you know ever had a fire? The reality is pretty scary.
I lived in an apt building that burned due to a furnace boiler fire. Quick, devastating and spectacular.
(I owe my life to a functioning smoke detector.)
You should do your research. A lot of government at all levels IS already outsourced.
(CBS) More and more Americans are losing their homes to foreclosure. About 2.6 million have been repossessed since the recession began. Between January and September more than 800,000 homes were seized.
If that pace continues, more than 1,000,000 homes will be repossessed this year, a record. CBS News correspondent John Blackstone reports the crisis is now affecting every area of the country.
In Chicago, eviction notices are being posted more often, up 35 percent over last year. It happened to the yellow bungalow in the suburbs where Beth Mackay and her family lived for seven years.
“It was a grieving process that was a lengthy one and still continues,” she says.
America’s foreclosure crisis is spreading far from the states like Florida and California where it began. In the Seattle area foreclosures are up 71 percent this year.
That puts us somewhere near the middle of the 3rd inning.
btw.. anyone wanna bet against a Giants sweep?
After the way they mowed down the Phillies, I’m willing to say Giants in four.
Let’s Go TEXAS!!
“It was a grieving process that was a lengthy one and still continues,”
I’ve never had this kind of attachment to a place. My residence, even when I had mortgages, has always been just a place to live and each one had different advantages and disadvantages.
Apartments have low maintenance and can have excellent views and be located in exciting, dynamic parts of town. Houses mostly have workshops and storage in the form of attached garages and the yards can be solitary and peaceful.
Realizing that I may possibly die some day (making every residence ultimately temporary), I am more than happy to move if I think the new location has more/better/new things to offer.
Houses mostly have workshops and storage in the form of attached garages and the yards can be solitary and peaceful.
People kill and die for patches of land, throughout history.
All real estate isn’t local any more in the U.S.
28 October 2010
Last updated at 15:35 ET
Foreclosures increased across a majority of large metropolitan areas
US foreclosure crisis becomes more widespread
The foreclosure crisis in the US has spread across a wider area of the country, according to RealtyTrac, which monitors repossession activity.
The organisation said foreclosure notices increased across a majority of large metropolitan areas, including Chicago and Seattle.
Previously, these cities had seen relatively low levels of activity.
Separately, Wells Fargo said it would refile documents on 55,000 foreclosures after admitting technical mistakes.
Crisis spreading
RealtyTrac’s report said that California, Nevada, Florida and Arizona remained the worst affected areas.
They accounted for 19 of the top 20 metropolitan areas with the highest foreclosure rates between July and September.
The trend is the latest sign that the US foreclosure crisis is worsening as homeowners - facing high unemployment, slow job growth and uncertainty about house prices - continue to fall behind on their mortgage payments.
The controversy over whether banks mishandled eviction documents was not a factor over the July-to-September quarter monitored, said RealtyTrac.
…
Related stories
* US house prices show renewed dip
* US regulators in new loan probe
…
Top five metropolitan foreclosures: third quarter 2010
* Las Vegas, Nevada - 32,288
* Cape Coral, Florida - 10,352
* Modesto, California - 4,825
* Stockton, California - 5,929
* Merced, California - 2,072
Source: RealtyTrac
And WTF did people think would happen??? I’ll wager that increasing foreclosures is news to dumb@sses on Main Street.
I’m paraphrasing BJ but it cannot be overstated. *Todays inflated housing transaction is tomorrows foreclosure*…. and this very statement will shutdown HousingHappyTalk and denial…… in a hurry.
Foreclosure Freeze Cuts Sales, Supply in Hardest-Hit U.S. States
By John Gittelsohn - Oct 28, 2010 9:01 PM PT
U.S. home foreclosure sales are slowing in the states hardest-hit by the real estate crash as banks review their practices and delay seizures.
In Arizona, California and Nevada, foreclosure auctions on courthouse steps, known as trustee sales, are down 42 percent since Sept. 20, according to ForeclosureRadar, a real estate tracking service in Discovery Bay, California. In Florida’s Miami-Dade and Broward counties, fewer foreclosures have led to 18 percent declines this month in the number of repossessed homes listed for sale, said Ron Shuffield of Esslinger, Wooten, Maxwell Inc., a realty firm based in Coral Gables, Florida.
In a real estate market where as many as 7 million homes face foreclosure or have already been seized by lenders, according to Zillow Inc., a clog in the pipeline may delay a housing recovery, which won’t occur until home prices stop falling. That could in turn postpone a U.S. economic recovery. Distressed properties accounted for 31 percent of all U.S. home sales last month, RealtyTrac Inc. said Oct. 14.
“If what’s a hiatus turns into a moratorium, that’s quite problematic,” Stan Humphries, chief economist for Zillow, a Seattle-based real estate data provider, said in an interview. “It will delay the ultimate bottoming process in the market.”
…
U.S. Stock-Index Futures Fall Before GDP Data; Microsoft Gains on Earnings
By Julie Cruz - Oct 29, 2010 4:36 AM PT
U.S. stock-index futures retreated, indicating the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index will trim its second straight monthly advance, amid concern a report today may show growth remains short of that needed to cut unemployment.
…
Still wondering:
Is it really legal for the banks to hold homes off the market indefinitely? And does an artificial supply constraint really help the market function better (Rick Sharga’s and NPR Planet Money people’s opinions notwithstanding to the contrary)? I would think used home sellers would have a harder time earning a living with fewer homes available to sell.
I remember in the early 1980s when the Hunt Brothers tried to drive up the price of silver by hoarding supply; needless to say, it ended badly. I expect a similar bad outcome for the banks trying to profit by withholding housing inventory from the market. At least silver does not physically deteriorate when it is hoarded, and they aren’t making any more silver.
I am trying to get my brain around the gap between this report, which suggests there are around 600,000 homes the banks are currently holding off market, and another I just posted, suggesting there may be as many as 7,000,000 additional foreclosures over the next few years. Does anyone have a sense of wherein the truth lies between these eye-popping numbers?
What Do Slow Foreclosures Mean For The Housing Market?
Categories: Housing
03:41 pm
October 27, 2010
by Robert Benincasa
As we noted yesterday, even before the recent foreclosure scandal hit, foreclosures have been taking a really long time.
What does that mean for the housing market? We asked Rick Sharga, an exec at RealtyTrac, a company that tracks foreclosures.
Here’s what he told us:
On the other hand, he said, the long process means foreclosed houses will keep coming onto the market in large numbers over the next few years, which is likely to keep home prices low for a while.
“There are about 600,000 bank properties on the sideline,” he said. “The banks own them but they’re not marketing them yet.”
…
I also remember that in the early 1980’s the Duke brothers tried to corner the market in frozen orange juice. That didn’t work out so good for them either.
So THAT explains the color of the General Lee.
“There is no use in interfering by means of a new credit expansion with the process of readjustment. This would at best only interrupt, disturb, and prolong the curative process of the depression, if not bring about a new boom with all its inevitable consequences.”
~Ludwig von Mises
Any remember how 10 years ago during the dot com bubble there was talk of “recessions being a thing of the past”?
Maybe they were almost right. We aren’t in a “recession”, we’re in a depression.
When you wire down the safety valves, you can run the steam engine REAL FAST…for awhile.
I believe the phrase was “redefining existing paradigms with new synergies by recontextulizing existing assets.”
Seattle Q3 foreclosures up 71 percent
Puget Sound Business Journal - by Jeanne Lang Jones
Date: Thursday, October 28, 2010, 5:04pm PDT - Last Modified: Thursday, October 28, 2010, 5:58pm PDT
…the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue market still trails in the hardest hit markets in Nevada, Arizona, California and Florida, where 19 of the top 20 metropolitan areas with the highest foreclosure rates are located.
In the worst market in the country, Las Vegas-Paradise, 32,288 properties were tagged with a foreclosure notice in the third quarter. That’s equivalent to one in every 25 homes, or five times the national average in the number of total foreclosures.
Last month, the foreclosure rate in the Las Vegas-Paradise market was more than ten times the rate in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue market with one in every 61 households in the Las Vegas-Paradise market receiving a notice. That compares to one in every 710 households in the Puget Sound area.
Two-thirds of the metropolitan markets tracked nationwide had gains in foreclosure activity compared to 2009 as homeowners struggled with the recession, unemployment and swooning property values.
“The underlying problems that are causing homeowners to miss their mortgage payments — high unemployment, toxic loans and negative equity — are continuing to plague most local housing markets,” said James J. Saccacio, CEO of RealtyTrac in a release. “And these historically high foreclosure rates will continue until those problems are resolved.”
Media are too busy to note the 81st anniversary of the big stock market crash of 1929, but at the end of October 29th that fateful year stunned stock gamblers tallied a two-day loss of 24.5 percent of market value. As if to kick the wounded market in the teeth, on November 6th the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged another 9.9 percent.
We are assured nothing of that magnitude can happen again. However, on October 19th, 1987 the stock market swooned 22.6 percent.
The overwhelming volume of sell transactions relative to buy transactions by company insiders over the last six months in key leading sectors of the market is the worst Alan Newman, editor of the Crosscurrents newsletter, has ever seen since he began tracking the data.
Posted on Thursday, 10.28.10
South Florida foreclosure rate among nation’s highest
MIAMI - SEPTEMBER 18: A foreclosure sign hangs in front of a home September 18, 2007 in Miami, Florida.
By TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA
In the months before robo-signing scandals threw much of the foreclosure system into distress, lenders had hit stride in South Florida’s civil courts, reclaiming homes at an increasingly fast pace, a report released Thursday by real estate research firm RealtyTrac shows.
In the third quarter of 2010, South Florida led the nation with the highest number of foreclosure filings among large metropolitan areas, with more than 59,064 homes in distress. That’s a 24 percent increase from the previous quarter, and a 9 percent jump from the same period in 2009. Led by a large increase in bank reposessions, the region’s foreclosure rate ranked 7th nationwide, with one out of every 41 homes in some stage of foreclosure.
“In contrast to what we’re seeing happening in the other foreclosure hotspots in Nevada, California and Arizona, many of the metro areas in Florida are actually posting increases from a year ago,” said Daren Blomquist, spokesman for Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac, a market research firm. “Whereas the foreclosure activity in other areas is going down.”
…
Well, we voted early . the machine wanted me to vote the straight D ticket , it kept popping up .I split my ticket , and managed to miss one page even then . This appears to be a historic vote indeed . Most states make it easy to vote early and avoid the crowds . I wonder , is this a trend ?
Most states make it easy to vote early and avoid the crowds . I wonder , is this a trend ?
It is indeed a trend.
And the major political parties are starting to wrap their brains around the fact that, by November 2, a lot of voters have already done their absentee ballot thing. At home on the couch. Or, as I like to do, in an especially scenic part of the great outdoors.
We also voted early. Saw nothing fishy on the touchscreen voting machine. We were even able to vote for one lone Libertarian Party candidate.
Meanwhile, across the pond:
* Money
* House prices
Housing dip feared as mortgage approvals stall
Bank of England figures for September show approvals for new home loans were static compared with August
* Mark King
* guardian.co.uk, Friday 29 October 2010 10.57 BST
…
All real estate is local, huh?
With so many Americans worried about not having the means to pay for their unaffordable housing, what will drive the Keynesian consumption boom needed to lift the economy out of recession?
Most are worried about housing payments
By Inman News, Friday, October 29, 2010.
More than half of Americans are worried about not having enough money to pay their mortgage or rent, according to a survey from the Washington Post released today.
A third of respondents were “very concerned” about their ability to make housing payments, while a fifth were “somewhat concerned,” adding up to 53 percent of respondents. This contrasts to the results of similar surveys the newspaper conducted in February 2009 and December 2008.
In the 2008 survey, 37 percent of respondents said they were at least “somewhat concerned” about making their housing payments. By February 2009, that figure had risen to 46 percent.
…
It is high time for the Fed to enjoy their moment on the deck of the ship, and declare victory in their War on Savers.
The Economics Of Worry
Posted: October 28, 2010 at 5:41 pm
Most Americans (53%) are worried about making their rent and mortgage payments, according to a poll released today by the Washington Post. The poll’s results are depressing but hardly surprising.
The almost daily headlines about the housing are so depressing that they would turn the biggest optimist almost suicidal. Foreclosures dipped slightly in the third quarter. But, this is because of freezes the banks have instituted as they review their documents that, it turns out, were faulty. Once those reviews are done, however, the rate will soar again.
The recently released Nielsen Global Consumer Confidence Index found that the optimism seen by the public earlier this year has faded. It estimates that one in four Americans have no discretionary income. Many people have learned about the perils of adding too much debt and are simply refusing to buy things that they can’t pay for in cash or in a short period.
Consumers are expected to channel their fears at the ballot box next week and drum out incumbent Democrats in droves, weakening President Obama’s ability to set economic policy in the process. Fears about the economy are the main topic of the political commercials that flood the nation’s airwaves.
“With a stubbornly weak labor market, consumers are concerned about the jobless recovery and managing their personal finances,” said James Russo, Vice President, Global Consumer Insights at The Nielsen Company, in a press release. “As a result, consumers are closely planning spending and they continue to reduce shopping trips while placing more emphasis on value. Fewer shopping trips are making every retail interaction critical for retailers.”
…
Not sure about economies, but I know what happens to airplanes after they slow to a stall.
ECONOMY: San Diego County activity slows to stall, index says
Plunging building permits drag down overall figure
By PAT MAIO - pmaio@nctimes.com North County Times - Californian | Posted: Thursday, October 28, 2010 1:18 pm
SAN DIEGO —- The already sluggish local economy appears to have lost momentum in September, with a sharp decline in building permit applications dragging the University of San Diego’s Index of leading Economic Indicators into its first outright decline since early 2009.
“It’s significant that the economy has stalled, not necessarily falling, but it’s just now reached a point where it’s unchanged,” said Alan Gin, the University of San Diego economist with the Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate who created the index. “It looks like the economy is flat.”
…
The scary thing is that a lot of economists and govt advisers suggest pulling back further on the yoke, like the pilot of that commuter plane who “augered in” in Buffalo a year or two ago. At the same time the co-pilot raised the flaps, further dooming the plane.
How to End the National Debt in One Day
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PB8LSFaL75c
Taxing only the wealthiest 1%.
Must be put together by the same people that are behind initiative 1098 in Washington State which only applies to those that make $200K at rates up to 9%.
Good idea. Perhaps the tax could be limited to those who pocketed billions as their share of the bailouts in the wake of the Fall 2008 financial crisis while the rest of America enjoyed the view from the bottom of the bus?
It’s not taxing, it’s downright confiscation. Then again the debt is real, the “wealth” may not be so.
So instead of taxing those who have the $$$, where does revenue come from? How do peons like you and me and us finance revenue?
the rich are above taxes.
Cut the spending. Cut the war machines. Cut the bailouts.
Cut the spending. Cut the war machines. Cut the bailouts.
The last two are understandable for their potential magnitude of cuts.
But “Cut the spending”……
Where? What? By how much? And what percent of the total budget would this come to?
How about ending the wars that have for the most part destroyed America(and several other countries).
War is by far the largest consumer of American wealth.
China makes deals while the USA stands in shame as a terrorist state.
i think unfunded liabilities trumps war.
If we sent the old people to war - it would be a win win!
Read “An Old Man’s War” by
John Scalizi. An intriguing story.
War is by far the largest consumer of American wealth.
Any… minute… now…”they’ll” be making themselves shoes out of Florida’s gators as they proceed un-opposed to Anchorage via Denver. Wait & see!
USA a “terrorist state”? Go back to your left wing nut womb.
i love how once they steal all the wealth…they tell us how they could spend all the money they save on iterest.
as if the tax base would stay the same after the government came in and stole everything.
hilarious.
The tax base wouldn’t need to stay the same- we’d have no national debt to make payments on.
I thought about this idea a number of years ago to tax the parties
that benefited the most by the fake real estate market .These parties
got the greatest profit during the most corrupt period when taxes for their group were the lowest . Corporations that benefited from the fake market also gained by the low tax rate along with the cheap credit .
You could look at it as a retro tax for ill-gotten gain .If you look at
the gains from the standpoint that they were the direct undeserved enrichment from a Ponzi -Scheme from the Money Changers than it makes more sense .Places like GS were enriched by the fraud in securities ,so they should have specific penalty taxes for years to make up for their fake enrichments .
The middle-class and slightly upper middle class is tapped out having problems even meeting their obligations ,most likely not able to even afford the absurd Health Care Costs that monopoly wants them to
pay let alone pay more taxes .
The rich elite have a PR campaign going now on every way to tax anything but them .They want to add a dollar to gas or raise sales tax or property tax or take it out of the hide of fixed income people
or burn people on even small pensions or take it from Social Security if push comes to shove .
When you think of it from the standpoint that all the lost money went
somewhere than that is the deep pocket ,not Main street .
T0 add to my above post .Take Hank Paulson (former Treasury Sec.).
This dude gained 1/2 billion in under a 10 year span of time and he was one of the greedy jerks that prospered by the fraud market ,in fact he even created some of the ways to be enriched by game -playing casinos and leverage .Retro tax that asshole at a 75% tax rate for his ill-gotten gain . Mozilo got over 600 million for creating loans
that defaulted by 85 % and was only fined 64 million . Either fine these guys more for ill-gotten gain or fine them a retro-tax for ill-gotten gain . They should be happy that they might be avoiding jail
time .
Housing Wizard,
( I’ve been saying that for YEARS! ) But don’t stop there, make sure NAR/MBA get their share of axle grease too. But no… we’d prefer to grovel in a knock down, drag out and blame the Tea…. Party or each other.., or ’something’?
It’s right there in front of us!
How Meg Whitman dropped 10 points behind Jerry Brown
Meg Whitman, the Republican nominee for California governor, has been hurt by an undocumented housekeeper scandal, political inexperience, and perhaps even her own attack ads.
By Daniel B. Wood, Staff writer / October 28, 2010
Los Angeles
With five days until the election, a California Field poll shows Republican Meg Whitman trailing Democrat Jerry Brown by 10 points in the race for governor. Last month the same poll showed the two in a virtual tie.
How did that happen?
In the end, say analysts, heavy campaign spending – $142 million of her own money at last count – was unable to overcome Ms. Whitman’s political inexperience and the news that she employed an undocumented housekeeper for nearly a decade.
…
I imagine most of the population in ca has employed an illegal at some point in thier life.
I’m pretty sure the yard workers my landlords employ are included, though I employ a strict “don’t ask / don’t tell” policy on such matters — perhaps similar to the Whitman household in that respect, though we don’t directly employ the folks who care for our yard.
Strange that would be the deciding factor with all the problems CA is facing right now.
“political experience”
And… if we had a ‘political’ problem ( which we do not ) then it would be germane. What we have… is an employment problem. And to that end, Meg is infinitely more ‘experienced’.
Too bad, oh well, CA gets what CA deserves. ( Apologies to ALL our very astute and dedicated Cali posters in advance! )
Infinitely more experienced… at laying off tens of thousands of Americans and outsourcing their jobs to India, etc.
She’s not fooling us. There was a lot of luck involved in her eBay success, not to mention the very hard work and imagination of the very people she laid off.
In the long run you can always count on the great U.S. consumer, it’s in their genes. Now get out their and load the garages and storage facilities for X-Mas.
Consumer spending lifts third-quarter growth
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. economic growth edged up as expected in the third quarter but not enough to chip away at high unemployment or change perceptions of more monetary easing from the Federal Reserve next week.
Gross domestic product expanded at a 2.0 percent annual rate as consumer spending rose at its quickest pace since 2006 and businesses continued to rebuild inventories, the Commerce Department said on Friday. The economy expanded at a 1.7 percent rate in the second quarter and third-quarter growth matched economists’ expectations.
“Growth is still positive, but a bit disappointing. It’s not where we would like it to be at this point of the recovery,” said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James & Associates in St. Petersburg, Florida.
“…load the garages…”
Did you ever notice that ‘garage’ and ‘garbage’ differ in their spelling by only one letter?
Yes.
I am still amazed at how many people park their cars in the driveway due to the fact their garages are full of garbage/junk. We have a two car garage and it sits two cars, makes sense to me, but what do I know, I’m a minimalist.
In Florida we can’t have basements. I can get one car in my garage on a good day, but the rest is taken up with tools, bikes, a generator, etc. There’s nowhere else for it to go.
Same here. Garage is basically a workshop (I live in an apartment, and rent a separate garage).
OK, those w/o basements get a pass. But we once lived in a community where every house had a basement and a 2-car garage, and we were the only family on the block (of 16 homes) who parked both cars inside the garage.
I must say that the fogeys who live here in this mostly retiree community must be in the divestment phase of their lives as we have never seen a car parked routinely outdoors.
I must say that the fogeys who live here in this mostly retiree community must be in the divestment phase of their lives as we have never seen a car parked routinely outdoors.
Tell me about it. I’m dealing with this divestment thing in my very own family.
We’re working on that one around San Diego. Our neighbors across the street used to have a garage piled with junk, but now, after no less than six garage sales over the past year or so, their cars finally fit inside.
Especially common in SoCal where transplants found that their new homes didn’t have basements.
I always laughed when I saw the shiny new Beamers and Benzes sitting outside on the driveways while the worthless junk was protected in the garage.
…while the worthless junk was protected in the garage.
My girlfriend refers to paid storage as “renting your junk”
“I am still amazed at how many people park their cars in the driveway due to the fact their garages are full of garbage/junk.”
So am I. And we’re in a northern climate, where it nice to know your car will start easily on an extremely cold morning, and without having to push snow off it first. Sure beats having a garage full of garbage to me.
It’s amazing to me that people let their expensive cars and SUVs sit exposed to the sun and other elements while their garage is “sheltering” lots of useless junk and random toys. My neighbors across the street park their expensive Suburban in the driveway while their garage is full of stuff.
My 2001 F-150 still looks nearly new in paint and interior because it’s garaged most of the time. The elements really do a number on paint, plastic, and fabric.
My neighbors F350 won’t fit in his empty garage.
I checked for “garage fit” before I bought my house.
I wonder how many FBs do before purchase.
I used to live in an HOA that did not allow cars in the driveway. Everyone had to garage their cars. I hated that. Looked like nobody lived there. It was so bland.
Personally I’ve never garaged my cars (except when I was told to by the HOA). I like the look of houses with cars in the driveway. Makes it look more homey and residential than empty driveways.
As for the sun hurting cars, a good coat of wax once a month solves that problem and a Armor All on the dash likewise.
As for the sun hurting cars, a good coat of wax once a month solves that problem and a Armor All on the dash likewise.
Let me guess, you’re not the type that keeps cars until they’re 20 years old. Eventually a garage makes a big difference, at least for the cars that stay home most days. Not many people have covered parking at work, though, so if it’s outside all day 5 days a week anyway then the garage isn’t going to make nearly as big a difference.
You might be a redneck if…
Carl,
No I don’t keep cars for 20 years. I’ve barely been driving for 20 years. Come to think of it I think I got my licence right around this time 20 years ago. It was right before Halloween. Happy Driving Anniversary to Me!!
A coat of wax works as well on a 19 day car as a 19 year old car. The las of physics don’t change based on the age of a car. Also keeps the rain off.
The joke is if you have more cars that don’t run than do run in your driveway. But nice try.
“I checked for “garage fit” before I bought my house. I wonder how many FBs do before purchase.”
We made that mistake in our first rental. We couldn’t get both cars in the garage, even with NOTHING stored on the sides - and its not like we’re both driving Chevy Suburbans either. The builder didn’t make the laundry closet deep enough for the stackable washer and dryer units he put in, so the door never closed. LOTS of FBs in that development… townhouses sold at the top for $500K+, and now the trapped FBs are asking around $380,000 and can’t get that for them.
Anyhoo… that garage was the major reason we moved out after our first six month lease expired. It was worth every dime we paid the movers to be in a “real” garage before winter.
A coat of wax works as well on a 19 day car as a 19 year old car.
Actually wax is much less effective applied to weathered paint.
Rio,
Wax is actually more effective on older cars than newer ones. New cars have a whole lot of protection to begin with. Adding wax helps but the delta in protective levels isn’t that high. As a car gets older and the manufacturer protection wears off, the benefit of wax (or any other protective products) increases exponentially.
I take it you’re not much of a car guy with a statement like that.
I take it you’re not much of a car guy with a statement like that.
I take it you never lived in LA.
Yes, as in garage sale.
Did you ever notice that the only difference between housing and a “hosing” is U?
Clever!
Lurch sez…
Kerry voices frustration with US political scene
BOSTON(AP)—Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry unleashed a broadside Thursday against Republican “obstructionism,” saying the GOP and its talk-show allies have created a “period of know-nothingism” in the country.
With his party braced for defeats in the midterm elections, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee told the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce that a Republican machine — fueled by talk show hosts such as Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck — has undermined progress and misled the public into believing Democrats created the country’s current economic problems.
Perception is Reality for some. “Progress” can only be made in the absence of critical voices.
..a Republican machine..
no.. it’s called the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.
No…. it’s called RepubliCorp.
All Lurch is saying is that people/the surfs are not thinking the way he thinks they should.
Same with the “if more people would vote” crap. Those who say that simply mean, “if more people voted the way I do” then everything would be hunky-dory.
Doesn’t work that way.
People have been voting for a long time for government. Look at the government we now have.
Pretty strong case against voting. Anyone out there that still believes voting to be intelligent?
What’s this? No pro voters out there?
Surely there is someone that will come forward and elucidate why they love government ergo vote for it.
I vote, and it makes me angry that so many otherwise smart, politically aware people think it’s a waste of time and don’t. When voter turnout is only 25-30% of those eligible, it’s not the system’s fault that things are going poorly.
Considering it’s really simple to vote and isn’t hard to do, what’s the harm in doing it?
If you don’t vote, you’re part of the problem. Either vote, or shut the heck up about the problems you’re allowing to continue.
I’m really annoyed that my voter registration is screwed up so I have to putting a provisional ballot this time. Grr.
surfs=serfs
Duuuude….Wadya mean I have to do boonwork?
For the last two years -
The democrats controlled:
the white house
the congress by a large majority
the senate by a filibuster proof majority
They could do ANYTHING they wanted and republicans could do nothing to stop them.
Republicans at the height of Bush or Reagan NEVER had those kind of numbers.
and Kerry still is crying???
Face it - your party blew it big time.
“and republicans could do nothing to stop them.”
Filibuster?
BINGO.
Filbustered hundreds of times.
I heard lots of talk about filibusters, but I don’t recall seeing any actual filibusters.
Carl, the *ahem* liberal websites are very much in favor of requiring true filibusters complete with bibles and telephone books.
And Dems really need to get on TV and start screaming for “up or down votes,” like the Republicans did nonstop for years.
The liberal websites may be in favor of it…but why aren’t the liberal politicians?
That’s a good question. I don’t know. I think the idea was the Democrats were “keeping their powder dry” for when they themselves needed to filibuster, hoping Republicans would return the favor and save the serious filibuster for serious big bills. We see how that turned out.
I don’t claim to know the inner workings of the liberal mind, but from my perspective it appeared that those with enough power to make the decision for whether to force the Rs to filibuster may not have really wanted to push anything through very badly. Suits me just fine in most cases, but there are a couple of things I wish they’d have gotten done.
I’m skeptical of the “keeping their powder dry” excuse.
I heard lots of talk about filibusters, but I don’t recall seeing any actual filibusters.
We don’t need to “see” them. The leadership counts votes and moves forward from that reality. There are few vote “surprises” in the US Senate.
We don’t need to “see” them. The leadership counts votes and moves forward from that reality. There are few vote “surprises” in the US Senate.
I maintain that there’s a big difference between threatening to filibuster and actually peeing in a bottle at the podium.
I maintain that there’s a big difference between threatening to filibuster and actually peeing in a bottle at the podium.
Many who know more than you or I maintain that you are misunderstanding the situation.
The Rise Of Cloture: How GOP Filibuster Threats Have Changed The Senate
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/01/the-rise-of-cloture-how-gop-filibuster-threats-have-changed-the-senate.php
While Republicans spent the last several months threatening to filibuster the Democrats’ health care reform bill in the Senate, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid scrambled to secure 60 votes — only to have the whole fragile arrangement blow up when Republican Scott Brown won the Massachusetts senate election…Republican filibuster threats, Ornstein said, were “like throwing molasses in the road.”
Filibuster to death
http://thehill.com/opinion/columnists/brent-budowsky/50092-filibuster-to-death
Filibuster abuse has turned the Senate into a banana-republic institution with daily damage to Main Street Americans who believe elections matter, majority rules and broad national interests should rise above narrow special interests.
As Senators Highlight Continued Filibuster Abuse, Leaders & Experts Condemn Unprecedented Obstructionism as Bad for Democracy
Press Call and Senate Hearing to Highlight Unprecedented Levels of Obstructionism & Derailing of Democratic Process
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2010/09/21-4
I prefer to think it was the people, the voters ( of all stripes ) that were ultimately their undoing? Once ppl got wind of what the delivery method was, they understandably balked.
But it’s going to be important to hold whomever to act in the best interest of the taxpayers, voters, workers etc. This can just as easily… work the other way.
The dems are in trouble due to their attitude, as in, “We know the majority of you unenlightened fools don’t like this bill but we’re gonna pass it anyway.”
And, “we must pass it so we can find out what’s in it.”
The dems are in trouble due
Trouble?
Well. If I were a Machiavellian Democrat with my eye on the Supreme Court and the presidential election of 2012, I might hope the Republicans take both the House and the Senate on Tuesday.
Then we will see again what the Republicans (and now with their most recent nut-balled Tea Party makeover) are made of.
I would not want to be Obama or any Democrat going into 2012 with a weakened Democratic House and Senate.
“the congress by a large majority
the senate by a filibuster proof majority”</i
Wrong. Turn off the neocon radio.
Remember, the repubs voted DOWN the repeal of tax breaks for offshoring jobs.
A bill that was also to give local businesses the tax breaks instead for hiring.
Filed under: “These f@!king Guys!,” Jon Stewart.
“TrueAnger™” + “TruePurity™” + “TrueDeceiver’s™” =
Cha-Ching! $$$$$$$$$…Cha-Ching! $$$$$$$$$$…Cha-Ching! $$$$$$$$$$
Report: Prison industry helped create Arizona immigration law:
BY CINDY CARCAMO
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
“What they show is a quiet, behind-the-scenes effort to help draft and pass Arizona Senate Bill 1070 by an industry that stands to benefit from it: the private prison industry,” according to the story.
“The law could send hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants to prison in a way never done before. And it could mean hundreds of millions of dollars in profits to private prison companies responsible for housing them,” according to the story.
Prison Economics Help Drive Ariz. Immigration Law
by Laura Sullivan / NPR
(x2 of the Gov Brewer’s advisers were prison lobbyists)
Brewer has her own connections to private prison companies. State lobbying records show two of her top advisers — her spokesman Paul Senseman and her campaign manager Chuck Coughlin — are former lobbyists for private prison companies. Brewer signed the bill — with the name of the legislation Pearce, the Corrections Corporation of America and the others in the Hyatt conference room came up with — in four days.
Brewer and her spokesman did not respond to requests for comment.
“People need to focus on the cost of not enforcing our laws and securing our border. It is the Trojan horse destroying our country and a republic cannot survive as a lawless nation.”
But instead of taking his idea to the Arizona statehouse floor, Pearce first took it to a hotel conference room.
It was last December at the Grand Hyatt in Washington, D.C. Inside, there was a meeting of a secretive group called the American Legislative Exchange Council. Insiders call it ALEC.
Ho ho, hah hah, hehehehehehe, BwaHaHaAhHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! (Cantankerous Intellectual Bomb-thrower™)
“The law could send hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants to prison in a way never done before.”
In what new way exactly? Just curious. Its my understanding that illegals who haven’t broke any law - except, of course, for the manner in which they entered the country - usually are sent to a detention center until there are enough of them to fill a bus headed to either Mexico or to the airport. Does anyone care whether the detention centers are outsourced or government-owned?
Unless I am misunderstanding something, I suspect this story is plain old media hype.
The reduction in crime from deportations would mean less long term inmates.
I know a lady who was looking for a job back in the 1990s. She applied at the private prison up in Eloy, AZ. This is the place that handles a lot of illegal immigrants before they’re deported.
She was told that the entry-level wage was eight bucks an hour. Which made her wonder what kind of employees this place was hiring.
She passed on the Eloy job and went to work for her husband instead. (Hubby owned an insurance agency here in Tucson.)
Federal reimbursement dollars $$$$ to the State for arrest / processing + ICE personal buying meals & beds $$$$ while working in the State + Federal reimbursement $$$$ to the State for placement in “private prison Corporation” pending investigation & determination + + + + +
Private Prisons Corporations are expecting the arrests /detainment’s & deportations to be a very quick & speedy process…the faster and non-complex the whole thing is, enhances their “long-term” prisons-for-profit “bidness” model.
Profit Prison CEO “investor conference call”: “We expect the “long-term” Federal response to proceed “apace” in the near term…
Cha-ching! $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
The law makes it a state offense- trespassing- and in some cases a felony.
Voting is a shameful act of self-subjugation
by
Stefan Molyneux
http://tinyurl.com/2dc82dj
Interesting tape lint .
Check out his other videos and be prepared for enlightenment.
Just let it happen.
Johnnie I-B-Leary, least your find yourself in an ideological “follow-the-leader” camp site with a “from-the-mind-of-minolta” CULT leader.
Yeah, but there’s free kool-aid.
Build Americas Face Biggest 2010 Monthly Loss on Supply Glut: Muni Credit
Build America Bonds , the fastest-growing part of the $2.8 trillion municipal debt market, are poised for the biggest monthly loss in 2010. Photographer: Brian Branch Price/Bloomberg
Build America Bonds, the fastest- growing part of the $2.8 trillion municipal debt market, are poised for the biggest monthly loss in 2010 as an increased supply of the taxable debt drives up yields.
States and municipalities have sold about $4.8 billion of the federally subsidized securities this week, the most since the five-day trading period ended April 24, 2009, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Issuers have placed 48 offerings for sale, the highest number since the program’s creation by the economic stimulus package in February 2009, Bloomberg data show.
Be prepared for the cascade effect when one of these muni’s implodes because a city defaults. Not if but when.
“Not if but when”.
Very true, you can only stuff so much junk into the attic, at some point it all comes down. On your head.
Harrisburg PA was about to default on bonds that were used to build a municipal incinerator (you know, burn garbage to make green energy). At the last minute the state bailed them out by (!!!) lending them more money!
Anybody know if this will affect Pimco Total Return (PTTRX)?
High & Low Finance ~ Strange Tales in the Land of No Return
This week the United States Treasury sold bonds for a price that may be greater than the total amount of cash an investor will get from holding the bond to maturity in 2015.
That appears to be a first for this or any other government. When all is done, the Treasury may have managed to borrow money at a negative interest rate. Put another way, buyers of the bonds might have done better if they stuffed the money in their mattresses.
We’ll get to the details of the bond later. But first we’ll note that buyers of the bonds could make out O.K. if inflation soars. The bonds are inflation-protected. So there is a chance, albeit perhaps a small one, that this will prove to be a really profitable investment.
The same cannot be said for conventional bonds from the Treasury or from high-quality corporate borrowers. There the rates are minuscule, and the upside nonexistent.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/29/business/economy/29norris.html?_r=1&ref=business
Inflation protection might be relevant, but whoever lent the money to the govt could believe deflation exists or is imminent, and will persist.
Lend $100 today, and collect only $99 in 2015..
But thanks to deflation, that $99 buys much more than the original $100.
Therefore, you make a profit.
If you stuff the $100 in a mattress until 2015, you would gain an extra dollar. However, houses burn and can be robbed, and that’s why people store their cash money in banks. Safety and security comes at a price.
We are planning big family trip to Europe the summer of 2012 (British Isles, Germany, France, Spain). We are doing the whole thing on a budget of course… MAC flight, house swap, travel by rail, etc. I was wondering what everyone thought about the future of the GBP and Euro exchange rates. Should I be watching the exchange rates to see if I can exchange some $’s at a more favorable rate? Is there any way to do it where I won’t have to carry cash with me? I was thinking it would be cool to start a savings account in Euro or GBP and then just withdraw from that when we are over there but I am not sure if that is a reality. Thanks in advance
“Should I be watching the exchange rates to see if I can exchange some $’s at a more favorable rate?”
Yes. You’re likely to have an opportunity or two between now and then to get Euros at a better rate than you can today.
Shop for a credit card with favorable exchange/conversion fees. There are differences among banks, and even small differences will add up to money in your pocket.
Cash is still king in a lot of places in Europe.
Navy, there are several ways. Here are two: 1. you could buy a foreign currency CD with Everbank. 2. you could buy an ETF such as FXE that will act as a hedge, if it goes up in value you can sell it and use the gains for your trip; if it goes down then the euro will be cheaper on your trip.
the best place to plan your train travels is here:
www dot seat61 dot com
tankxs & Cheers!
“Ads & affiliate commission support the site and my travel habit (er… I mean research), and buy me a beer or two”
Like their cute Amtrak banner ad!
Don’t bother exchanging money or looking at the rates every 5 minutes. You can’t time the market like that. There’s no way to know what will happen in 2012. In 2008 people were predicting Euro would be at $2 by now. It’s $1.35. By 2012 the odds of it being $1 is as good as it being $2. You just have no way of knowing right now what will happen.
If you want some hedging, but some April/May/June 2012 Euro calls. If the Euro tanks, you’ll lose your minimal investment. If the Dollar tanks you’ll make a killing. If it holds more or less steady, you break even. Think of it as buying insurance against the currency which is what you’re really asking for.
And I would say don’t bother with new accounts. Your credit card’s exchange rate is as good as anything else you will find. I travel overseas often and the exchange rate I get is almost the published rate. Personally I hate carrying cash with me, be it here or abroad. The 1% savings I might be able to get is not worth the hassle.
If you go to Spain go in July and go to Pamplona for San Fermin. It’s something everyone should experience at least once.
Not sure about exchange rates, but I doubt if the rates have fluctuated enough to make holding a lot of Euros an advantage after the fees charged for buying currency from most places. (That said, I always hang onto any left over Euros for next trip, so I don’t lose more $ by converting it back and having petty cash for the next trip so I don’t have to stand jet-lagged in a line for the ATM as soon as I land to get cab/subway fare.)
Using ATM’s with checking/debit card so far seems the cheapest way to go for currency as you travel. You get the most current exchange rate, but have to be aware of your particular bank’s fees for using foreign ATM’s and any conversion fees. I usually get enough cash for several days in one transaction to minimize fees. (Also, be aware that pin codes in foreign ATM’s may be limited to four characters, so you may want to change your code before you go.)
There also seems to be fairly widespread use of cards for purchases, but lots of mom and pop places appreciate cash.
Sometime before my next trip I’m going to check out banks with an international presence (maybe HSBC) to see if I can somehow further reduce fees if I use their ATM’s over there.
The Online Threat
“‘Current Chinese officials have told me that [they're] not going to attack Wall street, because [they] basically own it,’ and Whitfield Diffie, on encryption, ‘I’m not convinced that lack of encryption is the primary problem [of vulnerability to network attack]. The problem with the Internet is that it’s meant for communication among non-friends.’ “
Tankxs!
“The Navy’s experts didn’t believe that China was capable of reverse-engineering the plane’s N.S.A.-supplied operating system”
Sun Tzu: “Always under-estimate the capabilities of your enemy!”
“…The meaning of such statements are clearer when interpreted in the context of Taoist thought and practice. Sun Tzu viewed the ideal general as an enlightened Taoist master, which has led to The Art of War being considered a prime example of Taoist strategy”
Fear / military “innovation” / more-fear / private contractor “innovation” / even-more-fear / more-military “innovation” / even-more-worse-fear / more-private contractor “innovation” / even-more-worser-worser-fear / …there’s an end to all this, right?
“As a consequence of not mitigating the risk, we’re going to have a catastrophic event.”
“…A great deal of money is at stake. Cyber security is a major growth industry, and warnings from Clarke, McConnell, and others have helped to create what has become a military-cyber complex. The federal government currently spends between six and seven billion dollars annually for unclassified cyber-security work, and, it is estimated, an equal amount on the classified portion. In July, the Washington Post published a critical assessment of the unchecked growth of government intelligence agencies and private contractors
I have a few friends that work in the cyber security field and it is NOT a growth industry.
The horror stories of resistance to implementing effective digital security is hair raising.
Slim with a ray of hope amidst all of this housing gloom -n- doom:
I was at an all-day conference yesterday. The topic was University of Arizona scientific and technological research and how it could drive economic development locally and nationally.
Among other things, a blueprint for economic development was discussed. The blueprint is based on the UA’s research strengths. You’ll be pleased to know that, in this real estate-obsessed state, the blueprint excludes any mention of…
…real estate development.
Instead, it focuses on things like biotech, pharmaceuticals, IT, and green technology.
Oh, I did overhear one guy saying to another, “Since investors lost so much money on real estate, NOW they’re interested in life sciences.”
Awesome news! Hopefully San Diego, with its rich endowment of life science related institutions and industries, will also see the light. Traffic is also much lighter without all those real estate agents and investors jamming the roadways as they were back in 2005.
“Since investors lost so much money on
real estateherd-mal-investment “A”, NOW they’re interested inlife sciencesherd mal-invest “B”.”That would be the dumb money.
Later during the same conference, I attended a startup company’s presentation to private investors. These guys and gals were VERY sharp cookies.
They had the presenter’s business assumptions in tatters in nothing flat.
They had the presenter’s business assumptions in tatters in nothing flat.
These guys and gals were VERY sharp cookies.
Well, these guys below are always looking to cheaply replicate “innovative ideas”, ….having things is their pipeline is always efficient & helpful in speeding things along.
For lavi d’s post just above:
“The Navy’s experts didn’t believe that China was capable of reverse-engineering the plane’s N.S.A.-supplied operating system”
“……focuses on biotech, pharmaceuticals, IT and green technology.”
Sounds great.
Except for the fact that every college from UC-San Diego to the University of Maine is planning on doing the same thing.
They must all hire the same consultants.
http://money.cnn.com/2010/10/29/news/economy/australians_real_estate/index.htm
Aussies bouyed by resources-backed currency - unlike Uncle Ben’s inkjet QE greenbacks - are swooping in to buy up U.S. foreclosures.
I saw that one coming. But it’s all good — as we know, the prices are still too high. After enough foreign investor money gets plowed into buying U.S. homes at these levels, we can move forward with the strong dollar policy, removal of RE subsidies, home purchase incentive programs that favor end-user owner-occupants over investors, etc.
Aussies
Yippie! Welcome mates!
Maybe they can throw another shrimp on the Barbie Boxer.
“The Fair Treatment for Precious Metals Investors Act is bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to treat gold, silver, platinum, and palladium, in either coin or bar form, in the same manner as equities and mutual funds for purposes of the maximum capital gains rate for individuals.”
one key element of a true bubble is some sort of goverment subsidy…policy….etc. to encourage its formation.
if this passes i will concede…gold will become a bubble.
As long as one uses legal tender gold and silver coins then tax will be computed on the face value not the metal value. Furthermore, one should trade their metal instead of selling their metal so that no federal reserve notes are used. Tax code only applies to transaction involving the use of federal reserve notes or legal tender at face value. Trade gold for a tractor and no tax.
Gold is a reflection of reckless fiscal and monetary policies. The bubble is in recklessness, fiscal and monetary recklessness.
Most people have been saying gold is in a bubble since $400.
Seems ironic. Precious metals are doing extremely well and the government suddenly wants to tighten up the tax laws and reporting of sales.
Wondering why they didn’t apply this logic to derivatives and credit default swaps.
“The Fair Treatment for Precious Metals Investors Act is bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to treat gold, silver, platinum, and palladium, in either coin or bar form, in the same manner as equities and mutual funds for purposes of the maximum capital gains rate for individuals.”
one key element of a true bubble is some sort of government subsidy…policy….etc. to encourage its formation.
if this passes i will concede…gold will become a bubble.
It’s about time that the government stopped discriminating against PM investors.
Along Combotechies’ dollar velocity and where the dollars end up here is a article from the WSJ
“While the U.S. Federal Reserve frets about deflation, in some parts of the world inflation may now be the bigger danger.
Although the IMF expects headline inflation in emerging markets to fall to 5% in 2011 from around 5.75% now, pressures are building in some developing countries. India’s inflation rate hit double digits earlier this year. In Brazil, economists have increased their 2010 inflation forecasts for six straight weeks, according to the central bank. Investors may want to consider some protection.
There are three main sources of inflationary pressure: first, commodity prices. The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization’s food price index is at its highest since August 2008, driven by gains in cereals. This has a big impact on emerging-market inflation: in emerging Asia, food accounts for 40% of the average CPI basket.
Second, emerging market efforts to prevent currency appreciation may prove inflationary. The cost of sterilizing currency market interventions—issuing bonds to mop up excess local currency—has become very costly given the extremely low yields on U.S. bonds relative to local-currency debt. That raises the risk of unsterilized interventions, leading to inflationary increases in the money supply. Meanwhile, emerging-market central banks may also hold off on rate hikes for fear of acting as a magnet for capital flows.
Third, emerging-market output gaps are closing and labor markets may be tightening. Many countries are quickly making up for the loss of growth in 2009; in India and China, in fact, there was only a modest slowdown. In Brazil, average wages rose more than 11% in September, or just over 6% in real terms, HSBC Global Asset Management notes; in Korea, Poland and Chile, the unemployment rate has fallen to previous cycle norms.
How can investors protect themselves? One option is inflation-linked bonds, although liquidity in emerging-market issues is relatively low. Breakeven inflation rates in countries such as Brazil, Turkey and South Korea show investors may be under-pricing the risk of higher inflation. Emerging market property and consumer stocks could offer an attractive hedge against inflation, particularly given growing domestic demand. As investors plow cash into emerging markets, a little insurance could come in handy.
Yep,
File under: Wall St. doing “God’s work”… quietly:
Homes= Wall St. manipulation/extraction scheme (Large $ denominations)Oil/Energy = Wall St. manipulation/extraction scheme (small $ denominations)
Coming Soon:
Food = Wall St. manipulation/extraction scheme (small $ denominations)
It’s a good thing…
Government workforce slashed at local levels ~ USA TODAY
States, cities and schools are trimming their payrolls in a cost-cutting effort that has dramatically improved the financial condition of state and local governments.
In the past year, state and local employment has been reduced, mostly through not filling vacancies, by 258,000, or 1.3%, to 19.2 million workers, reports the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The cuts are the most since the recession of 1980-81. The federal workforce, meanwhile, grew 3.4% to 2.2 million in the past year.
Three-fourths of the state and local job cuts have occurred in five states: New Jersey, New York, California, Ohio and Michigan. Nationwide, 35 states reduced government payrolls in the past year while 15 states increased employment.
“The outlook is for more cuts,” says Donald Boyd, finance expert at the Rockefeller Institute of Government in Albany, N.Y.
A smaller workforce — along with federal stimulus money and an increase in tax collections — has helped state and local governments run budget surpluses since last October, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Compensation accounts for half of the $2 trillion spent annually by governments.
A smaller workforce — along with federal stimulus money and an increase in tax collections — has helped state and local governments..
See that?
Stimulus money went to “banksters”.. and Goldman Sachs.. and to pay off California Teacher’s Union members’ bloated salaries and cushy pensions.
Taxpayers have to be careful. Those greedy, crooked money grubbing thieves come in all shapes, sizes.. and disguises.
As an Oregonian ( as much as it pains me to say this ) I’m not convinced “throwing the bums out!” ( pub. employees..? ) along w/ incumbents is the damn answer here?
My wife’s plant laid off over half their workforce in an effort to “right size” the company. They are now fooked. I realize bloated budgets GOT to be tamed, but personnel ( in this economy? ) is probably the last place municipalities should look.
There’s plenty of waste out there before they get to people.
In Illinois, new hires are on more of a 401K system than a pension. So the game for municipalities might very well go something like this: lay off employees, and then re-hire them as “new hires”, not subject to the bennies the old timers get.
Taxpayers have to be careful. Those greedy, crooked money grubbing thieves come in all shapes, sizes.. and disguises.
Ladies and gentlemen, choose your thieves:
Some are disguised as making 50K per year and some are disguised as making $519,000,000 ($519 million) per year.
Highest Earners’ Pay Quintupled in 2009, Government Data Show bloomberg dot com
As the recession pushed U.S. incomes down last year, America’s highest earners — 74 people who made more than $50 million — saw their pay more than quintuple on average to a record $519 million each.
Those top-end Americans earned a combined $38.4 billion in 2009, up from $11.9 billion earned by 131 individuals with wages above $50 million in 2008, according to Social Security Administration data. Nationally, the average annual wage fell by $384 to $39,269 and the median wage fell by $253 to $26,261 during the worst economic slump since the Great Depression.
Damn unions!
Be sure to keep your eyes peeled after Nov. 2. IIRC, there is a very large number of gubernatorial elections this year, 37 I think. Chances are that each of those states have been kicking the can down the road and will have to finally confront their budget problems head on. I know my state will.
Same here in AZ. If Jan Brewer wins, she’s not going to have an easy time of it.
I predict that she’ll be as effective an elected governor as Jane Dee Hull was. (Read: Not very effective.)
OTOH, say what you want about Janet Napolitano, but she was no slouch in the brains or hard work department. I knew the lady who ran her southern Arizona office, and trust me, if you went to Janet, it was a 24/7 job.
The government will win all elections…guaranteed.
They win and you lose.
While I’m no fan of government, I really don’t want the corporations having any more control than they do now.
” Chances are that each of those states have been kicking the can down the road and will have to finally confront their budget problems head on. I know my state will.”
For two years now, since finding NY as #2 on a CNBC list of states with the worst deficits, I keep thinking spending will be clipped in this state but it never happens. Meanwhile, NY is no longer even listed on most of the top 10 worst states list. I suppose that the Wall Street bank rescues and the change from mark to market accounting contributed to The Street’s biggest ever bonuses which of course helps our state tax situation. Perhaps that partially explains the stronger position.
A month ago, our state comptroller declared the state “seriously damaged” and claimed, “the economy is slowly improving, but the vast majority of job growth thus far has been concentrated in New York City and its suburbs. Job growth has been weak, and not all regions of the state are benefitting equally,” DiNapoli said. “While revenue collections are also improving, the rate of growth is too slow to solve New York’s budget problems.” So I have to ask when are we going to address these problems?
Just this week our governor floated the smallest number to date of public job eliminations. I figure by the time the unions get down throwing up all the legal hurdles, that number will again be cut in half. Also depressing to see, they’re going after the weakest in our society, mentally ill and elderly, and leaving the graft and fraud still untouched. Plus as Blue Skye mentioned earlier there isn’t an already well maintained road that isn’t set for a bit more “upgrading”. Road crews are apparently well represented among Albany lobbyists. Meanwhile the previously deteriorated continues to rot.
A young fellow I know worked as an engineer at SRS in Savannah for Shaw Group under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds. They gave him the boot last month exactly one month shy of a full year. That way no additional compensation, he is on unemployment now hunting another job.
SRS plans 1,400 layoffs ~ 10/29/2010
An internal memo obtained by the Aiken Standard on Thursday highlights plans for a large-scale workforce reduction by Savannah River Nuclear Solutions at the Savannah River Site by 2012, associated with the completion of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act work.
The memo, dated October 2010, outlines a phased workforce restructuring plan that would reduce the workforce by 1,400 employees - 100 through a voluntary separation program and the remaining 1,300 through a two-phased involuntary separation plan.
for Shaw Group under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds
Ah, paShaw, they took some of the “spending-not-stimulus” money, well shut my Demoncratic-CORPORATION mouth!
Political effects of Hurricane Katrina:
Reports of contract awards
Halliburton received reconstruction and damage assessment contracts for naval facilities in Mississippi and New Orleans affected by Katrina.Kellogg Brown & Root, a former subsidiary of Halliburton, is doing major repairs at Navy facilities along the Gulf Coast that were damaged by the hurricane. That work is being done under a $500 million contract with the Defense Department.
Other no-bid contracts were awarded to the Fluor Corporation, a disaster recovery specialist company based in southern California, and The Shaw Group of Baton Rouge, La. Shaw is a client of Joe M. Allbaugh, a consultant with extensive emergency disaster training and was a former FEMA director. Shaw’s CEO was chairman of Louisiana’s Democratic party at the time.
The Shaw Group, Inc., which won two federal rebuilding contracts, each worth $100 million, has a history of obtaining no-bid contracts through contacts to Democratic politicians in Louisiana. “Shaw’s chief executive officer, Jim Bernhard “is the Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Shaw Group Inc., a Fortune 500 company,” and Chairman of the Louisiana Democratic Party. The Shaw group and Jim Bernhard is/was also a major supporter and contributor to Gov. Blanco and other Major Louisiana Democrat politicians.
Because people are smart…
Polls show Republicans don’t believe that bankers and their frauds played any role in the economic meltdown, Obama responsible for most of it…
http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?singlepost=2236233
From the article above:
On one side we have people blaming Obama and Congress for the economic malaise yet ignoring the Elephant in the room - what happened before Obama was President - while on the other side we have the people blaming ex-President Bush.
Notice that “Wall Street/Bankers” manages to draw 25% - among Democrats. 40% if you include “Big Corporations. - among Democrats. But among Republicans? Under 10% for both groups combined.
This is beyond ridiculous. It’s stupid.
If we don’t cut this crap out we’re going to go down the hole as a nation.
You want to know why I have been all over the Tea Party? Well gee, this might be why. The Tea Party is essentially all Republicans and yet nowhere (in the 90th percentile) do we see any acknowledgment of what actually caused the problems in this nation - particularly when it comes to the economy.
Ramps in housing prices based on fraudulent appraisals and intentional hype? No acknowledgment.
Fraudulent loans? No acknowledgment.
We’ve been going down that “hole” for 30 years and counting.
China is building cross country high sped rail and we have….
China is gearing up it’s manned pace program and we are….
We lost it in the 1980s. “Greed is good” right?
Republican versus Democrat. It’s a choice between Kang and Kodos.
Banning Lewis developer files Chapter 11 bankruptcy
The Gazette
The owners of the Banning Lewis Ranch on the far east side of Colorado Springs filed Thursday for U.S. Bankruptcy Court protection from its creditors.
The Banning Lewis Ranch Co. LLC and its subsidiary, Banning Lewis Ranch Development I & II LLC, filed Chapter 11 petitions in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware, citing more than $242 million in debts. The two companies own the 21,400-acre ranch that stretches from Woodmen Road to Fontaine Boulevard between Marksheffel and Meridian roads.
The massive ranch makes up most of Colorado Springs’ east side. The city annexed the property in 1988, a move that at the time added a parcel the size of Fort Collins to the Springs’ boundaries. The property moved through several sets of owners before development finally began in 2007 and the first residents arrived in early 2008.
With the nationwide housing bust, though, development in Banning Lewis barely got going. There are about 200 families living in the huge area, and lots for 50 more homes have been sold. That’s a world away from the 75,000 residences and 180,000 people Banning Lewis was predicted to house when it is fully built out — a process expected to take 50 years or more.
Still, more than $75 million has been spent on roads, water and sewer lines and recreation centers in the last few years.
OK all you consumers get out there and consume! Show’um how a true blue American shopper, shops. We can’t have these good folks not making a profit on their deluxe idiot boxes, and being miserable to boot.
Sony, Samsung Face `Miserable’ Christmas Amid Price War
(Bloomberg)
TVs are about to get cheaper.
Sony Corp. today gave up on a goal to profit from televisions this fiscal year and Panasonic Corp. forecast price drops will deepen this quarter. Earlier, Samsung Electronics Co. predicted “severe” competition for the year-end season, echoing comments from LG Electronics Inc. yesterday.
Projections from the world’s four largest TV makers signal the industry will fail to capitalize on the biggest sales quarter of the year, with some analysts predicting prices to fall as much as 25 percent in 2010. Companies from Microsoft Corp. to Intel Corp. are increasingly counting on corporate demand as consumers are reluctant to shop.
“There’s going to be a price war this Christmas season and there’s no way around that,” said Tsutomu Yamada, a market analyst at kabu.com Securities Co. in Tokyo. “The whole strategy this year is ‘sell earlier and sell for less.’ That makes life miserable for the manufacturers.”
Near the Arizona Slim Ranch is a Section 8 house that has been the source of ongoing headaches in this nabe. The latest set of vermin, er, tenants, have a big screen teevee that they like to set out in the carport for public showings of who-knows-what.
I should also mention that the man of this house drives a newish-looking monster truck that’s big enough to have its own zip code.
Meanwhile, there are people in this nabe who do things like keep old cars and trucks running forever, watch small-screen teevees if we watch them at all, and we don’t leave trash all over our yards and the streets the way these Section 8 people do.
Klassy with a capital “K”
TVs are about to get cheaper.
you mean like houses?
Anyway, if prices are falling why would anyone buy a TV today or tomorrow? Why not wait until prices bottom out..
Deflationary spiral:
A deflationary spiral is a situation where decreases in price lead to lower production, which in turn leads to lower wages and demand, which leads to further decreases in price.[7] Since reductions in general price level are called deflation, a deflationary spiral is when reductions in price lead to a vicious circle, where a problem exacerbates its own cause. The Great Depression was regarded by some as a deflationary spiral.[8] Whether deflationary spirals can actually occur is controversial.[9]
‘if prices are falling why would anyone buy a TV today or tomorrow? Why not wait…’
This reminds me of an economist I heard the other day on the radio. They were discussing deflation and consumer spending. We got the usual, ‘our economy is xx% consumption, so this is key to kick starting the recovery.’ Then they got into the Federal Reserve’s ‘efforts’ to revive inflation. This guy says something like, if consumers expect prices to fall, they put off spending. For example, look at the housing market.
All debates about inflation/deflation and the wisdom of basing an economy on debt-based consumption aside, these people are completely ignoring the housing bubble! Are we really supposed to throw ourselves under the bus by paying too much for a house, so the economy can improve?
‘As a scholar of the Depression, Mr. Bernanke chastised Japan for being too timid in combating deflation and advocated overwhelming force as a response to financial crises — advice he has followed at the Fed. But Mr. Bernanke…has been adroit in avoiding fiscal controversy.’
‘Other economists say the Fed has already gotten dangerously close to the Treasury Department, given their collaboration under Mr. Bush in bailing out Wall Street, and in propping up the housing market.’
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Bernankes-Reluctance-to-Speak-nytimes-299848388.html;_ylt=At3qCnOyf5P9FYQdFewLWSS7YWsA;_ylu=X3oDMTE1YTEydDJyBHBvcwM1BHNlYwN0b3BTdG9yaWVzBHNsawNiZXJuYW5rZXNyZWw-?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=2&asset=&ccode=
Suppose the Fed had tried to ‘prop up’ the internet stock bubble? What if they had made ‘efforts’ to get people to buy DrKoop stock in 2000? Would that have done one damn thing to help the economy? And housing is a much larger purchase, almost always bought with borrowed money! I have to ask, do these people view us as widgets in some economic game, to be manipulated in the pursuit of so-called recovery?
“Are we really supposed to throw ourselves under the bus by paying too much for a house, so the economy can improve?”
If you think about increased affordability potentially leading to more walkaways, and more walkaways potentially leading to further increases in affordability, and the see-saw dynamic leading to further bank losses, the strawman arguments used to justify government intervention to prop up housing prices almost start to make sense.
“What if they had made ‘efforts’ to get people to buy DrKoop stock in 2000?”
I’m wondering if the Fed intervened to prop up buggy whip prices back when the automobile replaced the horse-drawn carriage as the main U.S. transportation mode. Does anyone know the history on this?
‘Other economists say the Fed has already gotten dangerously close to the Treasury Department, given their collaboration under Mr. Bush in bailing out Wall Street, and in propping up the housing market.’
I suppose the majority of MSM journalists have yet to discover the existence of The President’s Working Group and its successor organization (the Financial Stability Oversight Council)?
“do these people view us as widgets in some economic game, to be manipulated in the pursuit of so-called recovery?”
Yes.
“widgets”
I was thinking the view was more that the sheeple are rats in Dr Bernanke’s experimental economics laboratory. Lots of future economic research will be supported by all the experimental data currently being generated on the Main Street lab rats.
Yes it’s true, but it’s not extraordinary.
Politicians see us as votes. Businesses view us as wallets. Web sites see us as hits. Public schools view students as federal matching funds.
The Fed, who’s job it is to stabilize and/or balance the economy views us as common widgets in the larger economic mechanisms.
Grease the ones in the middle.. tighten those at the top, and throw the remainder overboard to reduce weight.. and (they hope) the economy will run a little better.
We might be lowly widgets but we are (as a group) as vital to the machine’s continued function as any other component.
“We might be lowly widgets but we are (as a group) as vital to the machine’s continued function as any other component.”
I like to think of us plain folk as Lilliputians, and Megabank, Inc as Gulliver. Happy travels!
“I have to ask, do these people view us as widgets in some economic game, to be manipulated in the pursuit of so-called recovery?”
Is this a trick question?
WTH? “They” just said yesterday that peoples were out shopping and feeling better about themselves.
Consumer sentiment dips to lowest since November.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. consumer sentiment worsened more than expected in October, hitting its weakest level since November, with concern about the economy high leading into next week’s election, a survey showed on Friday.
The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan’s final October reading on the overall index on consumer sentiment came in at 67.7, down from 68.2 in September and below the 68.0 median forecast among economists polled by Reuters.
MarketWatch News Break
Oct. 29, 2010, 11:56 a.m. EDT
Fixing the Home Front: What can D.C. really do?
Sinking home prices. Rising foreclosures. Expired tax breaks. Can Washington really do anything to heal the ailing home front? Listen to this special edition of MarketWatch News Break — Fixing the Home Front.
Astoria home care agency lost contract with city, 2,000 workers face layoffs ~ DAILY NEWS NY October 29th 2010
An Astoria-based home care agency could be forced to close its doors and lay off more than 2,000 home attendants by year’s end after losing its long-standing contract with the city.
Home Services Systems Inc. lost its renewal bid with the city Human Resources Administration in mid-October. The organization, which is an affiliate of Manhattan-based nonprofit HANAC Inc., provides 1,900 seniors across the city with personal care services such as feeding, cleaning and bathing.
“This came out of the blue. It was completely unexpected,” said Evan Stavisky, a spokesman for HANAC.
HANAC has held a home attendant contract with the city since 1979, officials at the Human Resources Administration said.
“This came out of the blue. It was completely unexpected,” said Evan Stavisky, a spokesman for HANAC.
There’s that word again: Unexpected.
“Officials from the HRA declined to comment about why Home Services Systems lost its renewal bid, but said that no services will be cut when the new contract is awarded.”
My guess: The new successful bidder came in at a lower price and/or offered sweeter kickbacks.
“Of the employees who will lose their jobs, about 1,500 are full-time workers who are members of local 1199 SEIU health care workers union.”
Any chance the new successful bidder will be using non-union employees?
http://www.nydailynews.com
Nah Bill they will use welfare recipients who have to work off their meager check anyway
Then since HRA will pay for their schooling with short time training grant vouchers …might as well start employing them right out of school … at a whole lot less $$$$
Sounds like the New America
Wash,rinse & repeat…Same old Sh!t over and over again!
Bachus May Be Wall Street’s New Overseer in Congress ~ Bloomberg
Two years after his party’s leaders stripped much of his power as the top Republican on the House Financial Services Committee, Representative Spencer Bachus is within reach of taking the chairmanship from Democrat Barney Frank during the biggest regulatory overhaul since the 1930s.
Bachus, of Alabama, has turned away several challengers and is likely to replace the Massachusetts lawmaker if Republicans gain at least 39 House seats in the Nov. 2 elections and assume control of the chamber, according to Republican committee members and two Republican aides.
During Frank’s tenure, Congress approved the most sweeping financial legislation in decades, giving the federal government power to seize mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, spend $700 billion on a bank bailout and rewrite Washington’s rules for Wall Street. Republicans said that if they take power, the financial industry can expect the panel to influence how new regulations are implemented and enforced.
“You’re going to see a more methodical approach — ‘Let’s have more hearings, let’s slow the process down a little bit,’” Representative Randy Neugebauer, a Texas Republican and deputy ranking member of the committee, said in an interview.
let’s slow the process down a little bit,’” Representative Randy Neugebauer, a Texas Republican and deputy ranking member of the committee, said in an interview.
Jib-Jab / ping-pong / teeter-totter
“right-back-at-ya”
(Hwy reaches into GOPOFC&CC tool box, hands a “TrueDoNothing™ / “TrueObstructionists™ / TrueGridLokers™” metric monkey wrench to the new minority Democrapts. Hey guys, works on just ’bout everything large, not so well on small “nuts” though…enjoy!…cheers!)
Tuesday will be so much fun. I just hope I can stay up late enough for the west coast and Alaska results. If Barney Frank loses, I will be passed out soon thereafter from all the celebration shots I will be taking.
If Barney Frank loses, I will be passed out soon thereafter from all the celebration shots I will be taking.
Can’t disagree with you there.
I may even have to drink to that one…
A couple of neighbors have agreed to kick in to make a significant fireworks purchase to be used as part of the November 2nd celebration.
The only difference between the parties is that Republicans will turn this country into a carbon copy of present day Russia faster than the Democrats will.
When Republicans get back in power, look for the Tea-Partiers to get the “Randy Weaver” treatment.
Should it actually happen, I’m going to have to join you on that one, Carl.
Maybe even put on the Buffet and try a little tequila shooter or two just for Barney’s sake.
A couple of neighbors have agreed to kick in to make a significant fireworks purchase to be used as part of the November 2nd celebration.
Because of the hope and change?
I will be passed out soon thereafter from all the celebration shots I will be taking.
Like when they bailed out AIG?
News from “The O.C.!” / Nationwide, in your ‘hood too!
Filed under: “Baffle ‘em with a maze of Bamboozlement!” or “Just try and “Follow-the-money-why-don’t-ya?”
Published: Oct. 28, 2010
Updated: Oct. 29, 2010 7:13 a.m.
Column: None dares call it Irvine conspiracy
“The most an individual can donate to a City Council candidate in Irvine is $440 a year. Municipal Code 1-2-404/405. Of all the fictions in Irvine City Hall , this might be the biggest.
Somehow, every election cycle, people and companies with business interests in Irvine donate tens of thousands of dollars to some political action committee and, miraculously, Larry Agran & Co. always ends up as the beneficiaries of tens of thousands of dollars from some political action committee or slate-mail operation.
Following the trail is mind-numbing and generally futile because, as Agran correctly points out, watchdog agencies have never fined him. Earlier this year, two of my colleagues were able to track about $700,000 in campaign funds that between 2000 and 2010 took some circuitous route between special interests and campaign efforts that supported Agran or his interests.
The loopholes and games are many and varied. And it’s not all Agran supporters. His old nemesis, the Lincoln Club, is playing this year, trashing Agran and his allies with mail. But Agran has mastered the art like no other local politician.
Shall we examine one Irvine special interest’s donation this month and see if it can be tracked to Agran? The following numbers come from the Secretary of State’s Web site.”
Sorry,:
By FRANK MICKADEIT
COLUMNIST
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
I had my first landlord experience so to speak this week. Tenant called and said the furnace wasn’t working. My first thought was oh shit that’s gonna be expensive to fix. But before I called a repair guy, I thought I’d take a look myself. Turns out the furnace was just fine. There is an on/off switch for the furnace that’s sort of hidden in the garage. I didn’t know it was there, but I noticed that none of the outlets on that side of the garage (where the furnace is located) were active either. So I figured there’s gotta be a switch. An lo and behold there it is, tucked away behind the fridge in the corner of the garage. Perfect place for it. So I wasted an hour looking for a stupid switch but the tenant and I had a good laugh about it.
Ironically enough, I called my landlord because one the fireplaces in my rental wasn’t working and it too was an electrical issue that a friend of their took care of.
I own a house that I rent out. I am renting a house from a couple that moved out when we moved in and are renting a house themselves (a hell of a house about 1/2 a mile from the beach in Orange County). It’s a nice situation since both of us understand what it is like to be a tenant and a landlord simultaneously.
Your story shows just how whacked out the housing market is at the moment!
P.S. I don’t mean to single you out; our landlord is happy to have a tenant who can do home repairs and paint.
The housing market is whack, no doubt about it. But as I’ve said before there are several housing markets. In general, I see 3 markets. Under $300K, $300K to $600K and $600K+.
The low end has bottomed, which is why I bought an investment rental. The $300 to $600 is not quite there, which is why I am renting a house in this price range, at the higher end of the range. And my landlords who couldn’t sell, realize that they too are better off renting their $1Mish house right now than buy it.
All in all though everyone in this situation is benefiting. I am renting something I’m happy with and renting out the house I own cash flow positive. My tenant seems to be happy. My landlord is content since they may be losing some money from their rental, but making money (in the sense of paying less in rent than a mortgage) from the house they’re renting.
It’s a weird dynamic but if it works for everyone, why not?
Five years ago, I went to Disney, and I head some interesting stories from the bubble down there. I discoverd that you DON’T want an idiot flipper/self declared real estate genius as a landlord. I’ll see if I hear anything interesting from my journey to the mouse this time.
Few days to election. Happy false flag terrorist operations Friday to you all.
World’s most expensive home
27 stories, 400,000 sqft., $2B. No telling what it will be worth next year.
That looks like the Dalai Lama’s Pied-à-terre where he can get away from the dreary monk lifestyle, to do some drinking, get his helmet shined, etc., like those Western leaders.
Bill Gross says the Fed is running a Ponzi scheme, and this is what he gets in return?
* OCTOBER 29, 2010, 4:37 P.M. ET
RATE FUTURES REPORT: Market Sees Fed ‘Love’ For Buying Bonds
By Howard Packowitz
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
CHICAGO (Dow Jones)–U.S. interest rate futures traders continued to price in expectations for the next phase of quantitative easing Friday, even though the market is still five days from possibly finding out from the Federal Reserve the size of the economic stimulus.
Friday marked the second straight day of higher prices and expectations for lower yields, rebounding from a one-week selloff triggered by doubts about the Fed’s plans.
“The unwinds of bullish [quantitative easing] trades ran their course to either exhaustion or exasperation,” said David Ader, head of government bond market strategy for CRT Capital Group.
“The Fed’s going to act is if they love bonds,” said Ader in a trade note to clients.
…
Heh heh… just got my CA Democrat attack ads in the mail today. You have to hand it to the CA Democratic Party’s Davids, going up against Megabank, Inc funded Goliath Meg Whitman with only a sling shot in hand.
“On Wall Street, Meg Whitman gave out $79,000,000 in bonuses… on Main Street, we paid the price.”
and
“Meg Whitman’s $5 billion tax giveaway for the rich will make our deficit worse.”
hardly a slingshot..
Spending in California Politics
The CTA (California Teachers Association) is the most influential spender in California politics, spending more money on politicians and to influence California voters than Chevron, AT&T, Philip Morris and Western States Petroleum Association combined.[4].
Joey — here’s a movie recommendation for you:
http://www.waitingforsuperman.com/
Any chance the state AGs will get together a subpoena of Megabank, Inc, in order to determine whether fraud was, indeed, part of their business model?
AG: Wells’ “business model designed on fraud”
Sacramento Business Journal
Date: Thursday, October 28, 2010, 3:21pm PDT
Accusing Wells Fargo & Co. of “a business model designed on fraud,” Ohio’s attorney general said the San Francisco-based bank will be the focal point of his state’s investigation into shoddy foreclosure practices.
Richard Cordray’s comments on Bloomberg Television came after Wells Fargo’s announcement Wednesday that it woud submit supplemental affidavits to courts on up to 55,000 foreclosure proceedings after determining earlier documentation did not meet the bank’s standards.
“These people think they can play by a different set of rules,” the Ohio attorney general said. Ohio has joined with the attorneys general in the 49 other states in a nationwide probe of foreclosure practices. Ohio, like many other states, is conducting a parallel inquiry into foreclosure problems specific to its jurisdiction, and Cordray said on Bloomberg that Wells Fargo “will now become the focus for a new prong of our investigation.”
…
As if the business model for the original loans weren’t a fraudulent approach . Yes the borrowers committed fraud in a lot of cases but it
was encouraged and often times was filled in by the originators .BORROWERS WOULDN’T KNOW HOW TO GET THOSE LOAN PACKAGES
RIGHT HAD THEY NOT BEEN HELPED BY the loan makers . How would
a 15 dollar a hour cherry picker know what income was needed to
qualify for a 700k loan ? The entire industry that was suppose to
prevent fraud was encouraging and helping fraud be achieved by the borrowers .
And what kind of crazy accepts a stated loan whereby you just state
your income in spite of it being a liar loan ? The appraisers were blackmailed that unless they went along with hit the mark appraisal
their income would turn into nothing . At some point straw buyers were brought in and cash back fraud became rampant .
In 2004 the FBI reported rampant fraud in the mortgage markets but
apparently they were understaffed .
One of the reasons fraud was never this prevalent in prior cycles was
that the CEO’s actually had more ethics but also CEO’s didn’t have the same incentive system that evolved ,especially with de-regulation
going along with it .
They busted Lincoln Savings in the 80’s ,they busted bad banks . This current bail-out and cover-up was actually a violation of standing law about how financial entities that are insolvent have to be liquidated ,
Come on ,a ex CEO of Goldmans becomes the Treasury Sec and GS ends up being one of the greatest beneficiaries of the Tarp . There was no reason why a insurance company like AIG should off been part of a regulated bank bail out .Hank Paulson should of stepped down based on conflict of interest . Bailing out the culprits was THE PAULSON PLAN ,and why the Politicians allowed this blackmail was
just unbelievable .
These bad actors have destroyed the secondary market ,they managed to maintain the corrupt system without accountability for
their fraud which included outright misrepresentation of the
securities that the middlemen were peddling .
The only chance we have is to bust this outrage and come up with
true financial reform that addresses the current bad faith casino games of the financial systems . We can’t have a system that is this
one-sided and rigged and fraudulent in the financial markets .
You can’t have a financial system or any kind of business system that
is based on fraud being accepted and covered up .The banking entities
just went right ahead and took their bonuses and than committed fraud with the foreclosure process . The Paulson Plan is not going to
work . This is absurd that you have the culprits being the guys that come up with the answers as to how to solve the problems . I have never seen anything so absurd in my life .
We are going to go down the tubes if this continues because you already know that the culprits will run the ship into the rocks
again and again because greed and corrupt power won’t stop .The regulators and the Politicians have failed to do their duty in busting
this financial markets crime spree and doing right by the people and the United States .
Ohio state AG repudiates Megabank, Inc’s ‘do-over’ request:
* HOMES
* OCTOBER 29, 2010, 6:29 P.M. ET
Big Banks Told Not to Just ‘Fix’ Foreclosure Fraud
By ROBBIE WHELAN
Ohio’s attorney general threw a wrench into the banking industry’s push to quickly restart foreclosures by fixing faulty paperwork, and pressed them to modify mortgage loans.
In two letters released Friday, Attorney General Richard Cordray criticized a number of banks and loan-servicing companies, including Wells Fargo & Co.; Ally Financial Inc.’s GMAC Mortgage; Bank of America Corp.; and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. Mr. Cordray said the banks are trying to paper over fraud committed in foreclosures with temporary fixes that don’t address underlying problems in the banks’ practices.
“It is not acceptable for a party who believes they submitted false court documents to merely replace those documents. Wells Fargo and any other banks are not simply allowed a ‘do-over,’” he wrote in the letter to Wells. The other letter was sent to Ohio judges, who were asked to notify Mr. Cordray when banks file substitute affidavits.
…
OUCH! That’s gonna leave a mark!
The NY Times reporter insinuates that the current state of the housing market is typical for this point in a housing bust, but I’m not buying it. We bought a home in 1992, at a similar point in the business cycle, and there was no shortage of inventory or sense of desperation on behalf of buyers that they were going to somehow miss out on the bottom of the market. It’s different this time, as behind the scenes intervention is in play to withhold supply and prop up prices to levels that don’t properly price in the buyer’s discount for the risk of catching a falling knife in a down market.
Your Money
Buying a Foreclosure Home Is Not for the Timid
Jennifer Kuzara and her parents bought a foreclosed Atlanta home for under $50,000 and completely renovated the three bedroom, 2 bathroom house.
By RON LIEBER
Published: October 29, 2010
ATLANTA — As in any economic downturn, the wave of home foreclosures has attracted voracious opportunists — investors among them who are buying, fixing and then renting the places out.
In their wake are aspiring owner-occupants. How hard could it be, they ask, to pick up one of these houses on the cheap and make it livable?
For an answer, consider Jennifer Kuzara, 32, a grants manager for a nonprofit organization here. From early 2009 to early this year, she spent about 1,000 hours on her foreclosure project. The gang of helpers she assembled included two real estate agents, a banker, an architect, a contractor and her parents.
To stand a chance of making the project work in the neighborhoods where she was willing to live, she needed $100,000 in cash. Ultimately, Ms. Kuzara and her parents were exposed to a fair bit of risk, all in the name of a modest bungalow in a middle-class neighborhood.
And while the specifics are particular to Ms. Kuzara, plenty of people in foreclosure-ridden markets in Florida, Arizona, Nevada and elsewhere are in for a house hunt that is going to look a lot like hers. The headlines may be raising all sorts of questions about whether the foreclosures were legitimate. But there will always be people who want to buy when things are really cheap and are willing to press ahead when the quest seems most challenging.
So this is the story of what it will take for their search to have a happy ending.
…
Friday, October 29, 2010
Zombie bonds attack!
So the latest in the housing crisis won’t necessarily make for a great horror flick, but there’s a second wave of toxic assets coming. Stacey Vanek-Smith takes a look at what will happen in “Toxic Assets, Part II.”
A zombie at a bank (iStockPhoto)
Kai Ryssdal: Even though I personally am not gonna go near ‘em, haunted houses are going to be big this weekend. Here at Marketplace, we’ve got a haunted house story of our own. Haunted housing market story, really. It goes something like this: Once upon a time, home prices were rising. Home loans were scooped up and bundled into mortgage backed securities. Investors bought those securities, the housing bubble burst, and the toxic asset was born. They terrorized the economy and made mince-meat out of our biggest financial institutions. But enter Uncle Sam, toxic asset slayer, with billions of dollars in taxpayer bailout money. Problem solved, right? Yeah, no.
Marketplace’s Stacey Vanek-Smith reports that like any good horror story, toxic assets have a sequel.
…
Friday, October 29, 2010
Zombie economic ideas still among us
Professor John Quiggin, author of “Zombie Economics,” talks with Kai Ryssdal about how some economic ideas can be zombies — theories that refuse to die no matter how wrong they prove to be.
Book cover for “Zombie Economics: How Dead Ideas Still Walk among Us” (Princeton University Press)
…
RYSSDAL: Well let me ask you this, then. If we’ve got economic models failing right and left all over the place, what are we to believe? Is the problem not perhaps the models, but perhaps the economists, you know?
QUIGGIN: We have to admit that there’s an awful lot that we don’t know about how something as complex as the macro economy works, but then try and at least look at the large-scale relationships, which do suggest, for example, that a fiscal stimulus applied at the right time can have a positive effect, that we need to be pay attention of aggregated imbalances of the kind that were building up. Those kinds of things tend to be obscured by an excessive focus on elegant theory.
RYSSDAL: What are we to do then? How do you — not to carry the metaphor too far — but how do you put a stick through the heart of one of these zombie theories?
QUIGGIN: After I wrote the book, I saw the movie “Zombieland,” and rule number two is double tap. You always have to hit them twice. I talk about the trickle down theory, that when you help the rich that helps everybody. I think a theory so convenient to powerful people is never going to be cured permanently.
RYSSDAL: And the theory about trickle-down economics is in some way coming back to the United States in this debate we’re having about the Bush era tax cuts.
QUIGGIN: Absolutely. It’s suggesting that keeping on giving tax cuts to the top 1 or 5 percent of the population is going to help everybody else. The evidence is very clear that that’s not the case. That the vast majority of benefits of economic growth have gone to people in the top 10 percent of the income distribution. Within that 10 percent, the top 1 percent has done much better than the remaining 9 percent, and within that 1 percent, the top tenth of a percent has done even better.
…
Editorial: Time to pare back Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
05:04 PM CDT on Friday, October 29, 2010
Welcome to the insanity otherwise known as “reforming” mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
These two entities have cost taxpayers more than $148 billion in the current housing crisis, and the latest projections indicate that, if prices continue to fall sharply, we may pay another $124 billion in the next three years. Even a strong, rapid economic recovery – an unlikely scenario – would mean another $6 billion.
It’s time to overhaul these government-backed mortgage operations, which own or guarantee more than half of the nation’s $10.7 trillion in residential mortgages, so taxpayers don’t ever again end up subsidizing private gains.
The financial reform passed earlier this year is supposed to prevent financial firms from becoming “too big to fail.” But that law conveniently avoided cracking down on quasi-government institutions such as Fannie and Freddie. Despite tough talk from the Obama administration and Congress, neither has shown the political courage to act. If anything, the signals are frustratingly mixed.
Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair recently said Fannie and Freddie should no longer look to Washington to backstop risky ventures, but, in the same breath, she cautioned that home ownership is so important that it may require “ongoing government support.” Likewise, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has mused about giving Fannie and Freddie an “elegant funeral” but then hinted that the government might continue playing a major role in the market.
Although Fannie and Freddie didn’t cause the mortgage crisis, each stoked the inferno with wink-and-a-nod assurances that the government would bail out risky mortgage loans. Allowing the two operations to keep one foot in the private sector and the other in federal coffers tempts another crisis. Fannie and Freddie must be made to compete in the secondary mortgage market like every other private firm, with their own skin – not that of taxpayers – in the game.
…
The point is that the creeps destroyed the Secondary Loan market
so you have to have these entities to have mortgage activity at all . It
isn’t likely that investors will be willing to buy the fact that the
securities are AAA ,so what is Wall Street/Banks /Middlemen going to do
since they got off the hook by bailouts and lack of reform of the financial casinos . Can any reasonable person say they trust MBS’s these days or the rating of them ? Oh sure sales will be made on pennies on
the dollar ,but that’s not a secondary mortgage market .
Heh. Like so many elements of the economy, I first read speculation about this situation here.
Who’s benefiting from the housing bust? Subsidized tenants
Landlords woo folks on government aid to fill empty homes — and in some cases, vacant upscale properties.
By Dawn Wotapka of The Wall Street Journal
HENDERSON, Nev. — When Shawnetta Newburn left her drug-infested St. Louis neighborhood in search of a better life for her family in Las Vegas, she didn’t expect to live in a house with frills worthy of a McMansion.
But Paradise awaited.
That’s the name of the gated community where Newburn, a single mother who makes $10.50 an hour as a pawn-shop cashier, rents a three-bedroom townhouse with soaring ceilings, a gas-fueled fireplace and an oversize walk-in closet in the largest bedroom. The master bath even includes an enclosed toilet room, a feature popular in mini-mansions.
[...]
Newburn can thank the housing bust. She participates in a government program for low-income families that subsidizes about half of her $1,400 monthly rent. The program, known as Section 8, has for decades put families in functional but basic homes and apartments, sometimes in less-than-desirable communities.
But overbuilding during the housing boom has left so many homes available that landlords, desperate for renters, are wooing Section 8 recipients. These renters’ government subsidies, delivered electronically, guarantee the landlord gets paid. As a result, Section 8 recipients suddenly have a housing smorgasbord…
http://realestate.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=25434829\
We’re frackin’ doomed. See this movie and learn why. It is time to abolish the NEA and reinvent American education from the ground up!
This is supposedly news? Seems like this pattern has been playing out for months. In particular, fundamental factors in the U.S. domestic economy have remained subordinate to international currency market shocks for most of 2010.
Stocks, Dollar In Rare Sync
Stocks and the dollar are moving in precisely opposite directions, breaking their usual pattern of trading independently of one another, as investors await word on the Fed’s stimulus plans.
…
DJIA = 39K, move over!
Gold Bull’s Prediction: $10,000 an Ounce
Shayne McGuire, a pension-fund manager at the Teacher Retirement System of Texas and author of the book “Hard Money,” says his $10,000 outlook for the yellow metal is grounded in logic.
Sounds like an interesting read. It seems worthwhile to understand how monsters are born, in order to stop the next one before he becomes too powerful to easily stop.
* The Wall Street Journal
* BOOKSHELF
* OCTOBER 30, 2010
The Führer in the Making
By NORMAN STONE
When Nazi Germany took over Austria in March 1938, there was an outburst of not just anti-Semitism but outright sadism against the Jews. They were, among much else, made to scrub the slogans of the previous regime off walls and pavements. Then the expropriations started. An elderly Jewish couple who lost their shop appealed to Hitler in Berlin. Did His Excellency the Chancellor, they wrote, perhaps remember that as a young painter before the war selling his paintings on the corner of the Siebensterngasse, he would when it rained drop in at a certain shop and be given a cup of tea? Could he now see his way to helping the people who had treated him with such kindness? Hitler marked that the letter should be ignored, and the old couple surely went to a death camp.
We owe our knowledge of this fact to a remarkable 1999 book: “Hitler’s Vienna” by Brigitte Hamann. Her extensive research revealed that Hitler was not really an anti-Semite until after World War I. What had happened in those crucial wartime years is the question that Thomas Weber now answers in “Hitler’s First War.” Like Ms. Hamann, he has searched out original documents and found new material. Like her, he fundamentally alters our understanding of one of the most studied figures of the 20th century.
…
Voices of reason are finally starting to emerge from the housing bubble rubble:
Letter
Steps by Bank of America
Published: October 29, 2010
To the Editor:
“The Mortgage Morass” (editorial, Oct. 26) does not mention the steps that Bank of America has taken to avoid foreclosures.
We initiated a nationwide suspension of foreclosures to clear the air of industrywide concerns that were raised about how mortgage servicers have managed the process. We made improvements that we believe will help ensure confidence that the underlying basis for foreclosure, and the associated paperwork, is appropriate.
Foreclosure is a wrenching situation affecting far too many people. No institution has generated more programs than Bank of America to keep people in their homes during this unprecedented housing downturn.
We bought Countrywide Financial at a time when that company’s failure would have been devastating to the economy and to millions of homeowners. We have completed 700,000 loan modifications and have doubled our staff helping delinquent customers to 20,000 associates.
Despite our efforts, far too many customers have been affected by an economy that has left them unemployed or severely underemployed to a point that leaves even a modified mortgage payment out of reach.
We don’t claim perfection and will address mistakes quickly when they arise, but Bank of America is doing all we can to keep people in their homes, or ensure a fair, consistent process if that is not possible.
Barbara J. Desoer
President
Bank of America Home Loans
Calabasas, Calif., Oct. 27, 2010
Talking Business
The States Take on Foreclosures
By JOE NOCERA
Published: October 29, 2010
Have you noticed that the lead dogs investigating the mortgage foreclosure mess are not any federal prosecutors or national bank regulators, but rather the state attorneys general? I sure have. I can’t think of a more encouraging development.
Attorneys general in 50 states, including Tom Miller of Iowa, are conducting a joint investigation into the bank practices that led to the mortgage foreclosure troubles.
Yeah, yeah, a handful of federal investigations have also been announced, but we all know that they’re not going to amount to a hill of beans. Ever since the financial crisis began two years ago, the federal overseers of the banking industry have been consistently unwilling to take the rod to the institutions they regulate. The robo-signing scandal — and it is, unquestionably, a scandal — hasn’t changed that attitude one iota.
The Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve have made it clear that they are more concerned about keeping the foreclosure mill going full speed than they are about determining whether the banks broke the law. Somehow throwing people out of their homes quickly is supposed to help the economy. Or so they keep telling us.
…
Foreclosure mess will take years to clean up
Borrowers, lenders, investors face years of red tape, legal challenges
By John W. Schoen Senior Producer
updated 10/28/2010 10:58:27 AM ET
How long will it take before the American nightmare of home foreclosures is over? Ask Mike Dillon, who’s been fighting to keep his New Hampshire home for most of the past decade.
Though he missed two payments in 2002, Dillon then caught up and was current on his loan by later that year, he said. That’s when his mortgage problems began.
After the company servicing his mortgage failed to properly credit monthly payments to his account, it placed the loan in default. As he worked to straighten out the bookkeeping, with canceled checks in hand, the servicer began adding additional fees for property inspections, insurance and other charges.
In 2005, a New Hampshire judge agreed that the servicer’s “sleight of accounting resulted in improper assessments” against Dillon and, citing a “predatory scheme of penalties,” barred the foreclosure and ordered that the loan be reinstated without penalties as of August 2005.
Five years later, Dillon is still in court trying to resolve the dispute. While he is no longer under threat of foreclosure, he is still fighting to get clear title to his home.
“I’ve got nine years of my life tied up in this case, and it’s done a lot of financial and emotional damage to me,” said Dillon. “This isn’t about money in the long run. This is about the principle of the issue — somebody tried to steal my house.”
Three years after the housing bubble collapsed under the weight of lax mortgage underwriting, some 5.5 million families have lost their homes or are in the process of losing their homes to foreclosure. Estimates vary, but analysts say there are at least that many more foreclosures likely before the wave subsides.
And the number could go far higher: … some 11 million borrowers are at risk of losing their homes, according to a research report earlier this month by Amherst Securities, which advises investors in mortgage-backed securities. That’s roughly one-fifth of the 55 million mortgages outstanding on the 80 million homes in the U.S.
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