Bits Bucket For November 12, 2010
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The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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I’m all for eliminating government subsidies — just so long as nobody eliminates my pet subsidy!
And why don’t I think politicians will prove to have the balls to eliminate the mortgage interest deduction?
1) It is especially beneficial to those in the upper echelon of the income distribution — sort of the flip-side of a poor tax.
2) The wealthy folks who most benefit from this subsidy are politically powerful.
3) To the extent the mortgage interest deduction favors home ownership, the NAR benefits from it, and the NAR has a standing army of lobbyists deployed on K Street.
4) Though talk is the cheapest commodity on earth, action is dear.
Deficit Panel Targets Mortgage Interest Deduction
by Tamara Keith
November 12, 2010
Among the proposals put forward by the Democratic and Republican co-chairs of President Obama’s deficit commission is one idea that could hit homeowners where it hurts: reducing or eliminating the popular mortgage interest tax deduction.
Tax breaks don’t get much bigger than the mortgage interest deduction. Because of it, Americans will save $104 billion on their tax bills in 2011, said Bill Ahern, director of policy and communications at the Tax Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based research group.
“That is a big tax cut for the nation’s mortgage payers,” he said.
…
“reducing or eliminating the popular mortgage interest tax deduction.”
Well, here we go again. I’m already hearing from my *cough* fiscally conservative friends saying (surprise!) that this is a bad idea. Once again, it’s okay as long as they can take advantage of it. If someone else can and they can’t, forget it.
I rent and I don’t have kids. They own and have kids. I don’t need the MID as incentive to buy a house. I don’t want them to subsidize me. Isn’t that a policy “they” are for? So why do they want me to subsidize them? Isn’t that welfare? Or is it Socialism? Up is down…
(Disclaimer: yes, I would like a corresponding drop in income taxes to accompany any of these eliminations…)
“Eliminating a tax deduction” wastes words. Call it what it is: Raise taxes.
Well Joey
If you buy a Small affordable house your standard deduction would be more then the interest you pay…..so for millions it wont matter…
But then if you want a McMansion you should pay higher taxes…
Since raising taxes was proposed by a “deficit committee”, it affirms that they are looking for ways to INCREASE the deficit.
It’s just common sense. Give a politician a dollar and he’ll spend at least a dollar and a half.. guaranteed. Everyone knows this.
Now Joey, I would think that you would be in favor of simplifying the tax code. It looks to me like the commission is trying to move toward that, particularly since both congress and the president are moving toward permanent reductions of the income tax. The mortgage interest tax deduction should go.
I’m not in favor of simplifying the tax code by using methods which increase taxes.
Instead of pitting one citizen against another by way of selective tax increases, cut government spending across the board.
We can all pull together. 2% would be a good place to start.
Even the poorest among us can absorb that much if they had to.. not to say someone won’t volunteer to come to the rescue of those who can’t.
“…cut government spending across the board.”
Great. I consider the MID to be government spending. When can we start?
yeah sleepless?
Taxes that people DON’T PAY are, in reality, government spending?
According to such faultless logic, since they only take 25% of your paycheck the 75% you keep is, in reality, government spending.
So by your faultless logic its okay for the government to take from one and give to another? How is that NOT gov’t spending?
Gov’t takes from me, buys tanks == gov’t spending
Gov’t takes from me, gives kick back to homeowners == gov’t spending
What’s the difference?
Govt takes from you??
How the #@$% does my NOT paying a tax take anything out of your pocket? Are you somehow entitled to MY MONEY?
“Taxes that people DON’T PAY are, in reality, government spending?”
These are NOT “taxes that people don’t pay.” Your average homeowner makes 10K in income. Then he PAYS the income tax on that $10K. So, yes, he’s paying taxes. Only AFTER the owner pays tax does the government spend a little MID cheese in exchange for social stability. The cheese just happens to go through the tax system instead of a direct check.**
Since they only take 25% of your paycheck the 75% you keep is, in reality, government spending.
Again, technically yes. In a purely communist government they can take all your labor wages in taxes and provide you with food/clothing/shelter. In a purely anarchist government they take none of your wages and you’re on your own.
We, of course, are in between. The government “spends” 75% by giving you money and allowing you to obtain your own food/clothing/shelter.
———
*It depends on how they fill out their witholding, but most of the time the homeonwer does pay the tax on his income FIRST via witholding, and THEN the government pays him his cheese via the tax refund.
** and even then, the tax refund IS a direct check anyway.
You don’t have to pay the tax, because non-homeowners (aka, my pocket) pay it for you. I don’t want your money. And my expectation is that you don’t get benefits, that I don’t, that take mine.
Nice spin job, though…
There is something to be said for the idea that everyone who earns a certain income, say $50K, ought to pay the same amount of tax, say $5K, regardless of how they choose to spend their money.
It’s interesting how tax deductions wind up pitting people against each other.
Lastly, it’s entirely possible that the MID benefits mortgage bankers more than anyone else, on the theory that it allows them to charge higher rates than they otherwise could.
After all, most of the suckers who fell for the homebuyer credit earlier this year will be underwater in the next few months.
“Taxes that people DON’T PAY are, in reality, government spending?”
By your twisted NAR logic, it is fair to make renters pay taxes from which homeowners are exempt.
..it is fair to make renters pay taxes from which homeowners are exempt..
It’s a free country. If you think MID is so great, chain yourself to a house and a mortgage (and property taxes) and enjoy yourself.
—-
Like VegasBob says, “It’s interesting how tax deductions wind up pitting people against each other.”
.. and government is acutely aware of that phenomenon.
Deductions treat certain people special. This annoys the rest of the people so much that they lose their minds, and beg government for tax increases! (aka the elimination of tax deductions).
Politicians know exactly how people tick.
They are playing us..
Invent a new Tax Deduction : All pets will be heretofore be taxed.. except dogs.
Why not dogs? Well, dogs are wonderful and we want to encourage dog ownership.
Instead of being outraged by the tax on ANY of their pets, people will focus on eliminating that dog-exemption.
The past two election cycles were littered with “transfer the wealth” hyperbole. “Don’t take from one and give to another” hyperbole.
I’ll ask again: Why is money taken from me, a childless renter, and given to homeowning parents? They want the burdens, they can pay for them.
I’ll call BS again. Taking away government cheese is not a tax “hike.” It just gets you to neutral.
My other post must be in moderation limbo.
Joey,
For the past 2 election cycles, all we heard about was “don’t transfer the wealth.”
So, I’ll ask again: Why as a childless renter, should part of my wealth (income), be taken from me and transferred to those who are homeowners with children?
Why..
The obvious answer is to encourage home ownership.. Encourage people to commit themselves to the community for more than 30 days.
They then build homes, schools, libraries, roads, parks and even business enterprises, one of which might give you (a childless renter) a job, so you can have an “income”.. so you can build personal wealth.. without committing yourself to the welfare and survival of that community.
Most of us agree that renters got it pretty easy..
I see no reason to “encourage” somebody to buy a $500K home. Try again, joey.
And, btw, one of which might give you (a childless renter) a job … because all of us childless renters are losers who have to depend on homeowners for jobs?
Big deal. Welfare can be said to encourage one to get back on his/her feet and contribute to “community.” Some will, some will abuse it.
I know working renters who’ve been in the same house for 15 years. I know working homeowners who’ve been in the same house for 1.5 years (and less).
You’re actually making my point, which is: This is a LOT more gray and subjective than the “fiscally responsible” want to admit.
“Encourage people to commit themselves to the community for more than 30 days.”
Been happily committed to the community for over half a decade now — as a renter with a full-time job.
If home prices were affordable, we would buy, but thanks to cross subsidies from renters to homeowners like the mortgage interest deduction, the $500K capital gains exclusion, and Fed-funded super-duper low mortgage rates, we can’t afford to commit ourselves the the community in Joey’s narrow sense of the term.
“…So why do they want me to subsidize them? Isn’t that welfare? Or is it Socialism?…”
How would your friends feel about my new rental payment deduction proposal (RDP), which allows renters to deduct their monthly rental payments from their annual income tax returns? The purpose of this program would be to encourage Americans to rent rather than own, in order to benefit landlords with vacant rental properties for which they are having trouble finding tenants. Of course, those paying the highest rents (i.e. the wealthiest renters) would receive the greatest tax reductions.
Sounds kind of ridiculous on the face of it, doesn’t it? Of course, I doubt pseudo-conservative hypocrites would be able to detect the irony in my description above…
I am in favor of discontinuing the MID on mortgages over $500K. I also am in favor of extending the Bush era tax cuts for everyone. Then states like Ca, Or, Wa, Nv, Ct, Ma, and NY can immediately increase thier taxes on those making $250K or more to pay for union pensions, state employee saleries and pensions, education, state costs for illegal workers etc. I predict the Dems will sweep the elections next time around with this policy in effect. I could be wrong though.
I’m in favor of discontinuing it for ALL mortgages.
Looks like the Rent Is Too Damn High Part may be expanding.
No it’s not welfare or socialism. It’s called hypocrisy and the government haters have a patent on it.
Another part of the plan is to eliminate the deductability of state and local taxes. The 50 page flip-chart presentation, however, didn’t go into details. Is this just state and local income taxes? Right now you can elect to deduct either state and local income taxes OR a lump-sum estimate of sales taxes - handy for those living in a state with no income tax.
Even more that’s left unsaid…..the deductability of property taxes. Would the panel recommend eliminating the deductability of property taxes too?
I have a friend who bought a $2.5 million faux-chateau in Los Gatos CA. Zillow says his property tax bill is $30K. Right now said friend can deduct this from federal income tax, plus the interest on the mortgage up to the $1 million ceiling, plus CA state income tax. He took out a jumbo in 2003 to buy the place, so for the sake of argument say he’s at 7% interest. That’s another $70K deduction. Add in CA income tax and he’s got a deduction total of well over $100K.
There already are limitations to deductability when you get to such numbers. Plus there’s the likelihood of being pushed over into AMT land.
Right now the AMT acts as a “defacto” limitation on big-ticket deductions. The panel’s report says they will limit deductions BUT ALSO do away with the AMT. I wonder how much of a change will really be there.
I’m subject to AMT so cannot deduct my CA state income taxes from my federal tax bill. I would guess that your friend pays AMT too, unless he is self-employed and does a schedule C.
I’m very happy with the suggestions of the debt-reduction committee chairs. Lots of pain to go around, but it’s very common sense. Young people don’t count on SS as it currently exists, and this plan would ensure that they would get benefits. It’s true that current recipients would be the big winners, but you have to gradually introduce changes so as to prepare people for them.
If Americans claim to favor debt reduction, this is the way to go.
+1, hobbyist.
Everybody’s on board to make cuts and stop spending, until it affects them. Do you want fiscal change, or not?
You can itemize your sales tax deduction. Handy if you purchased any big items like a car.
That will help the self employed.
Wow, his house is worth 17x mine but his tax bill (according to zillow of course) is less than 10x mine. It’s nice to be wealthy. Dang I wish Texas had an income tax.
Be careful about what you wish for. Do you really think the introduction of a state income tax will lower your property taxes? Do you really think the proceeds from the lottery will accrue to education?
I read it as removing deductability for all taxes, basically they reccomended cutting tax rates and eliminating deductions (so effective tax rates remain stable), the lower tax rates were equivalent to the effective tax rates (after deductions and credits are factored in).
It seem like the wealthy benefits the most by all tax law . Also ,did
anybody think that China and other Foreign Countries were going to
be corporative with the Worlds Trade deficits in which the USA is
the grand sucker ?
the poor do not pay taxes…the rich get the most benefit from the tax law. it’s the “forgotten man” that gets screwed.
“It is when we come to the proposed measures of relief for the evils which have caught public attention that we reach the real subject which deserves our attention. As soon as A observes something which seems to him to be wrong, from which X is suffering, A talks it over with B, and A and B then propose to get a law passed to remedy the evil and help X. Their law always proposes to determine what C shall do for X or, in the better case, what A, B and C shall do for X. As for A and B, who get a law to make themselves do for X what they are willing to do for him, we have nothing to say except that they might better have done it without any law, ‘but what I want to do is to look up C. I want to show you what manner of man he is. I call him the Forgotten Man. Perhaps the appellation is not strictly correct. He is the man who never is thought of. He is the victim of the reformer, social speculator and philanthropist, and I hope to show you before I get through that he deserves your notice both for his character and for the many burdens which are laid upon him.” William Graham Sumner
Alphabet soup. I’m surprised that Mr. Sumner wasn’t a very good writer.
Paragraphs can help……lol
A talks it over with B, and A and B then propose to get a law passed to remedy the evil and help X. Their law always proposes to determine what C shall do for X or, in the better case, what A, B and C shall do for X. As for A and B, who get a law to make themselves do for X what they are willing to do for him,
He is making the false assumption that C (the forgotten man) would not rely on B to negate X’s predisposition to take from A if B didn’t override the overreaching of C.
Or maybe of A.
i’m starting to think we should discuss this over a beer…or three.
we could even invite exeter…it would be a hoot!
“It seem like the wealthy benefits the most by all tax law .”
Certainly since the wealthy pay most of our taxes.
And the little guy pays all their losses in the “Privatize the Profits Socialize the Losses” business model.
How does a litle guy who pays NO taxes at all “pay all their losses”?
Limit mortgage deduction to exclude 2nd residences, home equity loans, and mortgages over $500,000.
This is a GREAT idea!!! If you can afford your $500K home, then you don’t need the MID. If you need the MID to afford your $500K home, then you’re going to foreclose anyway; it’s just a matter of time. If you took out a HELOC or a second home, then AFAIAC you chose to live the high life and have therefore rejected government help. End of story. The NAR can go suck [fill in the blank].
(Of course, how many old folks and tea party folks can distinguish between under/over $500K, or under/over $250K for that matter? Very few. They hear “tax hike” from Rush/Glenn/Fox, and off they go to the National Mall wrapped in the flag and carrying crosses and misspelled protest signs.)
And oh by the way, on the same slide 26:
Triple standard deduction to $30,000 ($15,000 for individuals)
Also they want to junk the AMT. This is also a GREAT idea. How many households deduct $30K in anything? You would seriously have to have a high I/O mortgage, huge medical premiums, charities, AND a lot of business expenses to reach $30K a year. Millions of folks could junk their 1040 forever and just fill out 1040A, which would save people and the IRS a LOT of time. And might quell some of the Flat Tax talk.
—–
Link to slide presentation (scroll to the middle):
PBS DOT ORG /newshour/rundown/2010/11/fiscal-commission-calls-for-big-cuts-tax-reform.html
So do they allow the deduction up to 500k and anything over that
is not deductible ? Wasn’t there a rule that a equity loan had to be
used toward the improvement of the house to qualify for the
deduction ,verses buying a car or something like that .
the equity line is limited to $ 100k.
I’m a regular poster here, hiding under my pseudonym for obvious reasons..
I have 30K+ per year in deductions. My property tax alone is a 1/3rd of that number. MTG interest and some other deductions carry me north of 30K/year. And I’m a single filer (so would be in the 15K bracket, per your plan above), so would certainly still be itemizing.
However, the larger conversation is around the MTG interest deduction at all. I’m a huge beneficiary of this policy (to the tune of 10K+ year in tax refund). However, I still think that the MTG interest deduction sets up a horrible social policy, and, furthermore, rewards those of us who need it least. My household (me and long time girlfriend) is going to earn north of 250K this year. I’m going to get hit with the AMT. However, because we’re not married, we’ll shift all the MTG interest to my girlfriend and get the full deduction. If we get married, we’ll probably have to pay another 5K+ per year in taxes (because we can no longer shift deductions).
The big question here is, how does all of this make sense? Why on earth should I have such a huge benefit from the MTG interest deduction? Why will getting married cost us so much money? What crazy kind of social policy are we trying to engineer through tax code? Don’t get married, and make sure you owe a TON of money to other people?
I think the MTG interest deduction should go away. However, at the same time, I think that taxes (in general) should fall to “balance” the revenue. I’m also a VERY vocal supporter of fixing the marriage penalty (which could be fixed with about 3 lines of tax code, “Married folks can choose to file single or married, whatever they prefer”).
Should we reward large mortgages and high property tax bills? This is the policy that lead to the crisis in the first place; IMHO, we should reward those who pay off (or pay extra) on their MTGs each year, not those who figure out a way to pull even more money out of their homes.
Finally, the MTG interest deduction, despite only being of benefit to a few higher income homeowners, is often touted to lower income (and less educated) buyers as some kind of “tax panacea”. It’s become a sales tool for the RE establishment, something I’d really like to see go away. Those of us who can really benefit from the deduction already KNOW that we can benefit. But telling someone buying a 200K house (which is about what most folks should be buying) that they are going to get “all these tax savings” is dishonest (at best) and misleading.
Removing the MTG interest deduction would push down the prices of all houses (a good thing), and remove the “debt incentive” that’s present in tax code today (a REALLY good thing). However (and you can argue this is my personal situation), I do think that those who get it today (current owners) should be grandfathered in; we would already take a significant hit in home values. Doubling up this hit (home value hit AND loss of the deduction) would be, IMHO, unreasonable.
But, frankly, if that was the only choice (double hit), I’d probably prefer that to the current situation. High house prices (and even worse) and high debt loads are bad for this country. Until the other 99% of the population figures this out, we’re going to remain in this “lackluster recovery” situation for a long, long time.
Well landlords get to deduct mortgage interest as a business expense. Without the MID for homeowners, the tax code incentivizes a landlord tenant relationship. And if you think that the wealthy won’t figure out how to create shell companies whose only job is to purchase property and rent it to them so they will continue to effectively deduct their mortgage interest, we’ll need to introduce you to some tax attourneys.
But the landlord must claim the rent as income and pay tax on any profit (after scamming the maintenance expense to the maximum). Depreciation can be claimed but when the property is sold you have to pay tax on all gain from the depreciated value and the sale amount.
The more important point here is that I think every area of the country assesses a sales tax on rents and this outlay is a completely additional expense over owning.
The more important point here is that I think every area of the country assesses a sales tax on rents and this outlay is a completely additional expense over owning.
Here in Tucson, the city is in quite the budget bind. A tax on rental properties has been proposed. So far, the big property management companies — and their tenants — have ensured that this proposal goes nowhere.
Overtaxed, you’re in the select group of the over-250s. Since I don’t own property, I don’t know how $10K of propety tax translates. Is that a $500K house in a high-tax state?
I’m thinking more in terms of simplification than actual tax revenue. Like, say, a J6P in the $150K house with a few thousand dollars in medical expenses, a thousand in a charity or two, and is 10 years along in a house paying maybe 7-8K in mortgage interest per year. It would be far simpler for J6P to just lump it under the $30K umbrella instead of itemizing with all those receipts.
Households with more than $30K in deductions likely don’t need government cheese… But I do agree, there’s been so much tinkering with the tax code that there are probably tax deductions and tax penalties for the same thing…
“Households with more than $30K in deductions likely don’t need government cheese…”
I agree. But we are exactly the households that are most helped by this policy. And yes, your numbers pretty accurate, 10K in property tax is about 500K in my state.
J6P in the 150K house (with 50K in income) is almost certainly not helped (or not very much) by the tax deductions. Yes, there’s some benefit. But nothing like the benefit that I see (especially since it’s coming off the top of our highest income tax bracket). Most J6Ps are just confused and taken advantage of by the tax deductions; it’s a sales tool, not really a benefit to them.
Also, the MTG deduction encourages J6P to borrow more and save less. How is that a good policy? It makes no sense to reward those of us with huge (relative to the median) loans and lots of income to write it off against.
And yes, I realize the world isn’t fair.. But why reward my consumption of a big/expensive house at the expense of the rest of the country. I would have MUCH rather paid less for the house and foregone the deductions. Right now I’m encouraged to keep my loan balances high; and the government rewards me for this behavior.. Does that really make sense?
Also everyone else would be far better off if your money were going into other productive enterprises rather than buying a bigger house. Equalize the tax treatment and someone like overtaxed is more likely to start a business (or invest their savings in a business). Houses generally don’t employ people once they’re built, businesses do.
The two reasons kids are told to buy all the house they can afford is mortgage interest deduction (vs renting) and inflation (whether the advisors realize it or not).
It’s that many people seem to think that “tax deductible” equals “free” (or a refundable tax CREDIT).
Was discussing the MTG deduction with a single friend who owns a little 3 bed ranch in a “working class” 1960’s era development of houses that sell (even today) for under $100,000.
He was talking about how great the deduction was.
I had to point out that It was probably good for him (single and white collar) and for higher income folks, but that the couple next door with kids most likely saw NO benefit because their standard deductions were probably higher.
It’s always to ones financial benefit to not pay interest, because you can only deduct it from your income, and you still pay more in interest than the tax savings. Especially for a guy like your friend, who sounds like he’s in a low tax bracket anyway.
“It’s always to ones financial benefit to not pay interest”
Unless your effective interest rate is less than the rate of inflation. Which, in today’s climate, I’d argue is it.
But, in general, I agree, why pay a dollar to get 33 cents back?
You have to pay a dollar for rent or mortgage. The .33 c is just a huge thumb on the scale (it’s dumb because it’s pushing harder on scales for people who would already be leaning toward buy most of the time).
“(it’s dumb because it’s pushing harder on scales for people who would already be leaning toward buy most of the time).”
That’s one of my biggest complaints about this. It’s silly to incentivize higher income folks to buy; they would likely do it anyway. And, just as important, without the MID the price of homes would fall; meaning less debt (which, in case I missed it, is a GOOD thing). Debt is NOT good for this country, we should discourage it whenever possible. Yes, MTG debt is often “good debt”, but it’s still better to not have any debt at all. With the MID, and interest rates where they are today, you’re really kind of crazy to try to pay down the loan faster. I’m not a gold bug, but I do see significant inflation coming.. With the cost of 30 year money at ~3% (after the MID), what the heck is the upside for paying the loan down quickly?
Does anyone here believe that average inflation is going to be <3% over the next 30 years? I certainly don’t, and it’s really cheap “insurance” to keep that MTG out there (even better when you look at what munis are paying for shorter terms). If we get rampant inflation, pay it off with inflated dollars. If we don’t, taxpayers subsidize your “losses”. Both of those situations stink.
“…because we’re not married, we’ll shift all the MTG interest to my girlfriend and get the full deduction.”
i wouldn’t willy nilly admit to income tax fraud on the internet.
It’s not fraud if the loan is in her name, which is easy to do every year. With falling interest rates, banks have been encouraging fee-free refinances.
It’s a jointly held property, there’s nothing illegal about having one of the owners take the interest deduction over the other.
yes it is…look up “qualified mortage interest deduction”…the OP is committing fraud…but hey…he’s rich…so let it roll.
start with Pub 936 then go from there…damn…the fact that anyone on this blog would support fraud makes me sad…but hey…he’s rich…right?
heh… you are the OP…so here you go…whoever PAYS the interest gets the deduction…and you better damn well be able to PROVE it.
Proof: separate bank accounts….with her money coming in and her money going out to pay the interest…with none of your money coming into her bank account.
and if you have comingled funds…then a good agent would allocate the interest deducton based on your income ratio.
forgive me Ben…but income tax fraud pisses me off…so to the OP…go F yourself.
to all the other HBB contributers…i apologize for being an ass.
Micheal - to that end when my wife and I were unmarried but owned a jointly held property, my accountant refused to falsely allocate the interest (and one of those homebuying credits) but my wife’s accountant was more than happy to mess around to get us the best return.
Three cheers to your integrity.
Michael,
“so to the OP…go F yourself.”
Why the venom?
I have an accountant, and, yes, we do pay the MTG in a manner that would support the assertion that she should get the entire MID. It’s just shifting around numbers; it really makes absolutely no difference in the end. This is what a good accountant should help you with; not to break the law, but to setup accounts in such a way that you can take advantage of tax breaks. This is MUCH easier to do, by the way, when your unmarried. Same thing with the first time homebuyer credit. And many other credits/refunds that I would limit out on individually, but, through good tax planning, can have her take on our behalf.
An accountant should not help you commit fraud. But he/she should help you pay the least amount of tax LEGALLY permissible. What do you think “tax planning” is? Or “estate planning”? Or any of these other financial “services” that lots of (far wealthier than I) these high income folks use?
If you just want to pay taxes; claim “S0″ and call it a day. But, you should realize, there are many, many people out there trying to maximize after tax returns, which, in ALL cases, includes minimizing tax burdens. Muni’s are practically designed with “tax avoidance” in mind!
Overtaxed wrote: Muni’s are practically designed with “tax avoidance” in mind!
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
You’re an interesting character Michael.
“However, because we’re not married, we’ll shift all the MTG interest to my girlfriend and get the full deduction. If we get married…”
…and squeeze out a couple of puppies…
Very well said, Mr. Overtaxed. You are a mensch.
“mensch” - I like that word, REHobbyist.
I should have been Jewish. I love the Yiddish.
I’m feeling a litter ferklempt.
We have enough taxes and IMO they tax us enough. The main problem is the unbridled spending habits of almost all governmental entities.
No matter how much they tax us, they almost always spend much much more.
Stop the Spending NOW!
“Stop the Spending NOW!”
It sucks being completely ignored.
While I agree, it’s not enough. The credit card has to be paid and everyone needs to feel some pain. Part of the problem is that no one wants to see their pet project/deduction/giveaway taken back.
Everyone wants the spending to stop unless it benefits them.
Slogans like “stop the spending (add appropriate number of exclamation points here)” and “principle” and “fiscal responsibility” sound great until its time for implementation. Then its all, “Take your government hands off my MID!”
+ 1,000,000
I call BS.
The government is NOT taxing you. The gov just thinks that buying a house is so good for the stailibity of the country that they give you government cheese for doing it. They simply use the tax system as the distribution mechanism for said cheese. It’s not a statement on the tax system.
In other words, taking away government cheese just gets you to neutral, it is NOT a tax hike.
—–
And besides, aren’t you one of the people wants to “privatize the mortgage system” and doesn’t want a “government takeover” and wants less “government intervention?” Well, here’s your chance. The government is giving you “freedom” from that MID intervention!
Stop the Spending NOW!
The government is spending billions of dollars giving tax refunds to rich people in $500K houses and everybody with an I/O mortgage. I think THAT’s the kind of spending we ought to stop.
What pisses me off is that the tax laws always seem to have an anachronistic “marriage penalty” built in - and even though some means have been done to limit it the gov’t still thinks in terms of penalizing married couples (let Bush tax cuts expire for single people over 200K but if you are married it is 250K instead of 400K like it should be…
Same deal with cafeteria plans (FSA’s), etc. We should just take the “file as married” option out of the tax code (MFS and MFJ) and let everyone file as single regardless if they are married or not. Why should there be a penalty to being legally recognized as a couple over just co-habituating? As a progressive society shouldn’t we encourage both marriage for stability and the women’s right to work (There is opposition to eliminating the marriage penalties in the tax code due to the fact that they are “bonuses” for married couples with one non-working spouse or disparate incomes. With women now becoming more educated and matching, even exceeding men’s earnings that tax code needs to get out of the 1950’s and be changed to reflect the current reality.
Couldn’t agree more. And, as we both pointed out, it’s a 1 line change in the tax law; just allow married to file single if they so desire.
This is a significant penalty, particularly for DINKs (even worse for 2 high income DINKs) that can, in some cases, discourage or delay marriage indefinitely. It’s so silly that the Fed hasn’t changed this rule, it would take all of 30 seconds to make this archaic (and sexist) policy go away.
“With women now becoming more educated and matching, even exceeding men’s earnings that tax code needs to get out of the 1950’s and be changed to reflect the current reality.”
Couldn’t have said it better. It’s a 1950s policy in a totally different world. Some equal rights group should really sue over this; it’s blatantly sexist (as it assumes women will be “home making kids”) and damaging to this country.
Do it, I double dog dare them. Matter of fact, if its gets them to do you, I triple dog dare them.
Oops, meant to say, if its gets them to do it. But, I guess the original wording could work as well.
As soon as interest rates are close to 0% with QE2 and everyone refinances, the MID will be a self-correcting problem. The mortgage I am taking out may be bought down (Freddie Mac pays 3% of purchase towards closing costs) as low as 2.5% on a 7 year ARM. I won’t be getting much tax break - not that I care anyway. I could pay cash for the house, but why do so when mortgage interest rates can be had for so low.
Legal twist forces foreclosure redos
Creates second chance for former owners
By Jenifer B. McKim
Globe Staff / November 12, 2010
Hundreds — and possibly thousands — of Massachusetts homeowners are facing back-to-back foreclosures as lenders realize there were problems with property titles the first time around. Those lenders, often unable to obtain title insurance, are opting to start from scratch with what is being called a “re-foreclosure.’’
The prospect of going through a foreclosure all over again may seem nightmarish for homeowners, but in a growing number of cases the do-overs are creating opportunities for them to repossess their homes.
Such was the case with Taylor, who decided to fight the second foreclosure. The tactic paid off: He won the right to repurchase the home at current market value.
“I’m starting over fresh,’’ said the father of eight and grandfather of nine. “It feels good. It is a new chance.’’
…
You missed the best part.
Taylor’s foreclosure story began like millions of others nationwide. He and his daughter, Suzette, refinanced their mortgage in 2004 with a subprime loan, the kind of toxic debt that pushed the US economy into a tailspin in 2008. They borrowed $325,000 from Ameriquest Mortgage Co., at a two-year fixed rate of 6.99 percent. Taylor lived on the first floor with four of his children and two grandchildren; Suzette lived on the second floor, with her three children.
When the mortgage reset in 2006, monthly payments rose to more than $3,000, from $2,160.
“two-year fixed rate of 6.99 percent”
I love how these have gone from being “X year ADJUSTABLE rate mortgage” to being called “X year FIXED…”
I suppose the latter IS more accurate, if only for the time period involved, but it seems part of the duping process is reliant in this shift in verbiage…
PB …a non-profit Bank bought the house and re-sold it to the Taylors at
90k below their prior mortgage ……God what’s that all about ?
Is Massachusetts a recourse state, because if it is he is still on the hook for the excess.
I posted this story a few weeks ago when it was featured on PBS Newshour. It’s a backdoor cramdown, but wow, they’re few and far between, and they need bank permission to do it, and the FB has to prove his income all over again. Very few qualify for it.
For Lenders, the Name of the Game Is Extend and Pretend
Thursday 11 November 2010
Paul Krugman, Krugman & Co.
I’m finding it difficult to write about the recent foreclosure mess in the United States.
Amid the revelations in October that so many mortgage lenders might have been sloppy when processing foreclosure paperwork, attorneys general in all 50 states have now announced they are investigating lenders’ foreclosure practices.
It’s clear that there has been massive malfeasance on the part of the banks (again), but it’s less easy to decide what should be done about it.
…
No, Professor Krugman, it is blindingly simple.
1. Issue subpoenas of business records to confirm the obvious fact that deliberate fraud was part of Megabank, Inc’s business plan.
2. Throw the fraud planners into prison for a very, very long period of time.
3. Break up the too-big-to-fail, systemically risky Megabank trusts, in order to eliminate systemic risk and to restore competition to the lending sector.
4. Dismantle the Fed and replace it with a central bank which supports a rule of law, as opposed to cover up of massive fraud.
“blindly simple”.. in the Kingdom of Bear.
“blindly simple”
I admit to being smarter than the average bear. For instance, I find ‘blindingly’ a rather simple adverb to spell.
How about you, Joey? Did your banking industry prostitution filter make it hard for you to correctly read my post?
i posted that at like 3 in the morning.. wasn’t entirely awake.
Please extend a bit of mercy, your Majesty. King Bear. Oh Wise One.
The One who knows it a simple matter to restructure the entire financial system with a mere wave of his Royal Staff.
—-
I finally woke up. When will you?
RunJoeyRun!!!!!
No, PB, you’re right. It’s “blindingly simple” to you because you blinded joey with your arguments. It’s “blindly” simple to joey because he’s blind.
If I can spell at three in the morning, why can’t Joey?
‘Tis a puzzlement.
From the article:
“Essentially, a short sale means that the lenders have to acknowledge their losses, while an empty, foreclosed home can be kept on the books at an unrealistic value.”
Lenders having to acknowledge their losses means they ultimately have to take massive hits against their balance sheets. These lenders CANNOT AFFORD to take massive hits against their balance sheets because to do so would send them into bankruptcy because THEY WILL NOT HAVE ENOUGH MONEY on their balance sheets to remain solvent.
There are TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS yet to be written off against loans that have been backed by assets that have had - and are still having - much of their market value destroyed by this Great Contraction.
In the meantime Extend and Pretend gives the illusion that everything is fine and that now is the time for consumers to loosen up a bit and do some serious spending and it’s time for investors (aka lemmings) to put their money down and cash in on this once-in-a-lifetime buying opportunity.
(Note to stock investors: You might want to take a look at what is going on with the ratio of insider buy/sell activity before you make your plunge.)
true.. a short sale could force the lender to take a big loss. But that’s not the only possible outcome. They needn’t book loss.
This is purely a guess, but I’m starting to suspect banks commonly demand the seller agrees to sign a new note for whatever remainder the loan has, above the short-sale price. That loan amount would be subtracted from realized losses.
And assuming sellers commonly refuse to do so, the sales are commonly denied.
(Note to stock investors: You might want to take a look at what is going on with the ratio of insider buy/sell activity before you make your plunge.)”
yea I saw that also interesting
I wonder how many of the new millionares I work with will sell when the 6 month lock up period is over ( recent IPO ) ?
Hey Paul:
Its applying in the Court house too…..People are not getting their CC bills dismissed like before, now they schedule you to come back in a year and if you are still broke then the court will dismiss….
Extend and pretend…
PS they hope you will not show, and the CC company gets a judgment,just before the SOL runs out.
The court will dismiss your credit card bills without a bankruptcy discharge? First I heard of that.
Wall Street Collects $4 Billion From Taxpayers as Swaps Backfire
By Michael McDonald - Nov 9, 2010 9:01 PM PT
The subprime mortgage crisis isn’t the only calamity Wall Street created that’s upending the finances of U.S. states and cities.
For more than a decade, banks and insurance companies convinced governments and nonprofits that financial engineering would lower interest rates on bonds sold for public projects such as roads, bridges and schools. That failed promise has cost more than $4 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, as hundreds of borrowers from the Bay Area Toll Authority in Oakland, California, to Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, quietly paid Wall Street to end agreements since 2008.
…
“Money that should be invested in students, classrooms and fixing infrastructure in Pennsylvania is instead lining the pockets of Wall Street,” Jack Wagner, the state’s auditor general, said in a statement in April after calling on lawmakers to ban swaps. “State and local governments must stop gambling with public money,” he said.
Your money won’t line the pockets of the casino operators unless you are foolish enough to play their game, in their territory, by their rules.
Not true
I don’t think I voted for people to enter these swaps???
While nobody’s anxious to admit it, someone voted for them.
They may have voted for the people, but I’ll bet almost none of them voted on having gov enter these swaps.
Could anyone who understands how this particular form of Wall Street-engineered financial innovation screwed over Main Street, please explain?
This is the same thing the Harvard endowment had to extract themselves from iirc.
I think the basic problem, besides the fees, is it’s almost completely opaque to anybody who doesn’t have very good systemic understanding of the financial credit flows.
What’s interesting is that the reason Main Street got blown up seems to be because interest rates dropped so much. So their income stream on their side of the sheet dropped, and the interest rates they were paying on the other side out to Wall Street went up disproportionally, because they were vested in very risky credit markets.
So there is presumably another scenario, where the Federal Reserve didn’t intervene, interest rates went through the roof on Wall Streets side, and main street came out ahead.
But there are a lot of ways you can think of to set up an an interest rate swap where the other side is guaranteed to be at a position of disadvantage. Especially if you’re in Walls Street’s position of power, and with their access to liquidity information on all the different credit markets.
Kind of like playing poker with the pit boss in his house with his dealer. It doesn’t matter how good you are you ain’t going to win.
The American people should demand prison time for Wall Streeters who committed high crimes and felonies. The future of our American way of life depends on bringing the crooks to justice. Don’t settle for less. Tolerance of criminal activity has become standard operating procedure of both political parties, supported by lobbying pressure and campaign finance support of political campaigns.
Is it really extremist to expect those who committed felonies against the American people to be brought to justice? We penalize our petty criminals more severely than we do those who stole billions and billinos from the American taxpayer. This has to stop! What is wrong with expecting law and order to prevail over crime?
Citigroup Suit Shows Why Most Wall Streeters Walk: Ann Woolner
By Ann Woolner - Nov 11, 2010 6:00 PM PT
Bloomberg Opinion
Citigroup Inc. investors either fell on their faces or cleared a high hurdle when a federal judge this week killed (part of) their securities fraud case.
So contradictory were the spins on the ruling that both sides declared victory. Each side won something, so each lost something, too.
The ruling underscores how tough it is to hold firms or people liable for the financial disaster that Wall Street helped visit on families and funds across the country. It also shows that the task isn’t impossible, although two recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings and a 1995 law make it harder.
Bankers and brokers can be dead wrong about what securities are worth, they can be made stupid by greed, and still stave off a civil suit for securities fraud.
To lose, they have to have been so reckless that they abandoned ordinary standards of care, the danger so obvious that they knew of it or should have, as U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein wrote in the Nov. 9 Citigroup ruling.
Even then, or even if bankers outright lied to shareholders, the investor lawsuit still can’t jump that first hurdle without pretty good evidence of extreme recklessness or intentional deceit.
…
..Is it really extremist to expect those who committed felonies against the American people to be brought to justice?
Extremist? No. The question is simply illogical.
Felons are not “brought to justice”. A felon has, by definition, already been brought to justice.
——-
First a suspect (presumed innocent) is “brought to justice”. In other words, tried in a court of law
Then, the court might convict them of a felony.. or it might not.
Well the definition in Webster’s is “A person who has committed a felony.” And the phrase “convicted felon” is used often enough that it is reasonable to use the term “felon” when making the assertion that somebody has committed a felony, regardless of whether they have been convicted.
..it is reasonable to use the term “felon” when making the assertion that somebody has committed a felony, regardless of whether they have been convicted…
So… in court, the judge would allow you to address the defendant as a felon in front of a jury?
Well no, because calling somebody a felon is alleging (making the assertion) that they have committed a felony. It’s hardly okay for a judge to to this. But the story might be different for the DA. After all asserting that the defendant has committted a crime is WHAT HE DOES.
..but notice that even the DA is careful to refer to suspects as suspects.. as in “suspected felon”.
I’ll go out on a limb here and guess that a DA publicly calling some suspect a “felon” is very likely a crime in itself, having prejudiced the jury pool among other things.
Defamation—also called calumny, vilification, slander (for transitory statements), and libel (for written, broadcast, or otherwise published words)—is the communication of a statement that makes a claim, expressly stated or implied to be factual, that may give an individual, business, product, group, government, or nation a negative image.
By that definition, 99% of politicians are felons. Yet, most of them do not show up in felon databases, which is all that matters.
joey
If I witnessed a mugger shoot a lady and got a good look at his face, I’d refer to him as a felon and a murderer, not a suspect. I know he did it.
How you know the old lady wasn’t a professional killer, hired by the mugger’s enemies? She shot and missed. He defended himself.
She was 80 years old. I didn’t hear two shots, I didn’t see her point a gun at the mugger, and after he ran off I went over and did CPR and no gun was seen. He’s a felon.
80 years old.. who would ever suspect her of being an assassin? She used a silencer. The mugger took her gun.
Why were you on the scene, anyway. What sort of business were you involved in to be in that part of town so late at night. Do you use drugs?
Don’t forget Richard Jewel the Olympic Park bomber.
“To lose, they have to have been so reckless that they abandoned ordinary standards of care, the danger so obvious that they knew of it or should have, as U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein wrote in the Nov. 9 Citigroup ruling.”
Sounds as though pretty much any of the Megabanks involved in subprime securitization would qualify.
The Judicial system is sitting the bar so high on proving recklessness/fraud.For God sakes they breached their duty to underwrite loans and rate high risk paper accordingly and than they follow up by foreclosure fraud .What do they have to do rob people by gun point to be considered criminals ? It’s even questionable if the securities were legal to begin with on a secured note .
There has been a Obstruction of Justice cover up from day one .As I have said before ,they are going to let the culprits off because the
massiveness of the crimes are just to big for Justice .In the meantime
the Wall street Casinos weren’t reformed and the entire Country has been penalized by the acts of 200 or more Kingpins and their troops
in this crime spree drama . Never mind the rule of law if your TBTF.
“What do they have to do rob people by gun point to be considered criminals ?”
Apparently that would help, though it may also be necessary to be indigent. The American justice system appears to be too broken to bring criminals with deep pockets to justice.
No, the securities laws set the bar that high.
Just take a look at that Rolling Stone article from yesterday to see how much justice the average American is going to get. Take a look at our supreme court rulings on campaign contributions and eminent domain.
It’s only this way because the American people are willing to tolerate the status quo.
Do you expect people to turn off their cable and put down their Xboxes and riot on the streets?,
people are too scared to stand up to the us govt.
Actually the one mortgagor who showed up got a reprieve. You’ve got to show up, if you want to fight it, lawyered or not.
This sucker is going down!
China’s Stocks Plunge Most Since August 2009 on Rate Concerns
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Nov. 12 (Bloomberg) — China’s stocks tumbled the most since August 2009, as investors speculated policy makers may raise interest rates for the second time in two months as early as today to curb inflation.
Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., the nation’s biggest lender, slid the most since April and China Vanke Co. plunged more than 7 percent after a report yesterday showed consumer prices rose at the fastest pace in two years. Jiangxi Copper Co. and Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd. slid at more than 8 percent as commodities futures plunged in China on concern that slowing economic growth may curtail demand.
“We know there’ll be more tightening given how inflation has accelerated and home prices haven’t come down.” said Mark Tan, who helps oversee $12 billion at UOB Asset Management Ltd. “The sudden talk that there may be an interest rate hike as early as the end of today really spooked the markets.”
The Shanghai Composite Index dropped 167.31, or 5.2 percent, to 2,985.44 at the 3 p.m. close, the most since Aug. 31, 2009. The CSI 300 Index dived 6.2 percent to 3,291.83. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 1.4 percent, while copper prices fell by the daily limit in Shanghai.
…
Gold, silver, oil, the DOW- everything was getting hammered by 10 am pst this morning. Looks like a little “rally” off the bottom is taking place. I think it’s all going to fall apart at some point. I don’t think Eddie’s going to hit his 12000 by year end. Too many uglies.
It was north of 11400 earlier this week. I didn’t think he was right when he made his prediction, but it looks like he might be or at least be pretty close. Of course, I doubt that anyone here will admit it …
I admit he came close. Could still happen. My opinion is we’ve seen the high for the year, though. And like I told him back then, I don’t care whether it hits 12k for a day, I care about whether it stays there and goes up from there and I don’t see that happening until we work through more of the BS in the system. I could be wrong, though :-).
A formerly prominent local commercial realtor is filing for chapter 7 bankruptcy here in Idaho…..
Idaho State Police launched an investigation last summer, but no criminal charges have been filed.
In his Chapter 7 filing Wednesday, Gunstream declares he owns no real estate now and lists four commercial properties worth more than $1.2 million that were repossessed or foreclosed on in 2009.
The documents show Gunstream is unemployed, with a monthly income of $225 plus $200 in food stamps. He lists his monthly expenses as about $1,100, including $300 for rent.
Exempt assets include a 1995 Chevy pickup truck valued at $1,500 plus $750 in electronic equipment, $350 in clothing, $100 worth of golf clubs and a watch and ring valued at $400.
From a wheeler-dealer to relying on food stamps.
http://www.idahostatesman.com/2010/11/12/1415491/once-prominent-nampa-broker-files.html
Like a lot of UHS, mortgage brokers, appraisers and title companies - lived in a false economy.
Short story of a young married couple. “She” built up this really good mortgage business from 2004-2006. Then she turned over this business to the husband as she had a kid. Got really frustrated that the husband wasn’t able to make it go the way she did. I mentioned to some friends that she is too ignorant to realize that she had the false premise that she was a successful business person. It wasn’t the husband’s fault that the business was failing, it was her fault for thinking she had a business.
Oh, they lost their flipper house too - you know the drill, buy a house , flip it, buy another (but bigger), flip it, go for it with a even bigger house, go bust.
But, they are in their late 20s, so maybe they can gain from this life lesson and still recover - not so easy for all those baby boomers who lost/losing it all.
Home Prices Fall in Half of U.S. Cities, Realtors Say
Home prices fell in half of U.S. cities in the third quarter as banks stepped up repossessions of properties in default.
The median price of a single-family home dropped in 76 of 155 metropolitan areas measured, the National Association of Realtors said in a report today. Prices in Ocala, Florida, slumped 20 percent from a year earlier for the biggest decline. Palm Bay, Florida, and Tucson, Arizona, followed with a 15 percent drop. The median U.S. price fell 0.2 percent to $177,900.
The U.S. housing market is struggling as lenders seize a record number of properties and unemployment hovers near a 26- year high. Banks took over 288,345 homes in period covered by the Realtors report, up 22 percent from a year earlier, according to RealtyTrac Inc., a data firm in Irvine, California. Foreclosures boost the supply of available homes and reduce prices because they sell at a discount.
“The bottom has proven to be quite elusive,” said Stan Humphries, chief economist of data firm Zillow.com in Seattle. “There could be another 5 percent coming off the national market” as prices decline further, he said.
“…another 5 percent coming off the national market”
How would that translate for coastal areas formerly declared ‘a bit frothy’ — maybe 20 percent more to come off?
Part of the difficulty is that even in a particular geographic area, different market segments have responded differently. The low end has fallen much more quickly than the top end. The real question is the extant to which this means that they will ultimately fall much further than the upper end, or have they simply gotten to the same percentage declines more quickly and the the upper end has greater declines to come. The answer is, I think a mixture.
“The low end has fallen much more quickly than the top end.”
Eliminating the mortgage interest deduction on loans above $500K would level the score in a hurry. And it would also end a massive American tax giveaway to the rich. I say it’s a go.
And the MID for second homes.
Your comment also is reflective of the inventory mix in this general area. We’re heaviest in the very low end. You see another bulge at the top but that is not nominal but relative to the number of people in the area that could afford million dollar homes.
On cnyhomes.com area homes list on 300 website pages. At page 100 you are through every SFH on the market over $200k w/2 listings at $4mil and about 15 between $2 and $3 mil. At page 218 you are through every listing over $100k. So if you want to classify listing quantities by $100k’s in value, the lowest rung is by far the largest.
http://cnyhomes.com/Listing/Search/search.cgi?page=218
Obama panel probes stimulus waste —– at Ritz Carlton
Members of a key panel created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, better known as the stimulus bill, have scheduled a meeting on November 22 to consider ways to prevent “fraud, waste, and abuse of Recovery Act funds.” The meeting will be held at the super-luxe Ritz Carlton Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona.
The group is the Recovery Independent Advisory Panel, a sub-committee of the larger Recovery Accountability and Transparency board (sometimes known as the RAT board). The stimulus bill set up the Recovery Independent Advisory Panel, or RIAP, to make recommendations to identify and prevent waste of the bill’s $814 billion in stimulus spending.
Ritz Carlton…
Rates for the Presidential Suite on Nov 22 is unlisted. My guess is it’s sold out.
But you can sleep in it tonight (a Friday) for only $3,500.
I remember a year when I had to fly to DC twice for meetings. One was an NIH meeting where the government paid $149 for my room at the Rockville Holiday Inn and I had to fly to Dulles which was a little cheaper than National airport. But the cabfare was $50 bucks each way. Two months later I went to a meeting sponsored by a non-government professional organization. We stayed at the Pentagon City Ritz, which gave us a deal of $139/room. I flew into National, and the hotel provided a complimentary car to pick me up and take me to the hotel (5 minute drive.) So the Ritz trip was cheaper and much more convenient, not to mention luxurious.
I pointed this out to the NIH official in charge of the first meeting. She said that appearances are very important to the government.
Maybe the government has learned something since then.
“She said that appearances are very important to the government.”
So in your case, the govt was willing to pay more to keep up the appearance of not paying too much!
Priceless, REhobbyist!
Are they all staying in the presidential suite????
I just took a look and you can get a room for two for $250.
Actually it might be cheaper if they all stay in the presidential suite. Since we only have one president they must only have one suite. If 100 people go that’s only 35 bucks a person. Sounds like a couple spring breaks I went on. Nice to see the gov saving money by consolidating. Thanks Joey for providing all the facts?
How many $billions wasted paying the waste-prevention panel? I am sure a presidential committee will eventually have to be appointed to investigate how wasteful the investigation panel has been, and after that a czar will be appointed to further investigate and oversee.
Billions? Probably thousands. Except for the security, which would apply anywhere.
Yes god forbid we spend any money trying to ferret out fraud and waste. Think how much money we waste on the court system and judges. Incredible!
Billions?? you reallly think they spent billions on this panel? I know I should just stand back when I see a dog foaming at the mouth but come on!
Grrrrr…Billions!…Grrrrrr.
Things labeled ‘Ritz’ aren’t necessarily ritzy or in good neighborhoods.
There are foreclosed condos and SFR’s for under $30k very nearby.
The attendees should not venture out at night save in groups, and never south or west.
Obama Assails China’s Monetary Policy, Touts Global Recovery
(AP) The president says the global economy is ‘back on the path to recovery,’ but bluntly accuses China of undervaluing its currency, as he defends the Fed’s decision to pump $600 billion into the U.S. economy.
Obama: Fed action not designed to weaken dollar
By BEN FELLER The Associated Press
Posted: 3:28 a.m. Friday, Nov. 12, 2010
SEOUL, South Korea — Staking his ground in the global fight over the world’s major currencies, President Barack Obama on Friday disputed claims that the U.S. was deliberately weakening the dollar while accusing China of manipulating its yuan.
Obama said the decision by the Federal Reserve to pump $600 billion into the U.S. economy was designed to give a boost to a slow recovery and address fears of deflation. Germany and other members of the Group of 20 of the largest economies meeting here this week have complained that the infusion of cash will devalue the dollar and hurt their exports to the United States.
The Fed operates independently from the executive branch and Obama has been careful to avoid interfering in its actions. But he broke from his policy of not commenting on the Fed decision to respond to those complaints.
“From everything I can see, this decision was not one designed to have an impact on the currency on the dollar, it was designed to grow the economy,” Obama said at a news conference following the G-20 summit.
He added: “There was some concern that we had very low inflation, that a huge danger in the United states is deflation and that we have to be mindful of those dangers going forward.”
At the same time, Obama said China’s currency is undervalued and is an “irritant” to the U.S. and other trading partners. Obama said he raised the issue with President Hu Jintao during a private meeting Thursday. Obama said the two will meet again in January when Hu visits Washington.
China “spends enormous amounts of money” to keep the yuan undervalued, the president said, adding that China must, “in a gradual fashion,” let markets set the currency’s value.
Get an AK-47 With Your Truck Purchase at One Florida Dealership
A truck dealership in Florida has found a new way to drive sales: When you buy a truck, you also get a free AK-47, MyFoxOrlando.com reports.
It’s not a joke.
After purchasing a truck from a Sanford, Fla., dealership, customers get a voucher for a gun shop, which will fill out the required federal and state forms and perform a background check. If you pass, you’ll be entitled to a gun. And if you’re not in the market for a gun, you get $400 off your truck purchase or vouchers for other stores.
The gimmick appears to be working.
“People are calling us, don’t believe it. They want to come in and see it,” general sales manager Nick Ginetta said.
I resided briefly in Sanford for about two months at the height of the bubble, after selling my house here. Trust me, if you live there, having an AK-47 on hand is not a bad idea.
It’s one of those towns that looks deceptively charming on the surface, with all that Old Florida atmosphere, and all the antiques and such, the little cafes on the main drag, but scratch that surface and it is a horror underneath. I broke my lease and came screaming back to the Tampa Bay area.
The conveniece of this area if you have a meth or crack addiction cannot be overstated.
nb Since the price for a legal full auto AK-47 is 14-15k* I suspect that this is a semi-auto version.
* http://www.machinegunpriceguide.com/html/rest_mg_0.html
You can fix that with a file.
Well I’m sure that an illegal AK 47 can be had for MUCH less. But not having the ATF break down your door, shoot your dog, take away your property, and put you in jail is worth the higher price and tax stamp IMHO.
They should be giving vouchers for USA made guns!
Don’t worry a USA middle man is making a killing.
World stocks slide on China rate hike jitters- AP
Chinese shares led world markets lower Friday amid mounting concerns Beijing will raise interest rates to cool its overheating economy.
Coincidentally, the Chinese rate hikes, merely intended to cool China’s economy, will send the U.S. economy into a deep freeze.
Deep freeze?
I don’t follow you..
A cooling, and thus less attractive, Chinese economy would make investing in all other places (including the USA) more attractive, relatively speaking.
I’m with Joey here. We’re the one’s who run the trade deficit with them. Sure,higher rates there mean fewer of their $$$ coming back to buy bonds and stocks, but we all know that the Federal Reserve has stepped into to plug that hole, much to our “trading partners” (crack suppliers) protests.
You don’t follow much, Joey. It’s part of your job description to play stoopid, isn’t it?
OK, let me politely respond to your comment with a straight answer. If China tightens up significantly, not only will they pop their own asset price bubble, but the fallout will send shock waves throughout the global financial system, Wall Street included. Over the mere course of a few decades, we have gone from the dog position to the tail position in the global financial system.
Wall Street bows to China
Shanghai tanks; EU leaders reassure over Irish debt
THE BIG INTERVIEW | Global Markets
U.S. stocks slide Friday as worries resurface that monetary tightening from China could be on the way, and European debt concerns continue.
…
Coincidentally, the Chinese rate hikes, merely intended to cool China’s economy, will send the U.S. economy into a deep freeze.”
It could hurt US exporters to China and yes there are some companies that export to China
Something tells me the Chinese central bankers have grown tired of singing Kumbaya with the U.S. Treasury Department.
GLOBAL MARKETS
Hellish day in Asia
Shanghai index ends off 5.2%, as fears over further policy tightening from Beijing resurface.
K-20 Sez… Up yours!
G-20 leaders refuse to endorse US push against China on currency
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Leaders of 20 major economies on Friday refused to endorse a U.S. push to get China to let its currency rise, keeping alive a dispute that has raised the specter of a global trade war amid criticism that cheap Chinese exports are costing American jobs.
A joint statement issued by the Group of 20 leaders including President Barack Obama and China’s Hu Jintao tried to recreate the unity that was evident when the group of rich and developing nations held its first leaders’ summit two years ago during the global financial meltdown.
Seems Alan just threw Geithner under the bus.
Geithner denies dollar manipulation, slams Greenspan
(AFP) – 9 hours ago
…
In a commentary for Thursday’s Financial Times, as the G20 leaders gathered for their two-day summit, Greenspan wrote: “America is … pursuing a policy of currency weakening.
“The suppression of the (Chinese yuan) and the recent weakening of the dollar are, of necessity, producing firming exchange rates in the rest of the world to, as they see it, the rest of the world’s competitive disadvantage.”
Geithner retorted: “I have enormous respect for Greenspan, had the privilege of working with him for a long period of years, but that’s not an accurate description of either the Fed’s policies or our policies, and again I don’t think it’s an accurate description of what’s happening in markets today.”
The emperors clothes are beautiful. Only a fool cannot see them.
What’s costing American jobs?
Sure, patent infringement, product piracy, etc. are costing jobs in developed economies. As I said before, the western industrialized nations need to be clear to China, “you play by the rules or you don’t play at all”. But of course it is mostly our corporations that benefit from Chineses slave laborers and lawlessness.
As for American jobs, we were busy outsourcing and destroying our industrial base for decades, since the Reagan years. Financial innovation, that was the mantra. We neglected R&D, education in science and that it takes actual work to create value. Instead everybody got an MBA to be a “financial engineer” of some sort. What we needed were real engineers, like in mechanical, electrical or chemical engineering. We favored greed and get rich quick swindles over hard work. Well, that plan didn’t work out but now of course it is somebody else’s fault. Gimme a break!
Ed Zachary.
Hey, I know that guy!
What’s costing American jobs?
Pick your door:
1. 7% profit for the next 10 years,
2. 10% profit for this year, 12% profit next year, bailout (2%) the year after, and then Chapter 7 the year after that?
I know what Corporation Inc. has been choosing…
I heard a soundbite (radio) that S Korea exports north of 400,000+ cars to the U.S., while the U.S. exports 6,000+ to S Korea, and Obama was trying to cut a more equitable deal. Obama hit a wall.
Bammy got quite the b*tch-slap from Asia.
I wish there was a way we could just deny every freakin’ export from that sector, withdraw every last troop, cancel any and all aid and deport every citizen of those countries, hand over any businesses they may have in the US to US citizens, etc.
Oh, and just repudiate the Chinese “debt”.
“Oh, and just repudiate the Chinese “debt”.
No worries there…That’s what is going to happen!
We should withraw any troops left from South Korea and let them face alone the prospect of dealing with their insane northern brethren.
The debt commission recommended that we cut a third of our troops in Asia and Europe. Good.
May be should cut to a third instead of by a third. Or better yet, cut them all.
In Colorado
I agree 100% in theory, although I am not well versed in all things Korean. Although N Korean leadership seems whacky (even more insane than ours). Our govt and big U.S. corporations gave this country away.
We faded like a middle-aged “use to be” woman. I call myself “wallpaper”, and some of my friends, the “paste”.
Our govt and big U.S. corporations gave this country away.
———————————————————————-
Sold Out would be a better choice of words.
Methinks that a lot of those North Korean brethren will run screaming across the southern border, where they will promptly enjoy the first good meal they’ve had in years.
You are so right, Slim. South Korea and China are terrified at the prospect of crazy, brainwashed North Koreans flooding across the border. But the North Korean army can hold them in. All of the meager resources of that country to go support the Dear Leader’s lifestyle and the army.
I recently read that the Philippines was PO’s that Obama skipped over them on his visit to Asia. They value greatly the relationship to the U.S. and many Filipinos feel betrayed by him not visiting. They are the one country SE Asia that has been a strong ally to the U.S. but I guess since we do not owe them any money we do not have to kiss their ass…
I wonder if this had anything to do with my LL`s scheduled hearing for sale date of Dec. 7 being canceled along with the foreclosure.
Half of all Palm Beach County home foreclosure auctions called off
By Kimberly Miller Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 12:04 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 11, 2010
A last-minute foreclosure reprieve was granted to more than 1,100 Palm Beach County homeowners last month as concerns over flawed or fraudulent paperwork contributed to the cancellation of 52 percent of courthouse auctions.
The Palm Beach County Clerk of Courts, which issued its October foreclosure report on Wednesday, said cancellation rates are typically about 30 percent but spiked as some of the nation’s largest lenders delayed foreclosure proceedings to review and refile court documents.
Although some major lenders, including Bank of America, have restarted their foreclosure cases, auction cancellations remain high this month, with 50 percent of advertised sales called off since Nov. 1. In October, 1,134 foreclosure sales were canceled in Palm Beach County.
Press Releases
Home Values Near Unprecedented Decline as Hints of Stabilization Wane in Third Quarter
Percentage of Homeowners Underwater Reaches New Peak; Length and Depth of Housing Downturn Approach Depression-Era Declines According to Q3 2010 Zillow® Real Estate Market Reports
SEATTLE, Nov. 10, 2010 /PRNewswire/ — The United States housing market continued its long decline in the third quarter with home values falling for the 17th consecutive quarter, according to Zillow Real Estate Market Reports(1). With home values 25 percent below their June 2006 peak, the current housing downturn is approaching Great Depression-era declines, when home values fell 25.9 percent in five years(2).
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060503/ZILLOWLOGO)
The Zillow Home Value Index(3) declined 4.3 percent year-over-year in the third quarter and 1.2 percent from the second quarter to $179,900.
Nearly one-quarter, or 23.2 percent of single-family homeowners with mortgages, were underwater on their mortgage in the third quarter, the highest it has been since Zillow began tracking negative equity in 2009. It rose from 22.5 percent in the second quarter.
In some markets, as many as four out of five single-family homeowners with mortgages were underwater on their mortgages in the third quarter. Las Vegas had the highest percentage, with 80.2 percent in negative equity, followed by Phoenix with 68.4 percent. In total, 11 markets tracked by Zillow had negative equity above 50 percent.
SEATTLE, Nov. 10, 2010 /PRNewswire/
“While not unexpected, the unceasing declines in home values signal that we’re in for a long, bleak winter of continued troubles for the housing market,” said Zillow Chief Economist Dr. Stan Humphries. “The length and depth of the current housing recession is rivaling the Great Depression’s real estate downturn, and, with encouraging signs fading, will easily eclipse it in the coming months.
“The high percentage of homeowners in negative equity continues to be troubling, in that it represents a huge number of people who are not only more vulnerable to foreclosure, but who are essentially trapped in their current homes and are prevented from selling and buying a new home. This has profound implications for future demand and will be a millstone around the neck of the housing market.”
This is very good news.
On another note, new inventory non-existent on fannie, freddie and BofA foreclosure rosters. It’s quite disturbing and out of character. It started about 2 weeks ago.
No worries, just fire up a fat one and chill out…
Schwarzenegger Calls Emergency Session as $25 Billion Budget Deficit Looms
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, citing a $25.4 billion budget gap over the next 19 months, declared a fiscal emergency and called lawmakers to a special session next month to begin dealing with the problem.
Schwarzenegger, a Republican whose term ends in January, late yesterday ordered the session to start Dec. 6, the day newly elected legislators are sworn in. He wants to take steps to erase an officially estimated $6.1 billion gap that has already emerged in the budget enacted last month.
In addition to the gap forecast for the fiscal year through June, the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office yesterday projected a $19 billion gap in the following 12 months. By Jan. 10, Governor-elect Jerry Brown, a Democrat who will be sworn in Jan. 3, must propose a plan to erase the next year’s deficit.
…thus making it easy to predict the most often repeated twisting-of-the-facts over the next 4 years:
“Brown inherited Schwarzenegger’s deficit!”
At some point California will run out of accounting tricks.
…right around the time businesses do their vanishing act.
Never! Don’t say that.
As will the rest of the U.S.
Meg Whitman spent a couple of hundred million of her own money to be Gov and I assume Moon Beam spent nearly as much. I say, why the heck would anyone want the job? California’s problems are probably irresolvable.
A bit like paying to be the captain of the Titanic after it hit the berg.
I agree, Spokaneman. We’ll see how Jerry does. He is personally frugal, so maybe that example will help. He’s going to have to take it to every governmental agency, legislator, and union. Things are desperate, so I wish him well.
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/11/12/3179332/jerry-browns-frugal-side-rules.html
Not exactly, Queen Meg’s spending was extravagant. His was frugal in comparison.
http://californiawatch.org/watchblog/how-whitman-spent-160-million-6292
She spent: $160M
He spent: $ 25M
She got: 3.4M votes
He got: 4.3M votes
She spent: $47 per vote
He spent: $6 per vote
For candidate travel, lodging, and meals:
She spent: $950,000
He spent: $12,000
Like BB gives a crap… Print, baby, print!
Bernanke’s Stimulus Plan Pummels Northrop, Wal-Mart Bonds: Credit Markets
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s latest plan to stimulate the U.S. economy is pummeling investors owning the longest-maturity corporate bonds.
The price of 30-year debt from Northrop Grumman Corp., the largest U.S. Navy shipbuilder, has dropped 5.2 percent since Nov. 2, the day before the Fed’s announcement. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. bonds due in 2040 have slipped 3.8 percent in the period to about the lowest level since the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer sold the securities last month.
U.S. corporate bonds due in 15 years or more have lost 2.5 percent since the Fed committed to buying $600 billion of Treasuries, compared with a decline of 0.4 percent for the investment-grade market overall, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch index data. That signals investors expect the Fed will succeed in bolstering growth and avoiding deflation, leading to higher interest rates.
Nine of Atlantic City’s 11 casinos post Oct. revenue drop
Nine of 11 Atlantic City casinos reported revenue declines last month, reaffirming the obvious: The weak economy and growing competition continue to throw a one-two punch.
The Shore’s casinos reported $284 million in revenue for October, down 12.3 percent from a year ago, according to the New Jersey Casino Control Commission. The slip came despite one extra Sunday on the calendar than there was in October 2009.
..The Shore’s casinos reported $284 million in revenue for October..
..whereas the old Mob, experts at running casinos, would have reported far less.
Guess they aren’t seeing any uptick in business from Boardwalk Empire. Not a bad show, but I know Atlantic City pretty well and it won’t be enough to tempt me to take a trip to that hell hole.
This summer I was comparing Vegas vs. Atlantic City and was shocked by the hotel room rates in Atlantic City. Sure, the desert is hot in August, but at $30 per night it’s a great deal.
Gambling was promised to revitalize Atlantic City.
Indeed it was. I was living in PA when NJ first legalized casino gambling. The revitalization argument was the reason for having the casinos in AC.
There is not even one grocery store in AC.
There has never been a dip in asset prices which some too-clever-by-half analyst did not construe as a buy signal.
Metals Stocks
Nov. 12, 2010, 3:33 a.m. EST
Gold futures drop as much as $21 on Globex
Analyst sees price pullback as “constructive longer term”
By Myra P. Saefong, MarketWatch
TOKYO (MarketWatch) — Gold futures dropped as much as $21 per ounce on Friday, pulling back as the U.S. dollar regained lost ground against foreign currencies, dulling the investment allure of the precious metal, which hit a record high earlier this week.
…
Is this how stock markets normally behave during global economic rebounds?
Europe Markets
Nov. 12, 2010, 6:51 a.m. EST
Europe drops after rate fears hit China
Mining stocks under pressure; Europe reassures bondholders
Previous Column: European stocks slip as sovereign fears continue
By Simon Kennedy, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) — European stock markets dropped Friday after fresh worries over rate hikes sent shares tumbling in Shanghai, while European leaders sought to provide some reassurance to nervous bondholders.
…
Everyone had better get ready for this last great opportunity for dips to buy before the year-end push to DJIA = 12K!
Index Futures:
S&P 500 1,203 -7.90 -0.65%
DOW 11,185 -57.00 -0.51%
NASDAQ 2,159 -13.75 -0.63%
Is it just me or does it feel like we’re nosing over right now? I’ve got some company stock from the purchase program that will become available at the end of the day Monday that I’d like to get sold before anything crashes…
Is it just me or does it feel like we’re nosing over right now? ”
no it’s not just you I sold a foriegn mutual fund a few days ago and put it in a money market at .08%
On video, alleged ‘robo-signers’ describe assembly line work
By Susan Taylor Martin, Times Senior Correspondent
In Print: Friday, November 12, 2010
Over the past several years, Bryan Bly, Crystal Moore and Dhurata Doko have signed thousands of mortgage assignments as vice presidents of Citi Residential and other major lenders.
Yet when asked in a recent deposition what a mortgage assignment is, Bly replied: “I’m really not sure.”
Moore, meanwhile, defined a promissory note as something “that says the interest rate and stuff like that on it.” And Doko, a native of Albania who speaks shaky English, expressed befuddlement at the whole idea of loaning someone money to buy a house.
“We don’t do mortgages in my country,” she said.
…
Is it too late for the USA to start over again with a mortgage lending system that is not rife with fraud?
When ‘Bryan J. Bly’ became ‘NB,’ did he know what he was signing?
By Susan Taylor Martin, Times Senior Correspondent
In Print: Sunday, June 20, 2010
To thousands of homeowners whose loans have been shuttled from one company to another, the name “Bryan Bly” is very familiar.
Over the past few years, Bly has signed countless mortgage assignments as either a notary public or “vice president” of various lenders.
In reality, Bly works for Nationwide Title Clearing, a Palm Harbor company. And he was recently reprimanded by state regulators after acknowledging in a sworn statement that Nationwide Title had him notarizing so many documents that he scribbled his initial instead of signing his full name as required by law.
Such a pace, critics say, shows that Bly and other so-called “robo signers” can’t possibly be sure that what they’re signing is accurate.
“Our entire system of real estate is founded upon the ability of courts to believe in the documents before them,” says Matthew Weidner, a St. Petersburg lawyer who has a blog on foreclosure issues. “What this (Bly’s statement) describes is assembly-line document production with no concern for the facts in front of them.”
…
Our entire financial system is dependent upon the ability of investors
believing the MBS ratings before them .
Part 1: Video deposition of alleged robosigner Dhurata Doko taken by attorney Christopher Forrest of The Forrest Law Firm in Pinellas County
Bryan Bly Deposition
Crystal Moore Deposition Part 1.mp4
The Forrest Law Firm
Can’t we all just get along?
Bank of America Urges Dismissing Robo-Signing Suit
By Jonathan Stempel
November 11, 2010
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp has urged a federal judge to throw out a racketeering lawsuit over its alleged use of “robo-signers” in foreclosures.
The largest U.S. bank said the Indiana plaintiffs, who lost their home to foreclosure in 2009, failed to show they were harmed by its alleged practice of routinely submitting perjured affidavits, given they might have lost their home anyway.
It also said the plaintiffs do not deserve relief against Bank of America and its Countrywide Home Loans unit under a federal debt collection law because foreclosures are intended to protect lenders’ interest in homes, not to collect debt.
Wednesday’s filing with the U.S. District Court in Indianapolis provides an early glimpse into how lenders might defend against the growing number of lawsuits over foreclosure paperwork and securities backed by home loans.
Irwin Levin, a partner at Cohen and Malad LLP representing the plaintiffs Dwayne and Melisa Davis, did not immediately return a call seeking comment. The plaintiffs are seeking class-action status on behalf of thousands of homeowners.
…
FDIC prepares to crack down on officials of failed banks
By E. Scott Reckard, Los Angeles Times
November 10, 2010|9:38 p.m.
For former insiders at some of the several hundred banks that collapsed during the financial crisis and in its aftermath, a day of reckoning has arrived.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has told dozens of former bank officers and directors that it has drawn up lawsuits accusing them of misdeeds such as fraud and breach of fiduciary duty. The federal agency is seeking damages to help offset losses in the nation’s deposit insurance fund.
The letters being sent by the agency are “very detailed,” said Jeffrey A. Tisdale, a Los Angeles lawyer for former officials of five banks targeted
The showdowns follow FDIC probes that typically take well over a year.
“We’re only doing this after careful investigation. We don’t bring suit every time a bank fails,” said Richard Osterman, the FDIC’s acting general counsel.
The FDIC board has authorized suits seeking to recover more than $2 billion from more than 80 former bank officials, up from about 50 a month ago, Osterman said. The number could multiply as the agency works through its investigative backlog.
The agency could end up suing or settling with former insiders of about one-quarter of the more than 300 banks that have failed since the start of 2008, officials say.
“This is only the first wave,” Tisdale said. “I’ve got my next five-year professional plan laid out pretty well.”
Although the FDIC says it will try to settle the cases, officials expect to file a significant number of suits. Criminal charges could result in a few cases.
So far only two civil suits have been filed. The first, filed in July, accuses four executives of Pasadena’s defunct IndyMac Bank of negligence in granting construction and development loans that the suit says were unlikely to be repaid. The defendants are contesting the suit, which seeks $300 million in damages.
Tisdale concurs that the FDIC is going after people for failing to accurately predict the future.
“The economy is the real culprit here,” he said. “There was no way to plan for real estate values dropping 30% to 50% throughout California, Nevada and Arizona.”
But Darren Robbins, a San Diego lawyer who specializes in filing investment fraud suits, says the FDIC has plenty to work with just by looking at what banks said about their assets toward the end of the boom.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-fdic-lawsuits-20101111,0,7606749.story - 176k -
You know the banksters are scared to death. Those weak little wrists are going to get gently slapped and that’s gotta really hurt.
Too bad they won’t be taming an angry water moccasin.
If DJIA = 11K in 2001 would have been worth DJIA = 13,570, wouldn’t that imply that today’s DJIA = 11,283 is only worth 11,283*(11,000/13,570) = 9,146 in 2001 dollars?
Why Dow 11,000 Is Worth a Lot Less Now Than in 2001
By CHARLES HUGH SMITH
Posted 6:30 AM 11/12/10
The stock market is all about nominal prices. That is, prices that aren’t adjusted for inflation or what analysts call “relative performance” — how an investment has fared when compared with competing assets.
While this may seem like a parlor game, comparing how investments fare over time is a key element in portfolio management. Relative performance boils down to this: Sell assets that are historically overpriced, and buy assets that are historically underpriced.
The equities industry and the financial media tend to shy away from relative-performance analyses, and a few charts help explain this reticence. But in short, when adjusted for inflation, the stock market hasn’t recovered as much as it appears to have when you look at only nominal prices.
Here’s a 10-year chart of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), which recently reclaimed 11,000, the same level it held about 10 years ago, in early 2001.
…
comment from PB Post forclosire Q&A
25. strictly smart business Says:
November 11th, 2010 at 1:50 pm
I look at it this way. Lets analyze the situation from a pure financial standpoint. Take my circumstances. I can afford my mortgage which is 405k + a 75k heloc. My payment totals 3500 a month for int, tax & ins (both are iterest only). I live in Terracina in WPB. It has been a nightmare here. Mind you, I am one of the lucky ones who got in pretty early when the development was being built. Many are worse off than me.
It is now 32 months that I have not paid the mortgage, however I am fully paid on the HOA. So, I have saved 112,000 (32 x 3500.) so far. My house is now worth 240k-250k. Since I am contesting the foreclosure, the process has just begun (yes after 32 months) They filed, but have really not pursued. Plus they took 7 months and did not have me properly served. So at a minimum, I think I have another 24 months left. So will have saved 196,000 (56 x 3,500) at the end. With additional saving of 50k, I will be able to walk accross the street and pay cash for the house.
Forget about a deficiency judgement. I will buy the house accross the street for cash and homestead it, wait a few months and if they will not discharge me of the debt, I will file for bankruptcy. Still keeping my new house free and clear and my full pension.
And there is a chance that I can go a full 5 years in which case hopefully I can get the case dismissed for about right now 10 to 15 reasons, file for a “quiet title” and get to own the house free and clear due to the statute of limitations.
There really is no ethical decision here. CONTRACTS ARE RENEGOTIATED ALL ACROSS THE COUNTRY EVERY DAY WITH CHANGING CIRCUMSTANCES. For the banks not to negotiate is horrible. They should not have bailed them out. The stock holders (especially) and the bond holders should have taken their lumps. If they were insolvent, then they would have negotiated. The bond holders have already lost in that the value of the securities are trading at pennies on the dollar. In my case between 30 and 40 cents on the dollar.
And as I tell the bank when I talk to them regularly on the phone. If they foreclose I me and get a judgment, I will rip the house down. LITERALLY. I will have this house that I now own bulldozed to the ground for not being willing to negotiate. As long as it is my property, I can do with it what I want to do. There is nothing illegal about it. No, I can not put in an insurance claim, however, I have no intention. They can come after me for a deficiency judgment. I believe in fighting power with power. If they will not act rational, then I will not act rational. They will take a total loss on this house. Right now my escrow is -35k. When I am done, they will not get 3.5k for the house. Plus then they will have to pay the HOA taxes etc. on a pile of rubble.
There is no reason that bringing 2 reasonable people to the table to negotiate, that a meeting of the minds can not take place and a settlement reached. The problem is that you can not sit down with the true investor of the securitized instrument. As long as the servicer who has a conflict of interest is the real one calling the shots, it simply will not happen even from direction of the court.
In a worst case scinerio, I will take a 480k debt and have it reduced to 50k. That is 430k saved. Now lets look out 30 years at say 8% I can make on my money. It equates to just over $4 million in 30 years. I have drawn the line in the sand. And because of it, I will have an additional $4 million when I retire. This is strictly smart business.
THE RIGHT TO FAIL IS EQUALLY AS IF NOT MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE RIGHT TO SUCCEED in capitalism.
So, jeff, this is OT, but I happened to catch a post of yours a few days ago, in which you mentioned Po’ches (Portchester, NY). Might you be another Westchester/Connecticut refugee who re-located to Florida?
I think the name of that place was “Richards” Down the road from the Life Savers building with the big rolls of Life Savers out front. Yeah, grew up in Old Greenwich and after I got booted from college I worked for a year moving furniture for a North American Van lines Co. in Cos Cob Ct. Had a basement apartment in Greenwich down the road from The Bruce Park Grill not far from Greenwich Ave with a driveway that was a bummer to get out of with any kind or winter precipitation and not much in the way of heat. Got married, went to Tequesta Fl. for a honeymoon and moved down here 1 month after. Sent my first wife back 3 years later in 1985 though.
Jeff, I grew up in Larchmont and then the fambly moved to Greenwich in the early 1970s. We must’ve kicked around some of the same haunts. I remember Richard’s, the Life Savers plant, North American Van Lines and The Bruce Park Grill. One of my sibs and his family still lives in Cos Cob. Sorry to hear Manero’s Restaurant is no more. Westchester/Fairfield counties were not half-bad places to grow up, but it kinda sucks up there now.
My father’s from Westchester County. He was born in Yonkers and raised in Pelham. Pretty ritzy town.
OTOH, my mother is from a more working-class family in Buffalo.
To this day, when there’s a home repair/maintenance project and I’m around, Mom will say, “He never had to do that in HIS family.”
Which means that it’s time for Slim to round up the tools and the parts and do the job.
palmetto, my parents lived in Larchmont and bought their house in Old Greenwich when I was born because the house in Larchmont wasn`t big enough anymore (I was the 5th kid and my grandmother lived with us) anyway, they bought a brand new house in 1960 for $31,000 even though they would have rather had the one next door with 1 more bedroom but that was $32,500 and even with putting all the money down from the house in Larchmont, they didn`t think they could afford it. How times and thinking have changed. Manero’s was a great place to eat, I have never had garlic bread as good as that.
This borrower is a blackmailing creep and it only goes to prove that
both parties to these real estate contracts were creeps .This guy is gaming this to even go beyond the discharge of his debt (he also took out a
equity loan ) now he wants equity for free . He says in essence we shouldn’t of bailed out the Banks .I say we shouldn’t let him game the system either ..hes a robber . They should of just lets the thieves of the contract flight it out between themselves . I hope the Banks nails him on
fraud on his loan application or something like that .
The bank needs to sell/give his mortgage to the Soprano’s Loan Company. Then the loan company mortgage adjusters need to make a midnite visit to this dude and give him an attitude adjustment.
As long as it is my property, I can do with it what I want to do. There is nothing illegal about it.
Actually - there is. A few people have gone to jail for what you are thinking about.
Your plan puts you way ahead of the game - why risk it to “get even” to a corporation that could care less?
There really is no ethical decision here. CONTRACTS ARE RENEGOTIATED ALL ACROSS THE COUNTRY EVERY DAY WITH CHANGING CIRCUMSTANCES. um…
There really is no ethical decision here. PEOPLE ARE ROBBED AT GUNPOINT ALL ACROSS THE COUNTRY EVERY DAY.
There is an ethical element to his decisions. He has just failed it. Now I’m NOT saying that starving yourself to make the mortgage is the right decision, or that the banks weren’t aware of the possibility of foreclosure or bankruptcy when they wrote the mortgage in the first place. You can make the argument that ethics are not the most important consideration when making a business decision. But when you argue that it has NO part in you decisions you stand firmly with the banksters on Wall Street who will shaft anybody to mazimize their bonus checks.
LITERALLY. I will have this house that I now own bulldozed to the ground for not being willing to negotiate. As long as it is my property, I can do with it what I want to do. There is nothing illegal about it.”
yea right
I don’t suppose it would do any good to point out to this angry guy that the house he’s threatening to bulldoze isn’t actually his.
Nah.
What I don’t get is: why this guy is so angry at the mortgage company because HE has decided not to make good on his contract? I mean I can understand being angry because the house you bought was full of toxic drywall, or substandard wiring, or had a bad foundation. All of those are cases where you’ve bought a house that is NOT what you thought it was. Or if somebody assured you verbally that you had a fixed rate mortgage that turned out to be a suicide ARM. But this guy just decided that NOW he doesn’t like the price that he agreed to THEN. He’s blaming others for his bad decision.
Greedy borrowers and predatory lenders are two halves of the same turd.
Show China you hate their cheap goods coming to the US!
Just stop buying their stuff!
“If American consumers refused to buy goods produced in China, there would be no Chinese-made goods on store shelves. American consumers who prefer lower prices to higher prices are the true enemy of American companies and their unions whining about ‘free but fair trade.’ They should show up in front of Walmart and other sellers of foreign products and denounce American consumers who buy foreign-made products. That would be honest. The ‘free trade but fair trade’ lobby finds it more effective to pursue their agenda by stealth — namely intimidate and bribe congressmen into enacting tariffs and quotas.”
Professor Walter Williams explains in easy-to-understand terms.
~~ Worry Over Trade Deficits
American consumers who prefer lower prices to higher prices are the true enemy of American companies and their unions whining about ‘free but fair trade.’
Oh please. Most union manufacturing jobs are long gone. They’re offshoring $10/hr jobs now.
Not only should we boycott China produced goods (its junk anyway ) but why not boycott Wall Street with all their currency games and casino games that raped our Population .All these games can only be played if the American people allow it . The Politicians won’t do anything against their masters so …………… Boycotting seems to be the only peaceful
means of saying your not going to support systems that are rigged .
I’m with ya’! Currently boycotting Wall St entirely and Chinese products as much as possible (athough it is hard to find non-chinese stuff). I’m afraid all the welfare-zombies will not follow suit on the Wal-mart boycott.
Well, that is a problem that the China products are a monopoly now .
My neighbor just bought a new bed and I asked her where it was
manufactured and she said the USA . My neighbor got a good deal on the bed and it has pretty good quality .
If you look at this from the standpoint that the Corporations sold us out to the lowest bidder slave labor production ,along with outsourcing and out manufacturing than boycotting is a viable solution .
Corporations / Banks /Insurance Companies are not going to invest in America or hire back a bunch of USA workers because its all
about where the money is flowing .The Big Money is just playing all
the currencies and advantages you get from playing the different
labor prices and money values World wide .If everybody played by the same rules and you had the same wages/regulations World wide ,raw production costs, it wouldn’t be so rigged .
The systems that have evolved created a grand playing field for
the Market Makers and Money changers and World wide - market exploiters .Ford opening a new plant in Mexico after they had the
nerve to ask for a Bail -out (that they didn’t take ) is just how
non concerned Corporations are about providing American jobs .
All the money policies and trade policies have left America in ruins
not even able to support itself ( unless its by unsustainable debt )
The welfare zombie needs to keep the current system going also so that he keeps on getting his welfare check. Rocking the boat could mean losing the welfare check and we can’t have that.
Americans will do whatever is cheap and easy in the short run.
Are you willing to pay a little more and suffer some inconvenience to advance long term goals? How about arranging your life to use less oil, much of which comes from places where lots of people actually want to kill us and damages the environment? That’s my boycott.
“How about arranging your life to use less oil”
Let’s see …
I drive a 4 cylinder car and carpool. And I endure ridicule from the pickup truck crowd on “How can you drive such a small car? Don’t you feel cramped and unsafe in it? (Answer: no)”
Of course one fillup in their trucks is about how much gas I use in in a month. And once gas is over $4 again (courtesy of QE2) I’ll have to listen to them whine about how much they’re spedning on gas. Oh well.
Our brand new Costco opened a few months ago. They were selling, made in America, 7 For All Mankind jeans for just shy of $100. Second month they were removed from the store, not enough sales.
Some of those Chinese producers don’t have an American counterpart any longer. Even items at higher prices are increasingly made in some Asian country.
An end to “banking as we know it” is fine with us. The “banking” in today’s Western economies is simply a monopoly-distribution point for the dissemination of fiat currency. Central banks have got to distribute money through banks because the alternative – simply distributing it to people – would reveal the scam for what it is. By filtering the money-printed-from-nothing through banks, the process retains a mysterious quality. It is also rendered more complex, which is necessary when one is promoting a Ponzi scheme. Finally, bank distribution allows for a debt add-on that further controls the process. The situation is incredibly destructive, ruinous and benefits, essentially, on a very people who are the most direct beneficiaries of central bank funding stream.
– The Daily Bell, Staff Report
nothing mysterious about it..
You are a bank and are afraid to lend whatever cash reserves you do have, because another economic downturn might drag you under. Excess cash reserves are your safety net.
You own $50 million in treasuries. The Fed buys them. Your cash reserves have now increased by $50 million and, hopefully, you now feel confident enough to lend some of it out to businesses and people.
Who benefits if your bank does start lending?
People.. because businesses which borrow the money expand and create jobs. Or they can afford to rehire the unemployed.
People who directly borrow your money spend it in various businesses, which promotes more jobs..
But that’s the problem, much (probably most) of the money borrowed in the last 5-10 years wasn’t spent adding production and jobs to the US economy. Rather it was lent out at interest to other, mostly for either the consumption of goods of which an increasing percentage came from overseas, or to support higher prices for RE, and equities.
I view the last 10 years as a learning experience for those of us who weren’t already aware that irresponsibly borrowing, lending and spending money is fraught with danger.
Seems to me plenty at the top as a whole didn’t learn anything about lending is dangerous.
woah.. You really changed your tune.
Yesterday these evil lenders did it all deliberately, and now you say they were clueless?
We had a post a couple of days ago in which the capital investors admitted that they were not going to spend money on job creation for Americans . The World is their oyster ,they go where its going to
create the most profit ,like Ford building the new Plant in Mexico .
Wall Street is a Foreign Corporation now and so are all our Corporations .There are no borders or protections in the NEW WORLD
ORDER of the profiteers .The Politicians have the power to put them in their place,but that isn’t happening ,so the people have to protect themselves .
How many QE does it take to screw in a light bulb?
Easy: As many as it takes. The FBs hold onto the bulb as the savers get screwed in a clockwise direction.
Nice, and thanks for playing. Yours is better than mine so I’ll leave it at that.
D.R. Horton Inc., the second-largest U.S. homebuilder by revenue, reported a narrower loss for the fourth quarter as the company reduced writedowns and impairments.
The net loss shrank to $8.9 million, or 3 cents a share, in the three months ended Sept. 30 from $234.9 million, or 74 cents, a year earlier, the Fort Worth, Texas-based company said today in a statement. Analysts expected a loss of 3.7 cents a share, the average of eight estimates in a Bloomberg survey.
Five years after new-home sales peaked, homebuilders continue to struggle to end losses as they compete with low- priced foreclosures and consumer confidence remains weak.
“We’re assuming home sales are in a period of stabilization and things potentially in 2011 could get better,” Jade Rahmani, an analyst with Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc. in New York, said in a telephone interview before earnings were released. “D.R. Horton’s results show that.”
Or… you’re in the eye of the storm. Good luck getting out the other side!
End the mortgage interest deduction? Ok. Fine. I’ll live. It will just mean less to spend, so take that economy.
But I won’t support raising the Social Security age.
That is so incredibly unfair to large numbers in the U.S. who have life expectancies below the mid-to-upper income.
Alcohol, obesity and tobacco should help the actuarial projections.
Google Fires Worker Who Disclosed Raises: Report
Google has fired the employee who leaked to the press the company’s plans to raise worker wages by 10%, according to a published report.
CNNMoney, citing several sources, said the person who revealed the plans outside the company has had their employment terminated. The news of the pay hike first appeared on Business Insider. Hours later, the CNNMoney report said, the employee who disclosed the news was identified and fired.
“While we don’t typically comment on internal matters, we do believe that competitive compensation plans are important to the future of the company,” Google said in a prepared statement, according to the report.
Fortune also received a copy of the memo discussing the raises, which indicates that the pay increases will be effective Jan. 1 and that “everyone gets a raise, no matter their level.” Reports have also indicated that employees will receive additional $1,000 bonuses.
€1 bid for farm shows depth of locals’ anger toward banks
Friday November 12 2010
‘Bank managers have been treated like pillars of society in Ireland, and I believe I have been the victim of white-collar, middle-class crime’
IT was the field no one would buy. A day after unsuccessful attempts to sell the 67 acres of farmland in the Crossakiel area of Co Meath at auction, there was no confusion that the banks “are public enemy number one”.
The land was being sold by a receiver appointed by ACC Bank.
It had been given as collateral for loans to George Beggan and was to be sold to recover money due to the bank.
Mr Beggan and his family are well respected in the area.
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/euro1-bid-for-farm-shows-depth-of-locals-anger-toward-banks-2417299.html
At least they didn’t bid a dollar. THAT would have been insulting.
Former KB Home CEO Bruce Karatz sentenced to five years’ probation
After the sentencing in federal court in Los Angeles, Karatz kissed his wife, Lilly Tartikoff, and embraced relieved supporters who included KB founder and billionaire Eli Broad, former Los Angeles Mayor Richard J. Riordan and Father Greg Boyle, director of gang intervention program Homeboy Industries, which Karatz supports.
Under the sentence, Karatz will spend eight months confined to his Bel-Air mansion while monitored by a global positioning satellite device. He declined to comment about the sentence.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-karatz-sentence-20101111,0,5675215.story
Wow, some perp walk! Must be really rough hanging out in that mansion for five years as the world crumbles outside.
He only has to spend 8 months at the mansion in Bel Air.
How ever will he cope?? I hope there is a sushi place that delivers.
Nah, he only has to hang out there for 8 months. Then he’s got the rest of his 5 year sentence to spend at the local strip clubs.
We are supposed to live in a Constitutional Republic. We are supposed to all live under the rule of law, where everyone - from the most-poor to the most-wealthy, lives under the same rules. Where we honor the laws that bind our actions, exercising the privileges and rights we have, but not arrogating to ourselves that which we clearly do not.
This arrogation of authority that doesn’t exist is rampant and blatant throughout the banking system. But nowhere is it more odious, or more outrageous, than within The Fed.
Should we audit The Fed?
Absolutely - The Fed should be audited annually like any other public entity.
By what authority should The Fed be beyond audit and public exposure? The claim is often made that doing so would “politicize” The Fed’s actions. Hogwash - what it will do is document that rampant lawless behavior of the Board of Governors going all the way back to the formation of the body, and expose the Board of Governors to corrective action through legislation and possibly even prosecution.
This is an act that is long overdue.
Abolishing The Fed is a different matter entirely. The function that The Fed provides is arguably necessary in a fiat currency system. I most-certainly do not want Barney Frank or Chris Dodd deciding how much money to print and distribute into the economy!
But this does not mean that because I believe that Dodd and Frank are both clueless and bribed idiots that I believe that lawless behavior by The Board of Governors - wanton violations of the restrictions placed upon their open market operations and indeed their primary mandate - should remain unaddressed.
Government only works for the benefit of the people when it is conducted in the full light of day.
(From K. Denninger)
Chicago is selling naming rights to its train lines, bus stops:
http://consumerist.com/2010/11/chicago-to-sell-naming-rights-to-bus-routes-train-lines-everything-it-can.html
i would’a thought taggers have already named everything.
I bet Subway jumps all over that.
No that would be the “Elway” that would benefit in Chitown.
Government Electric is buying 25,000 cars from Government Motors with Government Financing Arm financing. And some people say this country is going socialist.
The new car goes up to 40 miles between bailouts.
Zing!
Yea and it uses the new and improved QE2 “lubricating” oil.
Would you be happier if they bought imports (say Prius) instead?
Bernanke’s worst nightmare: Ron Paul
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Ben Bernanke has had his hands full since his first day on the job as Federal Reserve chairman nearly five years ago. It’s about to get even tougher.
His harshest critic on Capitol Hill, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, is about to become one of his overseers.
With the Republicans coming to power, Paul, who would like to abolish the Fed and the nation’s current monetary system, will become the chairman of the House Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy.
If you’ve never heard of the committee before, you’re not alone. But Paul promises you’ll be hearing a lot more from it.
“It’s basically been a committee that’s dealt with commemorative coins. I’m going to deal with monetary policy,” he said.
Paul doesn’t think he’ll be able to move his proposal to eliminate the Fed, or to allow Americans to use gold instead of paper money as currency. But he said he does intend to use his new position as “a mini-bully pulpit” to criticize Fed policy and call more attention to what he sees as its negative consequences. And he’s confident that American voters are ready to delve into those monetary policy questions.
“Five years ago they wouldn’t have listened. Now they will,” he said. “We’ve gained a lot of credibility in making the Federal Reserve an issue since the market collapse.”
Where is the democrat Ron Paul? Why does not he/she exist?
Nearest approximation would be VT Senator Bernie Sanders. And he’s an Independent, not a Democrat.
Actual - he is a self-decribed socialist.
But he votes to actually pay for socialism through fiscal discipline in spending.
So I give him credit.
But he votes to actually pay for socialism through fiscal discipline in spending.
That’s a Vermonter for ya!
I gotta say, having Ron head this committee is probably the best part of the Repukelicans taking the house from the Dummycraps.
is this a Volker apt?
Spent a couple of days in Bend, OR the first part of
this week. Had a chance to drive around for a bit before I had to check in and we saw an awful lot
of dark windows in the commercial/retail sectors.
What did amaze me was the still high prices being asked for residential places. On the hill NW of old
town, homes were priced in the low 7 figures which
even in boom times would have been way over priced.
What’s going on?
That’s because of all the high-paying jobs in the area. There is a high-tech industrial empire in a network of tunnels underground. They are not telling the world about it - I fell in one of the holes accidentally and found out about it that way.
And don’t tell anyone about the picturesque trolley system, with gingerbread trolleys being pulled by candy-crapping unicorns.
Did you get to see the “hobbit village”?
There was much optimism back in 2007.
http://www.ourhobbithole.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=16
If they were scared to death back in ‘07, I’m guessing they are in the morgue by now…
“The top picture in the post above is called the Thatcher’s Cottage. My wife and I are about to buy it and we are scared to death. It is way out of our comfort zone. But life is a journey and I think we can make this work. We will be the first residents (other than the developer) in this community. We need your good thoughts and blessings this week”.
From the same folks…
“The top picture is real. and we are still struggling with the purchase. Seems the “jumbo” loan market is turned on its head this last week, and although our offer to purchase has been accepted, the banks are in a turmoil. More next week”.
“Funny, but I have faith, it will all work out”……
If they were scared to death back in ‘07, I’m guessing they are in the morgue by now…
One of the developers is. A doctor who put in most of the money and killed himself when it went into foreclosure.
I love that place. It was sheer insanity from the get go. They discovered that you need Disney style deep pockets to make that kind of thing work.
Hey - we are not going to give away these places!
Pay to Protect: Sheriff Cutting Services to City Over Late Payment
Lauderdale lakes owes $6 million to Sheriff
You get what you pay for, and that applies even in the world of public safety.
The Broward Sheriff’s Office has decided to drastically cut services to Lauderdale Lakes because the city has fallen behind in its monthly payments, the Sun-Sentinel reported.
“Let me be clear, we are not abandoning the residents of Lauderdale Lakes, but during these strained economic times, I have an obligation to the taxpayers of Broward County to ensure that services are provided based on allocated funding,” Sheriff Al Lamberti wrote in a Nov. 5 e-mail notifying city leaders of the pending change.
The city owes about $6 million, which in these economic times isn’t pocket change for a small city. Just last week, the City Commission approved another one-year deal with BSO.
Locally acquired case of dengue fever turns up in Miami
The case is the first in more than 50 years where the disease was contracted locally. Health officials warned people to take precautions against the mosquito carriers. ~ The Miami Herald
The first locally acquired case of dengue fever in Miami-Dade County in more than 50 years was confirmed Thursday by health officials. They warned people to take precautions against the mosquitoes that carry it.
“This is a big deal,” said Lillian Rivera, administrator of the Miami-Dade Health Department.
“We have not had a locally acquired case of dengue fever since the 1950s,” said Dr. Fermin Leguen, the department’s chief epidemiologist.
The victim, described only as a man who had not traveled outside Miami-Dade County for more than two weeks, was briefly hospitalized but has fully recovered, Rivera said. His case was confirmed by laboratory tests.
I think some famous surfer died in the DR recently of this or someo other tropical disease. This will be a big eye opener for the US if these diseases spread north as anticipated.
During the 1800s, diseases like malaria and yellow fever were commonplace in the Mississippi River valley. ISTR reading that St. Louis had quite a problem with them.
As we regress into a quasi Banana Republic, and the health care system regresses along with it, expect to see more stories of diseases and illnesses that were eradicated “suddenly/unexpectedly” appearing again.
Good thing we eradicated smallpox and polio, when we had the chance.
Any new news on the North Korean Missile Crisis? …of course not, someone new got eliminated from “Dancing With the Stars”.
Yes but for millions of savvy Americans that show and what Snookie is up to, is their connection to what’s truly important in this world.
If it was the North Koreans I expect that any follow up stories will be quickly buried.
I wonder what will be the next brain number to follow “Dancing”? Sleeping with the Stars? American Golddigger? Hos n Bitches?
I’d watch Hos n Bitches myself. Although, American Golddigger sounds like it could be very educational, much like Bridezillas.
I thought Ho’s and Bitches was called Rehab- Party at the Hard Rock?
U.S. Postal Service Says Loss Widened to $8.5 Billion in 2010
The U.S. Postal Service said its loss widened to a record $8.5 billion in the year ended Sept. 30, exceeding its forecast, as the volume of mail declined.
Revenue fell 1.5 percent to $67.1 billion for the year and mail volume dropped 3.5 percent, according to a presentation to the service’s board today at a meeting in Washington. The loss in the previous fiscal year was $3.8 billion, the service said.
The Postal Service, which forecast a $7 billion loss, said almost two thirds of the deficit, or $5.5 billion, covered health-benefit costs for future retirees. An additional $2.5 billion covered adjustments to workers’ compensation liabilities for interest rate changes. The loss for 2011 will be $6.4 billion, Chief Financial Officer Joseph Corbett said today.
The Postal Service, which forecast a $7 billion loss, said almost two thirds of the deficit, or $5.5 billion, covered health-benefit costs for future retirees.
Sounds like a fun future!
RICHMOND (AP) — Defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp. said Friday it is cutting 380 salaried jobs at its Newport News shipbuilding facility, citing a need to control costs.
The company that builds submarines and aircraft carriers for the Navy said the reduction of about 2 percent of its 20,000 workers at the shipyard was necessary to improve efficiency and costs.
School Makes Boy Take American Flag Off Bike
13-year-old Cody Alicea rides with an American flag on the back of his bike. He says he does this to be patriotic and to honor veterans, like his own grandfather, Robert. He’s had the flag on his bike for two months but Monday, was asked told to take it down.
A school official at Denair Middle School told Cody some students had been complaining about the flag and it was no longer allowed on school property.
“In this country we’re supposed to be free,” said Cody. “And I should be able to wave my flag wherever I want to. And they’re telling me I can’t.”
Cody’s grandfather says the school was concerned about racial tensions or uprisings because of the flag. He feels if there was really a problem it should have been brought up two months ago, not during Veterans week.
An American Flag brings on racial tension? Let me guess, it’s criminal invaders wanting equal opportunity for their flag. The school is in Ca, I looked it up. (the epicenter).
As palmy would say”
“Don’t let the door hit ya, where the good lord split ya.” This country is toast.
In the months after 9/11, I had a flag on my bike.
When will we get over the petty flag and phony patriotism nonsense?
exeter
You’re right. Once you figure out the biggest scum of all (politicians) wrap themselves in all that patriotic symbolism, and we’ve been sold a bill of horsesh*t, then you can just relax, and design your life the best you can.
It happens to iritate me when anchors tell us we can’t fly our symbolism, no matter how idealist that is. I unfortunately own a “Chinese American Flag” (Made in China)
Freedom Fries babybeee!
Now let’s go stomp some dachshunds, that’ll show the kaiser!
“Cody’s grandfather says the school was concerned about racial tensions or uprisings because of the flag.”
This sounds like code for “we have a lot of illegals in our school and we don’t want to offend them.”
You mean code for “we have a lot of illegals in our school and we don’t want any shootings.”
Probably the Crips @ Bloods don’t like there colors being used.
The Crips’ blue is a baby blue. Like what one would see on the University of North Carolina sports uniform.
And, BTW, the Crips really like to wear UNC garb.
When Easy Rider came out I took my banana bike and extended the forks added some ape hangers and a padded back rest. It had an American flag stitched to the back. Rode it to school for a long time, but that was a long time ago when whinny little pukes were few and far between. My high school principal would have told them to F-off!
Now it’s the land of the perma-offended, and perma-pissed.
How to lie with housing price statistics: Exclude foreclosures from your sample of homes that sold. Artificially upward biased average price estimates are guaranteed to result.
And the NAR is still living in denial, as evidenced by their continuing to equate higher home prices with “better.” Don’t these idiots realize their constituents would sell more homes if prices declined?
County and state home prices facing a ‘double dip’
They’re up from last year, but heading downward, Zillow and Realtors report
By Roger Showley
Originally published November 11, 2010 at 2:25 p.m., updated November 11, 2010 at 5:15 p.m.
San Diego County, as well as other key metro areas in the state, might be experiencing a “double dip” in home prices, despite homebuyer tax credits and low interest rates intended to boost the housing market out of its five-year slide, new reports showed Thursday.
The National Association of Realtors ranked San Diego as 50th best market out of 155 in terms of home-price appreciation in the third quarter, compared with the same period last year. The third-quarter median price for single-family resale homes was $387,600, up 2.5 percent year over year.
No. 1 was Burlington, Vt., up 17.6 percent to $286,300 over the same period.
But the group also reported a downturn for San Diego from the second to the third quarter in terms of median prices.
Zillow.com picked up the same trend, based on estimated home values after excluding foreclosures.
…
What a pant load…
Stocks Slide Amid China Inflation Worries- AP
Stocks fell early Friday as investors worried that China might try to slow its surging economy to combat inflation.
It’s “awesome”
City pushing bargain condos
Open House set Saturday for remaining units in development aimed at first-time homeowners. Charleston, S.C.
When the city of Charleston was developing condominiums in the desirable Wagener Terrace area of the peninsula for first-time homeowners with middle-class incomes, hundreds of people were on a waiting list to buy.
Today, nine of the 42 units remain unsold, despite their location, bargain-basement prices and interest rates that are the lowest in many decades.
There are nine condos available, mostly three-bedroom units selling for $140,750.
“A number of persons who wanted to purchase at Longborough were not able to,” said Geona Johnson, head of the city’s Department of Housing and Community Development. “In most cases, it was due to (problems with) employment.”
The city will hold an open house Saturday to try to stir up some interest in the remaining units, which start at $111,375 for a two-bedroom, two-bathroom condo. With the city using federal grants to kick in $10,000 toward a down payment, that price would mean a mortgage payment of about $500 a month, plus a $251 monthly condo fee that covers flood insurance and maintenance.
“This is just an awesome opportunity for someone who thought they could not afford (to buy),” Johnson said.
That 2/2 condo isn’t much cheaper than my house. And, in my house, I don’t have to listen to neighbors walking on my ceiling. Or having arguments that I can hear through the common walls.
IMF Shadow Looms as Irish Sacrifice to Avoid Bailout
John Montgomery reckons he has lost about 350 euros ($479) a month, or 25 percent of his disposable income, because of lower pay and higher taxes since Ireland’s economy began to collapse in 2008.
The father of a 10-month-old baby said he’s willing to take the hit, and more, as long as it helps Ireland avoid a rescue by the European Union and International Monetary Fund. The nation is saddled with a 20 billion-euro budget deficit and costs of as much as 50 billion euros to bail out five of its biggest banks.
“I’d be a patriot like everybody else,” said Montgomery, who works in a Britvic Plc factory in Dublin making 7-Up and Pepsi soda under license. “There is something out there that is spooking people, and they just need to tell us what the problem is. The country is ready to do whatever needs to be done.”
Unlike neighboring Britain in the 1970s, Ireland has never turned to the IMF for aid and the government is determined to avoid being propped up like Greece. Deputy Prime Minister Mary Coughlan said Nov. 4 in parliament that the country’s economic sovereignty was at stake, almost 90 years since winning independence from the U.K. Time may be running out.
What’s wrong with this guy, doesn’t he know ‘we’ have this thing called a printing press.
Ireland Is the ‘New Greece’; Japan and U.S. Next in Line for “Catastrophe”, Pento Says
The debt crisis in Ireland is easing a bit at week’s end. Irish debt prices rose for the first time in 14 days Friday, sending yields on the two-year note down 81 basis points. The situation stabilized after Britain and four other European nations, including France and Germany, issued a joint statement promising to stand behind all of Ireland’s debts.
Ahead of a looming budget deadline, the Irish government is working to create a plan to “save 15 billion euros ($20.5 billion) in savings,” Bloomberg reports. A survey conducted by Bloomberg, before this joint statement, shows investors have serious debts that Ireland can avoid default. 51% of respondents in the survey say “they regard a default as likely, compared with 42 percent who say it is unlikely. The ranks of those anticipating an Irish default have tripled since a poll in June,” according to Bloomberg.
The EU and IMF “are going to come to their rescue,” says Michael Pento, senior economist with Euro Pacific Capital. “But, can they bail out Europe, Japan and the U.S.?”
That’s the rub, says Pento. The sovereign debt crisis doesn’t end with Ireland or Europe’s other ‘PIIGS’ - eventually there won’t be enough money to bailout out the big boys. As Minyanville’s Todd Harrison is fond of saying, “who will rescue the lifeguards?”
Grabbing onto a guy and swimming for shore isn’t the smartest thing to do if he’s wearing cement shoes.
He’s been filling in this week for Schiff on PS’s radio program. While it’s important to realize who they work for, its interesting to listen to these guys. Seem to put their money where their mouth is, anyway.
In a non-Fed world, they would be absolutely right.
Jeffrey Stephan and the GMAC Affidavit Withdraws- How Deep Does This Go?
A comment below the video link:
“Matt & everyone that has been working towards the truth thank you all! Great Job! Lets keep it rolling.”
Gold’s Rise May End Badly for Investors
Nov. 11, 2010
Many investors expect gold to protect their portfolio from economic uncertainty, but gold’s recent sharp rise is being fueled by speculation that could end badly for buyers, says Kurt Brouwer, editor of MarketWatch’s FundMastery blog.
Jim Rogers on Bernanke/The Fed failure-5 minutes
http://www.bloomberg.com/video/64407998/
Apple IPad Sales May Miss Estimates
IPad Sales May Miss Estimates as Customers Trim Spending
Apple Inc. ’s iPad and other tablets may not sell as well as analysts had estimated as customers cut back spending on new technology or opt for new smartphones and laptops instead, according to Rodman & Renshaw LLC.
Does this mean that the prices on MacBook Pro laptops are coming down? (Pretty please?)
The Street seems believe some “rebalancing” moves will come even if there is no G20 agreement.
It’s being reported that the G20 members are not backing the US led push on China to weaken their currency.
What happens when someone says “no” to the US?
10 March 1945.
Thought y’all could use a good laugh.
Although I’m not a big fan of neighborhood association meetings, I do like to keep the association officers apprised of what’s going on in this far corner of the nabe. Here’s my latest missive:
Earlier this week, I wrote [to the association president] about the nocturnal habits of one our new neighbors. He’s part of the motley-looking crew that recently moved in to the double-wide [which is a rundown rental down the street from the Arizona Slim Ranch].
I don’t know what he’s smoking (really bad pot?) but whatever it is, it’s making him cough so loud and long that he can be heard all the way over here. Wakes me out of a dead sleep during the wee hours of the morning.
On Wednesday morning, I decided to give this fellow the benefit of the doubt. I called 911 and requested a welfare check. The paramedic dispatcher said that they couldn’t send someone out unless it was the guy requesting the help. Oh, well. But TPD could do the job, and I suppose they did. I saw a patrol car on [my street] shortly after I put my trash out during the 6 a.m. hour.
At around 12:30 a.m. Thursday, I heard Mr. Cougher again. And I wasn’t at all amused. Buddy, I’m sorry that you’re sick, or whatever your problem is, but you have no right to disturb the peace. So I called 911 again.
This morning, the guy held off his bronchial serenade until the 2 a.m. hour. Another disturbance of the peace call from me.
Shortly after 6:30, I heard him again. I looked out my bedroom window and saw Gene Shalit’s doppelganger sitting outside in a basketball jersey and shorts. A little cold for that get-up, wouldn’t you say? And he appeared to be in no hurry to finish whatever it was that he was smoking. Must be really good stuff if it keeps him warm in such a scanty outfit.
A few minutes later, I had to leave the house to go to a meeting at the university. I didn’t see anyone outside of 419, but I do have a couple of suggestions:
1. Nicotine gum or pot brownies. You can enjoy them inside where it’s warm. And not disturb the neighbors with loud and lengthy coughing spells.
2. Arizona Smoker’s Helpline. Your tax dollars at work.
Az Slim
LOL . What a great story, and might I add, you’re a good story teller. When I was young, I liked my you know what in chocolate chip cookies. It served two purposes.
Hope he doesn’t have lung cancer. Then you would feel awful.
Because in America, it’s far more shameful to owe money than it is to steal it.
ITEM: A new pricing survey of products sold at WalMart shows a 0.6 percent price increase in just the last two months, according to MKM Partners. At that rate, prices would be close to four percent higher a year from now, double the Fed’s mandate.
Ho hum, hedonics dictates they should be shopping at Dollar General instead of Walmart anyway.
And replacing ground beef with Alpo.
New Jersey Auditor Questions $27 Light Bulbs Billed Under Stimulus Program
Contractors billed New Jersey $27 for light bulbs, and ran up tens of thousands of dollars in other “unreasonable costs” on a $119 million weatherization program funded with U.S. stimulus money, the state auditor said.
Out of $613,600 in charges reviewed, $54,000, or 8.8 percent, was deemed unreasonable by Auditor Stephen Eells, according to a Nov. 8 report to lawmakers. The audit examined program oversight by the state Community Affairs Department.
One contractor billed the state $27 for light bulbs, while another charged $1.50 for those of the same wattage, according to the report and Assistant Auditor Thomas Meseroll. Another vendor sought $75 for carbon-monoxide detectors that it had provided to a different program for $22, the report said. Eells also cited $32,700 in auditing fees when “no services had been performed” and $69,000 in construction costs that couldn’t be verified.
“Weatherization agencies have been reimbursed for unreasonable costs because of inadequate review of financial reports and lack of guidance from the state and federal governments,” said the audit. It said the state agency’s review of contractor expenditures was “cursory.”
Out of $613,600 in charges reviewed, $54,000, or 8.8 percent, was deemed unreasonable by Auditor Stephen Eells, according to a Nov. 8 report to lawmakers. The audit examined program oversight by the state Community Affairs Department.
The good news is that the auditor’s doing his job. You go, Stephen.
I’m surprised only 8.8% came in that way.
Murphy’s law or O’Brian’s Law?
After being all cash for last 6 months I decided to play the Bernanke musical last Friday. Good timing, indeed.
You weren’t alone. As the Bear always says: ‘buy the dips’!
CNBC
On Friday November 12, 2010, 3:35 pm EST
Retail trading activity has picked up by as much as 20 percent this month, according to an analyst report, just in time for the market’s biggest weekly loss in three months. Institutional investors who lifted the market to a new 2010 high last week are now ’selling the news’ as the Federal Reserve begin its quantitative easing program of buying Treasuries Friday.
“Our channel checks suggest that daily average revenue trades for mass-market oriented online retail brokerage firms are running 10 to 20 percent ahead of average October levels through the first nine trading days of the month,” said Patrick O’Shaughnessy, a Raymond James brokerage analyst, in a note. “The early data appears to show a continued re-engagement on the part of the self-directed retail investor.”
You weren’t alone.
When you walk through downturn
Hold your head up high
And don’t be afraid of the dark
At the end of the DOW
Is a golden quote
And the sweet silver song of sterling
Walk on through the DOW,
Walk on through NASDAC,
Tho’ your dreams be tossed and blown.
Walk on, walk on
With hope in O’Bama
And you’ll never pay that loan,
You’ll never pay that loan.
Few housing bubble and oversupply problem solved.
Headline on yahoo
Chinese workers build 15-story hotel in just six days
Meant for the American tourist, no doubt. Even if they had it all prebuilt on the ground, That’s not enough time to conduct inspections.
Buttonwood
South Sea QE
An early attempt to buy government bonds by creating money
Nov 11th 2010
…
nobody described the scheme as a monetary stimulus. But the general euphoria that followed the rise in the company’s share price induced what might be called a “wealth effect” among the British. They seized the chance to invest in other companies that ingenious promoters brought to their attention.
Some of the money was attracted by the opportunities in the emerging markets of the day—companies that traded with Africa and Russia, or proposals to establish a “Grand American” fishery or to drain the bogs of Ireland. Investors also liked commodity plays, including a firm that planned to extract silver from lead.
This attempt to boost asset prices by money creation was ultimately doomed. The company’s net worth consisted entirely of the premium obtained from selling shares at more than face value. To keep the price rising the company simply lent more to prospective buyers. In short each successive round of “QE” was needed to support the last. Modern QE schemes will face no such problem since central banks will offload the hundreds of billions of bonds they have bought without affecting the price. Or so it is hoped.
History has characterised the South Sea bubble as obvious folly, even though the scheme was complex enough to deceive Sir Isaac Newton, who lost money when it collapsed. He lamented: “I can calculate the motions of heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people.” It took John Stuart Mill, writing in 1848, more than a century after the episode, to find the method in the madness. Mill declared that debt issuers “may have, and in the case of a government paper always have, a direct interest in lowering the value of the currency, because it is the medium in which their own debts are computed.”
There has been a lot of talk about raising taxes to pay the deficit. A GREAT idea.
IF
The money was actually used to do just that.
The fact is that it would simply be absorbed into the giant engine and that engine would in turn demand even more.
All the while ACTUAL tax revenue would collapse as another million homes went into foreclosure and another few million small businesses quietly entered bankruptcy. Not to worry, the FED in turn will quietly print yet another $600 Billion here and there to pay off the losses.
Where was all the anger 5 years ago, when all the money was being given away and folks were making 50K a year in appreciation on their homes? This was the time to prevent inflation! Folks should have been up in arms that the rise in price of their homes was robbing from the next generation!!!