Bits Bucket For November 18, 2010
Post off-topic ideas, links, and Craigslist finds here.
The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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Anybody see better value in these fiats?
“The car will be built in Mexico”
” the minicar will start at $15,500, plus shipping”
How much is UPS going to charge for shipping?
Fifteen and a half kays for a mini-car? A mini-car?
Thanks, but no thanks. I’m sticking to my bicycle. It only cost me $500, and I put 100% down — no additional payments.
Compared to some bicycles, $15K for a mini car doesn’t seem all that bad:
http://www.bikesale.com/felt-f1-road-bike-2011.aspx
Super expensive bicycles like that are a joke. Most brand new motorcycles aren’t even that pricey. The depreciation must be second to none on that thing.
The guy that sold me my bike has a custom bike that he paid over $15k for. I think it changes its own flats. ; )
For $15K it better do much zestier things than that!
“Fifteen and a half kays for a mini-car? A mini-car?”
It’s what you would pay for a comparably equipped KIA. (Yes, you can a KIA get them for less, but those ones aren’t comparably equipped). They are going after the same demographic that has been buying MINI Coopers, and with their lower they might succeed.
I’m glad your bike works for you Slim. I would have a hard time pedaling 30 miles in freezing Colorado winter weather on my daily commute.
My #1 concern with a Mexican built Fiat would be quality. VW has been building cars in Mexico for decades and they still can’t get it right (one of the reasons I passed on a VW Golf when I bought a car last year).
I’ll bet that the KIA doesn’t come with dangly balls around the headliner!
Ask the TSA about the dangly balls around the headliner. They are getting to be experts..
Not everyone lives in bicycle friendly areas. With my 20 mile commute to work, the only efficient way to get there is via freeway.
Of course, I could attempt it via streets, but it would be time to go home by the time I got there.
“The car will be built in Mexico”
Cheer up. Maybe they’ll import cheap American labor to assemble the things….
“Cheer up. Maybe they’ll import cheap American labor to assemble the things….”
That made me laugh. I wish I had one of those smiley faces like Hwy.
There are some jobs that Mexicans just won’t do…..
LPL went public yesterday ostensibly to pay down debt. Funny how the only payout went to executives, board members and of course the big squid…..
“Most of the shares being offered currently belong to executives, board members, underwriters or reps and advisers.
With a stock price of $30 per share, several LPL executives would see windfalls of tens of millions of dollars. Mark Casady, chairman and CEO, for one, currently owns four percent of the firm, or 3.930,000 shares.
According to the filing, he is slated to sell 1,930,000 shares. If those shares are purchased at $30 per share, Mr. Casady will gain nearly $58 million.
Esther Stearns, the firm’s president and chief operating officer, controls 2,050,000 shares. She intends to offer 1,170,000 shares, which will net her $35.1 million in cash if the IPO prices at $30 a share.
Meanwhile, William Dwyer, the firm’s president of national sales and marketing, controls 1,780,000 shares, or 1.9% of the firm. He intends to sell 275,000, for a potential gain of $8.25 million.
(Hundreds of individuals also currently hold smaller stakes in LPL. See a list of more than 900 individuals with a less than 1% stake in the company here.)
Wall Street titan Goldman Sachs & Co. also stands to make some cash off the deal. Not only is Goldman co-lead manager on the IPO, the Wall Street giant is selling 1,931,541 of the nearly three million LPL shares it holds. If the offering comes in at the top end of the price range, Goldman should rake in about $58 million for the shares.”
“Investors have many IPOs to pick from this week, but Goldman Sachs will be taking the lead on some of the smaller deals such as LPLA, which is planning to price 15.6 million shares between $27.00 and $30.00.
Unfortunately, some investors may be unable to look beyond the fact that insiders, primarily LPLA’s management team, will be responsible for 100% of the IPO as they look to take some equity while the company retains nearly $1.4 billion in debt”
Barnum.
Great, that’s all we need is a new publicly-traded financial company. Yech.
GE to save hundreds of Jobs. Of course in true Jack Welch style it’ll cost ya….
General Electric Co. has made an unusual offer to the state: Give us $25 million in tax credits, and we won’t cut any more than 150 positions at our aircraft engine plant in Lynn.
The conglomerate has already cut the Lynn plant’s workforce by 600 jobs and could cut 150 more. But General Electric said that if it receives the state aid to help fund a $75 million retooling of the plant, it would maintain the remaining 3,000 jobs for six years.
Typically the state grants tax breaks to companies that create — not cut — jobs, making the General Electric request unusual. State officials said they cannot recall another case of a company asking for tax subsidies while warning it will continue to reduce employment.
“We’re now having to pay companies not to fire people,’’ said Deirdre Cummings, legislative director of the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group, a consumer group. “This is throwing economic development subsidies on its head.”
It is not known whether GE would cut any additional jobs without the tax break, and if so, how many. But hypothetically, if the tax subsidy helps the company avoid cutting 50 more jobs, that would work out to $500,000 per job saved.
GE - one of the largest recipients of taxpayer bailout dollars
Well, I guess they are following the obama lead of taking credit for “jobs created or saved”
They learned this trick from the sports business, as in build me a newer stadium or I’ll move my team to another city.
GE. Recipient of the largest one time tax giveaway in history in 2002. $476 million went from our wallets to GE in the form of a tax break.
It warms my heart to see exeter and 2banana post the same thing. HBBers rule!
Don’t forget that GE’s profits are protected by its subsidiary, the GOP.
Don’t forget that GE is protected by its subsidiary, MSNBC, from any press criticism.
I don’t think so Dennis. Nobody watches MSNBC anyway, compared to the network news. And CNBC is completely Republican.
To which the appropriate response is always, don’t let the door hit your behind on the way out.
Politicians love these projects and always have and always will. That is why they should never happen. As I have pointed out before, capital spending should be limited to real infrastructure as much as possible and a good short cut for telling if it is real infrastructure is that you can’t figure out how to hold a ribbon cutting ceremony. Not that you absolutely can’t figure out how to cut a ribbon after fixing a bridge or replacing crumbling sewer lines, but it is a lot harder than it is on a stadium or brand new county administrative offices.
Capital spending by government is an oxymoron.
Speaking of the sports business trick mentioned above, there’s a very good book on this topic. It’s called Field of Schemes. Very well worth the read.
General Electric = Blackmailers
But I thought corporations didn’t need nor receive any welfare?
Foreclosure-fraud class action lawsuits pile up as banks across US negotiate settlement
NEW YORK (AP) — Foreclosure-fraud class action lawsuits are starting to pile up against major banks across the U.S., threatening a besieged industry with billions more in potential losses.
Bank executives are swarming Capitol Hill this week to defend themselves against multiple foreclosure-related investigations, including one by all 50 state attorneys general. Talks are under way in that probe in hopes of reaching a settlement, but that wouldn’t extinguish the mounting threat of an avalanche of class actions.
A congressional watchdog said in a report issued Tuesday that the foreclosure document debacle could threaten major banks with billions of dollars in losses, further prolong the housing depression and damage the government’s effort to keep people in their homes.
Let me just throw a lawyer truism out there. Over the long run, early settlement is good for the bad guy, not the one who was hurt. Now the people who were hurt may decide that they need the money now vs. waiting and while it is sad that people can find themselves in a place where they can’t wait for justice, adults are allowed to make that call. But when you are in a situation where the facts are complex and no one has figured out where all the documents are, never mind read them, you are much more likely to benefit the bad guys by just coming up with an early number that they are willing to agree to.
The sort of but not completely obvious reason is information assymetry. The people who did something wrong have a much better idea of what they did than the people who had it done to them. If they are willing to agree to something before discovery, you can bet that they fear what the discovery will show. Some of their fear may be related to intangibles like loss of reputation, but I don’t see that these banks have a lot of reputation left. Evidently they get to keep their deposit customers even with bad reputations.
Fortunately, in this case, the state attorneys general are only dealing with the forclosure part of things. The owners of the toxic waste notes will not be a parties to the proposed fund. Hedgies don’t have to take the cheap, early money. They can wait for the real payout and they own enough of this stuff to make sure we go though the whole process. Good grief. I’ve found a socially useful role for hedge funds. Will wonders never cease?
Good grief. I’ve found a socially useful role for hedge funds.
Maybe you should book an appointment with Dr. Zinfandel. It will help you to calm down.
“Over the long run, early settlement is good for the bad guy, not the one who was hurt.” I disagree with this statement on many levels. The most obvious is that even if both sides had perfect information as to what the ultimate outcome would be they would be better off reaching a settlement and avoiding the attorney’s fees, time and stress a lawsuit would bring. Also, viewing a civil lawsuit as a bad guy v. a good guy is overly simplistic. As for what you find during discovery, well let’s just say that can cut both ways, and often against your client. Have you ever practiced litigation, or do you just know “lawyer truisms”? I am not trying to be argumentative but often I find the legal and financial advice on this board questionable.
I should add that normally what I try to do is evaluate the value of a claim as early as possible based on 15 years experience, and push for early settlement conference with all my evidence line up and my best arguments ready to go. Over time, I know for a fact that those that settle early at or above what I have evaluated a fair settlement claim to be have done better than those that have ignored my advice and pushed for trial when netting out all costs. Plaintiffs tend to overvalue their claims, and defendants are usually more culpable than they admit to themselves.
We have a saying here in Old Florida: “A poor settlement is better than a good lawsuit”. I find that is an accurate truism.
Also, viewing a civil lawsuit as a bad guy v. a good guy is overly simplistic.
Does that mean less fees?
Actually I get and keep most of my clients by being able to fairly evaluate claims quickly and try to reach a mutually agreeable settlement asap. I’d rather get $10k on a quick settlement than $100k after long drawn out lawsuit that can go either way, and I have found it to be in the client’s best interest as well. The real key to a good litigator is to be able to cut through the bs and evaluate the true value of the claim, convince the otherside it is worth somewhat more, and settle at FMV or a slight premium. I have found that being greedy or unreasonable doesn’t usually go well.
Did you mean this?
“evaluate the true value of the claim, convince the otherside it is worth somewhat more”
So to be a good litigator is to be a lying salesman?
You think it is somehow lying by asking for more than the minimum you would accept? Please explain yourself that is pretty outlandish.
Doctor. Lawyer.
The essential mentalities in a nutshell. A most perfect exchange, you two. Thanks for the smile. (And the simile.)
“I’ve found a socially useful role for hedge funds.”
Funny Polly
ISTM that discovery in these cases is likely to show that:
1.) The banks were profoundly careless with their paperwork and have been dismissive of calls by others to get their acts together.
2.) The borrowers did indeed borrow the money in question and haven’t been making the agreed upon payments.
At the end of the day, 2 trumps 1. For their negligence, the banks should indeed have to face the cost of resubmitting all their paperwork, but is 2 really in dispute in very many of these cases?
No and I don’t think many of them show up in court, just a few gadflies do. But that’s enough for a contest. I think if the defendants were properly noticed, and they show up in court lawyered or pro se, the foreclosure should be stayed and a trial held on the merits. FB, bring your paperwork and make your case if you’ve been making your payments or they got the wrong FB. I know it could be done here, but I don’t know how ruthless other states’ courts are.
As far as some independent entity going through every single foreclosure and looking for problems, I think that’s crazy and inefficient. Let the advocacy system work. But again, I may be naive when it comes to Florida, Cali courts etc.
Apparently in CA banks don’t need to get a judge’s approval to foreclose–that is why despite CA having the 2nd highest rate of 90 day delinquencies, they only have the 11th highest number of foreclosures for sale.
There was also recent data put out that shows many other states are in worse shape than CA when it comes to rates of “seriously delinquent” loans. The highest percentages noted in the WSJ were:
Florida (19.5%)
Nevada (17.8%)
Illinois (10.8%)
Arizona (10.8%)
New Jersey (10.7%)
Shockingly, a guy from Zillow in the article calls it a “public policy success story” in CA. Imagine that…
And to be very fair, I’m not sure what it is that the state attorneys general are looking to resolve. They clearly aren’t in a position to deal with the securities issues. They probably don’t have to do anything for the people who were actually forclosed on by accident because the bank filed for 348 Main Street instead of 483 Main Street. A “settlement” isn’t an appropriate resolution if they are acting as the servicer of a trust that doesn’t own the note that has the right to foreclose on the property. And, as you point out, it is hard to measure what pecuniary loss can be claimed by a person who hasn’t been paying for a year or more? I think you probably do have the right to only be foreclosed on by the person who has the right to do it, but you sure can’t measure the loss by claiming that if the banks that didn’t own the note hadn’t forclosed on your house that it would have given you a loan modification.
Thay being said, my basic statement still stands. In a situation where there is huge information assymetry, an early offer by the party that has almost all the information is likely to be very favorable to that party.
“[A]n early offer by the party that has almost all the information is likely to be very favorable to that party” does not equal “[o]ver the long run, early settlement is good for the bad guy, not the one who was hurt.”
Well the number of foreclosures are perceived as a BIG PROBLEM and the AGs feel a need to DO SOMETHING about it. The reality is that in most cases, the unpayable loans that the FBs got are the BIG PROBLEM and foreclosures are the solution to that problem. I agree that the actual number of cases where the foreclosure was done in error appear to be very small, especially considering how slapdash the servicers have been with the paperwork. And yeah, it’s hard to figure out how living for an extended period of time for free can be considered big loss.
Natalie, you can take or leave this advice as you wish, but if you actually give out advice to clients with same obvious emotional involvement as you demonstrate in your posts on this blog, then you are doing them a huge disservice. Get some therapy and learn to separate your personal needs from your business.
Well the number of foreclosures are perceived as a BIG PROBLEM and the AGs feel a need to DO SOMETHING about it.
Here in Tucson, doing something about those foreclosures means that you’re dealing with an empty house. The owners have been gone for a long time. And they’re not coming back.
From what I can see from my lofty perch, the problem is getting those houses on the market so they can be lived in once again.
You always are a voice of reason in my book Jim.
“Natalie, you can take or leave this advice as you wish, but if you actually give out advice to clients with same obvious emotional involvement as you demonstrate in your posts on this blog, then you are doing them a huge disservice. Get some therapy and learn to separate your personal needs from your business.”
Ummm, I actually just pointed out that I disagreed with you, and your response was that I need therapy. Who exactly is being emotional? In fact, you were the one that was dividing ppl into good and bad, and I noted that the world is a little bit more complicated than that. I try to be polite just usually don’t respond to your posts, but sometimes enough is enough and I hate inaccurate legal statements. For example, I glossed over your implication that you didn’t make mistakes as an attorney and spent your time fixing others messes, not really understanding that the older attorneys were not upset that you found something that you did not necessarily agree with, but were concerned the liability and implications of changing standardized documents. I’m sorry I don’t always, or even often, agree with you and your legal advice, but please try to refrain from personal attacks. I know you think you are special and better than others. I just disagree.
Dang- 2 lawyers slugging it out-
But I’m getting some free Legal info
Pretty good cause I’m in a Lawsuit currently & can’t decide if I want to cooperate with the court approinted mediation or not
I’m pretty mad!!
Unless you signed something to contrary, court ordered mediation would not be binding in the State’s I am familiar with. To be sure you are not giving up any rights, however, I would confirm your local law and review anything you are asked to sign. If you have a good mediatior he or she could be the voice of reason, so I welcome them. I do not know if your particular case would go to a jury or be decided by a judge, but juries are inherently unpredictable and biased, so i try to avoid them unless you are extemely sympathethic and the issues are not too complex. Good luck Shelby.
Free legal advice is often overpriced.
Wouldn’t banks being unable to foreclose be helpful in keeping people in their homes?
Keeping people in their homes for what purpose: to live free or to modify the loan on better terms or what ?
It doesn’t seem like the Lenders were that interested in making the loan modifications and apparently a lot of people in the final analysis couldn’t even meet the terms of the long term modification verses the short term ones they were making . I know someone that did get
the long term modification at 3%( taken down from a 8% rate) and that person has got to be the most high risk run up debt all the time crazy I know of . No question in my mind this person I speak of will default in the final analysis . After this person got a give-a-way loan modification she got a windfall of 80k and spend it within one year
on crap and trips and clothes and you name it .She didn’t pay down the note or save money for emergencies or anything like that .The
only reason she needed a loan modification is because she had taken out about 75k in equity loans to buy crap like a new car, go on vacations and spend spend spend . I have never seen anyone that
spends like this lady . Yep ,its going to be a foreclosure in the final
analysis, its only a matter of time …..you just can’t help some people
But ,I’m sure there are some deserving people out there that could
really benefit by a loan modification that keeps them out of foreclosure ,or some form of adjustment on the loan . But isn’t that between the contract parties to work out ?
But ,my point is what do people want, a free house ,cram downs to market value ,!% fixed rates for 30 years ,what ?
I was mostly being facetious there and commenting on some government drone complaining about the foreclosure doc mess as making it harder for them to ‘keep people in their homes’ and so on.
‘keep people in their homes’
I think you have hit on the crux of the matter. “their homes”.
They have about as much entitlement to “their” homes as the bandos that have been occupying some of them. If you agree to buy something, on credit, and don’t make the payments, I do believe their is a legal right to “re-posses” the property. Don’t you?
So, whose house is it, anyway.
We seem to be dealing with occupancy as 90% of the law. In which case, Bandos should take possession of all the vacant properties and put them to good use. That will add to the list of court cases, as Bandos take adverse possession. Let’s start a housing “redistribution program”. It’s only fair. Everyone should have a right to housing and now we have an opportunity to make this dream come true.
Oh, I agree that the people who own the note should be repossessing it. If they wanted to keep ‘their’ house, they could have kept paying the mortgage. I was just rolling my eyes at the politician.
There you go. Stop Foreclosure.
Make your mortgage payment.
But ,my point is what do people want, a free house ,cram downs to market value ,!% fixed rates for 30 years ,what ?
Speaking for myself, I want the banks to start following the law, like the rest of us have to. I know it’s weird seeing the banks being forced to do so, but in the long run it will be better for us all.
In the short run, some FBs will get a temporary break. So what? This bust was a long time in the making, and there’s absolutely nothing that’s going to make it go away quickly, even if we let the banksters ignore all the laws. In fact, letting them ignore the laws is what got us where we are today.
Exactly. And letting MAKE the make law was also part of the problem.
Florida unemployment comp tax going up again
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Unemployment compensation taxes are set to nearly triple next year for almost half of Florida’s employers who pay the minimum rate, but they won’t change for those paying the maximum, state revenue officials said Wednesday.
A year ago, an even bigger unemployment tax increase had been announced for 2010. It drew howls of protest from the business community, and lawmakers rolled it back the first chance they had.
That forced the state, though, to borrow more federal money to pay compensation owed to jobless workers. Lawmakers had hoped the economy would improve and the unemployment rate would drop so some of the compensation tax receipts could be diverted to begin paying off the loans.
The jobless rate instead has increased, hitting 11.9 percent in October - 0.7 point higher than the same month last year. The state has borrowed $1.74 billion so far and hasn’t been able to repay any of it.
employers that pay the minimum will have their rates tripled while those that pay the max get no increase.
the employer that places no burden or a minimum burden on the system gets a 300% increase where the employer that places a high burden is protected. note the minimum payer generally pays more then the burden he creates while the max payer generally pays less then the burden he creates.
one more case of penalize the good guys at the expense of the bad.
“minimum payer generally pays more then the burden he creates while the max payer generally pays less then the burden he creates.”
Isn’t that pretty much the definition of insurance?
No. Risk assessment. Drivers with lots of accidents should pay more than safe drivers for insurance.
Insurance involves risk shifting. If you don’t shift risk, you aren’t insurance. That is the legal definition.
The exact amount of risk that is shifted (how much more expensive it is to get the insurance if you are a bad risk) is a detail.
No. You are thinking of government.
Risk assessment is BS. If you actually get into accidents and make claims, you should pay more.
You should not pay more for speeding tickets.
It is, but in this case, businesses were told AFTER hiring that now they were on the line, not just for 6 months of unemployment, but up to 99 months. This was another disastrous blunder during the course of this recession, since many of those laid off could not get work paying near their old pay, and indeed in many cases made it worth just staying home, particularly if a spouse was still employed.
If the 99 weeks (not months) had only applied to new hires, then it would have been pretty useless, no?
And if someone chooses not to seek a job during a period of high unemployment, doesn’t that allow some other unemployed person to get a job? Seems like a wash.
I’d feel more sorry for the FL business owners if they hadn’t lobbied successfully to lower their payments into the unemployment insurance pool during the bubble.
The state seriously underpriced unemployment insurance payments for more than a decade and thought that unemployment was always going to stay in the 4-5% so they’d be able to get away with it. Then when the real estate market tanked, they didn’t have the reserves needed to pay out claims.
It’s really a problem that goes back throughout Jeb!s entire time in Tallahassee and probably the Chiles administration as well.
They are going to effing extend effing unemployment benefits again. Eff that.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Unemployment-benefits-cnnm-3691650295.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=7&asset=&ccode=
But getting the $12.5 billion bill through Congress, particularly the Senate, will not be easy. The last jobless benefits extension — which lasted six months and cost $34 billion — faced a lot of opposition on deficit conscious Capitol Hill before it finally passed in mid-July.
A growing chorus of Republicans say they will only support an extension if it is paid for — which it is not at this point. They point to unspent stimulus funds as a potential pot of money.
Maybe not…
As much as I would like to think the repubs have grown a set, I doubt it,they’ll cave I’ll bet.
They’ll cave because Republican voters want them to cut taxes but not SS/Medicare. Democrats want them to raise taxes to keep SS and Medicare.
PIGSI: Portugal, Italy, Greece, Spain, Ireland
Soon to be: PIGSIUS
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703688704575620891838063332.html
A growing chorus of Republicans say they will only support an extension (of unemployment benefits) if it is paid for —
This is great right? This means that the Republicans will only support the Bush tax cut extensions for the rich if they are paid for too right?
It’s good to see politicians with consistent principles.
Never forget Rio that on the Animal Farm some animals are more equal than others.
They are saying now that it doesn’t look like it’s going to pass.
Don’t the long term unemployed shift to the welfare side of the
ledger eventually ?
Cheaper than extending the Bush taxcuts, I suspect.
American politicians are in severe need of spinus erectus. If these benefits are ever cut I will be in total shock.
So what’s your solution to their potential starvation?
Let them pick fruit.
Whose fruit are they then stealing? Oh, you mean work in the fields. I’m sure there are many many jobs available to do just that. Those frozen northern tundras are awash in corn in winter. But then they can all migrate south, hitchhiking all the way.
Then they can shovel snow, or do other menial jobs. They are available, people should not be so darned lazy and too good for shitty jobs. All I am saying.
A lot of the long term unemployed are older workers (50+) who may be physically incapable of manual labor. I used to be able to lift 65 pounds. To my dismay, my back told me otherwise a few years ago.
If we hire a bunch of them to shovel snow, we may find a significant percentage of them keeling over from heart attacks. I suppose that is one way to solve the problem of the boomers.
And then there is the issue of being over-educated or over-qualified for those menial jobs you suggest they take. If you can’t get hired in the field you have trained for and in which you have years of experience, you are competing against younger, more able-bodied people. Who would you hire for a general labor job - a 50 year old soft body or a 25 year old hard body? Or would you choose the 30 year old laborer or the 24 year old college graduate?
I was unemployed last year. Anyone who has been unemployed in this recession undoubtedly immediately realized that this isn’t your ordinary recession. I must have put in 300+ resumes. The previous time I looked for a job it took me 2 weeks and 5 resumes. I consider myself lucky for having found a job. Most of my friends who got laid off- many of them senior level professionals- are still laid off. Some of them are down to their last dollars. We’re talking people who have even applied at minimum wage jobs. No luck.
So whenever I hear people go on and on about how unemployed people are lazy and undeserving, I can’t help but wonder if they themselves have been laid off in this recession. I doubt it.
In the end cutting unemployment benefits will only result in equal if not worse financial consequences: Homes will get foreclosed, people will start applying for wellfare, etc etc. Every action has an equal or greater reaction.
It costs a lot to hire someone these days. The workman’s compensation insurance system is riddled with fraud from the very top to the ground level. And with compulsory health-care benefits on the way unemployment is likely to remain high for some time. Peeps like former construction workers waiting around for something to happen won’t cut it; getting a contractor’s permit should be at the top of the “things to do” list since the likelihood of becoming sophisticated enough for an office environment isn’t in the cards for most grunts used to lots of space.
A college degree used to mean security, but with digital communications ubiquitous today the complicated tasks performed on a computer can be done from anywhere, and there are lots of educated professionals around the globe today. A plumber or roofer has more job security now; the trick is getting your invoice settled.
Maybe if the Repubs hadn’t voted to EXTEND TAX BREAKS FOR OFFSHORING JOBS, they wouldn’t need to extend UE?
But in our reality-free society, that’s just wrong thinking, isn’t it?
“I’m a believer in that you don’t punish the children for the sins of their parents.” Huh, is that only for illegal immigrants.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts and California must be flush with cash.
Local legislators weigh in on in-state tuition debate
By Scott O’Connell/Daily News staff
MetroWest Daily News
Posted Nov 18, 2010 @ 12:21 AM
Sides are already being drawn in MetroWest in the wake of Gov. Deval Patrick’s pledge on Tuesday to provide in-state tuition rates to illegal immigrants.
Incumbent Democrats in the region elected earlier this month are backing Patrick on the idea. Sen. Jamie Eldridge, D-Acton, said he’s been in favor of the measure for many years.
“I have been since I was first elected in 2002,” he said. “I think it’s an issue of fairness - I’m a believer in that you don’t punish the children for the sins of their parents.”
Is there a way to volunteer to be an illegal immigrant in America?
I know they can`t get a job, but I wonder if Mexico would provide in-state tuition rates to illegal immigrants from Nicaragua?
BLITZER: So in other words, if somebody sneaks in from Nicaragua or some other country in Central America, through the southern border of Mexico, they wind up in Mexico, they can go get a job?-
CALDERON No, no.
BLITZER: They can work?
CALDERON: If — if somebody do that without permission, we send back — we send back them.
I can’t believe Mexico is so racist.
Racist hypocrites at that.
A constituent of Sen. Paul Sarbanes made the following request:
As a native Marylander and excellent customer of the Internal Revenue Service, I am writing to ask for your assistance. I have contacted the Immigration and Naturalization Service in an effort to determine the process for becoming an illegal alien and they referred me to you.
My reasons for wishing to change my status from U.S. citizen to illegal alien stem from the bill which was recently passed by the Senate and for which you voted. If my understanding of this bill’s provisions is accurate, as an illegal alien who has been in the United States for five years, what I need to do to become a citizen is to pay a $2,000 fine and income taxes for three of the last five years.
Here’s the rest of the constituent’s letter.
No, but you could move to Mexico and become one there.
Not nearly as much fun. No welfare, no free education, no medical, no nada!
I think there is free medical.
“- I’m a believer in that you don’t punish the children for the sins of their parents”
I could be cool with this if we had low umemployment and no budget deficits.
But we don’t.
Higher ed funding is becoming so dire in Colorado that it’s now cheaper for Coloradoans to attend state U’s and state colleges in Nebraska, Kansas, Wyoming and New Mexico as non residents than to attend our own local state schools.
And yet, we have a couple of nutjob state assembly members who every year try to introduce a bill granting illegals in state rates (which thankfully always gets shot down).
Devil’s advocate here, as I’m back and forth as to how I feel about this topic:
Let’s call him David. His Mexican parents came here illegally in 1983, established two blue-collar businesses, bought a (now paid-off) house, had three kids–all of whom are exceedingly bright. David is the oldest, and one of only four in his high school class of 700 to get an International Baccalaureate degree. He was also a top-ten national Lincoln Douglas debate champion and was among a group of kids honored at GW Bush’s White House. Accepted to Berkeley, Annapolis, and St. John’s, he eventually chose the latter and is now working on his doctorate in philosophy with an eye towards medical school. I am proud to call him my “son.” Technically he is illegal.
THIS is the sort of kid I want out there in the work force, as he is quite likely to be one of the few people left to pay my Social Security pension –should that ever come to pass. Most of his “legal” classmates are, at age 26, on their third welfare baby or sitting in front of a video screen drunk on Bud lite at 10 AM.
Then there is __________. Also accepted to Berkeley, also “illegal” under the same circumstances (This is Bakersfield.) To earn the money for his tuition, he enlisted in the Marines, went to Iraq, got blown to smithereens. The “God Hates Fags” parishioners picketed his funeral, and his extraordinarily poised young wife, their babe in arms, told the cameras, “Just ignore them, please. This isn’t about them. It’s about remembering my husband.”
I’d trade a hundred entitled, apathetic, “legal” dumbasses for either one of these good young men.
But I still don’t think it’s fair to similarly qualified legal citizens to have to compete with them on equal footing for a slot in our State Universities.
Comments?
I’m of the mind that there should be some way for these kids to take and pass the citizenship test. And fulfill whatever other requirements that would exist.
After all, through their school work and, in some cases, service to our country, they’ve proven that they have the brains and go-getter-ness to add to American society, not take from it.
I agree with Slim and ahansen. There should
be some mechanism that rewards children
of illegals who can, and will, prove themselves. Unfortunately, there is no system
in place that penalizes illegals that don’t want to join the system. The illegals get it all now without doing a thing. To make it
work, you’d need real incentives and real
penalties, something out politicians refuse
to do due to PC and fear.
I think you all live in a dream world if you think illegals have it easy.
You all seem to think they can collect welfare, food stamps, section 8 housing, etc. etc. It doesn’t cross your mind that the last thing they want is for the government to know they are here and illegal? They prefer to remain under the radar, and they cannot legally collect these benefits. Their LEGAL children are eligible, however.
Despite my very libertarian leanings, I have always been of the firm belief that the problem is not the illegal immigrants, it is the immigration and handout laws. If this is a free country, people should be able to freely cross our borders. Commerce should be taxed and regulated, not the people. Eliminate the income tax, and all the “unfair” arguments go away. Instead, corporations pay all taxes. Maybe your salary is lower to compensate, but no one is pushing you around and “incentivizing” you to do or not do things. No more worries about audits… How long will GE subsidize the big banks if they are paying all the taxes to do so.. not very long…
Then, if you’ve been in this country for 5 years working a job, that should qualify you for citizenship IMHO. Until then, emergency services only, and I don’t mean getting the flu and going to the ER. If you come here, can’t get a job, can’t get welfare, I guess you will turn around and go home, or go somewhere where you can survive.
I think you are completely deranged. Citizenship means nothing if people can freely migrate across borders and take up residency wherever they see fit. Each of you seems to have fallen prey to the ideology that having a job and working and paying taxes, or not paying taxes somehow entitles you to a place amongst the others in a country.
Sorry, you don’t get to pick and choose who can stay and who must leave, but we can control our borders.
Try entering someone else’s country without papers and without permission and see how fast you end up in jail.
I’ve even looked at migrating to other areas since USA is becoming a socialist nightmare. Go check out the requirements to get a “new citizenship”. In most places you had better have about $150,000 cash in the bank before they will even consider you.
I have found it extremely disturbing that during my entire adult lifetime, non-white, non-english speaking people from foreign countries can come to my country, get an education at my expense and take away jobs from me for the sake of “equal opportunity” and “multiculturalism”. I, the citizen, am the only one who has been disadvantaged by these ridiculous policies. At least, white, anglo-saxon males.
I have no country. Mine has been taken over by radicals that only wish to tax me to give to all the others coming here to benefit from generations of a civilization not theirs.
The end result will be societal decline and a culture war from which there will be no escape.
The only “multicultural” societies that have existed successfully are ones ruled by a gun. When the police state can no longer be supported, the wars begin…..think Kosovo, Croatia, Bosnia. They didn’t co-exist when the iron fist was gone. I don’t think that’s a very good scenario.
Or you could think…Israel vs. Palestine. They will need to “integrate”.
I don’t think it will work.
I have no country……I’ve even looked at migrating to other areas since USA is becoming a socialist nightmare…
Did you check out France?
Wimmins.
You forgot all them uppity wimmins in here, too. We gonna nab yer nurtz, Bee-ach. And take all yer moneys.
If I have to hear one more word about how great GMs ipo is…
The GM IPO and the Beanie Baby effect.
I’ll bet a buying rage will take effect for the GM IPO and that this buying rage will be similar to the buying rage that took effect for owing Beanie Babies some years back.
The Beanie Babies were heavily marketed to children and at the same time the supply of the things were restricted.This made Demand high but the Supply low, which resulted in a buying panic. Mothers were driven into screeching frenzys and were willing to PAY ANY PRICE to get hold of Beanie Babies for their kids for Christmas. And just before Christmas - just like magic - millions of Beanie Babies suddenly appeared on the shelves of toy store and were immediately sold out at premium prices.
Mass marketing at its finest.
Now we learn the supply of shares of the GM IPO will be restricted just as the supply of Beanie babies were restricted. Not just anybody will be offered the opportunity to buy shares of the GM IPO just as not everyone was offered to buy a Beanie Baby; With Beanie Babies you had to KNOW somebody, you had to be CONNECTED, you had to be SPECIAL. Something similar is going on with the GM IPO; Not exactly the same, but similar.
I look for the price of the GM IPO to rapidly move up from its initial offering price then be heavily dumped onto the general public on the secondary market as the demand for shares is pumped up.
Run as fast as you can from the GM ipo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As I understand it, the public won’t even get a shot at the IPO. It will all go to insiders.
DOW set to soar, the market is a buzz with the exciting GM-IPO. Savvy investors are in line to snap up shares,large and small investors alike.
At the showrooms customers are feeling very good about their GM car/truck purchase’s for the first time in 2 years. Things are back on track!
~ So says the ABC morning news.
If foreigners (especially the Chinese) “snap up” GM shares that would be fine with me. They need to spend their dollars on something.
China’s SAIC buys nearly 1 percent stake in GM
SHANGHAI (AP) - General Motors Co. (GM)’s main joint venture partner in China, SAIC Motor Corp., says it has bought a nearly 1 percent stake in the American automaker through its initial public offering.
SAIC, which is owned by the Shanghai city government, said Thursday it paid $33 a share for about 0.97 percent of GM at a total cost of nearly $500 million.
Sounds to me like a good day to sell shares of various funds.
Rust Belt Cities Raze Homes as Defaults Blight Neighborhoods
Cities Burying ‘Dead’ by Demolishing Homes
Cleveland’s population has been shrinking for 60 years as the city lost manufacturing jobs. Now, after more than 33,000 foreclosures since 2005, it’s demolishing hundreds of deserted, derelict homes.
An agency started last year to manage abandoned houses in Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland, plans to acquire as many as 1,000 properties next year, and tear down as many as 900 of them. The city of Cleveland may raze double that amount, according to Gus Frangos, president of Cuyahoga County Land Reutilization Corp.
“You really have to bury the dead right now,” Frangos said in a telephone interview. “You have to remove blight. It’s unfortunately on a grand scale.”
“You really have to bury the dead right now,”
How will they vote democrat in the next election?
Cook County, Illinois may be where the phrase ‘Cooking the books’ originated. It sure is where they pad the voter rolls with less-than-sentient-and-mobile Democrats.
“Some falsified printed accounts, artfully cooked up, on purpose to mislead and deceive.”
The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, Tobias Smollett 1751
The Repubs voted for extending tax breaks for offshoring job. Jobs that would have, at the very LEAST, mitigated the amount of foreclosures.
Yet you blame the Democrats.
Really?
Well, grass seeds won’t cost that much, will they? And back to nature we go.
Foreclosure Fix Is Seen as Distant
Changing the face of foreclosure in America will take some time, several state attorneys general said Wednesday, cautioning that an agreement with major lenders over revamped foreclosure practices was not imminent.
“We want to move as quickly as possibly but it has to be done right,” said Roy Cooper, the attorney general of North Carolina. “We have plowed this ground before.”
Ever since the law enforcement officials from all 50 states signed on last month to a highly publicized investigation of big mortgage lenders, there has been a public tug of war.
The banks, who have been subjected to bad publicity, have played down the investigation and want to see it end as quickly as possible. The state attorneys general, however, say that there is an opportunity to fundamentally change the way banks deal with defaulting borrowers so that more people can stay in their homes by modifying their mortgages, and that they will take the time needed.
Dollar to Become World’s `Weakest Currency,’ Drop to 75 Yen, JPMorgan Says
The dollar may fall below 75 yen next year as it becomes the world’s “weakest currency” due to the Federal Reserve’s monetary-easing program, according to JPMorgan & Chase Co.
The U.S. central bank, along with those in Japan and Europe, will keep interest rates at record lows in 2011 as they seek to boost economic growth, said Tohru Sasaki, head of Japanese rates and foreign-exchange research at the second-largest U.S. bank by assets. U.S. policy makers may take additional easing steps following the $600 billion bond-purchase program announced this month depending on inflation and the labor market, he said.
U.S. President John F. Kennedy in 1961:
“The growth in foreign dollar holdings has placed upon the United Stated a special responsibility – that of maintaining the dollar as the principal reserve currency of the free world. This requires that the dollar be considered by many countries to be as good as gold. It is our responsibility to sustain this confidence.”
JFK - Democrat of the 1960s…wonder if he would even be allowed in the party today…
Largest tax cuts in American history
Pro-gun (NRA Life Member)
Anticommunist and not afraid to use troops for America’s national interest
Bona fide war hero - personally brave and deeply patriotic
Assassinated by a devout Marxist leftist named Lee Harvey Oswald
“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”
“And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”
What a completely jejeune portrait of a man and a piece of history. Every comment from this intellectual adolescent is the same and shoehorns Obama and the “demicrats” where they don’t fit
Your posts are like making love with one stroke. Monotonous.
I have no idea what you’re talking about. But you probably should learn to spell “jejune” before calling people intellectual adolescents.
Yeah, that’s what I was thinking.
So, Mr. Bubble, you know that girlfriend that you had to go meet during the HBB meetup a few years ago? The “danger” one? Is that the lady who is preggers now? Just wondering, ’cause I would consider myself special to have “known” the two of you when you were first dating. It’s kinda cute.
Big V,
that was uncalled for.
Oxide,
What are you talking about?
Ronald Reagan, 1980….wonder if he would even be allowed in the party today…
Largest tax cut in history(after cutting them)
Cut and Ran from terrorists in Lebanon
Bonafide stand on the side-lines bleacher warmer in WW2
Rarely do I run across someone who tastes their own foot daily. You’re one of them.
Over priviledged playboy that couldn’t keep his privates where they belong. Got us involved into the Vietnam war that ended poorly. Poor military strategist (Bay of Pigs) and almost got us into an all out nuclear war with the Ruskies. What a great guy!
Bush and Obama are not so bad after all.
“Bona fide war hero - personally brave and deeply patriotic”
Nix, Nix, Nixon,…he didn’t have his war record “certified” by the repubican swift boaters in 1960.
Nixon should have pulled out in 1913.
JFK - Democrat of the 1960s…wonder if he would even be allowed in the party today…
I have some right-wing friends who vilify JFK, saying his father, “a dirty, Irish bootlegger”, bought the presidency for his son.
I guess everyone’s got an opinion.
Though their backgrounds are quite different the positions aren’t all that different from Sen. Webb from VA.
Sen. Webb from VA
One of the few Ds I consider voting for.
The bit about JFK being a member of the NRA had the whiff of nonsense about it. I used Google and found the following link - http://www.nramemberscouncils.com/jfk-nra1b.shtml. It appears that NRA took the initiative to make him a member. He didn’t actually apply himself.
Are you surprised that a poster who votes against his own economic interests would post revised history?
No, he wouldn’t be allowed any near politics these days, but not for those reasons.
The biggest reason would be that he busted US Steel’s chops (hard) for raising prices after convincing the unions to hold the line on their new contract and saying they too, would hold prices.
Dang socialeest/commie!
Bernanke: “Good thing they shot him.”
Did Ben B really say that? And I wonder who he thinks “they” are other than single shooter LHO.
U.S. President Barack Obama recently in Japan:
“Competition does not mean countries must prosper at the expense of other nations.”
The other day, I saw a sign spinner on the side of the road. His message - “We buy gold”!
MwahahahahHAHAHAhahahah. haha.
$4-5 gas by next summer. It’ll once again be a great time to “snap up” a used pickup or SUV.
Or as Corporatist Liar Diane Mesereaux said to Lying Larry Kudlow circa 2006, “everyone is snapping up ‘homes… you should too’”.
Oops C. That should be Diane Swonk of Mesereaux.
“$4-5 gas by next summer.”
Caused by what? Improving economy that increases demand? Reduced supply? Oh, and in which state(s)?
Gas is about $2.65/gallon in these parts right now. My prediction is no more than a 10% increase by next summer’s start of “driving season.”
“Caused by what? Improving economy that increases demand?”
By a collapsing dollar which will cause improted crude to shoot up in price. We aren’t the only people in the world that burn oil.
“My prediction is no more than a 10% increase by next summer’s start of “driving season.”
If the dollar holds steady then I will agree. If it continues to collapse then all bets are off. Oil has been able to climb back to $80 a barrel in spite of weak demand in the US. If te Fed continues to base the dollar oil prices will continue to climb.
Here’s a good one. Woman defrauds medicaid for $600k in cash and lives lavish lifestlye:
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/11/18/1845969/feds-womans-fraud-nets-600k.html
The documents alleged money from the scheme - some of which was transferred to other banking accounts - was used to buy a 2007 Hummer H2, a 2006 Bentley Continental Flying Spur, a 2007 Dodge Charger SE, as well as pay for spa services, lodging, entertainment and other costs at the Ballantyne Resort and Ritz Carlton.
Just wow…
a 2006 Bentley Continental Flying Spur, a 2007 Dodge Charger SE
When I imagine a lottery-winner-style spending spree I never imagined those two vehicles listed next to each other.
No kidding. Wow.
Well at least she made some very smart investments, Hummer H2’s always go up in value.
It seems like a Sophie’s choice: government provided health care aided and abetted by Democrats that can be ripped off by criminal fraudsters vs privately provided health care aided and abetted by Republicans that can be legally ripped off by executives aided and abetted by Republicans. I’ll take the former. But throw this woman’s ass in jail ASAP, please.
Well …I think there is a big difference between health care and health insurance.
There is, V. But in the legislation passed, health care = health insurance.
Great, now we have to continue to house her in “luxury” for another 10 years in a fine state hotel at $25K a year!
Home prices plunge as sellers compete with foreclosures
SAN FRANCISCO
November 17, 2010 5:07am
“Price reduction increases in many large U.S. cities can be attributed to the basic principle of supply and demand — on that score, buyers clearly have the advantage this holiday season,” says Tara-Nicholle Nelson, consumer educator with Trulia.com. “The market is flooded with distressed homes that are priced to sell and individual sellers are having a tough time competing. These dynamics, along with a shallow pool of active buyers, are leading to increases in price reductions.”
Fresno’s increasingly desperate sellers have dropped prices by an average of 13 percent. Sacramento sellers have dropped prices an average of 11 percent, according to Trulia.
But there are cities with far deeper price cuts. Price reductions in Minneapolis reached 46 percent, which represents the highest historic figure for any of the 50 largest U.S. cities since Trulia began tracking price reduction data in June 2009.
http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com/stories/001/?ID=16874 -
“Price reduction increases in many large U.S. cities can be attributed to the basic principle of supply and demand.”
The Fed must do something. We can’t have prices dictated by supply and demand. Not in this country.
We can’t have prices set by prudent, rational financial decisions. How would the banksters make money off their various irrational-exuberance driven bubble scams if markets settled down to the point where they were driven by common sense rather than desperation?
Surely you aren’t suggesting they should suffer the consequences of their poor judgments, are you?!
“Sellers compete with foreclosures”. Wait a sec. If the foreclosure is for sale, then I guess it must have a seller, right? I think the article should have read “as individual sellers compete with the very banks that made it possible for them to own that alligator to begin with”.
Foreclosures spike in small towns
By Ian B. Murphy/Daily News staff
The MetroWest Daily News
Posted Nov 14, 2010 @ 12:00 AM
Since the real estate bubble burst in 2007, foreclosures have been an unfortunate reality for the larger communities in MetroWest and the Milford area.
In 2010, the number of homes taken by banks in the area’s more suburban and rural towns has increased dramatically, according to an analysis by the Daily News using data from The Warren Group.
Continued unemployment has caused the more recent rounds of mortgage defaults, said Ozzy Diagne, director of the Consumer Education Center at the South Middlesex Opportunity Council.
“Unemployment really has been one of the biggest problems that we see,” Diagne said. “If someone doesn’t have an income, and their unemployment (insurance) runs out, it’s almost impossible to make a deal with the banks to modify their loans. In rough economic times, it’s just a matter of time before it reaches out to almost everybody.”
http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/archive/x1428447054/Foreclosures-spike-in-small-towns - 47k
Want to commit financial suicide? Trust a realtor.
I trust my realtor. She gives me extra fries with my value-meal.
hold out for onion rings …
But don’t go for the shakes. Eggnog or not, they’re revolting.
Try Arby’s shakes. They are the best.
Try Arby’s shakes. They are the best.
Or make smoothies at home. That’s what I do.
And I’ll put my smoothies up against a fast food joint’s shakes any day.
I like piles of fresh fruit, milk, and vanilla bean ice cream. I make shakes for my wife fairly often, and they’re as good as or better than anything I’ve run across from a restaurant.
Sorry Slim and buyer, but all that healthy-fruity stuff just ain’t the same. Arby’s. Processed “meat”, jamocha milkshake. Horsey sauce. Where ya gonna get that?
Speaking of committing financial suicide by trusting a realtor, that’s exactly what two former neighbors did. I’ve previously referred to them as Mr. Doom and Mrs. Gloom.
They’ve recently joined the ranks of the accidental landlords. Seems that the house that their realtor-buddy found for them, and for which they overpaid, didn’t sell before they left town. So, now it’s being rented.
No truer works spoken, exeter.
Do you need a degree or anything like that to be a Realtor? One of my neighbors is one and I think she has a High School diploma and a few weeks of training. And now she has the potential to be involved the most important decision most people will make in their lives, outside of the decision not to go on to college.
You don’t even need the highschool diploma in most states.
I have a comment with a link in moderation, but the answer is no. And in most states, you don’t even need to have a high school diploma. You take a few courses on line that teach you how to properly fill out a form, which end of a key goes into a lock, and get a list of handy buzzwords to drop.
If you’ve ever wondered why 80% or more of real estate listings sound like they were written by barely literate high school dropouts, now you know.
Yeah I don’t care to see any more “Montana living at it’s[sic] best!” listings.
I doubt most ‘Montanans’ would agree with the realturrrs what is Montana Living, anyway, let alone when it is at its best.
I grew up in Butte. That’s NOT Montana Living At Its Best. I’ve hiked a lot in the Bitterroots, rafted and kayaked on the Stillwater, and done cross country skiing through endless pine forests. THAT is Montana living.
I believe there’s a big difference in an “agent’s” license and a “broker’s” license. Not all real estate salesmen are the same.
Housing bubble a danger: expert
Prices could drop by 25 to 30%
Last Updated: Wednesday, November 17, 2010 | 3:50 PM ET C
CBC News
One of the first economists to predict the U.S. mortgage crisis warned Wednesday that Canada’s housing sector could be headed for a sharp correction.
Dean Baker of the Washington-based Centre for Economic and Policy Research said he sees no reason why average home prices in Canada should be about 50 per cent higher than in the U.S.
Baker said if interest rates rise by two per cent, Canadians could see house prices collapse by 25 to 30 per cent.
Given the potential damage, Baker said the federal government should consider regulations to further tighten mortgage lending and the Bank of Canada should consider raising rates.
And in China, Australia, Latin America, etc.
And in China, Australia, Latin America, etc.
I don’t think home prices will fall in most of Brazil. The market differs here from those other places mentioned. Because mortgages have just become available, Brazil is now working under a totally new housing market dynamic and reality than in the past.
Brazil is now working under a totally new housing market dynamic and reality
I’m trying to figure out if you’re making a funny.
“Brazil is now working under a totally new housing market dynamic and reality”
I’m trying to figure out if you’re making a funny.
And here’s the crazy part: I am but maybe I’m not. Because I don’t know.
I’ve lived housing bubbles LA 86-94, Bay Area 94-2008. (Maybe they follow me.) I know the “it’s different here” and “new paradigm” saw.
But…….can no place ever be different or have a new paradigm?
Factors supporting higher prices in Brazil:
Mortgages ARE new. Total outstanding Brazilian mortgages equal 2-5% of Brazilian GDP. US mortgages equal about 70% of American GDP. Now that’s quite a difference. Brazil is seriously under-housed. Estimates say Brazil needs 8 million new houses right now. 35 million Brazilians have risen to “middle-class” the past 12 years. A lot of 40-50 year old middle class kids live with their parents. Rio is especially so. City Rio is OUT of land in good areas. None. They’re all over themselves in Rio with the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics (the summer ones, they couldn’t get the winter ones)
As GH just said, The first thing Brazilians will learn is that mortgages make houses more expensive I tend to agree. 10 years ago there were almost no mortgages. Next year I saw figures that about 60% of home sales would involve mortgages with an average of about 30% down 9.5% interest for 20 years but also new government low down payments for the working poor that pencil out to house payments about 15% higher than rents which go up here faster than USA.
As Blue Sky mentions, Brazil is flush with cash right now because of the commodity boom. China has invested billions in Brazilian port infrastructure so they can get their Brazilian soybeans and raw material a few weeks faster. Will China’s demand wane? Will China bust?
Brazil has strong internal growth as well. It does. I see it. People have more money. Things are not cheap here. Brazil still makes a lot of things and charges very high duties on imports. Credit is rising in Brazil pretty fast but so is demand and income.
Bottom line. I don’t know. I own my home outright and I’m not buying more. But listing all the above factors, could it not be “different here”?
It sounds to me like you can make a good case for why you might be at the beginning of a bubble rather than the end. If housing gets beyond the ability of people to pay for it, it’ll still be a bubble, though.
“High duties on imports”.
Nice to see a national government who isn’t afraid of protecting it’s own.
When I worked in Wichita, one of the things we’d see anytime an aircraft was flying back to Latin/South America, was the rental van backing up to the door of the aircraft right before departure, and the crew packing it to the gills from stuff bought in the Big PX. One time, a guy had a new Yamaha dirt bike disassembled and packed on board. More than once, the crew would get in the cockpit, and have more crap stacked in behind them. If one of them ever crashed, the fire would STILL be burning……
These over-gross takeoffs were always exciting. Good thing ICT had a 12K foot long runway.
“It sounds to me like you can make a good case for why you might be at the beginning of a bubble rather than the end.”
+1. It sure sounds like a great setup for a bubble potential.
A strong increase in fundamental demand, coupled with an increase use of credit would both drive prices higher; if to goes on long enough and strong enough, it could certainly create the bubble mindset that housing only goes up.
Yes Carl, ppl in Brazil are using government subsidies to get mortgages with 0% down, and their monthly payments on their mortgages are like 2x equivalent rent, and their mortgages go for like 80 years. Bubble.
one of the things we’d see anytime an aircraft was flying back to Latin/South America, was the rental van backing up to the door of the aircraft right before departure, and the crew packing it to the gills from stuff bought in the Big PX.
Brazil is the only country I know of you can bring 2-70lb bags into for free on major US airlines.
In 1994 after Brazil won the world cup in the USA, their team brought in stoves, refrigs, stereo, tvs etc. on their chartered plane back to Brazil. When they landed, customs wanted their import tax cut on all the items but the Brazilian soccer players would not get off the plane until customs let them pass with all their loot.
There was a standoff but the Brazilian “national heroes” were allowed to enter with all their stuff duty free. Ahhhhhhhh Latin American justice. ….
The first thing Brazilians will learn is that mortgages make houses more expensive, not more affordable. I have to say, I am impressed by the work Brazil has done in the last 20 years, becoming energy independent and working to build a middle class. Be nice if they could learn what worked here in the US and what did not. Credit and debt is definitely the biggest nasty facing western nations right now and while useful should be hard to get and rare.
Rio,
Granted that it is different in Brazil, for reasons other than all the other it-is-different-here places in the world. Have prices in Brazil gone up because of the new housing dynamic? Could it be that Brazil has jumped aboard the world wide credit expansion? Might Brazil be a big exporter and be flush with money and credit because of the biggest bubble in commodities in the history of the universe? Are they borrowing like never before?
What could happen when the music stops?
“…Brazil is now working under a totally new housing market dynamic and reality than in the past”
Hey Rio, so how does the “My, house is worth…” mindset stay unmolested by false pent-up demand and ethical sales personnel?
Hey Rio, so how does the “My, house is worth…” mindset stay unmolested by false pent-up demand and ethical sales personnel?
I really don’t know too much about the dynamics of the sales market in Rio. I’ve read that prices in Rio have risen a lot the past couple years but almost no one talks about flipping. A Brazilian would not think about telling you what their house was worth and would look at you strange if you told them what yours was worth. I’m sure they think about it but not like Americans.
Most everyone here who talks housing, is looking for a place to live, not flip. The pent-up demand in Rio is real. (currently) I am pretty certain of that. There is no place to build in nice parts of Rio city.
I’ve met one used apartment seller at a party and his main business was buying distressed properties at auction (not easy to find ones that pencil out) and he can make 30- 40% on rehabbing. I asked him how there could be any distressed properties in Rio after the price rise and nothing being owed on the properties because of no HELOC’s or past mortgages here etc. and he said back taxes, back HOA type fees (high here) and “some people are just stupid.”
An article was posted about Brazil on this blog a few months ago. They are buying houses because they all think that hyperinflation will eventually cause their rents to go up. Sound familiar? They are willing to lock themselves in to a life-time mortgage at 2x rent because they think their own rents will be 2x in a couple years, and that house values never go down.
They don’t flip because house purchases/lending are not really private there. There is some sort of huge government involvement. I don’t know the details of it all, but it has something to do with giant taxes. The homeowner sort of shares their ownership with the government.
Some of the details of the mechanics of the Brazilian housing bubble are “different”, but it is still a bubble. Gotta see the forest through the trees.
Definition of bubble:
-Someone/something causes an unsustainable change in the market that causes prices to exceed fundamental values (government-sponsored mortgages that no private company would offer).
-People start to see this thing a good investment because you call sell it for more than what it’s worth (don’t realize that you have to PAY more than what it’s worth).
-Everyone wants in, prices go vertical.
-Mythology develops to explain the ridiculous (hyperinflation, government won’t allow market to fall, rich foreigners, yadda yadda yadda). NEW PARADIGM.
-Eventually, the unsustainable change starts to lose its juice (not even government can afford to keep giving people these crazy mortgages, individuals begin to default because the monthly payment is too high or doesn’t make sense, etc)
-Crack in the ice leads to a lot of underwater ppl.
Yea, Rio. As always, “It’s different where I live”.
Yea, Rio. As always, “It’s different where I live”.
Believe me. It’s WAY different here. They walk really slowly on the sidewalks (side by side) and block my faster pace all the time.
But I would not buy now in Rio and I’m glad I don’t need to. But even if prices dropped 50%, I’d break even, and still have “free” rent.
(and maybe a nice tan)
It’s different in Hell too, but there’s still a bubble there.
London, New York, Paris, Moscow
Everyone’s talking ’bout
Pop bubble!
Dobbbie do whaw
Pop bubble
Dahp, dahp, do whahp
Pop Bubble
Pbear, I checked the other day’s post: no hard feelings and I am sorry, too. I think we can agree that the $8k re-ignited a small bubble. Q1/2 2010 was a very challenging time.
1. The house we were under contract on failed to close by June 30th because the owner called BofA to request auto debit to stop for his 1st mortgage –the thing is, he had a second with BofA and didn’t ask to stop that one, and BofA didn’t check, so when they reviewed his file, they determined he was not in distress and we had to start the 3 month cycle over. So, I said, “no problem,” let us move in now, and pay no rent until we close - that would haver roughly equaled $10k, and we knew it would probably take longer so we thought it was a safe roll of the dice. Long story short, the owner died during all of this (only 54) and we bailed. That meant we had 4 days to find a rental and move, since we’d already given notice.
2. We signed on a rental in Seminole. It turned out to be right under a cell tower disguised as a flag. I balked, he threatened to sue, we went back and forth and I lost $1,250 to walk away. Two days to find a house… we did, but it nearly killed me and I had to call in a lot of favors from friends to get it done.
3. My wife’s grandfather finally passed away. It’s RE-related because he was the primary residential builder in Ithaca, NY for about 30 years and had quite the reputation for being a straightforward, no BS kinda guy that built quality homes — all of which are still there today (about 450). He retired to Florida in the early 80’s which is basically how I ended up down here. I loved hearing his RE stories including taking a concrete block to the head (by accident), selling to a Saudi who paid wayyy too much for his daughter’s at-Cornell-house, and how he bailed out his contractors when they went sideways (he once drove non-stop to Vegas to help his block guy retake his daughter who had basically been kidnapped by her drug addicted mom). Times were different then, but he had a strong moral compass. Gramps thought I was nuts because “I don’t understand real estate.”
4. Things are chill now, and the family is awesome, the job situation is stable as far as I can see (2-5 years out).
5. Allena, I was happy to see your post the other day. I hope you are doing well.
Glad to see you here, Muggy.
Ditto. Muggy, with all of the crap going on in Florida with recourse mortgages, you really dodged a bullet. It looks like it will be another several years before the foreclosure mess gets resolved there. So settle in, save money and enjoy renting.
Did you see that eastcoaster, wmbz and mikey bought houses? They post about maintenance woes and joys.
Welcome back.
Yeah…mikey here , almost…
I just got a rare visit from the Phantom of the North, the Great Grey Ghost, old misty Strix Nebulous himself last night. I thought I saw a huge dark vampire glide by my little morning doves while they were doing some late evening munching the other night.
My shack is L shaped and he swooped in from the woods about dusk to snatch a squirrel, which he narrowly missed, then landed on my gutter about 25 feet from my sliding glass door…and then stared at me intently through the glass. This silent big bird is Dead From Above if your a little critter.
Biggest owl I ever saw with really huge yellow eyes and totally it unafraid of me. He’s the biggest owl, but not the heaviest, because he’s a big fluffball but has a wingspan of about 4 feet. This guy doesn’t mess around and I ain’t going out after dark with a furry hat on this winter!
It still ain’t safe being a homemoaner…
“Dead From Above” …did I actually write that!?!
It should have been “Death From Above”
Sheesh…some old senile ex-paratrooper I turned out to be.
When I was the 101st ABN Div Band we referred to ourselves as “Death From Behind”. And a few other less polite things.
When I was the 101st ABN Div Band we referred to ourselves as “Death From Behind”.
And what instrument did *you* play in this deadly band?
I played a variety of things, but my Army MOS was 02U, electric bass player. That was the only instrument I was good enough on to pass the audition without having to practice.
Mikey,
We had a huge old wooden barn in our
lower pasture that was home to a huge barn
owl. A magnificent bird, huge, gray, silent and deadly.
Finally figured out that those funny little balls of tiny bones and fur littering our deck
were nothing more than digested mice lofted
there from his high perch in the tree overlooking the house.
If ya’ll want to know about barn owls, read Wesley the Owl, a memoir about a young biologist who raised one in her bedroom for 19 years. You learn about those regurgitated pellets, among other more savory topics.
Owls control the feral cat population in our small town.
Muggy — I am beyond frustration, so please forgive my past rudeness. At the end of the day, I admire any middle class American family which can successfully navigate the shoals of this financial meltdown.
“Muggy — I am beyond frustration”
Me too, or at least I was for a while. I really lost it this summer when I was simultaneously dealing with the blown deal, this dude and I threatening to sue each other, and finding another joint.
But, this is when I remind myself of Ben’s old chestnut: there is opportunity here.
Mugs!
I’ve written to you a couple of times but your old xxxaddress was apparently no longer viable. You sound SO much happier. (Yay.)
Glad to see you, too, as Ben’s HBB family gathers here for Thanksgiving.
Hey, thanks for writing and sorry I did not receive them. I am doing much better, yes. I hope you are, too!
This is a bad way to put it, but even though we have “realized gains” from the bubblesit, we’ve watched it destroy some of our friends’ families and finances. We have a lot of teacher/cop friends who paid $200k for crapshacks in the last few years that now sell for $60k. And no joke, the condo we rented a few years ago (that our friend bought for $140k) is now going for $20-30k.
I’ve regained sanity by getting back to eating healthy, exercising moderately, and cutting out a lot of BS at work. I haven’t had an update on your health — if it’s no too personal, I’d like one!
Here are the chilluns
The dude
http://i864.photobucket.com/albums/ab205/muggyflo/34069_1421276583491_1579985496_1008532_6351293_n.jpg
The ladybug
http://i864.photobucket.com/albums/ab205/muggyflo/IMG_4064.jpg
Muggy
Your dude and ladybug are adorable. Thanks for the photos. Has it been that long since ladybug made her debut into the world? I remember the day she was born. Man, time flies.
.
Glad to see the update. Man you’ve been through the wringer but no worse for the wear, it sounds. Glad to hear you’ve landed on your feet and still smilin’.
Economic crash to drive 100,000 out of Ireland
By Michael Savage in Dublin, The Indepenedent
With the unemployment rate still above 13 per cent and remaining high, many with a bankable trade are now considering taking the drastic option of leaving Ireland in search of work.
The government expects as many as 100,000 people to leave over the next four years. In most cases, it is a decision taken with the utmost reluctance. Mr Lynch said he would be leaving his wife and six-month-old son behind initially while he secured a job.
A new wave of emigration would be one of the most painful symptoms of Ireland’s financial crisis, which continued to be the subject of a fraught political stand-off yesterday. Brian Cowen, the under-siege Irish Prime Minister, again emphasised his government was not in need of a European bailout. However, finance minister, Brian Lenihan, conceded the country’s banks needed help. A mission of EU and International Monetary Fund officials will visit Ireland today, in the latest attempt to resolve a debt crisis which some fear is putting the nation’s European partners at risk. Mindful of the potential knock-on effects on the UK’s economy, George Osborne declared that Britain also “stands ready” to play its part in any rescue plan, over the objections of some Tory MPs. But further evidence for the impact of Ireland’s woes came as Portugal’s borrowing costs sky-rocketed on the back of traders’ worries over the “contagion effect” caused by the country’s crisis.
“Economic crash to drive 100,000 out of Ireland”
If they come to the U.S. will their kids get in-state tuition?
Hey, maybe the Saw Doctors will tour the U.S. three times this year instead of two. Then again, if the dollar is low enough maybe they won’t want to come at all.
I suspect that most will seek work elsewhere in the EU.
Only if they come illegally.
It cracks me up to read that a Brian Cowen is Taoiseach…
“It says ‘Romans go home!’ ”
“No it doesn’t.”
Are those 100,000 people leaving Eire local people, or recent immigrants from other parts of the EU, e.g. the Polish plumbers? With a population of only about 4 million - about the same number as Oregon or South Carolina - that’s a huge amount.
I read in the Telegraph (UK) that the Poles had mostly left.
My bet - 10 days and we are below IPO prices…
————————————–
GM Stock Sale in High Gear
WSJ
General Motors Co. is on pace to sell $18.1 billion in shares in what likely will be the second-largest U.S. initial public offering ever, capping a remarkable two-year turnaround in which the car maker went from begging for a government bailout to posting its first steady profits in more than six years.
GM sold about 478 million shares Wednesday at $33 each, a price higher than the company and its bankers thought was possible just days ago. An additional 71.7 million shares are expected to be sold by GM’s bankers as part of an “overallotment” allowed when sales are stronger than expected. And it sold $4.35 billion in preferred shares.
All those $billions and $zillions. That’s awesome. I gotta go pick fuit.
Slap a naked short on that puppy and see what happens!
LOL
I have an investment tip for these soon to be unemployed, just “snap up” GM stock and sit back and reeeeelax!
Bloomberg to lay off thousands of city workers
NEW YORK CITY (WABC) — The New York Post reports that New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is set to order layoffs for thousands of city workers.
The mayor is expected to make the announcement today.
The layoffs, along with service cuts, are meant to close a budget deficit for next year now pegged at almost $3.3 billion.
Some job cuts will be done through attrition, but services for seniors are expected to take a hit, along with libraries and cultural centers.
Some job cuts will be done through attrition, but services for seniors are expected to take a hit, along with libraries and cultural centers.
Lord forbid if they would have to trim one insane pension…
Luckily city administration will be spared.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-18/new-york-city-will-cut-workforce-by-10-000-to-narrow-budget-gap.html
NYC will be a festering dystopian hellhole in another couple of years. Decaying infrastructure, endemic corruption, a one-industry town built on looting the flyover states, and a huge and growing population of have-nots does not make for a comforting scenario.
You mean it isn’t already?
Seriously?
If it is ‘ordinary’ monetary policy, then why do they talk about it so much?
Bloomberg
Bullard Says Asset Purchases Misperceived as Bailout
November 17, 2010, 1:50 PM EST
More From Businessweek
* Canada Home Starts to Fall, Sales Drop From Year Ago
* Fed’s Bullard Says U.S. Should Limit Its Role in Housing Finance
* Geithner Urges End to Fannie and Freddie ‘Ambiguity’ (Update1)
* Treasuries Rise as Fed Officials Voice Support for Asset Buying
* Fed’s Bullard Sees No ‘Obvious’ Case for More Stimulus
By Steve Matthews
Nov. 17 (Bloomberg) — The Federal Reserve’s $600 billion asset-purchase plan has become misunderstood as a government bailout and policy makers should better explain its rationale, Fed Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said.
“What is really only ordinary monetary policy got conflated, I think, with other kinds of government programs, bailout programs,” Bullard told reporters today after speaking at a housing finance conference in St. Louis. “It is up to us to try to communicate better about monetary policy.”
The Federal Reserve on Nov. 3 said it would buy an additional $600 billion of Treasuries through June, expanding record stimulus to try to reduce 9.6 percent unemployment and keep inflation from slowing. Bullard, who voted for the purchases, said he favored setting a smaller initial goal for asset purchases and then adjusting the amount at each meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee.
The $600 billion program will be reviewed and “does depend on the data,” Bullard said. “As the forecast looks right now, it looks like we will be purchasing at this pace through the end of the second quarter, and it will add up to $600 billion.”
“Things may look differently either on the positive side or negative side” by June.
Rates Near Zero
Chairman Ben S. Bernanke is trying to boost growth after near-zero interest rates and $1.7 trillion in securities purchases through last March helped pull the economy out of recession without bringing down joblessness close to a 26-year high.
Bullard said today’s inflation report suggests slowing inflation remains a risk. Consumer prices excluding food and fuel, the gauge followed by central bankers, increased 0.6 percent last month from a year earlier, the Labor Department reported today. The increase was the smallest in year-over-year data going back to 1958.
“That is a low number,” Bullard said. “It continues the disinflation trend we have seen in 2010. That disinflation trend is something I have worried about and I think we should take action to turn around.”
…
Quantitative Easing Explained
The cost of food and fuel, the stuff you pretty much can’t avoid buying, is still inflating along nicely, however. From the report :
The energy index has risen 5.9
percent over that span with the gasoline index up 9.5 percent. The
food index has risen 1.4 percent, with both the food at home index
and food away from home index rising the same 1.4 percent.
The all items index was up 1.2 percent, but 90 percent of the increase was accounted for by energy and fuel. 90 percent of our inflation is in energy right now, and that’s gonna hurt the working poor more than other groups.
It’s only been the last 2 months that prices have NOT risen in my city.
But after seeing anywhere from 20-50% increases on many things, thank god it’s finally slowing down.
Bloomberg
Fed’s Bullard Says U.S. Should Limit Its Role in Housing Finance
November 17, 2010, 11:53 AM EST
By Steve Matthews
Nov. 17 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. government should limit its involvement in housing finance and review tax subsidies to homeowners, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said.
“We need to let the private sector provide the bulk of U.S. housing finance going forward, without the incentive- distorting set of government programs and taxpayer guarantees that caused our current system to collapse,” Bullard said in the text of a speech today in St. Louis. “Those programs meant well, but ended up costing everyone dearly.”
Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, who has said there is a strong case to be made for continued government involvement, has promised to deliver the Obama administration’s plan to overhaul the housing-finance system by the end of January. Republican lawmakers who will take control of the House of Representatives have called for the government to end its support for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage firms operating under federal conservatorship.
“In most developed countries, mortgage finance is provided by the private sector,” Bullard said. “Ideally, in a well- functioning private system, taxpayers can be sheltered so they are not exposed to insolvency risk.”
“The extent of Congressional meddling in this market has been astonishing to the point where one can barely identify what the private sector outcomes would be in the absence of intervention,” Bullard said at a housing finance conference at the St. Louis Fed.
…
“The extent of Congressional meddling in this market has been astonishing to the point where one can barely identify what the private sector outcomes would be in the absence of intervention,” Bullard said at a housing finance conference at the St. Louis Fed.
He’s chosing a heck of a way to find out. Certain voices have been claiming there would be no market out there if it weren’t for the Feds because too many investors got burned buying MBSs before the crash and most lenders are not interested in maintaining current levels of accepted risk on their books. Is Bullard arguing that there are lenders willing to lend at 3% down w/high LTV ratios or is he saying ok, bring on the correction?
Sounds to me like he wants to get the government out of the real estate subsidy business. Good luck with that plan!
He is saying “bring on the correction”. Furthermore, he probably understands that the correction is inevitable. His “heck of a way” is the best way. And yes, private lenders will require 20% down in the future.
“We need to let the private sector provide the bulk of U.S. housing finance going forward, without the incentive- distorting set of government programs and taxpayer guarantees that caused our current system to collapse,” Bullard said in the text of a speech today in St. Louis. “Those programs meant well, but ended up costing everyone dearly.”
It is great to see somebody with a bully pulpit saying something sensible about the way forward! Perhaps we are finally nearing the end of the denial stage of the housing bubble.
Wow, this Bullard fella is actually not full of Bull.
I swear, I think they have to change their names as a condition of joining the whole Fed Reserve/Treasury/Goldman Sachs community. Like a cult kinda.
Now in the midst of all of this TSA stuff … perhaps you missed this. Last week the Obama Administration gave TSA agents the right to unionize. Wow! That’s just wonderful. Mix the union attitude in with the current arrogance of some of these agents … and it will certainly make our flying experience that much more enjoyable.
The federal government employee unions were quick to jump on this new opportunity. This week they were calling for collective bargaining rights for TSA agents. Oh goodie. You know where this is going, don’t you? We’re going to get to the point that it will be virtually impossible to fire a TSA agent. Airports will set up TSA rubber rooms where agents on administrative leave can sit and play video games while pulling down their full salaries. Maybe they can grope each other to pass the time.
~~ Neal Boortz
A friend of mine sent this to me via email today. I nearly killed myself laughing:
“Here’s a solution to all the controversy over full-body scanners at the airports:
All we need to do is develop a booth that you can step into that will not X-ray you, but will detonate any explosive device you may have hidden on or in your body. The explosion will be contained within the sealed booth.
This would be a win-win for everyone. There would be none of this crap about racial profiling and the device would eliminate long and expensive trials.
This is so simple that it’s brilliant.
I can see it now: you’re in the airport terminal and you hear a muffled explosion.
Shortly thereafter an announcement comes over the PA system, “Attention, standby passengers, we now have a seat available on flight number ……….”
That’s a damn fine idea! No worries with turban frisking either!
Introducing the American Traveler Dignity Act
Mr. Speaker, today I introduce legislation to protect Americans from physical and emotional abuse by federal Transportation Security Administration employees conducting screenings at the nation’s airports. We have seen the videos of terrified children being grabbed and probed by airport screeners. We have read the stories of Americans being subjected to humiliating body imaging machines and/or forced to have the most intimate parts of their bodies poked and fondled. We do not know the potentially harmful effects of the radiation emitted by the new millimeter wave machines.
http://paul.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1796&Itemid=60
Gotta love Ron Paul.
One lone voice of reason in a sea of insanity.
“the Obama Administration gave TSA agents the right to unionize”
Is there a don`t ask don`t tell policy in the TSA? And I wonder if that male Flight Attendant who pitched a fit and slid down the emergency shoot would have opted for the “pat down” every time? Not that there is anything wrong with that. As long as they don`t frisk my Turban I`m fine.
This week they were calling for collective bargaining rights for TSA agents.
It’s OK, President Palin will fire them all the first time they strike.
This latest round of step-ups in security screening has just about convinced me to buy a used mini-van for traveling to see my parents. We have 2 kids, and I’m not about to let some stranger frisk either one of them the way it sounds like they’re doing it these days.
You might want to consider how many times you will actually visit your parents. If it’s only twice per year, it would probably make more sense to rent a mini-van.
Cops bust seven men playing chess in upper Manhattan park
Drop that bishop and come out with your hands up!
A squad of cops in bulletproof vests swooped into an upper Manhattan park and charged seven men with the “crime” of playing chess in an area off-limits to adults unaccompanied by kids — even though no youngsters were there.
“Is chess really something that should be considered a threat to the neighborhood?” Inwood resident and mom Joanne Johnson wrote Mayor Bloomberg, the City Council and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly after the raid.
“This incident is an embarrassment to the officers from the 34th Precinct who felt that it was necessary to use their badge and authority”
The knights in Kevlar armor gave all seven suspects desk-appearance tickets.
The chess tables where they were ticketed for “failure to comply with signs” are in a fenced-in area where posted notices read: “Adults allowed in playground areas only when accompanied by a child under the age of 12.”
They are earning thier pension one arrest at a time.
This is why you don’t EVER want Bloomberg for president. He’s the nanny state, political correctness to the max. The POlice just take their cue from him.
The signs about adults without children not being allowed in certain playground areas have been there for decades. I have no idea how often they are enforced.
I can’t believe they’d enforce it against a bunch of gents playing chess…. unless they all looked like Marlin Brando.
How many children under the age of 12 play chess? This is insane to place dedicated “chess tables” in a children-only area.
I guess the tables are there for the parents to play chess. Then the predators can make off with the kids, while parents are thinking of their next move.
Then the predators can make off with the kids, while parents are thinking of their next move.
Yeah, that would be my dad. Put him in front of a chessboard and the rest of the world simply disappeared.
I wonder if they are charging extra taxes to people with kids to pay for the parks that everyone else is not allowed to use. Or do the parents get tax deductions, while the nonparents pay extra taxes in order to pay for the parks that are exlusively for the use of nonpaying parents?
That’s not discriminatory. After all, non parents can simply kidnap a kid in the neighborhood and bring the rugrat to the park with them so they can play chess.
New jobless claims still mired near 450K; and this is the holiday hiring season. Just wait until after the Souper Bowl!
P.S. There is something very peculiar about the way the new claims number has plateaued around 450K… is this normally what happens in the tail-end of a recession?
Economic Report
Nov. 18, 2010, 9:02 a.m. EST
Jobless claims climb 2,000 to 439,000
Yet 4-week average falls to lowest level since September 2008
By Jeffry Bartash, MarketWatch
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The number of workers who filed new claims for unemployment benefits fell by 2,000 last week to 439,000, reflecting little change in a weak U.S. jobs market, according to the latest government data.
Jobless claims plummeted in 2009 as the economy exited recession, but they have clung near 450,000 through the first 11 months of this year. Economists believe weekly claims have to move toward 400,000 to indicate a faster pace of hiring.
…
Recessions used to end when decline stopped. Now they end when the rate of decline stops accelerating.
Correction: Declines used to end with the end of recessions. This time is different.
Sanford Airport to opt out of TSA screening
The backlash continues over those new TSA screening measures, and now one Central Florida airport has decided to go with a private security screening firm.
Orlando Sanford International Airport has decided to opt out from TSA screening.
“All of our due diligence shows it’s the way to go,” said Larry Dale, the director of the Sanford Airport Authority. “You’re going to get better service at a better price and more accountability and better customer service.”
Dale says he will be sending a letter requesting to opt out from TSA screening, and instead the airport will choose one of the five approved private screening companies to take over.
Congressman John Mica, who’s expected to lead the powerful Transportation Committee next year, says the TSA is crying out for reform.
“I think TSA is overstepping its bounds,” said Mica.
“All of our due diligence shows it’s the way to go,” said Larry Dale, the director of the Sanford Airport Authority. “You’re going to get better service at a better price and more accountability and better customer service.”
Do they mean unionized (as of today) government workers run by a massive and expensive government bureaucracy is not the best choice?
Isn’t it only natural that these TSA thugs should be union members?
Isn’t it only natural that these TSA thugs….
But I don’t think the “TSA thugs” came up with the new regulations and machines by themselves did they?
Like they’re sitting around in their TSA “thug” break room and had all these ideas n stuff? I’ll bet most don’t like doing this new stuff.
It makes me think of the old Sierra Mist commercials where Jim Gaffigan portrays an unethical TSA goon.
The Federal Reserve is Laundering Money
Bernanke’s Royal Mess!
“A nation of sheep will beget a Government of wolves”
~ Edward R. Murrow
Bah!
The Goldman Sachs robot has second thoughts
Darth Geithner USA Debt Star
NOBODY KNOWS THE BUBBLES I’VE SEEN
THE DOLLAR AND ITS DIVING
Lemme guess that the number of California mortgages going into default has not slowed in the least? It appears the housing market is developing a constipation issue. Watch out below once laxatives are ingested.
Foreclosure Numbers Plummet as Moratorium Continues
Report says foreclosure sales were down 44 percent from a year ago
Updated 4:30 PM PST, Tue, Nov 16, 2010
Foreclosure sales in Riverside County and across the state dropped by double digits last month as several financial institutions continued a moratorium on foreclosures in the wake of a record-keeping scandal.
According to Bay Area-based ForeclosureRadar dot com’s monthly report, 1,400 repossessed properties were auctioned off countywide in October, compared to 2,103 in September, a 33 percent decline.
According to the report, foreclosure sales were down 44 percent from a year ago, when 2,485 properties ended up on the auction block.
Statewide, 12,773 properties in default were sold last month, compared to 18,080 in August, a 29 percent plunge. A year ago, 19,926 foreclosure sales were recorded in the state, according to ForeclosureRadar dot com.
…
Here’s an email blast I received from the local realtors’ association.
Abandoned Vehicles in Foreclosed Homes
During the past several weeks, investigators from the California Highway Patrol (CHP) have seen an increase in the number of stolen vehicles recovered from within enclosed garages of foreclosed homes. The homes were primarily located in the South Sacramento area and each home had a posted “for sale” sign in the front yard. Upon gaining access to the garage, the individuals stripped the vehicle of its reusable parts and left the remaining portions of the vehicle in the garage.
If you locate an abandoned vehicle inside one of your listed properties or you suspect someone is using the property to commit a crime, immediately contact the appropriate law enforcement agency in that jurisdiction. If you have any questions, please contact CHP Investigator Bruce Orden at 916-464-2080.
Gotta love those entrepreneurs! LOL!
It’s nice to know a realator.
In some ways this sounds too good to be true….
Stripped car still has gas in tank. Stripped car catches on fire, burns down REO house, bank recovers from insurance company.
Who lit that Reichstag fire again - some crazy Dutchman?
Yeah, the bank forecloses on the house, and suddenly it becomes responsible for calling the police to deal with the abandoned property left by the FB? If I were the bank, I’d sell the car myself.
“What car?”
My interpretation was that there was nothing left worth selling. Just a pile of leftover junk that needed hauled away.
Wish a happy birthday to the H1-B.
20 years of bringing in low paid workers from over seas: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9196738/H_1B_at_20_How_the_tech_worker_visa_is_remaking_IT_in_America
Oh, brother. Another November baby.
It gains the right to drink alcohol next year. My gawd.
Well, far be it from me to buy it one!
HOUSING: Sales plunge in North County
October drop attributed to foreclosure freeze, buyer hesitation
By ERIC WOLFF
North County Times - Californian
Posted: Tuesday, November 16, 2010 5:24 pm
House sales fell precipitously again in North San Diego County in October, reaching a level not seen since March 2008, according to data from a Realtors group.
House sales in North County fell to 614, off 14.8 percent from September and 20.5 percent from October 2009, according to the North San Diego County Association of Realtors. The last time house sales fell this low, in spring 2008, house prices were in free fall.
Last month, the median house price in North County slipped 2.1 percent from September to $465,000 in October, but remained 8.1 percent above the October 2009 median price.
The report from the Realtors association uses data from sales reported by real estate agents in the Multiple Listing Service run by Sandicor Inc.
Real estate agents in the area attributed the drop in sales to a lack of urgency from buyers and the effects of a foreclosure freeze from major lenders.
“It’s pretty crazy,” said Steve Golden, a San Marcos broker. “We’re at historical low interest rates, buyers are out there looking for the best deal, (we) can’t get them off the fence.”
Echoing Golden, Rancho Bernardo real estate agent Scott Voak said government tax incentives pushed a lot of buyers to rush to buy houses in the spring and summer. Those who remained could be patient and wait for the best deal.
While sales reductions came in every part of the region, Escondido sales fell off a cliff: Buyers in Escondido’s four ZIP codes picked up 133 houses in October 2009, but last month they bought 91, a 31 percent drop, according to the Realtors report.
Some observers said a freeze on foreclosures by major lenders reduced sales in Escondido and Southwest Riverside County by dramatically reducing the number of houses for sale.
“The banks, due to some problems with paperwork, have withdrawn all of their listings,” said Cliff Helbock, branch manager for the Murrieta and Escondido branches of Prudential California’s offices. “All of the major brokers had to take hundreds of homes off the market temporarily. There’s actually a shortage of homes on the market, we’re getting multiple offers.”
…
“It’s pretty crazy,” said Steve Golden, a San Marcos broker. “We’re at historical low interest rates, buyers are out there looking for the best deal, (we) can’t get them off the fence.”
It doesn’t occur to these guys that maybe the typical San Diegan can’t afford a 500K house?
Not yet. Housing bubble denial still runs strong here in North County San Diego.
Only because it’s different there.
And has for a long, long time. I lived in San Diego from 1982 through 1995 and the only time that prices were even moderately affordable was during the the RE crash in the early to mid 90’s. I recall article pucblished in the SD Union in the late 80’s forecasting that prices would get to where they are today. Denizens of “America’s Finest City” just seem to accept that unaffordable housing is normal.
“I recall article pucblished in the SD Union in the late 80’s forecasting that prices would get to where they are today.”
If the forecast was correct, then that wouldn’t qualify as denial, would it?
“If the forecast was correct, then that wouldn’t qualify as denial, would it?”
It wouldn’t except that they claimed their forecast was based on fundamentals (i.e. Everybody wants to live here).
Housing was affordable before they passed Prop 13. My parents had no problem buying a house, and neither did any of grandparents. Nor aunts nor uncles.
The Jarvis Tax Initiative, I.E.; Prop 13 was passed because exponentially-rising property taxes were making homes UNaffordable to the people who had owned them, lived in them for decades, and had created the communities, parks, schools, libraries, etc. in which they were located. Owners like your relatives were being taxed out of their homes, so they fought back.
San Diego bankruptcy talk is nonsense
By Jan Goldsmith
Sunday, November 14, 2010 at midnight
San Diego’s pension problem must be fixed. Otherwise, we face annual pension payments that will grow from $229 million today to $500 million in 15 years, tightening a financial albatross around our neck.
The city is not powerless to address this problem. In fact, there are many options short of illegally abrogating vested pension rights. For example, Councilman Carl DeMaio’s fiscal plan includes some of those options, such as increasing employee contributions, adjusting “pensionable pay,” outsourcing services, cutting spending and restructuring debt.
Labor unions do not have a legal veto to stop reforms. We must negotiate in good faith, but the ultimate decision lies with the City Council upon impasse. The city is empowered to face this problem with tough medicine, but it would not be easy.
It is human nature to avoid tough decisions while seeking easy solutions. Over the years, denial and hope for miraculous investment gains failed. Lately, Chapter 9 bankruptcy has again become popular among easy-fix advocates. File bankruptcy, they say, and pensions will vanish.
That’s nonsense. Bankruptcy talk is just a distraction from the serious business of addressing the problem.
…
Eventually Chapter 9 will be their only choice. Expect strikes when the city employees find out they won’t be getting their pensions, at least not at the promised payout levels.
San Diego, meet Hamtramck. Hamtramck, meet San Diego.
Yea, that should go over well. I’m sure the pensioners will take it with good grace.
Like those of us in the private sector did when we had our pension rug pulled out from under us.
But yes, they have a special sense of entitlement and expect lower paid, pensionless private sector workers to fund their retirements through higher taxes.
Heck California’s bond page FAQ still never answers the question, “what happens to bonds when CA goes bankrupt?”
http://buycaliforniabonds.com/faq.asp
We need to get a prop vote in California on the next election that makes government defined pensions illegal, liquidates all existing pensions and rolls them into 401(k) type accounts.
Where are they gonna get the money to put in 401k’s?
They get whatever happens to be in the pension fund at the time it passes, and that’s it. Future contributions go into 401(k)’s, and when you quit, that’s what you get.
Then avoid taking any paved road so as to not be oxymoronic. For that matter, avoid drinking facet water or flush the toilet too.
Should The City Of San Diego Consider Bankruptcy?
By Maureen Cavanaugh, Gloria Penner
November 17, 2010
With the city of San Diego facing an ongoing structural deficit and no additional sources of revenue on the horizon, there are renewed calls for city leaders to begin exploring the option of bankruptcy. We’ll hear arguments for and against San Diego filing for municipal bankruptcy.
GUESTS:
KPBS Political correspondent Gloria Penner
San Diego City Attorney Jan Goldsmith
Former San Diego City Attorney Mike Aguirre
Prof,
Do you know what happened to the pensions in OC when it went bankrupt in the 90’s? Did the PGF pick them up? Were they paid out as promised?
Jon Markman’s Speculations
Nov. 18, 2010, 12:01 a.m. EST
Fed’s course calls all hands on deck
Commentary: Sailing with Capt. Bernanke on the high seas
By Jon Markman
SEATTLE (MarketWatch) — No matter how much U.S. trading partners and politicians in Congress squawk, the Federal Reserve’s unpopular effort to kick up the U.S. economy by cornering the market on government debt is not going away.
If the Fed were to cancel the program known as quantitative easing, its already vaporous credibility would be blown to the winds and commodity prices plastered.
So practical, opportunistic investors — which is to say, ones that intend to survive — need to be smart about not liking the Fed’s plan. We have to understand and accept it while also planning for its consequences. That makes QE a little like living with teenagers. You pray it’s just a phase.
…
SEC Settles With Rattner Over Kickbacks; Cuomo Files Suits
Steven Rattner , the former head of Quadrangle Group, will pay $6.2 million and accept a two-year ban from associating with broker-dealers or investment advisers to resolve a Securities and Exchange Commission probe of alleged kickbacks in connection with the New York state pension fund.
Gulfport man tries to kill himself as bank forecloses on his home
http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/article1134965.ece
This morning, this story is a little too up close and personal. Here’s why:
Last night, I attended a meeting of neighborhood activists. A longtime member of our group died last month, but there’s been very little info about his death. The guy was about my age, seemed healthy, and then poof! He was gone.
We had a moment of silence for him.
After that moment had passed, I asked what had happened. Several of the group leaders gave me funny looks and said that they’d tell me after the meeting.
Turns out that our friend had been in an accident that left him in severe pain. And he had become depressed to the point where he was no longer living with utility service at his house.
People tried to help, but here’s where the details get fuzzy. I don’t know what was done. The end result was that he committed suicide late last month.
Right this minute, I’m wondering why his suicide couldn’t have been discussed for a few minutes during the meeting.
After all, we are neighborhood activists. We deal with neighbors. Some of whom might be depressed. Or contemplating suicide. It might have been useful to talk about what we activists could do.
IMHO, that would be much more helpful than sweeping this man’s suicide under the rug.
They don’t want to talk about it because they feel guilty for not helping him more.
That’s the vibe I’m getting here in Tucson.
“He didn’t want to leave his home,” she said. “He said if he left his home he couldn’t keep his guns and smoke his pot.”
Sounds like there was nothing his family or anyone could do with this fellow. He was only going to leave one way.
Still making mortgage payments at 71?
Why do so many people think that seniors shouldn’t be paying a mortgage?
If you think you have your act so together that bad things won’t happen to you or your grand plans can’t be derailed, you are in for a very, very, very nasty surprise.
I can understand being 71 and wanting to hang out and get high, but you can’t do that with a mortgage payment.
I know they won’t but I wish they would, deep fry this turd on a stick!
Rangel faces punishment, seeks fairness and mercy. (AP)
“There can be no excuse for my acts of omission,” Rangel said. “I’ve failed in carrying out my responsibilities. I made numerous mistakes. But corruption and personal enrichment are certainly not part of my mistakes.”
That’s some world class gall, there!
Mortgage rates jump to 4.39 pct. as Treasurys rise
Average rate for 30-year mortgages surge to 4.39 percent as investors sell Treasury bonds
NEW YORK (AP) — Rates on fixed mortgages jumped from their lowest levels in decades this week.
Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday the average rate for 30-year fixed loans rose to 4.39 percent from 4.17 percent, the lowest level on records dating back to 1971. The 15-year loan also climbed to 3.76 percent from 3.57 percent, the lowest since that survey began in 1991.
Better buy now or be rated out forever.
Plan to cut mortgage deduction stirs housing industry’s K Street machine
The Hill | 11/18/2010 | Kevin Bogardus
The debt commission’s draft proposal to either reduce or eliminate the mortgage interest tax deduction will face a lobbying onslaught from a trio of powerhouse business associations.
The National Association of Realtors, the National Home Builders Association and the Mortgage Bankers Association would see their member companies hurt significantly if the proposal were to become law. All three have contributed millions of dollars in political donations to lawmakers on both sides on the aisle and retain lobby firms connected to influential Republican and Democratic lawmakers.
“We would certainly go to the mat if this gets traction as the debate rolls forward,” said Bill Killmer, senior vice president of legislative and political affairs for the Mortgage Bankers.
…
At stake is a huge tax incentive widely used by homeowners. The Office of Management and Budget has estimated that the federal government lost almost $92.2 billion in tax revenue from the mortgage interest tax deduction this year. That figure is expected to rise in coming years, reaching more than $104.5 billion in 2011.
…
Howard called the tax deduction “one of the pillars of our economy” and said reducing it would harm the middle class and housing prices.
Like I said the other day. Once mortgage rates are down to 0% and Fanny/Freddie re-finance everyone, it will be a self correcting problem.
Lobbyists should not be allowed to contribute a single dime to any politician. I understand wanting your business or sector to be able to weigh in on how proposed legislation will impact your business, but the system we have right now allows industries to purchase the legislation they want regardless of how bad it is for the country.
sfbubblebuyer …..they should only be able to submit briefs to the
Politicians .
I agree. And congress could call for hearings where they can talk back and forth, if need be, but those should be open sessions and on TV.
Purchase the legislation?!
Hell, they WRITE IT! (literally)
How can a tax deduction be a pillar of the economy? It’s just a tax deduction. It’s whatchya call a “transfer of wealth”, with the money going FROM the lower/middle classes TO the upper classes.
“There’s a little bug inside of me which wants to get the FCC to say to FOX and to MSNBC: ‘Out. Off. End. Goodbye.’ It would be a big favor to political discourse; our ability to do our work here in Congress, and to the American people, to be able to talk with each other and have some faith in their government and more importantly, in their future.”
~ Jay Rockefeller (D) WV.
> A little bug? No there’s a giant “kook” inside your head, dude!
Really? I think he has a point about how crappy CNBC and Fox can be. Any of the hyper partisan programs are not constructive, really. At least The Daily Show admits they are fake news. But the FCC shouldn’t kick them off the air. Istead, Fox and CNBC should have to give up the pretense of being ‘news’.
” Fox and CNBC should have to give up the pretense of being ‘news’.”
Along with ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN.
“Along with ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN”.
WTH?
Man that’s where all the up-right honest, what’s good for America news, that “we” want you to know comes from. Even though their ratings are always in the crapper.
So don’t watch them. The world is flooded with so called news.
His point makes no difference at all, HE doesn’t like them period. So what. As the “mouth of the south” (T.Turner) once said at a hearing in D.C.
“There is this thing on your television, called an on/off button use it”!
i very much capable of distinguishing between “what is” and “what isn’t” news mr. rockefeller…i do not need someone like you telling me.
so with all due respect…go f yourself.
have a nice day.
Seldom mentioned in MSM articles, but worth noting:
1) All the homes currently entering the front end of the foreclosure meat grinder will eventually come out the back end as used home for-sale inventory sausage.
2) It may take upwards of half a decade to sell all the sausage to end-users.
3) The half-decade mentioned above only starts after the rate of foreclosures slows down and the labor market begins to recover.
4) Serious further declines in home prices may be necessary in order to clear the sausage inventory pipeline.
Nov. 18, 2010, 12:06 p.m. EST
More homes enter foreclosure process: MBA
Delinquencies, foreclosure inventory decline in third quarter
By Amy Hoak, MarketWatch
CHICAGO (MarketWatch) — A larger share of homes entered the foreclosure process in the third quarter, though the delinquency rate for mortgages dropped, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported Thursday.
Mortgages at least one payment past due or in foreclosures fell to 13.78% of all mortgages outstanding in the third quarter, down from 13.97% in the second quarter and from 14.41% a year ago, on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, according to the Washington-based MBA’s latest delinquency survey.
But foreclosure starts hit 1.34%, up from 1.11% the previous quarter and down from 1.42% a year ago. And the percentage of prime, fixed-rate mortgages entering the foreclosure process hit a record high, the MBA’s data showed.
The decline in delinquencies is a positive for the housing market, yet it reflects in large part the “natural progression” of mortgages into the foreclosure process, said Michael Fratantoni, MBA’s vice president of research and economics.
The delinquency rate is also driven by employment, and modest improvement in the U.S. job market over time will cause slow and gradual improvement in the delinquency numbers, he said.
…
“…modest improvement in the U.S. job market over time…”
Will that be sometime within the next 100 years? Because I sure as hell haven’t seen it in the last 30.
Interesting perspective coming from a FB:
Nov. 18, 2010, 12:16 p.m. EST
Treasury rapped for not fining mortgage lenders
GOP worry that focus on paperwork problems delays recovery
By Ronald D. Orol, MarketWatch
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The head of a congressional housing committee on Thursday said the Treasury Department hasn’t done enough to push lenders to modify mortgages that are close to default.
Rep. Maxine Waters, chairwoman of the subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity, joined other Democratic lawmakers at a hearing on problems in mortgage servicing in saying that the department has not adequately penalized loan servicers at big banks for failing to assist troubled borrowers with an Obama administration loan modification program entitled the Home Affordable Modification Program.
In many cases, Waters argues, borrowers have waited for a loan modification to be processed only to be served with a foreclosure notice.
…
If they didn’t want a foreclosure notice, they could have paid the mortgage.
It is hard to say in the era of youwalkaway dot com how many are not paying by choice and how many because they cannot afford to pay.
Spinelle jewelry store to close ~ NAPA Valley
“I love my job because I get paid to play,” Lori Wear of Spinelle Fine Jewelers once said. But those playful days will soon come to an end for Wear. More than six years after first opening at 1232 First Street in downtown Napa, Spinelle will close by Dec. 31.
Wear started Spinelle in 2003 when she bought the jewelry store on First Street, previously known as Castro and Co. At the time, the economy was booming. Business was good, even with obstacles like redevelopment, construction and retail vacancies around her, she said. But in recent years, Wear’s business struggled.
“If we were around for 10 years before the economy shifted, I think I would have made it,” Wear wrote in an e-mail. “The struggles to survive as a business is one thing (and) sacrificing my own investment is a part of the risk as an entrepreneur, but losing the investment made by friends that have believed in me is unacceptable, and that is the primary reason for closing Spinelle.”
Aw come on man, at least give us a few ski seasons…
Bank files for foreclosure on One Steamboat Place.
Steamboat Springs — One Steamboat Place, the mountainous luxury condominium project adjacent to the Steamboat gondola, went into foreclosure Wednesday with $100 million on its original construction loan owed to seven lenders.
The developers said they and two large investors have been in the middle of negotiations with the banks to restructure the outstanding construction debt.
Reached during a business trip to San Francisco, Timbers Resorts CEO David Burden said the news of the foreclosure took him by surprise.
“I was shocked to hear this,” Burden said. “I immediately e-mailed the biggest (of the) lender(s) in New York and asked, ‘Are we negotiating in good faith? Does this mean you think our negotiations are not going well?’ Their reply was that this is standard procedure, the loan has matured and they have to take this action, although our talks are promising.
“If this is standard procedure, it’s a tactic. I’m sorry; the standard procedure doesn’t make sense. At least give us a few ski seasons.”
Steamboat is inaccessible from Denver, at least when compared to the resorts on I70. It’s way easier to get to Arapaho, Loveland or Vail.
You’ve got that right!
And now, a trip down Slim’s bicycle tour memory lane: Back in 1981, I had a rough encounter with the Rocky Mountains. I only had two lungs, and they weren’t enough to get me over those peaks. Must’ve needed six or seven.
Any-hoo, the ride up the Yampa River valley and into Steamboat was, dare I say, pleasant. I was even able to breathe and have some energy!
My overnight crash in Steamboat was a ski dorm that the American Youth Hostels kept open year ’round. It was late September. No snow on the mountains yet.
Well, Steamboat in the off-season wasn’t a hotbed of things to do, so I just hung out at the ski dorm. Next morning, I rolled out of town and yeesh! Cold! Bank time and temperate sign said it was 32 degrees and I believed it.
That was the day I rode west into the sheep country. Basque shepherds with their wagons up on the hills. And flocks hidden from view. I rode 50 miles to Maybell, which was just a wide spot in the road.
They organize a lot of sports tournaments in Steamboat over the Summer. My son’s soccer team won their age group (U16) there last summer. There’s also a big softball tournament there.
To get there from Loveland/Fort Collins you have three choices.
1) Drive down to Denver, the hit I-70. Exit at US 40, drive through Winterpark (and the Berthoud Pass).
2) Drive through the Poudre Canyon. Very scenic. Very SLOW.
3) Drive up to Laramie, Wyoming, then head back down towards Steamboat. The eaiest drive, but also the most boring.
Anyway you cut it it’s 4-5 hours. I know a few folks with private planes and second homes in Steamboat. They claim that is the only way to do it as the Winter drive is even slower.
Drive up to Laramie, Wyoming, then head back down towards Steamboat.
Back when I lived in Laramie I couldn’t wait to live even closer to the Colorado ski areas. I had no idea how good I had it there being less than 2 hours from Steamboat until the first time I tried to go skiing up I-70 from Boulder. I ski *very* little now.
Maybell? We camped in the town park. A
delightful little town out in the middle of Bum
Pluck Egypt. Good memories as its also the
name of my great aunt who lived to be 105.
Bloomberg
Prime U.S. Mortgage Foreclosures Increase to Record
November 18, 2010, 12:23 PM EST
By Kathleen M. Howley
(Adds modification redefaults in 10th paragraph.)
Nov. 18 (Bloomberg) — Foreclosures on prime fixed-rate mortgages in the U.S. jumped to a record in the third quarter as unemployment strained household budgets of the most credit- worthy borrowers.
The inventory of homes in foreclosure financed by prime fixed-rate loans rose to 2.45 percent from 2.36 percent in the previous three months, the Mortgage Bankers Association said in a report today. New foreclosures rose to 0.93 percent from 0.71 percent. Both numbers were the highest in the 12 years since the Washington-based trade group started tracking the categories.
Homeowners are falling behind on their mortgage payments as job cuts make it difficult for them to cover their bills, said Michael Fratantoni, the Mortgage Bankers Association’s vice president of research and economics. The unemployment rate has stayed above 9 percent for 18 consecutive months, the longest stretch since 1983, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“The increase in these plain-vanilla type of loans to the highest numbers ever show us it really is being driven by the economic environment,” Fratantoni said in a telephone interview. “It’s not going to turn around until we get more significant job growth.”
New foreclosures against all types of mortgages, which also include subprime, rose to 1.34 percent, the highest level in a year, according to the report. The overall inventory of loans in foreclosure dropped to 4.39 percent from 4.57 percent as some mortgages were modified by servicers, companies that administer payments. Those modified loans may reappear as foreclosures in future quarters because of redefaults, said Fratantoni.
…
In the long run, extend-and-pretend HAMP modifications will only work out if the Fed succeeds in creating a lot more inflation.
…
Modifications using the HAMP guidelines have a better track rate than non-government programs, the data show. Six months after changing mortgage terms, 11 percent of HAMP modifications were delinquent, compared with 22 percent of loans renegotiated using other means, according to Treasury.
HAMP lowers mortgage payments to about a third of borrowers’ income by temporarily reducing interest, lengthening the term of the loan and deferring principal payments.
…
Regulatory finger-pointing game continues…
* MARKETS
* NOVEMBER 18, 2010, 1:36 P.M. ET
Lawmakers Blast Regulators on Foreclosure Problems
By ALAN ZIBEL
WASHINGTON—House lawmakers scolded federal regulators Thursday, expressing frustration that they failed to investigate problems with foreclosure documents until the issue attracted widespread attention this fall.
Both Democrats and Republicans criticized a panel of regulators at a House subcommittee hearing, especially after officials said their agencies hadn’t been paying attention to flaws in foreclosure paperwork until recently.
“I think the American people have a greater expectation that you know it before it happens rather than reacting to it after it happens,” said Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R., Texas).
Officials at the Federal Housing Administration, Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Housing Administration said their agencies are reviewing industry practices. They pledged to publish reports and potentially issue penalties in the coming months.
Several major lenders, including Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co., Ally Financial Inc.’s GMAC Mortgage and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., have been reviewing thousands of foreclosure cases amid revelations they filed large numbers of foreclosure documents without reviewing their contents.
Rep. Maxine Waters, (D., Calif.), noted that problems at mortgage-servicing companies have been widely known for years, citing a news story from two years ago.
“Why is it [that] you don’t know how these systems really operate as regulators,” Ms. Waters said. “That’s the big question among members [of Congress] on both sides of the aisle,” she said.
…
Regulators ? I didn’t know we had regulators out there ,I thought it was a free for all . Why is it that all the regulators ,Politicians ,you name it ,
are always conducting their investigations way after the fact ,after the
horse is out of the barn .Isn’t it the purpose of regulation to spot the
problems before the damage is done ?
“I thought it was a free for all .”
That’s right, Wiz — unregulated free-for-all markets are best; just ask Alan Greenspan!
You mean the same regulators that failed to prevent/punish the unacceptable underwriting to begin with?
The same regulators who failed to even notice the unacceptable underwriting, despite all the screaming bloggers trying to get their attention…
This news bodes poorly for FB’s with HAMP modifications. Inflation is not going to save you from paying off the hundreds of thousands of dollars in principle you agreed to pay when you signed your mortgage papers. Have fun living with that albatross of debt hanging from your neck!
* ECONOMY
* NOVEMBER 18, 2010
Inflation Is Virtually Flat
A Still-Weak Economy Keeps Prices Down Even as Fed Actions Draw Fire
By CONOR DOUGHERTY
A key gauge of U.S. inflation has fallen to its lowest level since record-keeping began in 1957, underscoring the continued weakness in the economy.
Consumer prices rose 0.2% in October compared with September, almost entirely because of higher energy costs, the Labor Department said Wednesday.
When volatile food and energy are subtracted, prices were unchanged last month—the third straight month in which this so-called core measure of inflation was flat. Compared with a year ago, consumer prices other than food and energy have risen 0.6%.
The drop in the core measure bolsters the Federal Reserve’s case that inflation is so low—below its informal target—that it should resume its purchases of U.S. Treasury bonds to boost the economy.
That move, announced Nov. 3, has been met with criticism from some Republican politicians, GOP-leaning economists and market analysts who argue, among other things, that the Fed is risking a bigger increase in inflation than it desires.
Consumers aren’t expecting a run-up in overall prices anytime soon: On Wednesday the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland said consumers don’t expect prices to rise more than 1.5% a year on average for the next decade. Consumers’ expectations about inflation often drive their purchasing decisions, making rising or falling prices a self-fulfilling prophecy.
…
It seems odd to see such a record low-rate environment characterized as “a rout.”
Credit Markets
Nov. 17, 2010, 3:34 p.m. EST
California selling bonds into muni market rout
Investors see higher yields as BABs program seen expiring
By Deborah Levine, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — California plans to sell almost $14 billion in debt just as the municipal bond market gets pummeled by a flood of supply, worries about the future of the Build America Bonds program and a selloff in the Treasury market.
The latter factors are only worsening market conditions on top of the more traditional increase in debt sales near the end of the year. But the slide may be capped as higher yields bring in more investors.
…
I’d be worried about Return Of Investment instead of Return On Investment on California bonds.
I live here and refuse to buy these bonds.
Has QE2 backfired?
Mortgages
Nov. 18, 2010, 2:10 p.m. EST·CORRECTED
Mortgage rates jump to highest level since August
Reaction to Fed’s bond-purchase program, fears of inflation push rates higher
By Amy Hoak, MarketWatch
This update clarifies that mortgage rates in recent weeks have moved slightly higher at times, rather than solely decreasing.
CHICAGO (MarketWatch) — After weeks of hovering at or near record lows, mortgage rates jumped this week to their highest level since August, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly survey, released Thursday.
Rates on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage leaped to an average 4.39% for the week ending Nov. 18, its highest rate since early August, up from 4.17% last week, according to Freddie Mac’s survey of conforming mortgage rates. The mortgage averaged 4.83% a year ago.
A combination of factors, including a fear of inflation and reaction to the Federal Reserve’s plan, known as QE2, to purchase up to $600 billion in government bonds, likely led to the spike, according to industry observers.
“Part of what we’re seeing is the classic trader adage buy on the rumor, sell on the news,” said Greg McBride, senior financial analyst for Bankrate.com. “QE2 was anticipated well in advance, and investors gobbled up government and mortgage-backed debt prior to the Fed’s announcement. And since the Fed’s announcement, we’ve seen a fair amount of profit taking,” he said.
…
Reaction to Fed’s bond-purchase program, fears of inflation push rates higher
Does that mean that house prices will keep going down?
Oh, wait. They’re already doing that. Something about a lack of demand relative to the supply.
Why do people fear inflation, even when the official inflation numbers have been negative to flat for years?
I think it has to do with the appearance of a situation where a failure to inflate could be catastrophic for debt-burdened financial entities at many levels. The Fed clearly has a motive to inflate; the question is whether they have the will and ability to do so, while appearing to be trying to contain inflation. It will be a really cool trick if they manage to pull it off. I refer you to the 1975-1979 period for a potential precedent.
They certainly have the will, but not the ability. Import prices up, domestic prices down.
Because the official numbers are bunk.
From The 5Min. Forecast…
Rubin, the former Treasury Secretary and Citigroup chief, said QE2 puts the United States in “terribly dangerous territory.” Speaking at a panel in New York that also featured former U.S. comptroller general and I.O.U.S.A. protagonist David Walker, Rubin said the Fed plan “has a lot of risk,” and the reaction from overseas has been “horrendous.”
Rubin even sees an “implosion” in the bond market next time the federal government approaches the debt ceiling.
At present, the national debt total is just shy of $13.8 trillion. The ceiling is currently set just below $14.3 trillion.
Given the torrid pace of debt accumulation during the first six weeks of fiscal 2011, the day of reckoning will arrive no later than March. We’ll then know how serious the new Tea Party members of Congress are about refusing to raise the limit.
Rubin worries at that point, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia might decide to start bailing on their Treasury holdings. “They could say ‘the Chinese are stuck but we’re not.’”
House. of. cards.
Good thing all the bubble/fraud nonsense never happened in Upstate NY.
“A former construction specialist with a nonprofit organization that has rehabilitated hundreds of dilapidated Rochester houses under a joint city-federal program pleaded guilty today in federal court to falsifying bids on 10 jobs over the course of four years.”
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20101118/NEWS01/101118020/Housing-group-worker-pleads-guilty-to-fraud
Serial bottom callers are back at it again. I could see sales bottoming out next year, but not prices.
Housing downturn has hit bottom
Washington Business Journal - by Jeff Clabaugh
Date: Thursday, November 18, 2010, 2:24pm EST
Total housing sales in 2010 will be down about 8 percent from last year, and will mark the bottom the downturn, says a monthly report from Fannie Mae economists.
The economic outlook from Fannie Mae’s Economics and Mortgage Market Analysis Group is fairly upbeat looking ahead.
Foreclosures will keep housing sales subdued in the final quarter of this year, the report says, but sales will see gradual improvement in 2011.
“We expect home sales to increase by about 3 percent in 2011, says Fannie Mae (OTC BB: FNMA) chief economist Doug Duncan. “However the pace of the recovery will be largely determined by labor conditions. If hiring improves at a faster pace than expected, home sales will likely see a stronger gain in 2011 and visa versa.”
…
LA Times Business
Money & Company
Tracking the market and economic trends
that shape your finances.
Bay Area housing market weakens in October
November 18, 2010 | 9:42 am
The Bay Area’s housing market weakened in October with sales slumping and prices falling.
Sales of all condominiums and houses fell 3.3% from September and 22.8% from October 2009 to 6,122, according to San Diego real estate research firm MDA DataQuick.
It was the slowest sales pace for any October since 2007 and the second-slowest October since DataQuick began tracking sales in 1988.
The median Bay Area home price was $395,000 in October, a 3% decline from September and a 1.8% drop from October 2009.
– Alejandro Lazo
Hooray! (Even if that means my house’s “value” is dropping.)
“The median Bay Area home price was $395,000 in October, a 3% decline from September and a 1.8% drop from October 2009.”
Reports like this fail to point out that the Bay Area is a huge metro area and that there is an enormous disparity in price between its far-flung burbs where commuting to the urban core would be like living in hell on earth to the areas closer in. The reality- at least as far as what I can see- if that all the houses even remotely desirable and in a decently safe neighborhood and not so far away that you’d be living in your car are still hovering at $500,000. As much as I’d love to see prices fall- they haven’t fallen enough. That said, I have noticed nothing is really selling around me these days.
Yeah, and those $500,000 used to be $700,000. You go from A to B to C, all the way to Z. You can’t skip the letters in between.
True… and $500,000 is certainly cheaper than $700,000. But $500,000 is still a lot of dough. More than I care to pay.
Just wait it out, or you can move if you want to, but don’t go thinking that houses will never be affordable in the B.A. They will.
The “9 county Bay Area” the media often discusses would be like lumping Atlantic City NJ, Albany NY, and Providence RI into “metro NYC”.
From a WSJ article today titled “Mortgage Delinquencies, Foreclosures Decline”:
“The states with the highest rate of seriously delinquent loans at the end of September were Florida (19.5%), Nevada (17.8%), Illinois (10.8%), Arizona (10.8%), and New Jersey (10.7%).
Florida, Arizona, Nevada and California have faced the most severe home-price declines and have the highest rate of loans that are 90 days or more past due. But foreclosure inventory remains particularly high in states such as Florida, New Jersey and Illinois, where banks must take back homes by going to court.
California, where judges don’t have to approve foreclosures, has the second highest rate of loans that are at least 90 days overdue, but it has the 11th largest inventory of foreclosures. “There’s a public policy success story to be told in California in terms of the speed with which they’ve been able to dispatch foreclosures,” says Stan Humphries, chief economist at Zillow.com, a real-estate website.”
Mark the date and time…CA is doing something right.
No wonder Newsweek sold for a dollar.
On the new cover is Barry with the caption: “God Of All Things”
‘Why the presidency may be to much for one person to handle’.
So what does that mean, he can’t handle it?
We are so top heavy we need a president and a co-president?
Economic Data Show U.S. Recovery Accelerating.
Nov. 18 (Bloomberg) — Fewer workers than forecast filed claims for U.S. jobless benefits last week, a sign the labor market is starting to improve. Applications for unemployment insurance payments rose by 2,000 to 439,000 in the week ended Nov. 13, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington.
The index of U.S. leading indicators rose for a fourth consecutive month, manufacturing surged in the Philadelphia area and jobless claims climbed less than forecast, signaling the world’s largest economy is accelerating.
“The soft patch is behind us,” said Jonathan Basile, an economist at Credit Suisse in New York. “We have a little more momentum. Employers are getting a bit more optimistic about the outlook and don’t need to cut costs like before.”
Noting to do with the fact that their bennies ran out. Nope, none at all.
Contrary to popular belief, states, who actually administer UE, do everything in their power to kick people off UE.
And keep them off.
It’s Official: The GM IPO Opens Just Over $35
Nov. 18, 2010, 9:23 AM
And closes with only $34.19 to get to $0.00
What cracks me up is all the idiots who are mad they couldn’t get in on it. It’s been ten years since the dot-com crash and people still think IPOs mispriced in their favor are the key to unearned wealth. It could be a long time before people give up on houses. People aren’t smart.
“People aren’t smart”.You’re right , but they are savvy.LOL!
Auditors have all kind of screw ups…
GM’s Audit Flubs
Investors should steer clear of GM’s IPO due to auditing problems, says Francine McKenna, re: The Auditors
Perhaps, in honor of combo’s similar feelings of keeping people paying on homes they can’t afford, we need to see this differently.
The more rubes that latch onto GM shares, the less taxpayers are left to deal with. We, the taxpayers (who don’t want to own car companies), should be thankful someone’s willing to take Govy Motors off our hands.
(And we all know that the govy won’t turn around and bail out bad investments right?)
The UAW Will Forever Handicap Ford, GM, and Chrysler
Sep 27, 2010
Exhibit A – UAW Leaders Threaten Ford
Ford’s recent success is heartwarming. Sales are up, new products like the Ford Fiesta and the EcoBoost F150 are capturing the interest of automotive journalists, and profits are returning. Ford is still a company deep in debt, mind you – Ford owed $34 billion in debt in the first quarter of 2010 – and Ford CEO Alan Mulally has acknowledged that this debt load is a “competitive disadvantage.”
While Ford isn’t in danger of collapse, the $2.6 billion in profits earned in the 2nd quarter of 2010 should be weighed against their enormous debt. Unfortunately, UAW leaders don’t seem to recognize that Ford’s financial situation is still somewhat compromised. After learning that Ford was earning solid profits, UAW President Bob King began telling members he would request that all the UAW concessions made in 2009 during the industry collapse should be given back in the next bargaining session.
1.When they make a profit, the UAW will demand more.
2.When they lose money, the UAW will refuse to accept less.
3.The UAW will never deliver the quality and/or efficiency of a non-union workforce because they don’t hold workers accountable.
For these reasons, these companies will forever be handicapped.
http://www.tundraheadquarters.com/blog/2010/09/27/uaw-handicap-ford-gm-chrysler/ - 56k -
I agree. Union reform is required if they are to be allowed to hobble our manufacturing industries.
Some of the minimum requirements would be :
Bottom performing 5% of workforce automatically available for firing, regardless of whether the company is hiring or not.
Union Representatives must be actual workers, not hired guns or mafia strong arms. Their pay for being representatives cannot exceed the average pay of workers in the union.
Union membership must not be mandatory. (That includes workplace harassment.)
Those conditions have been in place for decades.
Bunk. The UAW has accepted some serious concessions and thrown new hires under the bus as well.
Dear Uncle Sucker…
Barry Ritholtz
Let me remind you that:
1999, you passed the Financial Services Modernization Act. This repealed Glass-Steagall, the law that had successfully kept main street banking safely separated from Wall Street for seven decades. Even the 1987 market crash had no impact on Main Street credit availability, thanks to Glass-Steagall.
1997-2010, you allowed the Credit Rating Agencies to change their business model, from Investor pays to Underwriter pays - a business structure known as Payola. This change effectively allowed banks to purchase their AAA ratings, and was ignored by the SEC and other regulators.
2000, you passed the Commodities Futures Modernization Act. It allowed the shadow banking industry to develop without any oversight by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the SEC, or the state insurance regulators. This led to rampant creation of credit-default swaps, CDOs, and other financial weapons of mass destruction - and the demise of AIG.
2001-04, the Fed, under Alan Greenspan, irresponsibly dropped fund rates to 1%. This set off an inflationary spiral in housing, commodities, and in most assets priced in dollars or credit.
1999-07, the Federal Reserve failed to use its supervisory and regulatory authority over banks, mortgage underwriters and other lenders, who abandoned such standards as employment history, income, down payments, credit rating, assets, property loan-to-value ratio and debt-servicing ability.
2004, the SEC waived its leverage rules, allowing the 5 biggest Wall Street firms to go from 12 to 1 to 20, 30 and even 40 to 1. Ironically, this rule was called the “Bear Stearns Exemption.”
“Bear Stearns Exemption.”
In retrospect, perhaps they should have called it the Bear Stearns Extirpation.
Oh, and don’t forget failing to protect the US worker from offshoring due to stupid low tariffs and stuff.
Oprah eyes $68M NJ mansion
Oprah Winfrey is eyeing a house in the New York area, The Post has learned.
The TV titan — whose new network is slated to launch in Los Angeles next year — quietly slipped into town yesterday for a house-hunting ex pedition along the banks of the Hud son, sources said.
Among the homes on her must-see list: a $68 million manse on the sprawling grounds of the old Frick estate in Alpine, NJ, the sources said.
Oprah’s three-car caravan, including two black SUVs and a van, pulled into the ritzy enclave before noon yesterday, a source said.
The billionaire then toured the 30,300-square-foot, English-manor-style mansion, which is part of the lavish “Estates at Alpine.”
Workers and others on the grounds were asked to make themselves scarce while Oprah checked out the five-story, 19-bedroom and 12-bathroom spread, according to one source.
“Her people requested that everyone leave the house so it would be empty when she walked through,” the source said.
A security guard, the source said, was allowed to stay at his post at the gate.
Alpine last year was named by Forbes magazine as the most expensive ZIP code in the country. Its celebrity residents include Eddie Murphy, the Jonas Brothers and CC Sabathia.
The estate eyed by Oprah is the most expensive in Alpine, with walnut and marble floors and Venetian plaster walls.
There’s a carriage house, English gardens, a library, ballroom, movie theater, tennis court, saline pool and wine cellar.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I present for your interest an $800K 2-BR houseboat in Seattle. Come on folks, less than $800 per square foot.
You people understand nothing, or else you would be putting in multiple offers:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/18/greathomesanddestinations/18gh-what.html?hp
Sheesh, just when you think you have seen it all.
Oh, New York Times… when are you going to learn that putting your content behind a paywall is much like putting your content in the dumpster out back.
It’s just a registration wall, not a pay wall. They gave up with their “Times Prime” pay system a year ago.
What a joke. My final offer is $129,500.
I’m not paying for some feel-good, “Sleepless in Seattle”-vibe BS.
I used to live across the street from this community in north Seattle. It’s pleasant in a trendy sort of way, but I would not want to own one of the floating houses. They are really just rafts with a houses built on them, with all of the disadvantages of a boat and none of the advantages.
Obama home loan aid continues to shrink
By Corbett B. Daly and Glenn Somerville
WASHINGTON | Thu Nov 18, 2010 5:41pm EST
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of borrowers helped by the Obama administration’s marquee foreclosure prevention program continued to dwindle in October, data released by the Treasury Department on Thursday showed.
About 16,634 borrowers obtained a permanent loan modification in October, down from 17,771 in September.
And the number of dropouts continue to outpace the number of borrowers getting permanent help.
At the same time, about 26,679 borrowers dropped out of the program in October, bringing to about 756,000 the total number of borrowers who have defaulted since the program’s inception in the spring of last year.
About 483,000 borrowers have received permanent modifications under the Home Affordable Modification Program, known as HAMP. Treasury initially hoped to offer help 3-4 million borrowers, though they have since scaled back those ambitions.
…
About 483,000 borrowers have received permanent modifications under the Home Affordable Modification Program, known as HAMP. Treasury initially hoped to offer help 3-4 million borrowers, though they have since scaled back those ambitions.
My take on the sitch? There were far fewer borrowers who could be helped than the Treasury initially hoped.
Yup…
“TrueBambooXerox™”
Filed under:
Steal“temporarily borrow”: “other” Nations “innovations”,… replicate,… distribute, …go out an get some more!” + (No worry about International “law suit”, work fast!)By NORIHIKO SHIROUZU / TECH / WSJ
QINGDAO, China—When the Japanese and European companies that pioneered high-speed rail agreed to build trains for China, they thought they’d be getting access to a booming new market, billions of dollars worth of contracts and the cachet of creating the most ambitious rapid rail system in history.
What they didn’t count on was having to compete with Chinese firms who adapted their technology and turned it against them just a few years later.
Today, Chinese rail companies that were once junior partners with the likes of Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd., Siemens AG, Alstom SA and Bombardier Inc. are vying against them in the burgeoning global market for super-fast train systems. From the U.S. to Saudi Arabia to Brazil and in China itself, Chinese companies are selling trains that in most cases are faster than those offered by their foreign rivals. On a recent visit to China, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he is interested in Chinese help to build a planned high-speed line in his state.
Looks like there’s a whole lotta Chinese reverse engineering going on. And, as ISTR, the Japanese did the same thing in the early post-WWII years.
On a recent visit to China, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he is interested in Chinese help to build a planned high-speed line in his state.
We should steal their technology and use prisoners to build it.
(I’m “on-board” with that thought!)
Sense a pattern?
(Good thing Our Nation is focused on Entertainment Celebrities/dvd games, Food Stamps & low-salary non-citizen’s taking all the good jobs.)
By Elizabeth Montalbano , InformationWeek
November 18, 2010
China Hijacked Internet Traffic From Federal Sites:
“For 18 minutes in April China Telecom re-routed traffic from .gov, .mil and other sites through Chinese servers, according to a Congressional commission.
Affected was traffic going to and from U.S. .gov and .mil sites, including sites for the Senate, the four main armed services branches, the office of the Secretary of Defense, NASA, the Department of Commerce, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and others, according to the report.
Commercial websites for large technology companies — including Dell, Yahoo, Microsoft and IBM — also were re-routed during the diversion period.”
I don’t how many people here understand the significance of this.
Seems huge to me. At first I was wondering how they hacked the switches to route all the data to China and back, but then I realized they probably meant servers in the US controlled by China.
Nobody in Congress seems ready to admit just yet that U.S. housing prices are simply too high relative to local incomes and rents to support private mortgage lending.
Boost for prospects of US mortgage reform
By Tom Braithwaite in Washington
Published: November 18 2010 18:06 | Last updated: November 18 2010 18:06