Bits Bucket For December 2, 2010
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The federal government is cooking up an austerity plan for American households so we can HELP THE FED BAIL OUT EUROPE (and by extension, Megabank, Inc)?
That stinks to high heaven!
Dec. 2, 2010, 12:01 a.m. EST
The folly of a European bailout plan
Commentary: Throwing good money after bad
Austerity at our doors. To arms. To arms.
By David Callaway, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Here’s an idea. Let’s bail out Europe.
On a day when a presidential commission recommended $4 trillion in U.S. spending cuts that are so severe even some of the commission’s members found it hard to stand behind them, the markets rallied on speculation the International Monetary Fund would kick in more U.S. billions to save Portugal, Spain, Italy and the rest of the European Union from breaking apart like a holiday pinata.
For pure spectacle, the rally sparked by the report of new IMF money — and later denied — was a welcome sight after a lousy November in the markets. Stocks surged around the world, even in Spain, where shares were up more than 5% at one point. And it’s testament to the strength of the rally that even after the denial, stocks in the U.S. stayed higher.
…
Suck ‘em in and shake ‘em out.
Uh, does anyone besides me think there might have been a whole lot of short covering going on?
Honestly, I wondered whether the Fed had dumped a whole lot of short-term liquidity into the markets to goose them, to ensure happy stock headlines were there alongside the disclosure of the trillions they loaned out and to whom during the crisis…
Is that tin-foil-ish, or rational?? Wish I knew. What is clear at this point, though, is that they will not hesitate to do things that we previously thought they would not do.
The liberal websites attributed the DOW rally to the Republican Senators letter which stated basically that they would filibuster everything until they got their tax cuts for the rich.
The Europe/IMF connection sounds like a more believable cause.
combo’s reasoning is even more realistic.
…or a little bit of all three.
The myth is that private firms and households are on the outside, with equal (nondiscriminatory) lending standards in place to protect, say, American households from sodomistic penetration by too-big-to-fail Megabanks who got below-market Fed-funded loans that spewed from a brazillion special lending facilities.
So long as there is a crisis underway, the Fed can ignore pesky rules that constrain lending activities (e.g. nondiscrimination), and there is almost always a financial crisis boiling somewhere anymore. Take today, for example: The markets went hog wild over the prospect that the Fed would provide bailout capital to the Eurozone. I suppose in a couple of years or less, we will be marveling at how much bailout support the Fed gives to stem the incipient Asian property market crash? Lather, rinse, repeat.
I was rather enjoying the days after the Lehman blowup, watching the prospect of Wall Street firms that gambled foolishly and lost go out of business. And then TARP happened. Dr Bernankestein and his lab assistant Igor Paulson loosed an unstoppable moral hazard monstruosity on the world’s unsuspecting citizenry.
I look at developing nations and see they have these kinds of shenanigans and yet don’t have massive unrest. The power and financial elite remain untouched.
The difference in the US is that we once had a higher standard of living. And now it’s dropping. Structural 10% unemployment in this society is very different than what we’re used to.
And if this dislocation has been caused by the financial sector… and the government checks stop coming… one’s gotta wonder what the repercussions will be.
I’m guessing that the politicians will want to extend the unemployment benefits for some time to come.
The federal government is cooking up an austerity plan for American households so we can HELP THE FED BAIL OUT EUROPE (and by extension, Megabank, Inc)?…That stinks to high heaven!
This is what is happening. It is brutal, savage class warfare being won big-time by the super-rich. We are being systematically looted in real time.
But dare anyone question the pillage.
If you question it, it’s class envy, don’t you know?
If you question it, it’s class envy, don’t you know?
As it morphs into a more ominous feeling, today’s “envy” might be looked back upon with longing nostalgia.
Has anyone read this book, The Shock Doctrine, by Naomi Klein.? I haven’t, just curious…. Yes, many of her conclusions are a stretch, but still, there’s some chilling observations. This is the Publishers Weekly review on Amazon:
“The neo-liberal economic policies—privatization, free trade, slashed social spending—that the Chicago School and the economist Milton Friedman have foisted on the world are catastrophic in two senses, argues this vigorous polemic. Because their results are disastrous—depressions, mass poverty, private corporations looting public wealth, by the author’s accounting—their means must be cataclysmic, dependent on political upheavals and natural disasters as coercive pretexts for free-market reforms the public would normally reject. Journalist Klein (No Logo) chronicles decades of such disasters, including the Chicago School makeovers launched by South American coups; the corrupt sale of Russia’s state economy to oligarchs following the collapse of the Soviet Union; the privatization of New Orleans’s public schools after Katrina; and the seizure of wrecked fishing villages by resort developers after the Asian tsunami. Klein’s economic and political analyses are not always meticulous. Likening free-market shock therapies to electroshock torture, she conflates every misdeed of right-wing dictatorships with their economic programs and paints a too simplistic picture of the Iraq conflict as a struggle over American-imposed neo-liberalism. Still, much of her critique hits home, as she demonstrates how free-market ideologues welcome, and provoke, the collapse of other people’s economies. The result is a powerful populist indictment of economic orthodoxy.
Has anyone read this book, The Shock Doctrine, by Naomi Klein.? I haven’t, just curious…. Yes, many of her conclusions are a stretch,
Many of her conclusions are right on too.
“Has anyone read this book, The Shock Doctrine…”
On my Amazon wish list…I get the concept already without reading it. So long as some kind of war, catastrophe, or financial meltdown is underway, it seems to be perfectly legal for the biggest, most powerful financial firms to get bailouts as needed.
“But dare anyone question the pillage.”
I guess I just did.
Lawmaker accuses Federal Reserve of conducting ‘backdoor bailout’ during financial crisis
Sen. Bernard Sanders reacts as the Fed discloses details of more than $3 trillion in short-term loans and other emergency measures it set up.
By E. Scott Reckard, Los Angeles Times
December 2, 2010
The Federal Reserve Board has pulled back the curtain on the companies that took advantage of its short-term loans and other emergency programs that it set up during the financial crisis.
The Fed on Wednesday posted on a public website details of 21,000 transactions from December 2007 through July 2010 that totaled more than $3 trillion.
The help was provided not only to giant banks such as Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., but also to companies such as General Electric Co., Caterpillar Inc. and Harley-Davidson Inc. The Fed said its aim most often was to provide them with liquidity — that is, to keep them from running out of cash — when the private credit markets froze up.
Sen. Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.), who wrote the measure that forced the disclosures, accused the central bank of conducting a secret “backdoor bailout” of big banks and corporations. The program dwarfed the much-criticized $700-billion Treasury Department program to bail out banks, automakers and the giant insurer American International Group Inc., he said.
…
Receipients of the stolen goods purchased expressed gratitude to the thief for providing them with such bargains.
Recipients of the loans expressed gratitude. “The Fed’s actions were timely and critical, and we commend them for providing liquidity and stabilizing the financial system during that period,” Morgan Stanley said in a statement.
A Goldman spokesman said the Fed was “successful” at fixing broken financial markets. Russell Wilkerson, a GE spokesman, said the Fed should be “commended for coming up with an effective program” to repair the commercial-paper markets.
The Fed said in a statement that its programs fostered economic growth and financial stability, and that it followed “sound risk-management practices” in running the programs.
The Fed lent through ten different programs in all. Taken together, the programs funneled $3.3 trillion of credit into the financial system at different times in the crisis.
The Fed IS the economy.
Where does the Fed have the right to bail out Companies by loans and
the question is have these entities paid back these short term loans (I doubt it ).
I’m sure major loans were given to Foreign entities and unregulated funds
also ,no doubt without any analysis of what the entities had to back up the loans .I have said this all along that the loans handed out like candy
leading up to TARP were the real bailouts along with the buying of toxic
assets along with the 700 billion TARP . It’s just like the loan to AIG is a
joke also . What we got 250 billion back from Tarp so far …WOW
The Fed is busy blowing MASSIVE bubbles. Crude could easily reach $100 in several weeks time at this rate. This is going to have a devastating effect on the economy. The spike in crude in 2008 was the straw which broke the camels back.
OK I just read that Foreign Banks received billions ,a Telephone Company ,Toyota Car Company ,Merill Lynch (who went BK so why did
they get a loan ) and hundreds of Banks including Goldman .
Hedge Funds received the loans also and they took they money and made money off it .
I would like to know ,what was the big ordeal about putting our Car Companies in front of Congress for the bail-out loans they wanted . It appears that all these other Companies got even greater loans without any requirements on how they spent the money .
Anyway several of the news sites are saying that 9 trillion was extended
in loans during this time period by the Feds ,so that makes the 700
billion dollar Tarp chicken scratch by contrast .
It appears that the Feds made 9 trillion in loans without the approval of Congress ,so doesn’t that mean that the Feds have more power than any other entity in Government ,
Yes.
He who controls the purse strings controls the nation.
That’s why the Constitution specifically states that only the Treasury has the right to coin money.
The Founding Fathers were familiar with closely held central banks. VERY familiar.
Yeah, they were squeezing brick and mortar US factories with actual US workers, because, yikes, some of them were making 80K (the horror), but in the back room the airy fairy keyboard pushing magic dust wall streeters had flurries of money showering down on them, high-jacked from taxpayers pockets. sick
Doctor Doom
A Spanish Inquisition
Elisa Parisi-Capone, Christian Menegatti and Nouriel Roubini,
12.02.10, 06:00 AM EST
With Ireland’s financial woes exposed, Spain’s similarities warrant inspection.
Contagion has taken hold of Spain, with respect to both the sovereign and the banking system, in the wake of Ireland’s financial troubles and bailout application. In contrast with Greece, where the key vulnerabilities are in the public sector, both Spain and Ireland have run up large private sector imbalances following real estate booms and busts. In “Comparing Spain With Ireland and Other PIIGS: Better in Some Ways, More at Risk in Others,” available exclusively to clients, we shed light on Spain’s balance sheet vulnerabilities to assess liquidity and solvency risks in comparison with Ireland and the other PIIGS (Italy, Greece and Portugal).
Spain shares some of Ireland’s key vulnerabilities, including a housing bubble more pronounced than that in the U.S. and large nonperforming loan overhang in the banking sector. Though Spain’s housing bubble is less severe than Ireland’s, and though the Spanish banks’ commendable loan-loss provisioning system is providing a buffer, a comparison of price-to-rent ratios shows that the bulk of the housing price correction and loss recognition has not yet come. Thus, the pressure on the banking system is bound to increase going forward.
…
Now that Roubini is commenting on the European debacle, I wonder if he is still proposing enlarged Federal spending as the means to cure what ails the US. He has been a great prognosticator, but has advocated solutions that are not at all to my liking. Wonder what tune he is now singing about the miracle of Eurosocialism.
The global financial system sure hasn’t run out of victims just yet…
Britain faces stumping up yet more bailout money as markets turn on weak European economies
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 7:42 AM on 1st December 2010
* Markets attack weaker economies in Spain, Portugal and Italy
* Experts predict Portugal next and Britain will have to pay
* Euro drops to three-month low after traders off load
Eurozone countries took a battering from the markets today raising fears Britain will have to stump up even more money for further bailouts.
The crisis showed no sign of abating with Spain bearing the brunt today when its borrowing costs hit record levels.
Portugal - thought to be the most likely country to need a rescue package next following Ireland’s £72 billion handout - also voiced fresh concerns about an increased risk to its vulnerable banks.
Belgium and Italy were also victims.
…
Okay, haters of the fiat, why not immediately solve all the money shortages with the printing press?
Why all the stress over a problem that can be so easily solved?
Please splain.
Yes. I like the way you think, combo.
MORAL HAZARD ISSUES?
MORAL HAZARDS ISSUES?
Lol. Are there any moral hazards left anywhere to make an issue of?
Are you suggesting that we are in moral hazard equlibrium — i.e., all moral hazards are fully exploited?
I strongly doubt it, as moral hazard problems tend to be self-exacerbating, right up to the point of systemic collapse.
Not moral hazard equilibrium - that suggests a balance.
How about moral hazard destruction?
Subtract the term “moral” and the term “hazard” from the term “moral hazard” and take a peek at what is left.
[Curly Joe Stooge]: “Fascinating, isn’t it? Nyuck nyuck nyuck…”
For moral hazards to reach an equilibrium situation, there would have to be a negative feedback loop. I’d guess moral hazards creat positive feedback and go off to a singularity.
Singularity go BOOM!
I just love the smell of printers ink in the morning — its the
smell of ….. solvency!
Nice…
Mmmmm, blanket wash!
Okay, haters of the fiat, why not immediately solve all the money shortages with the printing press? ”
Most workers like working anyway and we bankers were born to manage that work by doling out our fiats sparingly, like teachers giving out gold stars to 5 year olds who do the arts and crafts without complaint.
Thus God’s will is made plain
LOL! There is probably some truth in that.
That plus keeping inflation from going out of control while gravitating all the real wealth to the Banking Clan.
Some? That’s management 101.
I do see my self-portrait in Cactus’s description. Mortgagee and (now) landlady, I think of myself as living off the fractions of dozens of other people’s SS checks or wages. It seems to be a mere bookkeeping problem.
Can Europe’s economic system survive its debt crisis?
Posted by Michael Schuman
Wednesday, December 1, 2010 at 11:48 pm
As contagion spreads in Europe, political and economic leaders continue to struggle to find a real solution. There is hope that the European Central Bank will announce Thursday that it will expand its purchases of government debt to appease jittery markets. And Spain’s government announced a wide-ranging privatization plan to raise fresh funds. Perhaps such steps may calm investors for a while, but the underlying problems remain firmly in place. Portugal simply may not be able to avoid a European Union-led bailout; the next dominoes to fall could be much bigger Spain and Italy. The bailout mechanism in place has done nothing to resolve investor concerns about the future solvency of weak Eurozone economies, and the leaders of Europe are still muddling through, their indecision, sloth and poorly timed initiatives have only further fueled the contagion.
In my opinion, the mess is threatening the sustainability of Europe’s entire economic system. Here’s my list of the four fundamental questions facing Europe right now:
…
bankAnd Spain’s government announced a wide-ranging privatization plan to raise fresh funds.
Ahhhhh. The old “bailout the super-rich’s failings with taxpayer money and sacrifice so the super-rich can then take that same taxpayer money and buy up the country’s national assets” trick.
Ahhhhh. The old “bailout the super-rich’s failings with taxpayer money and sacrifice so the super-rich can then take that same taxpayer money and buy up the country’s national assets” trick.
You know. Even when Brazil privatized their national industries, they did not take public, taxpayer money and give it to to the private Brazilian companies to buy up Brazilian national assets.
At least the Brazilian companies used their own money.
This whole thing is massive LOOTING of entire countries and their middle-class to enrich the obscenely wealthy. And they are using our money and our children’s future money to loot us….
But thank goodness we voted the Republicans back in.
There you go with that “class envy” again, Rio.
The violence will erupt soon. Clean your weapons and stack your sandbags.
Worries About Italy and Belgium in EuroZone
By LIZ ALDERMAN
Published: December 1, 2010
Throughout Europe’s financial crisis, Italy and Belgium have managed to avoid being one of the countries that keep people awake at night.
This week investors, transfixed by debt fears in other countries, drove borrowing costs in Belgium and Italy to near record highs.
But even as concern mounts that Portugal and possibly Spain may seek financial aid after Greece and Ireland requested bailouts, investors have started asking whether those two economies may be the next weak links in Europe’s monetary union, the euro.
Italy and Belgium have a lot in common: both are less dependent on foreign creditors than Greece or Ireland. But each is plagued by severe political dysfunction, which has raised questions about whether they can ever repay a mountain of debt, respectively the second- and third-heaviest loads in the European monetary union after Greece.
Both countries have long histories of debt and political problems that contributed to economic downturns in the past. But no one seemed to pay attention during the current crisis until this week, when investors, transfixed by debt fears in other countries, drove borrowing costs in Italy and Belgium to near record highs.
…
I bet Belgium splits in half.
And the northern half will be absorbed into the Netherlands.
Is that French and Flemish halves? (An honest question.)
Yeah it’s the Flemings (Dutch speakers in the north) and Walloons (French speakers in the south).
See for example http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2010/0911/1224278611490.html
The purported capital of “united Europe” is breaking up.
RepubliCONS may not like Elizabeth Warren, but I have the feeling they will have to learn to live with her. She appears to be principled, well-qualified, and above the political fray.
Posted on Tue, Nov. 30, 2010
DN Editorial: CONSUMER WATCHDOG SHOWS HER TEETH
Philadelphia Daily News
IN HER FIRST two months as the nation’s top consumer advocate, Elizabeth Warren is turning out to be just as dedicated and smart a champion of ordinary people as advertised - unlike, it must be said, the rest of the Obama administration.
So of course Warren - and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau she was appointed to organize - is at the top of the hit list of the new Republican House of Representatives.
According to Shahien Nasiripour of the Huffington Post, Warren was the first administration official to recognize the potential for disaster posed by a law that would have made fraudulent foreclosures even easier to pull off than they are now. She met with state and federal officials to discuss the bill, which had already passed both houses of Congress, and convinced President Obama not to sign it in a “pocket veto” that the House failed to override.
The current foreclosure crisis, like most of the machinations still being practiced by Wall Street, is incredibly complex, but here’s the relevant piece: Up until a few years ago, when a bank or mortgage company gave you a mortgage, it kept the documents and was required to produce them in order to foreclose on a house. Then financial firms began bundling hundreds of thousands of subprime mortgages together and selling them as securities. (The failure of these securities led to the economic meltdown two years ago.) Now it turns out that many banks don’t have the paperwork from the mortgages. So they allegedly have employed people to sign foreclosure documents without reading them or making sure the facts in them are valid. All 50 state attorneys general have launched investigations into the use of these so-called “robo signers.”
…
This conservative LOVES her! A straight shooter.
And she also hammers democrats too.
My only issue with her (and I have watched her on TV and read many of her articles) is when she describes how we are losing the middle class she points out:
Declining wages
Lost jobs
Increases in the cost of housing, insurance, schooling, cars, etc.
She NEVER mentions taxes. Not one time. And taxes take the largest chunk of any middle class income (and has greatly increased over the last generation)
“This conservative LOVES her! A straight shooter.”
This (I don’t know how to classify myself anymore) LOVES her too! I hope I’m not proven wrong about her, but she strikes me as very sincere.
Because when you talk about “losing the middle class” you are essentially doing a longitudinal study of what took up the wages of the middle class at a time when you think it was thriving/growing and now when it is not thriving/growing. If the tax burden is about the same, then that is not what changed, so it can’t be blamed for the current crisis. You might be able to give people more money by cutting taxes, but you could have done that at any time. Since the middle class was doing better at a time with similar or even a higher tax burden, it isn’t reasonable to claim that taxes are the cause.
She is using data and conclusions extracted from data, not ideology.
polly,
Point well taken. I don’t personally know anyone that wouldn’t prefer the 90’s to the present. Even if they were already bald in the 90’s.
Neighbor across the hall had a great suggestion this am. Why not take all the civil/software engineers, sales people, whatever, whose unemployment has or is about to run out and let them simply select what small business they would like to work for?
This way small businesses could get the people they need to expand, it could work into FT and w/ the grace of God ( we might even be able to get to “the next level of recovery” ) as he put it.
Here is a data point.
New Jersey in the 1970s was a NO INCOME tax state
Sales tax at 5%
Low property taxes.
Today
8% income tax (state and some locals)
7-9% sales tax
Some of the highest property taxes in the nation.
Federal taxes may have gone down slightly for some. Every other tax has gone up greatly.
In total - a much higher tax burden
Local taxes have gone up everywhere.
Local. So don’t blame the federal government. They have no control over how local governments (mis)behave.
In looking at my paycheck, deductions for benefits (health insurance, dental insurance, short and long term disability, life insurance) slightly exceed my total taxes withheld. And health insurance cost is increasing faster than taxes.
Perhaps your employer subsidizes more of the cost of insurance than mine does. And I live in a state with no income tax, so that doesn’t include sales tax.
Still, the trend is for health insurance and college tuition increases to exceed tax increases. Housing is stable or declining for now, but is still up more than taxes over the last decade.
I’m a conservative and I hate her. The article says she’s an advocate for ordinary people, but it ought to say, for ordinary deadbeats and debt addicts. I have to say I formed this impression of her long ago, before she was in office. She sees moral hazard as it applies to the actions of banks, but not as it applies to the actions of “middle class people” — whoever THEY are. Since my debtors are her proteges (in the literal sense of the word), I find every word she says pretty annoying. And I agree with 2banana that the tax burden on us Middle Class People is a bigger problem than Wash DC will ever acknowledge.
She NEVER mentions taxes. Not one time. And taxes take the largest chunk of any middle class income (and has greatly increased over the last generation)
I agree. Cut the middle-class’s taxes and make it up by taxing the wealth of billionaires 50% and raising their top marginal income tax rate to 75%.
(Because we have to stay deficit neutral you know)
I’m reading “The Two-Income Trap” right now. I have to say that she pretty much savages Juliet Schor’s “The Overspent American” which I have recommended before, but she does it with pretty convincing numbers. I think there may be some slight overstatement of her critisism because averages/medians can hide real issues that occur on the margins (and because it was published in 2003 which is before the monatization of the bubble money really got going), but I’m very impressed so far.
I really found “the two income trap” to very worthwhile reading.
Looks at some things from a new angle that really makes you think.
I also recommend Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Warren Tiyagi’s book, All Your Worth.
In a family setting the second income usually means your kids are at risk either with “trusted” family members, or in expensive daycare where they are also constantly sick from sharing germs. The extra income is not worth it, IMHO.
The subtitle of the book is “why middle class parents are going broke”. The book points out that families are in a very fragile situation because of the growing dependence on two incomes “just to get by”.
From a review of the book:
“the authors contend that, contrary to popular myth, families aren’t in trouble because they’re squandering their second income on luxuries. On the contrary, both incomes are almost entirely committed to necessities, such as home and car payments, health insurance and children’s education costs. When an unforeseen event such as serious illness, job loss or divorce occurs, families have no discretionary income to fall back on. Warren and Tyagi point out that families buy homes they cannot afford in order to live in a neighborhood with better schools.”
So what happens when food and fuel prices went up 30%?
What happened? Jobs kept going offshore and corporations kept laying off people and freezing wages.
That’s what happened.
And then for some reason, people couldn’t make their mortgage payments anymore.
It’s worse than that, rms. Companies smell that second income and charge accordingly. The end result is something like THIS:
Power company: Oh look, they are bringing in an extra dollar. Let’s charge 4 cents more. They can afford it because they’ll still have lots of that dollar left over.
Grocery store: Oh look, they are bringing in an extra dollar. Let’s charge 6 cents more. They can afford it because they’ll still have lots of that dollar left over.
Toyota: Oh look, they are bringing in an extra dollar. Let’s charge 14 cents more. They can afford it because they’ll still have lots of that dollar left over.
Colleges: Oh look, they are bringing in an extra dollar. Let’s charge 21 cents more. They can afford it because they’ll still have lots of that dollar left over.
Real Estate: Oh look, they are bringing in an extra dollar. Let’s charge 50 cents more. They can afford it because they’ll still have lots of that dollar left over.
Health insurance. Oh look, they are bringing in an extra dollar. Let’s charge 69 cents more. They can afford it because they’ll still have lots of that dollar left over.
etc…
In Warren’s book, the biggest one is housing, but you see the pattern. A single necessity alone doesn’t use up the second income, but together it bankrupts the family. And single-income families have no chance at all.
New car prices are definitely up from just 2-3 years ago.
The MINI we bought 2 years ago would cost about 2K more this year. Its even worse with domestic cars as prices have gone up and incentives are far less generous than they used to be.
So much for that deflation thing.
Here’s a chicken-and-egg situation. The rise of two-income households (mostly the wife going out and getting a job) coincided with the high inflation period of the 1970’s.
Which caused which?
When my husband was in intensive care, I remember thinking, “I wish I didn’t have to work. Thank God I have a job!”
We would have been instantly destitute if I hadn’t had years of experience in a good paying career. And I would have been scrambling to find any work paying minimum wage at a time when I was completely exhausted by the vigil.
My experience inspired at least one of my friends to leave her stay-at-home job for a paying one.
Two incomes generally means the availability of a back up source of health insurance, a big deal if you have kids and/or a pre-existing condition. This is particularly true if you lose a job due to the failure of the company you work for (hence no COBRA).
Just another huge distortion resulting from employer based health insurance.
“New car prices are definitely up from just 2-3 years ago.”
My friend just bought a brand new fully loaded 2011 Chevy Silverado 4×4 truck with the Duramax diesel. He got a “steal” at $49,000. Sticker was around $60k. He got 0% financing, so he did not put $1 down. His payments are almost $1k per month for 5 years (he rolled the sales tax (almost $5k) and a few other things into the payment). He can afford it- he owns his own business- but I really can’t understand how J6P could even dream of affording this.
Diesel is pushing $3.30 per gallon, and his insurance on the truck is almost $150 per month given its high value. The yearly DMV fee to register this truck in his state is over $500 (based upon purchase price). Given all of this, it’s costing over $1400 per month to operate this thing (15,000 miles per year), and that doesn’t even factor in depreciation! If that were included, it’s almost $1900. This is insane, to me.
We had a 2002 Chevy 4X4 crewcab, one ton
duramax diesel pickup bought new for cash
and paid $39k.
When we sold the ranch and moved to town,
the truck became a liability due to it’s size and we realized a depreciating asset that wasn’t being used that much would be
better off sold, I sold it.
Looked for a beater. Found a 1975 Chevy
3/4 ton long bed 350 auto for $2.5k. With
an original 62,000 miles. Looks brand new,
smells new still. Runs perfectly.
Just another huge distortion resulting from employer based health insurance.
As for employer-based health insurance, the sooner that system disappears, the better. Why? Because in order to get that coverage, you have to disclose the most personal aspects of your life to your employer. And, in most cases, those things are none of your employer’s business.
Oxide nailed. I was privy to some meetings of more than one company where that was exactly what was discussed and decided.
There is no “chicken and egg.” Inflation was/is generated by businesses in search of expanding profits when they can’t increase their customer base.
The extra income is not worth it, IMHO.
You’ve got no choice if you want the bling. If you’ve got no bling, you’re nothing.
Industry increased prices as a result of the two-income family ,no question about it . The Health Insurance Industry increased prices
yearly because they could . There is just a lot of price-fixing going on .
Millions of people have no choice, period.
daycare anecdote:
“ms. lindsey” told me today that my 15 month old son has been “hitting and grabbing” recently.
my first thought was “good…it’s about damn time!”
in six months he has been bitten 3 times. no blood drawn but close once.
House Republicans put Warren on a “hit list?” She’s an excutive branch appointment. What are they going to “hit” her with? Congressional hearings? I think she woud “welcome their hatred.”
Law school professors do seem to love the give and take of hearings. I think it reminds them of their classrooms. They are more used to being the one asking the questions, but the process is not unfamiliar to them.
MERS CEO/President was interviewed, and he said that they have a database on the trenches, and the problem has been overstated. Each mortgage has an ID # and can be reversed engineered, basically. According to him, not one judgement in favor of a free home has come down, he thought it didn’t have a chance, and a lot of this “who owns the mortgage?” is hype. He’s also an Attorney. He also stated this “robo-signer” stuff was a Foreclosure technicality, and the buyer signed an obligation to the servicer. Don’t pay and you’re in default, period.
Mr. Norris interviewed him, and it was most interesting.
Who owns the mortgage isn’t really about getting the non-paying owner a free house, though that is what it may look like from the outside. That could be the result if they really can’t come up with the physical piece of paper AND (important “and”) the state in question has an absolute requirement that the physical paper be produced. If the state won’t accept a note that is reversed engineered (for example, because they require an original signature on the documents), then a note that can only be reversed engineered is not valid. The notes are probably out there somewhere. It just isn’t the sort of thing that is shredded. They may not know exactly where, but they can be found.
However, the real issue is who owns the note and is it the person who is supposed to own it. That determines where the loss falls and who gets to sue someone for their money back because they paid money for something and never legally received it. And that is very, very important.
Polly-
OT Legal question o’ the day
How many “Amended Answers” can a Defendant file?
Is there a time limit on them, does it vary by State?
thanks so much
If you are in state court it would depend on the procedural rules of the state. Also what sort of action you are talking about. Possibly also the rules of that particular court. Possibly how pissed off the judge is getting. And how much money is available to pay the lawer. And it might have more to do with the number of days that have passed.
So, grand answer, it depends. Like most stuff relating to the law. Sorry for the wimpy answer, but that is what we have.
Thanks Polly-
It’s in Federal court - Civil lawsuit
“The notes are probably out there somewhere. It just isn’t the sort of thing that is shredded. They may not know exactly where, but they can be found.”
I’m wondering though, what about some of the financial institutions that went under? It’s quite possible records were lost or destroyed by disgruntled employees. It wouldn’t surprise me if there ends up being a few houses awarded to the ‘owner’, though I doubt the number would be significant. I’d bet that cases where the note is a necessity but can’t be found will be pushed to the backburner by the banks, so we won’t see it happen for quite some time.
There’s little chance of the “free home” outcome, but that’s a red herring. The real problem will be the MBS trusts pushing back against the banks and demanding a cash refund.
Thanks Legal Eagles. You both are smart informed mensches. It was mentioned that MERS have all the documents somewhere in their system, having been scanned from original docs. MERS owns multiple databases, title, secondary market, etc…
What a freakin nightmare. Was this really worth it? (Cause and effect.)
There’s little chance of the “free home” outcome, but that’s a red herring. The real problem will be the MBS trusts pushing back against the banks and demanding a cash refund.
Which is what appears to be happening to Bank of America. Which *could* push it into receivership.
The laws only apply to us little folk. And there you have it: “technicality” is the word used to shove it under the rug. WHAT ABOUT THE RULE OF LAW Mr. Norris?
I’m ill over what is happening. The FED used $9T to bail out the banks stupidity and the Federal gov is now using more tax payer money to “fight” foreclosure by programs that buy/rehab them and put them into “affordable” status (meaning: help w/ down & controls on selling for profit). So in essence, they have used our money to drive up prices and are now using more to keep it there and/or away from responsible hands. OUR taxes are being deployed AGAINST us, repeatedly, from many angles. Locally, these tax incentived foreclosure purchasers/rehabbers get first crack at what comes across the REO list… Leaving me 2 choices: REALLY cruddy REO for 20% off, or, wishing prices to bail out serial refinancers.
Just more reason to WAIT.
Mr. Norris is right on one hand. Those people who bought entered into a contract and when they default the owner has every right to exercise their rights. But not before they PROVE they are in the position to do it. So, Mr. MERS, I mean Norris, let’s see the PROOF of ownership through conveyence of title in EACH AND EVERY TRANSACTION. Just like the law DEMANDS be done. If that is the case, then do it, and quit yer bitchin.
What this does is slow the return of these turds to the retail toilet, I mean market- thus creating the perception of WAY lower inventory than what should be available. It won’t be until the fiat dollar’s true worth is called into question by the world before the true price of a home is found, and likely it will be denominated in TRUE VALUE henceforth. Gold and silver, maybe cans of spam if ugly ensues.
Wow, I’m all over the board. My murky krystal balls are telling me that once the EURO looks like the hoax it is to the average Joe, there will be a big rush back to the “safety” of the dollar (not that I think it is any better). Hopefully that will drive down the cost of PM one last time before they shoot the moon. If the fundalmentals (HA!) detach and the price of PM shoots up at the same time the $ gains strength it is game over for us little guys. The paper game is up. The rabbit has been set free or insert whatever horse/barn annalogy fits here.
I have not been here too much lately but my boy Aladinsane is looking, well, like gold right about now… Thanks for getting me on the right path before the brown fan dance. Just wish I had more means to stike! I’m darn near the point of making my credit score meaningful and leverage that number in credit to buy real wealth and default, but my moral compass prevents me, but man it is tough to ignore- if my family depends on it the choice becomes easy.
Please, oh please, oh please, just give me one more dip! (Public Enemy twisted to fit my need)
“So in essence, they have used our money to drive up prices and are now using more to keep it there and/or away from responsible hands. OUR taxes are being deployed AGAINST us, repeatedly, from many angles. Locally, these tax incentived foreclosure purchasers/rehabbers get first crack at what comes across the REO list… Leaving me 2 choices: REALLY cruddy REO for 20% off, or, wishing prices to bail out serial refinancers.
Just more reason to WAIT.”
You put your finger on it. Why race to buy cruddy REO when inventories are artificially squeezed?
Elizabeth Warren is my heroine! Here she is talking about the collapse of the middle class: 57 minutes: She has great insight into the American condition, really profound.
http://mcaf.ee/6bdc3
she’s the best there is
How is it that all manner of foreign banks were able to tap into the Fed’s emergency credit lines, while American households facing hardship were thrown under the bus? Is this really Constitutional?
Posted on Wed, Dec. 01, 2010 11:23 PM
Fed lifts veil on its actions from height of crisis
By MARK DAVIS
The Kansas City Star
The Federal Reserve’s disclosures on Wednesday revealed that Goldman Sachs, whose New York headquarters are seen here, received $620 billion in loans and other aid at the peak of the financial crisis.
Emergency steps the Federal Reserve took during the nation’s financial crisis reached deeply into the U.S. and global economies, according to a trove of documents released Wednesday.
Fed programs aimed at thawing frozen financial markets, for example, drew Kansas City stalwarts Commerce Bank and American Century Investments.
Other funding programs provided much-needed financing during the crisis to a wide variety of firms, from Wall Street giants Citigroup and Goldman Sachs to corporate mainstays McDonald’s Corp. and Harley Davidson.
Central banks in other nations also relied on the Fed’s pocketbook, including $8 trillion in temporary credit lines for the European Central Bank. Foreign banking companies also were able to tap the Fed’s programs, the reports showed.
…
“including $8 trillion in temporary credit lines for the European Central Bank.”
Wow, just wow.
Who does the FED turn to for a bailout when they get overextended? Just askin’.
Treasury. And Treasury turns to China and American babies.
It’s working.
Recession may have pushed US birth rate to new low
Fri, Aug 27, 2010
Forget the Dow and the GDP. Here’s the latest economic indicator: The U.S. birth rate has fallen to its lowest level in at least a century as many people apparently decided they couldn’t afford more mouths to feed.
The birth rate dropped for the second year in a row since the recession began in 2007. Births fell 2.6 percent last year even as the population grew, numbers released Friday by the National Center for Health Statistics show.
“It’s a good-sized decline for one year. Every month is showing a decline from the year before,” said Stephanie Ventura, the demographer who oversaw the report.
The birth rate, which takes into account changes in the population, fell to 13.5 births for every 1,000 people last year. That’s down from 14.3 in 2007 and way down from 30 in 1909, when it was common for people to have big families.
The situation is a striking turnabout from 2007, when more babies were born in the United States than any other year in the nation’s history. The recession began that fall, dragging down stocks, jobs and births.
“When the economy is bad and people are uncomfortable about their financial future, they tend to postpone having children. We saw that in the Great Depression the 1930s and we’re seeing that in the Great Recession today,” said Andrew Cherlin, a sociology professor at Johns Hopkins University.
“It could take a few years to turn this around,” he added.
The birth rate dipped below 20 per 1,000 people in 1932 and did not rise above that level until the early 1940s. Recent recessions, in 1981-82, 1990-91 and 2001, all were followed by small dips in the birth rate, according to CDC figures.
…
It’s a big advantage to be born in a depression.
This bodes well for illegal immigrants from south of the border who continue to crank ‘em out at astonishing rates.
“It’s a big advantage to be born in a depression.”
Now there is an uplifting thought! My kids, who are growing up surrounded by economic hardship which they take for granted, will hopefully enjoy an economic improving trend by the time they have to enter the workforce.
“Who does the FED turn to for a bailout when they get overextended? Just askin’.”
Over-extended??? How could that happen? The Fed could readily add a hundred zeroes to the end of every dollar sum currently out there. E.g. the one google dollars note would have a value similar to the one dollar note today.
I see no limitation on their ability to electronically print as much as necessary, other than political backlack. There is no other constraint.
And when the poop hits the fan they will probably decide that hyperinflation is preferable to collapse.
Keep on printing those woolongs Space Cowboy, yeehaw!
And, when push comes to shove, inflation does seem preferable to collapse.
I don’t say hyperinflation, because hyperinflation is usually not an option instead of collapse—it almost always is accompanied shortly thereafter by collapse.
And I still do not buy the hyperinflation argument. My reasoning is this: if you step back and look at the broad history of the banking industry, it basically exists to fleece the little guy. Hyperinflation fleeces the big guys—those _holding_ lots of debt. Hyperinflation helps the little guy—those _owing_ lots of debt.
The Fed is essentially a banking cartel; it is run by bankers for benefit of bankers. The bankers will never do what is horribly bad for bankers.
So if you see bankers getting out of the business of owning debt, and into the business of owning hard assets, then it might be time to be afraid. Until such time, I believe that the Fed will do their utmost to cause some inflation, but avoid creating hyperinflation even if trying to avoid it causes decades of economic stagnation.
Hyperinflation destroys those on fixed income and those who saved in dollars.
The problem is that those on fixed incomes or savers loaned their money (even if they did not know where their money was) to people who did not repay their debts. I feel bad for them, but the fact is that they took the risk expecting large returns on investments and lost.
At this time, the money is ALL GONE and our choices are either inflation which will reduce the value of money, or payment reductions which will reduce the amount of money. Payment reductions will have the unpleasant side effect of causing yet more debt failure and will necessitate further reductions in payments and salaries which of course will collapse the economy completely, meaning savers and fixed incomers will lose everything. Personally I would prefer inflation, but I find most would prefer to have their incomes dramatically reduced or eliminated instead.
Problem is we cannot have our cake and eat it too. Inflation or deflation. Choose wisely!
“Hyperinflation is intrinsically and necessarily a political process. The vast majority of the discussions and debates on hyperinflation seem to assume it is primarily a financial process which proceeds with some sort of inevitability once a tipping point has been reached.
Perhaps, but the policies which lead to that point of no return are political in nature. Currencies do not die of their own accord–they must be actively destroyed by political decisions and policies.” - charles hugh smith
I think it’s impossible for the Fed to get overextended, unless somehow they run out of paper and ink.
If you need a hint as to just how bad things behind the financial curtain really are, here’s a less than subtle one.
Lucky for us we have a new group of people in charge of things.
Er… never mind.
Fed lifts veil on its actions from height of crisis
How “conservatives” do not instantly become much more populist in light of recent news is an insult to conservatives.
i think the MSM needs to stop using lump sum numbers in their reports…or use the lump sum number and in parentheses put the “how much a month” amount.
i just think joe six just doesn’t understand how big these numbers are and therefore doesn’t care.
i think the MSM needs to stop using lump sum numbers in their reports…or use the lump sum number and in parentheses put the “how much a month” amount.”"
I completely agree, michael.
A $1billion overnight loan, renewed every night for a month is being reported as a $30billion loan. In reality, it is a $1billion loan of a month’s duration.
Horrible, horrible reporting.
The MSM is not about news and facts, but about spin, spin, spin, infotainment.
Just 6 corporations own ALL of MSM.
I’m no fan of this crazy central bank scheme, but if you are going to bail out American banks and companies you probably should do the same for foreign ones who employ millions of Americans.
Is this really Constitutional?
A whole lot of stuff coming down after around 1930 is of questionable Constitutionality.
Roscoe Filburn got in trouble with the feds for feeding the pigs.
Ben Bernanke is in charge of the FED, and HE’S feeding the PIIGS.
The trick is to keep workers working in exchange for fiats.
as many as possible for as long as possible. I suppose the government needs Banks for that so in a pinch the Banks get made whole.
Taxes will go up for all workers to pay for this but who cares?
The workers ? so what. what are they going to do stop working?
And the guy who loses his home ? Make him stay in it for as long as possible until we figure a way out of this mess.
Federal Reserve’s ‘astounding’ report: We loaned banks trillions
The Federal Reserve offers details on the loans it gave to banks and others at the height of the financial crisis. One program alone doled out nearly $9 trillion.
The Federal Reserve building is seen in Washington in this file photo. In one program alone the Fed doled out nearly $9 trillion in funds to borrowers such as Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch, largely at interest rates below 1 percent.
Charles Dharapak/AP
…
“In one program alone the Fed doled out nearly $9 trillion in funds…”
Is a total Fed bailout tally available yet?
How did the prediction that ’subprime will be contained to $200 bn’ work out for them?
It seems that while money was going “poof” in one place, it was going “unpoof” in others. Fiat teleportation?
“Fiat teleportation?”
Nice!
Funny thing is that we are not even close to being out of the woods in the bailout sector, where every credit card, mortgage and car loan in the US could have been paid off entirely at around 9 trillion.
Have any of these “loans” been repaid?
“Have any of these “loans” been repaid?”
We little people don’t get to ask that question. The Banking Clan knows that they own the Earth and we are all mere tenants in their eyes, our only purpose is to labor to make them even wealthier.
You have problem with Corporate Communist Capitalism©®™, comrade?
Maybe time in financial Siberia change your mind, yes?
GH …..This continues to be my question …..”Have the loans been
paid back …….Why would a number of these entities need so much
money ,especially in light of the fact they were middle men for most part ?” Anybody think it was all those leverage bets based on 40x leverage in which they never reformed those casino games .
Look, the public would be outraged if they really knew the extent of
the greed games that these entities were playing and really couldn’t back up their bets .
I’d love to see an audit of who got what, where the money went (ie returned as political contributions or landed in private Swiss bank accounts) and when if ever any of these will be repaid.
Does anyone find it convenient that this news comes out “after” the election in 2010 and as “far away” as possible from the election in 2012?
I find it “convenient” that the GOP voted against ENDING tax breaks for offshoring jobs in Sept., and yet were given more power because… people needed jobs.
“In one program alone the Fed doled out nearly $9 trillion in funds to borrowers such as Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch, largely at interest rates below 1 percent.”
This couldn’t have anything to do with, say, the spike in commodities and equities could it?
Op-Ed Contributor
Too Big to Succeed
By THOMAS M. HOENIG
Published: December 1, 2010
Kansas City, Mo.
THE world has experienced a severe financial crisis and economic recession. The Treasury and the Federal Reserve took actions that saved businesses and jobs and may very well have saved the economy itself from ruin. Still, the public seems ungrateful, expressing anger at these institutions that saved the day. Why?
Americans are angry in part because they sense that the government was as much a cause of the crisis as its cure. They realize that more must be done to address a threat that remains increasingly a part of our economy: financial institutions that are “too big to fail.”
During the 1990s, Congress, with encouragement from academics and regulators, repealed the Glass-Steagall Act, the Depression-era law that had barred commercial banks from undertaking the riskier activities of investment banks. Following this action, the regulatory authority significantly reduced capital requirements for the largest investment banks.
Less than a decade after these changes, the investment firm Bear Stearns failed. Bear was the smallest of the “big five” American investment banks. Yet to avoid the damage its failure might cause, billions of dollars in public assistance was provided to support its acquisition by JPMorgan Chase. Soon other large financial institutions were found to also be at risk. These firms were required to accept billions of dollars in capital from the Treasury and were provided hundreds of billions in loans from the Federal Reserve.
In spite of the public assistance required to sustain the industry, little has changed on Wall Street. Two years later, the largest firms are again operating with bonus and compensation schemes that reflect success, not the reality of recent failures. Contrast this with the hundreds of smaller banks and businesses that failed and the millions of people who lost their jobs during the Wall Street-fueled recession.
There is an old saying: lend a business $1,000 and you own it; lend it $1 million and it owns you. This latest crisis confirms that the economic influence of the largest financial institutions is so great that their chief executives cannot manage them, nor can their regulators provide adequate oversight.
…
“Still, the public seems ungrateful, expressing anger at these institutions that saved the day. Why?”
simply put…it offends my sensibilities.
It looks as though the Fed set itself up to be taken advantage of by too-big-to-fail investment banks in the global financial system. Certainly a few of the myriad economists who work for the Fed are familiar with the rational expectations concept?
The Fed didn’t set itself up to be taken advantage of, the banks set up the Fed to take advantage of the average American.
the economic influence of the largest financial institutions is so great that their chief executives cannot manage them, nor can their regulators provide adequate oversight.
EXACTLY what I’ve been saying all along.
Bank and corporate charters are invariably negatives for the economy. The concept of a large bank does not work, and cannot be made to work no matter how much you try to “regulate” it.
As I have more time to reflect back on the crisis, I honestly am wondering whether TBTF is a red herring.
The fundamental problem was poor risk-management, poor oversight by the regulators, poor accounting standards (which let them report bogus valuations), and way way too much leverage.
A large or a small bank can suffer from any or all of the above–and most did.
TBTF did not create the crisis. TBTF just made us pay for it.
Even in the absence of bailouts on the backs of taxpayers, I would still have a problem with all of the above. And, it turns out, we still do.
TBTF may have accounted for it.
With massive wealth Wall Street has exerted an ever greater influence over our government.
TBTF is just setting up the next crisis by embolding the banks and the investment community with the knowledge that they are in-fact TBTF. Before, it was just speculation.
TBFT DID indeed create the crisis. And they knew exactly what they were doing.
Dumb question of the day:
Is central banking expected to become as boring as dentistry any time soon?
I dunno, I sometimes feel like I’ve been inhaling nitrous-oxide when I leave my bank.
N20, ah, those were the days.
The lolipop jar at my branch now contains free samples of preparation-H.
Never a dull moment when you are a group of lying conniving thieves & charlatans, with the blessings of congress and fully endorsed/owned by another group of lowlifes on wall street.
Look at me, I’m king of the world…Ma!
“… a group of lying conniving thieves a & charlatans, with the blessings of congress and fully endorsed/owned by another group of lowlifes on wall street.”
Yeah, but it’s great work if you can get it.
I see absolutely no reason at all why we can’t start our own bank….The Bubble Blog Bank.
Having Bubble right there in the name of the bank might cut into both credibility and sales quite a bit…
“Look at me, I’m king of the world…Ma!”
Master of the Universe!
Is central banking expected to become as boring as dentistry any time soon?
So, we’ve gone from “Transparency” to “Audit” to “Sterilization” …are we talking Personnel or Equipment or both?
market pulse
Dec. 2, 2010, 3:38 a.m. EST
Banks, SEC discuss mortgage-bond settlement: WSJ
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — Several major U.S. banks are in early, informal talks with the Securities and Exchange Commission to reach a settlement on practices involving mortgage-backed debt blamed for much of the global financial crisis, The Wall Street Journal reported late Wednesday.
…
Will this be another pat on the wrist, accompanied by a fine large enough to seem significant to J6P, while also small enough as to be insignificant to the major banks? In other words, a nice white-wash to absolve them of future liability in this regard.
My money says yes.
National foreclosure heat map as of Sept:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2010/10/18/GR2010101806640.html?sid=ST2010101806160
PBear last night:
“And what about all the Wall Street Megabanks currently in the Merry-Christmas process of taking possess of foreclosing on American homes in default status? If they had collapsed, due to their foolish loan underwriting, they would hardly be in a position now to be playing robo-signer foreclosure monopoly, would they?”
Crazy, isn’t it?
The St. Pete Times used to have a section that showed recent sales (by neighborhood) on a map.
That feature no longer exists. Lol.
Checking Zillow I found that the “recently sold” homes were consistently about half-off the “Zestimate” prices of surrounding homes. I honestly feel that Florida RE prices have another FIFTY PERCENT LEFT TO FALL.
Zillow would be awesome if it had a “shadow inventory” check box right below For Rent, For Sale, Recently Sold, etc.
Gone from the Sunday San Diego Union-Tribune: The ‘Homes’ section…
“Quick, Watson, the needle!”
PB,
And we’re supposed to ‘lament’ that? Now they can fill it w/ something really useful like an expanded “Surf Report’ or something? Anything…
Fed’s Emergency-Loan Borrowers Ranged From Bank of America to McDonald’s.
The Fed, in compliance with orders from Congress, today named recipients of $3.3 trillion in emergency aid.
The Federal Reserve’s emergency lending during the financial crisis spanned the global economy, from the largest U.S. financial firms to community banks, hedge funds and a fast-food company.
The Fed, in compliance with orders from Congress, today named recipients of $3.3 trillion in emergency aid. Among them were U.S. branches of overseas banks, including Switzerland’s UBS AG; corporations such as General Electric Co. and McDonald’s Corp.; and investors like Pacific Investment Management Co. and computer executive Michael Dell.
So tell me, how does anyone know or believe that all or some of the $9 trillion was paid back? Who does the books and the audit’s? Don’t tell me it’s the CBO, they only get what they are feed. Sweeeeet!
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The Federal Reserve made $9 trillion in overnight loans to major banks and Wall Street firms during the financial crisis, according to newly revealed data released Wednesday.
The loans were made through a special loan program set up by the Fed in the wake of the Bear Stearns collapse in March 2008 to keep the nation’s bond markets trading normally.
The amount of cash being pumped out to the financial giants was not previously disclosed. All the loans were backed by collateral and all were paid back with a very low interest rate to the Fed — an annual rate of between 0.5% to 3.5%.
Still, the total amount was a surprise, even to some who had followed the Fed’s rescue efforts closely.
Keep in mind, it’s not so much “Was it paid back?” as “Was it paid back with other government funds?” After all, those FB REFI addicts had a string of paid-in-full loans behind them, but somehow they kept ending up further and further behind.
GM paid theirs back five years ahead of schedule.
(snark)
That’s because GM is the most efficiently-run, best-managed, most innovative company in the history of communism.
Jim A,
Regrettably, the whole PLANET isn’t worth $9 tril. But as long as we’re showing a string of paid-in-full loans, it’s all good right?
“So tell me, how does anyone know or believe that all or some of the $9 trillion was paid back? Who does the books and the audit’s?”
I believe the Fed is scheduled to be audited some time soon, no? Perhaps that will offer hints about where the $9 trillion ended up.
“I believe the Fed is scheduled to be audited some time soon, no? ”
What on earth makes you believe that?
The Wisdom of Crowds (and individuals) in the blogosphere will get it done if the Congress is not up to the task.
Economic Crisis, The Audit — December 1, 2010 08:42 PM
Audit Notes: The Federal Reserve’s Trillion-Dollar Bailout Document Dump
By Ryan Chittum
The Federal Reserve today released a trove of information, much of which was sought by Bloomberg’s Mark Pittman lawsuit, on its multi-trillion dollar programs to bail out the financial system.
The Huffington Post’s Shahien Nasiripour zeroes in on the massive subsidies the Fed gave foreign banks:
Those two European banks were the biggest sellers of mortgage-backed securities to the Fed.
— Having trouble sorting out the alphabet soup of programs in the Federal Reserve’s big info release today?
The Wall Street Journal has a helpful glossary so you can separate the TALF from the TAF.
And it’s good to note these (emphasis mine):
The latter will presumably be forced by Bloomberg’s suit.
…
Audit the Federal Reserve
…
For the past 30 years, Congressman Ron Paul has worked tirelessly to bring much-needed transparency and accountability to the secretive bank. And in 2009 his unfaltering dedication showed astonishing results: HR 1207, the bill to audit the Federal Reserve, swept the country and made the central bankers shudder at their desks. The bill passed as an amendment both in the House Financial Services Committee and in the House itself.
But the usurpers of America’s future didn’t take it lying down. They weren’t about to allow their secrets to be exposed and their magic money machine to be put under close scrutiny. They worked frantically behind the scenes to quietly derail all efforts to open up the Federal Reserve to an independent audit.
A handful of Fed-loving U.S. senators led by Chris Dodd rewrote the Senate version of the Financial Reform Bill to strip out Ron Paul’s Audit the Fed amendment and actually expand the Fed’s power over banks, lending and money. As Alan Grayson pointed out here, and Ron Paul commented on here, the Dodd bill completely eliminated legislation to audit the Federal Reserve, which already passed in the House.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced an amendment on the floor effectively adding the Grayson-Paul language to the Senate bill, but later changed his amendment under pressure by the Federal Reserve and the Obama administration. The altered Sanders amendment passed the Senate on May 11, 2010 by a unanimous 96-0 vote.
…
On June 30, 2010, the GOP introduced Ron Paul’s Audit the Fed bill as a motion to recommit, which was the last chance to alter the financial regulation bill. Audit the Fed failed by a vote of 229-198. All Republicans voted in favor of the measure with 23 Democrats crossing the aisle to vote with Republicans. 114 co-sponsors of HR 1207, all Democrats, jumped ship and voted against Audit the Fed.
…
So, there is no audit scheduled and no one except Ron Paul is always for it, though Bernie Sanders and maybe a few others seem to be on and off at times.
“selling them to the Fed at a premium”
And who really paid this premium to Bill Gross?
I’ll tell you who: the US taxpayers.
The profit/loss from the Fed’s books flow through to the Treasury. So if the Fed paid a premium over market, that ends up being reflected in higher losses or lower profits flowing through; so the US taxpayer is the real payer.
The Fed spends YOUR money with no accountability.
This is the ultimate in taxation without representation.
So let me get this straight………
-The banksters get 9 trillion dollars of “free money” from Uncle Sugar.
-At the same time, selling MBS (worth pennies/nickels to the dollar) at face value to Uncle Sugar.
-While ramping up fees and interest charges on their customers.
What have I missed?
You forgot the bonuses they paid themselves for being smarter than everyone.
Sadly, the fact that they’re able to run that kind of racket seems pretty smart to me. They don’t segregate their profits by moral value (or lack thereof).
What did you miss?
…all the while they are blaming the poor for being shiftless and lazy.
Paid back with worthless MBS
“…McDonald’s…”
Was the Fed able to maintain hamburger parity?
No, but now we know what’s that “secret sauce” they put on a Big Mac.
From a US News story: “The New Rules for End-of-Year Tipping”
You’ve got to be kidding!! Why should I want to give money to anyone other than family with this economy; the gov is doing a far better job of giving my money away than I could. This season I intend only to give gift certificates that can be used for after holiday sales or can be used at a later date. Saves a lot of expense on gift wrapping too.
Mean old Slim only tips when she deems the service to be worthy of a tip.
salinasron, I’m pretty sure this is really just a reminder to folks who have their own gardener, chauffeur, dresser, personal shopper, nanny, tutor, gopher, golf instructor, etc. so they they don’t end up… losing their heads and act too snobby.
Got to keep a up appearances and a unified front.
I heard on the radio yesterday that businesses surveyed: that starting next year layoffs will be twice what they were last January. How does that square with the latest gov stats released yesterday? Just ask the stock market.
Salinas,
Friends came back from the mall yesterday and
said it was like a ghost town, empty and cold.
Where on the radio?
Some follow up to yesterdays Taxing The Rich to Save The Budget thread. Ahansen’s response was thoughtful, unlike some of the other, more reflexively class envious sort.
—Ahanson wrote, “evildear,
—Income averaging, CME tax credits, et al. C’mon. While these arguments are irrelevant to your original post, and I agree that 250K a year is hardly “rich” in comparison to the eight-figure crowd, the proposed tax “increases” are hardly onerous. The last ten years have been anomalous and obviously catastrophic. Most of us here would be THRILLED to pay 3% more taxes on a $600K+/year take. I know I sure would….
Hi A,
I rather like “evildear”. Might use that moniker down the pike. I was forced into more global discussions of policy since others responded to my (so far unsuccessfully challenged) thesis that 1) income $250k does not, per se, equal “Rich” and that 2) the whole “Rich” thing as excuse for upgraded taxes is being used from the top down to split the population into crass class warfare, which is how the biggies often beat the population, even while TARPily spending away the endowments that would have prevented need for any increase.
That said, when Rio et al tried to divert from the clear point that “250k income is not same as ‘rich’” and cited instead “250k income not rich means ‘dumb’” or tried to divert into lament about “US Health Care”, I was forced to broaden the discussion, which I did.
In fact, I rather agree with you. 3% tax increase on the incremental income above 250k income or 2million income etc likely is not onerous. Indeed it might not be onerous on someone with 60k income, so lets hit them too. The extra tax on their $70k income then would be 3% of 10k or $300. Who cannot afford that? But– and I know you know it– this is not really the point.
—-Ahansen wrote: Not disparaging the effort it took to get where you are, just saying the system that enabled you to do so needs some serious tweaking because the middle classes are paying a disproportionate share of the remediation. If no one can afford a $150K bypass/valve replacement anymore, you’re going to end up getting paid on the same scale as the fellow in Thailand who charges $3500 for it——-
I don’t disagree with your general notion, though there likely are some shades of gray between the black and white edges
I don’t disparage most efforts made by most people to get where they are, though part of the class warfare meme brought out in folks like Rio is used- again- as a splitting tactic. As I noted, the too-concrete righties yell, “if only the poor pulled themselves up by their bootstraps, they’d be rich too”. The too concrete lefties yell, “I’m jealous of anyone who makes more than me, so lets financially rape him, while leaving me alone”. Go figure.
It is unfortunate, and common in these parts that someone who through good choices, prescience, hard work, luck or what have you, makes it into a good career, some will snipe, as Rio did, ““You studied. Big deal. Many have. Write a sad song. What have you done for your people? What have you done for the medical situation in the USA? Not much in the aggregate considering the problem of the richest country in the world and the BS heath system that you encourage. ”’
That of course required pointing out that “What I do” is a different issue than an assessment of comparative national health policies. What I do has pretty significant direct moment-to-moment impact on lots of lives. That Rio retreats into the trite mantra of “industrial complex” is a bit saddening.
I wrote in response: What have I done for people’s health? I fear I cannot let you conflate health care policy with individual health care provision. Whichever system is best (yeah, the Saudi King is going Sao Paulo for his surgery… oh wait, no, forgot, it’s New York for that), has nothing to do with taxing folks who earn their bucks. What I do personally is save lives every day, and do a pretty good job of it. Everyone likes to dis us until they need us. But, again, all this reveals is the class envy in place with those objecting to my post. Income is not Wealth and I gave a great example proving that, which has not been disproven by anyone here
—–Per Ahansen: A little perspective? When my father started his cardio practice in the late 50’s the tax rate was 87% for his income range. He managed. So will you.—–
I note- though making no claim to tax expertise- that hearsay has it that in the days of 80% tax brackets there also were some monstrous deductions available. I would be curious- seriously- to see how 36% today without deductions compares to 87% back in the day, but with good accountant and all those deductions
I appreciated your response Ahansen, as it was at thought out and balanced.
I’ll finish with my response to Rio- as posting it overnight left it a bit orphaned.
Per Rioetc…
—Blah, Blah…. Whatever Dr.—-
Thus, conceding debate, Rio does not embrace the question.
Again, you mooks are being used to split the population as in… divide and conquer.
What a Trillion to bail out banks that should have gone under? How much Fed money it turns out going to bail out Europe. Unemployment “insurance” for eternity (was it Sweden or Denmark recently showing the longer unemployment is paid the longer the recipients manage to stay unemployed).
People should be taxed (whether thrifty saver or good earner… or both) based on… cautious… not profligate… government spending.
Social Security should not be cut as is now proposed (at least once we decided to have SS back in the 30’s, which maybe we never should have had) when the government fairly recently raped the SS endowment saying it was ok to do so, becaues the borrowing is backed by the “faith in the US Gov’t”, again while bailing out the banksters with gazillions. Howzat working out?
But, we will label folks who make a couple of you… jealous… as being worthy of the hit, because those evil folks make more than you do. Obumbler calls them “the rich”. I’ve just shown many of them are not rich, to which Rio says “blah”. Strong counterpoint by him, no doubt.
Class envy is as bad as class condescension. Lefties don’t like hearing “if only the poor pulled themselves up by their bootstraps, they’d be rich too”. Righties don’t like hearing, “I’m jealous of anyone who makes more than me, so lets financially rape him, while leaving me alone”. Go figure.
evildoc, as I mentioned yesterday, I agree with your central premise that income of $250k does not necessarily equate to wealthy. For someone who has a large enough pile of debt, that income can still mean you are relatively poor as defined by net worth, since your net worth could in fact be negative.
But income is what we have chosen as a society as the thing to be taxed—in other words, the best proxy for measuring how well-off people are. And frankly, it offends me less to tax income than to tax property, which is probably a better measure of poverty/wealth.
Taxing property rewards the spend-thrift who has nothing to show for all of the cash that flowed through their fingers in the past, and punishes the thrifty who managed to put aside a portion their past cash-flow.
You have devoted many inches of the blog to arguing that $250k is not rich. That begs the question: how would YOU define rich, and how would YOU prefer to see that we increase revenue (as obviously is necessary) without putting too much additional burden on the middle-class?
—That begs the question: how would YOU define rich—
Actually, that is NOT what “begs the question” means.
I’m off to pen club now, then to evildoc work, but will follow up the otherwise fair question of “how do I define rich?” I hope tomorrow. I hope my first notion is that I don’t define it as anyone who earns more than me
I hope my 2nd notion is that “is use of this definition to polarize the country a good thing?” . Maybe at some point I’ll actually answer the question.
I would like to see a distinction made between “earned income”, typically W-2 income and self employment income and pass through business (Subschapter-s) income. Increase the tax rate on the former, but not the latter. That would remove the somewhat valid argument that higher taxes on small businesses will reduce their hiring.
Insisting that $250K is not rich is such an American pastime. Most people in the world scrape by on 1% of that.
Insisting that $250K is not rich is such an American pastime. Most people in the world scrape by on 1% of that.
Most people in world scrape by on a wee fraction of the $48k/yr or so that is the median household American income.
This relates… how…?
regards
Evildoc
Most people in world scrape by on a wee fraction of the $48k/yr or so that is the median household American income.
This relates… how…?
How you are so out of touch with reality?
Again, Rio- rather than addressing issue- makes personal attack and thus loses the game.
charming
regards
your evildoc
Insisting that $250K is not rich is such an American pastime. Most people in the world scrape by on 1% of that.
But evildoc studied sooo hard.
—But evildoc studied sooo hard.—
which apparently galls you, adding to the charm.
regards
your evildoc
in the late 50’s the tax rate was 87% for his income range. He managed. So will you.—–
There were some incredible tax shelters available back then. I doubt he paid anything more than he would today.
Funny how people think it was really 87%!
Funny how people think it was really 87%!
I know. It was probably like only 58%.
People should be taxed (whether thrifty saver or good earner… or both) based on… cautious… not profligate… government spending.
I agree!
Let’s start the discussion with some “taxpayer-funded-spending items” i.e., “party-policy-promoted-items” that are currently sitting at the TOP of the “National-Priority LIST”!
1. http://www.costofwar.com/
2. food stamps
3. prison population (lite-drug related)
4. Corpoorations not making reasonable profits due to US Corp tax rates
5. Benevolent medical Insurance Corpoorations financially suffering at the expense of diseased Americans (Indemnified: Tobacco & Alcohol & Monsanto)
6.
$250k is defined by the IRS and Census as in the top 2%.
You are free to say whatever color you think the sky is, but no one is going to take you seriously unless you use accepted scientific criteria.
The key word here being, “scientific”, as in, real numbers.
—$250k is defined by the IRS and Census as in the top 2%.
You are free to say whatever color you think the sky is, but no one is going to take you seriously unless you use accepted scientific criteria.—-
Yes, having a sense of what terms actually mean is very important. Billionaire who “pays” himself $2/yr has low income. Is he “The Rich” that Obumbler keeps citing with the $250k tax raise?
Guy with $251k income for first time, with $250k education debt (not dischargeable by bankruptcy, unlike the obligations to workers of billion dollar corporations, thanks kindly mr Banksters), with new-house mortgage yada yada… he is rich.
Yes… scientific criteria. So very important. Not being snowed by spin. Also important.
But, let’s play it your way. For sake of argument, I’m fine with symmetry. Let’s define “RICH” not by wealth but by top 2% income. Let’s too define bottom 2% then as “poor”. Only bottom 2% get Welfare, Medicaid, Food Stamps, even unemployment insurance for more than, say, 2 months. Might not need any tax raises. Let’s not bail out Banksters with TARP. Hmmm.
This could work.
This could work. evildoc
I hope better than your writing and your nonsensical conclusions.
Hey………………..are you really a real doctor or do you just play one on your TV?
Rio still is ducking the actual issues I see.
Charming.
Rio still is ducking the actual issues I see.
I’ve addressed the actual issues many times with facts and stats. You are just scared of the addressing.
I don’t blame you. You offer nothing but 1,400 word, incoherent (and a little bit strange) ramblings.
Nah, you merely have tossed ad hom insults, diversionary straw man arguments, and “said” you’ve addressed the issues.
regards
your evildoc
Nah, you merely have tossed ad hom insults, diversionary straw man arguments, and “said” you’ve addressed the issues.
I’m sure you are not used to hearing this however, you are wrong Doctor. You are wrong. I addressed the issues more than once. You know it. So do most here.
And it made your arguments appear as what they are…..against your fellow citizens, selfish and vapid.
Another 3,000 words of rambling emptiness from you won’t alter what was.
Yes, Rio- failing to address the issue which he “responded” to, retreats to Ad Hom attack.
Entertaining. Contributing to proof of my real points.
cheers
your evil doc
It is unfortunate, and common in these parts that someone who through good choices, prescience, hard work, luck or what have you, makes it into a good career, some will snipe,
Aww man, quit whining Doc. You’re a Doctor not child. (lol, remember how Dr. MacCoy used to say stuff like that? … I liked that part.) As a Doctor you’re not used to being second guessed are you?
Class envy.
You don’t know me Doc, nor my class position. And you’re a Doctor not a banker. What class do you think you are in? Why do you think I “envy” your class? Is class based on money? You don’t know who my neighbors are.
I know some Doctors have a God-complex but there are people occupying higher classes than yourself who feel the same way as me. Warren Buffet says taxes should be raised on the rich. Does he suffer from class envy? You don’t make much sense historically tax-rate wise for each “class” because you have put forth no factual basis to relieve you of your senselessness.
That said, when Rio et al tried to divert from the clear point that “250k income is not same as ‘rich’”
There was no need for a diversion. I pointed out that it’s just too bad if someone making 250K gets a 4% tax increase. They make more than 5 times the national average salary and their tax rates are historically low. It’s funny hearing….. “Waaahaahhaaaaaa there going to my taxes 3-4% on my 250K”… “But I studied hard and they’re just jealous, waaaaahhaa, oh yea and the mean lefties, sniff”
I’ve just shown many of them are not rich, to which Rio says “blah”. Strong counterpoint by him, no doubt.
Apparently it was very strong and had quite an effect. I’ve never seen you write such a long, disjointed, self-aggrandizing and class-paranoidal rant before. But you’re a Doctor not a Shakespeare.
I was forced to broaden the discussion, which I did.
It was hard to follow but you did try. But here’s the deal Doc. The middle-class got shafted. The rich shafted American poor and middle-class. There will be class war because the rich have engaged in it. Deal with it, understand it and quit whining about it. It is growing.
You are not really that RICH. You are a mere Doctor of which you should be very proud of but not insufferable about. But if you make over 250K per year and your taxes rise 3-4% back to where they were….and are still historically low, well, that’s just too bad. Doc.
I’ve said in other places that part of the problem we have is that “rich” is used a pergorative term meaning “those we feel deserve to be taxed more.” Would “well off” be less of a slander for whose earnings are in the top 5%?
Per Rio:
evildoc said: It is unfortunate, and common in these parts that someone who through good choices, prescience, hard work, luck or what have you, makes it into a good career, some will snipe,
Rio responds Aww man, quit whining Doc. You’re a Doctor not child. (lol, remember how Dr. MacCoy used to say stuff like that? … I liked that part.) As a Doctor you’re not used to being second guessed are you?
followup by evildoc: Ok Rio now has responded twice to fact based assertions (starting with and so far proven true, that “income $250k is not synonymous with ‘rich’) with multiple ad homs and failure to embrace the issues. Shall I stoop in my response to his level?
Let’s see. Poor Widdle Wio. Can’t take the heat. Loses the points so rages against Doctors and complains about the people with whom he debates.
Nah. Not my style
I’ll take it point by point.
I recognize Rio’s point that indeed I’m a Doctor not a child. That seems to be what is getting his goat though. heh hah
—–Per Rio: As a Doctor you’re not used to being second guessed are you? —–
I invite Rio to prevent data indicating I’m not used to being second guessed. It seems rather that Rio projects his own insecurities. Indeed, I suspect Rio has never watched the give-and-take that involves every conversation with every patient in which I engage. Poor widdle Rio (oops, I’m stooping to his level again)
You don’t know me Doc, nor my class position. And you’re a Doctor not a banker. What class do you think you are in? Why do you think I “envy” your class? Is class based on money? You don’t know who my neighbors are.
Fascinating, as they say. He complains that I don’t know Rio, nor his “class position”, but he already knows I don’t help people day to day, knows I’m not used to being second guessed (his excuse to duck his own losing arguments), knows my skill and good work (and lucky/smart choices that led to this career) make me part of an eviiiil Medical (military, food, pharmaceutical, etc) Industrial Complex, but he uhhh whines that I don’t know him or his class position? Heh.
Did I assert that class envy depends on any specific class position? Does Rio mix interpretations of “class” confusing socioeconomic class with other sorts of class? Did I assert that I know in which financial class Rio immerses itself?
Straw Man is when one posts responses to arguments not made, to divert divert divert usually from one’s own losing arguments, which Rio has done in spades.
Per Rio: I know some Doctors have a God-complex but there are people occupying higher classes than yourself who feel the same way as me. Warren Buffet says taxes should be raised on the rich. Does he suffer from class envy? You don’t make much sense historically tax-rate wise for each “class” because you have put forth no factual basis to relieve you of your senselessness.
Ahhh and Rio again diverts to Ad Hom and Straw Man absent actual argument.
I know some “every-career” people who have Gd-Complex, and no doubt there are people occupying higher classes than me (hey, wait, Rio, you mean you know what “Class” I occupy? Snort). So what’s yer point. What does Gd-Complex folks have to do with me?
Warren Buffet is point of diversion. A straw man. Ol’ Warren paid 17% on his 46 million taxable income. Hmmm. Must be good. Will raising tax rates from 30- odd to 40-odd percent for folks making 250K/year get more of Warren’s 17% tax rate on the 46 million taxable income? Is there a disconnect?
Too cannot ol’ warren volunteer to pay more if he… wants? Too, if taxes do go up from say 38% to 48% on income above 250k and if Warran already is paying… 17% taxes on 50 million income, how much too will that hit his $50 billion total wealth?
Warren Buffet. Irrelevant distraction.
—- Per Rio: There was no need for a diversion. I pointed out that it’s just too bad if someone making 250K gets a 4% tax increase. They make more than 5 times the national average salary and their tax rates are historically low. It’s funny hearing….. “Waaahaahhaaaaaa there going to my taxes 3-4% on my 250K”… “But I studied hard and they’re just jealous, waaaaahhaa, oh yea and the mean lefties, sniff” —
Poor Rio. Engages in straw man diversion *again* to divert from the fact that his whole argument is straw man diversion. Neat if you can get away with it. I won’t let you though.
My core point, to which you have responded repeatedly with resentment about physicians, about the USA’s health care system, and about me, is that earning $250k is not, per se, synonymous with being Rich.
You have no idea what I earn or if I am content to pay more taxes for an admirable need. You demontrate envy. I have made no “waaaah”. You are the one raging against various populations
Warren (your hero?) made 1000x the national median salary and paid 17% taxes. I suspect one point on which you and I can agree is that Warren with 50million annual income and 50 billion wealth… is rich. You have not shown how raising taxes on someone who is not rich but who earns $250k per year, gains more revenue from those who actually are rich, if one even wanted to pursue the Rich. Charming
Per Rio: David said “I’ve just shown many of them are not rich, to which Rio says “blah”. Strong counterpoint by him, no doubt.”
Apparently it was very strong and had quite an effect. I’ve never seen you write such a long, disjointed, self-aggrandizing and class-paranoidal rant before. But you’re a Doctor not a Shakespeare.
Charming. Rio continues not to address the points in play and piles on further ad-hom. Your first “erudite” response was “blah”, now you whine about my dissection and destruction of your use of ad-hom attack and of straw man diversion while failing to address any core points of argument, leading you to yet another ad-hom assault, this time on my writing style and emotional state.
Yet another point to the evil doc. Heh.
Per Rio: But here’s the deal Doc. The middle-class got shafted. The rich shafted American poor and middle-class. There will be class war because the rich have engaged in it. Deal with it, understand it and quit whining about it. It is growing.
Wow, yet another diversion. I might agree with Rio- in an unrelated thread- that the middle-class “got shafted”. Or we might analyze why elements of stable secure middle class might be an economic anomaly in human history. But, that interesting total diversion has nothing to do with my initial core sentence regarding the definitions of Rich, which Rio never has addressed other than to, again, attack me, attack Doctors, attack the USA’s health care system, attack my writing style, attack my emotional state, pretend to know me while claiming I don’t know him (which I did not assert), using Ad Hom and Straw Man and ducking the core issue.
Hmmmm. Sounds like Rio is da Whiner. And then he wraps up that paragraph embracing class warfare. Interesting.
Per Rio: u are not really that RICH. You are a mere Doctor of which you should be very proud of but not insufferable about. But if you make over 250K per year and your taxes rise 3-4% back to where they were….and are still historically low, well, that’s just too bad. Doc.
Hmmm. Did I say I am Rich? How sad you find any career “mere”. Must be a Rio thing. I work moment to moment with and/or for drug addicts, hard working custodial engineers, secretaries, CEO’s, clergy and scientists. I’ve never contemplated considering any of them to be “mere”.
Charming.
Thanks for the fun chat.
-the evildoc
Thanks for the fun chat. -the evildoc
Wow. I must say…wow..
Everybody, re-read evildoc’s post. Twice. (if you have the time and tolerance for inanity)….A post that could be studied by psychiatrists for the next 10 years.
Almost 1,400 words of delusional, self-important, paranoid, smug ………………….. nothingness.
Nada….
So now you’re a psychiatrist too? I guess I should be impressed.
Wait, aren’t psychiatrists doctors? Hmm…
And again, this fellow who has addressed no points of fact or of principle, fires a wee insult to cover his losing position.
Yes, do read my post. You will be less ignorant for it.
cheerio
-your evildoc
So now you’re a psychiatrist too? I guess I should be impressed.
Yes, do read my post. You will be less ignorant for it.
Don’t be scared. Just write better, keep it brief and use some facts.
Rio addressed no fact, using only insult and diversion. Deep down perhaps he agrees with me. Must bother him.
I listed only observations about the dialogue and about my core thesis. Rio said nothing about the core thesis and retreated only to Ad Hom/personal attack and to diversion/straw man, pretending to respond to arguments that in fact had never been made in first place.
Man, I hope you do this again another time. Dissecting and squishing poor debate technique always is fun.
regards
your evildoc
This is fun evildoc.
Almost 2,500 words of nothing on me. I’m honored. Wait till you see the next poster’s take on your drivel.
It’s “charming” too!
Dissecting and squishing poor debate technique always is fun.
Then you must not be having ANY fun tonight.
2,500 words of incoherent ramblings is not a “core thesis”.
You’re just not used to people calling BS on you. I know.
I observe again that I tossed a thesis to the board, that $250k income is not synonymous with “Rich” and an associated notion that the uber-Rich foster class warfare between the middle and upper-middle classes to distract from the Bankster-Fed type behavior which is the real problem.
Rio’s responses to me have been of Ad Hominem and Straw Man nature. He endeavors (weakly, it seems) to insult me, insult physicians in general, and to respond to arguments never made in order to avoid recognizing he lost on the issues.
I can point this out all day. I’m entertained that he feels honored by my typical style. Few people are honored by such casual and easy treatment by me. I give the same blessing and “honor: to all who fail to address issues in their posts and instead rage at those who out-argued them. This is a very common intervention on my part.
Enjoy it. I guess my actual points on this theme stand.
heh
regards
your evildoc
I observe again that I tossed a thesis to the board, that $250k income is not synonymous with “Rich” and an associated notion that the uber-Rich foster class warfare between the middle and upper-middle classes to distract from the Bankster-Fed type behavior which is the real problem.
Dude, have you no reading comprehension? What planet do you read on? I’ve said the same thing many times. I’ve also said the 250K class has nothing in common with the uber-rich. You are not debating in good faith. Or you are jaded or something else.
But I’ve also said your 250K tax rate should revert to the rate of the past which is still historically low. 5 times the national wage average can afford a 3% needed hike. This is the 3rd time I’ve said that in 2 days. You’re not paying attention or you don’t want to. Which is it Doc? Who fills your feedbag?
Rio’s responses to me have been of Ad Hominem and Straw Man nature.
I’m sorry if you feel like whining again. And I don’t mean to insult doctors in general. Most doctors are really cool and smart and helpful. Some are a real pain and think they are better than others. I get that impression from you. Something is off kilter with your 3,000 word comebacks which don’t really say too much.
Doctors are cool mostly. I just mean to highlight YOU for your smug, self-important ignorance to issues which you seem to think you know a lot about. But you don’t. You really don’t know too much about the historical progressive federal tax rates between classes and the damage that great wealth inequality has wrought on our country.
I hope you feel better now that I have explained that.
Uh oh, his posts are growing again.
Wasn’t one of your Straw Man arguments that more words somehow is bad? Then, you’d best be careful. LOL
I am glad to see you remain immersed in Ad Hom and Straw Man. It is so much easier to dismiss those who fail to discuss issues. Ahansen and others did much better job raising actual issues.
regards
your evildoc
Ahansen and others did much better job raising actual issues.
I love her posts.
But mine cut you to the bone huh? I can tell. Do you know why? Because they do.
Sounds like you are projecting again.
Heh hah.
I can dissect the ad hom types all day.
regards
your evildoc
I can dissect the ad hom types all day. evildoc
Try addressing issues in a factual concise manner.
If you do that, you won’t have to whine so much.
And again Rio, lacking substance, tosses insult, further proving his weak position.
Never addressed the core points.
Entertaining to say the least. (sorry for delay. A case came up in between).
regards
Your evil doc.
Ok Coburn…. Your hypocritical use of the word “class warfare” is laughable. The fact remains that the rotten, greedy corporatist ideology that you blindly and foolishly hold in high regard is the epitome of class warfare. You know goddamn well that anyone earning less than the costs of basic shelter, food, clothing don’t have the means to buy public policy like the monsters you foolishly defend. And the odds of them earning just a fraction of what you or I earn is non-existent. But there you are… smug, arrogant, deceptive and judgmental. Your delusion runs so deep that you arrogantly talk as if someone… anyone wants what you have. Jealous? Your hate is pathetic. I wouldn’t trade places with your miserable ass. Not in 1000 years. I wouldn’t piss on your grave if it were on fire.
And predictably you belabor the old worn out “government spending” hobgoblin. As if you’ve gotten an invoice for public spending excess. When have you ever put your money where your mouth is and called out the endless military spending, wars and here on this blog? Never. You fawkin sanctimonious hypocrite you.
And before you retort with some supposed conservative biblical verse, I’ll beat you to it.
Proverbs 22:16 NIV
He who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and he who gives gifts to the rich–both come to poverty.
Your nasty mantra is going to get you. There’s some bad karma coming your way.
But there you (evildoc) are… smug, arrogant, deceptive and judgmental. Your delusion runs so deep that you arrogantly talk as if someone… anyone wants what you have. Jealous? Your hate is pathetic. I wouldn’t trade places with your miserable ass. Not in 1000 years. I wouldn’t piss on your grave if it were on fire.
I will strive to be a learned pupil.
You use subtle cajolery and charm to win over evildoc much better than do I.
—You use subtle cajolery and charm to win over evildoc much better than do I.—-
As does everyone.
best regards
your evildoc
I will have to make the admission that I will pay more taxes should this 3% not be extended to the upper class. I do not begrudge the extra taxes because I *know* my efforts rested on the shoulders of others. There’s no such thing as 100% by your own bootstraps.
I may have studied more, worked harder to get my company where it is today. But let’s turn that around — that in effect means I used society’s infrastructure more than those not making as much. (School system, government funded technology, police protecting my wealth, etc.) If I use more services, then I should pay more (taxes) for that use. You may reply that others have the option to leverage government/society to improve their income — if we extend that analogy, then everybody should gas/cigarette/alcohol tax even if they do not use those products.
I do not begrudge the extra taxes because I *know* my efforts rested on the shoulders of others. There’s no such thing as 100% by your own bootstraps.
You speak unselfish truth and wisdom.
Good, one of many useless wastes of money dies, hopefully many more to come. Wishful thinking I know, the republicant’s will come up with their own crappy wastes of money.
~ Pelosi Climate Panel Dies in Republican Sweep of House.
Republicans will eliminate the House committee created by Speaker Nancy Pelosi to highlight the threat of climate change, Representative James Sensenbrenner, the top Republican on the panel, said today.
In one of her first acts as speaker in 2007, Pelosi, a California Democrat, created the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming to draw attention to climate-change science and showcase how a cap on carbon dioxide needn’t be a threat to economic growth.
Republicans, who won control of the House in the Nov. 2 election, have opposed legislative efforts to regulate carbon emissions as a tax on energy. When the panel convened today, Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican, said that the hearing “will be the last of the select committee.”
One down, about a thousand more to go.
I know its difficult to rely on the Repubs to keep it up, but at least there’s a chance they’ll keep slashing the Federal Gov. OMG there will be wailing and knashing of teeth if they do.
So long as they go after the military hardware/war machine fraud first, they’ll have no resistance from the public.
To be honest, I am for an across the board cut in every agency’s budget until we get to a balanced budget.
Here in AZ the state is looking for money where ever they can find it. A friend works in a particular bureacracy that actually generates more money that they spend, so naturally they’re shopping for a new employee (that is unless the state confiscates what’s left over).
So yes, include the military in all of this and bring the troops home and station them along the borders.
Here in AZ the state is looking for money where ever they can find it.
A friend just told me that her employer (in Tucson) is now being required to pay estimated sales tax. Which means that her boss has to take a guess at the sales, then send the state the sales tax portion.
Wasn’t too long ago that you’d send the state money based on your in-state sales during the previous month.
That seems odd to me. Typically businesses report and pay collected sales and incurred use taxes monthly anyway. Here in WA we have to report and remit by the 25th of the month following. Very small businesses sometimes may report quarterly. Not much gained by making estimated payment then having to reconcile to actual.
Lip,
We already have NOAA. I see no harm in ’studying’ Climate, we can and we should. The problem arises when we try to politicize it.
DinOR,
I would be surprised if shutting down this committee would have anything to do with NOAA.
I agree that politics has screwed up the entire subject, but when billions of dollars are at stake, politics always seems to be an issue.
Lip
PS: How about those Bears? I am beginning to think that they just might have a good future this year, especially if they can stay healthy.
I am glad to see this die. It was never intended, IMO, to improve the global environment, just a thinly veiled milking program.
Repubs also blocked ending tax breaks for offshoring jobs.
The same party that likes to tell people to stop being lazy and get a job.
Pelosi Climate Panel Dies in Republican Sweep of House.
You all are happy? I’m not a big environmentalist but…..
The basis of “climate change” is pollution. Pollution is a dangerous fact of life even if climate change isn’t.
You all feel proud of our country that corporate powers have brainwashed our people and taken over the debate on polluting our world? Pollution is now solely political?
Politics and dollars trump studying and lessening the poisoning of our children’s inheritance?
The right is wrong on this issue and are turning their back on some of their own values. Hunters and fishermen have been some of the most effective stewards of our environment. They too have been herded into a mentality now controlled by our corporate controllers.
Rio,
I, as well as most people I assume, love clean air and water. I hunt and fish and have property surrounded by National Forest .
The problem I have with the enviro-wackos is “it” is never enough. Be it expanding wilderness, protecting wolves, closing off (through ridiculous lawsuits) recreation areas, etc.
Another fundamental issue I have with this carbon tax BS is we (the US) are being held to a very high pollution standard all the while we buy our chinese crap from smoke spewing chinese factories. What is wrong with that picture? I don’t feel like allowing some double dealing politician to reach in my wallet to “save the world”. With Goldman Sachs help of course.
I am not attacking you. We share some common sentiments.
The enemy isn’t us.
The problem I have with the enviro-wackos is “it” is never enough.
It can’t “ever be enough” when we are losing the battle of a clean environment.
Another fundamental issue I have with this carbon tax BS is we (the US) are byyeing held to a very high pollution standard all the while we buy our chinese crap from smoke spewing chinese factories.
I agree totally. I am not a fan of outsourcing our earth’s pollution or outsourcing in general.
Foreclosures Made Up 25 Pct Of US Home Sales In 3Q
AP Real Estate Writer ALEX VEIGA,
Dec 1, 2010 10:22 pm
LOS ANGELES (AP) ― The worst summer for home sales in decades also put a chill on foreclosure sales, even as the average discounts on the distressed properties got bigger compared with other types of homes.
Foreclosure sales plunged 25 percent in the July-September quarter versus the April-June period and tumbled 31 percent from the third quarter last year, foreclosure listing firm RealtyTrac Inc. said Thursday.
Sales of non-foreclosed properties fell 29 percent sequentially and nearly 31 percent from the third quarter last year, the firm said.
The decline in sales of bank-owned properties and other homes in some stage of foreclosure is in line with an overall housing market slowdown that took hold after federal homebuyer tax credits expired in April.
http://cbs4denver.com/wireapnational/Report.US.foreclosure.2.2031370.html
Just to say AGAIN that at these levels there is no longer any good reason to NOT include these in the comps. When foreclosures are rare enough that a buyer is unlikely to find one that meets his needs, it IS reasonable to exclude them. But at 25%, if you’re looking for a house, you can easily include foreclosures in your search. We should expect the price differential between distressd and non-distressed sales to narrow, although we haven’t seen that so far.
Distressed v. non-distressed is a distinction without a difference. Likewise foreclosure v. traditional resale. So long as the transaction is arms-length, not one of these distinctions make a difference.
Jim —
Is it easy enough to obtain data on the sale price of foreclosure homes?
My impression has long been that they were excluded from the data sample on the presumption that they were either (1) sold under duress for a ‘below market’ price (i.e., the seller was in a big hurry to sell), or (2) in poor condition relative to the main attributes used to describe a home (sq ft, beds, baths, etc) due to hidden defects (maybe the former owner trashed it).
But if a huge share of current end-user purchase transactions are foreclosure sales, then there is a huge swath of current demand that is systematically excluded from the data sample.
I’m sure that the availability of the data varies. In Maryland it is (eventually) available online http://sdatcert3.resiusa.org/rp_rewrite/ Those sales are usually tagged “not arms length” I believe that your explanation (1) is reasonable in a normal market.
Smoking gun: the hearing when Bernanke told Ron Paul that he wouldn’t be bailing out any foreign banks… On you tube.
~ Anyone remember the hearing when the Bernake told the committee (when being questioned by Ron Paul) that “we” would not be involved in the bail out of foreign banks? Surprise, surprise the little bastard was lying, straight faced through his teeth. “We” were doing it while his lips were moving.
He along with many in this corrupt group should be prosecuted and jailed, won’t happen I know. Instead he’ll get accolades and possibly a knighthood.
Bernie the Liar get’s caught lying again.
Look…. Marc Faber said it best on Bloomberg this morning. “Bernanke’s printing failed to push housing prices up but it suceeded in driving inflation to double digit levels in Asian economies.”
Recently it appears the housing debacle has become much more dark than I ever imagined. The GSE’s know no bounds when it comes to playing games with the inventory and jerking people around on prices. 3% mortgage rates haven’t touched the monolithic beast. Fawking lying scumbag NAR as an organization is still pumping out triaxle loads of bull$hit via the bank owned media. The banks are still hawking their deadly fix to deluded morons on Main Street and the very people we elected to intercede to rebalance the scales are still doing nothing. Same rhetoric(much of which you happen to agree with), same smoke and mirrors in order to continue enslaving the citizens they’re to represent.
Sometimes it seems that the only solution is to concede to the corporate elite and then let it all collapse. Winner take all.
BB runs the show, congress and it’s hearing’s are a total joke…One that’s not funny!
not funny like a clown.
Banks run the show
BB and Congress are paid arms of the banks adn Wall Street.
I remember watching that testimony. The disturbing part is that even if pointed out, nothing will happen. The public anger has been growing for some quite some time now. I was at a dinner party recently where I had an opportunity to speak hbb at length. Everyone there knew the score. There were no arguments. Only agreements. But as we’ve been pointing out on this site all along, the public is no longer in control.
I suppose it’s human nature to slip back into believing the old paradigm that we can somehow gain back that control. We’re gonna need a St. Patrick to drive out the snakes first.
“the public is no longer in control.”
Nor has it been in 30 years now.
The frog was slowly boiled.
“Everyone there knew the score. There were no arguments. Only agreements.”
I’m more optimistic than you: The more general the agreement, the more likely the public is to regain control.
Everyone there knew the score. There were no arguments. Only agreements. But as we’ve been pointing out on this site all along, the public is no longer in control.
We have a winner. The public is no longer in control.
Now how has this been fixed in the past??
“Now how has this been fixed in the past??”
Good question. Now that everyone knows the score, firstly, we ( as BB’s ) need to get over ourselves. We’re not ‘better’ than those that failed to heed all the warning signs.
Well, we ‘are’ but that isn’t helping! Certainly not now. Like a prodigal son, we just need to embrace them, welcome them to the fold, inform ( when ASKED! ) and like Jackie Moon said: “Everybody love everybody!”
Meason: “How has this been fixed in the past?”
I said everyone knew the score. There was no one talking about taking up pitchforks. And although I ‘ve had quite a few quiet conversations w/people about what’s going on, not one person was angry. It was instead quiet resignation. Heck, the elder at the table was all for rolling it forward. After all, it had worked during his entire life. It was interesting how the ‘younger’ generation (us 35-50 types) jumped all over him for that. Everyone knew the clock was ticking on the debt.
That’s about the size of it. Us little people couldn’t possibly comprehend what wonders these technocrats have performed for our betterment.
Just be happy they are looking out for your interests. Now get back to working and spending and watching TV.
TPTB think like this, imho:
“It’s always better to ask foregivenss than permission.”
There is no “opinion” about it. It is fact. And when you have money and power, the consequences are no more real than a sitcom.
Underwater Home:
What Should You Do if You Owe More on Your Home than It’s Worth? (Volume 1) [Large Print] [Paperback]
Brent T. White (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
Price: $18.95 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #58,281 in Books
um…Live there?
“um…Live there?”
You should have written the book.
Lol.
What should I do if I owe more on my car that it is worth?
Take out a loan for snow tires. Get cash back. Treat yourself. You deserve it.
What if I owe more on my Vacation to Aruba in 2003 than its worth?
Trade it in and roll the debt into a larger payment.
It’s good for the economy. /sarcasm off
Everyone should have an Escalade.
Trade it in for an even more expensive one, restart the 7 year loan again. Eventually you’ll die 100k in debt, but who cares, you are dead!
What should I do if I owe more on my car that it is worth?”
Can you get it cheaper somwhere else? same car half price?
Doesn’t everyone who buys a new car owe more than it is worth after they drive it home?
Proud owner of a 97 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4×4 with 159k, cost $2700 a few years ago, would still fetch $2500. Save energy, don’t build me a Prius.
Not if you pay cash. Its doable.
If you pay cash, it is still not worth what you paid once you leave the lot. Especially if it is an AMerican car.
Brent White is a fellow Tucsonan. He’s the University of Arizona law prof who stirred up a hornet’s nest by saying that underwater homeowners would be better off walking away.
Boy, its a good thing they published this book in large print, because the people who’ll be buying it were obviously not very good at reading fine print.
Jeff, Jim A, Combo, Blue, Kim, exeter, rusty, Az Slim, press-
You all are on a roll this morning. LOL.
(If I missed any of you talented, funny folks, my apology. The list would be too long.)
And actually I don’t really have a problem per se with those who decide to stiff the bank and move on. I DON’T however, want to listen to them whine about how they’re “doing it because the bank wouldn’t give them a modification,” or that “they shouldn’t have to go through bankruptcy,” or take a big hit on their credit rating because “It’s not our fault.” Take responsibility for your decisions people. And that also applies to those dumb enough to lend 600k to people with a history of not living within their means and no documentaion of their income. If you’re dumb enough make that loan, I shouldn’t have to listen to how “It’s all the fault of those ruthless defaulters.”
Jim A,
Right, any more than we’d want to hear about someone’s sex life. In the early going, the LSM had to BEAT it out of FB’s. Now they’ve become a cottage industry of their own making!
Kind of like doing a crime and then writing about it.
Downturns banned by FED:
If the Fed can just pay for everything, every time there is any kind of trouble, then why would anyone ever worry again during any type of “crisis”. Buy!, Buy!, Buy!
Wall St f-ks up - FEDs got it.
Everyone’s unemployed - FEDs got it.
Nuclear missile to the White House - FEDs got it.
Huge asteroid wipes out planet - Dow 11,000.
“Huge asteroid wipes out planet - Dow 11,000″
LOL!
Dow up on big orders and low inventory. Never been a better time to invest in pointy rocks.
“Huge asteroid wipes out planet - Dow 11,000.”
Damn you! I was going to post that the other day.
The Danger of a Global Double Dip Recession Is Real
The deficits we face are a dagger pointing at the heart of the American economy
By Mortimer B. Zuckerman
Posted: November 29, 2010
Myopic self-indulgence. Are our current plagues—the riots first in Athens and then in Paris, our global economic crisis
manifest in the riots and rampant sovereign debt—merely a symptom of a deeper decay of a civilization in the autumn of its existence? A civilization unable to recognize its own vulnerability? The riots were certainly as much an example of myopic lethal self-indulgence as the sovereign debts in all the leading countries of the West. In France, students took to the streets protesting against a rise of just two years in the age of subsidized retirement—a system destined to bankrupt the state long before, they too, want the comforts that will be impossible to sustain.
Total liabilities and unfunded promises for Medicare and Social Security were about $62 trillion at the end of the last fiscal year, tripling from the year 2000, according to the calculations of former Comptroller General David Walker. Sixty-two trillion dollars is $200,000 per person and $500,000-plus for the average household. As Walker put it, the problem with these trust funds is “you can’t trust them [and] they’re not funded.” Therefore, he asserts, we ought to count them as a liability, which would bring the debt-to-GDP ratio to 91 percent.
The deficits we face are a dagger pointing at the heart of the American economy. They threaten that the United States will evolve into another aging welfare state, where fiscal expenditures shift from defense to social welfare, and America’s power in the world will shrink. It has clearly happened in Western Europe, which can no longer defend itself but relies on the United States.
http://bx.businessweek.com/global-recession/the-danger-of-a-global-double-dip-recession-is-real/16601068110091282399-44d986e46c42ad5c124e79afe38243a6/ -
So why do the people not understand or believe reports of the danger? Perhaps what they’re rioting against is the wealthy getting wealthier while they’re going backward.
There was a comment on Zero Hedge from a foreigner that said the US press was not covering the local riots properly because the real reason for riots was that the people knew the elites (and sometimes specifically the financial industry) had created and were benefitting from the situation.
“Perhaps what they’re rioting against is the wealthy getting wealthier while they’re going backward.”
BINGO
“Perhaps what they’re rioting against is the wealthy getting wealthier while they’re going backward.”
And those differences are inextricably related.
The money IS there. It is just being re-distributed to the thieves.
This is class warfare and we are losing.
“There was a comment on Zero Hedge from a foreigner that said the US press was not covering the local riots properly because the real reason for riots was that the people knew the elites (and sometimes specifically the financial industry) had created and were benefitting from the situation.”
Damn leebrul media!
Danger? Bah!!! The there is never any danger with the FED around.
Crazy Talk. The recession ended over a year ago. Check the wait at Chili’s if you have any doubts.
I met a date at Chili’s last weekend. I must be the luckiest guy in the world, since half the tables were empty on a Saturday night.
Getting a table at Chilis is not what I would call getting lucky on a date.
C’mon Steve, it was just the interview.
As Walker put it, the problem with these trust funds is “you can’t trust them [and] they’re not funded.”
Just like the old saw about the Holy Roman Empire. It wasn’t holy, it wasn’t “Roman”, and it wasn’t an empire.
We have to gut the middle class so we can support the military expenses overseas to support corporate America?
Wow?
Really if the US military were half as big and we had half as many nuclear weapons who would threaten us? This is all about corporate interests not the interests of the US citizen.
Of course I’m sure this author is also pushing for the huge tax breaks for the elite despite the deficit.
I’d like to see the how they calculated 66 trillion and get a better understanding of when over what period of time.
What we should fear most is not a welfare state but a corporatist state where there is no competition and they set prices to extract all the wealth from the country essentially reducing workers to slaves who work for nothing more than meager food and shelter. One where there is no upward mobility except through prostitution to the elite as security guards or wealth extractors. Again look at where the money is going to see which scenario is more likely. Workers are getting crushed, Wall Street Titans and Hedge Fund managers are making record profits. The deficit reduction commision is looking at slashing social security and medicare and doing away with middle class tax cuts, but at the same time the GOP and many Dems are working to extend tax cuts to the elite who already pay a much lower effective tax rate then many middle and upper middle income earners. Corporations are on the verge of off loading insurance onto the people and their purchased minions in gov have mandated that everyone must have insurance or be fined.
You have problem with Corporate Communist Capitalism©®™, comrade?
If the US already borrows 42 cents of every dollar it spends (according to a recent Rick Santelli rant), when the US offers to up its IMF contribution for the European bail-out isn’t that just saying our creditor nations are upping their contributions?
This is about the profit made by the banks on the pass through isn’t it?
Isn’t everything about the profit on the pass-through? The underground economies based on barter and physical cash seem to get along just fine without middleman banks.
NYC OTB Board Votes to Dissolve Operations
WNYC Newsroom
The board of New York City Off-Track Betting has voted unanimously to end its operations on Friday and lay off more than a thousand employees.
Board member David Cornstein blamed the state senate for failing to pass a rescue package during a special session on Monday. “A thousand good, hard-working employees be thrown out in the streets in this economy,” he said. “It breaks my heart.”
~ Hey broken heart, why didn’t you guys come up with a plan to generate your own income and save the thousand jobs and stop relying on taxpayer hand outs? It’s always someone else’s fault in the world on minds like this.
Off track betting operations has been taxpayer funded in NYC?
It was set up to take the business away from the mob.
Maybe it’s really a sucess story?
NYS OTB has been a political patronage dumping ground, since its inception. I’m glad it’s gone.
OTB couldn’t fund itself? What’s wrong with this picture?
Yeah, right. Gotta love New York… like a bad disease.
GM makes $4B cash payment to pension plans
The Associated Press
Posted: 8:19 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 2, 2010
DETROIT — General Motors Co. says it has made a $4 billion cash payment to its pension plans.
The company said in October that it would pay $6 billion to the plans, with $4 billion in cash and $2 billion worth of common stock.
GM says Thursday’s payment went to the U.S. pension plans. The automaker put $1.3 billion into the salaried plan and $2.7 billion into the hourly plan.
At the end of last year the U.S. pension funds were $17.1 billion short of their obligations. Their value will be measured again at the end of this year.
GM Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell says the payments bring the company closer to fully funding its pensions and having minimal debt.
About 688,000 people get benefits from GM’s U.S. pension plans.
Thats great.Sell the public cr@ppy stock to pay off your bills.A fool born every minute.
Anecdotes:
A family relocated from Detroit to DC. They are paying two mortgages. Head of household said that his Detroit home (bought in 2000) “appreciated SO much” over the last 10 years but it all disappeared. He can’t sell without bringing $30-40K to the table.
A couple owns both a condo near work and house (homestead?) in the sticks. One spouse makes a gob of money, the other makes a slightly smaller gob. The less-paid spouse asked for a raise.
Prediction - within 5 years from now they have $0 in the bank and something happens (medical issue, layoff, etc.) in which one income is gone.
Do the math from there…
Anecdotal evidence we are at the top of the gold bull market???
I was shopping in a mall that I had not been in for 6 months. This is a very busy mall with no vacancies.
There is a store in the mall in one of the most prominent locations.
A well staffed store and very well appointed.
What is the store???
It is a gold buying store. That is all it does. It sells nothing.
We would be at the top if it was a gold selling store.
And China Reveals A Secret 500% Increase In Gold Imports.
Its probably owned by some corporation in India or China.
If they were selling PMs and saying “PMs always goes up” then I’d know that the bull market for PMs was over.
I really hate the plural of the acronym….PMs.
Reminds me too much of a female condition.
LOL! It reminds me of a joke …
How many women with PMS does it take to screw in a light bulb?
Five
It just does dammit!
Oops! I used less than and greater than chars in the joke which gt stripped out.
Take #2:
How many women with PMS does it take to screw in a light bulb?
I dunno
Five
Why five?
It just does dammit!
Same type of store just opened in a very prominent shopping center in my area.
Got to be almost near the top.
Yes, that may be a good sign of the top… in selling gold.
Not so much in owning it.
50,000 inmates claim tax refunds, report no wages
By Stephen Ohlemacher
Associated Press
Updated: 12/01/2010 11:16:34 PM CST
WASHINGTON — Nearly 50,000 prison inmates claimed more than $130 million in tax refunds this year without providing any wage information to the IRS, a government investigator says in a report to be released today.
The Treasury inspector general for tax administration stops short of saying the refunds were fraudulently claimed. It does, however, say the Internal Revenue Service should investigate further.
The report is the latest in a series of audits looking at inmates claiming tax credits and other government payments. It notes that the IRS identified nearly 250,000 fraudulent tax returns during the 2010 filing season — a 50 percent increase over 2009 — preventing $1.48 billion in fraudulent refunds.
http://www.twincities.com/news/ci_16754963?source=rss -
jeff,
Had issue w/ the link so I wasn’t sure if that was from The Onion or not? What’s next, “I’m incarcerated and I VOTE!”?
Yes, I certainly hope the IRS “should investigate further”. What are they using for their Home of Record, Cell Block #9 ?
50,000 inmates claim tax refunds, report no wages
This is criminal!
Would now be a good time to sell the Fed/IMF-sponsored rally?
I know Eddie sez we are heading for DJIA = 12K by year-end, but
I’m having a really bad flashback at the moment to the post-Lehman collapse period (2009.Q1).
Layoffs at Bank of America:
Can’t the FED hire them?
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/12/02/1880126/bofa-to-lay-off-workers-in-tech.html
Sounds like they are laying off IT folks.
I’m amazed they still have any left over here!
Now this in how to take on public union goons
—————–
Ficano: 10% pay cut for Wayne Co. union workers
Darren Nichols / The Detroit News
Detroit— Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano said he’s left with no choice but to implement cuts to pay and benefits for union workers effective today.
The American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees will take a 10 percent cut after refusing to do so for nearly two years, Ficano said in a released statement. The sides are at an impasse on several issues, including key economic and benefit issues, he said.
“Our efforts have been tireless, and unfortunately, it’s painfully clear this action must be taken due to the fiscal reality we’re all living in,” Ficano said. “These decisions are neither easy, nor taken lightly. We’ve continued to act in good faith throughout this process, which included rescinding layoffs, hoping proposed concessions would be accepted by the membership. Unfortunately, time and time again, they were not, and we’re left with a disappointing and devastating situation.”
In July, Wayne County implemented temporary layoffs of 700 workers for two weeks during two holiday periods. The move saved about $1.5 million. The cuts will affect clerical workers, road crews, utility workers and others.
The county had laid off about 200 of its 3,900 employees at the end of September to balance the 2009-10 budget.
I think it’s pretty funny that the article implies that people aren’t buying because they’re looking for deals, while the people themselves are worried over jobs and income. Sorry CNN, the NAR shilling doesn’t work anymore.
“Perfect time to buy a home - but we’re too scared” (CNN money)
Despite some of the best home-buying conditions in years — affordable prices, low interest rates and lots of choices — fear of buying has infected the market.
It has paralyzed house hunters, making them unable to pull the trigger even on attractive deals. Some are worried about making the payments, while others are convinced they’ll save even more if they wait.
“It’s perfectly natural that they should feel that way in the wake of the housing bust,” said Lawrence Yun, the chief economist for the National Association of Realtors. “It’s like when the stock market is crashing,” he said. “People are waiting to see if deals will get better.”
“My primary concern is being able to afford the home with one salary,” said Jess Mart, a 21-year-old hairdresser. “I’m single and I would have to rely on other people renting a room from me to pay the mortgage.” Living in inexpensive, stable Iowa makes home price declines less of a concern for Mart, who is considering starter homes in the $100,000 range.
Tim Zembek,…,46-year-old director of education has even moved into a more expensive rental to test out his ability to pay a higher amount.
Easley, South Carolina residents Tonya Hines and her husband Jason looked for divine help to deal with house hunting fears. “We prayed about it — and we got stop signs,” said Tonya. One stop sign was that any house that interested them soon sold. God must not have wanted them to buy it, they told themselves. So they stopped shopping and started saving.
The couple was living in Jason’s grandfather’s house, paying only taxes and other small expenses, so they were able to horde cash and built up a down payment of 20%. The couple still worried over their jobs, though. Luckily Tonya’s employer was understanding. When she asked to dash out to look at homes, he not only reassured her that was okay, he encouraged her to make a purchase.
“That took away a lot of the worry over job security,” said Tonya. They’re now the proud owners of a three-bedroom ranch, their angst ended — mostly.
———
“Tim Zembek,46-year-old director of education has even moved into a more expensive rental to test out his ability to pay a higher amount.”
Geez, I guess the idea of putting the “higher amount” into a savings account never occurred to anybody.
Give him a break, he is only a “director of education.”
My exact reaction. How could it not occur to him to pay himself the extra? What if it turned out that he couldn’t handle it or at least didn’t like what it did to his lifestlyle? He is leaving himself with the expenses of moving back into a less expensive place and he doesn’t have any savings to show for it.
And I suppose the idea of doing an actual budget and finding out if he can afford it by doing…you know…math, wasn’t an option either?
As Bugs Bunny would say, “What a maroon.”
It amazes me how much of the bubble is due not to people misunderstanding the terms of their mortgages, but rather a simple inability to figure out how much they can afford to pay every month. Putting the extra into savings has always been my suggesstion to those trying to figure out if they could afford to pay a mortgage higher than their current rent.
“Putting the extra into savings has always been my suggesstion to those trying to figure out if they could afford to pay a mortgage higher than their current rent.”
I got some friends to do this and they ended up with a bigger down payment and bit of a home decorating fund.
Seems obvious, but apparently isn’t
The American public is bombarded 24/7, FROM BIRTH, with state of the art propaganda to shop with their emotions and not their minds.
To call them “sheep” is to be generous.
I bolded that for a reason.
When I moved, I traded to a bigger rental too. Not because I wanted to see if I could handle the payment — I wanted to see if I could handle the housework. There aren’t many 1-bed 1-bath SFH out there. If I’m going to buy a SFH someday, it will likely be a 3/1 at least. I want to know if I can handle the space before I spend hundreds of K on it.
I wonder what I would *do* with the extra space, never mind just the cleaning of it. Seems like an opportunity to end up with more stuff. I’m still working on eliminating stuff.
I’m still working on eliminating stuff.
Me too. It’s like losing weight, only it’s a lot more fun.
faster too. I lose about 10 pounds of junk a week. I’d be in the hospital if I lost that much to dieting.
i want to destroy the author of this article for using the word horde.
i want to suck his bones.
; )
“Luckily Tonya’s employer was understanding. When she asked to dash out to look at homes, he not only reassured her that was okay, he encouraged her to make a purchase.”
I am not so much sure about the “understanding” part. Employees carrying a lot of debt are less likely to threaten to leave when faced with higher workload demands.
I told a story back in 2005 (has it really been that long?), where I was having lunch with a boss’s boss who told me he loved it when his salesguys bought new cars and houses. Told me it was good “motivation” for them.
Then we climbed into my paid off 1998 vehicle and went on some sales calls….Much later that day, I went home to my much-less-than-mortgage-payment rental and slept soundly.
I remember reading that. Which brings me around to something I’ve been thinking about. Many of us (myself included) can sometimes feel pretty smug about seeing the bursting of the bubble comming ahead of time. So what DIDN’T we predict? I, for one figured that we’d probably have a recession as a result, but I didn’t think that it would be the worst in the post war period. I also thought that there was NO chance that they could keep interest rates down for as long as they have.
I didn’t predict (which seem naive in hindsight) that the government would do *anything* to save the banks, including throwing the rest of us under the bus. I just assumed we’d have a good old fashioned crash with great investment opportunities for those who protected their cash. When the 08 crash started I figured we were only a year or two from the bottom and life would be looking all “Norman Rockwell” by now.
Jim,
You should repost in the morning as a new topic. I think its a good topic that merits its own new thread…
I’m in complete agreement with Carl. I’ll admit I sold a house I wish I hadn’t seeing as how it is still holding much more value than I ever imagined at the time and now I’d like to move back to the area.
I didn’t predict (which seem naive in hindsight) that the government would do *anything* to save the banks, including throwing the rest of us under the bus.
Me neither. And THIS is raw, brutal class warfare.
…told me it was good “motivation” for them….
Not to mention having kids.
Boss just loves it when they know you have lead
anchors tied to your legs.
Even worse are coworkers. They just can’t stand
it when someone is debt free and has $$ in the bank.
You are only part of the “inner circle” if you are
in the shape pitiful shape they are.
What a crock.
Even worse are coworkers. They just can’t stand it when someone is debt free and has $$ in the bank.
Tell me about it! More than a few former coworkers and bosses hated me for this very reason.
And one of the fun things about freelancing is that I’ve never, ever had to deal with any of them. It’s like they’ve dropped off the face of the earth.
Exactly. Add in a kid or two, and they are desperate to keep their jobs. (I know! I live this hell!)
Back when I was an employee, I had zero debt. And a pretty nice little savings cushion.
Why? Because I had (and have) a big mouth. Matter of fact, my mouth is so big that it’s called The Troublemaker.
So, as a personal self-defense mechanism, I saved up a nice little money cushion so that I could have something to live on if I got fired or had to quit. That cushion came in handy.
My friends refer to having a nice savings account it as being “4F” (a Vietnam draft era reference for the young ones) it stands for a “full funded F’you fund”.
That’s a great way of describing it. We only have a year or so of 4F status. I have a friend who has about 15 years of 4F action going on, and after a year and a half off is looking for a job sorta off and on. Must be nice.
“God must not have wanted them to buy it, they told themselves.”
Creepy.
God doesn’t like people catching falling knives… or footballs.
This sounds like a no-brainer for me. And will the NAR/NAHB have any sway with Congress NOW…oh wait, they have $52 million of sway.
Mortgage tax break in the crosshairs (CNN money)
Don’t even think of touching the mortgage interest tax deduction in the midst of a fragile housing market.
That was the immediate response of the housing industry, which has come out with guns blazing against the presidential deficit commission’s proposal to overhaul the coveted tax provision.
“We will fight this proposal,” said Joe Stanton, chief lobbyist for the National Association of Home Builders. “From everything we’ve read, it will end up being a tax hike.”*
Currently, taxpayers who itemize their deductions can deduct the interest on mortgages of up to $1 million for their principal and second residences, plus on home equity loans of up to $100,000. The provision generally benefits higher-income Americans since they are more likely to itemize.
The panel recommends turning the deduction into a 12% non-refundable tax credit available to everyone.** The mortgage size would be capped at $500,000. Interest on mortgages for second homes and on home equity loans would not be eligible.
That did not sit well with the trade associations for the real estate and home building industries, which have contributed a total of $51.2 million to Congress for 2010.
Researchers have found that the deduction does not promote homeownership, according to a report by the Urban Institute, Tax Policy Center and What Works Collaborative. That’s because the tax provision’s main beneficiaries are not individuals on the margin between renting and owning. Wealthier taxpayers are likely to own homes regardless of the deduction.
———–
*I posited a few weeks ago that the eliminating the credit was not a tax hike.
** What is a 12% credit for everyone? That’s new to me. Whatever it is, it’s NOT a “tax hike.” So shut up, NAR.
The amount of disinformation the REIC is circulating about the mortgage interest deduction is nothing short of astounding.
The witch hunt is on.Got to find a way to pay for all those bailouts to goldman.
Your comment seems off topic. I was referring to the fact that the mortgage interest deduction has been mischaracterized by the REIC as a middle-class tax break. In fact, it is more of a welfare program for the wealthy.
Who does the mortgage-interest deduction benefit?
By Ezra Klein
Alex Hart has a good post examining whether the mortgage-interest tax deduction — which will cost taxpayers $131 billion in 2012 — is really a “middle-class tax break,” as some people like to claim. The answer is no, but it really deserves a graph:
…
Sorry man.I didnt take my prozac today.
I was just saying that they are going to tax the h@ll out of us minions so wall street can continue trips to hamptons.
so wall street can continue trips to hamptons.
…and vacation in the second home that they are taking a mortgage interest deduction on.
It’s all good, dude.
…and vacation in the second home that they are taking a mortgage interest deduction on.
It’s all good, dude.
Class warfare.
The 12% (of interest paid) would be a non-refundable credit that could be used by people who either take the standard deduction or itemize. The “non-refundable” part merely means you can’t use it to lower your tax liability below zero, e.g. get a payment back from the IRS.
Which is better for you, a $5,000 tax credit or a $5,000 deduction?
ooh ooh pick me pick me pick MEEEEE…
A credit!
As long as I don’t make less than 5K a year. Then I’d be credited only with whatever I make to bring me to 0 par.
is this 12% available low-life renters too? yeah I didn’t think so.
No one has wanted to away w/ MID more than myself. About time! But before we get too excited here ( let’s do away w/ ALL deductions for 2nd homes )
Start the discussion there. If you’re doing well enough to be able to afford a 2nd or 3rd home then you don’t need the deduction. First things first.
“What is a 12% credit for everyone? ”
Yeah, 12% of what? The interest paid? If that can be done in conjunction with the standard deduction that could work OK for the middle class.
Instead of getting a deduction for all the interest you pay (which only benefits you if you itemize) you multiply the interest by 12% and deduct that directly from your taxes up to but not beyond getting them to zero.
So, lets assume that you itemize and that your deductions other than mortgage interest are larger than the standard deduction (possible if you are in a location with high state/local income taxes and substantial property taxes or you are very generous with charitable gifts). If your current marginal rate is 28%, you will get a 12% credit instead of a 100% deduction which benefits you at 28 cents on the dollar. Less benefit to you.
Now lets assume that you currently have a mortgage but even with that you don’t have enough deductions to itemize. You go from getting no tax benefit to getting a 12 cent credit against your taxes (but not reducing them to less than zero) for every dollar you pay in mortgage interest.
Candidate Obama recommended the same thing, but as a 20% credit, not 12%. I think they believed it would be revenue neutral at that level, but there may have been other restrictions involved. The tendancy is to flatten the housing cost curve - high marginal rate payers with big houses benefit less from their interest payments than under the current system and low marginal rate payers with smaller houses benefit more. And it could end up simplifying tax administraction as many fewer people will itemize. The charities will complain.
The charities will complain.
Let them.
OTOH, permit me to weigh in as someone who’s spent more than a little time in the non-profit world, both as an employee and as a volunteer.
I’ve seen major gifts made by people who didn’t care one whit about the tax implications. They were so into the cause that, by golly, they just wanted to give money.
Matter of fact, I once witnessed an argument between my boss and a major donor. Mr. Donor was trying to donate to a university program that my office (the development office) wasn’t raising money for. That program was state-funded and didn’t seek private funds.
Well, Mr. Donor still wanted to give anyway. And there was my boss, turning down his gift.
The higher-ups finally found a way for him to fund a plaza outside the building where this program was located.
One of the Debt Reduction Commission’s proposals is to eliminate itemizing deductions. Everyone takes the standard deduction. Mortgage interest on one’s primary residence (for mortgages below $500K) would get a non-refundable 12% tax credit, as would charitable deductions above 2% of AGI.
The WSJ had a fairly detailed article about the way the final report is shaping up. I must admit that I favor every proposal that was highlighted except the mortgage interest tax credit. There should be no deduction or credit. But I think the commission realizes that a total, immediate elimination of the mortgage interest deduction would be a non-starter that would jeopardize the acceptance of the whole package.
At the same time GOP and many Dems are fighting to keep dividend and cap gain taxes low for the elite.
Well, a lot of them get cap gains, so of COURSE they don’t want to tax THOSE!
Don’t forget the GOP VOTED TO KEEP TAX BREAKS FOR OFFSHORING JOBS.
College Debt Bubble Ready to Explode:
I smell a bailout…
http://finance.yahoo.com/college-education/article/111460/is-the-college-debt-bubble-ready-to-explode
Student loan debt surpassed credit card debt this past summer. $665 billion federal and $200 billion private. So what to do? Private loans carry more onerous interest rates, so I vote that we start by forgiving the private loans, which are so usurious that they never should have been made in the first place, and which are held by banks that should not exist. Hopefully this would hasten their demise. But the federal loans must be paid back - no taxpayer bailout. I believe that the feds limit the amount of annual student loan debt to $20,000, so this should be payable.
Or perhaps some national service type program like they have (had?) for doctors?
I know a Doc who had to do 3 years of “northern exposure” type service after graduation… spent time working in at a federal prison, a Native American health service clinic, etc.
Sort of an education WPA? Get people out there healing, teaching and doing useful things to rebuild our industries and infrastructure!
I used to go to a dentist who had her education paid for by the U.S. Public Health Service.
She was working in a low-income clinic in Pittsburgh when I met up with her. Dang, that lady was a good dentist.
Last I heard, she was in Baltimore.
Friends of ours daughter got a free ride by agreeing to a commission in the military and some number of years (not sure how many) of active duty as a doctor.
When I was in law school (1993-1996) Nevada had no law school. Instead they had a plan where if you moved to Nevada, passed their bar exam, and practiced there 5 years they would pay off all your student loans. At the time they considered this less costly than building a law school at UN.
Later on they built a law school for UN. I wonder why they changed their mind?
Law schools are cash cows. Only startup costs are some classrooms and a library. The profs are a little bit pricey, but not as bad as medical school profs. And students will pay a bundle to attend on the fantasy that they will end up making huge bucks.
It always flummoxes me when I see kids paying 40K+ per year to attend some private, 2nd tier school. We have two in Denver (Regis and DU) that are in that price range. I can’t fathom why anyone would attend those schools when there are 5 state U’s and 4 state colleges that are much, much more affordable (Mesa State in Grand Juction will waive all tuition for students with good grades). CSU (Ft. Collins and Pueblo) and UNC (Greeley) also give partial automatic scholarships to students with good grades. CU doesn’t for some reason. It also affordable for Coloradoans with good grades to attend state schoolsin Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas and New Mexico as most have scholarships and will waive non resident fees for students with good grades.
Who gets to decide who gets bailed out in your world? Is it all up to the Fed chairman?
He’s makin’ a list, checking it twice…
Gonna find out who’s gotta good price
Perhaps the chairman is just the spokesmodel PB.
Spokesmodel?
They should recruit somebody more attractive. I hear that there is a former runner-up Miss Alaska who’s available to hawk anything… for a price…
It depends how well you kiss @ss and beg.I’m sure lots of politics involved.You have to pay to play remember.I’m sure if you have the services dearest to miss lewinsky that would suffice?I’m sure big ben is getting some action in one of those cash vaults deep in the feds secret office.
No Fed Chairman is the puppet, as is the US congress. Look where the money went to find out who is in control.
There has never been a better time to sell!
market pulse
Dec. 2, 2010, 10:00 a.m. EST
Pending U.S. home sales jump 10.4% in October
By Ruth Mantell
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — A gauge of pending sales of homes rose 10.4% in October due to “excellent” housing affordability conditions, but activity needs further improvement to reach a healthy level, the National Association of Realtors reported Thursday. The association’s pending-home-sales index rose to 89.3 in October from 80.9 in September. Pending sales reflect contracts signed between home buyers and sellers, and closing a sale usually takes a few months. A reading of 100 equals the average level of contract activity during 2001.
…
meanwhile thousands of homes sit vacant or with squatters as the banks dont want to flood the market.Things are real great out there.Time to buy some home builder stocks.
I just got turned down on an offer of $235,000 on a house with an asking price of $297,000 The owner said it was “unreasonable” no counter, not that I would have. Then I clicked the PB Post and the headline is….
Foreclosures account for nearly a third of Palm Beach County home sales
By Kimberly Miller Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 5:18 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 2, 2010
Foreclosures made up 37 percent of Florida home sales in the third quarter of this year, substantially higher than what occurs in a normal market and a “sad” testament, one analyst said, to the state of the housing market.
What Sichenzia fears is a flood of distressed homes from the shadow market, properties banks are keeping from sale as they wait for prices to go up.
“I’ve been saying forever that people who think this market is going to turn around soon are living in Never Never Land,” Sichenzia said. “I’m not surprised by the 37 percent. I think that’s lower than reality and that’s a sad statement.”
Is there an HOA in Never Never Land?
Here’s how I would play that: call the dude and say, “Sorry, I wasn’t trying to be unsreasonable. It’s what I can afford at the moment. If anything changes on my end I’ll definetely submit another offer closer to your asking price.”
Then, never talk to him again.
Or “Just trying to get ahead of the next leg down”
I should add: we all need to go over the top with the passive aggressive stuff. They deserve it.
Remember, my hemming and hawing killed a man this summer (half joking).
It was the only offer they have had in 77 days on the market. It would have covered what they built it for in 2003 and they have a mortgage of $87k. They can kiss my….. The last hood I rented in one couple turned down $360k in 2006 when they were asking $410k They sold for $290k in 2007 and it is now in foreclosure with comps at $150k
Wait a month and submit a new, LOWER offer.
Or get a friend to submit a lower offer.
Or circle that article and leave the paper on his doorstep.
TSA patdowns now going on at the Tampa Bus Station. Big sis will feel our junk anytime we travel around here!
We can’t ask for papers in Arizona, but we get felt up in Florida, hmmm.
They need to hire some busty broads like those on cnbc to do pat downs.People will be traveling a lot more then.
I wouldn`t want to pat down the bus crowd.
“We can’t ask for papers in Arizona, but we get felt up in Florida, hmmm.”
Meanwhile at sporting events in Florida macho patriots get all teary eyed when some hip hop creep butchers the national anthem.
Any one notice that the TSA turned of the Porno scanners on ‘national opt out day’ and got MSM to report no problems on that day??
It only takes a few people to put pressure on the TSA. Don’t give up hope yet!
of == off
just like the oil spill…the TSA pat down hysteria has passed.
next?
Next time I fly, if ever, I will be sure to have a massive erection when they pat me down.
Pending Home Sales Surge Massively, Up 10.4%
Business Insider ^ | 12/02/2010 | Gregory White
Headline: Up 10.4% for October, with the index rising to 89.3%.
Expectations: Index expected to fall 1%.
Analysis: Last month the pending home sales index fell 1.8% (for September).
From Realtor.org:
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said excellent housing affordability conditions are drawing home buyers. “It is welcoming to see a solid double-digit percentage gain, but activity needs to improve further to reach healthy, sustainable levels. The housing market clearly is in a recovery phase and will be uneven at times, but the improving job market and consequential boost to household formation will help the recovery process going into 2011,” he said.
“More importantly, a return to more normal loan underwriting standards and removal of unnecessary underwriting fees for very low risk borrowers is needed and could quickly help in the housing and economic recovery,” Yun said. Recent loan performance data from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac clearly demonstrates very low default rates on recently originated mortgages, much lower that the vintages of 2002 and 2003 before the housing boom.
lawrence yun is such a tool.He has no business running anything.He has verbal diareah.
Precious metals are very affordable. Real estate is ultra over priced.
Dude I think you have it backwards.Dont let the late night tv gurus suck you into another bubble in precious metals.
Yes, precious metals are in a bubble. Everyone is buying them with no money down and neg-am loans because “they always go up”!
Um, wait…
Over the last decade, private lenders, abetted by college financial aid offices, eagerly handed young people hundreds of thousands of dollars to earn bachelor’s degrees. The student loan bubble may be about to burst.
In some respects, the student loan crisis looks remarkably like the subprime mortgage crisis. First, outstanding student loan debt has ballooned: It grew roughly four-fold in the last decade to $833 billion as of June — surpassing outstanding credit card debt for the first time.
Secondly, defaults have soared amid the difficult job market. In 2008, the most recent year for which data are available, nearly 3.4 million borrowers began repayment, and more than 238,000 defaulted on their loans. The number of loans that went into forbearance or deferment (when borrowers receive temporary relief from payments) rose to 22 percent in 2007, from 10 percent a decade earlier, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. Over a 15-year period, default rates range from 20 percent for federal loans to 40 percent on loans to students who attend for-profit schools, The Chronicle found.
Just as lenders offered easy no-money-down mortgages to unqualified borrowers, private student loan firms offered instant online approval for up to 100 percent of college costs to students, in some cases for four consecutive years. In early 2007, half of the loans made by Sallie Mae, one of the industry’s biggest players, were to students with no co-signers, according to Mark Kantrowitz, founder of the informational Web site finaid.org.
As tuition costs have outpaced the caps on federal loans, more families have turned to private loans, which carry higher interest rates and stricter repayment rules. Last year private lenders supplied about $10 billion in loans (compared with $100 billion in federal loans). A study by the College Board found about a third of graduates in 2007-2008 had private loans. About two dozen private lenders offer student loans, and their business is growing at 25 percent annually, after a temporary decline amid the recent credit crisis, according to finaid.org.
As a result of easy credit, declining grants and soaring tuitions, more than two-thirds of students graduated with debt in 2008 — up from 45 percent in 1993. The average amount is $24,000, according to the Project on Student Debt.
finance.yahoo.com/college-education/article/111460/is-the-college-debt-bubble-ready-to-explode
The last decade? Try more like the last 30 years.
What happens to RE prices if/when congress takes away the mortgage interest deduction?
Second-home prices will crater. Primary home prices will crater a little Where The Jobs Aren’t, but likely won’t change Where The Jobs Are.
Instead, let’s talk “20% down payment.” All prices, and I mean ALL, prices will dive off a cliff. Everywhere.
In other words, affordability will improve as people resume buying homes places to live in rather than as a tax shelter.
“but likely won’t change Where The Jobs Are”
I think in the entry level niche, eliminating the deduction would affect sales prices although, as you pointed out, not as much as a change in down payment requirements.
i know a few people that will go into foreclosure…they simply cannot afford their homes without the tax break.
scary but true.
We won’t go into foreclosure, but we’ll be annoyed at having to restructure our tax withholding and cut back on our 401(k) contributions.
“…will go into foreclosure…”
That’s why a gradual phase-out (to avoid instantaneously collapsing prices) and grandfathering eligibility (to avoid forcing those currently deducting mortgage interest rates) are essential components of any measure to eliminate the MID.
To bad job loss does not typically work through phase-out’s, huh?
“There’s not going to be anyone coming from Mars or the moon to bail out the IMF or the Eurozone.” ~Nouriel Roubini
WTH? Of course the Bernake will! Just ask any printer, it’s easy and remember he studied the great depression.
“Of course the Bernake will! Just ask any printer, it’s easy and remember he studied the great depression.”
Ben researched this!
I guess nobody ever explained to Dr Doom how bailouts are “turtles all the way down“?
Again at some point when the elite feel they have filled their coffers with cash, there will be some reason the FED just won’t be allowed to pring anymore. This is the what I like to call the Lucy moment, where Lucy pulls the football away from Charlie Brown.
They will then take their cash hoards and all the cash borrowed at 0%, and buy up the pieces and lend money at 10-20%.
And at that point how much will my carefully-protected-from-them 401(k) money actually be worth? Their hoard will make mine look so small, yet I’ll be competing with them for everything. But if I try to get in on the game to keep up, they’ll steal it all. The whole thing makes gold bugs look smart…at least until they manage to screw them, too. In the end it may still come down to food and ammo, even though it didn’t have to be that way.
How come CNN has a headline piece saying “Buyers are too scared to buy” instead of “Buyers are too smart to buy”.
Scared? Really? Shove it up your b-tt, CNN. Sensible caution is not being scared.
Problem is that I do not have any money left over each month to buy overpriced realty as it is all going into silver and my tiny living expenses.
Let other people buy the real estate then watch as property prices plummet 90% from current levels.
“…all going into silver and my tiny living expenses…”
LOL!
The “problem” is that they are no longer afraid of “being priced out forever.” And without that fear, there’s little reason to pay twice as much for a mortgage as they do on rent.
December 2, 2010, 5:00 am
How Likely Is Default in Europe?
By SIMON JOHNSON
Simon Johnson, the former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, is the co-author of “13 Bankers.”
The big question of the week in Europe is deceptively simple — will any countries that share the euro as their currency default on their government or bank debts in the foreseeable future? The answer to this question determines how you regard bonds from Portugal, Spain, Italy, Belgium and, perhaps, others, as well.
This question is not as simple as it seems. Answering it involves taking a view on three intricate issues: What exactly is the current euro-zone policy on bailouts, can big euro-zone countries really be bailed out if needed and what happens to the politics of these countries and of the euro zone as a whole, as pressure from the financial markets mounts?
The prevailing consensus — and the official spin — is that European leaders backed away last weekend from the German proposal to impose losses on creditors as a condition of future bailouts, starting in 2013. In this view, the markets should calm (and are likely to) as there is no immediate prospect of any kind of sovereign default or, as the more polite like to say, a “reprofiling” of debt, including the obligations of big banks.
But a close reading of the Eurogroup ministers’ statement from Sunday suggests quite a different interpretation. It’s a straightforward text, just two and a half pages long, but it has potentially momentous consequences — as it envisages dividing future euro-zone crises into two kinds.
…
How likely is it that the Pope is Catholic?
Since good humor abounds on the HBB, I thought I’d regale everyone with some nooz from my nabe.
Remember last year when I was having all sortsa problems with one set of neighbors while having my water line replaced? And that set of neighbors took my plumbers to the Arizona Registrar of Contractors, hoping to get compensation for their loss of electrical power during my water line replacement job?
Well, AZRoC turned ‘em down flat. And, since that turndown, their own water line ruptured beneath my yard. Again. The same thing happened right after I moved in here back in ‘04.
The neigbhors’ whizbang handyman put a PVC graft onto the very old galvanized water line.That repair appears to be more/less holding since it was done in April.
Well, I’m here to report that the Water Line Disease is spreading. Neighbors to the west weren’t affected this time.
Instead, it’s those ahos who own the yappy dog that I hardly ever hear anymore. (My attorney’s letter, combined with the parent company of their shuttle van service getting into a spot of legal trouble pretty well silenced the yapper.)
Yesterday evening, I heard a thumping sound coming from my backyard. Someone not liking my old fence again? I went out to take a look.
My fence was fine, but I saw the Aho family digging up the driveway that covers a good bit of their water line. It looked like very hard work. I greatly enjoyed watching them. Nothing like watching amateurs doing plumbing repairs, let me tell you.
The thumping stopped after 7 p.m.
When I went out in my back yard this morn, I saw chunks of asphalt strewn all over that driveway. I pity anyone who drives over them.
The place where the Ahos were digging had been covered up. But I don’t think that their repair will last very long. PVC to old galvi grafts seldom do.
Your neighborhood is comedy gold!
It sure is. And what is especially amusing to me is how STUPID these people are.
I mean, come on. Your electrical fuse blows loud enough for your next door neighbor (me) to hear it, and yet you go to the trouble of making up a story that my *plumbers* cut the service to your house?
If they did such a thing, they wouldn’t be alive to talk about it. Besides they weren’t even working on my job when the fuse blew.
” Nothing like watching amateurs doing plumbing repairs, let me tell you.”
Or seeing the results of amateurs remodeling work who evidently watched Flip this House. Man, I have seen some really pathetic bathroom/kitchen remodel work done by failed flippers the last couple of months. But I didn`t have a bone to pick with them and I didn`t get to watch them do it. Good luck with the “Ahos”.
When I was remodeling houses, I used tell people that I did more “unf*cking” of bad repairs jobs than upgrades.
Because I did. And it wasn’t just the homeowner that was blame.
I looked at a project the other day where the homeowner was acting as a remodeling contractor and wanted some chair rail molding installed. This was in a Los Angeles neighborhood where the prices are still sky-high, they probably payed close to a million for the house. I couldn’t believe some of the shoddy materials and workmanship I saw. Home Depot kitchen, poorly installed. Wonky plastering. They wanted the chair rail installed in a stairwell. I told her I’d do it, but that you don’t usually put chair rail in a stairwell. They have not called me back.
White House presses Congress for jobless benefits
1 min ago
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The White House is stepping up its push for Congress to extend unemployment insurance for out-of-work Americans, linking the benefits to an extension of expiring Bush-era tax cuts.
President Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers on Thursday reported that if Congress does not extend the benefits, two million unemployed workers will lose coverage this month and 7 million would lose coverage by November 2011.
Its like pissing in a cup then drinking it. America is getting piss-drunk.
bush said wall street got drunk on thier own piss.
/rant on
This crap is just pushing me to be more dilligent than I have been with my finances.
Count another middle income household out of paying more in taxes for this “stuff”. Tax increases? Not at this household.
Decided that with the taxes with the higher paying job this year in the higher bracket that it just is not worth it when you look at pay/hr and quality of life. Decided to take a less stressful job with less pay which will allow me to have more time at home. So much for the planned tax increases from Bammy and co. Not going to happen here. I wonder if others here doing the same?
/rant off
You went Galt in your own fashion. Good for you and hope it really turns out well for you!
Bully for you!
Allow me to add, however, IMHO this isn’t about “going Galt” so much as it is about common sense. A lot of lifestyles today are way too expensive over the long haul. Boomers were comparatively thrifty compared to my peers - and look at how many of them are in a pickle (read: gen X is boned).
This holiday season ask your friends and family about the bills they pay - I’ll bet you’ll be flummoxed. Why just yesterday my girlfriend and I were discussing bills. Yeah, she makes twice what I make but my bills are 20% of hers! Sure she has more ammenities, but the bottom line is that we live in the same city and have access to the same job market. Very inefficient and the future will not be merciful to inefficiency.
IIRC “Bammy” only wants to increase income taxes for “high income” earners.
You’re living the true Amercian dream. More time for yourself, yet enough money to live comfortably.
Good for you. Less stress is worth more than money every time.
Members of the Congressional Tea Party Caucus may tout their commitment to cutting government spending now, but they used the 111th Congress to request hundreds of earmarks that, taken cumulatively, added more than $1 billion to the federal budget.
According to a Hotline review of records compiled by Citizens Against Government Waste, the 52 members of the caucus, which pledges to cut spending and reduce the size of government, requested a total of 764 earmarks valued at $1,049,783,150 during Fiscal Year 2010, the last year for which records are available.
“It’s disturbing to see the Tea Party Caucus requested that much in earmarks. This is their time to put up or shut up, to be blunt,” said David Williams, vice president for policy at Citizens Against Government Waste. “There’s going to be a huge backlash if they continue to request earmarks.”
Yes like another grass roots organization will form and then be taken over by the establishment, and we will have more of the same.
This is their time to put up or shut up…
“TrueAngerNow!™” / “TrueDeceiver’s™” / “TrueHypocrite’s™” / “TruePurity™”
(Hwy’s glad he didn’t have the blacksmith change the branding iron…just yet.)
I guess if a lender lost the title, that gives them the right to sell a paid-off house?
business
Foreclosure paperwork miscues piling up - The Denver PostBy Aldo Svaldi
The Denver Post
Posted: 11/14/2010 01:00:00 AM MST
Brent and Wendy Diers, pictured Thursday, Nov. 11, 2010, hung “No Tresspassing” signs around their home in Fruita, Colo., after it went into foreclosure. Although they paid off their mortgage in April, CitiMortgage never sent them their title and is proceeding with foreclosure. (Barton Glasser / Special to The Post)
Brent and Wendy Diers of Fruita thought their foreclosure nightmare would end in April when they sent a check to pay off their mortgage.
But more than six months later, CitiMortgage hasn’t followed through on repeated assurances it would release the lien and give them title.
And despite a judge’s ruling that they are not in default, the lender’s law firm, Castle Meinhold & Stawiarski, continues to pursue a foreclosure sale.
“We are not in default and they do not have authorization to sell our house,” a frustrated Wendy Diers said.
…
How can I foreclose on the CEO of CitiMortgage house? That should be fun. Paid off mortgage - I am still kicking you out!
San Diego Real Estate Forecast For 2011
By Maureen Cavanaugh, Hank Crook
December 2, 2010
Will local home sales pick up in the new year, or will high unemployment and the expiration of state and federal tax credits keep the sales volume low? We speak to local real estate experts about the latest trends in the San Diego housing market.
Guests
Dr. Michael Lea, director of SDSU’s Corky McMillin Center for Real Estate.
Matt Battiata, CEO of the Battiata Real Estate Group.
==========================================================
tsweber | today at 9:45 a.m. ― 2 hours, 54 minutes ago
“It’s the buying opportunity of a lifetime!” says your guest. What Realtor hasn’t said this consistently for the last 10 years. Ask your guest to justify this comment when we see -rising inventory -decreasing median sales prices as measured by Case-Schiller - one of the most unaffordable markets in the country Where is the balance? Where is the objective expert who does not have a direct interest in pushing real estate?
JPMorgan, Madoff’s `Primary Banker,’ Is Sued for $6.4 Billion by Trustee
By Bob Van Voris - Dec 2, 2010 11:54 AM PT
Irving Picard, partner at Baker & Hostetler LLP, left, leaves U.S. Bankruptcy Court with his attorney David Sheehan, in New York on Feb. 2, 2010. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg
JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bernard Madoff’s “primary banker,” was sued for $6.4 billion by the trustee liquidating the imprisoned con man’s former firm.
Irving H. Picard, the lawyer appointed as trustee by a New York bankruptcy court, said in a statement that he sued JPMorgan today over claims the bank aided and abetted Madoff’s fraud. Picard said his suit seeks $1 billion in fees and $5.4 billion in damages.
“JPMorgan was willfully blind to the fraud, even after learning about numerous red flags surrounding Madoff,” David J. Sheehan,” counsel to Picard, said in the statement. “JPMC was at the very center of that fraud, and thoroughly complicit in it.”
…
One should look to see if Jamie Dimon was one of the early in early out investors with Madhoff. I’m sure he used an alias and off shore account.
Federal Reserve May Be `Central Bank of the World’ After UBS, Barclays Aid
By Bradley Keoun and Hugh Son - Dec 1, 2010 9:00 PM PT
UBS was the biggest borrower under the Commercial Paper Funding Facility, with $74.5 billion overall, more than twice as much as Citigroup Inc., the top U.S. bank recipient, according to the data released yesterday. Photographer: Reto Andreoli/Bloomberg
Federal Reserve data showing UBS AG and Barclays Plc ranked among the top users of $3.3 trillion from emergency programs is stoking debate on whether U.S. regulators bear responsibility for aiding other nations’ banks.
UBS was the biggest borrower under the Commercial Paper Funding Facility, with $74.5 billion overall, more than twice as much as Citigroup Inc., the top U.S. bank recipient, according to the data released yesterday. London-based Barclays Plc took the biggest single amount under another program that made overnight loans, when it got $47.9 billion on Sept. 18, 2008.
“We’re talking about huge sums of money going to bail out large foreign banks,” said Senator Bernard Sanders, the Vermont independent who wrote the provision in the Dodd-Frank Act that required the Fed disclosures. “Has the Federal Reserve become the central bank of the world? I think that is a question that needs to be examined.”
…
Dec. 1 (Bloomberg) — U.S. Representative Ron Paul, a Republican from Texas, talks about the Federal Reserve’s response to the financial crisis and the bank’s that borrowed from the Fed’s Term Auction Facility. Paul speaks with Pimm Fox on Bloomberg Television’s “Taking Stock.” (Source: Bloomberg)
Do you think mr paul and bernake and friends?
Goldman Sachs is now predicting a 23% up bull market for 2011.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/goldman-sees-us-stocks-rallying-23-next-year-2010-12-02
I wonder what that’s all about.
I wonder what that’s all about.
They are about to massively short the market???
do you remember thier crude oil calls a few years ago when they were bending us over a barrel?
They have to put all that money they are getting from the fed somewhere right? As the fed monetizes the debt the primary dealers get cash which the fed expects them to park in risky assets to get the wealth effect churning.
Stock market bubble to housing bubble back to stock market bubble.Anyone see a pattern?since all the jobs go to cheap labor countries all we can do is increase asset prices via the printing press.
thank god we cant export realtors jobs right?
We can automate them.
“I wonder what that’s all about.”
Unless you believe the real value of companies is destined to go up by 23% in 2011, it’s about inflation.
I have a bunch of old junk piled up out in my garage. D’ya think the Fed would accept it as collateral on a home mortgage loan?
Crisis-hit banks flooded Fed with junk
By Francesco Guerrera in New York and Robin Harding in Washington
Published: December 2 2010 23:01 | Last updated: December 2 2010 23:01
Banks flooded the Federal Reserve with billions of dollars in “junk bonds” and other low-grade collateral in exchange for much-needed liquidity during the crisis, as the financial sector struggled under a crippling credit crunch, new data show.
More than 36 per cent of the cumulative collateral pledged to the US central bank in return for overnight funding under the Primary Dealer Credit Facility was equities or bonds ranked below investment grade. A further 17 per cent was unrated credit or loans, according to a Financial Times analysis of Fed data released this week.
Only 1 per cent of the collateral was Treasury bonds which are normally used in transactions between banks and the monetary authorities.
…
EDITOR’S CHOICE
Fed reveals it lent billions to hedge funds during crisis - Dec-02
Gillian Tett: Fed surprise - Dec-02
Opinion: Wall Street owes its survival to the Fed - Dec-02
European banks took big slice of Fed aid - Dec-02
Hank Paulson’s supper SIV = GSE’s and FED.
The GSE’s will be bailed out directly by the tax payer.
The FED will be bailed out indirectly via inflation and the printing press.
In the end the elite will have their pound of flesh.
Investing in Icelandic bonds.
I found this funny
money.cnn.com/2007/07/26/pf/funds/expert.moneymag/index.html
What about investing in Icelandic bonds now? I wonder what they are paying?
Slowly but surely (and don’t call me Shirely)
5 going to prison over Houston mortgage fraud scam
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7321503.html
The survival of everyone on board depends on just one thing: finding someone on board who can not only fly this plane, but who didn’t have fish for dinner.
Rodger, rodger!
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Faulty PR ……
Without tax cuts for the rich ,or Corps ,they will take their business and
production to foreign countries …….These people and entities are
already outsourcing and out-manufacturing to Foreign Countries and will
continue to do so and not invest in American so it doesn’t matter how much your raise the Fat Cat taxes .
Just as the Banks /Investment firms and Corp . got favorable bail-outs
during the crisis they created ,the Fat Cats want to keep the gravy train coming tax wise . These entities should be paying penalty taxes for
ill-gotten gains for a 20 year periods of time . At least Warren Buffet admits that it was a gravy train ,but he and other like him still got away with the heist .
Comparing other Countries Corporate tax rates isn’t fair. First ,other taxes
charged aren’t taken into consideration in the analysis for starters .This trying to use other Countries to compare the Corporate Tax rate is just pure BS .Remember that Globalism only benefits the Financial middle-men and Corporations ,not Main street America .
I would like to vomit in light of the heist that Corporate/Financial America
made for many years now . What is laughable is that people are being brainwashed to believe that not only will Industry invest more into Main Street if the tax breaks and bail-outs continue but they are brainwashed to believe that the Fat Cats will benefit American if they continue to get breaks .
The problem is that no longer can Corporations and Banks and Wall Street
say that anything that benefits them will benefit Main street American
since the advent of the” World is their Oyster Globalism .”
Dirt is cheap for a reason!
Buying and selling, Markets
Already dirt cheap, foreclosure prices dive
Posted by Scott Van Voorhis
December 2, 2010 06:33 AM
You know things have gotten bad when banks slash prices on foreclosure specials.
The average discount on foreclosed homes across the country hit 32 percent in the third quarter, up big time from 26 percent in the second quarter and 29 percent a year earlier, RealtyTrac reports.
Meanwhile, sales of distressed properties plunged 25 percent over the summer, a decline driven by the expiration of the home buyer tax credit and to some extent the robo-signing controversy.
So what does this mean for home buyers in a still relatively pricey state like Massachusetts?
Well short of moving into the hinterlands well beyond I-495, foreclosures still represent the best deal around.
Distressed properties accounted for just over a third of all home sales activity in the state from July through September, RealtyTrac reports.
Bay State homes in some stage of the foreclosure process fetched an average price of $181,088 in the third quarter, or a 25 percent discount from non-distressed sales.
…
* TECHNOLOGY
* DECEMBER 1, 2010, 7:02 P.M. ET
A Glimpse at the Socialist Senator Who Fought the Fed
By MAYA JACKSON RANDALL
WASHINGTON—Bernie Sanders, a Vermont Independent and the Senate’s lone socialist, led a fight against the powerful U.S. Federal Reserve and won, forcing the central bank to disclose more details than ever on its rescue actions during the financial crisis.
The Fed Wednesday posted online the names of financial firms, corporations and foreign central banks that all together received some $3.3 trillion in loans from the Fed during the height of the financial market turmoil. The companies named range from Bank of America Corp. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to Verizon Communications Inc., McDonalds Corp. and the state-owned Korea Development Bank.
The data covers more than 21,000 transactions conducted from December 2007 to July 21, 2010. Fed officials called it the biggest release of crisis lending data that a central bank has ever done.
Also, the Government Accountability Office will conduct an audit of the Fed’s emergency actions, going back to the start of the crisis in 2007.
Mr. Sanders was a vocal and persistent leader in the mission to audit the Fed. The Senate in May backed his compromise plan to force the Fed to reveal a new level of data on its emergency lending programs. The plan was included in the sweeping financial regulatory overhaul Congress passed earlier this year.
“After years of stonewalling by the Fed, the American people are finally learning the incredible and jaw-dropping details of the Fed’s multitrillion-dollar bailout of Wall Street and corporate America,” Mr. Sanders said in a statement Wednesday afternoon. “As a result of this disclosure, other members of Congress and I will be taking a very extensive look at all aspects of how the Federal Reserve functions.”
…
* OPINION
* DECEMBER 3, 2010
Why Do We Have a Central Bank?
Ordinary citizens will increasingly ask that question if the Fed keeps acting as an unelected fiscal authority.
By GERALD P. O’DRISCOLL JR.
Why do nations have central banks? Countries have developed without one, and sophisticated financial systems have evolved in their absence. Some countries with a central bank have suffered for having one. Zimbabwe comes to mind.
The Federal Reserve System was created by an act of Congress only in 1913. It then presided over a great wartime inflation followed by a major depression in 1920-21. The 1920s were an era of prosperity, due as much to Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon’s wise fiscal policies as anything the Fed did. The Fed’s performance in the Great Depression was disastrous, a judgment shared by its current chairman, Ben Bernanke.
The Canadian banking system weathered the Great Depression without a central bank. Instead of the thousands of small, undiversified banks that the United States had, Canada had a small number of banks (with many branches across the country) that were able withstand localized downturns. Even in the Great Depression, banking failures in the U.S. were concentrated in specific regions. Canada’s central bank, the Bank of Canada, was created in 1935 in part because of pressure from the rest of the world. Canada had survived without it quite well.
…
The Fed has been ceded a degree of operational independence by Congress to conduct monetary policy. That independence is viable only so long as the Fed sticks to conventional monetary policy. If it persists in acting also as a fiscal authority, ordinary citizens and their representatives are going to ask: Why do we have a central bank?
Mr. O’Driscoll is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute. He was formerly vice president at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas and later at Citigroup.
Politics
Federal Reserve Under Fire for Lending Big to Foreign Banks During Financial Crisis
By Stephen Clark
Published December 02, 2010
The Federal Reserve is under increased scrutiny following new disclosures that the central bank supplied trillions of dollars in emergency loans not just to Wall Street but also foreign-owned banks in 2008 and 2009.
As President Obama’s deficit commission nears a vote on a plan to slash U.S. government spending, the Federal Reserve is under fire after it revealed it gave a big chunk of its multi-trillion dollar Wall Street bailout to companies not based on Wall Street — or even in the United States.
The disclosures, released Wednesday, come as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke defends the central bank’s plan to drop another $600 billion into Treasury securities to spur the lending by financial institutions.
…
Fed Cred
The Federal Reserve comes (almost) clean about all the crazy stuff it did in 2008.
By Annie Lowrey
Posted Thursday, Dec. 2, 2010, at 6:50 PM ET
The Federal Reserve. Click image to expand.The Federal ReserveThe Federal Reserve has made public an enormous trove of data about the emergency measures it took during the worst of the credit crunch and the ensuing recession. It’s confusing stuff: arcane spreadsheets showing more than 21,000 transactions totaling more than $3.3 trillion via an alphabet soup of programs. (Gratuitous example: the Asset-Backed Commercial Paper Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility, or, well, ABCPMMMFLF.) Still, the revelations provide a fascinating glimpse into the workings of the Fed in the apocalyptic days of 2008, when the world economy was on the verge of collapse. They also leave one major question unanswered.
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Six great gifts for gun lovers
Tough economic times and political uncertainty are driving firearms’ sales. If you’ve got an enthusiast on your list, here are some top ideas.