Bits Bucket For December 8, 2010
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The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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Foreclosure mess: Much bigger than you thought
Posted by Scott Van Voorhis
December 7, 2010 08:39 AM
For anyone thinking the worst of the foreclosure crisis is behind us, wake up and smell the coffee. Or better yet, take a look at some of the numbers Amherst Securities’ Laurie Goodman is crunching.
Goodman, contends one in five homes is either in foreclosure or facing potential foreclosure trouble down the line.
That’s a whopping 11.6 million homes, or about 20 percent of the market, she told members of the Boston Security Analysts Society, which hosted the discussion.
And it clashes with conventional thinking in a banking industry bracing for another 4 million foreclosures, not double or triple that number. Here’s a link to a recent report by Goodman and Amherst that lays out the numbers.
Goodman’s breakdown goes roughly like this. Twenty of every 100 loans are “impaired.” Of these, nine are seriously behind on their payments. Another six are now “Dirty Current” - in various government modification programs whose graduates have been defaulting at a rate of 50 percent a year. The final five are underwater on their mortgages by more than 20 percent - a group that has been defaulting at a rate of 20 percent a year.
It is a crisis that is more staggering that most of us realize - and is likely to have a much more dramatic impact on both federal policy and the banking industry than many are bargaining for right now.
http://www.boston.com/realestate/news/blogs/renow/2010/12/foreclosure_mes.html - -
Goodman, contends one in five homes…
That’s … about 20 percent of the market…
“That’s … about 20% of the market…”
So far. But remember, as prices go down the equity backed by these prices goes down with it.
More lies form ben bernake, even caught on video lieing about printing money:
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-december-7-2010/the-big-bank-theory
We are way past blame now. If we did not want printed money today there should have been no credit bubble. At this point it is all spilled milk and cleanup. If the FED stopped printing money today someone would yell the king has no clothes and the kings clothier would be hung. Worse, everyone would start yelling fire and heading to the exits at once.
More lies form ben bernake”
I remember when he said a weak dollar would not cause inflation
Q2,then Q3, then Q4, etc. Need “new money” created out of air to SAVE the banks and keep the Christmas bonus there for us bankers! Remember tax payers are always there to pay for our “sins”. What a country!
that’s not one in 5 homes, that’s one in 5 mortgaged homes, right??
“You have 11.6 million units in jeopardy,” Goodman said. “That is one borrower out of every five.
Farther on in the story she talks about borrowers so I guess we infer it’s only mortgaged houses.
“You have 11.6 million units in jeopardy,” Goodman said. “That is one borrower out of every five. You can’t foreclose on one borrower in five.”
…and thus the rule of law goes quietly into the night.
Well if that’s the case, then housing ain’t never coming back - ever. If there’s no rule of law then who would ever even enter into contract again?
And contrary to what the statists believe, no the gov’t can’t backstop everything, but their attempts to try are nonetheless painful.
Let the market clear….Its the only solution…
If there’s no rule of law then who would ever even enter into contract again?”
Yes that’s what I have been asking myself
“If there’s no rule of law then who would ever even enter into contract again?”
Stoopid people who don’t understand the paper they are signing, and too-big-to-fail lenders who will gladly make the loan provided they expect to be made whole if the scheme blows up on them…
“You can’t foreclose on one borrower in five.”
Why not? You can’t do it quickly; that is certain, but it is already being done slowly. The loan owners may eventually decide that they don’t want to because they can get more out a loan modification of a person in place than they can from a foreclosure followed by a sale. But that is a business decision by the loan owners (still to be determined).
Would it not be unfair to all of the FBs who have been foreclosed upon already? It would only be right for the government to buy them new homes to compensate them. No FB left behind!
Polly,
You brought up an interesting point with
your “The loan owners may eventually decide”.
Just who are the loan owners? Is it that
fishing village on the Norwegian coast that
bought those AAA bonds? If so, how do they,
and who are “they”?, sort through the trancs
to find the one mortgage that has gone in to
default? Who Actually holds the note?
Maybe the CDO never had the notes. Maybe the banks still have them and are just
servicing the payments to the CDO? I haven’t seen an adequate explanation for this yet so help me out.
Thanks
I think Bernanke now holds them all.
So just so I get this straight: One in five homeowners are too big to fail?
Only if you live in a BLUE state.
Who was president when TARP was passed??
Some idiot. Just like always.
I distinctly remember Obama coming up with the idea
He’s got a time machine he keeps using to foist the blame on Bush.
To be fair, didn’t Reagan blame the Carter administration well into his (Reagan’s) second term? I think it was all the George Washington administration’s fault!
The US has nothing to offer as it has been gutted by the feds. America’s main export is inflation. Now we are seeing that inflation come back to the US slowly but at a rapidly increasing pace.
Going to the grocery store will break the bank for the majority. Food will take precedence over real estate methinks.
Those calling for another 10% down in realty are ultra optimistic.
Okay, I have to be stinker here…if there’s really inflation wouldn’t house prices AND food/fuel all go up? I totally agree with your statement on house prices - but what you’re describing sounds an awful lot like a limited number of dollars being asked to buy more than ever before.
No, think about it Edge. What is driving up food and fuel prices is government subsidies in the form of food-stamps and UE compenstion. Everyone has to eat, and UE-receivers HAVE to drive. Why do they have to drive? To get to their under-the-table jobs, of course. Too many FAKE (gov provided) dollars chasing NECESSARY goods is driving current inflation.
Farm subsidies and tariffs have a greater effect on food prices.
No way, but subsidies of any kind rob those who work hard for their money.
From whatreallyhappened dot com:
Food Stamp Use Skyrocketing.
We already knew that food stamp use was growing because of the prolonged, sluggish recovery, but the Christian Science Monitor provides this handy chart to show exactly how dramatic the increase in need has been. More than 15 percent new recipients were added compared to last year.
Webmaster’s Commentary:
The phrase in the above paragraph, the words “prolonged, sluggish depression” should be substituted for “prolonged, sluggish recovery”, because there is no such thing as a “jobless recovery”.
No way, but subsidies of any kind rob those who work hard for their money.
I have to agree. I’m not against “helping out the poor.” What i *am* against is helping out the poor to the point where they are equal to the middle class. Example: I rent an okay townhouse. The townhouse complex has a lot of military and section 8 who receive subsidies. New management raised the rent. Those who got the subsidies probably didn’t feel it, but I sure did. However, since all those section 8’s could “pay” the market rate, I had to oay it as well.
The Section 8 stuff around here is nicer than the non-Section 8 stuff. Of course, I don’t qualify as “poor”.
Inflation is NOT consumer driven. It is speculation driven.
Housing prices demonstrate the former and unemployment demonstrates both the former and the latter.
What you should be against is the subsidies for the rich…. which are at the expense of everyone else and FAR outclass the spending on the poor.
True dat!
Go here to see the monetary base charts:
http://mises.org/markets.asp
As is indicated massive, massive monetary inflation has already occurred and is going to manifest in the price of all things demanded. More dollars in circulation equal more inflation and more price inflation in everything down the road. Such is the nature of a debt based monetary system. I call it the theft based monetary system as it demonstrably is.
If lenders would continue to have no lending standards then homes would be higher priced to the point that the debt could not be serviced by the debt slave. As it is real estate has become a brilliant wealth redistribution mechanism impoverishing the box buyer and enriching the banks to enormous degree. Next up, higher fixed rates rates for more of the same. Never forget that the bank will always own the box(home) and determine its selling price within a debt based monetary system.
The flood of dollars is coming as the metal and food commodities are broadcasting.
And arguably, if the powers that be were actually willing to let all those dollars disappear into the ether whence they came from, the economy would resolve itself more quickly.
As is indicated massive, massive monetary inflation has already occurred and is going to manifest in the price of all things demanded.
I tend to agree but I wonder if all the wealth being destroyed and debt going bad will counteract much of this potential inflation.
I accidentally posted this way down below:
Professor Bear posted a link the other day showing that the US dollar has outperformed every other type of asset over the past year, all while people have been crying from the rooftops about inflation. Lots of people are expecting inflation, just like lots of people expected stock and house prices to go up forever, but it ain’t happenin.
“…if there’s really inflation wouldn’t house prices AND food/fuel all go up?”
We compete for food and fuel against everyone around the world, and it’s getting much more competitive. More income will go these necessities.
Housing is mostly sought after by locals. There will be less money left over for housing after buying food and fuel, so competition will be soft and prices will fall.
This is more about supply and demand than inflation.
There may be commodity inflation but everything else is deflating at an alarming rate. Without wage inflation which I understand would require some kind of protectionist policy there will be no inflation.
Great point! If the cost of goods in America(mostly all imported) goes up in US dollar terms due to currency debasement and there is is little or no wage increase then what happens?
According to hyperinflation history said goods will disappear in the US. If the cost of goods exceeds what the (foreign)producer can sell the good for then producer will not sell said goods.
Imagine incredible scarcity for essential items within the US under such a scenario.
No, we will revert to producing it oursleves. America is the bread basket of the world. Energy is a different story of course, but we have solar/wind/etc, so gas can’t be more expensive than that, which comes out to about $5/gallon.
Great point! If the cost of goods in America(mostly all imported) goes up in US dollar terms due to currency debasement and there is is little or no wage increase then what happens?
If that happens…
Including consumer items as well as commodities, IMO the first thing that happens is that USA has less “stuff” and in my opinion that is no big deal because we have the most “stuff” in the world. And how much “stuff” is needed?
Maybe storage units, garages and attics would experience “inventory reductions” and then the USA would then start making “stuff” again.
As far as food, Big V is correct. USA has little to fear from mass hunger.
Energy? If we bought less “stuff” and houses, medical-care and education were cheaper, then we would have money to heat our homes and drive our (smaller) cars.
Without wage inflation which I understand would require some kind of protectionist policy there will be no inflation.”
no wage inflation in the USA you mean
Workers in other countries might want to buy what we buy here Oil, Sugar, Copper, etc.
Yup, and since there are so many of them their standard of living doesn’t even have to come close to ours. Just imagine what will happen to the demand for oil and gasoline once everyone in China and India has even a mere 2 cylinder car.
Everyone in China and India is getting richer because we gave them our jobs and they are either directly or inderectly benefiting from “liquidity injections” of US dollars. The reason why China and India are currently cooling off? Well, because their US employers actually depend on high-paid US workers to make a profit. Now the high-paid US worker is an endangered species, so there’s not so much hiring over there in China and India any more. Not so much hiring means not so much spending. When communist China and corruptionist India don’t have big bad free-country capitalist US to support them, then they stop being rich. Sorry, but all this “Asia taking over the world” stuff is just nonsense.
Once again, and I repeat: If China and India were capable of standing on their own two feet, then they would have already done so. They are falling down because they depend on us real bad. Expect no competition from them other than the currency arbitrage type. Also, expect protectionist policies to continue taking hold here in the US. It will be a slow but steady progression.
Everyone in China and India is getting richer because we gave them our job
Yes we did and because we did, they now have capital to promote internal, independent demand. The inferences wikileaks is hinting at is that China (now that they’ve gotten what they needed from the USA) is now not needing us that much anymore.
The reason why China and India are currently cooling off?
Because all lives and economies go in cycles. All.
When communist China and corruptionist India don’t have big bad free-country capitalist US to support them, then they stop being rich
USA’s capitalism is corrupt as well and is proving poorly able to deal with the new world. USA capitalism is short-term shareholder based. Chinese “capitalism” is long term, nationalistic based AND nationally subsidized and supported. Understanding THIS is crucial. USA “capitalism” is in decline.
If China and India were capable of standing on their own two feet, then they would have already done so
In fact, they just did. This is the point. They did and ARE.
That they did not in the past is not important.
High commodities prices push up the cost of all products from production to delivery. The market (consumers) cannot bear the high prices for many of the products, so they will not sell, and more companies go out of business and even more workers are displaced. This is what happens when you have commodities priced artificially high due to greedy Wall St. pigmen buoyed by the Federal Reserve rather than a free market based upon real supply and demand.
Exactly. Inflation was decoupled from consumer spending decades ago.
But it has been used as an excuse to destroy wages. And like the abused party of a dysfunctional co-dependency relationship, the people it hurt believed it.
And still believe it.
During the Great Depression, farmers were buring food to restrict demand as a way to keep prices high. It didn’t work. You couldn’t sell oranges for 10 cents/pound because nobodoy had 10 cents.
Then there were the riots. People got mad at the farmers for wasting food while everyone was starving.
“burning food”
They were destroying livestock as well.
However, during that era and even before the Depression, farm prices would swing wildly. Thus the Dept of Agriculture instituted price controls and subsidies to help mitigate the wild swings and speculations. The Depression helpd to finally implement it.
The ultimate lesson being that commodities markets are too volatile and easily manipulated beyond fair prices to be left to their own actions.
“What” everything else? Besides wages?
Now we are seeing that inflation come back to the US slowly but at a rapidly increasing pace.”
yes with all that debt piling up QE2, tax cuts, etc it will come back and bite us.
I hear Oil prices are expected to soar next year
The major sadness for those of us who save and who have been observant of the evolving mess, is the dragging out of the inevitable return to sane housing prices. It’s great to rent a 3/2 apt for $800 with all utilities included and to wait out this debacle, but the meltdown looks to have years ahead of it. Yeah, and the Moral Hazard n’ all that.
At least the Schadenfreude compensates
” It’s great to rent a 3/2 apt for $800 with all utilities included and to wait out this debacle,”
That would be great, but where I live rents are way too high from this whole mess. $1,700 for a 3/2 single family house in a decent neighborhood and it goes up fast from there. If I could find a decent place for my family at $800 a month all of this would not piss me off nearly as much as it does.
“If I could find a decent place for my family at $800 a month all of this would not piss me off nearly as much as it does.”
Trudat.
I need more than schadenfreude.
“It’s great to rent a 3/2 apt for $800 with all utilities included…”
Lemme guess, it’s 20-degrees F outside, plenty of churches, and Walmart is the ‘da hangout.
Nah, mostly.
Santangelo’s for Italian food. Carousel Mall for first in country with its namesake inside. Great hospital system. Two Post Offices (one open Sunday) within two miles.
Still… the 20 degrees often is true. But, our neighbors’ pooches aren’t eaten by gators, either.
Yep…. blighted city in economic decline, depopulating decrepit suburbs, rural areas reminiscent of depression era Appalachia, 7 months of dreary dark winter……
but they got a great hospital system….. lmao.
“but they got a great hospital system”
Investment in the sector that has a steady stream of money financing it. I expect that the medicare/doctor payment fix will happen, but if it didn’t? Watch out….
With all that depression, no wonder they have a great hospital system… And btw, the CNY, and upstate NY in general are among the cheapest in the country because that’s Where The Jobs Aren’t. Binghamton made several of the “most affordable” lists the MSM put out a few years ago. (Probably to appease their NAR advertisers, who had targeted the town for their rolling bubble.)
The only way you’d get a 3/2 for under $800 Where The Jobs Are is if you shacked up.
The “cheap rent” places aren’t cheap when you look at local wages. Oftentimes, they are as bad as any major city on a relative basis. High housing costs are the norm everywhere.
—Yep…. blighted city in economic decline, depopulating decrepit suburbs, rural areas reminiscent of depression era Appalachia, 7 months of dreary dark winter……
but they got a great hospital system….. lmao.
—-
Ahhh they all ltao until they get sick…
Beautiful romantic days wandering around in the white stuff. Huge hospital competition for my services. Hospitals needing our services so badly that billing to gov’t has limited impact on the salaries (Doctor “Fix” or lack won’t have impact). Stable neighbors in houses for which they didn’t need suicide loans. Huge savings each month. Granted the $600 for snow tires set back my retirement plans a bit…
-d
per grzzley
–0The “cheap rent” places aren’t cheap when you look at local wages. Oftentimes, they are as bad as any major city on a relative basis. High housing costs are the norm everywhere.—
Not so really. Teachers here make somewhat less to start than teachers in Long Island. Decent houses are about 1/5 the price. Someday will have to run the math….
FWIW I saw a lot more fundy churches in California that than here in the Centennial State.
But Colorado is ground zero for the freakish evangelical frauds like Dobson, Ted Haggard, The “family research council”(that one is hilarious), Tony Perkins and other assorted distortionists.
Colorado Springs is ground zero. Once you’re out of El Paso County its very different. And even Focus on the Family has fallen on hard times lately.
Not saying that there aren’t fundies and Megachurches in Colorado, but when we moved here the difference between SoCal and Colorado was visible. Most places I worked at in SoCal were crawling with fundies. They held bible studies and prayer meetings in conference rooms at work. Out here? Not so much.
“Focus on your own damn family” –bumper sticker in Colorado Springs.
Most places I worked at in SoCal were crawling with fundies. They held bible studies and prayer meetings in conference rooms at work. Out here? Not so much.
I noticed the same thing when I worked on post-Katrina reconstruction in MS.
My work groups had a certain number of hardcore volunteers from SoCal and elsewhere on the Left Coast. These guys and gals went on just about every reconstruction trip that the sponsoring organization ran.
And, boy, were they fundamentalist.
Matter of fact, they could have given fundamentalism lessons to our MS host, which was a Methodist church about 20 miles inland from the Gulf Coast.
Bible studies at work? That sounds sick. Not that there is anything wrong with a bible study but at work?
“even Focus on the Family has fallen on hard times lately.”
This is very good news.
Bible studies at work? That sounds sick. Not that there is anything wrong with a bible study but at work?
They’d hold them at lunch time in conference rooms. From what I saw it often was standing room only. I even attended a few for kicks. These folks are OBSESSED with end times and the so called Rapture (another Fundy invention).
Matter of fact, they could have given fundamentalism lessons to our MS host, which was a Methodist church about 20 miles inland from the Gulf Coast.
There are many flavors of Methodism, running the full spectrum of ultra liberal to hard core fundy (most are liberal though).
“These folks are OBSESSED with end times and the so called Rapture (another Fundy invention).”
BINGO. I’ve known a few in my lifetime.
Most don’t stick around our church for very long. The minute they hear theological facts(it’s all about the poor and oppressed), they bail quickly.
The minute they hear theological facts(it’s all about the poor and oppressed), they bail quickly.
Yup. I know the type. It’s all about *my* personal relationship with Jesus. And how God loves *me*.
Yeah… heh… Pathetic.
Hey “God loves me,” is at worst, a pleasent delusion. But “God hates (whoever I dislike)” or “To make God like me, I have to send money to (klepto-preacher of the airwaves)” are pretty destructive. And “God wants me to slay (the infidel/abortion doctors/ whomever)” is the enabler of alot of evil in this world.
Professor Bear posted a link the other day showing that the US dollar has outperformed every other type of asset over the past year, all while people have been crying from the rooftops about inflation. Lots of people are expecting inflation, just like lots of people expected stock and house prices to go up forever, but it ain’t happenin.
“Foreclosure mess: Much bigger than you thought”
Nobody could have seen that announcement coming!
An excellent analysis of the Assange rape allegations. As the old joke says: “That’s rape in Sweden!”
http://takimag.com/article/julian_assanges_honey_trap_thats_rape_in_sweden
Shoot the messenger.
I had a good discussion with my daughters yesterday about the apparent hypocrisy regarding how wikileaks is being handled vs. how Goggle/China is handled. Both questions are of free dissemination of information.
China gets a slap on the hand, and Assange becomes the enemy of nations? I have real problems with the position the “leaders of the free world” are taking.
BTW, the idea of open source free node internet becomes just that much more important in light of this. Down with big telecom!
Assange didn’t buy enough bonds, that’s his problem.
Unlike China, Assange isn’t too big to fail.
I have very mixed feelings about this. On the one hand I appreciate learning about the underhanded dealings of the military and governments around the world. On the other, there are laws against revealing military and state secrets.
I just wish that he’d started with the leaking of information about the banks.
Military secrets are one thing, but if those bank documents got out there could be the possibility of systemic risk. And we can’t have THAT. The line has been drawn.
The banks have been authorized to lie, steal, embezzle, extort, perjure themselves, rape, murder, sodomize, whatever they must do to keep “profitable”.
Systemic risk takes precedence over all law.
TBTF is above all.
My favorite is Joe Lieberman calling him unpatriotic and other MSM idjuts declaring his actions treasonous.
He’s Australian people. The only way he could be unpatriotic or treasonous to the US gov was if he was an American citizen!
Wiki: treason is the crime that covers some of the more serious acts of betrayal of one’s sovereign or nation.
No, Assange is just releasing info Wikileaks may or may not be responsible for obtaining themselves. In some of the cables, info has reportedly been made public in other countries. But its been declared top secret on our shores. Also the cable releases I’ve read leave egg on our diplomats faces by releasing school yard name calling of other gov officials but hardly contain info that put our milatary at risk. I can’t help but feel that even Assange and other Wikileaks masterminds haven’t revealed their deepest motivations behind taking these risks. This is more mesmerizing than fiction.
“My favorite is Joe Lieberman calling him unpatriotic and other MSM idjuts declaring his actions treasonous.”
Perhaps they intended to refer to whomever was the source of the documents. I’d think it likely that whoever originated the govt. documents was somehow in a position that required a security clearance and the related responsibilities.
Years ago I had a friend who was a visiting civilian professor at Westpoint. There were a series of house break ins by youths from a nearby town. They got the surprise of their lives when they were caught and dealt with under the UCMJ.
While the originators are probably a small fish, I wouldn’t want to be in their shoes if/when identified.
They got the surprise of their lives when they were caught and dealt with under the UCMJ.
Civilians can be prosecuted under the UCMJ? Or do you just mean they were treated similarly to the way a soldier would be while being arrested and held?
When you enter a military facility (such as Westpoint) you are agreeing to abide by their rules.
I think they could have turned them over to the local police, but decided to make an example, so they got more that a wrist slapping. (Don’t know the full details, but apparently there were no more break ins for a while…)
that = than
Also, I’ve visited and stayed with friends on military bases here and abroad. Had to get a special base pass and my friends could be held accountable for any wrongdoing I did while on post as their guest.
“there are laws against revealing military and state secrets.”
The military and state are criminal organizations so why are these laws to be respected or even acknowledged?
What does the US government have to do in order to demonstrate to you that American lives are inconsequential to the government?
Are you waiting for ovens and concentration camps?
Oh my Godwin.
Police Arrested Twelve Year Old Boy for Refusing Vaccine at School
A child of twelve was charged with ‘threatening behaviour’ at his school in Bowmanville, East of Toronto last week. The arrest happened when the boy (who cannot be named for legal reasons) threw a tantrum refusing the Hepatitis B vaccine. The National Post reported (http://news.nationalpost.com/2010…) that police were brought into Ross Tilley Public School because the boy had threatened to damage the school. Unfortunately, the report failed to give the reason why the child was refusing the vaccine or what made him so angry.
Webmaster’s Commentary:
The mandated 1976 Swine Flu Vaccination killed more people than the flu did. Frankly, everyone involved with that program should have been charged with murder. But at the very least, people have an inherent right to decide what to do with their own bodies. The global dictatorship wants you to think otherwise (which is one reason for the TSA grope and STD fest at the airports), but really; do you trust the government with a needle stuck in your arm?
whatrealledhappened dot com
In an argument, the first person to make a Hitler reference, loses.
“In an argument, the first person to make a Hitler reference, loses.”
Hitler’s life is a testimony to how may things and ought never be forgotten:
The desire of the majority to support truly evil government is well documented and oft repeated since Hitler’s example.
Look at America, right or wrong Americans generally choose to refuse to check their government just like the Germans under Hitler. Even now Americans are mass murdering entire societies and enlarging their empire at great expense leading to the eventual demise of America itself.
Aw come on lint, stop beating around the bush. You know you want to post a Building 7 conspiracy theory.
Godwin’s law is a humorous observation made by Mike Godwin in 1989 which has become an Internet adage. It states: “As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.” There is a tradition in many groups that, once this occurs, that thread is over, and whoever mentioned the Nazis has automatically lost whatever argument was in progress.
‘Godwin’s law…humorous observation…Internet adage’
I’ve seen this over the years. So is it a law, an observation, an adage, or is it something people bring up to stifle discussion? Every time I see it I think about bulletin board nerds back in 89, who must be a hoot at parties.
Speaking of parties, have you heard of Ben’s Law? If you are at a party and someone puts on Dark Side of the Moon, it’s time to leave. Har har…
While Godwins law is quite humorous, to forget the atrocities of Hitler is to have them repeated in the future.
The first question everyone asked after WWII was how could the German people have allowed it to happen.
Good law. I know from personal experience. Dark Side of the Moon=buzzkill.
If he’d started with the banks, he’d be shut down by now. They only seriously went after him seriously when he said he’d be releasing info on one of the big banks.
+1
Moral of the story: Mess with the banking clan and you’re toast.
“I just wish that he’d started with the leaking of information about the banks.”
It’s all one big intermingled mess anyways…
Wikilieaks is likely a CIA front made to distract. Look for wikileaks to condemn Iran in some way which would reveal CIA involvement.
You are cukoo.
+1 RE…..
Surely you realize that no matter how ridiculous an assertion may sound that it is a sure sign of defeat when ad hominem attacks are employed as rejoinder?
Advice: address the assertion not the messenger so as to maintain credibility within intelligent communities. If your intention was to appeal to the the emotional sans logical demographic then please carry on with the ad hominem attacks as said rejoinders requires no thought whatsoever.
+1 lint, the comment by REhobbyist and scdave reminded me of those who attacked us here on HBB so long ago.
What I wanna know and is more important to me is this? Who released this selected information?
How about the government contractors responsible for the IT security?
Private first class manning stole the video from a JAG officers laptop. I’m guessing the JAG had open files shared. The other wires were pulled from somewhere. Some 3 million people have access to classified gov’t networks.
Can’t be too much of a secret, if 3 million people have access to them.
Can’t be too much of a secret, if 3 million people have access to them.
Which is the very point that one of my friends just made. He’s a retired USAF officer. He had daily access to classified info for which he didn’t have a need to know. Yet he was required to handle this info, and initial a routing slip saying that he had.
My experience has been that higher up people like managers can’t be bothered with learning how to operate in a secure environment; one can only imagine working around the polished egos of world class diplomats.
one can only imagine working around the polished egos of world class diplomats.
A relative of one of my friends did something like that. He was on the Secret Service detail for the Clinton and Bush White Houses.
Word from my friend was that her relative didn’t care for the Clintons. Apparently, they weren’t the most likable of people.
OTOH, the relative also worked on Dick Cheney’s detail, and he and Cheney got along quite well.
My experience has been that higher up people like managers can’t be bothered with learning how to operate in a secure environment; one can only imagine working around the polished egos of world class diplomats.
Security is for the little people?
As we learned a few years ago, stealing classified documents by hiding them down your pants is only OK if you are a friend of a president.
I don’t understand what you are implying. If the CIA is a front for Wikileaks, why would they want to reveal their involvement with Iran? Isn’t that counter productive?
Anonymous has already taken down a few sites.
I wonder how long before paypal is toast?
Paypal is engineered to handle high loads, so the DDoS didn’t have any effect. It came out this morning that the US gov’t pushed paypal to suspend the WikiLeaks account, though.
Wonder why they went after Mastercard but left Visa alone. Wasn’t Visa the first to refuse service? Or is MC easier to take down because its a smaller network?
Hah! Later in the day, Visa gets hit!
(as reported on CNBC)
The mainstream media is giving huge amounts of time to wikileaks which evidences to me that wikileaks is useful to the ministry of propaganda referred to as abccbsnbcfox.
Remember, abccbsnbcfox promotes whatever their paying customers(not you) want them to promote.
Who are the paying customers?
Watch the commercials.
“The mainstream media is giving huge amounts of time to wikileaks which evidences to me that wikileaks is useful to the ministry of propaganda referred to as abccbsnbcfox.”
No, it is a good indication that wikileaks has high entertainment value. The media is in business to make money.
Exactly.
Catering to their advertisers is secondary.
“…on Friday the 13th…”
Talk about tempting fate!
http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/boehner-to-protect-the-fed/
The Fed’s new protector: John Boehner and Wall Street’s Establishment GOP lackeys.
assuming Boehner wants to protect the fed ( i’m not convinced ) it will be an interesting battle between old and new guard.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_50/b4207035613107.htm
I loved this quote
“The prospect has Wall Street, Fed officials, and even Republican House leaders worried that Paul’s agenda could roil the markets and make a mockery of the U.S. financial system.”
Hasn’t the US financial system made a mockery of itself.
Much like, “But we need to keep the talent!”
Boner and Mitch da B*tch allegiances do not lie with the voters but we already knew that.
Cramdowns for all and to all a good night!
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Fannie-Freddie-in-talks-with-rb-2324264407.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=5&asset=&ccode=
That’s some top notch reporting there. The GSEs guaranteed loans in the vast majority of foreclosures they are involved in. By the time they get the house, the FBs have been gone for a year, maybe longer.
“The report also said the government is pressuring both mortgage companies to join a program run by the Federal Housing Administration that allows banks and other creditors, which agree to write down mortgages, to hand off the reduced loans to the FHA.”
I suspect that GSE will be the only other “creditor” to do those writedowns, no matter how allowed they are. We already know that banks won’t do it.
I still like my plan of making mortgages partially dischagable in BK court. No way should the FB get off scot-free since the FB was stupid enough to buy the McMansion. Nor should the banks get 100 cents on the dollar from the taxpayer, since it was the banks who were dumb enough to extend the loan.
Ben –
I’m curious whether your ground-level impression is that there is an under-reported physical deterioration issue with all these vacant (non-owner-occupied) houses sitting in the shadow-inventory limbo between buyer departure and foreclosure?
In this neck of the woods winter is the big bugaboo for unoccupied houses. There are a couple of see through houses in the neighborhood. A few days of subzero weather is guaranteed to freeze pipes if the heat hasn’t been left on.
‘physical deterioration issue…the shadow-inventory limbo between buyer departure and foreclosure’
There is much less of a time span these days, from what I see. It still takes too long, but there is more urgency to get the houses on the market. As for the GSE thing; I spoke with a UHS recently who said a short sale was rejected at $500k. The house was then listed at around $350k, and sold for $280k. She was really confused until I asked if it had changed hands to a GSE while this was going on. It had, and I explained that the original lender probably got more from Fannie Mae than the $500k offer (you have to take second liens, etc, into account).
But yeah, right now I see houses frozen, serious pipe damage, windows broken out by kids who use the place to party, “mortgagee neglect”, as they call it. It’s pretty much SNAFU in the foreclosure world IMO.
What a joke!
From Foreclosure mess: Much bigger than you thought
“in various government modification programs whose graduates have been defaulting at a rate of 50 percent a year”
Why is it a joke? I think that 50% is a pretty reasonable droput rate. HAMP is separating the wheat from the chaff. There’s just a whole lot more chaff out there than everybody (except HBB) thought.
Why is it a joke?
For one, my LL is among the wheat. They own 3 houses, the biggest and nicest is the one they live in. The one I rent from them received a work out even though they bought it for $150k refied it up to $290k and didn`t pay the mortgage for 1 year collecting rent the whole time. A friend of mine is working on another “wheat” house that the owner has not lived in for 12 years, another rental with pocketed cash.
From : Foreclosure mess: Much bigger than you thought
Posted by Scott Van Voorhis
Goodman predicts Uncle Sam will eventually have to embrace mortgage write-downs - letting 11 million-plus homes slide into foreclosure will prove politically untenable to policymakers and politicians in Washington.
“You have 11.6 million units in jeopardy,” Goodman said. “That is one borrower out of every five. You can’t foreclose on one borrower in five.”
“Politically this cannot happen. Successive mortgage modification programs will be attempted until something works,” she notes in a recent report.
“…until something works…”
Like it did for Japan, right? 2010 and they’re still be buffeted by tremors of deflation.
Japan had the discipline to rough it out, and threw a whole generation under the deflation bus. In the long term it will probably be in their west interests but short term it is ugly. Here we have so much private, corporate and local govt debt not to mention a much smaller but not insignificant federal debt, all of which threatens to take out the world economy. Without massive inflation, most of it will default over the next 20 years ($56 Trillion). With inflation most of it will default over the next 20 years even if every penny is repaid. Either way, retirees and pensioners are the ones who will either end up with less actual money or less real money. Most seem to think that if they stem inflation they will keep their bounty and with deflation get substantially more buying power, but where is all that money going to come from?
Did Japan really tough it out? They lowered interest rates to zero and have run massive budget deficits for two decades now (they did get some nice new infrastructure out of it though).
History shows that inflation is the favorite choice of governments everywhere when they can no longer borrow to pay the bills.
Oh well, I wasn’t planning on ever retiring anyway.
As if you had a choice…..
And not a dime for Renters……we have to be responsible…..we cant live free for a year or more.
Ill bet 1/2 the peeps standing in line at 3 am black friday have free mortgages
+ one.
I see lots of empty houses with dead lawns in my friendly little burg. Someone is foreclosing and evicting the deadbeats.
Specuvestors are self-evicting.
The places were owner occupied in most cases. There wasn’t a lot of appreciation out here this past decade (there was a tidy bit in the 90’s though).
These are house on the “walk the dog route” and they were well cared for while occupied. Unlike the horror stories I hear on this board almost all the houses in my neighborhood are owner occupied. No section 8 tenants, etc. Very stable neighborhood. But I don’t see nor have I heard of anyone in the neighborhood getting away without paying the mortgage.
The empties are few and far between, maybe 5 or 6 in a neighborhood of 400 houses. Granted, I don’t know everyone so I can’t vouch that no one is mooching. What I do know is that new vehicle purchases are way down in my little corner of the world as the ubiquitous temporary paper tags have become a rare sight, so I guess that maybe people are skipping the new F-350 or whatever their dream car is and are paying the mortgage instead.(my personal theory is that the overpowerd pickup truck is the American version of the sportscar, but that’s another story).
(my personal theory is that the overpowerd pickup truck is the American version of the sportscar, but that’s another story)
It is kind of a redneck sports car, I guess. I think a lot of people who enjoy nice vehicles would like to be in a nice vehicle every day rather than drive a beater every day and only get the nice vehicle out on weekends. But there are plenty who do the opposite, too. All I know for sure is that I enjoy fast cars (rather than pretty cars) and if I have one I want to drive it every time I drive. So I can sympathize with them a little bit, except I think it’s stupid to spend that much of your income that way. I did it when I was young and dumb, but then I grew up.
Bought a cheap pickup truck back in August. It sits in the hangar mostly, but when you need to haul something….
Because of my work schedule, I have to work personal projects on the times when I’m free. I’m lucky when I can plan something a couple of days ahead of time. I can’t tell you how many projects I’ve had to defer, or have come to a screeching halt, because I needed to haul something big/heavy, and had no way to do it.
All I know for sure is that I enjoy fast cars (rather than pretty cars) and if I have one I want to drive it every time I drive.
What do you think of the recent Pontiac GTO (the rebadged Holden Monaro)? It’s not much to look at but I’ve seen low mileage 2006’s in the mid to upper teens. 400 HP and 4 wheel independent suspension.
The other day I was expecting UPS to deliver a package at home, and the driver usually swings by around 6 PM.
So I’m up in my upstairs home office when I hear the familiar rumble of the UPS truck’s diesel engine. I peek out the window and see one of the neighbors drive by in his shiny, never been on a worksite, diesel pickup truck (these are white collar folks).
So why exactly is having a vehicle that sounds like a UPS truck supposed to be cool?
So why exactly is having a vehicle that sounds like a UPS truck supposed to be cool?
A question that I’d like to ask of my fellow Tucsonans. Having a loud pickup truck is quite the fashion here.
I guess our Tucson pickup cowboys think all that noise is cool. But when I hear ‘em drive by, I think of the air force flyboys going overhead, and how easy it would for them to drop some ordnance and boom! halt that dang truck noise.
The diesel give it the “big rig” feel, which is important to certain BJ and the Bear wannabes.
An think how much money they will save, running that diesel on french fry grease.
What do you think of the recent Pontiac GTO (the rebadged Holden Monaro)? It’s not much to look at but I’ve seen low mileage 2006’s in the mid to upper teens. 400 HP and 4 wheel independent suspension.
I like them. I’m not really a muscle car guy (and to me they’re just a big muscle car), but I have a lot of respect for GM motors. The interior is pretty nice for a GM car, too. I saw one of the last year G8s out at the circle drags a few weeks ago and it came closer to staying with the new Z06 that it was next to than I’d expected. I have a friend that supercharged one up to the “pretty darn fast” level and it seemed to respond really well to that (11.3@124@5280+).
Would I buy one? No, I like AWD too much. Would I beat the crap out of somebody else’s for fun if they’d let me? Definitely.
So why exactly is having a vehicle that sounds like a UPS truck supposed to be cool?
Besides the guys that are excited by feeling “Heavy Duty”, the diesels are good for modifying to make huge amounts of power. Being a car guy, I get that…except that it makes the vehicle less reliable which is the whole point of having a heavy duty commercial-quality work vehicle in the first place. But if I had one for whatever reason, I probably wouldn’t be able to resist the urge to fool with it a bit. A friend of mine had a Duramax that would outrun my 12.6 car at the dragstrip. Still freaks me out a little bit.
Back when I owned a boat, I had a Full Sized Club Cab 3/4 ton GMC 4X4. God what a ponderous beast to drive.
Give me a mid sized well powered sedan any day.
But it is really just the sound. You could make a noise generator that sounds like a big diesel, and attach it to a Smart car for example.
You could get a generator that sounds like the flying cars on the Jetsons, and attach it to a Prius. Those things can be really quiet.
“Besides the guys that are excited by feeling “Heavy Duty”, the diesels are good for modifying to make huge amounts of power. Being a car guy, I get that…except that it makes the vehicle less reliable which is the whole point of having a heavy duty commercial-quality work vehicle in the first place.”
If you’ve ever seen the connecting rods in a Cummins 5.9L diesel engine you would realize they can take massive power upgrades. The transmission, at least in my Dodge, not so much.
Don’t ask me how I know.
i like em. F250 turbo diesel 3/4 ton and 20mpg!!!!!!
If you’ve ever seen the connecting rods in a Cummins 5.9L diesel engine you would realize they can take massive power upgrades.
Yeah, I know. But guys start putting in big sequential twin turbos and pumping in a bunch of extra propane and nitrous and eventually stuff breaks just like all hotrod projects. Problem is I have yet to see anybody pay a couple hundred bucks for a junkyard motor and be back in business. Every guy I’ve seen that pushed to catastrophic failure then spent 5 figures to get back on the road. Usually these are guys that live month to month anyway, so the big hit goes right on the credit card or heloc. These are the guys getting hit hardest when housing stopped going up, because their work also slowed down at the same time their credit got cut off.
“Ill bet 1/2 the peeps standing in line at 3 am black friday have free mortgages”
I know plenty of people who haves jobs and who pay the mortgage who stand in those insane lines. And it was COLD this year in my neck of the woods. When I ask people why they do it, I’m told:
1) It’s fun
2) They save money.
Go figure.
Is there a hard-to-get item this year? In the past, like in the year of the Wii’s first release, the standing in line was about the sport of the “get”. That often meant people that didn’t need the sale prices were out there in force making sure their kids/grandkids had the latest “must have”.
I haven’t heard of any hard to get, must have fads this year. I guess there is hope for us still.
Someone is missing a big-time business opportunity.
Setting up webcams at all the “50 per store” displays on Black Friday. Backyard Wrestling at it’s finest. Nothing is as entertaining as watching a couple of grannys rolling around on the floor, fighting over the last XBox.
That’s my argument for sleeping in on Black Friday. It’s fun, and I save money.
Then we may as well all bite the bullet, buy that house and make a couple of payments (if that), then start defaulting. After all, why shouldn’t the prudent get in on the game.?
House in Jupiter Farms engulfed in flames; Fire Rescue: ‘Everybody got out’
By Cynthia Roldan Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 6:56 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2010
Fire-Rescue teams are trying to control a house fire in Jupiter Farms, where a 3,000-square foot home is engulfed in flames, according to Palm Beach Fire-Rescue dispatch.
Nearly 15 rescue teams responded to the call from the home owner that the home, at the 10400 block of 154th road, had caught fire.
Fire-rescue dispatch says all of the residents were able to get out.
My beloved comments
Dont worry our gold plated fire dept will save the slab.
So
7:01 AM, 12/8/2010
Jupiter Farms is FULL of empty Foreclosed houses.
Some with the peoples belongings still left inside.
Several have been broken in to and stripped of everything inside.
The Bank Foreclosure FRAUD is rampant, yet none prosecuted.
There are going to be many many more empty houses and prices are going continue to plummet.
WELCOME TO THE DEPRESSION
EMPTYHOUSE
7:38 AM, 12/8/2010
Dont worry our gold plated fire dept will save the slab.
So
7:01 AM, 12/8/2010
Updated: 9:37 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2010
Jupiter Farms home a total loss after being engulfed in flames; no one injured
“Dont worry our gold plated fire dept will save the slab.”
“Nearly 15 rescue teams responded”
All this for a 3000 sq footer?
As compared to, say, the mid-20th century and before, fire companies are not as busy as they once were. That’s because there aren’t as many fires these days.
What they are quite busy with is medical-related calls. And that’s a nationwide trend — fewer fire calls, more medical-related calls.
But, be that as it may, fire companies still have the fire-fighting equipment. And, being the adrenaline junkies that they are, they’ve gotta use it!
“Nearly 15 rescue teams responded”
I could have responded with a half full bladder and saved the slab.
So was it arson?
Someone explain to me why the big huff with democrats and Obama and the “tax cuts” compromise.
Today -
Democrats control the White House
Democrats control the congress by a margin of 50 votes
Democrats control the senate by 18 votes
They can pass/stop ANYTHING they want.
Yet somehow this is being portrayed as Obama being pushed into a corner and making the best deal he could. That if he didn’t make this deal Republicans would just roll right over him and give him nothing he (or the dems) want.
I don’t get it.
‘They can pass/stop ANYTHING they want’
There are some things they can’t do. like wiretaps without court permission:
‘A judge threw a “unique and extraordinary” lawsuit out of court Tuesday, leaving open the question of whether the U.S. government can legally target American citizens for death abroad without a trial…Bates said the case raised “stark and perplexing questions,” such as why the government needed court permission to wiretap Americans abroad but not, apparently, to kill them.’
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/12/07/lawsuit.al.awlaki/
No, 2banana, you are assuming that the Democrats are a monolith like the Repubs have become. Dems can pass things easily in the House but not in the Senate. Five Dems refused to vote to keep tax cuts for those making less than $250,000, far short of the 60 votes required to prevent a filibuster. Back when the original Bush tax cut was passed, several Dems crossed party lines to vote for it (back then it only needed 51 votes because Dems rarely filibustered but got 53.)
Repubs are far more determined to block Dems than Dems were in the past. I think Obama had it right when he said that tax cuts for the wealthy are the Holy Grail of the Republican Party.
You said, “they can pass/stop anything they want.” You’re only half right. They can stop anything they want. They can’t pass anything they want. I predict that in 2010 almost nothing will pass. And that may not be a bad thing.
2010 is almost over. I presume you meant 2011.
And yes, gridlock will be good.
I think tax cuts for the wealthy is a bit smoke screen to get us all looking the wrong direction.
I had a conversation with a relatives husband (fisherman) some years back. He was telling me about someone he met who earned (gasp) $50K a year. Can you imaging he asked. I bit my tongue and thought to myself how horrible it would be to have to live of $50K a year again… “The Rich” is all relative, but regardless, the matter is really irrelevant to the bigger picture.
“..live off $50K a year again..”
I’m living that dream. It sucks.
Can you explain that? Why is the issue of tax cuts for the rich a smoke screen?
Obviously it is the single most important issue we face as a nation. It certainly has everyone riled up and all…
If you live in a house in the sticks (including several acres of sticks) that was paid off by great-grandaddy, don’t bother with dental care, grow and can some of your food, and operate in the underground economy which involves mostly barter and cash-money, you can do VERY well on $50K a year. It’s the homesteader way of life, and there are hundreds of books on the subject.
I can either work full time living off the grid, or I can work at something I’m good at.
I did my “sharecropping” growing up. Not interested in doing it again.
As a single person, I can live VERY good on $50K in the CITY.
At least in my city.
For a family, not so much.
Here in San Diego not much fun. We have done it.
“As a single person, I can live VERY good on $50K in the CITY.
At least in my city.
For a family, not so much.”
I’ve been both north and south of the $50K threshold during my life. I find I like being on the northern side (no sh!t, sherlock).
One thing I have ALWAYS done though is save money regardless of my current pay grade. Living below your means is crucial (another no sh!t, sherlock). It’s amazing to me how many people don’t follow it.
But if your means just barely pays for the basics, there is no savings.
And if you happen to have also been laid off several times over the last 30 years due you job going offshore, there isn’t savings either.
Combine the 2 and you now know how several million people got there despite “the best laid plans of mice and men.”
You’re absolutely right eco. My experience was based on full-time employment which is becoming less available to us all. I see cracks in the foundation everywhere I look.
2banana, you’re “Dems control the government” talking point is SO-O-O-O late 2009. Even Rush has moved on. Quit it.
Obama was pushed into a corner by the Republicans who, in lockstep, said, “If you don’t keep the tax cuts on the wealthy, we’ll cut off money for the unemployed.” Tax cuts on the wealthy, mind you. If the Republicans really wanted tax cuts on the middle class, they would have voted for it last week.
Obama’s phrasing of “taking hostages” was entirely correct. Dems are angry because they know that if Obama saves THIS hostage, the Republicans will just take another hostage and make more threats. Because that’s what they will do until they get ALL the money that their campaign donors tell them to get.
Mighty Mike, to answer your question: the tax cuts are a smokescreen to cover another part of the so-called “deal.” Obama wants a one-year payroll tax cut as well, to be taken from Social Security. This would temporarily create a little stimulus. however, it’s ANOTHER “temporary” tax cut for the Republicans to fight for when THAT temporary tax cut comes up a year from now. At that point, the Republicans (controlling the House) will now take the American workforce “hostage” the same way: Mr. Pres, if you let don’t let us keep that payroll tax cut, we’ll paint you as raising taxes, jobs will be cut, sky will fall in, etc.
It’s also a backdoor beginning to dismantling of Social Security, which Republicans have been trying to ditch since the New Deal. What do they care if Granny is out on the street eating cat food? Obviously, she didn’t “work hard” enough.
Republicans in general seem to have selective amnesia.
Why does the Social Security system exist? Because the “free market” prefers that Granny eat cat food.
It doesn’t even have to go back that far. Repubs spent THE ENTIRE PAST YEAR railing about the Debt and the Deficit and We’re Going Bankrupt and The Sky Is Falling. 9It was the only Some rich folks even bought a Superbowl ad to that effect. But when it comes to increasing the debt for their tax cuts? Suddenly it’s OK. It’s so okay we’ll even buy Congress to filibuster for it.
We live in a hypocritocracy.
It’s also a backdoor beginning to dismantling of Social Security, which Republicans have been trying to ditch since the New Deal. What do they care if Granny is out on the street eating cat food? Obviously, she didn’t “work hard” enough.
it is tough to keep tabs on this blog. Maybe I need a program.
On one end I get comments that Republicans and Democrats are exactly the same and want to spend, spend, spend and grow government to infinity.
On the other hand I get Republican are wicked and evil and want to cut, cut, cut all government programs - especially if it involves throwing grandma in the street and starving children.
“…..Republicans are wicked and evil, and want to cut, cut, cut,…….”
Sounds pretty much like all my Republican relatives. And I’ve got a bunch of them.
They also complain about how we would have stayed out of WWII if it wasn’t for that effing Roosevelt. But they think having the US sign up for a 50 year plan to drag Afghanistan into the 19th Century is a good idea.
Conveniently ignoring the relative wealth that this country acquired because of the war, eh?
Banana, don’t forget the “I won’t pay for someone else’s health care” crowd. So not only is grandma in the street and the kids are starving, but mom is home suffering in pain because she can’t afford to go to a dentist.
(A few years ago, the charity Remote Area Medical gave free root canals to the Appalachian poor in the horse barn at a county fairgrounds in rural Virginia. Yeah, American citizens waiting up to a year to get dental care in an animal stall.)
(A few years ago, the charity Remote Area Medical gave free root canals to the Appalachian poor in the horse barn at a county fairgrounds in rural Virginia. Yeah, American citizens waiting up to a year to get dental care in an animal stall.)
Which is described in Wendell Potter’s new book, Deadly Spin.
Every time I hear some numbskull say the poor in this country have it better than other countries, I want want drag the SOB out of the city and into the back country.
Or just down to the nearest ghetto… and then leave them after dark.
eco,
Yes, there are poor in this country, but
unless you’ve traveled overseas and seen
some of the abject poverty there don’t try
to compare the two. Our poor are rich compared to poor in 2nd and 3rd world countries.
Seriously, get out in your own country more often. We just hide it better.
Much in the same way you accuse everyone here of “class warfare” as you carp on daily about hourly pulbic union workers pensions and benefits.
BananaBread…. your hypocrisy knows no bounds.
Let’s not forget the tax breaks for sending jobs offshore.
You know, the ones the Repubs successfully voted TO KEEP.
The bunch that likes to persecute people who need welfare.
Here’s an interesting take on a “shadow rental inventory” problem in commercial RE.
This time around, many companies laid off staff but did not let go of the space. That has left much “shadow space” that is leased but unused. It doesn’t show up in the vacancy rate.
Although not an exact science, shadow space can add another 5.0 to 7.0 percentage points to the current 16.6 percent vacancy rate, Jones said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6B727T20101208
There has never been a better time to extend and pretend.
The HBB will get a kick out of this!
Does this only include paid-off homeowners or anybody with a neg am loan?
What a knucklehead.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20101206/pl_ac/7348944_tea_partys_judson_phillips_advocates_property_ownership_as_voting_prerequisite
“If you’re a property owner, you actually have a vested stake in the community.”
This was probably true 15 years ago.
+1 Ha! Take a bike ride with me and I’ll show you tons of homeownazz who can’t even shovel their snow or clean the leaves out of their nearest sewer.
Spending HELOC money on tee vees doesn’t do much for the community.
there is no community where I live.It’s like the truman show.
OK, Bill in Tampa, here’s a question for you. You don’t vote on principle. Would it bother you if your voting rights were taken from you because you rent?
That was the law a long time ago. You had to own real estate - or have a big savings account - in order to vote back in the early days of the country.
Maybe Bill doesn’t vote because he doesn’t want to show up on a jury pool.
They go off driver’s license lists nowadays, not voter registration. But I think Bill keeps an Arizona license(?) So he gets to avoid jury duty that way.
So here’s my question. Would it bother you (Bill) if you were arrested and weren’t granted a jury trial?
“So here’s my question. Would it bother you (Bill) if you were arrested and weren’t granted a jury trial?”
I have been arrested and never even asked for
one. And the way all those peers are looking today, I am not sure I would want a jury that consisted of them. You get some bad peers and you might be looking at some serious time.
Jeff, I would love to hear the story. A good narrative beats political/social arguments to hell.
Unfortunately it`s not just one story, it was 6 here in the states and one for six joints that were not even mine in the Bahamas. All bar fights with misdemeanor charges and 1 driving under the influence. All the fights before I turned 23, the Bahamas trip when I was 24 and the DUI at 27 right before I went to rehab. The only funny story I can tell is when I was 36 and filling out the application and background check to be a little league coach in Palm Beach Gardens. Most of the other dads were lawyers , some doctors and professional types. When the 2 ladies who ran the league and the meeting got to the part of the application that asked “Have you ever been arrested” I had to raise my hand and say, I need more paper. They only had 2 small lines. Afterwords they laughed about it. I passed the background check and coached in that league for 9 years.
Our Rural upstate SC county of Abbeville has a total population of less then 25K . We have 13 fully equipped fire Depts scattered through out this small and sparsely populated county . most firemen are vollonter , but all the rolling equitment is top-notch , almost brand new . 90% plus of it was paid for by uncle Sam , through some type of Homeland Security scheme . Calls are so rare , some firemen resort to set fires for some action , and end up in jail for it . What gives here ? who is making the $$$$?
I miscounted . Make that 14 stations with over 40 Pumpers and tankers ready to roll ,out of heated bays.
Now superimpose your line of logic on a huge, bloated municipality the size of LA or NYC and you will get an notion of the overcapacity and inefficiency of the largest government in the history of the USA.
Burmese Pythons have nothing on our gov in the constricting dept.
Now add in the equation some of the highest paid public union workers with insane pensions…
Where little cable cars climb halfway to the stars.
That homeland stuff was a stealth stimulus meant to help ward off the effects of the 2001-2 downturn. Since the fear lingers, so does the spending.
Along with the housing bubble, we had (and still have) a “Homeland Security” bubble.
It became obvious when the Feds started throwing around millions of dollars to buy WMD gear for all the towns/counties out in BFE.
We spend more and more, but there is less and less to protect.
IIRC, each town was given a certain amount of money to spend on what potentially could prevent a terrorist attack.
Didn’t 60 Minutes do a segment on BFE spending all this money to prevent an attack, in like the middle of Nebraska or Montana?
What gives here ?
Government keeping you safe don’t cha know ??
News service afraid of the word “debt.”
Prefers more pleasant word “credit.”
The headline: “Consumer credit jumps most in more than 2 years. . . .The Federal Reserve said Tuesday that consumer credit rose at an annual rate of $3.4 billion in October, the largest increase since a $5.7 billion gain in July 2008. Consumer credit was also up in September.”
The Fed’s measure of consumer credit covers such categories as credit card debt, student loans (debt) and auto loans (more debt). But it does not include mortgages or any other type of loan secured by real estate. Consumer Debt
> I am reminded of a story the late Zan Heyward, Sr., told of his youthful attempt to borrow money from a local banker. Heyward, the son of a South Carolina governor, found himself short of funds and dropped into a bank to secure a loan. The banker discouraged him. “It’s easy to run into debt, Zan, but if you get out you do so at a very slow walk,” said he.
With credit cards and other lines of credit it’s easier than ever to run into debt. And getting out is still a tedious and often painful process.
news service = ministry of propaganda = zero credibility = 10% distraction
News service afraid of the word “debt.”
debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt debt
Food Stamp Rolls Continue to Rise ~ WSJ ~
More people tapped food stamps to pay for groceries in September as the recession and lackluster recovery have prompted more Americans to turn to government safety net programs to make ends meet.
Some 42.9 million people collected food stamps last month, up 1.2% from the prior month and 16.2% higher than the same time a year ago, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
You think WalMart is lovin-it? The place is like a fourescent light for handout-bearing moths.
You’ve got a point, press.
There’s a time each month, I think it’s at the very end of the month, when Wal-Mart gets hordes of 11 p.m. shoppers. They take their time filling up their carts as they await the Midnight Hour.
That’s when their government assistance money is electronically transferred into their accounts. And, once the clock strikes twelve, they head up to the checkout area.
Thank you for the info, Slim! I’m planning to visit an unfamiliar Wal-Mart in a few days, and I’m glad to know that I will at least avoid the end/beginning of the month crowds.
It’s on the third of every month.
Note that food stamps come via the Dept of Agriculture.
Thank god the Repubs voted for ending tax breaks for offshoring jobs.
Oh wait… no they didn’t.
Citigroup ‘Too Interwoven’ to Fail, Chairman Says. ~ CNBC.com
Citigroup remains too “interwoven” to fail even after the government has plowed billions into rescuing the banking titan and Congress has passed laws taking aim at financial behemoths, Citi Chairman Richard Parsons told CNBC.
“It’s not a question of too big to fail,” Parsons said in a live interview. “It’s a question of too interwoven in the fabric of the global financial life to fail.”
Exempt from reality. A “fantasy clause” forgotten by the Constitution.
I’d say that was a huge argument for immediately breaking it up. If their Chairman admits they are a systematic risk to the entire economy, get in there and dig that sucker out!
+eleventy billion
Agree. Where’s Teddy Roosevelt when we need him?
“It’s not a question of too big to fail,” Parsons said in a live interview. “It’s a question of too interwoven in the fabric of the global financial life to fail.”
Got that, PBear? The new acronym is TIITFOTGFLTF.
Hilarious, Lehigh!
Citi Group. The same guys that wrote the “Plutonomy Report” saying our consumer driven economy doesn’t need… consumers.
If they really are “…too interwoven in the fabric of the global financial life…” then we have already failed.
If silver is “the poor man’s gold,” what does the really poor man do if he can’t afford silver?
Try copper! Copper has a long history as a popular, but minor, coin. The lowly U.S. cent was composed of 95 percent copper until October, 1982, when the mint switched to cheap zinc coated with a thin veneer of copper. Any cent minted prior to 1982 contains almost 3¢ worth of copper at today’s prices. One 50¢ roll of 95% copper cents = $1.50.
The nickel is another circulating coin that is worth more for its metal than its face value. Presently just over 6¢.
If the prices rise far enough holders of these coins will be tempted to sell them at their melt value, although the U.S. government says that’s unlawful. The question that has never really been tested before the U.S. Supreme Court is - - if the U.S. Mint sells coins at face value, pocketing the profit between manufacturing costs and selling price, how can it still lay claim to the thing it sold?
Gresham’s law is commonly stated: “Bad money drives out good”, but is more accurately stated: “Bad money drives out good if their exchange rate is set by law.”
This law applies specifically when there are two forms of commodity money in circulation which are required by legal-tender laws to be accepted as having similar face values for economic transactions. The artificially overvalued money tends to drive an artificially undervalued money out of circulation [1] and is a consequence of price control.
Gresham’s law is named after Sir Thomas Gresham (1519–1579), an English financier during the Tudor dynasty. However, the law had been stated forty years before by Nicolaus Copernicus, so in parts of central and eastern Europe it is known as the Copernicus Law. The phenomenon had been noted even earlier, in the 14th century, by Nicole Oresme. The fact of bad money being used in preference to good money is also noted by Aristophanes in his play The Frogs, which dates from around the end of the 5th century BC.
Fascinating stuff, cactus. There really is nothing new under the sun.
And aluminum cans! Collect those too. And what about paper clips? There is metal in them too!
Because you don’t “own” money. You are renting it.
I saw that happen in Mexico in the early 70s. The 20 centavo coin, affectionately known back then as a “veinte” was roughly the size of an American quarter and was made of mostly copper. They were used in payphones in Mexico City at the time: 1 local call for a veinte.
To make a long story short: hyper inflation kicked in and the veintes vanished almost overnight. This of course made the payphones non operational. The mint down there came out with a replacement for the veinte, which was small and not made of copper. During the interim while the payphones (which were all TelMex property) were refitted to accept the new coins TelMex allowed people to use them for free.
Citigroup remains too “interwoven” to fail even after the government has plowed billions into rescuing the banking titan and Congress has passed laws taking aim at financial behemoths, Citi Chairman Richard Parsons told CNBC.
“It’s not a question of too big to fail,” Parsons said in a live interview. “It’s a question of too interwoven in the fabric of the global financial life to fail.”
Speaking as Citi (NYSE:C - News) prepares to shed its government stake, which was as high as $45 billion when the bank teetered on the brink of disaster during the financial crisis, Parsons said maintaining huge financial conglomerates is in the interest of the US economy.
The Treasury Department has priced 2.4 billion shares of Citi at $4.35 a share, which will end its stake in the bank.
Parsons said allowing Citi to fail previously or in the future would be akin to having “the heart, the pump of the economic system fail because then everybody else dies.”
“It’s probably the most important private financial institution for maintaining our economic strength and presence around the world. You can’t let an institution like that go down,” he said.
Some 95 percent of the Fortune 500 companies are clients of Citi, he added.
No need to control costs gov has your back, no need to make prudent loans gov has your back, no need to report honest numbers gov has your back.
Gov could have taken over citi, run it and then sold it off in pieces to the private sector. The stock holders and bond holders would have taken massive losses as they should have. Tax payer would have made money. Bankers left standing who didn’t bet the farm would have purchased pieces of citibank and grown.
I mean if Citi is really too big to fail and gov will always bail them out then gov should just take them over and run them. Do away with the high priced CEO class.
“…..run it and then sold off the pieces…..”
Precisely. But that would be “socialism”.
Failure has been subsidized. So, you get more of it.
Socialism for the rich. No-holds-barred capitalism for the rest of us.
Looks like buying Countrywide wasn’t such a good idea after all:
BofA’s Countrywide deal called train wreck
From the story:
“BofA has taken $5.5 billion in write-offs on its $4 billion purchase of the mortgage lender. And the bank is swamped with the clean-up efforts at the former Countrywide. The bank’s top brass has said that the credit quality of Countrywide’s mortgages was a lot worse than anticipated.”
[Slim interjects: And no one saw this bad credit quality coming, right? I mean, it was completely unexpected!]
“BofA now has 1.3 million mortgage borrowers who are more than 60 days late, the Washington Post reports. The bank has 195,000 customers who haven’t paid on their mortgages in two years, with 56,000 of those loans on houses that are vacant.”
[Slim strikes again: Yup, I can see it now. The termites eating those vacant houses will start paying the mortgages.]
They weren’t worried about the ticking sound that Countrywide was making the entire time they were in negotiations, I guess.
They were worried. BofA was bullied into taking Countrywide, same time that JPMorgan was forced to take WaMu, etc. No Countrywide, no bailout.
“Countrywide was a garbage bin,” Dick Bove, an analyst with Rochdale Securities, told the Washington Post.
I wonder about that purported wikileaks stuff about BoA…could they include messages from Barney Frank pressuring BofA into buying Countrywide? Even back then it seemed a real stupid acquisition. It would be interesting to see if the government blackmailed BofA into a purchase/bailout of Countrywide.
Guess there never were any “friends of Angelo”. Just suckers.
Where can I get job that I can make billion dollar mistakes and still get a damn bonus?!
Poor Bernake whats he going to do now?
The sharp rise in bond yields potentially could blunt the impact of the fiscal thrust from the tentative bipartisan tax deal. The 10-year Treasury yield is up a sharp 70 basis points, which is likely to push a 30-year fixed-rate conventional mortgage back toward 5% from 4.67%. Historically low mortgage rates did little to stimulate housing, and refinancings have slowed already.
States and localities, already reeling under budget pressures, hardly need higher borrowing costs. Every basis point rise in Treasury yields also translates into real bucks with trillion-dollar-plus deficits. Only corporations, which already having taken advantage of ultra-low borrowing costs and are flush with cash anyway, would be immune from an uptick in bond yields.
That would be about the time to let the interest rates rise.
CRUSH the states and force them to
Sell all of their assets and privatize all of their services.
“….privatize all their services.”
By selling everything to the Banksters, Hedgies, and Private Equity Nimrods with money given to them by Joe Q Taxpayer.
So, we pay for the service three times.
“Poor Bernake whats he going to do now?”
QE3, followed by more bond purchases?
(BTW, it’s Bernanke — rhymes with ‘hanky-panky,’ not ‘bear-snake.’)
I just placed a bet on that very line of thinking PB.
Advice would be appreciated HBB experts… Here is the situation. We bought a commercial property at the county auction. We had pulled the docs at the county clerk’s office prior to the auction. There were 2 prior mortgages; one was $130k, the other for $300K from GE Capital. It had a $61K IRS lien and unpaid property taxes of $55k. We paid $165 + 9% buyers premium. The building was left open and unsecured, filled with refuse in 2 key areas.. The owner signed off and gave us access and keys to the property. We cleaned up the refuse, fixed the leak, and secured the facility. It is a most gorgeous facility-HUGE fireplace floor to ceiling, great kitchen, huge training room, sauna, amazing really high end bathrooms, and the ability to flex the facility 3 different ways for rent purposes and a flow that is even super for just one. We just got notified that there is a 3rd mortgage holder, a non bank SBA lender, which was NOT listed on the county clerk’s docs on the property. This new 3rd lender has informed the city that they were not given notification of the sale or of intent to sell and that they were in the middle of foreclosure proceedings on the property when the city sold the property. We understand that the city will have to give us our money back plus interest… That is not an issue. The city has stated they would not litigate over this. The question is we really like the property-what are our options and how long can this process take to clear up. We would not want it without clear title and do not want to be involved in litigation. We would just want to deal with the new 3rd party that is contesting the sale so possible we could still get the property. Advice wanted……
Thank you in advance
SUGuy
Sounds like you got suckered in to cleaning it up for free. That sucks. Same thing happened to a young coulple who tried to buy the house accross the street. They somehow got suckered into cleaning, painting, fixing the roof, even landscaping. Then the deal fell through somehow. Now more than eight months later the place sits empty, rotting, with no lookers even.
Just hope and pray the refuse *you* disposed of isn’t hazardous under RCRA. If it was, the other creditor is the very least of your problems.
Welcome to New York’s brownfields
Huge issues - get a lawyer.
One mis-step and you could lose both the property and your money…
Wasn’t there title insurance on this purchase? This is exactly what title insurance is for. THEY would deal with/pay off the 3rd mortgage holder.
Also, have they produced any documentation for you to see?
We just got notified that there is a 3rd mortgage holder, a non bank SBA lender, which was NOT listed on the county clerk’s docs on the property.
No title insurance barrier? It’s a little late, but buying property now is like buying a used car with Louisiana license plates 9 months after Katrina. :-/
I do not hold the title to the property yet. The county had the auction and the county has not completed the tile because they are running into problems with the third mortgage holder. The third mortgage holder is a non bank sba entity. The County is saying if they cannot get clear title they will refund my money with interest. The county attorney was going to communicate with the third lender today and call us back.
Thank you all for the wise advice
Well, if they haven’t transferred title to you, at least your money isn’t really at risk. Fingers crossed that they get everything worked out.
I’m sorry, SU. Time to get an attorney. Seems to me that he should be able to deal with the third lender. How big was the loan?
Thank you again. The county employees will not divulge that info yet. We will try asking them again.
If the city did not have clear title, take the money and walk. NOW.
And then send the MFSOB foreclosure company the bill for cleanup and hound them like demons from hell to pay up. With interest.
There ARE other properties out there just as nice. It really does pay to be patient.
And then send the MFSOB foreclosure company
Eco I will do my best and make you proud.
I am really sorry about that crap SUGuy.
But are you guys turning into a 3rd world country while I’m gone?
Yep the enthusiasm and work ethics are definitely deteriorating. Good customer service is also diminishing imho
Sorry, If You’ve Been Unemployed for 99 Weeks You Are Still Getting Cut-Off
CNBC | 8 Dec 2010 | John Carney
Americans who have been on unemployment benefits for a very long time might have felt a twinge of relief when they learned that the tax deal cut in Washington, DC this week would extend unemployment benefits for another 13-months.
But if those who have been on unemployment for close to the maximum time permitted in their state thought the new “extension” would keep them from getting cut off, they’ve made a mistake.
The “extension” does not extend the number of weeks on which anyone can collect unemployment. That number still stands exactly where it did before the extension.
In five states with the least joblessness, the unemployed can collect for sixty weeks. In 23 other states, workers can collect for between 73 and 93 weeks. In the 25 worst hit states, unemployment compensation is available for 99 weeks.
But if the number of weeks hasn’t been extended, what has? What has been extended is the “emergency unemployment compensation” program which created a multi-tier system for unemployment beyond the usual twenty-six week cap.
So much for people being on UE for the rest of their lives as some hysterics on this board have boldly proclaimed.
True, they have to shift to the Welfare program for that.
If they qualify
Yep, they’ll have to go on welfare for five years and then commit suicide instead.
Not so fast. What do you think the government will do when everyone has reached 99 weeks? (which will happen).
Tell them to get jobs? Nah. Hire them to do massive public works projects? Nah. Steal my money and give it to them? Sounds likely.
By then Sister Sarah will be prez. She’ll tell them to get a job.
More likely they’ll move into a relative’s basement and get whatever P/T income they can find.
“…..get whatever P/T income they can find.”
For the rest of their lives.
“So much for people being on UE for the rest of their lives as some hysterics on this board have boldly proclaimed.”
Unlike some large corporations who receive tax breaks for decades.
Well it was good cover to push through tax cuts for the elite.
Well it was good cover to push through tax cuts for the elite.
yep
Yep.
And diverting attention away from the GOP successfully voting against ending tax breaks for offshoring jobs.
‘There’s got to be life out there.’”
I am sure there is, my question…
Are they paying their mortgage?
Evidence for ET is mounting daily, but not proven
By SETH BORENSTEIN AP
5 hours ago
WASHINGTON — Lately, a handful of new discoveries make it seem more likely that we are not alone — that there is life somewhere else in the universe.
In the past several days, scientists have reported there are three times as many stars as they previously thought. Another group of researchers discovered a microbe can live on arsenic, expanding our understanding of how life can thrive under the harshest environments. And earlier this year, astronomers for the first time said they’d found a potentially habitable planet.
“The evidence is just getting stronger and stronger,” said Carl Pilcher, director of NASA’s Astrobiology Institute, which studies the origins, evolution and possibilities of life in the universe. “I think anybody looking at this evidence is going to say, ‘There’s got to be life out there.’”
They aren’t making any more universes.
As to whether there is ET life I am an “agnostic”. If they find it, that’s cool, if not, oh well.
Unless we find ET life in our solar system we will probably never know for certain as it seems unlikely that we’ll ever be able to travel to another star system (unless someone discovers Warp Drive). And I suppose that our scientists will be reduced to accepting its existance as a matter of faith (unless we find it in our solar neighborhood).
CO,
Weren’t you brought up in an evan~ household?
Nope, all my sibs converted to fundyism in their early adulthood.
We need Warp Drive pronto, so they can sell all our excess crapshacks to Alpha Centaurians.
You know what they say in the Klingon Empire:
“Buy DaH joq taH priced pa’reH”
The universe is huge enough that there’s boud to be plenty of intelligent life out there. The universe is huge enough that we’re very unlikely to ever hear from them.
Especially when they see how screwed up humans are.
Earth = East St. Louis.
“Roll up the windows, Mildred……we’re getting outta here as fast as we can”
Got that right.
We know there is intelligent life out there because they haven’t contacted us.
“The universe is huge enough that we’re very unlikely to ever hear from them.”
Good. Then we won`t have to bail them out.
First contact will be ads for real estate on far away planets. Time shares, perhaps.
Maybe they would be interested in buying some bonds?
“Maybe they would be interested in buying some bonds?”
Uranus buys $14.9 tr. of US treasury bonds
By Xu Shenglan (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: Wednesday, December 8, 2018
According to statistics released by US Treasury on December 3, Uranus held $518.7 trillion worth of US treasury bonds in July, $14.9 trillion more than in June.
The growth in US bonds held by Uranus was the second peak since this January, with Uranus placed as the second largest holder of US treasuries.
The data showed that Mars remains the largest holder, increasing its bonds by $9.6 trillion in July to $593.4 trillion. The Sun is the third largest with $290.8 trillion.
Well, life, not necessarily intelligent life as we think of it. I think the article was specifying microbes.
The real question is “is there any intelligent life here”?
Nice little debate inflation vs deflation ie schiff vs shilling.
finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/inflation-vs.-deflation-peter-schiff-and-gary-shilling-discuss-debate-and-argue-535689.html?tickers=gld,gdx,slv,^tnx,tlt,tbt,^gspc
WikiLeaks ’struck a deal with Israel’ over diplomatic cables leaks
from indaybay.org
According to new revelations, Assange had allegedly struck a deal with Israel before the recent ‘cable gate’, which may explain why the leaks “were good for Israel,” as the Israeli prime minister put it.
According to an Arabic investigative journalism website [2], Assange had received money from semi-official Israeli sources and promised them, in a “secret, video-recorded agreement,” not to publish any document that may harm Israeli security or diplomatic interests.
The sources of the Al-Haqiqa report are said to be former WikiLeaks volunteers who have left the organisation in the last few months over Assange’s “autocratic leadership” and “lack of transparency.”
Webmaster’s Commentary:
Live by the whistle blow, die by the whistle blow!
Assange is running an extortion racket with the information real whistleblowers send to him!
Please copy this link everywhere you can! Especially rub the corporate media’s nose in this one, as they are accessories.
That story has so many holes in I don’t know where to start.
According to an (UN NAMED) Arabic investigative journalism website [2], Assange had received money from semi-official (Semi official??) Israeli sources and promised them, in a “secret, video-recorded agreement,” not to publish any document that may harm Israeli security or diplomatic interests.
The sources of the Al-Haqiqa report are said to be former (un named) WikiLeaks volunteers who have left the organisation in the last few months over Assange’s “autocratic leadership” and “lack of transparency.”
This has non story written all over it.
It’s either to discredit him or to discredit the information released. Really how many wikileak volunteers did Assange tell about his secret video recorded agreement??? Seems that a smart guy like Assange wouldn’t tell anyone if he was running an extortion racket as alleged. Also how much money would they have to give assange so that he would hand them complete control of him forever. ie any story they don’t like they just pull up the video. If they want to create a story and use assange to do it they just pull up the video.
I think assange shouldn’t have released a lot of what he did but stories like those above belong in the trash bin. It’s also scarry to watch the US become China, we are heading in the wrong direction.
You have problem with Corporate Communist Capitalism©®™, comrade?
G’day, HBBers. I am just now back from an epic journey on the scale of a Great Migration, moving my elderly parents and their two cats to Florida. My little sister is now their primary caregiver. A great weight has been lifted from my shoulders.
The price of my freedom was….drumroll….I bought them a house. New construction at a price I can afford to lose (well, part of it anyway…even at resale it has to be worth something). Never thought I would end up eventually owning a second home after both parents pass on, but it was the best option for all concerned.
Flames, kudos, and expressions of disbelief are all welcome.
You do what you gotta do.
Indeed. The past 18 months have been quite an eye-opener regarding elder issues.
Anyone who thinks the retirement problem can be fixed by having parents move in with the kids, has never had their parents live with them.
House payments are cheap, compared to divorce or criminal defense attorneys.
Truer words were never spoken, X-GS!
Truer words were never spoken! You understand the issue.
Very curious. I have made two responses to your comment that went into the ether. Will the third time be the charm? Anyway, I can tell you have wisdom to impart on this topic.
I love my mom. But…..
During the “troubles” back in 2004, I had to take up temporary residence with my mother. Which reminded me why I was in a big rush to GTFOOD back when I was 18.
The best to you & yours Elanor. Hope they have welcoming neighbors. May they & their cats enjoy their new digs & they are blessed with good health. x3 Cheers for all your efforts on their behalf!
The new neighbors have already participated in a search for a missing cat that turned out to be hiding in a cubbyhole in the kitchen that we didn’t know existed.
A great icebreaker. 
Did you have to go with new construction given the zillions of unoccupied already constructed crap-shacks? Seems like we should be “recycling” the unwanted inventory, that’s all.
I’m sure the new construction wasn’t custom ordered by them. There are tons of unoccupied spec houses all over the bubble areas. You could pick up 2 year old never been occupied ‘new construction’ at this point.
The house was already scheduled to be built. We got in early enough to choose the cabinets, tile and carpeting we wanted and to have the doorways all widened for wheelchair and walker access.
I hear ya about the unsold inventory, though. Empty houses seem so sad.
Good for you for making it an Accessible house! Not only will it help your parents, but it will help the house keep its resale value for the next set of somebody’s parents.
For a state where the average age has to be well over 50, FL has a surprising lack of accessible housing. The builder was perfectly willing to eliminate the front step and widen the doors. We have to put the grab bars in ourselves or find someone to do it, but that’s not a big deal.
“The price of my freedom was….drumroll….I bought them a house.”
Your parents deserve it. They raised a good kid.
Aw, shucks, Jeff. Thank you. Wait…were you talking about me or the sister? LOL.
My mother informed me that since SHE had spent 18+ years taking care of me, it’s only fair that I now take care of HER. That was shortly before I foisted her upon my sister. Sis is fully aware of what she’s in for, of course.
Watching my parents care for my grandma (99 and no signs of dodging the estate tax) makes me hope I live healthily a decent length of time, then snuff it fairly quickly.
My retirement plan is to have a coronary or stroke 24 hours after I’m broke, or when the runs-in-the-family Alzheimer’s starts kicking in, whichever comes first.
I hope euthanasia is a valid option by the time I have to worry about it. I also hope I have the stones to opt for it. I’m not convinced that either will occur.
Hate to break it to the Republicans, but “Death Panels” already exist.
The members? Usually the attending physician(s), and the immediate family.
Having the stones to do it won’t be a problem, if your retirement option is being a senile 70 year old eating catfood, living in a refrigerator box under a highway overpass.
My current situation means that is more likely to happen than the “active retiree running a vineyard” scenario. A lot of people are even more screwed than i am, but they don’t know it, or haven’t admitted it yet.
The Middle Class is so 20th Century.
My greatest fear is that my window of opportunity will pass before I even realize it’s time to do something about living too long.
Ha, Elanor. My son is on my living will, because I think there’s a better chance of him pulling the plug than my soft, sweet husband!
At least we’re doctors - we have easy access to drugs to do ourselves in with!
I hate that argument, your mom was taken care of for 18 years by HER parents as well. She wants it coming and going….
“Wait…were you talking about me or the sister? LOL.”
Both. In a country of victims where it seems like everyone wants the government to take care of them for their own bad planning or financial mistakes. It is nice to hear about a family taking care of their own.
So your sister will be living with them? There must be a story in that, too, Elinor.
Good daughter and sister, you.
Sis lives 2 miles away via sleepy little back roads. We discussed at length having the parents live with her and BIL but when the separate house availability came up, all concerned abandoned the idea of cramming 4 people and 5 cats total under one roof.
When do you plan to stop paying the mortgage so your parents can live there free for 3 years?
Make sure they have a vaild lease so they can’t be kicked out in year 4.
Then try some short sales for year 5
Then go get a loan modification…
Dang, why didn’t I think of that?
Sadly, I hold their mortgage. They have to pay me interest every year. Since I handle their finances, it is unlikely they will forget to pay.
2banana, excellent ideas all!
That sounds like a durn good compromise, Elanor. I’m glad you finally got this worked out–and in a way that makes sense for all involved. Congratulations! May your peace of mind be its own reward.
Thank you, ahansen. It seems crazy to establish two eighty-somethings in their own brand-new home, but for our family it works out pretty well.
the company where i work in the nyc/li area has about 1500 employees, every recently married person is in a panic to buy a house still because tbey believe rates are going up.
Do they understand that when rates go up housing prices go down?
And none of them will listen to you when you explain that higher rates will likely drive prices down, net result is a wash?
And……mortgage interest is tax deductible!!!!
Gotta use terms they understand.
If I were shopping now, I’d be seriously concerned about the mortgage tax deduction going away. Yah, it’s not likely to, but if it does, it could drive prices down immediately following my purchase.
Agree. J6P will lose it, while the 2%ers will get their lawyers and accountants on the plan, buy their house via a LLC, write costs off as a business expense, then rent it to themselves.
Sometimes I think I’m too cynical. Then events prove I’m not cynical enough.
I bought a home, in Gilbert (az) up the street from a couple of the highest rated schools in phx (83% white students has a big part to do with that, schools with high spanish-speaking student pop do poorly in testing here). I paid the amount of money a buyer would have spent on the home around 1991-1993. My rate is -stupid- low and my mortgage + bills is less than I was spending on a 2 bed apartment in tempe.
I’m not particularly worried about it. The wife is happy (necessary), we are back in a house (not completely necessary, but it’s nice), and even if the market continues to take a dump here as long as rents don’t completely crash through the floor it wont feel like a completely stupid idea (similar homes in the neighborhood renting at nearly double my mortgage).
Was an interesting place too, previous owners were apparently of the flipping variety. They went through “upgrading” things like the wood floors, tile floors, and countertops, bathrooms, etc, but left the house before they completed the project. Going to need to finish installing a few hundred feet of baseboard, nice of them to leave it in the garage for me… She’s been empty awhile but was locked up tight and in a good neighborhood, so she’s clean and in good shape.
I mention that last part specifically because the last home we walked into was -beautiful-, but smelled funny (read - awful). A small investigation turned up the previous “inhabitant” was using the bathtub as a toilet in absence of running water. From the amount of effluence in the tub, and the trash/items hiding in interior rooms it was clear that someone had been living/squatting there a very long time. All this right smack dab in the middle of a nice upper middle class neighborhood.
The only thing that separates the middle class from the lower rungs of the food chain is money/income.
I hear a lot of Republican suburbanites say “How can they live like that??” It’s because lack of income limits their options. And when you grow up in that environment, you don’t know any other way. Unless you watch “Cribs” or “Housewifes of Beverly Hills”
Make that “steady and reliable money and income.”
I’m sure you can relate to that, X-GSfixr. I know I can.
U.S. States Face `Cliff’ as Stimulus End Opens $38 Billion Hole
~ Bloomberg
U.S. states are preparing for more budget cuts next year as tax revenue isn’t likely to rebound enough to replace almost $38 billion in aid that will be gone as federal economic stimulus ends, according to a report.
At least 31 states and Puerto Rico are forecasting deficits of $82.1 billion in the next fiscal year even as tax receipts are picking up, the National Conference of State Legislatures said today. Under a temporary mandate since 2009, the U.S. has provided economic aid to states, helping to pay government workers and shoulder the cost of the Medicaid program to provide health care for the poor. That aid will be gone, the group said.
“Although a recovering national economy is helping to stabilize state revenues in fiscal year 2011, serious budget challenges await state lawmakers in the new year,” the group said today in the report. “This largely stems from fewer federal stimulus funds available for next year’s budgets.”
I am surprised it`s only $38 Billion. The stimulus saved a lot of government workers jobs last year. What now?
Could someone tell me where to find this “recovering national economy”
“I am surprised it`s only $38 Billion. The stimulus saved a lot of government workers jobs last year. What now? ”
Well what’s happened everytime there looks to be a crisis in gov funding. Hmmm how could the FED possibly fix this problem.
Ooo oo ooo I know Mr. Kotter I know.
Of course there is the cynical view above that when business and banks have loaded up on cheap money and sold all of their worthless paper to retirment funds and the gov that they will let the ship go down.
Faux News is discussing the Tax Cut Deal.
Are they declaring Victory for the Top 2%? Nope. They have their panties in a twist, because Obama called them “hostage takers”.
I for one would rather see my taxes go up $1000 year, if it means the end of the 2%er gravy train.
Shared Sacrifice.
Faux News=commentary for the mindless.
BINGO
I wonder how many Tea Partiers know that the top 400 earners pay less than 15% effective tax rates, ie less than many upper middle income families.
Obama is a trojan horse.
Obama is a trojan horse.
When I think of Obama and Trojans in the same sentence, “horse” does not come to mind.
If any president should be associated with “Trojans”, it’s Bill Clinton.
Yeah, but beejays aren’t as much fun with that latex in the way.
Is there any inflation in trojans?Is that part of the CPI?
Six inches forward and six inches back equal zero, no matter how much you might have enjoyed the trip.
You don’t even have to lower the rates on anybody. Just reduce the loopholes and deductions. Rich have benefited tremendously from loopholes and deductions.
I’m hoping that the fight gets so bloody they wind up letting everything expire.
As much as the Republicans and Tea Partiers have been whining about the deficit, you would think that extending tax cuts of any type would be a non-starter.
I’ve seen the 2%ers up close. They don’t buy anything made in the USA, and they don’t invest anything in the USA, because they can invest it overseas or in commodities, and get a higher return (without all those messy problems of manufacturing/making things).
Millions of liberals agree with you.
FOX is skating on thin ice. They entrapped Obama into getting the tax cuts they so desperately wanted, but then whine about hostage language? Never mind about Obama, this is now Nancy’s fight.
Me too.
It’s pay now or pay later, with interest. Is the recession the right time to start paying? Not economically. But politically, Generation Greed has tended to want to party on even when the recession is over. Let’s make them pay before they pass away.
How many times do I have to say it?
It’s the rich vs the rest of us. Period.
“It’s the rich vs the rest of us. Period.”
And “us” means all of you. That’s right. Every last one of you peasants. There isn’t a single one of you that was, is or ever will be part of the 2%. That’s right. Born into peonage, raised in peonage and die in peonage. Accept the reality that you all are much closer to poverty than you are to being in the 2%.
And it’s about time we stop thinking that the wealthy elite will be nice to us if we’re nice to them. Stand up to them and we’ll find out just how nasty they will get.
Very few have seen the inner circle of the 2%. It’s a closed club and none of you are invited. Not a single one of you.
Speak for yourself.
Again… YOU are a peon.
Why the self hatred and such a low self esteem? Did someone robbed you wrong in your childhood?
Why are you running and denying your peonage? Why is it so embarrassing for you?
PEON.
How did all this start again?
Group accuses banks of violating gov lending rules
Wed Dec 8, 2010 11:00 AM EST
LOS ANGELES — A national housing and consumer rights group alleged in a series of complaints to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that Bank of the West, MetLife Bank N.A and other lenders are unjustly denying government-backed loans to borrowers with low credit scores.
The FHA requires borrowers to have a credit score of at least 580 to be eligible for the insurance it provides against default, but many FHA lenders require higher scores.
The NCRC claims that those requirements disproportionately harm black and Hispanic communities, since minority borrowers’ credit scores fall between the federal threshold of 580 and the higher benchmarks set by the banks.
The policies have “the effect of discriminating against African-Americans, Latinos, and residents of African-American and Latino neighborhoods across the nation,” the group wrote in the complaints, which it announced Wednesday.
The complaints seek an injunction forcing banks to change their lending policies, in addition to unspecified monetary damages.
http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2010/12/08/5611687-group-accuses-banks-of-violating-fed-lending-rules -
Isnt this what got us into this mess? I dont care if your black white brown, etc…if you havent been responsible and have let your credit score get below a measly 580…YOU SHOULDNT GET A LOAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SHEESH!
“if you havent been responsible”
WTH are you talking about?
People are not to be held accountable for their actions! They are all victims! If they make poor choices and stupid moves then by all means give them a pass and pick up their tab. Oh and let them keep the house. Other wise it would not be “fair”.
barney said they deserve a house.
So why is it that blacks & hispanics have disproportionately lower credit scores?
“So why is it that blacks & hispanics have disproportionately lower credit scores?”
I don`t know. This calls for a beer summit!
I’m always up for a beer summit!
Clearly the man is keeping them down!
From “The O.C.”
Ho ho, hah hah, hehehehehehe, BwaHaHaAhHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! (Cantankerous Intellectual Bomb-thrower™)
O.C. ‘Housewife’ tries to beat foreclosure
December 8th, 2010, by Marilyn Kalfus, real estate reporter / OC Register
the listing on the home states: “Owner has over $6 Million into the property, reduced for quick sale,” and notes that the house is ”50′ from $35M waterfront sale previously owned by Nicolas Cage.”
The listing describes the home, on a 9,135-square foot double lot, as having “every high-end amenity imaginable.”
O.C. ‘Housewife’ Alexis Bellino and her husband Jim say the bank “changed its offer” to modify the loan on their Newport Beach home, which once again has been scheduled to be sold at a foreclosure auction
Other ‘Real Housewives of Orange County‘ have had real estate problems, too:
Lynne Curtin:
* O.C. Housewife Lynne avoids eviction
* O.C. Housewife Lynne to bankruptcy court?
Jeana Keough:
* ‘Real Housewives’ Coto home in default
* Real Housewife saves Coto home from foreclosure
* ‘Housewives’ Coto home listed for $5.5 million
* ‘Housewife’ gets loan modification for Coto home
Tamra Barney:
* Real Housewife takes O.C. house off market
* ‘O.C. Housewives’ Ladera short sale in escrow
* ‘Housewife’s’ short sale has bank’s approval
* ‘Housewife’ foreclosure postponed to March
* Housewife sells Ladera home as short sale
Posted in: Celebrity homes • Selling patterns • houses
Schadenfreude TV?
Schadenfreude abounds! That made my day a little brighter.
In the Flyover world, lots are measure in acres.
A 9300 sf “double lot”?????
I thought all the b@tches on housewives just had to look pretty?
Hair, nails,brazillian wax jobs, fake boobies, designer jeans,teeth whitening,pedicures…..
You mean they actually have time for a real job?
In my city, there was an inner city building boom toward the end of the 90s. 75×150 lots were being bought, the 1000sqft bungalow moved and 2-3, multistory townhouses built.
On the same lot.
Profit margin was 200%. 3 lots and you were a millionaire.
Liberals Try to Prevent Pelosi From Bringing Tax Bill to the Floor
Fox has learned that Reps. Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Jim McDermott (D-WA) and Jay Inslee (D-WA) are crafting a letter to share with the House Democratic Caucus that would try to prevent the Speaker from bringing the tax bill to the floor.
They hope to get 60 signatures on their letter (which is still being drafted) and then force a vote in the caucus. DeFazio says he thinks that if a majority of House Democrats are against this compromise, they shouldn’t bring it to the floor.
In other words, they are seeking a majority of the majority to move this and a senior House democratic source indicates they don’t know if they have a majority of democrats, saying they haven’t whipped this yet.
In an interview with Fox, DeFazio criticizes the president and says a majority of the House Democratic Caucus does not support the tax rate compromise. “There does not seem to be a majority of the Democrats who support the deal negotiated by Vice President Biden,” DeFazio said. “So we want to have a record vote in the caucus on a resolution that says this resolution should not go to the floor without a majority of Democratic votes.”
That’s the situation we have in New York State. Democrats control the state assembly, and Republicans (usually) the state senate.
The majority party cuts deals in secret, and they all vote for the deal. So a minority of the elected total can block anything, if any powerful special interest objects.
When anything is voted on, the vote is alway unanimous so they are all covered — and in on the member item (earmarks) handouts.
At the federal level, a minority can kill anything in the Senate by delay. In Albany, minorities are making deals.
Now would be a good time for a Senator to put an “anonymous” hold on the bill too. My guess would be Bernie Sanders…
Agree with you on Bernie. But don’t rule out surprises like Mary Landrieu or Sherrod Brown.
The dems realize they’re being set up. The deal calls for the Bush tax rates to be extended for two more years. What happens in two years? Oh yeah, the 2012 elections.
The question is, does Obama know? If he extends the cuts now, the Republicans will take him hostage AGAIN in 2012 and claim that Obama will “raise” everybody’s taxes, especially that payroll/SS tax. Better to get it over with now and give the people time to forget (and they will). Maybe there will be time to re-cut the taxes on the under $200Ks.
FYI, the, ahem, liberal website knows full well the politics of the matter. They know it better than Axelrod, who IMO needs to be thrown out onto the South Lawn. Harry is in for another six years, Nancy is from San Francisco, Sanders is from Vermont, and Obama can’t sign a bill that never reaches his desk. They understand Obama’s position, but they do NOT like that Obama is now fighting his own party.
The dems realize they’re being set up.
They *finally* realized that? I’ve heard about people being slow to get a clue, but this takes the cake.
Obama is gambling that the tax cut goodies will stimulate the economy sufficiently for a recovery to occur. Then he can use the deficit as an excuse to raise taxes on high incomes, because it’s popular. Time will tell, but it’s a low-risk proposition for him, because if the economy hasn’t recovered he’s toast anyway.
This is actually pretty funny.
Dems control the house by a huge margin.
Dems control the senate by a huge margin.
They could stop this cold at any time.
Or at least force a record vote on the damn thing.
I am hoping it burst into flames and dies.
Anything that does not cut spending should die. A gridlock congress is good for that. Might as well start now.
2banana, once again, there’s no point in forcing a vote unless they can pass it. There will be sufficient Republican votes to pass it, even with Democratic defections.
I must insist you stop this disinformation.
The Dems DO NOT CONTROL ANYTHING BY A HUGE MARGIN.
They have a majority, but only just barely.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Congress
California Deficit May Reach $28 Billion, Brown Says
California’s budget gap may widen to $28.1 billion in the next 18 months, according to an estimate from Governor-elect Jerry Brown, who takes charge of the most- populous U.S. state next month.
The estimate takes into account a $2.7 billion drop in projected estate-tax collections, and compares with the most recent estimate of a $25 billion gap for the period, Brown said.
“California is facing a very serious budget crisis,” Brown said today at the start of a public meeting of state officials in Sacramento to discuss the fiscal situation. “This latest increase comes from actions that are taking place in the Congress that will have an effect on California.”
1. Stop all aid to illegals
2. Outlaw public unions
Problem solved.
the regulators are killing business in ca.Seems the agencies are more interested in generating revenue for themselves via fees than helping business thrive.They are creating jobs for themselves at the expense of the private sector.
This is EXACTLY what I saw when I lived there.
nope. the pensions already promised are more than the state bring in altogether. You have to cut the pensions, stop the double dipping and pension spiking.
You could stop all welfare, sell all the national parks, stop fixing roads, close all schools and there is still not enough to pay the pensions in the near future.
Racial Profiling of Taxi Passengers
MYFOXNY.COM - Fernando Mateo, president of the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers, is telling cab drivers that for their own protection they should profile potential passengers who are black and Latino.
Mateo, who identifies himself as both black and Hispanic, made his comments this week after a livery cab driver was shot several times by a man police describe as Hispanic. The suspect was wearing a hooded sweatshirt, which Mateo has said is a red flag.
The private cab driver was fighting for his life after being shot at least four times by a robber who ended up getting less than $100.
I think they had better call Fernando Mateo in for a beer summit.
To be fair, that’s racial and fashion profiling combined. I think the fashion profiling is probably as effective if not more so. Don’t pick up anybody dressed like a gangbanger.
US Loan Auditors closes, files bankruptcy
Sacramento Business Journal
US Loan Auditors has closed its doors — and shut down its website.
The action follows a $60 million lawsuit filed against the company and an affiliated company in October by Attorney General Jerry Brown.
The companies offered homeowners forensic audits of their loans to find grounds to file predatory lending lawsuits against their lenders.
Brown called the business a scam.
US Loan Auditors filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization on Dec. 2 in the Eastern District of California in Sacramento, listing less than $50,000 in assets and between $50,000 and $100,000 in debt.
The company’s website says: “Due to a recent order by a Sacramento Judge, and new legislation that will become effective January 1st, 2011 US Loan Auditors has had to close its doors, and close down the business entirely. Due to these changes in legislation, US Loan Auditors will not reopen.”
Brown filed a lawsuit against the two companies that worked together to help distressed homeowners — but allegedly failed to deliver as promised.
Bond market bloodbath deepens
Is the bull market for bonds dead at the tender age of 30?
Treasury yields have surged this week, following a weak jobs report and news of a tax deal that will add to the deficit. Yields have been rising in Europe as well – even in austere Germany — as the debt crisis ravaging Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain gathers steam.
Not a flight to safety
Could it be that investors finally are coming to grips with the price of U.S. fiscal profligacy and the scale of the mess to be cleaned up across the Atlantic, and running for the hills?
“It’s appearing we’re at the end of this long-term cycle,” said Bill Larkin, a fixed income portfolio manager at Cabot Money Management in Salem, Mass. “It’s a little bit like getting hit with a bucket of cold water that still has the ice cubes in it.”
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note hit 3.27%, which puts it up more than 75 basis points, or hundredths of a percentage point, since it bottomed out in October’s rush to buy bonds ahead of the Fed.
Could be that bond vigilantes are suffering whiplash between last year’s high profile budget cutting exercise that bombed out in Congress followed by this week’s readily-welcomed tax cut proposal.
“last week’s” (though it already seems like a year has passed if counted by periodic oscillations of the political pendulum…)
Everything will remain fine until suddenly, it is not fine.
If things are fine, I think politicians will try to continue to borrow and spend. Can they stop themselves before the system breaks?
I recall once seeing a pickup truck that had sunk nearly to the ground. I had no idea how it continued to roll, with the massive load in the back. I think the debt is a lot like that pickup truck.
“I think the debt is a lot like that pickup truck.”
Go on out and buy yourself a $500,000 McMansion ‘on sale’ in case you want your life to be a lot like that pickup truck.
Chinese oil inventories are plunging, even as demand for fuel hasn’t let up.
“Refined oil stocks held by China’s two largest oil companies have fallen for eight consecutive months,” according to former CIBC World Markets chief economist Jeff Rubin, “while diesel stocks in the country fell 14% in October.”
And the tightening oil market won’t just be felt in China. “The 140 million gallons of international oil inventories sloshing around in floating storage on the high seas is also all but gone.
“That may come as a shock to those who thought the bloated oil inventories that came in the wake of the last recession would provide a buffer against future oil price spikes. Suddenly, that buffer has literally gone up in smoke.
“With no letup in China’s fuel demand,” Rubin concludes, “the world should be looking at triple-digit oil prices again within a quarter.”
~ Clipped from The 5Min Forecast ~
Enjoy that super duper, 12 mpg pickup truck Joe 6 Pack!
No kidding!
Millions of Americans are paying no attention. 84% of the worlds population some 5.7 billion people live in “emerging” markets and they are doing just that.
Drink up!
84% of the worlds population some 5.7 billion people live in “emerging” markets and they are doing just that…Drink up!
I don’t know who they think they are or where they are getting their money but the people down here are burning more gas and oil than in their entire history. (But, (and can you believe this?) they don’t need to import any.)
reported 12/09/10 HBB News Bureau, South America division.
What ever happened to all that inventory that was being warehoused in ships around the globe just waiting for pricing to return to previous preferred levels?
And didn’t that inventory belong to the major investment banks?
“What ever happened to all that inventory that was being warehoused in ships”
Funny how Wall Street decided to sell just before the reported massive run up in price that coming??
Those guys always seem to get it wrong???????????
And what will rising fuel costs do to housing??
Inflation is everywhere except housing.I guess they are hell bent on raising those home prices just as they get affordable.
gas was 3.13 today.
NO wrong answer
Rising food and fuel prices will lower the price of housing. People will continue to consolidate.
They will spend more on basics and less on services and manufactured goods.
This will create more unemployment.
I picture a car sliding down an icey road while BB is hitting the gas and wildly turning the wheel. He leans over the back seat and tells everyone to calm down.
A perp walk. All on-line news services today.
Carl Shapiro to forfeit $625 million in Madoff case.
Boston philanthropist Carl Shapiro and his family have agreed to return $625 million of more than $1 billion that officials claim the clan made investing with Bernard Madoff.
The Shapiros, one of the Hub’s richest families, OK’d the repayment under a settlement filed yesterday in federal court.
Le tme guess they won’t have to admit guilt or go to jail.
I suspect many of those crushed by this scheme would rather have scalps.
Seriously why to white collar criminals that steal billions get treated with kid gloves.
I think there should be a monetary invocation of the death penalty. If you’re convicted of stealing more than 10 average Americans can earn in one lifetime, the state executes you. That would cut down on white collar crime right there.
That’s pretty much what China does.
and we worry about some welfare mother scamming the system in California.
Now we see the onset of cyber-warfare between WikiLeaks and Megabank, Inc?
Truth is getting stranger than fiction anymore…
Operation Payback cripples MasterCard site in revenge for WikiLeaks ban
Hackers attack credit card company and Swedish prosecution authority as ‘censorship’ row escalates
Follow the latest on our WikiLeaks live blog
* Esther Addley and Josh Halliday
* guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 8 December 2010 17.28 GMT
evidently sarin palin was hit too after she called for assange’s head.
“Sarin” Palin….. too funny!
I posted this yesterday.
Update: Master Card is now back online. VISA will be soon.
Out of respect for FT dot com’s copyright policy, I provide a link to the article referenced below right here.
P.S. Let me say this in plain English: WE DID SEE IT COMING, AND WE TRIED TO WARN YOU!
US mortgage whiplash
Published: December 8 2010 15:05 | Last updated: December 8 2010 19:40
Underwhelmed by QE2 and dismayed by the profligacy of Washington’s grand tax deal, Treasury investors have voted with their feet, putting the nascent housing recovery at risk.
…
With housing still at the root of the economy’s problems, Washington’s policymakers may soon lament how their best-laid plans have backfired.
Some mortgage data. I find this interesting:
http://www dot lpsvcs dot com/NewsRoom/IndustryData/Pages/default.aspx
They have servicing data on 35+MM mortgages in the US and provide information each month on delinquencies, etc. There is also an audio file that you can download to follow along in the presentation.
Nice granular data, and a lot of it, including some historical figures.
Long story short, the pain continues. With the few exceptions, nearly all states continue to have higher and higher percentage of mortgages that are non-current (delinquent or in the foreclosure process). Florida and Nevada are disasters, with non-current percentages above 20%, and curiously, Mississippi is not far behind.
Christopher Marconi was in the shower when he heard a loud banging on his door. By the time he grabbed a towel and hustled to his front step, a U.S. marshal’s sedan was peeling out of his driveway. Nailed to Marconi’s front door was a foreclosure summons from Wells Fargo, naming him as a defendant. But the notice was for a house Marconi had never seen — on a mortgage he never had.
Tom Williams was in his kitchen thumbing through the mail when he opened a letter from GMAC. It informed him that the bank would confiscate his house unless he immediately paid off his mortgage balance of $276,000. But Williams had never missed a mortgage payment. And his loan wasn’t due to mature until 2032.
Warren Nyerges opened his front door in Naples, Fla., to find a scraggly-haired summons server standing on his stoop. He plopped a foreclosure notice from Bank of America in Nyerges’ hands. But Nyerges had paid for his house in cash. And he’d never had a checking account, much less a mortgage, with Bank of America.
By now, you may have heard the stories of bank robo-signers powering through hundreds of foreclosure affidavits a day without verifying a single fact. But most of those involved homeowners who had stopped paying their mortgage. They were genuine defaulters. Now a new species of homeowner is getting pushed into foreclosure hell.
People have always loved to complain about their banks. The push-button circus that passes for customer service. The larding on of fees. But the false foreclosure cases are hardly the usual complaints. These homeowners paid their mortgages — or loan modifications — on time. Some even paid off their loans. Worse, those on the receiving end of a bad foreclosure claim tell similar stories of getting bounced from one bank official to the next with no resolution while the foreclosure process continues apace.
Many have to resort to paying a lawyer, even after presenting documentation. They say they have to sue not only to stop the wrongful foreclosure but also to attempt to win back their costs.”
Banks don’t care about the legal costs after all the government is giving them free money
Ok I added the last part myself but…..
Eventually - people are going to start getting shot for this.
Take my house that for 30 years I worked hard for and paid the mortgage off?
From a bank I never heard of…
That I never borrowed a cent from…
That has no deed, no promisary note or anything else signed by me…
Hold on a sec - I got your mortgage payment right here.
Property rights?
Due process and the Bill of Rights?
Yeah, we’re the best!
They’ve been stealing houses in a similar way for a long time.
“EMC initiated foreclosure, and we initiated a defense to that, and over the years they spent $2.5 million and 7 years in litigation on a $100,000 loan.”
A House of Cards, Part 1
An Interview With Nye Lavalle
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/8190059/Global-bond-rout-deepens-on-US-fiscal-worries.html
Global bond rout deepens on US fiscal worries - can you say “unintended consequences,” boys and girls?
I knew you could.
Record-low interest rates are what pushed renter William Jordan off the fence. Fending off pleas for a new home from his wife for years, the 38-year-old financial advisor jumped in October and locked in a 4.375 percent FHA mortgage on a $760,000 Capistrano Beach, California, house.
“I’d been stalling my wife and that low interest rate was the causal factor” for action, said Jordan, who believes home prices may see further declines. “If I wait for the actual bottom, I think the payments will be higher.”
Darn! They didn’t list his phone number. I really need a financial adviser who thinks like that.