Bits Bucket for January 5, 2011
Post off-topic ideas, links, and Craigslist finds here.
The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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Mortgage Market Underestimating Defaults
Diana Olick CNBC Real Estate Reporter
That’s the premise of analysts at Amherst Mortgage Securities, who recently argued that without more governmental intervention, 11.5 million borrowers would be in danger of losing their homes. They now argue that “the housing overhang is not caused solely by the number of non-performing loans that exist in the market. The problem also includes the high rates at which re-performing loans are re-defaulting.”
They also argue that the high rate at which “deeply underwater loans that have never been delinquent are going 2 payments behind for the first time” is only adding to the potential for far higher losses than the market currently predicts.
We know that more than half of the government modification trials go bad again.
So many commenters forget about the re-default rate. Especially those who bemoan the banks reluctance to do modifications instead of foreclosures. Or those who think that HAMP helped too few people. In a falling market, if the borrower re-defaults, the bank would have been in a better position if they had foreclosed the first time. The high redefault rate on HAMPs mean that there really aren’t that many more people who are better off with modifications than if the went through foreclosure.
“We know that more than half of the government modification trials go bad again.”
From what I can tell the whole modification “process” seems flawed. If someone re-defaults fairly quickly there must have been some signs of vulnerability (assuming it’s not the result of job loss / illness or a belated decision to strategically default.)
From what I’ve read, with all the stories of people wanting mods being repeatedly asked for the same paperwork, “lost” applications, etc. I’m not sure it’s only bank “reluctance”.
Not sure how many “deserve” mods, but a straightforward process run by competent workers would be nice.
It’s NEVER about “deserve.” It’s about how the lenders can minimize their losses. An argument can be made that a high re-default rate indicates that the the principal deductions offered by the lenders are insufficient to make the loans affordable for these people. But greater principal deductions on modifications mean greater losses for the lender, which means that foreclosing becomes more competetive.* There was NEVER any real chance for modifications (HAMP or otherwise) to help the majority of people facing foreclosure. But there is a thin slice of borrowers between the need-no-help and the can’t-be-saved piles whose lives can be improved. And helping them at (comparatively)minimal cost is NOT a bad thing. The REAL fantasy is the idea that this slice is big enough to significantly affect the RE market, or the solvency of banks.
*which tends to kill the “But modifications save the lenders money!” argument.
No measure will go un-utilized when extracting blood from a stone. Vampire squids always milk the last drop.
“From what I can tell the whole modification “process” seems flawed.”
The HAMP program brings the monthly payments (I’ve always assumed it was PITI, but I suppose it might be just the basic payments without the interest and taxes) to 31% of gross income. That is likely to be well north of 50% of take home. I’ve mentioned before that I ran numbers on my own income, and it would be close to two thirds of take home. For people with significant other expenses like child care, car payments, significant transportation expenses beyond car payments, student loans, payments on consuber debt, need to save for child’s college, costs related to caring for older relatives, etc. this is not a sustainable payment level. People trying to make it are going to realize very quickly that they still need to eat into rapidly depleating savings or put more living expenses on the credit card(s).
The redefaults were inevitable from the very beginning.
Then, when you consider that they are upside down, in many instances, to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars, it becomes clear that they will almost invariably default.
You are so on the money, polly. Even 31% of gross income is far, far too much money to be allocated only to housing costs. And then there’s the healthcare costs, which have been rising almost as dramatically as housing costs over the past 10-15 years (maybe rising higher and faster than housing). That’s eating into their “housing” budget as well.
Just what we need, “more government intervention,” i.e. more a$$-raping of the taxpayers as they pick up the tab for feckless lenders and FBs. Given the stupidity and passivity of 95% of Americans, yet another Republicrat outrage will be piled on the gargantuan debt burden of future generations.
“My ass is sore and I’m not going to take it anymore!” -Taxpayer rally chant.
What about all the FHA 3.5% down loans? These buyers are upside down the minute they close.
One closed in Long Beach Ca at $731,000 with 3.5% down and a co signer.
And if they have the ability to pay their monthly nut, why should it matter?
You all act like this 3.5% down is the worst thing ever, yet conveniently forget that 3% has been a norm for a long time with no terrible repercussions until this bubble. (Not only that, some countries don’t even ask for down payments at all and manage to move along quite nicely).
This current mess was primarily begun because of wide use of liar loans and teaser rates, not low down payments.
Bull. Everyone knows that it’s best to have skin in the game, especially to provide a buffer in a declining market.
“This current mess was primarily begun because of wide use of liar loans and teaser rates, not low down payments.”
I partially disagree. IMO raising the down payment required is one way to separate the wheat from the chaff. It doesn’t mean everyone who puts down 3% is a player but having a significant amount of money down, your hard earned money, can change the buyers perspective.
Totally agree. It’s also about the proportional market share of these low/no-down mortgages. If they’re just a small slice of the mortgage market, it might be okay, but once they become 25%+ of the market, that spells trouble, IMHO.
I firmly believe a large portion of these FHA loans are going to default within the next 5-10 years. These people cannot move (sell their home) unless prices rise at least 4-5% from their purchase price. It’s possible, but it’s just as likely they won’t. They have no buffer at all.
We need a minimum of 20% down if we hope to see the housing market stabilize in a sustainable way.
We need a National Home Foreclosure Clock like the national Debt clock to keep track of all the foreclosures since the beginning of the housing bust.
Americans becoming homeless on th continent their forefathers conquered, one family at a time.
You assume that losing a house to foreclsoure makes the family “homeless”? Bah. They just lived rent free for a year or more. They’ll have no problem renting a house or apartment, probably with a total cost FAR lower than the payments on their inflated, bubble priced house.
I know 4 people that have lost homes to foreclsoure since the bubble burst in 2006. All are better off now then when they were strugling to make payments on the house they bought during the bubble.
Not homeless, just renters. There is a BIG difference.
Spending data show December sales strong- AP
Americans spent more on clothes, shoes, luxury goods and electronics in December than a year earlier, extending retail sales momentum that had been building since August, according to data released Wednesday.
I think this is false. I was on the front lines of retail, both new and second hand, during December. It was slower on the ground than I would have thought. Last year was better. Of course, I wasn’t involved with clothes, shoes, luxury goods and electronics, so maybe there was more spending on these items, but I didn’t see it.
I see our MSM as little more than a corporate owned version of Pravda. I doubt that people will be swayed by this “good news” and rush out to spend more money.
Just like with the news of rising car sales. I’m not seeing those ubiquitous temporary tags on cars. Maybe this is being fueled entirely by sales inside the beltway, because I’m not seeing it on my street of upper middle class homes.
The irony is, some of the Russian news outlets like RT have far more actual news content than the MSM, with its fixation on car chases and what outfit Michelle Obama is wearing.
I thought the same thing Sammy when I watched Gerald Celente being interviewed on RT.
I also thought that maybe they are “fair & balanced” outside of Russia while still manipulating their national news. Kind of an easy way to poke at the Americans.
Just like with the news of rising car sales. I’m not seeing those ubiquitous temporary tags on cars. Maybe this is being fueled entirely by sales inside the beltway, because I’m not seeing it on my street of upper middle class homes.
Here in Tucson, I’m seeing quite a few temp tags on used cars. New cars? The temp tags are few and far between.
What’s so bad about Pravda these days?
http://english.pravda.ru/
“Maybe this is being fueled entirely by sales inside the beltway, because I’m not seeing it on my street of upper middle class homes.”
I know quite a few people that got new cars this year. One was the family’s 3rd vehicle, a birthday gift to her, another a Volkswagen Toureg, one was a new car after driving her sister’s old Volvo for a while, one got a new Subaru Outback, another leased a new Mercedes. I notice all the new vehicles in the parking lot although for all I know they’re work provided vehicles like the shiney new thing my husband and one of my friends drive.
I’m still driving my soon to be 7 years old vehicle. When it’s washed and waxed it still could look new.
The Toureg is a pretty high end VW (40K+), not your typical J6P mobile. Where I work the dearth of new cars is palpable. My 2009 Pontiac G5 econocar is probably the newest car in the lot.
Another trend I am seeing is that the Ford and GM have pretty much given up on chasing the low end crowd and seem to focus more on people who buy cars that cost 30K or more. Heck, these days a well loaded Impala goes for 30K.
Anyway, there are some very nice cars on my street (One familiy has a Toureg). I just haven’t seen a whole lotta brand new cars lately, not like 5 years ago.
IIRC the VW Toureg is basically the same thing as the $47K base Porsche Cayenne.
Anyway, there are some very nice cars on my street
Mine too. The doctor has like a 5 year old VW Golf. (but with a missing mirror lately)
The lawyer has a nice little sub-compact 2 door Fiat and the rich dude has a brand new, really nice looking compact Citroën or Peugot or something.
“IIRC the VW Toureg is basically the same thing as the $47K base Porsche Cayenne.”
It is.
I live in a pretty nice part of my city (mid to upper middle class) and I don’t see too many temp tags on brand new cars either.
Used, yes. Brand new? Not so much. In fact two friends of mine just bought used. Only 2-3 years used, but used nonetheless.
It encourages me NOT to spend. When we were in the worst part of the recession, I always felt like we SHOULD spend a little to ‘do our part’ since my wife and I both have jobs and are socking away 20%ish of our income in savings.
But if retail sales are up, I can retreat into miserliness with nary a twinge of conscience.
We were in the worst part aleady?
The worst so far. The dead cat bounce still has legs… for now.
“Of course, I wasn’t involved with clothes, shoes, luxury goods and electronics, so maybe there was more spending on these items, but I didn’t see it.”
Things were hopping here. People buying labels and whole foods was so packed that I walked out until after the holidays. I usually buy my milk, eggs and meat there.
In Gilroy there was a line around the Coach store of buyers waiting to get in. In Carmel the high end stores like Tiffany’s was full of people (buyers I don’t know).
One owner at an art gallery told me that most buyers were from the east coast and Europe and that things just exploded after Thanksgiving through New Years.
Here in Tucson, the holiday package mailing season rocks on. I was in the post office on Monday morning, and I swore it was the same long line that was there to mail boxes before Xmas.
Postal clerk told me that the box-mailing traffic had been heavy all morning. And, from what I could see in the line, the people weren’t returning merchandise to mail order houses.
“I wasn’t involved with clothes, shoes, luxury goods and electronics, so maybe there was more spending on these items, but I didn’t see it.”
I confess we spent a little more than we had anticipated this holiday season, due to the great deals that were out there. Toys we had our eyes on for years were 1/3 to 1/2 off previous sale prices. So I am not surprised that spending was up. However, I will be surprised, come earnings season, if margins haven’t (comparatively speaking) tanked.
“were 1/3 to 1/2 off previous sale prices.”
Gross sales do not necessarily mean profits.
And I think people had some “frugal fatigue” and the holidays are a good time to rationalize some treats.
As to the luxury goods… an item like a designer handbag is a highly visible status symbol for conspicuous consumption and a pretense of prosperity. A while back the NY Times had an article about sales of mens underwear as an economic indicator… the idea being that when cutting back you don’t spend on the things that won’t be seen.
And I think people had some “frugal fatigue”
I think you make a very good point here, whyoung. Besides at this time of year people are getting together with family and friends from childhood. I wonder if these particular groups make for a bit more pressure to present well.
Winter trips are also a form of spending. I would say the parking lot in the Sarasota condo development we’re renting in is about 75% to 80% filled. It is definitely fuller this year than it was last January.
However, we have not yet had to wait for a table at a restaurant, though they’ve all been pretty close to full.
Winter trips are also a form of spending.
Here in Tucson, I’m seeing a few more winter vacationers than in years past. But it’s not like they’re causing mega-waits for restaurant tables. And our street traffic is about what it always has been.
If we use men’s underwear as an indicator, I’m in a major multi-decade depression!
My wife gets tired of me seeing how many holes I can get in my underwear and throws it out for me, so underwear purchasing has picked up in the last few years, but I still wear them thread-bare before replacing.
I know for the first time ever my husband and I purchased a bit more for each other than for the kids. These were items that we will utilize throughout the year that we picked up and gave as presents. These purchases only mean we won’t be making them later in the year.
“These purchases only mean we won’t be making them later in the year.”
Sort of like the way demand for housing was “stolen from the future” by the tax credits and car rebates can make some people decide to trade in a bit earlier…
Not sure overall demand has/will go up.
Maybe a significant amount of Internet sales. I spent $900 online at apple.com on gifts in November.
i stocked up on some items that I thought might go up in price in the near future . I only have so much space for stocking up on food and I found myself buying a number of tools I have been wanting for a while . I have been painting the house and getting that over with so I don’t have to paint it for a long time and I laid a floor in a bathroom that I never liked the floor in it.
I have been trying to create a new life ,but it’s interesting that all the people that surround me don’t really want me to change, but I need to and I can’t live in the past anymore . Becoming single again
throws you into a whole new ballgame .I’m getting the travel bug again that I haven’t had in a long time .Life goes on and it would be unhealthy to resist that . A big chapter of my life got closed out ,but there are new chapters ahead . I have no choice ,it’s the nature of life and change .
Comment by palmetto
2011-01-05 05:33:38
I think this is false. I was on the front lines of retail, both new and second hand, during December. It was slower on the ground than I would have thought. Last year was better.
—————
It might be regional. Out here in San Diego, it was busier than anything I can remember — even busier than during the bubble years. The parking lots and stores were **absolutely packed** (and, yes, they were carrying bags).
Weird, but I can’t help but think it’s the fact that people have been fixing their problems, on way or another. They have stopped making mortgage payments, or had loan mods, or refi’d into lower payments…or they’ve been foreclosed on and are now paying rent that is a fraction of their former mortgage payments. The unemployed people I knew have all found jobs, even if they are making less than they were at the peak of the bubble, and commercial spaces have been filling back up.
There was an article in the New York Times yesterday about a bunch of school districts spending 10’s of thousands of dollars on Ipads. Seems a lot of the competative federal grants for experimental education reform went directly to Apple. They think it will save money in the long run by being able to use the device for e-books books and cutting the bill for text books and literature.
I think they are underestimating how hard a 12 year old can be on electronic devices.
I think they are underestimating how hard a 12 year old can be on electronic devices.
I would tend to agree with that. Any IT/system admin people here who would care to elaborate?
If there was a desire for an electronic book for the kids, then a much cheaper device could be made over the ipad. A friend tried to get the local school system to have the teachers write the books, and then use an expensive printer that can print and bind them. Replacement cost per textbook would be like $1.50, the text could be more dense saving the kids backs from heavy weight, etc. The information doesn’t change that much, and the material could be shared with other school districts.
They are also using it for educational games, allowing kids to take notes on the page, etc., so it isn’t just for text book replacement. But, the school district is given a grant to do something “innovative” with school reform. What they want is a way to save money on their regular budget so they don’t have to make cuts or charge user fees. (Just a guess, but I bet the grant can’t merely be rolled into the busget by saying that we are a good school system because of our student to teacher ratio.) This is what we get.
Netbooks, notebooks and pads are the most fragile of computing systems. Avg lifespan is 3 years.
Adults can barely take of them.
“…take care…”
Netbooks, notebooks and pads are the most fragile of computing systems. Avg lifespan is 3 years.
I a have five-year-old Dell desktop PC and a five-year-old IBM laptop. Both are still going strong.
They’re also tough to fix when they break. I replaced a broken glass screen/digitizer on my wife’s iTouch (she dropped it by accident), and it involved using a hairdryer to melt the adhesive holding the glass to a plastic bracket that snaps in place.
My ThinkPad, on the other hand, is a dream to work on.
They’re tough to fix too. Replacing the glass front screen on my wife’s iTouch (she broke it when she accidentally dropped it) involved using a hairdryer to melt the adhesive holding the screen to a plastic bracket that snaps in place.
My ThinkPad, on the other hand, is a dream to work on.
Especially when they could get the ones lie like the “one laptop per child” model (laptop dot org) that is cheap and specifically designed for use under harsh conditions. Or even netbooks
Some school districts have money to burn. That would NEVER happen in our TABOR restricted school district.
Heck, we have to buy the textbooks for the kid’s AP classes. Free Ipads? That’s a kneeslapper!
The kids don’t get to keep them. It didn’t say that in the article at all.
Just saying, at my kids schools they don’t even provide AP textbooks, nevermind loaner iPads.
Question: If someone buys, say, a car with monthly payments, is the entire price of the car counted in the data for consumer spending that month, or just the down payment that was made?
Entire amount. Accrual accounting. Plus neither the dealers nor the auto makers “keep” the loan. It is packaged and sold to bond holders. I did auto loan securtization deals in the 90’s.
Again I ask, if UE is still at +/-10%, and this week’s report says UE ROSE again in most major cities, where is the demand coming from?
“Rich” people?
Fed May Keep Easing at `Full Throttle’ Until Jobless Rate Falls
Federal Reserve officials signaled they’ll probably push ahead with unprecedented stimulus until the recovery strengthens and many of the 15 million unemployed Americans find work.
The jobless rate hasn’t fallen below 9.4 percent since May 2009 and will probably average that figure this year, according to a Bloomberg News survey of economists. Unemployment probably declined to 9.7 percent last month from 9.8 percent in November, according to the average estimate of a Bloomberg poll prior to a Labor Department employment report on Jan. 7.
While growth has picked up since the Fed announced plans on Nov. 3 to buy $600 billion of bonds, policy makers remain focused on their failure to achieve their goals of full employment and an inflation rate of about 2 percent, according to the minutes of their Dec. 14 meeting released yesterday. The recovery’s pace is likely to “remain modest, with unemployment and inflation deviating from the committee’s objectives for some time,” the minutes said.
Have you seen tht show “full throttle salloon”. About a biker bar in sturgis , SD. It’s kind of funny.Angie is a hottie.
what the unemployment rate in japan?
They probably use different metrics and formulas when calculating it, so it would be an apples to oranges comparison anyway.
The Repub successfully voting to keep tax breaks for offshoring jobs isn’t helping.
Wall Street Preparing $4 Billion of Commercial-Mortgage Bonds
Deutsche Bank AG, UBS AG and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are preparing the year’s first bond sales tied to commercial property loans, according to people familiar with the transactions.
Deutsche Bank and UBS are teaming up to issue as much as $2.5 billion in commercial mortgage-backed securities linked to loans on office buildings, shopping malls and hotels in what would be the largest offering of its kind since the market froze in June 2008, according to a person familiar with the deal. JPMorgan plans to sell $1.5 billion in similar debt, a person familiar with that sale said.
Wall Street banks are building a pipeline of property loans to package into bonds as investors seek higher yields while the Federal Reserve holds its benchmark interest rate near zero. Sales of securities backed by mortgages on commercial property may quadruple to $45 billion in 2011, according to JPMorgan. Issuance plunged to $3.4 billion in 2009 after the credit markets seized during the financial crisis.
Shopping Center Vacancies Climb as Unemployment Cuts U.S. Retailer Demand
Vacancies at U.S. neighborhood and community shopping centers climbed in the fourth quarter from a year earlier as unemployment lingered close to 10 percent, real estate research company Reis Inc. said.
The vacancy rate at shopping centers rose to 10.9 percent from 10.6 percent a year earlier, the New York-based firm said today in a report. It was unchanged from the prior two quarters, when the rate reached the highest level since 1991. The record of 11.1 percent was set in 1990, according to Reis data going back 30 years.
The classic indoor shopping mall is an anachronism, obsolete. It’s no longer the social hub it used to be. People either shop online or if they must go to a brick and mortar store they’ll go to a “life style center” which is basicallly little more than a strip mall on sterioids.
Our local malls give the baggy-pants set a place to hang out and harrass people, and break into cars in the parking lot.
One of our malls banned kids during a good number of hours, to get rid of the baggy pants crowd.
Our local malls give the baggy-pants set a place to hang out and harrass people, and break into cars in the parking lot.
Here in Tucson, the El Con Mall became such a baggy-pants set hangout that the legitimate shopping crowd was driven out. This mall is now on the brink of becoming a ghost mall.
I must be lucky. The baggy pants crowd out here is mostly visible only at WalMart.
Like this one at the bottom.
http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/?page_id=9798&paged=5
Like this one at the bottom. (peopleofwalmart)
Great….now you’re making me homesick….
“They’ll go to a “life style center” which is basically little more than a strip mall on steroids.”
The pretend village/main street atmosphere of lifestyle centers all seem like faux amusement parks to me.
Much of the new construction here in Southeastern Virginia has this odd amusement park fake-ness to it. Perhaps it will look more legit once it gets dirty and weathered, but my guess is it falls apart instead.
Thanks to Amazon dot com and other online merchants, I successfully made it through the entire December 2010 Christmas season without setting foot inside a mall.
Same here
Except for a gift certificate at a local outdoors’ supply store, I did all of my Christmas shopping online.
I’ll bet that by next Christmas online stores will be required to charge all of their customers state sales tax.
I’ll bet that by next Christmas online stores will be required to charge all of their customers state sales tax.
Which mail order catalog operations have had to do for years.
OTOH, I think the rule is that if you have a physical store in the state, you have to collect sales tax from your catalog/online customers.
As well they should! I’m sick of having to keep all my amazon invoices so I can calculate the sales tax myself come April.
“I think the rule is that if you have a physical store in the state, you have to collect sales tax from your catalog/online customers.”
Yes, and i think some some states have reciprocity on things that are delivered across state lines.
If I remember correctly, a few years back NY cracked down on some high end stores that were sending expensive items (jewelry etc.) to peoples out of state (weekend?) homes to avoid sales tax.
Frankly, at this stage, a whole bunch of CMBSs make .20% interest on treasurys look like a good idea, investment wise.
Lots of things make 0.2% interest look good.
Like kicks in the knees. But given the amount of return on my money market accounts this year, I’d get more return from a free sandwich or two than .02%.
How are these different than the old standby REIT? The article doesn’t use that term, and would if it did apply.
This is totally different than buying a REIT. This is debt secured by real estate, REITs generally own the real estate that might be encumbered by this type of debt.
This is a pool of loans that they are securitizing, but the underwriting is done on a property by property basis.
Sample underwriting would be something like this (this is based on a real example). Property generates income (not revenue) of $350,000 per year, at 80% (and rising) occupancy, and is not encumbered by debt currently. The rents that the property charges are the lowest in the market (which is allowing continued increases in occupancy). Debt sought is perhaps $2.5MM. The $2.5MM loan might have a payment associated of perhaps $175k per year (P&I of 7% constant). Debt coverage is 2x.
These loans are then pooled and sold off. The ultimate lender/investor has exposure to the loan noted above, but not 100% exposure. If a meteor hits that property and destroys it, the lender has the cushion of diversification and seniority (since the loan pool is tranched–I can buy a piece of the pool where I don’t get hit with the first losses, someone else does who gets a higher coupon).
The underwriting on these loans is far different than bubble times. There is so much demand for debt that these lenders can be very selective (60-65% of today’s value, good stream of income in place, etc.).
I’m willing to bet there will be strong demand for the offerings, and there will be more offerings to come.
Securitizing loans makes a lot of sense, in the same way that buying a diversified pool of equities makes sense. It only doesn’t make sense when underwriting is garbage. Today, the underwriting is far better than the bubble years.
Tomorrow’s underwriting is anyone’s guess if the Fed keeps rates too low for too long that demand spikes for this type of product again.
The same guys that brought us CDOs?
I can hardly wait!
At Banks, New Fees Replacing Old Levies ~ WSJ~
Banks, in an attempt to wring more revenue out of customer accounts, are conjuring up new ways to raise fees on basic products like debit cards, cash machines and checking accounts.
As regulation curtailing financial institutions from levying certain charges on consumers has mounted over the past year, banks have had to dream up new fees to replace those now trimmed by laws. Credit-card users have experienced new inactivity fees and foreign-exchange charges, while checking accounts have gotten hit with new monthly maintenance fees.
Banks are considering additional fees on credit cards and checking accounts. But they also are looking at new ways to make money on cash machines and especially debit cards as regulators pinch the cards’ conventional revenue streams.
To counter that lost revenue, banks are thinking about imposing annual fees of $25 or $30 on debit cards, according to people familiar with bank strategies. Some also considering limiting the number of debit-card transactions that a customer can make each month, these people said. Another idea circulating in the industry: Limiting the size of a purchase that a customer could make with a debit card. At the same time, reward programs for debit cards are likely to get the ax, these people say.
Banks must really hate their customers and must be dying to have them switch to credit unions.
Any customers who keep their accounts at TBTF banks instead of local credit unions must really love bending over for the plutocrats.
Until CUs are outlawed. Don’t forget there is a new Congress in town.
The heads of the local CUs are pretty prominent guys in most Congressional districts. Not so much for Senators.
Tell me about it!
I volunteer for various events at the University of Arizona business school. We’re talking about things like student admission interviews and student competitions.
Any-hoo, one of the more regular volunteers is the head of a local credit union. And, believe you me, this guy is quite the man about town.
“Banks are considering additional fees on credit cards and checking accounts.”
Chase just sent a list of new maintenance fees on accounts so we’ll keep the one open and move the others to local CU’s. Those who maintain good credit can avoid what those who don’t will have to pay and who can least afford to pay.
A friend just got royally owned by his credit union. They dropped a $29 fee on him for some nonsense. Credit unions are not exempt.
Some are better than others, of that there is no doubt.
It’s GOOD to be the Banksta!
Would you pay $20 for the Taste?
Phil Vettel: If the Taste of Chicago and the cash-strapped city’s other lakefront festivals become privatized, their egalitarian nature might be permanently, irretrievably transformed. A group bidding for Taste would add a $20 admission fee, $10 of which would go toward food coupons.
Sounds like the parking meter situation all over again.
Here in Tucson, the Tucson Blues Festival started charging an admission fee. I wasn’t able to attend last fall’s fest, and that’s where the $10 fee first went into effect. Will report back to y’all on the attendance figures as soon as I find out.
This quote of Yogi Berra sums up The Taste:
“Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.”
It’s true too, millions show up every year but go out into the neighborhoods and just try to find someone who goes. It’s only big with the crowd who still frames their view of the city from movies.
Top Dems struggle to beat tax-hike clock
Lame-duck session ends soon, but devil in details: 1 or 2 percentage points? Would it get GOP votes?
SPRINGFIELD — Top Illinois Democrats huddled behind closed doors for hours Tuesday as they scurry to piece together a major income tax increase to ease the state’s long-festering budget woes before a rapidly closing window to get something done shuts in a week.
For Gov. Pat Quinn, House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton, the sticking points are substantial: How big a tax hike should be, how long it should last and how the money should be spent.
The latest is that the increase will have a temporary component and a permanent component - with the former being much larger than the latter.
Local pundits are advising them to drop the temporary language altogether because it’s just downright insulting at this point.
Tea Party Freshmen Embrace status quo:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/la-na-tea-party-20110105,0,6863007.story
Ugh, this drives me mad. They all get to Washington and start to immediately raise money for their next campaign to secure their positions.
Here’s my fix to that problem. 6 year term (house/senate/president). And that’s it. You’re done. You can run for the other seat (if you’re in the house, you can run for the senate), stagger the years (so you need to be out at least 2 years before you could possibly run again).
The “maintainance of power” has become all that DC worries about, this is nuts, we need people in there who will do what’s best for the country, not what’s best for their re-election campaign.
This also goes for the president; it should be a one-n-done for that office as well.
I’d settle for a 12 year limit for Congress. But we ain’t gettin anything.
My fix is to let Congress meet twice a year for a two week session each time while being housed in a dorm. The remainder of the time they have to live in their district and face their constituents face to face and they can handle all business through tv conferencing and telecommuting.
This fits in with my plan for Congressional reform: draft Congress!
One could argue the best parts of our system is the jury trial system, where laymen are pulled in involuntarily to determine the facts of a case, and the draft military which beat the world in WWII.
What’s wrong then with a drafted Congress?
A person would receive a letter similar to a jury summons: “Greetings. Your friends and neighbors have….”
People would get stuck serving a term and, just like jury duty/military draft, would be glad to see the end of their hitch.
This would create a Congress of incorruptable legislators. We could even put them up in Ron’s dorm: a condo complex literally serving as the “houses of Congress”.
I’ve been on jury’s with complete morons before.
This would merely allow the entrenched civil service and lobbyist to have even more power.
My husband jokes that the worse invention to come to DC was air conditioning. I’ll throw in heating, too.
What started out as a meeting and then home to business and/or the farm, has turned into a full-time nightmare.
“Ugh, this drives me mad. They all get to Washington and start to immediately raise money for their next campaign to secure their positions”.
The number one job of a politician is to get re-elected. The only ‘change’ that has occurred is a few new faces and a calendar date. Bitness as usual!
You’re very quick to make excuses for the new group of congressmen.
Why is that?
I never said anything positive about in the new crowd in the first place, but since you stay stuck on the SOS. Carry on!
Ooops I forgot. You post the thoughts of others, never your own.
The Kennedys say no…
Vulture tagged by Israeli scientists flies into Saudi Arabia … and is arrested for being a spy ~ Daily Mail Reporter
Authorities in Saudi Arabia arrested a suspected Mossad spy when they captured a vulture.
The bird, tagged at Tel Aviv University for a science study, flew into Saudi territory, where it was nabbed, according to Haaretz News Service.
The bird was wearing a transmitter and leg bracelet as part of a migration research project, but the tags bore the words ‘Tel Aviv University’ and prompted suspicion.
Residents and local reporters told Saudi Arabia’s Al-Weeam newspaper that the Israeli bird seemed as though it could be a ‘Zionist plot.’
News of the bird’s arrest went viral and people on Arab-language blogs started insisted Zionist had trained and released the vulture to spy.
If only we could put a radio collar on some of those banksters…..
This gives me an idea….
We tell the Saudis that the FED is a “Zionist plot”. I’m sure this won’t take much convincing on our part. In order to save the world from this Zionist plot, the Saudis need to drop the price of oil to $20 per barrel. This will remove the ability of the FED to engage in QE2.
“This will remove the ability of the FED to engage in QE2.”
How?
“Hurry! It won`t last” Listing of the day.
17327 Thrush Dr Jupiter, FL 33458
$69,900 Price Reduced
3 Bed 2 Bath 1,315 Sq Ft
Drum Roll…………..
Days on site 645 days
these are great, keep it up!
The dollar continues to head slowly off into the sunset…
World Bank issues its 1st yuan bonds in Hong Kong
HONG KONG (AP) - The World Bank is issuing its first bonds denominated in China’s yuan in Hong Kong, joining a growing number of borrowers tapping the new debt market as Beijing gradually promotes of its tightly controlled currency abroad.
The World Bank said buyers of its 500 million yuan ($76 million), two-year bond were mainly Hong Kong-based financial institutions, companies and wealthy individuals. It said the money will go into its general fund, rather than being raised for a specific purpose.
The yuan is not traded on global currency markets but Beijing has loosened controls and allows Hong Kong banks to use it. Hong Kong is Chinese territory but has its own currency and a Western-style legal system and often is used as a site for mainland companies to interact with foreign investors.
Beijing began allowing foreign companies to issue yuan debt last year. The Asian Development Bank, Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) and McDonald’s Corp. have sold yuan-denominated debt to finance activities in China.
Buyers of such bonds hope to gain from both interest payments and the growing strength of the yuan, which is rising against the U.S. dollar.
If I had the kind of cash to throw around that is required to do foreign currency bonds, I’d probably go for the McD’s Yuan bonds.
Private sector adds 297,000 jobs in December: ADP
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Private employers added 297,000 jobs in December compared with a revised gain of 92,000 in November, a report by a payrolls processor showed on Wednesday.
The November figure was originally reported as a gain of 93,000.
The median of estimates from 27 economists surveyed by Reuters for the ADP Employer Services report, jointly developed with Macroeconomic Advisers LLC, was for a rise of 100,000 private-sector jobs in December.
The ADP figures come ahead of the government’s much more comprehensive labor market report on Friday, which includes both public and private sector employment.
That report is expected to show a rise in overall nonfarm payrolls of 140,000 in December, based on a Reuters poll of analysts, but a rise in private payrolls of 145,000.
1. Amazing numbers (if true)
2. Why is the market down pre-opening?
3. How much are seasonal workers who will be promptly let go in January?
I’m guessing that just about all of these “jobs” are temporary, low-wage service positions, most of which will go away in January.
BINGO. Much like the census workers.
I thought the seasonal jobs started in November? And lasted through the first two weeks of January for the returns/buy what you really want rush.
Walmart and MCD jobs come to mind. You always have seasonal jobs near xmas.someone has to sell all the products from chindia.
“Why is the market down pre-opening?”
Maybe because the market fears that if economic recovery really takes hold, that the days of free Fed money raining down from the sky may be over?
I agree, though—amazing numbers, if true. Why do I suspect they might not be?
Yet the news of today and yesterday is that UE rose in most major cities.
How can this be?! (rhetorical, sarcastic question)
New Paradigm?
Housing prices are falling, and falling fast.
The stock market is on fire.
Homeowners defaulting at record rate.
The stock market is on fire.
Robosigning fraud clouds title of foreclosed properties.
The stock market is on fire.
State and municipal finances are a disaster.
The stock market is on fire.
Housing bubbles in Canada and Australia are about to pop.
The stock market is on fire.
The PIIGS are near financial collapse.
The stock market is on fire.
Manufacturing has been largely outsourced to Chindia, most what’s left are gubermint and low paying service jobs.
The stock market is on fire.
China is engineering one of the largest housing bubbles this world has ever seen.
The stock market is on fire.
The US federal budget is something like 10% of GDP/$1.4 trillion in the red.
The stock market is on fire.
Unemployment is around 16%.
The stock market is on fire.
The .com stock market bubble burst in spectacular fashion, yet
the stock market is on fire once again.
Do all those federal deficits, toxic papers, trillions in debt, defaulting homeowners, deadbeat states & municipalities, PIIGS and various housing bubbles no longer matter? If things blow up once again the FED, ECB, BoJ just buy up whatever toxic asset at hand, put it deep into their vault and the game continues? No consequences ever? Heads you win, tails the Central Bank & tax payer will bail you out. Can this go on for ever? Why (not)?
Besides from constraints in natural resources, which won’t bite for another decade or so, can we just keep on shoving toxic assets under the carpet and keep on whistling Dixie? The printing press or its electronic equivalent will bail us out in case any sign of trouble arises, yet inflation is relatively tame.
Bernanke is pumping $105 billion of inkjet dollars a month into the markets via his POMO arangements with primary dealers (TBTF banks). Regulators are turning a blind eye to fraudulent accounting. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac just took on over $126 BILLION in toxic mortgages from Bank of America for a piddling $2.8 billion “fine” from BoA. The rule of law is not enforced because no one wants to cause a flight from “the markets.” We have become a banana republic.
Wall street has ben bernak by the kajonas. I wonder how he sleeps at night?
‘Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac just took on over $126 BILLION in toxic mortgages from Bank of America for a piddling $2.8 billion “fine” from BoA.’
I wondered whether that $2.8 bn paled by comparison to the amount of mortgages BoA sold to the GSEs. Why no media coverage? (Or do you have a link?)
I wondered whether that $2.8 bn paled by comparison to the amount of mortgages BoA sold to the GSEs. Why no media coverage? (Or do you have a link?)
Well, some of the buyers of those mortgages aren’t too happy with BofA.
I can’t think of names right off the top o’ my head, but some of those buyers are suing BofA. Reason: They thought they bought mortgage gold, but BofA sold ‘em junk.
I thought the reason was they thought they had bought properly underwritten mortgages, but BoA sold them fraud riddled rubbish.
I thought the reason was they thought they had bought properly underwritten mortgages, but BoA sold them fraud riddled rubbish.
That’s what I was *trying* to say up above. And thank you, sfbubblebuyer, for doing a much better job of expressing the idea.
Mike in Miami ….I like the way you displayed the crazy state of affairs .Interesting how Wall Street seems to be operating outside the realm of all these other disasters going on .I always thought that Wall Street/Stock Market was suppose to be a reflection of
what was going on in the greater Society .
How can such a disconnect be possible ?
“How can such a disconnect be possible ?”
Because the average person is be smart!
Mike in Miami,
You nailed it. I don’t get it, either, but there it is, clear as day.
How long can it go on? Apparently, a lot longer than most of us bears could ever imagine.
More trouble in Seattle area
Bellevue Towers developer turns project over to lenders
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2013835593_bellevuetowers04.html
Seattle Times business reporter
The developer of Bellevue Towers, the region’s biggest condo project ever, has turned over the development to lenders to avoid foreclosure.
Portland-based Gerding Edlen transferred the downtown Bellevue project’s unsold units on Thursday to an entity led by investment bank Morgan Stanley, according to county records.
From condos to apartments in PHX:
http://www.azcentral.com/business/realestate/articles/2011/01/04/20110104downtown-phoenix-condos-converted-into-apartments-44-monroe.html
Repartments and rentominiums…
I love IT!
The new owners announced price cuts to help spur sales at the 539-unit development, where just 118 sales have closed since the two towers were completed nearly two years ago.
…
The new owners announced price cuts to help spur sales at the 539-unit development, where just 118 sales have closed since the two towers were completed nearly two years ago.
When Bellevue Towers opened in February 2009, condo prices ranged from $399,000 to $4.4 million. A Gerding Edlen principal predicted the project, at Northeast Fourth Street and 106th Avenue Northeast, would sell out in two years.
…
In addition to the $275 million loan from the Morgan Stanley consortium, county records indicate Gerding Edlen also took out a $67 million “mezzanine” loan — something like a second mortgage — from Seattle real-estate investment company Washington Holdings to help build Bellevue Towers.
This tower is soooooo bankrupt. I think I will have some Schadenfreude on the mezzanine…
And this is on top of the McGuire building standing vacant, awaiting its demolition.
http://www.kirotv.com/news/26366326/detail.html
SEATTLE — The condemned McGuire building in Belltown is set to be demolished sometime in the next year-and-a-half, according to documents released by building company Lease Crutcher Lewis on Tuesday.
The building, which was completed in 2001, is 25 stories high and contains more than 270 apartment units. Hundreds of people were forced out of those units last year when severe structural defects were discovered.
Wow. Just… wow.
Damn! And it’s ugly, too!
“With the additional reductions announced last week, average prices are 30 percent lower than two years ago, Glasser said.”
When I read this article, my first thought was “Still nowhere near cheap enough.”
Sure, Seattle pricing on the whole is down approx 25% or so, but condos have fallen much further than SFH. I’ve seen some that are listed for short-sale, down almost 50% from peak; at those prices, they almost start to cash-flow.
In other words, these will still not sell at a 30% price-reduction.
What`s up in the Hood? Well working middle class Hood if there is such a thing anymore.
18317 JUPITER LANDINGS DR
4 Bed 2 Bath 2152 Sq Ft
Previous sales
Aug-1986 $98,000 WARRANTY DEED
Sep-2002 $153,300 WARRANTY DEED
Jan-2006 $380,000 WARRANTY DEED
Sep-2010 $160,000 WARRANTY DEED
Appraisals
2010 2009 2008
Total Market Value: $160,147 $196,451 $258,910
Listed now
18242 Jupiter Landings Dr Jupiter, FL 33458
$99,900
3 Bed 2 Bath 1,399 Sq Ft
Previous sales
Aug-1999 $103,500 WARRANTY DEED
Aug-1986 $72,900 WARRANTY DEED
Appraisals 2010 2009 2008
Total Market Value: $128,404 $162,132 $213,868
Same hood Smaller House, a couple of 22 yr. old kids bought in 09
18020 ANCHOR DR
2 Bed 2 Bath 907 Sq Ft
Previous sales
Oct-2009 $121,000
Dec-1985 $64,600
Appraisals 2010 2009 2008
Total Market Value: $116,844 $148,555 $192,507
Location: 18251 JUPITER LANDINGS DR
Mailing: 18251 JUPITER LANDINGS DR
JUPITER, FL 33458 3356
Sale Date Sale Price
12/14/2007 $375,000
03/31/2003 $223,000
03/01/1992 $107,000
10/01/1988 $86,800
04/01/1986 $77,200
Appraisals 2010 2009 2008
Total Market Value: $189,023 $218,654 $288,160
“Appraisals
2010 2009 2008
Total Market Value: $160,147 $196,451 $258,910
Listed now
18242 Jupiter Landings Dr Jupiter, FL 33458
$99,900″
Tentative ‘reappraisal’:
Appraisals
2011 2010 2009 2008
Total Market Value: $99,900 $160,147 $196,451 $258,910
I realize the $99,900 may be on the high side as a current market value estimate, given the home has not yet sold at that price…
P.S. (99,900/258,910-1)*100 = -61.4% — nice haircut!
That goes beyond a haircut - I am thinking decapitation would be how I would describe this..
Here is one side of a story of how an employee of a major bank destroyed the life of a small business owner with a mortgage loan scam.
http://www.compolinc.com/default.htm
He told me that the only agency that could investigate was the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers (BBO). In my opinion, the BBO is pure evil. They cover-up crimes committed by attorneys and essentially sanction attorneys to commit crimes. The only attorneys that are disciplined are those who are convicted of defrauding the public.
The 50 state AGs who filed a lawsuit over robo-signing and other forclosure irregularities are settling with the banksters for a token fine and, no doubt, the promise of future campaign contributions. Wall Street’s control over government is complete.
OTOH, the fact that people are saying the sort of things that Sammy’s saying is progress. Major progress, IMHO.
Recall that all of the major social changes in our country’s history, stretching all the way back to the Founding, came up from the grassroots. The current revolt against Wall Street is yet another example of a grassroots movement.
So, Sammy, keep stirring the pot!
I am also upset at what are obviously fairly low fines for violations that could have been completely avoided by hiring enough people to do the foreclosures properly.
However…
Most state AG offices are woefully understaffed. Justice costs. If you want them to go after the banks you have to give them the same resources to go after the banks as the banks have to defend themselves. Never going to happen. The meat of these deals is in whatever they promise to do going forward, not the slap on the wrist fines.
The meat of these deals is in whatever they promise to do going forward,
Interesting. Are you aware of any meat of any of these deals?
No, not particularly. I expect there is a promise to “comply with existing state X law and regulations as regards bringing foreclosure actions” going forward. Which, of course, isn’t really meat since they were supposed to do that anyway, but it is sort of an aknowledgement that they weren’t really doing it before. You can probably find the text once the deals are finalized. They might even quote the exact wording in the press release.
You have problem with Corporate Communist Capitalism©®™, comrades?
Half of all bankruptcies and now half of all foreclosures substantially caused by “liar-illnesses”? Or is our “health-care” system damaging the economic base of our entire country?
Get Sick, Get Out: The Medical Causes of Home Foreclosures
http://works.bepress.com/christopher_robertson/2/
The “standard account” of home foreclosure attributes this spike to loose lending practices, irresponsible borrowers, a flat real estate market, and rising interest rates. Based on our study of homeowners going through foreclosures in four states, we find that the standard account fails to represent the facts and thus makes a poor guide for policy. In contrast, we find that half of all foreclosures have medical causes, and we estimate that medical crises put 1.5 million Americans in jeopardy of losing their homes last year.
Half of all respondents (49%) indicated that their foreclosure was caused in part by a medical problem, including illness or injuries (32%), unmanageable medical bills (23%), lost work due to a medical problem (27%), or caring for sick family members (14%). We also examined objective indicia of medical disruptions in the previous two years, including those respondents paying more than $2,000 of medical bills out of pocket (37%), those losing two or more weeks of work because of injury or illness (30%), those currently disabled and unable to work (8%), and those who used their home equity to pay medical bills (13%). Altogether, seven in ten respondents (69%) reported at least one of these factors.
Why is it only in the past several years that people have been losing their houses enmass due to illnesses?
My BS meter is being pegged.
We all know this is BS.
I have friends that without insurance their medication would cost them $3000 a month.
Interestingly, it costs the pharma companies about $30 to make.
I have friends that without insurance their medication would cost them $3000 a month.
Maybe only $1,000 a month in Canada for us Americans. Many drugs are full covered for Canadians.
My guess is people get way overextended on their debts then an illness hits and thus they get to blame all their woes on their illnesses.
While a major health crisis IS enough to throw the majority of Americans into bankruptcy, I suspect that you’re right. ISTM that a very high percentage of Americans have signed up for monthly expenses that eat up almost all of their paychecks. Any sort of disruption, either an unanticipated expense, or a hiccup in income, can only be paid for with debt, which only makes the monthly nut even harder to meet.
Throw in a shrinking paycheck and it gets worse. Note that it said “in part”.
No everyone getting foreclosed went out and bought Beamer. There have always been foreclosures, even when times were “good” bad things happened to people and they lost their houses. Of course now its at epidemic proportions thanks to the housing bubble. A lot of people really believed the “the buy now or be priced out forever” BS and over extended themselves. Then all it took was a medical crisis or a pay cut/layoff and they got pushed over the edge.
Of course they shouldn’t have bought, but they were ignorant and lacked critical thinking skills, plus “everyone was doing it”, their families badgered them to get a house before it was too late. The fact that a lousy 8K credit got so many people to jump off the shows how ingrained “having a house” is ingrained into the American psyche.
You’ve all nailed it, IMHO.
These people were already hanging by a thread, and a single bump in the road (like a medical problem) threw them over the edge.
americans are so underwarter and debt ridden that the common cold would send them into bankruptcy.
americans are so
underwarter and debt riddenuninsured, underinsured and BS insured that the common cold would send them into bankruptcy.“americans are so uninsured, underinsured and BS insured that the common cold would send them into bankruptcy.”
$3000 deductibles or no insurance at all will certainly keep Americans away from the doctor’s office, at least until what was a small health issue snowballs into a major (and expensive) health issue.
People retiring when they still have a mortgage instead of still working? People taking on new mortgages late in life? Just read some article on that recently. Before most people had things paid in full by their 60s.
CarrieAnn
That’s why we’re paying cash for our toe tag home (a one-story ranch). I can’t even fathom the idea of a mortgage past 60-65, unless you’re set for life. Add property tax, maintenance, utilities, insurance,etc…, and you still have a good sized monthly nut, even without a mortgage.
Ditto, awaiting.
It’s amazing how many people are pushing 50 or 60, and have signed up for NEW 30-year mortgages, either as a new purchase or a refi.
This behavior is absolutely nuts!
Why is it only in the past several years that people have been losing their houses enmass due to illnesses?
Previously the house helped pay the medical bills. And prior to that medical wasn’t so expensive.
“Why is it only in the past several years that people have been losing their houses enmass due to illnesses? “</I.
It’s not that this is new, it’s just new to YOU.
Half of all respondents (49%) indicated that their foreclosure was caused in part by a medical problem,
Self reported - no independent investigation of the real finance numbers behind these foreclosures.
Yeah - of course no one would say I bought a $50,000 F-350 and a $5,000 plasma and a house I could not afford (cause housing always goes up and it had such great granite counter tops) and saved nothing and THEN my kid got sick…
Premise: Half of all respondents (49%) indicated that their foreclosure was caused in part by a medical problem,
Counter: We all know this is BS.
BS? OK combo, arizonadude and banana, please answer this post with sourced findings, studies and numbers supporting your position that this is “BS”.
Because foreclosure and Bankruptcy are related often times caused by the same factors. In addition to common sense, there are many studies and articles relating the two including:
Bankruptcy Laws Contributing to Foreclosure Epidemic
consumeraffairs dot com
Now it is a fact that Bankruptcy causes can be more easily figured out than foreclosures because in BK assets and liabilities are listed in the court documents therefore it is easier to determine in BK whether the BK was caused by an F350 debt or a broken leg.
Therefore banana’s assertion of a report being: Self reported - no independent investigation of the real finance numbers behind these foreclosures. could not be applied to the many studies of BK which have proved medical bills to be a big factor in 1/2 of BK’s. Now this might run contrary to people’s propensity to blame everything on American “greedy debtors” but facts are facts and numbers are numbers and if your position is supportable please support it with something such as the following type source:
Medical bills make up half of bankruptcies source: msnbc dot com
BOSTON — Costly illnesses trigger about half of all personal bankruptcies, and most of those who go bankrupt because of medical problems have health insurance, according to findings from a Harvard University study to be released Wednesday.
Researchers from Harvard’s law and medical schools said the findings underscore the inadequacy of many private insurance plans that offer worst-case catastrophic coverage, but little financial security for less severe illnesses.
“Unless you’re Bill Gates, you’re just one serious illness away from bankruptcy,” said Dr. David Himmelstein, the study’s lead author and an associate professor of medicine. “Most of the medically bankrupt were average Americans who happened to get sick.”
Study finds most bankruptcy filers had health insurance
Comment on same study: With the cooperation of bankruptcy judges they administered questionnaires to nearly 2,000 bankruptcy filers and reviewed their court records.
scienceagogo dot com
Bankruptcies down in Alabama, but up in Birmingham
http://blog.al.com/businessnews/2011/01/bankruptcies_down_in_alabama_b.html
…Debt incurred for unforeseen medical expenses, Mauk said, remain a large percentage of consumer debt throughout the state.
…Denaburg said the main problem among business owners continues to be low home and property prices from the burst credit bubble of 2008. That, he said, has bankrupted home builders, their suppliers and many other firms dependent on growth in the real estate business.
Now this might run contrary to people’s propensity to blame everything on American “greedy debtors”
And the truth is I know so few people who fall into this profile. Those I know who are in trouble are hurting because of shrinking paychecks and in a few cases medical bills. Now it might just be that those of us in flyover country are a bit more conservative and less greedy than those on the coasts, but I’m not so sure about that.
“BS? OK combo, arizonadude and banana, please answer this post with sourced findings, studies and numbers supporting your position that this is “BS”.
*crickets*
No possible way it could be the FBs fault. Gotta blame everyone and everything else. Its the American way.
No possible way it could be the FBs fault. Gotta blame everyone and everything else.
“With me or against me” phrases such as
“no possible way”
“blame everyone”
and “blame everything else” have little to do with rational arguments, my arguments or studies that show results are substantially or partially caused by certain factors.
No toe homeowner can`t pay mortgage.
Saturday Times
By What`s Up Saturday Times Staff Writer
Posted: 4:49 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2009
Edward Martinez has not been able to work since he cut off the toes on his left foot mowing the grass on his home that was purchased in 2005. His wife a realtor (pictured above) stands in line at the NACA event in West Palm Beach with 800 others hoping to get their mortgage payments lowered. “We haven`t been able to make a mortgage payment since 2005″ said Mrs. Martinez ” my husband cut off his toes, our dog got cancer and our oldest daughter had a big toe grow out of her forehead. We thought we had it worked out but the bank kept losing the paperwork, and now they won`t work with us”
The Martinez family who owe $800,000 on their 6,000 sq. ft. Wellington Fl. home don`t know what they will do until Edward Martinez can resume his career as a security guard.”We just have nowhere else to go” said Mrs Martinez “that`s why I am going to miss Oprah today, it`s just what you have to do”
“We haven`t been able to make a mortgage payment since 2005″ said Mrs. Martinez ” my husband cut off his toes, our dog got cancer and our oldest daughter had a big toe grow out of her forehead….The Martinez family who owe $800,000 on their 6,000 sq. ft. Wellington Fl. home don`t know what they will do until Edward Martinez can resume his career as a security guard.”We just have nowhere else to go” said Mrs Martinez “that`s why I am going to miss Oprah today, it`s just what you have to do”
There is something slightly unsettling about this story but I can’t put my finger on it.
Hey, it isn`t all made up. There was a family at a NACA event in WPB with a name close to if not Martinez and the major hardship they gave was the father cutting off his toes while cutting the lawn. I did take some liberties with the dog cancer and the big toe growing out of the daughters forehead. I also should have dated it 2010. I can`t remember the house cost but it was somewhere around $400k bought in 2005.
I was gonna say, couldn’t they use the toe from the daughter on the dad?
“I was gonna say, couldn’t they use the toe from the daughter on the dad?”
I`ll have What`s Up Saturday Times Staff Writer put that operation in his next article about Obama Care and pre existing-conditions. But first I am going to have him change his name to Wasssup Saturday Times Staff Writer.
There is something slightly unsettling about this story but I can’t put my finger on it.
But I think I can put my toe on it.
In other news, it looks like robbery by banks still pays. This just in from DailyKos:
Was It As Good For You As It Was For Bank of America?
I can’t find the original.
lmao…… now this is good stuff. Keep going. Drum rolls and all.
I hope this is satire but in today’s world it could go either way…
Jeff is a dirty rat. I spent some time looking at The Onion trying to find his story.
They bought the place in 2005 and haven’t made any payments since 2005?
Sounds like they moved in and never made any payments.
How does a security guard qualify for an $800K mortgage - that’s a jumbo no matter what.
our oldest daughter had a big toe grow out of her forehead
?
With how bad insurance policies are these days it’s conceivable that
some medical costs could but people who are highly leveraged into
the BK zone when normally they would not of gone there . In other words the medical costs were just the straw that broke the camels
back with the crazy way people have been managing their budgets
these days being heavy in debt and all that jazz .
I would of expected that there would of been more medical BK’s in the older groups ,but I guess there are a lot of people that have shitty insurance or no insurance at all .
How many people thought their stupid real estate was going to cover their needs and how many people bought shit they couldn’t afford
and thought real estate appreciation would cover the tab and how many people pulled out equity for stupid stuff before the crash ?
How many people exhausted their savings trying to feed the beast of the real estate monster?
I don’t know if some of these cases are bogus or not ,but I sure would like to see some sort of a National Health Care Plan that
would actually lower the cost of health care and bust the current price fixing monopoly and corruption of the current system .
I don’t know if some of these cases are bogus or not, but I sure would like to see some sort of a National Health Care Plan that would actually lower the cost of health care and bust the current price fixing monopoly and corruption of the current system .
Speaking as someone who has one of those high deductible crap-surance policies, I heartily agree.
America’s housing bubble still deflating
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/jan/03/useconomy-economics
As they failed to spot the bubble, most economists seem oblivious of the threat of further market falls to come
How many economists does it take to see an $8tn housing bubble?
The answer to that question has to be many more economists than we have in the United States. Very few economists saw or understood the growth of the $8tn housing bubble, whose collapse wrecked the economy. This involved a degree of inexcusable incompetence from the economists at the Treasury, the Fed and other regulatory institutions who had the responsibility for managing the economy and the financial system.
…The other important part of this story is that many more homes will go underwater, and there will be new losses for banks. One result of the delay in this second round of price adjustments, though, is that trillions of dollars of mortgages were taken out of private hands and shifted over to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage giants currently owned by the government. This means that the losses on these mortgages will be the problem of the taxpayers, not the banks.
Why is no one surprised?
“How many economists does it take to see an $8tn housing bubble?”
Maybe 10 or so?
The actual answer is “one,” as those who saw it did not need Ben Bernanke or Alan Greenspan to confirm what their eyes and minds told them.
While some of us could see the bubble, I think nobody had any idea of the size of the MBS/CDS bubble. Those shenanigans were well hidden.
Exactly. The news of Wall St. scams wasn’t made public until just before it all blew up.
Warren Buffet’s early warning of “Weapons of Financial Destruction” was the first time I heard about any of it.
…The other important part of this story is that many more homes will go underwater, and there will be new losses for banks. One result of the delay in this second round of price adjustments, though, is that trillions of dollars of mortgages were taken out of private hands and shifted over to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage giants currently owned by the government. This means that the losses on these mortgages will be the problem of the taxpayers, not the banks.
DING! DING! DING!
Hate to bring this up, but I said this a few years ago…the entire bubble, burst, and bailouts were planned long ago. It was so obvious how this was going to play out, the only mystery is why so few people could see it.
On why it’s different in Canada.
No solid basis for the scary speculation
http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/solid+basis+scary+speculation/4039586/story.html
One of the biggest business stories of 2010 was one that never happened: the disastrous Canadian housing bubble and crash that never came to pass.
Of course, we know this now. Canada’s hot housing market has settled down without any serious slump in either prices or sales. It’s hard to find a reputable analyst who predicts anything other than mild fluctuations in housing over the coming year or two
…This kind of speculative bubble was allowed to form in the U.S. housing market through a combination of monetary policy that was too easy for too long and shockingly irresponsible regulation of banks, which enabled people to get mortgages they could never repay and allowed banks to package these bad mortgages into toxic securities that eventually shook the foundations of the banking industry in the U.S.
In Canada, nothing remotely like this happened.
…But we had no U.S.-style bubble and there was never much chance of one, because banking regulation here is conservative.
In Canada, it was never possible to get a mortgage without any proof of income or assets. It was uncommon to get a sub-prime loan. As well, banks never adopted the practice of selling off most of their mortgages, so they had a strong incentive to lend only to those who were likely to repay.
This is a keeper. It is going to end badly in Canada. Funny how the article never talks about wages, debt, the ratio of the mortgage to income, etc.
All you need to do is walk around Vancouver and Toronto to see this vast bubble.
——-
That’s why it’s not at all surprising that once pent-up demand for homes tapered off and rising prices brought more homes onto the market, the boom cooled off and the market returned to balance, just as many analysts had expected.
it would make a big difference if Canadians had to qualify for the loan
and I don’t know if they are a recourse on loans Country or not . That
would make a big different in the stability of the market (even if it was
to high ) because people would not be forced into foreclosure because they really didn’t qualify for the loan .I don’t know if they had to put more down in Canada or what . Now if they get a high unemployment
rate that could affect a real estate market ,even if the lending was only to qualified buyers . I guess Canadians don’t have to worry about medical BK’s.
I agree that the prices are insane in many regions of Canada ,but if the homeowner can make his payments and they didn’t get into low downs for the sub-prime buyer like the USA did, that might stabilize the market to some degree and create only a minor crash or leveling out .Course there are a lot of other factors that come into play regarding the potential for crashes in markets .
I don’t really know why Canada prices got that high if they were
only giving loans to qualified buyers ,but are the wages a lot higher in
that Country ? What is the unemployment rate in Canada ? How much outsourcing/out-manufacturing does Canada do and how much importing without proper taxes goes on ? Are Canadians up-side down
with their pension obligations or do they got that under control . So
many facts that you have to add up before you can make a prediction
on how much that market might correct .
I guess Canadians don’t have to worry about medical BK’s.
This general reality is a huge factor that affects lives in so many ways economically, socially, personally and emotionally.
Americans worrying about fighting Blue Cross when their child or spouse is sick is…..
Culturally SICK!
And clowns defend it.
+1 million, Rio…
And the hits just keep coming…
Yes - she is a democrat (this is Chicago) and looks to be fully qualified to run Chicago…
————-
Braun records show losses, 4 mortgages
Chicago Sun-Times - 1-5-2011
Chicago mayoral candidate Carol Moseley Braun reported a negative income — $225,908 — to the IRS in 2008, the same year she took out a fourth mortgage on the spacious Hyde Park house she has put up for sale, records show.
The former U.S. senator and ambassador released two-page summary sheets from her 2008 and 2009 tax returns in hopes of quelling a storm that erupted Monday when she said she wouldn’t release any of her tax records before the Feb. 22 municipal election.
Braun changed her mind later Monday, and — like other mayoral front-runners already had done — released tax information Tuesday afternoon. In a press release, she said “my remarks regarding my tax returns” on Monday “sent the wrong message and I regret the statement.”
Pathetic. Now we know why she didn’t want to share those tax returns.
Oh yea, she is a real piece of work/crap, just what Chicago needs to help guide them.
It’s no secret here that property owners, every business owners know better want Rahm. He has effectively portrayed himself as the candidate of stability and a “friend” of business.
That’s not an endorsement, that’s just what is oozing out of the local press and blogs. Remember, a whole lot of condoze were sold here under Richie’s reign, the stability of which had come to be taken for granted. While many saw his retirement coming, even more didn’t really think about it - Richie is the only mayor they ever knew.
The feeling seems to be that much of the city wants to muddle through with the status quo intact (read: machine), and that this is no time for experiments and change.
The feeling seems to be that much of the city wants to muddle through with the status quo intact (read: machine), and that this is no time for experiments and change.
After all, the local hope and change guy moved to DC.
I am a regular lurker here, and I don’t post often, but someone just sent me a link where you can download “Debt Free for Life” in .pdf format and I was just browsing it and thought you guys would be happy to know that the author says that he has decided that “all debt is bad debt”. I thought you guys would appreciate it. I’ve heard of him before, but I haven’t read any of his books.
The link for the book is: www dot walletpop dot com / david-bach
D
I think of debt as being like liquor. The best you can say about it is that in moderation, it doesn’t do any harm. But it is very prone to abuse and the hangovers can be brutal.
Simply read The Richest Man of Babylon and be done with these gurus. They are all regurgitating the same stuff. How many books has Suze O. written? I wouldn’t pay for her first book, her last book or any book in between.
The market for this stuff exists because there are enough stupid people who need the authoritative figure to tell them what to do, how to do it and when to do it.
Is there any Stimulus money left? Maybe they could put some of it into the Witness Protection Program and let people learn how to wash their own genitals.
After agreeing to testify against co-defendant, man’s throat slit in jail
By Susan Spencer-Wendel Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 4:49 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2011
WEST PALM BEACH — A Lake Worth gas station owner was shot dead during a robbery because he saw the gunman’s face.
On Tuesday, two co-robbers who could make the case against the alleged shooter pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against him for the possibility of a lighter prison sentence.
Not without a price, though.
Co-defendant Shane Farley’s throat has since been slit in jail, Circuit Judge John Kastrenakes was told Tuesday.
After the shooting, Farley admitted to police he conspired with Jermaine Lee Henderson to commit a robbery.
Farley, 28, appeared in court Tuesday in an orange jumpsuit -worn by inmates in confinement or protective custody - and pleaded guilty to attempted robbery with a firearm and conspiracy to commit robbery. Prosecutor Barbara Burns agreed that following Farley’s testimony at Henderson’s upcoming murder trial, she would recommend a prison sentence of just over five years in prison, the low end of state sentencing guidelines.
A second man, Derek Glinton, 29, pleaded guilty to the same charges with the same agreement.
Police say Henderson, who is already imprisoned for a robbery, was out on a furlough when he committed another robbery October 2004 in which Bong Soo Chon, 52-year-old owner of a Texaco station in Lake Worth, was shot dead.
Farley and Glinton confessed and fingered Henderson as their ringleader, telling police their original plan was to rob a Wendy’s restaurant. Their plan was foiled when the money truck had already left the restaurant, Burns told the judge.
So Henderson told Farley to pull into the Texaco instead and went inside. After the robbery, he told the men he shot Chon because the man had seen his face, police said.
That’s the most scary part of violent crooks: they’re also dumb as rocks.
That’s true of crooks in general. BTW, if you’ve ever spent any time hanging around law enforcement types, the stupidity of crooks provides them with endless amusement.
Yes and yes.
Zillow has a short list of the most expensive houses sold in 2010.
http://www.zillow.com/blog/some-of-2010s-top-real-estate-sales-in-u-s/2010/12/20/
Somehow the listing prices for these places are different than the actual sales prices.
“Somehow the listing prices for these places are different (i.e. higher) than the actual sales prices.”
That is normally how it works. It only seems unusual because bubble-era bid wars remain a fresh memory.
Rent vs. own ratio to flip in 2011?
http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2011/01/04/rent-vs-own-ratio-to-flip-in-2011/
Mark Zandi/Moody’s eConomist is a “flipper” imo. He’s flipped his opinion in this bubble going up/going down, to get media space and due to his “incentives”, imo.
The comments on additional costs to own weren’t mentioned in the article. Suprise!
“…prices for rentals nationwide increased modestly by about 3% in 2010, partly driven by a record number of homeowners looking for new digs after foreclosing on their homes.”
That’s funny, cause we renewed our lease for a third straight year at the same rent. Maybe it is only the low-end of the rental market that is getting hammered by new entrants?
Rents in our ‘hood are up dramatically (about 40%) since we began renting here in 2004.
We’re fortunate because I anticipated these rent increases, and negotiated low/no rent increases in exchange for pre-paying rent (6-12 months in advance) and our helping with the maintenance. It’s the only reason we’ve been able to stay here. We would NOT be able to afford today’s rents in our neighborhood.
I know this is a housing blog, but much discussion has taken place here about inflation. I have been looking at my utility bills for the past five years for the same rental house in Kentucky. This is what I have found out:
Atmos has a fixed customer charge, and several variable charges. My focus is on this fixed customer charge since it represents Atmos’ cost of doing business per customer before the first CCF of natural gas is delivered to the customer. Five years ago the customer charge was $7.50/month and now it is $12.50/month representing an annualized increase of 10.8%.
The charges per CCF are now lower, representing an annualized deflation rate of -12.6%. The cost per CCF five years ago was 1.3242/CCF (including a distribution fee, a gas cost charge, and a franchise fee). The cost per CCF currently is 0.6741/CCF.
The local electric utility does not generate any electricity; they buy it at wholesale from the TVA (sourced from a coal burning plant) and resell it at retail. In five years the customer charge increased from $8.29 to $10.00 representing an annualized increase of 3.8%. The cost per KWH increased from $.06413 to $0.07810 representing an annualized increase of 4.0%. (These electric utility costs do not include the complete costs of their environmental impact from burning coal, such as the massive spill of coal ash waste in TN, and any future coal ash spills that are a matter of WHEN, not IF.)
I wonder how these utility “fixed costs” have been increasing over 5+ years for people from other parts of the country. If the electric utility is generating their own electricity then I would expect their “fixed costs” portion of their billing would be going up by double digits; low double digits for hydro and natural gas, higher double digits for nuclear and coal.
Of course, higher fixed billing costs for electricity is not necessarily a bad thing IF they are a result of any increasing mitigating of the environmental impact of these facilities.
My electric bill is tied to the cost of natural gas.
They did however install a fancy computerized meter to eliminate the need for a meter reader. I get to pay an extra $4/mnth or so for the next 4 or 5 years for that.
Methinks that human meter readers are going the way of human elevator operators.
“They did however install a fancy computerized meter to eliminate the need for a meter reader.”
Same here for Salinas,CA
Same here in San Diego.
Methinks that human meter readers are going the way of human elevator operators.
The last elevator operator I saw was about a couple months ago. I guess even in Brazil they ain’t “makin’ any more” operated elevators. It’s a pity because they make figuring out elevators so much easier especially when the numbers are in Portuguese.
Now meter-readers: My street has those Latin American middle class “compound houses”, the ones with the tall walls with broken glass on top and skinny mean dogs on the roof but I guess our HOA does not allow that broken glass stuff or skinny roof dogs either and I think roof dogs are more of a Hispanic thing anyway.
When we built our house we were required by the new code to put the electric meter on the outside of our “compound” wall- the only one on my block that can be read from outside. I’m so proud of it. It looks so modern and new- like the ones I grew up with, and the meter readers don’t bug me to come inside my “compound”.
How do the dogs get up on the roofs?
How do the dogs get up on the roofs?
I don’t know because they don’t do that in Brazil. But I’ve seen it in Hispanic countries.
But Brazilians do do the broken glass thing. Just not on my block.
The neat thing is there is an option for a remote service disconnection on some of the smart meters. Some meters work on a wireless mesh network. I found some proprietary information that was leaked that 2 bytes are sent on each of 25 frequencies (spread spectrum security.) Don’t like your power bill? Report a lower one. Don’t like your neighbor? Cut off their power. Smart meters are going to be funny.
“Smart Readers” will also be shut off the power with rolling black-outs when demand is greater than supply.
Here in PA if you agree to have your A/C remotely cut off during peak demand the power company (PECO) will give you $150 rebate per month during the 3 months of summer.
Wait till a glitch blacks everybody out. “Technologically precarious” is modern engineering.
It’s not only for eliminating meter readers, but for allowing the power company to charge different rates for peak power (as they should), allowing for customers to get paid back when the can add power to the grid and to make themselves some more money through decoupling.
During the day over the holidays, I was digging into our power bill, which should have been low since we were away for most of the billing cycle. It was the therms that I was pissed about, but I discovered the our new Smart Meter and found that:
1) a 23W CFL was actually registering 23W, etc. and
2) that because our bill is only $20 even at $.115/kWh, we won’t benefit by being on a different rate structure.
It seems, sadly, that the only thing that will make most people lower their consumption of anything, even in the face of obviously high-graded resources, is price. So give people information about how their choices are affecting their bill and then let them make an informed choice and let the market work (sort of) to get the power companies some money for keeping the lights on.
I’ve got an acquiantance (sp?) who has an $800 a month bill. I think that he should be pilloried, personally, but I say jack his bill up to $8000 and see what happens. Bet he’d put some lights on timers!
MrBubble
Take a look at ALL you past bills for the last ten years. For even more fun, go to your local library and look at newspapers from 10 years ago. Specifically, the ads.
Real inflation is WAY higher than official numbers.
Real inflation is WAY higher than official numbers.
—————
Absolutely true!
What has given the gold bugs the jitters in early 2011?
MarketWatch
Gold - 100 Oz (Comex)
$1,369
Change -9.80 -0.71%
Volume 128,668
Jan 5, 2011 10:33 a.m.
P.S. MarketWatch tazed me for pointing out that Zuckerberg rhymes with F_____berg.
What has given the gold bugs the jitters in early 2011?
Not this 10 year gold chart:
http://www.kitco.com/charts/popup/au3650nyb.html
Gold would have to drop to about $850 an ounce to break this 10 year uptrend.
Not this 5 year gold chart:
http://www.kitco.com/charts/popup/au1825nyb.html
Gold would have to drop to about $900 an ounce to break this 5 year uptrend.
Not this 1 year gold chart:
http://www.kitco.com/charts/popup/au0365nyb.html
Gold would have to drop to about $1,230 per ounce to break this 1 year uptrend.
Could you produce similar charts for U.S. housing circa 2006, so we can see why many back then were stubbornly convinced that “real estate always goes up”?
Gold - 100 Oz (Comex)
$1,369
sure…
“LARGO — Police say a 14-year-old boy set fires at two vacant duplexes late last month. During their investigation, police learned that local children knew the buildings were vacant and were using them as hang outs.”
http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/14-year-old-boy-accused-of-setting-fires-at-vacant-largo-duplexes/1143640
That’s the REASON that insurance on vacant properties is VERY expensive. I’d bet that damage done because a property is being used as a teenage makeout pad is more common albiet less severe than fixture strippers.
Definitely more likely to require a black light to clean up.
How the U.S. can become a Zimbabwean-style hyperinflationary dictatorship.
Simple. Just Just let Rep. Kucinich’s bill become law.
Robert Wenzell calls it the “National Monetary Insanity Act.” It was introduced in mid-December by Rep. Dennis Kucinich as HR 6550, the National Emergency Employment Defense Act.
“Bottom line: We have an entire set of people who believe that money printing itself creates wealth. They somehow don’t get that production of goods and services is the only thing that creates wealth. They want to take power away from the Fed as it is now structured as a fractional banking system–which should be done because the Fed does print money and thus distorts the economy in favor of the banking elite. But they don’t see the money printing as part of the problem, just how it is now done. For them, printing more money is going to mean, by itself, more cars, education, healthcare and homes, as starters.”
See: Nutty Proposal
> Chances of this badly drawn bill ever getting out of the House, let alone through the tentacles of the U.S. Senate, are very slender. But the fact that people in responsible positions in Washington are even THINKING along these lines is cause for worry. Caveat Emptor!
I thought his name was spelled Cousin Itch. Didn’t he used to appear on The Adams Family?
The whole bill is short and available here:
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-6550
It contains a bail-out of local governments….
SEC. 510. INTEREST FREE LENDING TO LOCAL GOVERNMENTAL BODIES.
Before the end of the 180-day period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall provide recommendations to the Congress for a program of interest-free lending of United States Money to State and local governmental entities, including school boards and emergency fire services for infrastructure improvements under their control and within their jurisdictions, based on per capita amounts and other criteria to assure equity as determined by the Monetary Authority.
I’d much rather see zero-interest loans going to govt entities who provide necessary services than to the banking elite who simply skim profits from almost every legitimate transaction.
How the U.S. can become a Zimbabwean-style hyperinflationary dictatorship.
Install a marxist black liberation nationalist as leader and give him the keys to the printing presses???
Install? How about a PRESIDENT that was elected by the MAJORITY of the American people. Keys to the printing press? How about that is the responsbility of the Federal Reserve, an entity neither the Congress or the Executive can control. And guess who runs the Federal Reserve? Mr. Ben Bernanke, the same guy who the running the organization under Bush!! But of course that didn’t make Bush a marxist liberation nationalist leader……Hmmm, do you even know what a marxist is???
I believe he was referring to Mugabe.
Read his reply to the original question.
His bill would eliminate the Fed.
How would that lead us to Zimbabwe??
The bill is much better than what we have now. The FED prints money but the ONLY ones that profit from it are the banksters. If we resort to printing money, which seems to be the only realistic, politically acceptable way out the way things stand right now, then at least spread the joy a bit. Once our actions destroyed the reserve currency status we wish we hadn’t, but of course nobody could have seen that coming.
Totally agree, Mike.
Kucinich was one of the few representatives who actually “got” the financial crisis.
Maybe he was one of the few whose job didn’t depend on not understanding it.
I had a minor fender bender in a parking lot a few months ago. I cracked a piece of plastic on a guy’s Chevy SST. The part was about $300 online and was two screws and velcro. I offered to pay for it and replace it, he refused.
I called my insurance agent today and she told me they paid out $1,867
Oh, for pete’s sake! That’s more than 6x what the part cost online. Hasn’t that insurance company ever heard of the Internet?
The part was about $300 online and was two screws and velcro. I offered to pay for it and replace it, he refused.
I called my insurance agent today and she told me they paid out $1,867
This happens but does not make sense. Why do insurers pay out 4X the cost of a repair? What is in this business-model for them? Kickbacks? What? How does this benefit the insurance companies?
Does not America’s insurance (health insurance included) business-model grossly violate free-market principles of capitalism?
Sounds like we should start an insurance company!
One issue might be risk of buying stolen goods. eCommerce site of auto parts could be backed by a midnight auto supply operation.
Did it have to be painted? Blending paint can be a pain.
Was the part online used vs. the part from the shop was new?
Finally, it’s normal for repair places to charge a 100% markup on parts in order to cover their overhead.
Mortgage rates are sure to follow T-bond yields up, just in time for the red hot 2011 spring sales season!
Bond Report
Jan. 5, 2011, 11:37 a.m. EST
Treasurys fall by most in a month after ADP
Fed buys back $1.5 billion in long-term debt
By Deborah Levine, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Treasury prices fell on Wednesday, pushing short-term yields up by the most in about a month, after a report from ADP said private employment jumped 297,000 in the U.S. last month, almost triple what economists had expected.
The data may spur speculation that Friday’s Labor Department report on U.S. employment comes in much stronger than currently forecast, which “would likely be viewed as the time to put back the hot dogs and break out the steaks,” said Kevin Giddis, president of fixed-income capital markets at Morgan Keegan.
Yields on 10-year notes (UST10Y 3.44, +0.10, +3.00%) , which move inversely to prices, rose 11 basis points to 3.44%, after falling to 3.30% before the report.
A basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point.
Yields on 2-year notes (UST2YR 0.71, +0.08, +13.54%) rose 8 basis points to 0.71%, the biggest increase since early December.
Thirty-year bond yields (UST30Y 4.51, +0.09, +2.08%) added 10 basis points to 4.52%.
…
I helped my eighth-grade son pen this short essay last night:
The Second Bank of the United States
The Second Bank of the United States was chartered in 1816 with the putative purpose to cure the problems caused by the end of the First Bank of the United States in 1811. The problems included state banks issuing too many loans and too much money, causing an increase in spending and rising prices.
Business people generally favored the Second Bank because it loaned them money. The Bank was also a safe place for the federal government to keep its money, and the paper money issued by the bank formed a stable currency. As a result, confidence increased in local banks all over the country. Many Americans disliked the Bank because they opposed its restrictions on loans made by state banks. Fearing that state banks were making too many loans, Second Bank directors often restricted the amounts that state banks could lend. Farmers and merchants who wanted to borrow money to buy land were angered by the Bank’s policies. Many blamed the Bank for the economic crisis which broke out in 1819, in which many people lost their farms.
In 1832, Nicholas Biddle, the head of the Second Bank of the United States during Andrew Jackson’s presidency, attempted to recharter the Bank. Jackson objected because he believed the bank was guilty of fraud and corruption, and was actively involved in attempting to buy elections. Jackson called the bank The Monster, and claimed that it protected the interests of the wealthy. Biddle got Congress to renew the Bank’s charter in 1832, over Jackson’s objections. Jackson immediately vetoed the bill, and turned the fight over the Bank into a campaign issue which helped him win reelection by a huge margin.
So you are saying that in the absence of a Fed, every state had one?
That must have been amusing.
“Beggar thy neighboring state’s currency” must have been the banksters’ guiding principle back then…
We were basically on the silver standard back then.
And we are basically on the gold standard now (i.e., you can freely trade your dollars for gold and vice versa). The only part that is not ’standard’ is a lack of a fixed gold-dollar exchange rate; the Fed has carte blanche to peg gold or any other asset price it desires (e.g. housing).
And we are basically on the gold standard now (i.e., you can freely trade your dollars for gold and vice versa).
Under a gold standard, you can redeem “paper money” for the gold that the “paper money” is a promise to pay.
What do “Federal Reserve Notes” promise to pay? Nothing. So we’re actually on the “nothing” standard.
Hope that helps.
“What do “Federal Reserve Notes” promise to pay?”
Currently 1,376 dollars ‘promise to pay’ one ounce of gold. Tomorrow it may take fewer dollars, or it may take more. Roll your dice according to which you think seems most likely,
Currently 1,376 dollars ‘promise to pay’ one ounce of gold.
Really? You must have some very rare FRNs then. The ones I see every day don’t promise that ANYONE will do ANYTHING.
Hope that helps.
There was also a 1st Bank of the United States.
You should read the Wikipedia entries for both of them.
Our current situation is almost exactly the same as then.
Pump and dump.
BJs cuts almost 500 jobs and closes 5 stores
NEW YORK — BJ’s Wholesale Club, a potential takeover target, will shave hundreds of jobs and close five stores by the end of the month, the company said Wednesday.
Three stores in the Atlanta area will be shuttered, along with one in Sunrise, Fla., and one in Charlotte, N.C., resulting in 380 job cuts.
The company also says it’s cutting 114 corporate-level jobs, 61 of them at the company’s Natick, Mass., headquarters and 53 field positions.
“The five clubs to be closed have historically underperformed and, after careful consideration, we concluded that improvement of their operating results was unlikely,” said CEO Laura J. Sen.
But I live for BJ’s!!
Report: Orlando could run out of water
Orlando Business Journal
Orlando is one of 10 American metros that faces running out of water, according to The Atlantic magazine.
The Atlantic notes the City Beautiful took a big hit from frequent droughts in the last decade, and as of 2013 will no longer be able to increase the rate at which it uses water from the Floridan aquifer, the city’s main source of fresh water. In addition, ongoing legal disputes with Alabama and Georgia jeopardize the area’s future water supply, the magazine noted, while ranking Orlando the 10th likeliest major American city to face a future drought.
The rest of the top 10 most at risk of drought are:
1. Los Angeles
2. Houston
3. Phoenix
4. San Antonio
5. San Francisco
6. Fort Worth, Texas
7. Las Vegas
8. Tucson, Ariz.
9. Atlanta
Unlike a lot of other burgs, Tucson is quite good when it comes to water use reduction and conservation.
Case in point: I’m a member of a local education/learning-by-doing organization that teaches the principles of water harvesting to individuals and groups. This org is internationally renowned in this field.
BTW, if you’re interested in my own work with this group, read the “Watershed Moment” newsletter that’s linked from the home page. I’m on page 10 — the focus is on how I’ve turned the Arizona Slim Ranch into a community learning lab for low-cost water harvesting projects.
Water harvesting is one of the smartest things a person can do.
This is one of the reasons we really want to buy a house — to get solar panels and harvest rainwater. I also want to try greywater recycling.
I have said it before - but a HUGE reason for why the “rust belt” cities were founded and prospered (until public unions and socialists drove them into the ground) was plentiful and cheap water.
And also one of the reasons they may make a comeback with some house cleaning…
This is such an odd statistic about Orlando (elevation 98 feet). Whenever I think of Florida, I think of a water-soaked humid swampy place. However, taking from an aquifer in flat-as-a-pancake Florida does risk salt water intrusion. Once that occurs there’s no going back.
The other cities are “no brainers” to be on such a list.
The list only covers “big” cities. There are many other places that are in equally dire straights with respect to water. One is tony Marin county CA. Another is Cambria CA. SalinasRon brought up the topic the other day. I found this site upon searching “cambria water number”.
http://www.cambriacsd.org/cm/water_wastewater/water_permits/faqs.html
Cambria uses that “water issue” to control growth as do other nice towns like Santa Barbara and Santa Fe, NM.
I wonder how that might affect the Mouse? Mickey uses a lot of water to keep his artificial lakes and lagoons full.
Only been to Otown once, and the tap water was simply horrid, worse than anything I ever tasted in So Cal.
San Fran?? They get a lot of rain up there and they are eco-nuts, I am surprised to see them and not more Texas towns.
San Antonio pulls water from a rapidly depleting aquafier. They will be in big trouble in a few more years. (the military is one of the biggest users hence no regulations on how much water you can pull out of the ground). They have refused any allow any new taxes to create reservoirs for the city.
Houston and Fort Worth flood a couple of times a year, not to mention the occasional hurricane. They could easily build a few more lakes and sell the water to San Antonio.
I’m amazed at how much San Antonio has grown in the past 30 years.
Much of Texas has already been in an on-again/-off again 10 year drought.
It’s not pretty.
How dire is Europe’s debt problem?
It is so ugly that Portugal drew polite applause Wednesday for completing the euro zone’s first sale of government debt in the New Year – even though it had to pay six times the going rate at this time last year.
Adding to the heady atmosphere of a stayed trip to the guillotine, the euro dropped against the dollar, though not too much. And stocks in France and Germany dropped 1%, but that did come after two days of solid gains. Hey, why set the bar too high?
“No panic is good news,” explains Lena Komileva of Tullett Prebon in a note to clients.
Portugal sold 500 million euros ($662 million) of short-term bills. Bids rose 11% from the last auction in September, in a sign that bond buyers are still willing to buy the country’s debt given the right price.
But what a price. The government had to pay almost 3.7% to sell the debt – up from 2% in September and more than 3 percentage points above the going rate a year ago.
“Not a great result, but better than expected,” writes Komileva.
The US Dollar has a STD - but the Euro has AIDS. Which one are you going to date?
Neither. I’d rather just pleasure myself to a small stack of gold.
But you could go blind!
The US Dollar has a STD - but the Euro has AIDS. Which one are you going to date?
It those were my only choices it would depend on how hot they were and how old I was.
Portugal should be ecstatic to finance itself at 3.7%. Plus, if their bill market works like our bill market, Portugal doesn’t have to pay the interest costs. T-bills are 0% coupon bills issued at a discount. Portugal just has to keep increasing the principal amount of new issues in order to retire the existing notes at par. The market is letting Portugal finance its borrowing costs as well. Woohoo, it’s a negam option arm sovereign.
Luxury home where Ferris Bueller spent his day off goes up for sale for $1.65m ~ Daily Mail Reporter
Fans of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off now have a chance to get their hands on one rather large piece of memorabilia.
A luxury home that features in the iconic ’80s film is up for sale for $1.65 million.
In the film, the 5,300 square foot resident, located in Highland Park, Illinois, belonged to Bueller’s neurotic best friend Cameron Frye.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1344337/Ferris-Bueller-home-goes-sale-1-65m.html#ixzz1ABbQnP6e
That house has actually been on the market for a couple of years now. Not sure why the media is bringing it up again. Perhaps it has a new listing agent?
Original listing price : 2.3 million.
Apparently nobody loves that movie as much as the owners thought they would.
And while I love unique and funky houses, that one is almost unlivable with the windows. All your storage/media/etc has to be free standing in the giant great room. You’re going to have a VERY limited number of potential buyers for that place.
That kitchen completely s*cks.
Anyone w/light deprevation issues however might be able to convince themselves they’ve found Nirvana.
The American Dream: A good video when you have 30min.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv2oCXbW4r0&feature=player_embedded
We scammed by Wall St. The gov just helped.
“…got scammed…”
Nice! What leaders they are. Such an example they set…
——–
Pelosi, Obama Hawaiian Vacations Come to an End, But Taxpayers Left with the Bill
BY MALIA ZIMMERMAN – Nancy Pelosi’s final days as Speaker of the House were spent at the exotic Four Seasons Resort Hualalai at Historic Ka’upulehu in Kona on the island of Hawaii.
Escorted throughout her trip by a mini security motorcade that included Secret Service and Hawaii County Police officers, Pelosi was seen at St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Kailua-Kona, where she received Communion. Parishioners greeted her warmly, Hawaii Reporter was told. Two police SUVs were on guard outside the hotel during her week long stay.
Pelosi, who traveled to Hawaii by private plane, spent the holidays in Kona last year at the same hotel in an elaborate suite that reportedly rents for $10,000 a night.
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/pelosi-obama-hawaiian-vacations-come-to-an-end-but-taxpayers-left-with-the-bill
Is Boenher still flying commercial?
Boenher and the other Politicians are saying in essence that they are going to listen to the people . My question is this …How can the Politicians listen to the people when they are still brainwashed and
being deprived of the truth .They got the people thinking if
they give to the rich it will benefit them and National Health Care is a violation to their rights, as if monopolies aren’t, and on and on .It’s all a big PR campaign to take the heat off the real culprits . And I suppose the American People are satisfied with those stupid little fines that the culprits got for major crimes when they deserve being shut down .
The American people know something is really wrong and you always
got a talking head actually diverting people from the real solutions .
Some truth is coming out but you got to many power groups that are
getting their way at the expense of the majority and they are well
versed in brainwashing .
So true, Wiz.
The Precious™ ain’t all that no mo’…
Jan. 5, 2011, 12:22 p.m. EST
Has gold’s run ended?
Commentary: The top performers react to gold’s recent plunge
Drawing 2010’s lessons for 2011
White House needs new message in 2012
By Mark Hulbert, MarketWatch
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (MarketWatch) — Has gold’s bull market come to an end?
It certainly appears that way to many traders, who over the last two days have run—not walked— to exit the party. The two-day carnage has approached 5%.
But what do the top performers think? That’s what I set out to answer with this issue of Hulbert On Markets: What’s Working Now.
..
“Carnage” LMAO! They should seriously look that word up.
Good lord, how long are these “market watchers” attention spans?12-24-48 hrs. So when something stops an upward trend, and people take profits and corrections occur and retracements happen etc. It’s over?
Wow, can’t wait to hear what “they” say when the beloved DOW get the shit whacked out of it again.
The Henny-Penny’s are good for entertain though, they jump from one thing to the next. They must all be multi-millionaires, since they have it all figured out.
Heck, 5% is only half as bad as being decimated!
The two-day carnage (in gold) has approached 5%.
“Carnage”. lol Is this writer 10 yeas old?
Any financial writer who would label a 2 day, 5% drop in any PM “carnage” after a 10 year, steady 500% gain should be reassigned to the “lifestyle” section of that newspaper.
How many more 5% drops would it take for gold to lose 50% of its value?
(1-0.05)^(n+1)=0.5
n = ln(0.5)/ln(0.95)-1 = 12.5.
Wow! Only 12.5 more two-day 5% drops are needed for gold to lose half its value!!
Wow! Only 12.5 more two-day 5% drops are needed for gold to lose half its value!!
Let me know after the first 5 of those drops happen… consecutively.
I’m not going to hold my breath, if you don’t mind.
Wow! Only 12.5 more two-day 5% drops are needed for gold to lose half its value!!
Wahhhh. And yawn. Many of us have taken bigger losses on “Blue Chips” and more.
I’ll still be ahead. Bummed out, but ahead.
I ain’t no trader.
Most financial writers are morons. But then look at who they hang out with.
Economists and “analysts”.
This news should be great for almost all sectors of the economy, especially for the housing market, which will see an increase in the number of prospective buyers with the uptick in hiring. And purchase budget constraints suggest the new crop of buyers will pay prices which bring the comps back down towards affordable levels. What could be better for housing than an increase in both the number of sales and the level of affordability?
Jan 05, 2011
Two key economic reports show layoffs tumbling, private jobs soaring
11:57 AM
Two key economic reports from private analysts today point to big improvement on the jobs front, although the stock market appears to be waiting on the sidelines for Friday’s official monthly report from the Labor Department.
The global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas says downsizing activity in 2010 fell to its lowest level since 1997. Employers announced plans to eliminate less than 530,000 positions. The company says planned layoffs of 32,004 in December represent a 34% drop from November.
The ADP National Employment Report finds private-sector employment increased by 297,000 from November to December — a pace it calls “well above what is usually associated with a declining unemployment rate.”
…
“…especially for the housing market,…”
I’m thinking of changing my handle to Professor Bull… how’s that sound?
You mean Professor Bullsh!t, right? Because I don’t think you could ACTUALLY spout bullish rhetoric without having a seizure.
If it’s good for housing, it’s good for America (cough!)…
But another report shows UE rose in most major cities.
Stop harshing my mellow!
“There will be pain aplenty”
Pacific Investment Management Co.’s Bill Gross said investors should favor emerging market corporate and sovereign debt as “mindless” U.S. deficit spending may result in higher inflation, a weaker dollar and the eventual loss of America’s AAA credit rating.
Buying debt in emerging market countries with higher real interest rates, wider credit spreads and strong balance sheets will offer more return as well as protection from dollar depreciation as U.S policy makers run up record deficits at the expense of economic growth, Gross, the manager of the world’s biggest bond fund, wrote in his monthly investment outlook.
“The problem is that politicians and citizens alike have no clear vision of the costs of a seemingly perpetual trillion dollar annual deficit,” Gross wrote in a note on Pimco’s website today. “As long as the stock market pulsates upward and job growth continues, there is an abiding conviction that all is well and that ‘old normal’ norms have returned. Not likely. There will be pain aplenty.”
Last time he said this he was later found to be buying treasuries.
Right ,screw the has been USA ,it’s emerging markets brother .Does anybody have doubts that the money people are going to invest in the Good old USA .
Saks Fifth Avenue Closing Store In Cherry Creek
Saks Incorporated announced on Wednesday that it will be closing the Saks Fifth Avenue store at the Cherry Creek Mall in Denver.
In a statement, Saks CEO Steve Sadove said that the closure of the Denver store, which has been open since 1990, was part of the company’s strategy “to deploy our resources in our most productive stores and to close under-performing stores, when feasible.”
Since July, 2010, the company has closed its Saks Fifth Avenue stores in Mission Viejo and San Diego, California; Southampton, New York; Portland, Oregon; Charleston, South Carolina; and Plano.
According to Saks, the Denver store currently employs about 100 people, all of whom will be offered transfer opportunities or separation packages.
Cherry Creek has been able to hold onto it’s reputation as THE upscale mall in Denver for an amazingly long time…I assume strictly due to location. I wouldn’t be surprised to see that end.
Get used to it…The gubmint needs the money.
IRS’s ‘hard-core’ collection tactics needlessly harm taxpayers, report says
~ Network News
The Internal Revenue Service’s increasing use of “hard-core” collection tactics “is inflicting unnecessary harm on financially struggling taxpayers,” an in-house critic at the IRS said Wednesday.
The IRS routinely imposes liens on delinquent taxpayers, thereby damaging their credit scores and potentially jeopardizing their access to jobs, insurance and even rental housing, National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson said in an annual report to Congress.
By making it harder for taxpayers to get back on their feet, the IRS might actually reduce long-term tax collections, Olson wrote.
Olson serves as an independent ombudsman within the IRS, and her office helps taxpayers resolve problems with the agency.
She has complained about indiscriminate use of liens in the past but emphasized the issue in her latest report, saying the IRS has refused to moderate its practices “despite the worst economy in at least a generation.”
Honestly, I don’t want to hire somebody who doesn’t pay their taxes. They’re stealing from me and everyone else who does. So I don’t have a lot of sympathy. If they don’t want the IRS to ream them, they can pay their taxes. And if they don’t want to get reamed hard-core, they should work out a payment plan as early as possible.
With the new model of work being self-employment, I predict more people in trouble with IRS. It is much harder to stay out of trouble when it is not withheld. Especially when self-employment is not covering basic expenses.
And I think most people are bad at paperwork. One audit and they will be in over their heads.
I suppose it depends on how complicated your taxes are. If your income is straight salary, and you have a limited number of deductions (mtg+property taxes), it would be hard to screw up too badly.
It is the people who get “creative” with their deductions, or are hiding income that have the most to be concerned about..
WASHINGTON | Tue Aug 12, 2008 12:54pm EDT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Most U.S. and foreign corporations doing business in the United States avoid paying any federal income taxes, despite trillions of dollars worth of sales, a government study released on Tuesday said.
The Government Accountability Office said 72 percent of all foreign corporations and about 57 percent of U.S. companies doing business in the United States paid no federal income taxes for at least one year between 1998 and 2005.
More than half of foreign companies and about 42 percent of U.S. companies paid no U.S. income taxes for two or more years in that period, the report said.
During that time corporate sales in the United States totaled $2.5 trillion, according to Democratic Sens. Carl Levin of Michigan and Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, who requested the GAO study.
Reading it is one thing, abiding by it is another. This is just a little bit of theater, means nothing.
“On Thursday, Republicans will read the entire Constitution in the House chamber, a nod to tea-party activists who say government has overstepped its constitutional authority”.
Sure is breath of fresh air from Nancy “But we have to pass the bill, so you can see what’s in it” Pelosi views on the Constitution…
Would that be the same Repubs who forced Patriot Act 1 & 2 on us and created Der Fatherland Home Security agency as well as the TSA Grope?
Those great defenders of our Constitution?
Hypocrisy: how does it work?
###
Jan 4, 2011
Bob Moriarty
President: 321gold
Need I remind readers that the metals are the most emotional of investments with many investors and, indeed, advisers acting as if gold is some kind of a religion where it is supposed to go up every single day? And any day that it drops at all is “proof” of a conspiracy.
Gold and silver have gone up a lot in the last year. Anyone holding them or shares in juniors has pretty much made a lot of money. I have heard tales of accounts going up 100% and more in the last three months. All things regress to the mean.
In terms of loaves of bread or quarts of milk or nickel candy bars or gasoline or even postage stamps, gold at $1400 and silver at $31 are damned expensive. Stop believing every tout saying silver is going to $500. It may. but the dollars isn’t disappearing tomorrow and you don’t want to live in a world with $500 silver anyway.
Investments go up and down, all of them. A correction in gold and silver and indeed, what Bob Hoye calls the AOM market would be healthy. Nothing goes straight up or straight down.
When everyone gets bullish, take some money off the table. I would love to see a healthy correction here.
Be fearful when everyone else is greedy…
Romanian witches use spells to protest new taxes
MOGOSOIA, Romania — Solace for world leaders trying to enforce painful austerity measures: At least you’re not running Romania.
Angry witches are using cat excrement and dead dogs to cast spells on the president and government who are forcing them to pay taxes. Also in the eye of the taxman are fortune tellers, who should have seen it coming.
And President Traian Basescu isn’t laughing it off. In a country where superstition is mainstream, the president and his aides wear purple on Thursdays, allegedly to ward off evil spirits.
Witches from Romania’s eastern and western regions will descend to the southern plains and the Danube River Thursday to threaten the government with spells and spirits. Mauve has a high vibration, it makes the wearer superior and wards off evil attacks, according to the esoteric group Violet Flame — which practices on Thursdays.
So that’s how the hedge fund traders got their work income to remain exempt from the payroll tax and taxed at the capital gain rate of 15 percent under the income tax, even though they put no capital at risk.
I thought it was this:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40913123/ns/politics
“A small network of hedge fund executives pumped at least $10 million into Republican campaign committees and allied groups before November’s elections, helping bankroll GOP victories that this week will change the balance of power in Washington, according to a review of campaign records and interviews with industry insiders by the Center for Public Integrity and NBC News.”
“Bitterly opposed to President Barack Obama’s economic and regulatory policies — including proposals to increase taxes on some of their profits — top Wall Street hedge fund moguls were unusually energized during last year’s election. They held multiple fundraisers and coordinated strategy to direct what appear to be unprecedented sums into the coffers of GOP and allied political committees, according to industry and GOP fundraising sources.”
“Many substantial donations from the hedge fund executives escaped public notice either because they were made late in the campaign (and therefore weren’t reported until after the election) or were funneled through third-party groups, obscure “joint fundraising committees” and newly created political nonprofits that are not required to disclose donors.”
So is that new money, or money that was previously donated to Democrats for doing their bidding?
The Repubs have pretty much controlled the last decade and are about to control at least another 2 years.
So the answer would have to be: the same money they were giving the Repubs in the first place, just more of it.
The delinquency rate on commercial mortgage-backed securities reached 9.2% in December, the highest on record, according to analytics firm Trepp.
When the delinquencies dipped in October, analysts began anticipating a continued recovery, but the rate jumped 35 basis points in November and another 27 bps in December. A total of $61.5 billion in commercial mortgages are either more than 30 days delinquent, in foreclosure or REO as of December, up from just over $60 billion the month before.
Trepp Managing Director Manus Clancy said many were speculating that an emergence in new commercial lending and the resolution of many CMBS loans that the commercial real estate crisis had subsided.
But Trepp said new issuances of CMBS from JPMorgan Chase, another from Goldman Sachs and more coming from Bank of America should keep new delinquencies in check in 2011. Still, the market is far from healed.
“The December delinquency rate underscored that there still may be some nasty surprises in store even as the market shows some signs of healing,” Clancy added.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/currency/8241635/Brazil-pledges-to-stop-US-melting-the-dollar.html
Brazil vows to stop US (Bernanke) from “melting the dollar.” I love it when 3rd world countries lecture our banana republic about fiscal sanity.
Brazil vows to stop US (Bernanke) from “melting the dollar.” I love it when 3rd world countries lecture our banana republic about fiscal sanity.
Dude, that was funny!
Warren Buffett Thinks Mortgage Rates Will Increase In 2011
By Michael Kling on January 4, 2011
Does Warren Buffett, perhaps the world’s top financial guru, think mortgage rates will rise this year? His recent bond trades indicate that he does.
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. borrowed $1.5 billion by issuing fixed-rate bonds to pay off floating-rate debt. By locking into fixed-rate loans at current rates and paying off floating-rate loans that could increase in the future, Buffett is evidently betting that interest rates, including mortgage rates, will increase.
…