Bits Bucket for February 12, 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.
About Me
Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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‘Federal regulators filed civil fraud charges Friday against three former executives of the parent of IndyMac Bank, accusing them of misleading investors about the mortgage lender’s finances before it collapsed in July 2008. The Securities and Exchange Commission announced the charges against Michael Perry, former chief executive of Pasadena, Calif.-based IndyMac Bancorp, and former chief financial officers, Scott Keys and Blair Abernathy.’
‘Perry, Keys and Abernathy regularly received reports in 2007 and 2008 about the deteriorating finances but failed to ensure adequate disclosure of the condition to investors even as IndyMac Bancorp sold millions of dollars in new stock, the SEC alleged…Keys’ attorney, Gregory Bruch, said “Scott Keys did not defraud anybody; Scott Keys did not make any money during this period at IndyMac.” Nor did he sell any stock, Bruch said.’
‘He said Keys “didn’t mislead anyone.” “There were no rosy projections in February 2008,” he said.”
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/SEC-files-fraud-charges-apf-1484430545.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=1&asset=&ccode=
February 12, 2008: “Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. Associated Press, “IndyMac Bancorp Inc. reported the first annual loss in company history Tuesday…The holding company for IndyMac swung to a fourth- quarter loss as weakness in the housing market forced the mortgage lender to boost its loan-loss provisions to account for growing defaults and foreclosures.”
“The company’s credit costs soared to $863 million during the quarter, up from $46 million in the prior-year period. At the close of the quarter, credit reserves for future losses totaled $2.4 billion, up 71 percent from $619 million a year earlier. The Pasadena, Calif.-based company took $179 million in write-offs during the quarter and noted it expects its credit reserves to be sufficient to absorb a ’significant’ increase in charge-offs this year.”
The New York Times. “IndyMac, which describes itself as the second largest independent mortgage lender in the nation, finally suspended its common stock dividend today, three months after it was cut in half.”
“Here’s a headline from a slide: ‘$555 Million Or 90% Of 2007 Net Loss Came From Home Equity, Subprime, Conduit And Builder Construction Lending… All Have Been Discontinued.’”
“I am struck by C.E.O. Michael Perry’s letter to shareholders, in which he tries to deflect blame for the mess his industry is in: ‘All home lenders, including Indymac, were a part of the problem, and, as Indymac’s CEO, I take full responsibility for the mistakes that we made. However, objective reviewers of this mortgage crisis understand that home lenders and mortgage brokers were not the only ones responsible.’”
“‘Systemic problems in our secondary mortgage markets and credit markets, and our government’s over-stimulation of the housing market via monetary and tax policies (the capital gains tax break on home sales encouraged speculation), were all major factors that contributed to the problem.’”
“‘Indymac and most home lenders were not ‘greedy and stupid.’ Most of us believed that innovative home lending served a legitimate economic and social purpose, allowing many US consumers to be able to achieve the American dream of homeownership … and we still do.’”
http://thehousingbubbleblog.com/?p=4145
January 27, 2008: ‘The East Valley Tribune from Arizona. “In the first few weeks of January, the number of properties entering foreclosure shot past the number of Valley home sales during the same period. About 4,000 properties entered the foreclosure process, and nearly 1,600 others were actually foreclosed on, compared with roughly 2,600 sales of new and existing homes, according to Information Market.”
“It’s not a pretty picture, said Tom Ruff, a partner at the Glendale-based company. ‘You have declining prices,’ he said. ‘That’s what’s causing it. No equity, no options.’”
“In 2005 and 2006, Valley homebuyers took out 244,839 mortgages, 36 percent of which had adjustable rates, according to Elliott D. Pollack & Co. Nationwide.”
“In the past, relatively few homes that entered foreclosure proceedings were actually foreclosed on, Rounds said. Today, only 20 percent of homes that enter the process are being rescued from foreclosure, said said Jim Rounds, senior VP of the Scottsdale-based company.”
“Then there’s the massive oversupply of homes for sale, which could take three to five years to work off with a potential 10 percent further drop in home prices and more job losses to come in the local construction industry, he said.”
“During the boom, anyone with a pulse could get a loan, said Warren Potter, senior loan officer with Indymac Bank. ‘Obviously, that was a recipe for disaster,’ Potter said.”
http://thehousingbubbleblog.com/?p=4073
http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=179794
Karl Denninger nails it on Indymac and the impunity with which the banksters conduct their frauds - with the placid consent of the US public and their elected officials.
“credit reserves for future losses totaled $2.4 billion, up 71 percent from $619 million a year earlier.”
Maybe it’s just me, but that looks like a 288% increase, not 71%.
Good catch.
See, this is why I hate financial writers. I swear they are hired because they don’t really know anything and thus obscure the news.
Note during the discussion of “causes” that they mention “tax policies”, specifically the “capital gains” tax break.
We don’t discuss it much anymore, but the elimination of capital gains taxes on home sales was what really caused the dollar signs to light up in everyone’s eyes around here.
As usual, the original tax policy was designed to tax speculators and favor J6P homeowner, who was just trying to build some equity in property. But somebody along the line figured they could profit by lobbying Congress to change the policy.
Anyone remember who was behind the elimination of Capital Gains taxes on residential homes?
Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997
Big Bill C, triangulatin’ with 100% of the repubs and about 80% of the dems. I’m not sure who sponsored the bill.
Civil?
That means no jail time.
Correct. Banana republics do not send their kleptocrats to jail. Steal hundreds of millions and get fined a few million (in the unlikely event there are any consequences at all). That’ll teach ‘em. Welcome to Republicrat America.
“IndyMac, which describes itself as the second largest independent mortgage lender in the nation,…”
Just behind Countryslide?
As I was looking for the Indymac posts, I came across this:
July 3, 2007: ‘From Reuters. “U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said on Monday the U.S. housing market correction was ‘at or near the bottom’ although it could be some time before an upturn.”
“‘No one is forecasting when, with any degree of clarity, that the upturn is going to come other than it’s at or near the bottom,’ he said.’We are making this transition successfully (from) a growth rate that wasn’t sustainable to one that is sustainable,’ Paulson said.”
“Paulson, who was chairman of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. before taking the top Treasury post last year, said he monitored financial markets closely, and aside from the subprime situation, they remained healthy. ‘Markets are volatile,’ he said. ‘I haven’t seen a single thing that surprises me; it’s hard to surprise me.’”
http://thehousingbubbleblog.com/?p=3046
Dec 30, 2010. ‘Reuters - Few know better than former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson how the struggling U.S. economy has battered home prices. As former President George W. Bush’s top economic adviser, Paulson played a lead role battling the U.S. housing downturn and deep financial crisis it sparked. But last week it got personal.’
‘Paulson sold his three-bedroom home in a tony Washington neighborhood last week for close to a third less than his initial asking price and more than $1 million below what he paid for it more than four years ago.’
‘It may just be that the treasury secretary paid too much for his house,’ said Richard DeKaser, an economist’
http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/12/30/us-usa-housing-paulson-idUSTRE6BT3YI20101230
‘Hubris (/hjuːbrɪs/) (ancient Greek ὕβρις) is a term used in modern English to indicate overweening pride, haughtiness, or arrogance, often resulting in fatal retribution or Nemesis. In ancient Greece, hubris referred to actions which, intentionally or not, shamed and humiliated the victim, and frequently the perpetrator as well. It was most evident in the public and private actions of the powerful and rich.’
‘In its modern usage, hubris denotes overconfident pride and arrogance; it is often associated with a lack of humility, not always with the lack of knowledge. An accusation of hubris often implies that suffering or punishment will follow, similar to the occasional pairing of hubris and nemesis in the Greek world. ..In motion pictures an egregious example of hubris is Wile E. Coyote’s constant assumption that he can capture Roadrunner.’
http://www.tititudorancea.com/z/hubris.htm
Haughtiness? Hubris? How about detached from reality? Living in a bubble? (no pun)…. Too much of his life rubbing shoulders with the corporate elite? Not enough time spent on Main Street?
Paulson, Greenspan, Bernanke, Lereah, Yun, Appleton-Young, Pfotenhauer, Kudlow, Mozilo, Lewis, Dimon… the list goes on. All of them deluded themselves….. convinced themselves and proceeded to convince the world that what we experienced was typical, normal and sustainable. How else can you explain their shamelessness? This partial list of deluded liars are the leadership of the debacle better known as The Great Housing Fraud. That’s right. The LEADERSHIP.
How else can you explain their shamelessness?
These guys are well aware that 95% of the American electorate are functional retards who may express “outrage” over Wall Street criminality and greed, but then turn around and vote for pro-bailout, statist, corporatist Republicrats who will ensure the ability of their Wall Street masters to loot and defraud with impunity.
Don’t blame the LEADERSHIP. Blame the millions of fools and tools who perpetuate their stranglehold on the levers of power.
Most people make their money off of “functional retards”.
I know I do.
If you’re a “value investor” that’s your job. Make money off of people who “grasp” it less than you.
I suggest you examine your own mode of income as well. You may not be that impressed at what you have “achieved”.
Also be sure to examine those dollar bills in your pocket under a powerful microscope. You can’t control money’s trajectory before it enters your own wallet.
But Sammy ,I do blame the Leadership . They lie to the Citizens and people want to believe that these people are watching out for the Citizens and the Country . The Leaders are traitors and how can regular people overcome the power of the money backed lobbying .I would like to see a emergency law in which lobbying is suspended . The lobbyist are controlling the airwaves and the
advertisers . These are very powerful forces . They rely on the people not connecting the dots . I have seen a few news stations
start commenting on some truths and real solutions but they are
out numbered by 10 to 1. Eventually when the pain hits the people they don’t even know what hit them or why .
“vote for pro-bailout, statist, corporatist Republicrats”
What are the choices? Vote Republican, vote Democrat, vote Independent, write-in, don’t vote. Write your representative, work for the candidate of your choice, work on policy for some think tank, demonstrate in the streets, go home and hide under the bed, become an expatriate.
Classic groupthink.
Select a bunch of high acheivers, convince them that they are special, send them to Harvard or equivilent, appoint them to positions of power and influence - and this is what you get.
Main Street? Why should these people care about what Main Streeters think? They’ll do all their thinking for them.
acheivers = achievers
(I before E except after C)
except on this Bolg where everybody should understand its the thought that counts. We all know we can actually spell and use somewhat proper grammar.
‘Tho sometimes our editing leaves a bit to be desired….
+ 1
Not to mention that it’s “credentials” that matter most to this crowd, not ability, talent or production.
The Political Class is basically soulless.
The political class is a reflection of the sheeple that elected them. End of story. We have become a nation of morons.
Most people have always been morons, time immortal.
Rather, I think the difference between then and now is that most people think that others owe them something and act accordingly.
When one thinks himself or herself entitled, little time is spent ruminating ethics.
I think more widespread and dangerous than thinking that “others owe them something” is this idea that everybody exists in their own personal vacuum, and that they don’t owe anything else to society at large. Rugged individualism has some merit, but not if everybody believes the illusion that their success is only due to their own hard work and smarts, and not luck, privilege, or the hard work and sacrifice of those who came before them.
There has to be some middle ground somewhere. I think in my lifetime the scale has pitched dangerously towards libertarian utopianism, and away from the idea that one has any responsibility toward one’s fellow citizens. This has definitely had an effect on ethics. It’s easy to disregard ethics if the only thing valued is social darwinism and dog-eat-dog competition.
I have met maybe ONE person in my worth more than few million dollars, who had a grasp of how everyone else had to live.
As someone said to me, it’s not that the rich really care one way or the other about the rest of us, because if they think of us at all, it’s to wish us DEAD.
I have never been under the illusion that some of what I have gotten in life wasn’t just the luck of circumstances . Working very
hard my working life contributed to opportunity at times ,but being born in a good place at a good time had a lot to do with it .
Look at what all the people did before us to set up better circumstances than they had .
I believe there is some obligation to the Bee Hive ,even if it’s just
not harming anyone else .
Noblesse oblige isn’t just a good idea, it’s also very practical.
I know one, too.
Hank Paulson is probably the biggest criminal of all the banksters.
I agree Liz Pendens . I believe Paulson knew darn well their greedy
Casino games were blowing up and he sought to cover up the whole
mess and the legal liability of it . Just the way he was talking to Congress during that time period was one of the most bizarre discourses I have ever seen on the house floor .No reasonable human being would of accepted his non-proven assertions and demands at the time ,at least without investigation . Congress is going to hand over 700 billion to a ex Goldman Sachs guy screaming “FIRE” and “I need a big gun .” For Congress to forgo due process and agree to violate Contract law on a assertion they needed to buy toxic assets
to keep the credit markets moving just didn’t hold water .
After the fact Paulson didn’t do what he said he was going to
do and he re-capitalized banks /investment houses instead and gave one of the biggest bail outs to AIG ,who gave close to 20 billion to Goldmans .And on top of every thing else he required immunity for his acts . Since when do we give the money first and than investigate later . And those fake Kangaroo Courts in Congress in which they paraded the CEO’s of the Culprit Companies in front of the lawmakers in which they claimed they didn’t see it coming was laughable .
This had to be one of the worse days of my life because watching this drama told me that we had a bunch of monkey bought off jerks as our lawmakers and the con job would just continue .
Since the TARP bail out ,and of course the other secret bail outs and ill-fated programs ,I have seen nothing but goons doing what
Wall Street /Banks and Corporate America wants .
I too watched that day as Congress voted AGAINST the TARP bailout. I was elated! There was hope for this country! Two days later they criminally crammed the damn thing through and I gave up all hope. The worst day ever in American history. Period.
‘The worst day ever in American history’
I could list 100 worse events without much effort.
I agree Liz Pendens .
Well yes Ben things like War declared and events that resulted
in people losing their lives are worse .
I am not as opposed to the bailouts as the fact it was given without ANY demand for concession from the banks receiving the money. At a single point in time, “We the People” had some leverage over the banks and gave it away. I guess it is naive to think they had not already looked ahead and bought Congress in advance…
“The worst day ever in American history. Period.”
Wrong. Here are a few worse days I can think of without opening a book:
1 ) Burning of the WH in War of 1812
2 ) Onset of Civil War
3 ) Lincoln’s assasination
4 ) Establishment of the Federal Reserve Bank (1913)
5 ) Entry into WWI (1917)
6 ) Great Crash of 1929
7 ) Pearl Harbor Day (December 7, 1941)
8 ) Iron Curtain established
9 ) JFK assassination
10 ) 9/11/01
This is just a quick list. A tiny bit of research effort could expand it ten-fold.
Sorry to disagree with you guys, but those events as horrible as they are, were not premeditated by our leaders in the name of greed as the TARP bailout was. The events listed all were responses to or caused by tragic events or unintentional blunders made, not the extortion demands by those in power (megabanksters). 9/11 type events (wars, etc) should be categorized under tragic events such as the murders, rapes, and other atrocities that happen on a daily basis as the World turns. Iron curtain. WTF? Lets keep it limited to the virtually brief history of this once-great country. Unconstitutional atrocities against the USA only please.
‘Unconstitutional atrocities against the USA only please’
OK, how about NAFTA, the “Patriot” Act 1, 2, etc? Passed without even being read by the congress.
If you just want to weight the situation from the stand-point of
Politicians doing the exact wrong thing for the County because they have become bought off puppets of self-interest groups ,it is a threat to the American way of life,especially the middle class , and perhaps even capitalism as we have know it in the past .
“I could list 100 worse events without much effort.”
“This is just a quick list. A tiny bit of research effort could expand it ten-fold.”
I disagree. TARP may or may not be in the top ten, but it’s definitely in the top 100. If it really is so easy to list 100 worse events, please do so here. PB has made a start, although I would argue with # 1, 3, 6 (like housing, it was the bubble that was damaging, not the correction), 8 (what permanent damage did it do to the US?) 9 and perhaps 10.
Trumping TARP (and nestled within the top 5 on my list) would be what happened in 1913 (Income Tax).
Without the fraud of 1913, TARP likely would never have happened.
‘If it really is so easy to list 100 worse events, please do so here’
The assassinations of various people like MLK/RFK/JFK. The events in Waco, Oklahoma City, certain atrocities during wars, fire bombing Dresden, Tokyo, the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, sinking of the Maine, invading Iraq, ect. Do you get my drift?
But let’s stick to financial stuff; the Social Security change in the 80’s that quadrupled the taxes, and postponed the failure of the program until it would be too late to do anything about it. Like I said, NAFTA, or the WTO, which sold out generations of workers in the US for multi-national corporate profits. (You could really spend all day coming up with worse legislation).
Let’s narrow it down to the housing bubble; a couple of examples - the slow motion oversight failure of the GSEs, which I followed from 2005. (Many trillion$ there). The lack of prosecutions regarding mortgage fraud, the FDIC white-wash of banking risk in 2005. The loan rules disaster, which was addressed by the Federal Reserve more than a year after the damage was done.
While we’re on the Federal Reserve, what about the $12 trillion they loaned to banks all over the world, and that we only found about because Bernie Sanders inserted a provision in the financial reform bill? Or for that matter, that the Fed is unaudited? Let’s even go back to the establishment of the Fed, and the US Dollar being replaced by the Federal Reserve Note. That change cost us 98% of our purchasing power.
“While we’re on the Federal Reserve, what about the $12 trillion they loaned to banks all over the world, and that we only found about because Bernie Sanders inserted a provision in the financial reform bill?”
Bingo! The Fed’s unannounced bailout eclipsed the publicly-announced, panic-driven TARP by a large multiple!
“Let’s even go back to the establishment of the Fed, and the US Dollar being replaced by the Federal Reserve Note. That change cost us 98% of our purchasing power.”
On my top 10 list above…
“certain atrocities during wars, fire bombing Dresden, Tokyo, the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki,”
Did America bomb Tokyo? Not as far as i’m aware. It was destroyed by fire, but only after an earthquake. Which event are you referring to?
And, as bad as some of these events were for the countries concerned, I don’t think they were terrible days in AMERICAN history. For example without Hiroshima the war against Japan would have ended with far more dead American soldiers.
“what about the $12 trillion they loaned to banks all over the world,”
Whilst reckless and dangerous, haven’t most of these loans been repaid?
Anyway, Ben, counting everything in your post, including the mysterious Tokyo event, you are up to about 25. Still another 75 to go.
‘the mysterious Tokyo event’
‘The Tokyo firebombing has long been overshadowed by the U.S. atomic attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki which preceded the Japanese surrender that ended World War II the following August. But the burning of the capital, which resulted in more immediate deaths than either of the nuclear bombings, stands as a horrifying landmark in the history of warfare on noncombatants.’
‘More than 300 B-29 “Superfortress” bombers dropped nearly a half-million M-69 incendiary cylinders over Tokyo that night and early morning, destroying some 16 square miles of the city. The attack, coming a month after a similar raid on Dresden, Germany, brought the mass incineration of civilians to a new level in a conflict already characterized by unprecedented bloodshed.’
‘The official death toll was some 83,000, but historians generally agree that victims unaccounted for bring the figure to around 100,000 overwhelmingly civilians. It is widely considered to be the most devastating air raid in history.’
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0310-08.htm
‘Lesley Stahl on U.S. sanctions against Iraq: ‘We have heard that a half million children have died. I mean, that’s more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?’ Secretary of State Madeleine Albright: ‘I think this is a very hard choice, but the price–we think the price is worth it.’
–60 Minutes (5/12/96)
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1084
‘I don’t think they were terrible days in AMERICAN history’
I couldn’t disagree more.
I could recall more of this sort of stuff, but it’s depressing.
Rest assured that Paulson and GS are not doing god’s work for the goyim.
Paulson’s a Christian Scientist.
God’s Worker?
He’s an oxymoron.
Hubris is mortgaging your previously paid-off primary residence and using the proceeds to purchase 5 pieces of commercial real estate, in LA, with minimum down payments in 2007.
oop’s….Bad move…
“‘Paulson sold his three-bedroom home in a tony Washington neighborhood last week for close to a third less than his initial asking price and more than $1 million below what he paid for it more than four years ago.”
Former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is rumored to be worth $700m, so his $1m loss could easily be covered by one month’s interest at pass book savings account rate.
Yeah, but:
‘I haven’t seen a single thing that surprises me; it’s hard to surprise me.’
How did he transition from such outright cockiness to full-on sobbing, grovelling, begging in front of Congress in such a short time with a straight face? If he had any character or the slightest bit of integrity, he would have shot himself.
Did he?
How do you know this isn’t just an act?
Sometimes the group-naivete here just amazes me. People just bluntly lie, you know?
You can manipulate any emotion whatsover. It’s fairly straightforward. In fact, it’s very profitable.
Besides, there isn’t a man alive that wouldn’t give up $1M to make $100M.
Get a clue!
“How did he transition from such outright cockiness to full-on sobbing, grovelling, begging in front of Congress in such a short time with a straight face?”
Perhaps he should join the Gubernator in a new career as a movie star?
Arnold tells Hollywood he’s back
Published: Feb. 12, 2011 at 10:30 AM
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* Schwarzenegger ponders next move
HOLLYWOOD, Feb. 12 (UPI) — Arnold Schwarzenegger’s representatives aren’t saying what movie roles the former California governor might be considering.
Schwarzenegger, who was box-office gold before spending two terms in Sacramento, could actually find plenty to do considering Hollywood’s current enthusiasm for sequels and action flicks based on comic books, the Los Angeles Times said Saturday.
There have been no announcements of Schwarzenegger signing any deals; however he said this week that he had given the “green light” to his reps at Creative Artist Agency to entertain offers.
“Exciting news,” Schwarzenegger said in a Twitter tweet. “My friends at CAA have been asking me for 7 years when they can take offers seriously. Gave them the green light today.”
…
“How do you know this isn’t just an act?”
Either way the man has no credibilty. Why would anyone listen to such a whipmpus leader?
Why would anyone listen to a man who should of stepped down because he would of been sued silly for his role in the financial markets . Paulson clearly was a conflict of interest party and
they should of barred him from being the decision maker on
billions of dollars of taxpayers funds . Bernie Sanders argued
about Paulsons conflict of interest on the House Floor to no
avail .It doesn’t have any creditability at all to let one of the
Culprits of the RE Ponzi Scheme ,who was dappling in some of the most high leverage casino games, be the decider on were billions of dollars was going to go with immunity ,in which billions ended up at his former Company unjustly regarding the credit default swap scam .
Paulson was protecting himself ……no other answer .
“Either way the man has no credibilty.”
There is huge money to be made in telling bald-faced lies to the American sheeple.
egregious example of hubris is Wile E. Coyote’s constant assumption that he can capture Roadrunner.’
The gods must be
crazylazy:“Oh, the sweet sweet nectar of the “single transaction/deposit” into our “hard-earned” savings account”
Hurbis:
“Oh, how many times are we going to be able to do this honey?”
” Well dear, it seems real estate ALWAYS goes up!,… and there are plenty of mortgage related jobs, ain’t life sweet? “
“‘No one is forecasting when, with any degree of clarity, that the upturn is going to come other than it’s at or near the bottom,’ he said.’We are making this transition successfully (from) a growth rate that wasn’t sustainable to one that is sustainable,’ Paulson said.”
These Paulson stories are classic, another master of the universe with his head up his a$$. My god, how did any of these a$$ clowns end up making more money than me? I don’t resent the success of others, but in this case I have to make an exception.
It was all ill-gotten gain . How can any self respecting financial
middle man say that taking the deposits of a Nation and making a Ponzi-scheme out of it and than betting against it is acceptable
business practice along with trying to cover up the real ratings or real risks on the product ? Its no different than putting a faulty car on the market knowing it will kill some people . Killing people Financially while you try to take the money and run is criminal and it’s not fiduciary . There was to much misrepresentation in this financial drama . All the check and balance systems failed for a variety of reason ,but that doesn’t excuse the actual “acts ‘ of the money men .
Who cares about their excuses and their claims that it was all legal
and they didn’t see it coming ,it’s all BS . Making a bunch of money by cheating in any way is criminal . You are depriving the victim of their hard earned money just so you can make more .And since when is it acceptable for lenders to breach all duty to underwrite loans . Why would they even deserve the commission for putting together a loan package if it was nothing but a fraud ? Builders in bed with lenders who would do anything to make the loan fly who
got big commissions . It was all one big fraudulent lending market that was riddled with faulty loan product on top of every thing else .
‘It may just be that the treasury secretary paid too much for his house,’ said Richard DeKaser, an economist’
Recent Treasury Secretaries have exhibited a pronounced tendency to pay too much for their houses!
“…it’s “credentials” that matter most to this crowd…”
Not even credentials, but connections.
Credentials implies some kind of accomplishments besides gold medal butt-kissing.
“In motion pictures an egregious example of hubris is Wile E. Coyote’s constant assumption that he can capture Roadrunner.”
An even better example is Wile E. hanging ten in the air just before the Roadrunner drops an anvil into his hands…
Admitting you are wrong is a great way to end an episode of hubristic folly.
* THE INTELLIGENT INVESTOR
* FEBRUARY 12, 2011
How Now, 36,000 Dow? The Ominous Undertone of Rallies
* By JASON ZWEIG
Is James K. Glassman right this time?
The co-author of “Dow 36,000″—which was published near the peak of the Internet bubble in 1999 and called for stocks to triple in as little as five years—is rolling out a book warning investors to protect themselves against another round of financial disasters.
In his new book, “Safety Net,” Mr. Glassman writes the three words that are hardest for any investor or financial pundit to utter: “I was wrong.” He deserves some credit for that admission.
…
I the critical thing I think people should take from this is that he didn’t *know* anything. He just extrapolated the current trend. I always suspected, but the HBB has really helped burn it into my brain to not trust self-proclaimed “experts”.
My Realtor has a few friends in the FBI an they want him to join bcause of his financial/real estate background. He has two kids in school and doesn’t want to be away for training. Damn! That would have been awesome to see behind those curtains.
My Realtor is a double-agent. Trained in deception, licensed to lie.
007 = licensed to kill their clients’ financial security with lies and deception…
Years ago to be hired as an FBI agent you had to have a degree in either accounting or law. Is that still true?
That or military experience (I think). My realtor bud has an MBA.
He said that they are having a hard time finding qualified youngters (he is 52). A whole generation of tattooed, record-having, coke-sniffing thugs…
…and then people complain that the FBI skews Mormon.
A friend of mine was hired because he had a Chemical Engineering degree.
Combo
neighbor
weird
and few others…
Muggy,
My neighbor was an FBI Agent, and one day committed suicide in the Master Bedroom. That job takes its toll on decent people, and the guy was a mensch.
Regulators shut small banks in Fla., Mich., Wis. Banks
The Associated Press
Post a Comment By MARCY GORDON AP Business Writer
WASHINGTON February 11, 2011 (AP)
Regulators on Friday shut down small banks in Florida, Michigan and Wisconsin, lifting to 17 the number of bank failures this year. The weak economy and bad debt brought down 157 banks nationwide in 2010.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. seized Sunshine State Community Bank of Port Orange, Fla., with $125.5 million in assets; Peoples State Bank, based in Hamtramck, Mich., with $390.5 million in assets; and Badger State Bank of Cassville, Wis., with $83.8 million in assets.
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=12897782 - -
Why don’t they just shut down the entire state of Florida and give it to another state? Maybe even another country. Brazil?
I dunno. In the past, fewer sunspots has meant a colder climate (google “Maunder Minimum”). Florida real estate could become desirable again sooner than we think.
http://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/predict.shtml
“Why don’t they just shut down the entire state of Florida and give it to another state?”
North Carolina wants to opt out!
Why don’t they just shut down the entire state of Florida and give it to another state? Maybe even another country. Brazil?
Brazil would would probably insist that the U.S. government keep all of the debt and also keep the Social Security and Medicare funds flowing into the state.
Meanwhile, the insolvent TBTF banks are allowed to continue their mark-to-fantasy accounting and reckless gambling with $105 billion a month with the Fed’s POMO free money injects every month.
It’s GOOD to be the Banksta!
“…Badger State Bank of Cassville, Wis., with $83.8 million in assets.”
“In November 2009, the FDIC notified Badger State Bank that it was undercapitalized, meaning it did not have enough of a cushion in case of losses, and in May 2010, regulators ordered “prompt corrective action” such as recruiting investors or finding another bank to acquire it.
At that time, chief executive officer Louis Okey told the State Journal the problems stemmed from failed real estate development loans in California, Arizona and Florida in which the small bank had participated.”
Ookay…I have nothing against quaint, little old picturesque barges and tugs merrily floating up and down the mighty Miss on a lazy Cassville, Wi summer’s day. Everyone should visit the place at least once to say they were truly lost or looking at the Fall leaves.
The tiny town has always been good for a few photos and it used to have a great cat fish fry but what’s a river-rat town banker, with a dwindling population of less than 1,000, somewhat poor and alive souls, doing wheeling and dealing with the big boyz and development loans out there in CA, AZ and Fla land ??
Yup…all those Wisconsin riverboat a’gambling banksters just had to get in on it.
Tell the FEDS “mark twain and and no tree snags ahead in the pale moonlight…Full Speed Ahead gang”
Looks like Algeria is next…
Algerians Rally in Capital, Defying Protest Ban
WSJ | FEBRUARY 12, 2011 | BENOIT FAUCON
Thousands of protesters flooded the streets of the Algerian capital Algiers on Saturday, defying a ban on demonstrations and calling for political reform in the North African country, one of the world’s largest oil producers.
The protest followed on the heels of Friday’s resignation by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
Estimates of the size of the crowd, which started filling Algiers’ central May 1st Square, also called Concord Square, in the morning, varied. Organizers said as many as 30,000 showed up.
Thousands of state security officials and police had fanned out across the capital ahead of the protests, called by a coalition of opposition leaders, trade unionists and human-rights activists.
Hacene Mezoued, a top official with the Rally for Culture and Democracy, the main political party spearheading the protests, said 1,000 protesters, including 100 women, had been arrested. He said there had been some skirmishes with the police as the security services attempted to disperse protesters.
Some good always comes out of extreme circumstances - in this case, a modern-day depression followed by Bennie-boy inflating the heck out of food prices in most of the world.
Not cracking open the champagne yet but yes, so far it’s been positive.
Who’d have thunk Ben’s bucks would lead to an outbreak of Democracy in the Middle East? Serendipity rules!!
“Who’d have thunk Ben’s bucks would lead to an outbreak of Democracy in the Middle East?”
Actually, that’s sort of jumping the gun. There hasn’t been an outbreak of democracy in the Middle East. Those overthrown tyrants could still be replaced by worse tyrants. Only time will tell.
Possible frightening developments to follow Egypt’s peaceful revolution:
1. Other American-supported dictatorial regimes in the Middle East follow the same course.
2. Taking note, the American electorate wakes up from its case of collective amnesia and demands a restoration of the Constitutional ideals that led the Founding Fathers to take a similar (if more violent) course of action against their British oppressors.
3. Obama is forced to back up his pretend Jacksonian populism with real action to look out for the interests of the American people of those of the banksters who rob us and cheat us.
I hope you’re being sarcastic in that democracy comment.
Fools leading themselves (potentially) into slaughter/dictatorship isn’t exactly Democracy Now! Or, is it?
Well, Algeria doesn’t have the Suez, nor does it share a border with Israel, so I’m guessing this won’t get the same level of press coverage the Egyptians got.
Algeria is an energy powerhouse - big oil reserves, and it supplies something like 30% of Europe’s natural gas. While our MSM fixiates over Lindsey Lohan’s stolen nicklace, the European press will be keeping a wary eye on Algeria and the winds of change unleased by the Fall of the House of Mubarak.
winds of change unleased by ??
Facebook & Tweeters…….
Look , if the people of these Countries are just trying to set up a situation in which they aren’t fleeced and suppressed anymore and they get to share in more of their Countries bounty ,instead of being wage slaves ,what could be bad about that ? It’s all about
a small percentage taking the lions share .Look at what that tyrant
in Egypt did to the Egyptians while he pocketed billions .
The corruption in these Countries are off the charts and it all goes back to controlling them like cattle with big guns while a small percentage get all the money .It’s also about misdirecting the
people’s rage to a contrived enemy .
Oh wait, I thought you were talking about our country for a minute.
I remember when oil was first discovered in Algeria, in Edjeleh in 1955. I was a kid living in Libya. That discovery was touted as the greatest thing since sliced bread. If only their crystal ball was working back then!
I’m more interested in news about the Royal Wedding, than news about Linsey Lohan’s stolen necklace!
What about Chicago? Could their corrupt dictatorship be in jeapordy? I know there isn’t any oil, but the media might still cover a revolution there.
“I know there isn’t any oil”
What do you mean there is no oil? Have you not seen our former governor’s hair?
j/k
Thousands demonstrate. Millions stay home. So nothing changes. Just like our last elections, where the thinking 5% supported Ron Paul and the rest supported the status quo with their votes for McSame or Obama, or by their inaction.
Sammy, I live in Kentucky and I just watched The Ron Paul supporters get his son Rand elected senator. They’re a bunch of wackos. There’s militia types at their rallies, patrolling around in military fashion, looking for anyone that dares speak against them. Everyone saw that guy stomp that woman’s head and neck when she dared try to protest at a Rand Paul event, he was ready to kill her, until more rational/media savvy Paulists shouted at him to stop, and he snapped out of his kill-trance and realized there were ten cameras on him.
I’m not saying all his supporters are crazy, but a damn good percentage are, for whatever reason he attracts them. Your bottomless cynicism about the republicrats (is Ron Paul not a republicrat?) is matched only by your starry-eyed see-no-evil love of Ron Paul and his movement. They’re every bit as bad as everybody else. And a bit nuttier. Yeah, yeah audit the Fed, I agree with that. But that doesn’t make him the Perfect Man. (And you guys make fun of Obama worshipers- they’re not in the same league as you Ron Paul cultists.)
Alpha-sloth,
I know quite a few of his supporters in my neck of the woods, and with the exception of some of the “truthers” who have latched onto RP, most of them are fine people. Many professionals & self-employed people. I’m far from “see no evil” about Ron Paul or any politician. I believe strongly in the general welfare clause of the Constitution, which puts me at odds with the more hard-core Libertarian types. I also think big business (and big labor) should be subject to reasonable regulation that has actual teeth - when you have such powerful entitites engaging in such predatory behavior it just isn’t good enough to say we’ll let the “free market” police itself.
Ron Paul is a Republican, but there is little love lost between him and the Establishment GOP, which has consistently tried to marginalize him. Where I strongly agree with RP is his emphasis on sound money, fiscal responsibility, limited government, and adherence to the Constitution, including the 4th Amendment that was all but gutted by the Patriot Act and subsequent “security” measures that have made us a lot less free.
I would argue that if Ron Paul would’ve gotten the active support of ten percent of the electorate, Bernanke would never dared to have pushed QE II and all the other post-TARP bailouts, or engaged in such brazen collusion with Wall Street banks at the expense of taxpayers and future generations.
No politicians are perfect, but some a much better than others.
Well not enough people have gotten enough pissed off yet. As for whackos, they are always attracted to the fringe of things. It does not make the ideals on the fringe wrong. Does anyone believe that the American Revolution was just a bunch of polite, considerate, mainstream moderate thinkers? They went against tradition, King, gunfire and even their beloved Bible to kick some ass. And it was supposedly only 3%. The argument that R.P. must be wrong/bad because there are some paramilitants following along is stupid. Anyway, I’ve heard him say some crazy stuff himself, I still agree with his main themes.
Yeah, yeah audit the Fed, I agree with that. But that doesn’t make him the Perfect Man.
Of course not. Who else is trying to audit the Fed that we should support instead of him? You go to war with the army you’ve got.
Arrest made in copper thefts from vacant houses for sale
The Columbus Dispatch | February 11, 2011 | Jim Woods
He would make his move during the early-morning hours, seeking empty houses with “For Sale” signs on the front lawn.
After forcing his way inside, he’d head for the basement and tear out as much copper pipe as he could carry.
Reynoldsburg police think that thief is Timothy R. Harrington, 30, of 7042 Retton Rd. in Reynoldsburg. They have charged him with one count of breaking and entering, and he was in the Franklin County jail tonight.
Police say Harrington was caught in the act on Feb. 4 and is suspected of breaking into as many as 25 vacant homes that were up for sale in and near the Columbus suburb. Copper pipes were taken in all the break-ins. The police division is putting together evidence for a Franklin County grand jury, detective Mike Binder said. Story continues below Advertisement
Harrington sold copper to Columbus-area scrap yards for around $3 a pound, Binder said. “He was selling an abnormal amount of copper,” much more than somebody such as a plumber would legitimately harvest.
Thefts from homes for sale are a problem across central Ohio, said Marque Bressler, director of communications for the Columbus Board of Realtors. “Vacant properties are particularly susceptible.”
When Reynoldsburg detectives received a tip that Harrington might be the burglar hitting Reynoldsburg homes, they sought a court order from Judge Harland Hale of the Franklin County Municipal Court to put a GPS on Harrington’s car.
They followed him on Feb. 4 after he left his house at 3:21 a.m. He went to a vacant home on Riverton Road, just west of Reynoldsburg, and police officers surrounded it after seeing that a back door had been forced open.
Within minutes, Harrington walked into the backyard, carrying a green bag containing a flashlight, hammer and bolt cutters. Police found evidence that he had attempted to cut copper piping out of the house, a search warrant says.
After Harrington’s arrest, police found receipts from a metal recycler and a small piece of copper wire in his car. In his home, they found power tools and tubs with copper and metal shavings.
Rick Benjamin, president of the Columbus Board of Realtors, said that people need to adopt creative strategies to make vacant homes appear occupied.
“These are strange times,” Benjamin said. “These strange times call for unique solutions.”
He will get more jailtime than a banker who swindles billions.
Where’s the “TrueMegaCorpInc.Punishment™” ?
You know it Sammy.
“Arrest made in copper thefts from vacant houses for sale”
Copper theft risk is but one of the many high costs of indefinitely holding so many homes off the market or on the market, but priced to never sell.
Can you recycle PVC???
“…adopt creative strategies to make vacant homes appear occupied.”
As my ex-girlfriend’s retarded sister might have said, ‘I’ve got a great idea’:
PUT THE MYRIAD VACANT HOMES ON THE MARKET FOR SALE AT PRICES WHERE A WILLING BUYER IS FORTHCOMING.
They say the chinese got first dibs on em.
Good point. Maybe it would be wiser to wait for the Chinese property market to collapse before putting too many American homes up for sale. You wouldn’t want an army of Chinese flippers crowding out potential American owner-occupied home buyers.
http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2008/december/copper-theft-intel-report-unclass
FBI warning that copper theft is a threat to critical national infrastructure.
‘March 20, 2005: Mortgage fraud is increasing in a market where true values are becoming harder to discern. Could we be getting to a point where the con resembles the bubble itself? That would appear to be the case when the acts are no longer hidden.’
“W-FIVE found plenty of people involved in questionable real estate deals. One man who has raised some eyebrows is Gohar Pervez, a convicted cocaine and methamphetamine dealer, now into real estate. On a number of his deals, ownership of the houses passes through the same associates and the same numbered companies time and time again. At any time, if Pervez chose to mortgage the houses, he’d be making serious money.”
“The Bank of Montreal..claims it was defrauded of more than $1 million. Pervez maintains he’s done nothing wrong. Det. Mike Shorter..has been working exclusively on mortgage fraud. When asked how many charges he has laid, Shorter says ‘none.’”
‘The US has a problem as well. Chris Swecker, of the FBI said “We went from 4,000 complaints a year to 17,000. And we think that’s just the tip of the iceberg.”
http://thehousingbubble.blogspot.com/2005/03/fraud-indistinguishable-from-bubble.html
Here’s a weekend topic we did on the subject: ‘June 21, 2008: A Call On The Mortgage Industry To Clean Up Its Act’
One clip: ‘The Detroit News. “U.S. Attorney Stephen Murphy said at a news conference that since March, his office has charged or convicted 28 people with a variety of fraud and money laundering charges in 15 separate cases related to alleged mortgage fraud with losses exceeding $50 million.”
“In Washington, the U.S. Justice Department and the FBI on Thursday announced ‘a national takedown of mortgage fraud schemes,’ saying 404 defendants around the country were charged in 144 cases since March 1. ”
“Murphy denounced the criminals but called on the mortgage industry to ‘clean up its act’ and require more proof that borrowers can pay off loans. ‘If there is money and an ability to get it, criminals will take advantage of it,’ Murphy said.”
“Victims include not only lenders and title insurance companies but homeowners such as Patti and Marc Cammarata.”
“They say in 2002 and 2003, more than a dozen homes in their affluent northern Shelby Township neighborhood were purchased for well over the asking price by people who often didn’t keep up their property and were rarely seen. Prices, which ranged from $500,000 to $600,000, spiked to $700,000 and up.”
“Most are now in foreclosure; the unfinished landscaping and curtainless windows remain. ‘There was a lack of neighborhood or community because you never knew who was living here,’ Patti Cammarata said.”
http://thehousingbubbleblog.com/?p=4662
From the FBI:
Criminal Groups Involved in Copper Thefts
Copper thieves are typically individuals or organized groups who operate independently or in loose association with each other and commit thefts in conjunction with fencing activities and the sale of contraband. Organized groups of drug addicts, gang members, and metal thieves are conducting large scale thefts from electric utilities, warehouses, foreclosed and vacant properties, and oil well sites for tens of thousands of dollars in illicit proceeds per month.
According to open sources, as recently as April 2008, highly organized theft rings specializing in copper theft from houses and warehouses were operating in Minneapolis, Minnesota. These rings or gangs hit several houses per day, yielding more than $20,000 in profits per month. The targets were most often foreclosed homes.
Open-source reporting from March 2008 indicates that an organized copper theft ring used the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s foreclosure lists to pinpoint targets in Cleveland, Ohio. Perpetrators had 200 pounds of stolen copper in their van, road maps, and tools. Three additional perpetrators were found to be using the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s list of mortgage and bank foreclosures to target residences in Cleveland, South Euclid, Cleveland Heights, and other cities in Ohio.
(On the positive side, this might give banks a good reason to expedite the sale of foreclosed houses).
Another problem with rapidly inflating the dollar price of commodities, in a desperation attempt by the Fed to offset deflationary pressures: Increased incentives for copper theft.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/08/us/08theft.html?_r=1
Theft of copper and platinum group metals (i.e. from SUV catalytic converters) is becoming a national epidemic as metals prices have soared.
As I’ve said, do the rich really think the poor will just kindly die off?
They figure they’re “safe” in their gated communities.
I remember reading a David Hackworth book where he described the problem with building up a defensive position to the point that it was too difficult to get into. Because any position *really* difficult for the enemy to get into is also very difficult to get out of in a hurry. I think of that when I think of gated communities and the false sense of security they provide.
Hah! Every time I want to get into the nearby gated community but don’t have the combination handy for the gate, I just closely trail a car as it drives in. If I were a robber, I could easily access it.
Lawyer held in contempt over ‘fraud’ in foreclosure filing
Palm Beach Post | 2/11/11 | Kimberly Miller and Christine Stapleton
A day after federal mortgage giant Fannie Mae fired the prominent law firm of Ben-Ezra & Katz, a Miami judge found the firm’s founding partner, Marc Ben-Ezra, in contempt of court for filing “sham” foreclosure documents and “wasting the court’s time.”
On Thursday, Fannie Mae cited document “execution issues” as the reason it terminated the law firm.
Ben-Ezra & Katz becomes the second south Florida law firm making a mass exodus from the foreclosure business.
The Plantation law firm of David J. Stern began dumping thousands of its Fannie Mae cases late last year after evidence of robo-signing and other faulty documents became known.
Lando said the so-called original note and original mortgage were filed months after the bank said those documents were lost.
“That in itself is a fraud upon the court,” Lando wrote in an order to show cause as to why she should not hold Ben-Ezra & Katz attorneys in contempt.
But, she added, the action “pales in comparison” to the fact that the mortgage and note are to a different property in Lehigh Acres, and that the documents are improperly signed and notarized. Lando said her verbal contempt finding on Friday would be followed by a written order.
The judge dismissed the foreclosure case and banned the lender from refiling it.
I guess “lost” means they were too lazy to go look for it in their document storage location.
It’s not really laziness when you laid off the only guy who knew where they were.
What’s the old saying? “It’s good to save money in business, but you can save yourself right out of business.”
the action “pales in comparison” to the fact that the mortgage and note are to a different property in Lehigh Acres, and that the documents are improperly signed and notarized.
“TrueLegalStallintheNation™”:
(Dura lex sed lex) …the law is hard, but it is the law.
“The judge dismissed the foreclosure case and banned the lender from refiling it.”
Oooh! I’m starting to get excited again!
O-oh, MERSy, MERSy me..
O-oh, things ain’t how they used to be, no no..
One party is talking about starting to cut spending and another party is saying we can’t cut a penny.
———————
Republicans plan cuts to US State Dept, UN contribution
Yahoo | 2/11/11 | AFP
WASHINGTON (AFP) – A Republican budget plan would cut billions of dollars in spending on the State Department and foreign programs, including US contributions to the United Nations.
The proposed cuts, announced Friday, are part of an overall Republican effort in the House of Representatives to reduce spending by $100 billion over the next seven months. Leaders in the Democrat-controlled Senate say the proposals are unrealistic.
The planned cuts to State Department and foreign operations amount to $3.8 billion, or an eight percent reduction from last year.
“I will ensure that our foreign aid is not used as a stimulus bill for foreign countries,” Republican congresswoman Kay Granger, who chairs a budget subcommittee, said in a statement.
The bill proposes “scaling back contributions to the United Nations and other international organizations, and eliminating wasteful, duplicative and ineffective programs.”
However, the measure would maintain $1.3 billion in military aid to Egypt and up to $250 million in economic assistance.
blah blah blah
The price of Idaho soft wheat is up from $5.50 a bushel last year to $7.50 a bushel this year. That’s a 37% gain.
While Russia is usually a top exporter of wheat to Egypt and neighboring countries, heat and drought ravaged the crops in 2010. That prompted importers in the Middle East and North Africa to turn to less-frequent wheat trading partners in the United States….
“In Nigeria and Saudi Arabia, they have doubled their stocks of wheat” as a preventive measure, he said. “When you run short of food, you reach a tipping point where even the middle class joins in the revolution.”
About two-thirds of Idaho’s crop is soft white wheat, which is used in flat breads, he said. In the past six months, Egypt has purchased about 350,000 metric tons of that wheat from Idaho, Oregon and Washington.
Soft white wheat is currently selling for $7.50 per bushel out of Burley, compared with $5.50 the same week last year. Idaho exported about $14.1 million of goods to Egypt in 2010, according to the Idaho Department of Commerce.
http://www.idahostatesman.com/2011/02/12/1524400/revolutions-reverberate-in-idaho.html
Wonder why the wheat producing countries of the world don’t ban together (like OPEC) and set quotas and prices they think the world should pay for their products.
If the price of their products drive other countries into recession and poverty - that is their problem…
I put my obligatory comment in that story about OFEC - the Org. of FOOD Exporting Countries.
Here in Idaho the farmers are trying to decide whether to plant wheat for export or corn for ethanol subsidies. Decisions, decisions……
Price it diffferently: X bushels of wheat = Y barrels of oil….
This sounds like good news for Idaho’s wheat farmers.
A feel-good story about local heroes - yes our beloved Firefighters:
They deserve every dime they can steal.
http://www.wftv.com/news/26838749/detail.html
I bet I’m the only one that thinks firefighters are an American institution that should totally just be fired (yep, pun intended!)
Less than useless. Let the suburban riff-raff make their own arrangements if they desire.
And in case the clueless peanut gallery jumps in, the purpose of firemen originated in URBAN environments with less than desirable fire building standards.
There is still some utility in urban environments but nowhere near what it is advertised to be (the FDNY sells nudie male calendars as ad material, fer cryin’ out loud!)
They just need to be de-instituted.
You might feel differently if you were one of 500,000+ San Diegans evacuated from their homes as the October 2007 Witch Creek Fire roared down from the San Diego mountains into our neighborhoods.
Those fires were largely fought by Mexican and prison labor– although I have to hand it to the aerial drop guys, (who are subcontracted, btw.)
The Heroes hang out at base camp with walkie-talkies and bean dip.
Yes, Pussycat. There’s the passion! Let it out.
There is a trend that is starting to snow ball across the country. small cities and towns are going back to a small core of professional FF with
volunteer FF supplementing them. The cost savings are great and pensions are non existent.
The term is “Combo” and is a word feared by
the FF brotherhood. In our town we could save
several million dollars a year.
My opinion: FF are the most grossly overpaid,
lazy, worthless, crooked people who work for
local government. I will now put on my flame
resistant clothes.
Don’t bother. The Pussycat’s verbal dexterity (which is flame-retardant!) is all on your side.
Worthless, less than useless. Read above.
Incidentally, ever since 9/11, the firefighters have been milking it in New York.
So many perished, ooh, 9/11, aah, 9/11.
What exactly did these people accomplish? Did they put out the fire? What are the statistics of the people that they actually rescued v/s some estimate of the people that would’ve escaped anyway?
As I understand it, a buncha clueless people without any communication (and any communication standards whatsoever = technologically clueless) went up a disastrous tower and perished. Now, we are all supposed to genuflect in their general direction.
Hookay, count me in!
Check this out, about 1 minute into the clip:
‘Never Been Thawed - How to be a Hero’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZY3JZcyhn4&feature=fvsr
I agree with both Rancher and Pussycat.
If any civil servant deserves a lot less, it’s firefighters. I mean, how many days a year are they actually doing anything? 10? And to do what exactly? Put out fires in a meadow? Bring some obese, drug-addled, toothless tool to ER?
Police deserve quite a bit more than firefighters.
“I mean, how many days a year are they actually doing anything?”
What you say makes no sense. There has to be slack in a fire-fighters schedule in order for them to be ready to fight fires. As I often point out, anyone who thinks the members of this profession are overpaid has the right to join their ranks and enjoy their turn at the feeding trough.
“As I often point out, anyone who thinks the members of this profession are overpaid has the right to join their ranks and enjoy their turn at the feeding trough.”
I would, but the line is unbelievably long.
A grand idea whose time has come and gone but for the equipment operators and maybe the firehouse chef/station manager. It doesn’t take an engine company and a pumper unit to rescue an old man stuck on a toilet seat.
(And they can watch cable porn at home on their own nickel.)
Firehouse trivia.
When a couple of Firemen take a pumper out of the station to get a cup of coffee, it counts as
a call out. Call outs are what the fire dept.
uses to justify their man power and equipment
needs. More call outs = bigger budget.
There are numerous scams that they use to
justify their existence.
I’ve seen a few large fires and major accidents up close and personal. (no I’m not a firefighter)
You really need to get out more often.
Get out more? As a member of our towns budget committee and working on several
other committee’s, you see the inner workings
that the average Joe never does or is interested
in. It’s called voter apathy and it directly
correlates into how much the city can get away with.
We used to have a large volunteer FF staff, but
the city WANTED a permanent staff to increase
the tax base so their salaries would go up.
I blame the stupid voters. make that ignorant
voters who would rather drink beer and watch
the tube.
You don’t have a clue.
Your town is NOT the whole world and Utopia is just fantasy. And please don’t fall into the NYC/LA-is-the-center-of-the-world disease.
Have you ever studied the history of firefighters of this country? You might want to. You do NOT want to go back to that arrangement.
How about the basics of firefighting science and technology? It ain’t just “show up with a hose and bunch of big guys” these days. At least, it shouldn’t be.
I sincerely hope you can make things better where you are. For the rest of world, progress happen slowly, if at all. The best anyone can hope for is that the progress made is not undone by those ignorant of history.
Also, voter apathy is CREATED as a tool by the those who would be in charge so they can do want they want to do.
Just as most technical/specialization jargon is meant to obscure in order to create job security.
I grew up in a metropolitian area of 5+ million people.
I’ve seen several people die (in one case, beheaded) as a result of accidents - up close and personal. Seen that, too?
I stand by what I said. Firefighters are considerably overpaid. Policemen are not.
And you really need to get to know more frat, er, firemen.
For myself, I will (and have,) given public credit where credit is due, and certainly agree that as a quasi-official interface, the local firehouse is an integral part of any community’s emergency response team. But Puss is absolutely correct in stating that as such it is prone to bloat, gaming the system, extreme cronyism, petty authoritarianism, and all-too-often, outright corruption–much like any other quasi-governmental agency, actually.
This spoken as someone who has had her life both saved and criminally victimized by firefighters acting in their official capacities.
I’ve been lurking since ‘05 with maybe one post and can’t say how much I value this blog and Ben’s efforts. I’m a fireman 10 years on for a major city. I became one after leaving the corporate world and would offer this up: I’ve had 1 needle stick with patient blood, 2 hep-c exposures and the requisite follow up tests over the following 8 or so nerve racking months, put my knee through a floor above a fully involved basement fire below me, have tested positive for TB spore and taken 9 months of a drug so strong in can cause medically induced hepititis, gotten stitches, herniated L3/4, picked up body parts, been handed a nonbreathing infant, gotten feces on me, had a screeching car stop within feet of pinning me into a car while I was pulling a man out from under a car that had just ran him over, walked out of a fire that was so hot the batteries exploded out of the back of my helmet flashlight, and lifted more 3/4/500 lb. patients up out of basements or down multiple stairs than I can count…and on and on. My point here is my career and experiences are in no way close to even being ’story worthy’ in any fashion at any firehouse. There are so many more guys with first hand experiences of fellow firefighter line of duty deaths, close calls like entrapments and burns, and making a save(s) usually entailing CPR or the burn victim’s skin sloughing off…Make of this what you will, but let me say that we are all long overdue for a ‘moral reset’ in this Country.
Weh, weah, freakin’ weah, fireboy.
And so have I.
Only I don’t get a pension for it. Nor do I get a six-figure annual income for being a good citizen.
Get over yourself and do your job.
Not sure where my story fits today but I feel the need to tell it. I remember it whenever I read something about lending standards getting tighter. I live in a small town in southwest Michigan. About 4 years ago, one of the ladies in the neighborhood purchased one of the nicer homes in town. Its a princess anne style, 2500 sq ft, nicely maintained, big yard, garage. The seller was asking $110,000 and sold to her for $90,000. She is divorced with 3 kids (high school age at that time). Income is child support and welfare. When she bought the house she told a neighbor she needed a big place for her kids as “they don’t like to work and will probably be with me forever.” Two years later my wife catches up with her in town–she said that buying the house was the worst mistake she ever made. One kid had moved out and was going to college at the community college (showing some spark–I applaud the effort). The remaining two were trashing the place. Sheets on the windows, trash in the yard. (One neighbor had commented on how the two massive stained glass windows had survived 130 years of storms and whatnot but couldn’t survive two years with her kids–both windows had been smashed.)
She lost the house last year to foreclosure and moved out. She said something that about “moving back in soon enough” to my wife. About 6 months ago, her son (unemployed and has never worked, 20 yrs old. It seems to me he has even LESS income than his mother as he doesnt get child support.) got a loan and owns the house now. When they moved out initially, they left a lot of personal belongings in the foyer and on the front porch. When they moved back in again, they left all the stuff on the front porch ALONG with a whole new pile in the backyard. Its all covered in snow.
Lending standards are still very loose.
“Lending standards are still very loose.”
When did the American voters decide to back 92% of the U.S. mortgage market? I don’t recall having a vote or a voice in this decision.
* February 12, 2011, 5:00 AM ET
Number of the Week: Government’s Overwhelming Role in Mortgages
By Mark Whitehouse
Number of the Week
92% — The share of new mortgage loans backed by the U.S. government
One of the most crucial issues in safeguarding the U.S. against another financial disaster is figuring out what to do with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the giant mortgage firms the government bailed out in the midst of the financial crisis. Given how deeply the government has waded into the mortgage market, it won’t be an easy task.
Fannie alone ranks as the world’s largest bank by assets, while Freddie is in the top ten. The firms’ subsidized mortgages encourage Americans to take on a lot of debt. Their balance sheets, consisting of long-term investments financed with short-term borrowing, make them highly susceptible to sudden credit freezes. Their government ownership means taxpayers stand to lose tens of billions of dollars if the firms get into trouble again.
…
Or, they could privatize and let the banks make a profit until they screw up again and then bail them out again. fannie and freddie were purposely dumped on to save the other banksters. calling them a risk now is laughable.
It’s already high time to revisit the discussion of ending TBTF again, as Dodd-Frank did not get it done, and it appears whatever is scheduled to come out of GSE reform will not, either. Sherman Antitrust Act enforcement would go far to restoring competition in the American mortgage lending sector in a way that maintaining monopoly control in the hands of either GSEs or Wall Street Megabanks never will.
I guess what I was trying to say earlier was that TBTF never got a more blatant, in your face endorsement than the day TARP was passed. A sad day for justice indeed.
This system feeds politicians with blowback money. As long as the politicians who enable this system keep gettin re-elected, as long as their handlers keep getting paid, and then paying them, the system will continue. As I heard some wag put it, “The US government is the best money can buy.”
The US has a system in place to clean house. But voters need to vote for people who would do such a thing.
One more thing I noticed during the last election cycle, especially locally - the local candidates are just as bad or worse than those currently in office. That’s a serious problem.
With the advent of the web, you’d think more people would run and put up websites with their platforms clearly stated. Not so.
Fair Game
Imagining Life Without Fannie and Freddie
By GRETCHEN MORGENSON
Published: February 12, 2011
KUDOS to Treasury and the Department of Housing and Urban Development for some straight talk about the nation’s broken mortgage system.
A report to Congress from those departments, published on Friday, provided some long-awaited analysis by the Obama administration about what went wrong in housing finance — and how to fix it.
…
Never been a better time to buy in SD County… and would-be buyers better hurry up, as interest rates are climbing rapidly!
Home affordability in S.D. County at record high
By Lily Leung
Friday, February 11, 2011 at 4:44 p.m.
San Diegan Tri Nguyen, 30, bought his first home last year. Affordability has tripled in the county since 2006, when affordability was at its lowest, according to the California Association of Realtors most recent quarterly report.
Sean M. Haffey / Union-Tribune staff
San Diegan Tri Nguyen, 30, bought his first home last year. Affordability has tripled in the county since 2006, when affordability was at its lowest, according to the California Association of Realtors most recent quarterly report.
An agent’s perspective
Tami Fuller, a long-time San Diego real-estate agent, has a listing in North Park priced at $325,000 that she says fits the profile of a starter home for the region.
Fuller said first-time buyers usually gravitate toward condos but now more are considering single-family homes because fewer condo sellers are accepting FHA loans, the most popular form of financing among first-timers, she said.
“It is very affordable now,” Fuller said. “As long as they have a job, it’s easy to buy. It’s just, the lending is hard if you are self-employed.”
Home affordability for first-time buyers in the San Diego region reached a record-high last quarter, made possible by historically low lending rates and slight drops in median home price, according to an index from the California Association of Realtors late this week.
Sixty-two percent of first-timers in the region can afford starter homes, rising from 60 percent in the third quarter and 57 percent one year ago, the quarterly barometer shows. Last quarter’s figure was also the highest level of home affordability in the county in data going back to 2000.
By comparison, just 23 percent could afford that starter home in the second quarter of 2006, the all-time low for housing affordability in San Diego County.
“The reason for the new record has to do with the fact that home prices are considerably lower than those at the peak though they’ve edged up and hit bottom,” said Robert Kleinhenz, the association’s deputy chief economist. “Mortgage rates have hit historic lows, the lowest in decades.”
…
Tips for potential first-time homebuyers
–Have a pretty good sense of what you can afford. Is a fixed rate better than an adjustable rate?
–Consider the extra expenses that come with homeownership, such as HOA fees and insurance.
–Consider what you have to pay for property taxes.
Source: Michael Lea, director of San Diego State University’s real estate center.
“though they’ve edged up and hit bottom” ?!
“Dr. Kleinhenz has a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan, a Master’s degree and a Doctorate from the University of Southern California, all in Economics. Prior to working at C.A.R, he taught Economics for over 15 years, most recently at California State University, Fullerton.”
All of those educational institutions must be so proud to be associated with someone with such outstanding analytical skills.
‘“Even a one-point increase will be near historic lows, in terms of mortgage rates,” he added.’
Maybe he missed econometrics class when they discussed the concept of marginal effects, as in with other things being equal, a marginal increase in interest rates will precipitate a marginal reduction in purchase demand which in turn will result in a marginal reduction in equilibrium market values.
And a one percent increase in interest rates is a lot more than marginal!
from the article about San Diego:
Using the Realtors’ math, a first-timer last quarter had to earn an annual income of $50,100 to purchase a starter-home priced at $324,190. The monthly payment was $1,670, including taxes and insurance, and assuming a 10 percent down payment, and an adjustable interest rate of 3.39 percent.
Consider what this means:
1. A person making $50,000 has to come up with a down payment of $30,000. How likely is that, considering the high cost of living, even for renters, in San Diego?
2. The mortgage would be nearly 6 times household income, or about twice as much as the standard rule of thumb for what is considered sensible.
3. House prices are still falling, so this person could be underwater in a year or two.
4. Finally, the “realtor math” appears to be suggesting the use of an adjustable rate mortgage. A reasonable assumption is that interest rates will be significantly higher in a few years, so this is not a good idea.
“Using the Realtors’ math,…”
If they were truly capable of doing any math, do you think they would have become Realtors™?
“Tami Fuller, a long-time San Diego real-estate agent, has a listing in North Park priced at $325,000 that she says fits the profile of a starter home for the region.”
Their ‘affordability index’ is a total joke. They make two untenable assumptions, which add up to an upwardly-biased measure of the percent of ‘first-time home buyers’ who can buy a home:
1) As stated in the article, the affordability index assumes first-time buyers are using a ten percent down payment. To purchase Tami Fuller’s home at her listing price, this would imply a first-time buyer had savings of $32,500 they had ready and were willing to use as a down payment.
Let me offer my knee-jerk conjecture that the percentage of first-time buyers making down payments of this much or larger is vanishingly small, say less than five percent of all first-time buyer home purchases, particularly when many San Diego home purchases are funded by the FHA, which the last time I checked had a mere 580 FICO score requirement coupled with a three-and-a-half percent down payment requirement, which in some cases can be reduced to as low as $100. The kind of people DC prequalifies as winners in the taxpayer-subsidized mortgage lending game get easy money loans for which the rest of America does not qualify.
2) The affordability index further assumes that the first-time buyer uses an adjustable rate loan, which would enable the purchase of a far more expensive home on the same income than could be bought using, say, a thirty-year fixed loan. But who is using adjustable rate loans nowadays, given that interest rates just recently hit a 50-year trough and appear poised to rise?
“3. House prices are still falling, so this person could be underwater in a year or two.”
Gawd bless the knifecatchers, who take the hits which prevent house prices to fall too quickly for the Fed to feel comfortable about it.
Average 30-year mortgage rate rises past 5 percent
By Lily Leung
Thursday, February 10, 2011 at 1:34 p.m.
Every week, Freddie Mac officials calculate average mortgage rates by compiling rates from lenders across the U.S. on Monday through Wednesday. The rates can vary drastically every day and don’t include points, which are add-on fees. One point equals 1 percent of the total loan amount.
The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate in the U.S. shot up to 5.05 percent this week from 4.81 percent last week, Freddie Mac officials said Thursday.
This is the first time the 30-year fixed rate has reached 5-percent territory since May, according to historical data from Freddie Mac. This week’s average also tops what the rate was a year ago at this time, at 4.97 percent.
This week’s average 15-year fixed rate rose to 4.29 percent from 4.08 percent last week. Year-over-year, that rate is still lower than a year ago, at 4.34 percent.
…
If I have to hear “but still near historical lows” one more time…
Looks like some fraudulent deal to me, probably put together by some
fraudulent loan agent.
Pacific grim: How the sun set on California’s dream
Sun, sea… and misery. As residents of America’s Golden State struggle with an economic and political meltdown – the result of their experiment with ‘Direct Democracy’ – there are lessons for Britain, says Guy Adams
Friday, 11 February 2011
California nightmare: An abandoned home in Stockton, where foreclosures are
A tall, revolving Ferris wheel stands like a beacon of contentment at the end of Santa Monica pier. Surrounded by golden sands and an endless Pacific, the famous landmark represents the end point of the old Route 66, the highway that transported generations of American migrants across the continent in search of a better life. Here, amid the sun, sea and swimming pools, is a glamorous celebrity playground that has become embedded in the US psyche as a symbol of the laid-back lifestyle of its wealthy, creative, and quite often famous, inhabitants. It is the spiritual home of what people like to optimistically call the Californian Dream.
But something is slowly taking the shine off the gilded confidence of America’s Golden State. In recent years, the era of boundless optimism and endless prosperity has chugged to a halt. The “can-do” mentality that helped its inhabitants create Hollywood and Disneyland, and which built the sprawling suburbs that would turn a local joint called McDonald’s into the world’s most popular restaurant, has being replaced by a creeping sense of decline. For most of its 37 million residents, California is no longer a land of plenty. The economy is lousy, its political system broken, and public finances are careering towards bankruptcy. While they may still be ooh-ing and ah-ing on the Santa Monica Ferris wheel, the prevailing emotion on the streets can be summed-up in a single word: misery.
…
An amazing article.
Not one word about illegal immigrants
Not one word about insane public unions
Not one word of massive amounts of borrowing with no plans to ever pay it back
It is all the fault of those damn “propositions” that make it harder for the state to raise certain taxes. If only the state could raise taxes at a whim - things would be great again.
It is NEVER about cutting spending…
Err, good thing you’ve got Glenn Beck’s blackboard to tell you who to blame, right? Gotta hand it to Fox Noise, they parlayed Orwell’s two minutes hate concept into a 24-hour format.
—
Not one word about illegal immigrants
Not one word about insane public unions
Here NickBananaRepublic. Learn something for Christ sakes.
The Three Big Brothers
There are three big brothers – Big Business, Big Government, and Big Media.
Big Business, who is a plutocratic oligarchy, needs his big brother Big Government who provides him with big welfare and big subsidies, along with Big Police, Big Military, and Big Trade Laws. And Big Government is made up of Big Businesses sisters, cousins, and close friends.
To keep themselves in power and control, lest the Majority People get upset, Big Business and Big Government need brother Big Media. Big Media’s job is to tell two Big Lies, knowing that a Big Lie told over and over and over forever becomes a Big Truth. The two Big Lies are – a constant enemy is always near, though the names change every year, who is a threat to the Majority People’s supposedly Big Freedom, so a boogey man is created to breed hate, fear, classism and racism. And the second lie is a tune which is sung all over the nation, from the poor to the middle classes, from the school teacher to the Sunday morning preacher, to pass the blame always on the poor, the new immigrant, or the new boogey man. The song is:
“The rich are rich cause they worked so hard, and now there’s no money left in the Government, because the Government is too big and big is bad, and all of the extra money’s been spent on a poor single minority mother’s rent all to support her lazy people’s habits.”
And all the People without knowing it were deceived and never knew that Big Government, Big Business, and Big Media were playing a very nice con game.
You’re not supposed to say those things in our PC media. Your corporate owners would be displeased.
I live in Kalifornia and this place is a mere shell of its former self.
Still has some of the best weather in the world though.
SV guy
Amen to your post. Having lived in So Ca since 1963, this place isn’t So Ca anymore. Growing up here, was sure golden. Growing old(er) here, not so golden.
State jobless benefits hit record $23 billion in 2010
Average of $90 million per day went to 1.7 million unemployed Californians
By Dean Calbreath, UNION-TRIBUNE
Originally published February 11, 2011 at 4:35 a.m., updated February 11, 2011 at 2:03 p.m.
In this photo taken Feb. 3, 2011, unemployed financial worker Jonathan Velazquez, phones in to get State of California’s Employment Development Department, EDD unemployment benefits at the Verdugo Job Center in Glendale, Calif. Finding a job remains a struggle 20 months after the recession technically ended. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
In what will be a major surprise to absolutely nobody, California broke all records in jobless benefits last year, paying $22.9 billion to a record benefits to 1.7 million jobless Californians, according to a report released Thursday by the state Employment Development Department.
That averages to about $90 million each business day as the jobless rate continues to linger at post-Depression highs. In comparison, a typical annual average during a strong economy is about $5-$6 billion, averaging $20-$24 million per business day.
“The numbers are staggering and the need undeniable,” said Pam Harris, the department’s chief deputy director.
In San Diego County, an average of 104,203 people per month received unemployment checks last year, resulting in a total annual payout of $1.7 billion. The number of people on unemployment hit an all-time high of 112,972 last March but fell to 96,642 by November, the most recent date that countywide information is available.
Despite the drop-off, that is still more than three times as high as it was before the recession began. In 2007, an average of just 25,911 received unemployment benefits. One reason that the number has ballooned is that the benefits have been extended from a maximum of 26 weeks before the recession to 99 weeks today.
…
Local jobless numbers
Number of unemployment beneficiaries in San Diego County:
December 2007 (beginning of recession): 28,497
March 2010 (all-time peak): 112,972
November 2010 (latest data): 96,462
Unemployment recipients in San Diego (monthly average):
2007: 25,911
2008: 41,034
2009: 92,198
2010: 104,203
Unemployed in San Diego County and jobless rate (monthly average, household survey):
2007: 69,125, 4.5%
2008: 92,875, 6.0%
2009: 151,292, 9.7%
2010: 165,667, 10.6%
Source: California Employment Development Department
Is anyone else bothered by the “home affordability has never been better” propaganda. How about the price? If I am a cash buyer, all I care about is price. Paradoxically, I guess I want homes to be unaffordable…
You don’t understand
Affordable homes ONLY come from government program.
Only the government can provide for you and your family.
Be sure to vote for those who want to increase these government programs on election day.
I want low and stable housing prices, as I live out my life in the modest home we are paying cash for. I don’t want my property taxes exceeding my ability to pay them as I age in place. A 2% cap annually (Prop 13-Ca) still has a compounded effect, and could still lead to not affording your home, even if you actually own it.
I saw my Sister’s property taxes take quite a jump in West L A in this bubble. It was eating her budget up as they climbed. They are slowly coming down.
I want mortgage to be unaffordable, which would make homes more affordable. Luckily for me, interest rates are heading the right direction for this to work out well…
From your post to the God’s ears, PB. Housing is still way too pricey in So Ca. $445K for a 4+2 60’s 1,800 sq ft rancher (w/ pool) in so-so condition. They are out of their minds. No I’ll rephrase that, anyone who pays that is.
Yeah, 7% would flush out our competition, and bring prices down to a realistic level. The rate increase is happening too s l o w.
“No I’ll rephrase that, anyone who pays that is.”
Even if they could get a payment option ARM to live comfortably in a large house while paying ‘rent’ at a lower monthly rate than interest on comparables, right up until the day they walked away from their nonrecourse loan?
I guess I don’t think that way. I’m too moral to think of a house that way. We’ve owned two, and the first was a 14 year commitment, and the second was a 6. We’re not into “gaming” the system. But I get your point, and wakeup call. We’ve earned our 825 FICO’s, and darn proud of it.
“I’m too moral to think of a house that way.”
I guess I don’t think that way either, which helps explains why I am not currently facing the dilemma of whether to walk away from my underwater mortgage, as I don’t have one.
Amen PB, and good for you. We can look at ourselves in the mirror, and be proud of our conscience.
“We’ve earned our 825 FICO’s, and darn proud of it.”
+1 Damn right!
Where I live “home affordability has never been better” is a joke. Decent houses in decent neighborhoods are still priced too high no matter what the interest rates are. However, if it read “crack house affordability has never been better” I would tend to agree.
I’m beginning to think that it has been a mistake to tie certain industries
to other industries . You have the housing industry tied to the property tax and tax write off industry and the real estate and lending business . You have Health care tied to employment as well as Government programs mixed with the 3 big monopolies of
Drugs ,the AMA ,and Health Insurance Companies .
The various big industries become so attached at the hip that it creates
the artificial prices along with the monopolistic gouging ,
Combining retirement benefits with out of control price increases in
health care is another factor that has made retirement benefits unsustainable along with Medicare/Medical costs .
If the system for collecting taxes was more fair and more simple than you wouldn’t get these distortions either .
Little known fact: Many, MANY, board of directors are also board of directors of other companies. Often at least another dozen, other companies.
No secret around here, Eco.
“Little known fact: Many, MANY, board of directors are also board of directors of other companies. Often at least another dozen, other companies.”
Even more interesting, take the time to Google the names of these board directors, particularly their last names. Cross check the “What’s in a name” on family tree websites. Where do most of these directors worship? The correlation is irrefutable.
Hint: You won’t need your “They Live” sunglasses.
LMAO. I need to inject a few more Rowdy Roddy Piper references into my daily conversation. I still remember the 10 minute fight scene from that movie (and that’s about it!)
Realtors Are Liars
There has never been a better time to bash realtors.
Correection: There has never been a better time to be truthful about realtors.
Why TF does everything that Turbo Tax Timmay proposes come out smelling like roses for Megabank, Inc? Why don’t they just shuttle him off to his next post at Goldman Sachs now, rather than enabling this Obama administration banking tzar to continuously financially engineer new schemes to steal from the American people for the enrichment of his future employers?
Factbox: Winners and losers in the Obama housing plan
Fri Feb 11, 2011 12:14pm EST
(Reuters) - The Obama administration declared the death of the existing U.S. housing finance system on Friday, setting in motion an uncertain project that will take years and reshape the way Americans buy and own homes.
Following is a rundown of who stands to be the biggest winners and losers from the administration’s plan to wind down government-controlled mortgage buyers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac:
THE WINNERS
* Big banks that are willing to invest in mortgages
The proposed reforms will likely help the bank industry, especially larger firms, by allowing them to raise the prices that they charge consumers for mortgages, analyst Paul Miller of FBR Capital Markets said.
…
Can anyone who understands please enlighten me why this pointy-nosed twit stays in his position?
Treasury Secretary Geithner faces harsh criticism from legislators over bailouts
By David Cho
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 27, 2010; A01
When Timothy F. Geithner emerged as the leading candidate for Treasury secretary in late 2008, he privately urged Barack Obama to think twice about whether to hire him. Geithner had been a key architect of the government’s bailout of Wall Street and would carry that history into the new job, he reminded the incoming president.
The warning proved prescient. Nearly a year after Geithner was confirmed, his actions to rescue the financial system — first as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and then as Obama’s initial Treasury secretary — have made him a lightning rod for discontent with the Obama administration.
Geithner will come under fire again Wednesday when he faces questions at a hearing on Capitol Hill about his role in bailing out the insurer American International Group while he was New York Fed president. The grilling comes as lawmakers from both parties are becoming more aggressive in challenging Obama over federal rescue efforts, which have helped bring huge profits to Wall Street but have failed to significantly trim the ranks of the jobless.
With populist fervor putting Democrats in electoral jeopardy, lawmakers took aim in recent days at Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, another key figure behind the bailout, threatening his confirmation for a second term. The White House and Senate Democratic leaders seem to have succeeded in shoring up support for Bernanke ahead of a Senate vote expected this week.
Now the Obama team is closing ranks behind its embattled Treasury secretary, saying that his actions likely averted a global financial meltdown. President Obama called him a “terrific” adviser in a television interview this week.
“Whoever is in these key economic positions becomes a bit of a lightning rod, especially after the extraordinary year we’ve been through, but the truth is [Geithner] has been a very steady hand in that crisis and he’s been the author of many of the reforms that the president has championed,” said David Axelrod, Obama’s senior adviser. “Tim’s been a great advocate for the economy and for the public interest.”
…
HOUSES STILLCOST TOO MUCH.