Bits Bucket for February 17, 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
To donate by mail, or to otherwise contact this blogger, please send emails to: thehousingbubble@gmail.com
PayPal is a secure online payment method which accepts ALL major credit cards.
Links
-
June 2025 M T W T F S S « Sep 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Photo Submission: hbbphotos@gmail.com
View the HBB Photo Gallery *updated 4/13/2008
New home construction lives on in the basement, but that didn’t stop the porcine beauticians on Wall Street from spinning it to drive up home builder share prices.
Housing Starts Way Up, But Permits Way Down in January
Feb 16 2011, 9:20 AM ET
By Daniel Indiviglio
As the housing market continues to try to regain its footing, there’s little consistency in a rebound for new home building. After jumping 15.3% in December, permits for new home building sunk 10.4% in January, according to the Census Bureau. With housing starts, the story is similar but flipped. They were down 5.1% in December and then leaped 14.6% in January. From this data, it’s hard to say anything concrete about trends in new home building.
…
From this data, it’s hard to say anything concrete about trends in new home building.
Why, yes you can.
You can say that they’re using a lot less concrete…
Guys oil prices are reaching $4, at what point American sheeple will wake up and go to the STREET…? Many middle class people (like Tea parties members) complain on “Entitlements” but when Oil companies or all the rich 1% gets all the benefits sheeple is quiet. We lost our dignities or is it Stalin’s country?
It is hard to understand American mentality… please help me?
A lot of us are scratching our heads, too, Am.sheeple.
When banks got bailouts, the sheeple were convinced that it was “necessary to get our economy back on track.” When the same guilty culprits who created our economic disaster got record bonuses as a result of the taxpayer bailouts, people shrugged and said, “they deserve it, see the stock market is up!”
However, when REAL workers who actually provide beneficial (and necessary) services to the public — and who had NOTHING to do with our “financial crisis” –simply expect their employers to pay them what was already agreed upon, everyone gets up in arms because the MSM (controlled by that 1%) has told the sheeple that somehow, magically, their lives will be better if union WORKERS have their benefits decimated…the sheeple believe them.
Nobody ever questions what will *really* happen to private sector workers when the unions are taken out (lower wages and NO benefits for EVERYBODY!), because nobody can think beyond today. They just parrot what they are told to believe and spread the word as though it came straight from God’s lips.
Nobody ever questions what will *really* happen to private sector workers when the unions are taken out (lower wages and NO benefits for EVERYBODY!), because nobody can think beyond today.
I’ve not seen anyone talking about private sector unions. Just the public sector unions which extort the taxpayer. The people who can’t “take their money elsewhere” because there’s no competition when it comes to government.
“Just the public sector unions which extort the taxpayers.”
I have friend in Paris France who works in a hotel and have about same benefits as our public sector employees and plus universal healthcare and nobody considers him “extortionist” in France. Why can any employee in U.S get similar benefits and why is that hard to ask people like Mr. Trump, who several time filed for bankruptcy and steel is running a billion dollar business, agree to pay their fair share of taxes, so those young people in Mid America who are going and dying in Afghanistan, could have opportunity to find a job in their country and start a family, instead of dying in “nowhere land”? Of course this is America, land of opportunity, wild wild west, If you are Mr. Trump and bought some high ranking legislators or city officials and where not cut they will not call you extortionist…
I have friend in Paris France who works in a hotel and have about same benefits as our public sector employees and plus universal healthcare and nobody considers him “extortionist” in France.
Do you really not see the difference between a private sector employee and a public one?
Individuals willingly give their money to private companies by buying their goods and services. These companies can then use those monies to pay their employees and give them benefits. Every party to the transaction is a willing participant.
Gov’t employees, on the other hand, are paid not from monies voluntarily given in exchange for goods and services. Any money used for their salaries and benefits is taken by threat of force from the productive members of society.
Anything given to them is something taken from me, the taxpayer. Without my consent. Do you not grasp that point?
(yes, bring on the statements that I can always leave the country….yadda yadda yadda)
“Anything given to them is something taken from me, the taxpayer. Without my consent. Do you not grasp that point?”
Yes , I “grasp” … you want them to ask your consent when your house will be on fire and and firefighters will wait till you sign your consent…
Yes , I “grasp” … you want them to ask your consent when your house will be on fire and and firefighters will wait till you sign your consent…
no, that’s not what I’m saying.
However, it’d be reasonable for me to have to “opt in” to fire protection, and be charged accordingly.
Regardless, I find fire protection to be distinctly different from, say, universal healthcare. Fire protection protects something that I pay to consume in some form or another (Renting an apartment, buying a house, owning a car, etc). And arguably a fire poses a potential risk to others around me, and therefore is in the public interest to ensure it’s controlled/extinguished.
Less concrete, more bull manure.
More wicked wrist slaps on the way for badly-behaved banksters.
UPDATE 1-U.S. close to punishing banks over foreclosures
Wed Feb 16, 2011 11:37pm EST
* Bank regulators found mortgage servicers broke laws
* Probe included BofA, Citi, Wells Fargo
(Adds FHA commissioner’s testimony, paragraphs 5-9)
WASHINGTON, Feb 16 (Reuters) - U.S. bank regulators are finalizing punishments against mortgage servicers after a probe found “critical deficiencies” with the industry’s foreclosure processes.
John Walsh, the acting head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, said a national probe of foreclosure paperwork and procedures found that mortgage servicers broke laws, and that a small number of homeowners were wrongly evicted.
“These deficiencies have resulted in violations of state and local foreclosure laws, regulations, or rules and have had an adverse affect on the functioning of the mortgage markets and the U.S. economy as a whole,” Walsh said in congressional testimony obtained on Wednesday by Reuters.
Walsh did not identify any servicers, but his testimony noted that the probe included Bank of America, Citibank, JPMorgan, and Wells Fargo, among others.
In separate testimony on Wednesday, David Stevens, the commissioner of the Federal Housing Administration, said the penalties could range from fines paid to the government to loan modifications to banks forgiving some of the principal balance on the loan.
…
They shouldn’t be so hard on those banksters. They are working so hard to save the financial system that there will be a few mistakes.
They’re doing God’s work!
Note that the sub-text is quite different from the headline.
Check out this tidbit:
“The orders are expected to be coupled with a global settlement with other government entities investigating the servicing industry, which is almost certain to include civil money penalties.”
http://www.americanbanker.com/issues/176_33/regulators-servicers-fines-1033100-1.html
To me, this looks like yet-another-whitewash: a slap on the wrist, coupled with a get-out-of-jail-free card.
A “global settlement” washes away their liability…
If you want the government to be able to even try to do this aggressively, you would have to give the relevant agencies gobs and gobs of money to hire lots of new people to do the work. Please remember that the banks have more money than God and fighting in court costs.
Government agencies are staffed to do basic oversight in normal times. They are not staffed to fight labor intensive battles against entities with essentially unlimited coffers.
Is it just me or does it seem like the IRS g-men have infinite resources to shake down we the sheeple but nary enough to bother the big fish?
If the IRS had infinite money to “shake down we the sheeple” then every 1040 that includes itemized deductions that are not directly reported to the IRS (mortgage interest and state/local income taxes - I’m not sure about local property taxes) would be audited.
I have been itemizing and taking small deductions for charitable contributions for years and no one is knocking at my door. I got audited once when the bank reported a ROTH election in a way that made the IRS think it happened in year “A” when it really happened in year “A-1″. Took me less than 4 hours of work to resolve the whole thing and that included the initial phone call, getting records from the bank, finding my old tax returns, copying, faxing and mailing everything with a detailed letter. Out of pocket cost was for postage and certified return receipt delivery. Yawn.
I’ll admit to a wee ‘bit-o hyperbole but my point was to highlight the appearance of a different level of enforcement for the elites.
You have no way of knowing what level of enforcement is used on the elites unless you are privy to some statistics? When I was last working for a large corporation we were under audit 100% of the time. There was never a year when the company was not audited. My understanding is that most very large corporations are in this situation. The fact is that the rules are currently written to allow a lot of tax avoidance - that is not an enforcement issue, it is a legislative issue.
Different agencies are assigned their budgets and have to stick to them. The IRS can’t say that they think people are doing a better job on their taxes this year so they will give a few million bucks to the SEC to catch more securities fraud. Congress sets those numbers. And no one is going to be getting more money in the next few years.
While it’s true my numbers are sourced via an anal extraction method I’m fond of, my lyin’ eyes see WS thieves living like royalty as free men.
I have nothing but confidence your arguments are factual but from my vantage something’s rotten in Denmark.
You are just aiming your ire at the wrong branch of government. Civil servants can only enforce the laws that Congress gives them using the resources that Congress gives them. That is all they can do. Anything else is either impossible or unconstitutional or both.
Government agencies are staffed to do basic oversight in normal times. They are not staffed to fight labor intensive battles against entities with essentially unlimited coffers.”
unlimited coffers yep thank’s to the government bailing these same banks out
why do people vote in larger and larger governments to protect them from this abuse ?
For the same reason they voted more power to the party who supports sending their jobs overseas?
“Government agencies are staffed to do basic oversight in normal times. They are not staffed to fight labor intensive battles against entities with essentially unlimited coffers.”
Exactly and a Congress hostile to watchdog agencies has a tendency to further weaken those agencies through budget cuts.
“…the banks have more money than God…”
Especially since Bernanke made them all whole at the point they should have gone…bankrupt.
Double seekrit probation!
Another Way Banks Make Everyone Pay: The MERS Mortgage Mess
By ABIGAIL FIELD
Posted 1:00 PM 02/16/11
Columns, People, Real Estate
Much has already been written about the Mortgage Electronic Registration System — the mortgage industry’s effort to avoid paying local governments hundreds of millions of dollars in fees while facilitating trading in mortgages — and its problematic legal foundation. I refer to the “mortgage industry” — rather than just banks — because Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac played important roles in the creation of MERS. However, in the context of MERS in foreclosures, “banks” is equally appropriate.
…
‘Much has already been written…’
As in blah blah blah. I still contend that this ultimately has almost no effect on the average person, as the title will be sorted out.
‘Another Way Banks Make Everyone Pay’
Yes, milking the ‘everyone’s a banksta victim’ thing as hard as they can. Meanwhile, what about the shadow inventory? What about the GSEs?
You know what? The really critical housing stuff is in the hands of our politicians now, not the banks.
The really critical housing stuff is in the hands of our politicians now, not the banks.
And the banks own “our” politicians. Same as it ever was.
wasnt MERS basically created to avoid recording fees at county recorders offices?
I think the official line is that MERS was created to aid in securitization, but I like your answer better.
Aid in securitization is actually a little bit more accurate. This is how it was supposed to work in theory (simplified).
Securitization created “tranches” of bonds. The least secure of these bonds (with the highest interest rates) were supposed to take the first hit if some of the mortgages in the pool didn’t pay out. However, it is impossible to know when the pool is created who will fail first. (Well, anyone who had ever lent money under old underwriting rules could have told you who was likely to fail, but that isn’t the same as knowing.) So the idea is that the trust that issued the bonds keeps ownership of the mortgages, and distributes the income stream to the owners of the bonds which is kept track of by MERS, but the actual ownership of a mortgage never transfers unless one fails, and then its ownership is transfered to the owners of the tranche of bonds that is scheduled to take the hit. Or perhaps the trust just forecloses (or rather the servicer acting on behalf of the trust forecloses) and deals with the income, if any, from that.
But (and here is where I get shakey) the bankers may have let MERS kick in too early, before even the trust got registered as the owner of record in the state or county. So the trust is being treated by all the parties as an owner, but the actual ownership may still be back in the originator of the loan who may or may not still exist and certainly thought that they had sold the loan a long time ago. And the trust may not have enough of a relationship with the 72nd owner of the bond to be acting on their behalf, though if the bonds were drafted properly, this is unlikely. And, perhaps most likely, the original papers may have gone missing in the three years since the bonds were originally issued and the trust can’t assign the mortgage to the right bond owners under state law without the real original papers.
At least, at this point, that is how I understand it. There was never any intention to transfer the ownership of any mortgage to the bond holders before it failed, because that is how you make sure that some tranches get more risk and others get less.
“So the trust is being treated by all the parties as an owner, but the actual ownership may still be back in the originator of the loan who may or may not still exist and certainly thought that they had sold the loan a long time ago. And the trust may not have enough of a relationship with the 72nd owner of the bond to be acting on their behalf, though if the bonds were drafted properly, this is unlikely. And, perhaps most likely, the original papers may have gone missing in the three years since the bonds were originally issued and the trust can’t assign the mortgage to the right bond owners under state law without the real original papers.”
O-oh, MERSy, MERSy, me,
O-oh, things ain’t how they used to be no, no…
Free market deregulation at work!
Who’da thunk those stupid, centuries-old title transfer rules and regulations actually had a purpose?
Screw the politicans
MADISON, Wis. — As four game wardens awkwardly stood guard, protesters, scores deep, crushed into a corridor leading to the governor’s office here on Wednesday, their screams echoing through the Capitol: “Come out, come out, wherever you are!”
Wisconsin May Take an Ax to State Workers’ Benefits and Their Unions (February 12, 2011)
Narayan Mahon for The New York Times
Protesters in the capitol square in Madison, Wis. More Photos »
Behind closed doors, Scott Walker, the Republican who has been governor for about six weeks, calmly described his intent to forge ahead with the plans that had set off the uprising: He wants to require public workers to pay more for their health insurance and pensions, effectively cutting the take-home pay of many by around 7 percent.
He also wants to weaken most public-sector unions by sharply curtailing their collective bargaining rights, limiting talks to the subject of basic wages.
Well over 1000 plus protestors marched in front of Walkers house back in Wauwatosa, Wi next to Milwaukee.
Nobody hardly ever protests in conservative Wauwatosa.
“Come out, come out whereever you are !!
http://tinyurl.com/4fvrf8k
Meanwhile, back in Wauwatosa, Scotty wasn’t Welcoming the Trick or Treaters and had his house lights turned off.
“Millions in the private sector lost their jobs. Millions more took pay cuts. Public union workers have the gall to think they are special. This country has a severe problem with mountains of public union workers who think they are better than everyone else.”
PS - 40% of Madison Teachers called in sick to attend this political rally.
Cause it is for the children!
The entitlement mentality of public union goons is something to behold.
It’s a golden opportunity for Republicans in a traditionally liberal state. They have the governor’s office and both houses of the state legislature. Frankly, forcing state workers to contribute half of their pensions and 12% of their health care premiums is only fair given that private workers have to fund virtually all of their retirement/benefits. But getting rid of collective bargaining seems undemocratic to me.
Private company CEOs control their corporate boards and therefore their compensation. They float to another great job after they fail (think HP’s Mark Hurd going to Oracle.) Legislators get to vote their own pay/benefits, not to mention hooking themselves up with cushy connected jobs after they leave office (think Dick Cheney and Halliburton.) Joe 6pack should have a collective say, since he has no connections at all.
It will really take the steam out of the TeaKoch party when its members find out their spouses’ jobs with the local/state government, from which they get their beloved ‘free market’ health care etc, are at risk.
At least, that’s the standard pattern around here: rugged individualist, semi-employed subcontractor hubby with a monster-pickup and disdain for all government bennies and welfare queens, married to wifey who works for the county gov, and gets all the family’s bennies that way.
‘Don’t cut my pork! That’s all-American pork!’
At least, that’s the standard pattern around here: rugged individualist, semi-employed subcontractor hubby with a monster-pickup and disdain for all government bennies and welfare queens, married to wifey who works for the county gov, and gets all the family’s bennies that way.
Many years ago, I worked for a very well-heeled non-profit here in Tucson. We had quite a number of high-level employees who fit the above description to a tee.
Their employ at our organization provided them with quite the social life — fancy parties, football and basketball tickets, soirees with VIPs, etc. — and they didn’t have to pay for it. Attending these events was part of their job.
Don’t forget all those administrative assistants at state universities. Middle-aged women, all of them. I’d love to see some hard statistics on this.
Don’t forget all those administrative assistants at state universities. Middle-aged women, all of them. I’d love to see some hard statistics on this.
Speaking as someone who worked alongside said middle-aged female admins, I’d have to say that they were very underpaid and under-appreciated for the work that they did.
To this day, when I do work for university clients, I make it a point to be nice to the admins. They don’t expect that sort of treatment from vendors, and, yes, they do enjoy it.
And on a related note, I guess those contractor hubbies have to stay home with the kids now?
Wisconsin schools call off classes as budget protests continue By Phil Gast, CNN
“At least 15 school systems in Wisconsin canceled Thursday’s classes because teachers and other public employees will continue protests at the state Capitol over a bill that would strip them of most of their collective bargaining rights and increase their contributions for benefits.
At least 10,000 employees and supporters rallied Wednesday in Madison in opposition to legislation supported by Republican Gov. Scott Walker.”
http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/02/17/wisconsin.budget/index.html?hpt=Sbin
“Don’t forget all those administrative assistants at state universities.”
Especially since some of them work for the perks as much as a salary… Met a woman who worked at a very low paid office job at a university mostly because her kids got a deal on tuition. (Can’t remember if it was cheaper or free, but she said it worked out as a much better way to put them through college.)
Pay cuts are idiotic. It drives away the marketable employees and enrages the rest. Layoffs are a much better way to handle it.
“Come out, come out whereever you are !!”
Obviously a seasoned Elementary teacher.
Pay cuts are idiotic. It drives away the marketable employees and enrages the rest. Layoffs are a much better way to handle it.
And along those same lines, doing layoffs by taking volunteers first doesn’t work out so well either. Great way to lose all the people that were actually doing the work and keep the ones who weren’t.
“At least, that’s the standard pattern around here: rugged individualist, semi-employed subcontractor hubby with a monster-pickup and disdain for all government bennies and welfare queens, married to wifey who works for the county gov, and gets all the family’s bennies that way.”
Same here. Our city isn’t quite as generous with the bennies as other places, but it does provide health and dental plans.
Some of these guys are waking up and smelling the coffee though. I know a guy, a plumber, whose contracting biz went under with the new housing bust. (We went from 1000+ new houses per year to about 50). He did odd plumbing and handyman jobs until he was hired by a plumbing chain. He was laid off a month ago from that job. His wife’s city job is what kept them afloat (she makes about 30K per year).
i wonder how many rugged self-employed consultants, interior designers, etc working from home are also kept afloat by govt workers’ benefits.
i wonder how many rugged self-employed consultants, interior designers, etc working from home are also kept afloat by govt workers’ benefits.
A now deceased friend fit this description to a tee. She was a highly knowledgeable person, one who could have really made her home-based studio go like wildfire if only…
…she just hustled some business.
I couldn’t understand it. She and her husband (who worked with her) were both very good at what they did, and they could have grown the studio into quite the place.
But hubby had a job at the University of Arizona. And it paid enough to keep her at home, doodling around in her studio.
“Come out, come out whereever you are !!”
“Obviously a seasoned Elementary teacher.”
It all balances out. Walker is obviously a well seasoned TeaBag Lunatic
The Wisconsin National Guard has not been called up by Gov. Scott Walker for active duty in the state, but the state commander says it has contingency plans if it is.
Brigadier General Don Dunbar, the adjutant general of Wisconsin and commander of the Wisconsin National Guard, said in a news release that the guard “remains in our normal state of readiness.”
Lt. Col. Jackie Guthrie, spokeswoman for the Wisconsin National Guard, told madison.com that as of Wednesday morning “there are no movements to do anything, but we have plans for everything.”
Guthrie wouldn’t say what the National Guard’s plans are if it is called in by the governor to help with security at state facilities.
“There is a contingency plan for every state emergency,” Guthrie said.
According to the news release, 800 soldiers and airmen out of 10,000 members are on active duty, ready to support civil authorities when the president or governor declares an emergency
Your gonna need a bigger army Scott.
Your gonna need a bigger army Scott.
He also needs to read up on WI history.
In decades past, WI was a hotbed of labor activism. And it’s the home state of Fighting Bob LaFollette, who is still widely revered.
“Private company CEOs control their corporate boards and therefore their compensation. They float to another great job after they fail (think HP’s Mark Hurd going to Oracle.) Legislators get to vote their own pay/benefits, not to mention hooking themselves up with cushy connected jobs after they leave office (think Dick Cheney and Halliburton.) Joe 6pack should have a collective say, since he has no connections at all.”
“For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind”. Hosea 8-7
two wrongs don’t make a right but three do?
Yahoo…
Walker has police hunting for the dems…
Yahoo
MADISON, Wis. – Police officers are looking for Democratic Wisconsin lawmakers who were ordered to attend a vote on a bill that would strip public employees of collective bargaining rights.
No Democrats showed up for Thursday’s Senate session, meaning a vote cannot be taken. Republicans need one Democratic senator to be present. Calls to Democratic leaders were not immediately returned.
Republicans are pushing the anti-union bill proposed by GOP Gov. Scott Walker. Thousands of people clogged the halls of the Statehouse for a third straight day in opposition.
Hey, do you guys over by the fireplace want some ice cream with that warm Rasselberry pie and coffee…?
Maybe the Dem lawmakers have all fled across the border into Illinois. Taking a page from the past Texas legislator handbook.
At least 10,000 employees and supporters rallied Wednesday in Madison in opposition to legislation supported by Republican Gov. Scott Walker.”
http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/02/17/wisconsin.budget/index.html?hpt=Sbin
“The changes do not apply to to police, firefighters and state troopers, who would continue to bargain for their benefits.”
Governor Scott should fire every one of those greedy, ungrateful union thieves and have a job fair the following day with no previous government experience as the only requirement.
Question: if those private sector workers still had their jobs, would they be railing about the public workers and their benefits? Or is this a case of misery loves company?
Because, to be honest, wouldn’t it be more productive to fight to get the private sector jobs back and make more people employed, than it would be to cut the public sector and make more people UNemployed?
As ecofeco keeps pounding, the Democrats passed a bill to do just that — bring back some jobs from overseas. And what did the Republicans do? Oh, that’s right. They filibustered it.
Question: if those private sector workers still had their jobs, would they be railing about the public workers and their benefits? Or is this a case of misery loves company?
I have a job, and I rant about such things. So, who knows on an individual level, but certainly there are some of us who are employed, pay taxes, and have issues with public employee unions and public employee compensation.
“…she just hustled some business.”
Well A Slim, I don’t about her particular situation or character, but you know it ain’t always that easy.
“Private company CEOs control their corporate boards and therefore their compensation. They float to another great job after they fail (think HP’s Mark Hurd going to Oracle.) Legislators get to vote their own pay/benefits, not to mention hooking themselves up with cushy connected jobs after they leave office (think Dick Cheney and Halliburton.) Joe 6pack should have a collective say, since he has no connections at all.”
“For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind”. Hosea 8-7
two wrongs don’t make a right but three do?
I cannot begin to fathom how you just read REhobbyist’s statement and came to the conclusion that having equal influence and protecting ones pay, JUST LIKE THE RICH & POWERFUL ARE DOING, is somehow wrong.
“The changes do not apply to to police, firefighters and state troopers, who would continue to bargain for their benefits.” ??
Exactly !!!!!!!!!! Which is why I call the Rep. Governor a Hypocrite big time…..
Comment by oxide
2011-02-17 14:34:42
Question: if those private sector workers still had their jobs, would they be railing about the public workers and their benefits? Or is this a case of misery loves company?
Because, to be honest, wouldn’t it be more productive to fight to get the private sector jobs back and make more people employed, than it would be to cut the public sector and make more people UNemployed?
As ecofeco keeps pounding, the Democrats passed a bill to do just that — bring back some jobs from overseas. And what did the Republicans do? Oh, that’s right. They filibustered it.
——————–
Funny how so many people don’t see the logic, isn’t it, oxide?
Comment by scdave
2011-02-17 15:00:22
“The changes do not apply to to police, firefighters and state troopers, who would continue to bargain for their benefits.” ??
Exactly !!!!!!!!!! Which is why I call the Rep. Governor a Hypocrite big time…..
————–
The reason cops will be the last to be torn down is because they will be asked to keep the peace as workers are decimated so that our elite rulers can get more, MORE, MORE!!!!
I’ll never understand why working people would ever vote for those who work against them.
What deficit?
Looks like they’ve been keeping two sets of books.
http://www.wpri.org/Reports/Volume18/Vol18no2.pdf
“You know what? The really critical housing stuff is in the hands of our politicians now, not the banks.”
Not being sarcastic but, is there a difference? Seems like the politicians take orders from the banks, not the other way around.
To a degree maybe. But the people can grow a backbone and throw them out.
Throw the bums out .
I was trying Ben, I was trying but we couldn’t find him !!
He was hiding.
The same “people” who just voted more power to the very political party who support sending their jobs offshore?
Ye…ah. Like that’ll ever happen.
“Meanwhile, what about the shadow inventory?”
This is what is propping up prices in my area, and preventing me from entering the market.
This is what is propping up prices in my area, and preventing me from entering the market.
And I’ll bet that Muggy’s not the only one.
Keep resisting, Muggy. Stand strong!
“Keep resisting, Muggy. Stand strong!”
I’m cracking again. I’m tired of getting boxes.
We west coasters are with you, brother Muggy!
“the shadow inventory”
“This is what is propping up prices in my area, and preventing me from entering the market.”
I don’t get the price increase of $10K on an REO, when nothing is selling to begin with. Other posters in the past have witnessed this phenomenon, too.
“I don’t get the price increase of $10K on an REO, when nothing is selling to begin with. ”
Collusion perhaps?
Whatever the ultimate effect of the robo-signing saga, you have to admit it makes for a lurid story (innocent home-owner victims in default getting thrown out of their homes by robo-signers who don’t have time to wait for the ink on their signature to dry before signing the next stack of foreclosure documents…).
Where’s robocop when you need him?
“I’d buy that for a dollar!”
Reminds me, I need to look for a good deal on a used SUX 6000.
Dim view of housing market weighs on economy
(AP) – 1 day ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — Optimism is in short supply among U.S. homebuilders, a sign that the depressed housing market will slow the economy’s gains this year.
The outlook by builders hasn’t improved since the fall, when new-home sales were in the midst of their bleakest year in a half-century.
Less home building means fewer jobs for the economy. Construction work now accounts for about 5 percent of the nation’s private employment. But nearly 2 million of the roughly 14 million unemployed Americans previously worked in construction.
Analysts say the economy needs to accelerate job creation before the housing industry can fully recover. Without more jobs and higher wages, home sales will stagnate.
“We probably won’t see a strong recovery in construction jobs anytime soon,” said Sal Guatieri, senior economist BMO Capital Markets. “Not a lot of people are showing up to builders’ lots, not even to kick the tires. We just have to wait it out.”
The National Association of Home Builders’ index of builder sentiment for February was unchanged for the fourth straight month, at 16, the association said Tuesday. Any reading below 50 indicates negative sentiment. The index hasn’t topped 50 since April 2006.
…
DimWit view of housing detached from reality
(AP) – 1 day ago
ANYTOWN (AP) — Dimwits on Main Street continue to hang on to realtor smoke, mirrors, lies and obfuscation as housing inventory balloons and buyer pool evaporates.
The truth is that Builders built ,built ,built from 2000 to 2007 and they
went into future supply of housing and commercial projects just to get
into the fake housing boom in that time period with no regard to end-user demand . Why even build anything with this shadow inventory of excess housing ?
Here in Tucson, there’s a big planned development called Miramonte at the River. Construction began well after our local housing bubble started hissing air.
On a recent bicycle ride, I took a cruise through this place. More than a few empty houses. Some were sporting “for sale” signs. Others had door hangers for the city’s upcoming brush and bulky pickup. If those places were occupied, those door hangers would have been removed right-quick.
At the entrance is a big sign that says that the houses are being offered for the high $200ks. Seems a bit high to me. And, I might add, that price sticker is pasted right over the previous price range, which was in the mid $300ks.
Methinks that things have a bit further to fall in this development.
Just be careful when riding your bicycle through a neighborhood of half-built house. There can be nails and other debris in the streets and you might end up with a flat tire.
No problem! I can fix flats in a jiffy.
This skill comes from working as a bike mechanic here in Tucson. The local bike shops do a brisk business in flat tire repair.
No problem! I can fix flats in a jiffy.
For a while, it seemed like I couldn’t get more than 2 miles from home without getting a flat.
I now have a pair of Kevlar™-lined tires full of Slime™. I have been flat-free for some time now.
(knock, knock)
have a pair of Kevlar™-lined tires full of Slime™ ??
Thats where I was headed until I got my recent bike (Gary Fisher 29′r..Thanks Pbear)…I use to get flats all the time…I am convinced now that it comes down to a good quality tire…
“Why even build anything with this shadow inventory of excess housing ?”
As others have pointed out on this blog in the past, it’s what the builder boyz do: they build houses. The only thing that seems to stop them is a lack of building loans.
There are a couple houses going up across the road, in a small dev where one house is bank-owned and another going into foreclosure. This out of maybe 12 platted lots.
Which economy? Because the one for the rich is doing just fine.
You betcha. My friend just signed a contract on a million dollar home this week. It took her 4 contracts (offers on 4 different homes) to get one where they weren’t outbid. Texas.
* REVIEW & OUTLOOK
* FEBRUARY 16, 2011, 6:09 P.M. ET
The Countrywide Subpoena
Rep. Issa wants the names of VIP-loan recipients.
By March 7, the bank will need to produce all documents related to the company’s VIP program, also known as the “Friends of Angelo” program in honor of former Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo. Mr. Mozilo ran the subprime factory at the center of the housing bubble. Sweetheart loans for his “friends” at Fannie, Freddie and on Capitol Hill were part of a strategy to keep the mortgage party going, with minimal oversight of the loans originated by Countrywide and then guaranteed by Fan and Fred (and taxpayers).
In 2009 Mr. Issa persuaded then-Oversight Committee Chairman Ed Towns to issue a similar subpoena. But to protect the less-than-innocent, Mr. Towns asked that names be redacted. The identities of political “friends” in the House were sent only to the ethics committee, where they seem to have fallen down a well. Senate names were not shared with anyone.
Mr. Issa’s new subpoena seeks the whole story, unredacted. The scuttlebutt is that most of the 30 Capitol Hill loans went to staff, not elected officials. But revealing internal discussions of why the firm helped “friends” like former Sen. Chris Dodd and Sen. Kent Conrad may suggest important reforms. However that turns out, it probably won’t take a subpoena to understand why such reforms were absent from the law Mr. Dodd co-authored last year.
…
Dodd is no longer Senator.
Conrad is not running for re-election in 2012.
Hope Issa doesn’t spend too many of my tax dollars on this.
out of office = free pass?
If being a Friend of Angelo is only a violation of Senate ethics, then yes, it IS a free pass. They can’t throw him out of the Senate, since he’s already out.
If being a Friend of Angelo broke a specific law, then why is Issa doing this investigation? Shouldn’t that be a job for the judicial branch? But then, Issa wouldn’t be able to score visible political points.
no the judicial branch does not investigate
guess we need to count on eric holder? maybe that’s why issa is investigating?
“If being a Friend of Angelo broke a specific law, then why is Issa doing this investigation? Shouldn’t that be a job for the judicial branch?”
Cause oh yeah, the judicial branch is doing SUCH a good job of investigating and convicting the criminals who ran the global financial ponzi schemes…
Perhaps the Truth is worth a penny, even though so many dollars have been squandered on lies.
Yes - time to move on.
Nothing to see here.
Keep it moving people
American Idol on TV tonight…
If the penalty for graft by lawmakers is only resignation, the country is going to be in a lot of trouble!
The country is in a lot of trouble!
Has been for decades.
Name the most famous member of the Keating Five.
Hint: he was a recent presidential candidate.
Who were the Keating Five, you ask?
Oh, but he learned his lesson! He just doesn’t know anything about that financial stuff, and has a staffer look into it.
Has been for decades.
Name the most famous member of the Keating Five.
Hint: he was a recent presidential candidate.
Who were the Keating Five, you ask?
The candidate was John McCain, R-AZ. The other Keating Five members were:
Alan Cranston, D-CA
Dennis DeConcini, D-AZ. His ex-wife, Susie is a real estate agent here in Tucson. When you see her sign, you know that the house is seriously expensive.
John Glenn, D-OH
Don Reigle, D-MI. When he was running for the Senate for the first time, his opponent, Marvin Esch, tried to smear him by saying he had an extra-marital affair.
Reigle’s reply? “Yup, I did.” And he got elected.
On a personal note, I met one of his daughters when I was a University of Michigan student. A nice kid you wouldn’t want to meet. You’d never know she was a senator’s daughter unless you asked her about it.
McCain was mostly exonerated in the probe into the Keating Five. IIRC it was Cranston who was determined to be the biggest crook.
After a lengthy investigation, the Senate Ethics Committee determined in 1991 that Alan Cranston, Dennis DeConcini, and Donald Riegle had substantially and improperly interfered with the FHLBB in its investigation of Lincoln Savings, with Cranston receiving a formal reprimand. Senators John Glenn and John McCain were cleared of having acted improperly but were criticized for having exercised “poor judgment”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keating_Five
That’s the kind of “poor judgment” that you and I would do time for.
I hope Issa spends enough of my tax dollars on this to finally get to the truth. Chris “Countrywide” Dodd and Barney “Fannie Mae” Frank belong in a jail cell for their roles in the housing bubble and its enormous costs to US taxpayers. Finally, there might be some accountability, even though none of Countrywide’s Congressional accomplices will ever be punished under our current kleptocracy.
I fully agree. And if you’re so hot on getting at the truth, let’s spend a few tax dollars on yellowcake and Achmed Chalabi.
To be fair, there’s just as much Republican corruption, a lot of it blatant. And don’t forget that the Bush administration sat on its butt for the entire bubble runup from 2001 to 2008, culminating in the record-breaking taxpayer giveaway to a few banks, the executives of which are the highest paid people in the country.
Thank goodness both parties are openly planning to get rid of Fannie and Freddie. But it will take a long time.
I disagree, oxide. Democrats declined to investigate a lot of Republican corruption when they took over in 2006. This gave them the confidence to continue the corruption, like Dodd and Conrad and other “friends of Angelo” did. Issa’s threat to investigate forced Dodd and Conrad to resign. They should have apologized and given the money back to the taxpayers. Good riddance. Of course Dodd was replaced by another entrenched liar.
Obama has refused to investigate any Republican wrong doing.
Obama has refused to investigate any Republican wrong doing.
Makes you wonder what the Repubs have on Obama, doesn’t it?
It’s that birth certificate from Kenya.
Are you making a summary judgment that no crimes were committed?
Well that’s what I want to know, are the crimes illegal or just unethical. The punishment for unethical crimes, at most, is impeaching/firing the Senator. Since the Sentor no longer has the job, I don’t see the investigation doing much good, except as a deterrent, as rehobbyist stated above.
Perhaps Dodd can “settle” with Issa for an undisclosed amount, without admitting wrongdoing. SOP for Wall Street…
Can Dodd “settle” with the American people for billions and billions of dollars worth of our collective national wealth flushed down the real estate toilet bowl, thanks much to Countryslide?
I remembered writing this on this blog years ago but couldn’t`t remember how it went. So I googled it and guess what, somebody picked it up.
THE WASHINGTON HILLBILLIES
Come and listen to my story bout a man named Dodd
refied his house but it seemed kinda odd
saved eighty grand but he said he didn`t know
law makers get a break cause they`re friends of Angelo
Mozillo that is , CountryWide , Bad loans
Well the first thing ya know Angelo is in some trouble
he say`s HEY DODD NOW THEY SAY I CAUSED A BUBBLE!
Dodd say`s fine I`ll just sponsor us a bill
tell em that they need it and I`ll sell it on the Hill
Well the moral of the story that you all should know
better vote em out if they`re friends of Angelo
or one day soon we`ll be shootin at our food
Bernankes got us lookin at two hundred dollar crude
Oil that is , black gold , OPEC tea
And now it`s time to say goodbye to you and all your kin
and Dodd would like to thank you all for kindly chippin in
you`re all invited back again to this localitee
to pay another trillion for their bogus LTV
Loan to value, that is
Kick your shoes off
Ya`ll come back now ya hear?!
Great song .
Look , Congress had the chance to get Senator Dodds and others
at the time and they knew all the facts and they didn’t want to .In fact ,Dodds continued to be a major player in Bank bail outs and
the stupid reforms that had no teeth .
A 80k break on a loan is a huge sum of money by anybody standards ,
but these creeps just say they didn’t know ,or they didn’t see it coming and that’s just accepted .There aren’t any cops on the block .
Nobody does it better, Jeff.
Best durn doggerel on the board.
All’ess.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are!”
An interesting article about global inflation, including wage inflation, written by Russ Winter (who used to post here in the early days of the HBB):
“The twist on the story is that Chinese suppliers are in a triple world of hurt. American buyers resisted attempts to pass on price increases of 20-50%. The NYT described the events leading up to the Chinese New Year holiday, when tens of millions of Chinese workers returned home, thusly:
“The first signs of a potential slowdown in Chinese exports have shown up in shipping. As factories closed on Friday across much of China in preparation for weeklong Chinese New Year celebrations, ports in Hong Kong and elsewhere along the coast were working long hours to meet last-minute shipments.
But the annual pre-New Year rush has been nothing like that of recent years, causing shipping lines to reverse rate increases and cancel sailings they introduced last summer as the American economy improved. This winter, the scurrying started only two weeks before the holidays, instead of the usual four weeks, according to shipping executives. That is because many Chinese factories simply cut back production this month as their Western customers began resisting steep price increases.”’
http://www.wallstreetexaminer.com/blogs/winter/?p=3667
In an ironic turn of events…
Suppliers from around the world will pull their contracts from China and go to lower cost countries. Is the China “miracle” over?
Bullish for places like Vietnam and Africa.
Downward spiral: jobs will keep leaving for cheaper places until we’re all 3rd world.
“American buyers resisted attempts to pass on price increases of 20-50%.”
That’s because American buyers are SHORT OF MONEY!
That’s because American buyers are SHORT OF MONEY!
Which ones are short on money?
The American Buyers who have no children fighting in the x2 foreign Wars
or the other American buyers?
Exactimento: The best way to resist spending too much is to have nothing to spend.
you forgot “AND nobody willing to lend you money.”
They’ll have to pass the price increases on to us eventually, even if that means drastically reduced sales volume.
I wonder if I should replace the old projection TV? Or will flat panel prices not rise? I’m thinking of a 40 inch unit, they are in the $400 range these days.
Hmmm… decisions, decisions.
Yep, inflation is here big time. Unfortunately, falling housing prices masks it.
Isn’t it funny how inflation was NOT affected by rapidly Increasing RE prices during the run-up?
I have noticed that you tend to get inflation with the monopolies ,or better known as price fixing . Look at how the Health Care Companies increased their prices in the last decade .
BINGO.
I’ll bet there are many ships full of cotton wheat and corn just floating around the ocean.
But,this is the problem with monopolies in manufacturing ,they can raise the price on you anytime they want and your stuck . How much manufacturing do we have in the USA that is even set up or could even be competitive with a raise in price from a manufacturing giant like China . The idea of capitalism is that you have many manufactures that compete against each other which tends to keep the prices down and the quality up ,while they all have to pay similar wages as a fixed cost if the manufacturing is in the USA . IMHO you have to have closed economic systems and charge tariffs to level out the playing field for any Country that wants to use slave wages to get the Monopoly of being the only game in town . Try finding any clothes for instance that isn’t produced in another Country these days .
Other Countries could also create a monopoly in outsourcing in that
USA Companies can’t compete unless they go to the same slave
wage which is another form of monopoly that destroys competition
for jobs . Any Company that outsources a job should be charge a penalty from our Government to offset the advantage . Outsourcing is just as destructive as out-manufacturing because the income check is spent in another Country and the tax base goes somewhere else from where the buyer of the product is . It ends up destroying many jobs in the final analysis because one job created than created many jobs that service that one job and depend on the income spent from that one job ,
Of course Corporate America got their way with all these trade policies and they even got tax breaks for outsourcing because they own Washington . To think that Ford Company wanted a big
bail out and than they turned around and built a plant in Mexico is
just another example of Corp America saying bye bye to American workers .
Since when was it the right of USA Companies to take their
jobs anywhere they wanted and not be charged a offsetting tariff as if they were a foreign Country ? Corp America and Wall Street just get what they want and they laugh all the way to the bank .
But how will CEO”s make those big paychecks if they can’t outsource labor and pocket the difference.
“Any Company that outsources a job should be charge a penalty from our Government to offset the advantage .”
What are you? Some kinda dang commie/socialeest?!
They deserve TAX BREAKS for sending those jobs offshore ya lefty moonbeam!
And those are only entitlements in your hippie, tree huggin fantasy world!
This article is a STUNNER. Here are the money paragraphs:
“At the same time, the Chinese export sector scrambled to try and save its labor force with hikes of 20-30% in wages and benefits…. China has a new labor law and labor unions now have the upper hand…. Many migrant workers are refusing to return from the Chinese New Year vacation unless their demands are met.
The situation is often exacerbated by grass roots labor union officials, who also stand to benefit via larger payments into the labor funds at their disposal if companies pay higher wages. Increasing China labor costs and worker demands are making once profitable businesses lose money and there is virtually no leeway for labor-intensive manufacturing to survive under such circumstances.
Watch out China. You’re about to discover the other end of outsourcing.
Sounds like they better get domestic demand cranked up toot sweet. Of course, that’s hard to do when no one has a job…
Good thing they built all those empty cities.
Actually, the reports are that China HAS very strong internal demand and those empty cities ARE being filled.
And for how long will the Chinese corporations and their masters be content with Made in China for the Chinese? It took many more years in American because innovations were happening at the same time. But for a mature industry? No, those companies are going to look for profit elsewher — soon.
“Actually, the reports are that China HAS very strong internal demand and those empty cities ARE being filled.”
What reports?
Cheap labor outsourcing has already found that place… the former Soviet satellite countries.
One can argue that Africa is the cheapest of all, but there is this huge problem of stability there.
What reports?
Google “Chinese internal consumption demand” or variations thereof.
Secondly, all you have to do is use Google Earth (or Maps) to see that the ghost pictures that were presented are already outdated.
Still can’t find anything, got a link?
Can’t they outsource to Papua New Guinea? Oh wait, they probably do that already.
NM.
Here’s a fun article on the downsides of outsourcing. It’s all about one of America’s “pride and joy” companies, Boeing.
“Boeing’s goal, it seems, was to convert its storied aircraft factory near Seattle to a mere assembly plant, bolting together modules designed and produced elsewhere as though from kits.”
This is EVERY product makers wet dream and the current modus operandi for them all.
Having been to PNG, I can tell you that most of the population would not be amenable to 12 hour workdays for a pittance. They’d just as soon rob their corporate masters and then bludgeon every last one of them.
Watch out China. You’re about to discover the other end of outsourcing.
Yes. Monkeys with augmented intelligence chips. No unions, no benefits, paid in bananas.
Forward to the future!
Never Trust A Realtor. EVER.
Working off the “short list” this mornin’?
Hwy’s throwin’ things in the Jeep (Star guide, hot salsa, avacodo’s, vise grips, inverter, lag bolt as emergency cork remover,…) , eyes let you all know what’s shakin’ in the Valley of Death, ifin’ the donkeys don’t capture us…
Are you going to Death Vally HWY ?
One good thing to have in the jeep if you’re driving through the desert is a gallon of water - just in case you break down.
“A” gallon? I pack a 5 gallon plastic water bottle whenever I go into the Idaho back country, and it’s nowhere near as desolate as Death Valley.
Old Hwy sounds like he’s been around the block a few times. He even perked up his ears when I mentioned the Owyhee Uplands Back Country Byway, which very few people have ever heard of.
I picture Ol’ Hwy going down the 2-lane in a Wagoneer, with one of those canvas water bags hanging off the back.
Don’t forget to pack the Twinkes Hwy.
If you don’t survive, the Twinkies will. The Twinkies and coackroaches will always survive.
Except me, Ex. Last week a house that we bid on was sold. It was Fannie Mae-owned. We had a seller-accepted offer when it was a short sale, but after five months of waiting it was foreclosed. Fannie Mae doesn’t accept offers from investors for 15 days, and on day 14 we were told that the bank had accepted an offer from a buyer who intended to occupy it. Fair enough. It closed last week at $35,000 less than we had offered - a real steal. Problem is the guy who bought it bought a different property last year, so I suspect that he is really an investor, which would mean that he lied on his purchase contract.
As soon as a “for rent” sign goes up on the front lawn I’m going to pursue an investigation.
As soon as a “for rent” sign goes up on the front lawn I’m going to pursue an investigation.
One of my favorite past-times is looking up the ownership of such properties in our County Assessor records. Quite often, they’re listed as “residential owner occupied.” This, despite the fact that they’re rentals.
My next step is really fun. I call the County Assessor’s Office and report them as mis-classified properties. Oh, boy is the Assessor’s Office happy to take these calls.
Not just because of this, but because of many of the things you say you like to do it appears you do/would have made a really great inoffizielle Mitarbeiter (IMs) Stasi informant.
Not that I agree with what the investor in this case is doing or anything, but being a snitch, just for kicks? Eck.
Unfortunately, far too many people are unwilling to keep themselves honest, so somebody has to do it for them.
REHobbyist
Great tale. You go gal. Turn the liar in, should that be the case.
What are our chances of us low balling a cash primary purchase and getting an REO at a real fmv?
Are you in Ca?
I am thinking of hanging my license with a small scale Broker, and getting the commission on our purchase, since it’s coming out of our pocket anyway. Your opinion?
(I’m well versed in the docs/disclosures.)
Has the transaction closed yet because if it hasn’t turn the SOB in now .I remember one time in the 90’s I was helping a friend secure
a foreclosure that he planned to live in when some lying scum came in trying to take it claiming they were a owner occupied buyer when they were a investor who would of had to put more down .
I got rid of the SOB by reporting fraud by the competing buyer who I knew wouldn’t come up with the requirements for a higher down payment on a investor deal at the time . Anyway ,my friend still lives in that house to this very day and I got rid of the lying scum competitor . I wasn’t a real estate agent ,I was just helping this friend obtain a dwelling at the time that he wanted . But that was back in the days when lenders would take fraud serious and respond to complaints ,unlike today .
Awesome story, Wiz! You’re a great friend.
Are you in Ca ??
She’s in Sacramento………
Thank you, scdave.
This deal really smells, REH. What’s up with a home selling for $35k LESS than what you offered? Don’t wait, start investigating now.
They all cheat. There was a recent REO listing in the Park Estates area of Long Beach CA. It came on the market as a pending at $499,000. It was relisted the day it closed for $599,000 and sold in 1 week.
Nice way for friends to make an easy $100,000
For those who continue to deny that public pensions are a problem.
Massport chief Thomas Kinton, one of the state’s highest-paid public employees, is leaving the embattled airport agency with nearly half a million dollars, as he takes advantage of a controversial sick-day buyback policy the agency scratched five years ago.
Kinton earned $312,000 last year, according to Massport payroll records obtained by the Herald.
And now, thanks to the agency’s generous but curtailed buyback program, when he retires June 1, Kinton stands to collect $459,616.01 for sick days he never used during his 35-year tenure at the quasi-public
state agency. He will also collect a pension of about $200,000 a year.
“I know people believe it to be excessive and inappropriate, but they should know that it’s no longer the policy at Massport,” said Mullan, who added that he’s not going to challenge or fight Kinton’s hefty benefits package. “I don’t intend to do anything about it … it feels like a large amount of money, but Tom is owed the money, so whether it’s excessive or not is beside the point.”
Oh, in case you think it’s only the top guys.
“Parking lot attendants may be low on the Massport totem poll, but they are among the top paid at the money-burning agency, with 16 garage jockeys taking home upwards of $90,000 last year, a Herald payroll analysis found.
Seven overtime-guzzling “parking utility technicians” — all members of Teamsters Local 25 Parking — pocketed a whopping $100,000-plus in pay, records show.”
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1317369&srvc=rss
What ,over 100k for a parking lot attendant .$459,616.01 for sick
pay not taken on a bloated salary to begin with .
Wouldn’t sick pay just be part of your normal salary in that you make
x amount of dollars a year and when your sick the Company just covers for you . To me it seems like extra money given over and above your normal salary for simply not using sick days ,so it would be like giving someone a extra month(assuming he got a month of sick days a year ) of salary for 30 years which would be like giving the person 2and 1/2 years of salary over and above the normal salary at the normal salary rate . The question is would they of had to spend 459 thousand to cover him from normal staff had he taken those sick days .
I’ll bet he took plenty of sick and vacation days over those 35 years, but just never booked them. All the employees in his department were probably in on the scam, “I won’t tell if you don’t.”
I’ve worked in the public sector, as has my husband, and my father. I’ve NEVER seen a single person miss work while claiming to be there. Just sayin’…
“Parking lot attendants may be low on the Massport totem poll, but they are among the top paid at the money-burning agency, with 16 garage jockeys taking home upwards of $90,000 last year, a Herald payroll analysis found.”
In our little flyover country burb, other than cops and firefighters there are only a handful of city employees that make that kind of money. Not even the library director makes 90K and he has about 50 direct reports.
Public pensions ARE a problem… at the overpaid executive administrators level.
AGAIN, the rest of the country doesn’t make that kind of money. As in 90% of the rest of the country.
So please stop trying make a local issue a national one, because it isn’t.
Exactly, eco.
People will pick the single highest-paid person in a particular agency and claim that [insert name of position] employees make what that one person made. Only idiots would believe a person who’s discredited by such behavior.
Yesterday in the mail I received two flyers from homebuilders. Both were for almost-brand-new Luxury Townhomes on the edge of the metro area, starting at the $380’s.
Here we go again…
The silver lining is that I’m in a good position either way. If we have a double dip, then prices will drop — and I mean prices in general, not the odd short sale here and there. If the bubble here reinflates, all the pretty young things will be fooled and there will be no reason for my rent to increase much. Then I’ll resign myself to saving and buying cash in a low-cost area in 20 years. And if anyone pressures me, I’ll swear at them.
I think those slowly rising interest rates will prevent rebubbling. A year or so at 8% aught to do wonders for those with a down payment.
Luxury Townhomes on the edge of the metro area, starting at the $380’s.
Where is this?
MD suburbs of DC.
$380K? That must be fairly far out. Gaithersburg?
Yep, and some even a little farther out than that. I think one was all the way close to Damascus (boonieville).
Watching the Eygpt thing , makes me marvel how thousands of neighborhood watch groups banded together to save their own houses ,with no real weapons but a united purpose. The Police had melted away , but the Army was still around .Good folks always need each other in the times of trouble . The crazy ideas some have to melt back into the woods with one”s AK47 to protect oneself is just that .Crazy.
lara logan could have used an AK.
What happened to “buy American”?
True…but it’s unlikely even if she had one that she’d have been carrying enough ammo for her situation. Then again sometimes you only have to shoot one…
“lara logan could have used an AK”
A fair skinned blond woman amongst a mob of angry dark skinned men who are angry with years of western oppression?
When I was on the back of a garbage truck it was the white women who would honk and talk the most shit when we were blocking traffic. Males were always very polite. Sometimes women think being female gives them the right to do things males would never think about doing.
Geez Louise!
To think that when I was growing up, I was taught to wave at the guys riding on the back of the trash trucks. And, if I was out in the driveway, I was supposed to say “Good morning!” in a nice, cheery voice.
Pay forward with your mailman, the FedEX guy, the UPS driver, and the garbage man.
Every Christmas a small cash bonus and a nice
card for doing a great job for us during the
year. They have the code for the gates and
come down to the house and hand deliver
to my wife. It’s the small things that count.
“To think that when I was growing up, I was taught to wave at the guys riding on the back of the trash trucks. And, if I was out in the driveway, I was supposed to say “Good morning!” in a nice, cheery voice.”
Exactly,
as a “toddler” we would wait on the trash truck cause was thought it was cool how the guys hung on the back as it was moving. Our 63 Pontiac Catalina station wagon hang little foot peices on the back bumper we would use to pretend to to be “tha garbageman”. Its a tough job; but the most dangerous part was almost getting hit by uptight drivers. You can hear cars because the truck is so loud. It does get you in shape though.
One time a woman left her purse on top of a bunch of junk as she put her baby in her car. When we came by, we just threw all the junk in the back of the truck like we usually do. We got a call about in on the way to the dump. We spent two hours digging thru 10 tons of garbage before we found it; deer parts and everything.
I leave our mail person a bottle of cold water during the summer.
A random act
I don’t think -that- is the issue actually. Last time I visited egypt the people were (as far as I could tell) fine with Americans.
The problem as I saw it, is that egypt was one of the most misogynistic and overtly offensively sexual place I’ve ever visited. If I had a nickel for every time someone during that visit came up and said “ten thousand camels for your wife”, I could have paid for the trip. My wife is “endowed”, but I saw similar lecherous behavior with most of the foreign women walking around. It’s like a whole country of construction workers doing cat-call whistles from the work site. I spent the whole damn time holding my wife’s hand and pushing off very in-your-face-offensive young Egyptian men.
It didn’t surprise me that Lara Logan found herself in trouble inside that mob. Egypt is the only country I’ve ever visited that I decided I -never- wanted to visit again.
An acquaintance lived in Japan for awhile, and the rule was that her husbund ALWAYS stood behind her on the subway.
“An acquaintance lived in Japan for awhile, and the rule was that her husbund ALWAYS stood behind her on the subway.”
So much for the stereotype that the Japanese are polite.
Would Japanese men make good TSA agents?
Would Japanese men make good TSA agents?
There’s a really funny video showing Japanese comedians playing TSA agents. It’s on YouTube, and you have to jump this, that, and another hoop to see it. Reason: Let’s just say that these comedians enjoy those pat-downs a bit too much.
All Muslim countries are that way.
On the plus side, you can divorce your wife in less than a minute over there.
Ncinerate, I heard almost the exact same story from a friend. Except, instead of men offering 10,000 camels, a couple men would start negotiating in front of her, to the point where my friend was worth half a million camels. The scary part is that nobody could figure out if the men were kidding or not.
On the plus side, you can divorce your wife in less than a minute over there ??
Yeah…What a wonderful place that we should spilling our treasure & blood over…Friggen Stupid…And please, don’t anyone give me the “spreading democracy” crap either…
I dunno but someone ought to tell our egyptian buddies that they need to be checked out. they might have caught something off LL.
This remark made me gasp. And not in a good way.
Maybe he’s confusing Lindsay Lohan with Lara Logan.
Either way, that’s a cold comment in reference to a sexual assult. Next time you might want to keep that one to yourself.
I agree, very bad taste. But then again I had to ask myself: is what happened to her really a surprise? Not saying that she “had it coming” (of course she did not). But when I saw all those female reporters on the scene in the different news shows the thought crossed my mind that they were placing themselves in grave danger.
Lara Logan has been in harm’s way in places like Kosovo and Afghanistan. Her past reporting experiences probably led her to believe that Egypt would be no different. An angry mob combined with the apparent misogyny of many Egyptian young men proved to be a life-threatening combination this time. Savagery lurks just beneath the surface in so many people.
Certainly no one deserves that kind of treatment.
As I tell my wife, there is a fine line between civilized behavior and ‘uncivilized’ behavior. If you know what I mean. There have been many examples of late with post-Katrina NO as a prime example. South-Central LA during the RK riots as another.
Just wondering if it would be in poor taste to say “Scott Brown, too much information!”?
I mean, OK, so the guy was abused as a child, and that’s a rough break, but does he have to trumpet it on 60 Minutes? Why must these public figures turn an interview into a national therapy session? Shouldn’t such matters be between him and his therapist or confessor or lawyer or whatever?
Jeebus.
Palmy,
We had a local guy here recently in Los Gatos, Ca who beat the holy shiite out of a priest who molested him many years ago. I say good for him. I don’t believe in organized religion but am for the freedom of religion. But betraying the trust of a child while wrapping yourself in the cloth has to be one of the most despicable things on earth.
“Why must these public figures turn an interview into a national therapy session?”
I don’t know but it sure is getting old. We are Oprah Nation now.
Why? Because soap operas sell…. when something else isn’t blowing up or bleeding.
There’s an old saying in the news, “If it bleeds, it leads.” Why? Because it sells.
A sad commentary on society in general.
Even a journalist for the liberal SF Chron stated that journalists abroad should be packing.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/abraham/detail?entry_id=83212
A college buddy was the Washington Post’s Africa bureau chief for three years. He was there during the Rwandan massacre and the fiasco that was Operation Restore Hope in Somalia.
While many of his colleagues packed heat, he refused to do so. He thought that it would compromise his ability as a journalist.
But he did say that if a situation got too dangerous to cover, it was best to just leave the story, rather than take up arms.
“While many of his colleagues packed heat, he refused to do so.”
Tis better to have and not need, imo.
One of the things that impressed me was that they organized a cleanup of the square…
While I think there is a lot to be concerned about where they go from here, I hope they make it work.
Filed under: “Follow the Oil/money/power”…or…why Egypt is dis-similar than Iraq/Kuwait/Saudi Arabia and others with their many sucking-straws devices extracting difficultly manufactured underground black slippery goo.
EIA / Fedstats • USA.gov • Dept. of Energy:
“Hydrocarbons play a sizeable role in Egypt’s economy both from oil and natural gas production and also in terms of revenues from the Suez Canal, an important transit point for oil shipments out of the Persian Gulf.
Total oil production, however, has declined since the country’s 1996 peak of close to 935,000 barrels per day (bbl/d) to current levels of about 660,000 bbl/d.
Egypt’s consumption is slightly higher than production and the country has begun to rely on a small volume of imports to meet domestic demand. Egypt also has the largest oil refining sector in Africa and since refining capacity now exceeds domestic demand, some non-Egyptian crudes are currently imported for processing and re-export.”
Take a look at Bahrain and Iran before you marvel too much. Take a look at Iraq prior to the invasion. The reality is that a small number of people can subjugate a large number of people if they have all the weapons.
…and the money.
The TV Commercial That Burst The Housing Bubble
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pzim8O7Fd0 - 131k -
Could you post a description? Lots of us are YouTube challenged.
It’s the infamous “Suzanne researched this”
It’s the infamous “Suzanne researched this”
There’s a website called “Jump the Shark”
I wonder if this video is on there as the moment when the housing mania went over?
Thanks, and yes, I think it helped to pop the bubble, along with the more gentle “I’m in debt up to my eyeballs.”
“The TV Commercial That Burst The Housing Bubble”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pzim8O7Fd0
Old news but a good way to piss everyone off today
This one is pretty good too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc4BhpGnXCk&feature=related
Foreclosed homes still selling at Palm Beach County auction without representation
by Kim Miller
In checking the status of Ben-Ezra & Katz foreclosure cases, The Post stumbled upon the fact that foreclosures handled by the Law Offices of David J. Stern are still going to auction in Palm Beach County with no advertisements in the Daily Business Review and no bank representation.
So far this month, 41 homes have sold at auction to investors who got super deals because, in some cases, they were the only ones bidding.
They’re not likely to get those “steals” because there was no bank attorney to put in the legally required advertisements about the auction, but they might not figure that out until they head down to the courthouse and are refused a certificate of sale.
The Palm Beach County Clerk of Court will not issue a certificate of sale without proof that the auction was advertised once a week for two consecutive weeks before the sale.
But, while proof of advertisement is required before the sale, the lack of proof is not enough to cancel a sale.
On Monday, one investor picked up a home with a $526,827 judgment against it for $2,600. No one from US Bank was bidding and the sale wasn’t advertised.
http://blogs.palmbeachpost.com/realtime/2011/02/16/foreclosed-homes-still-selling-at-palm-beach-county-auction-illegally/ - -
two days ago, Recontrust(Bofa foreclosure subsidiary in OR) had 412 auctions scheduled in our county Deschutes, OR. Yesterday I look and it is down by 35. 377. only 1 sale listed, not even in our county, and only 3 auctions were scheduled for yesterday. How did 35 auctions disappear in a day? How have 250 disappeared since October. I am not talking about being rescheduled, this happens and the numbers dont change.
Since october the number of scheduled sales has shriveled from 635 to 377. What happened to these 250 properties? It seems too high for borrowers to have made good on huge shortfalls, made mods, or closed on short sales. Mysteriously fallen from radar!!
Anybody know or want to give an educated guess?
Not sure of the law in Oregon, but can filing bankruptcy cause a foreclosure to be stalled? That might take the property off the auction schedule.
I haven’t heard of this happening per se, but I suppose its possible for a bank to decide to accept a “deed in lieu of foreclosure” some time during the pre-foreclosure process. That could put the property on the banks books while taking it off the auction schedule.
Supposedly BK stalls it for 3 months; BK would not take it off the schedule. Deed in Lieu makes sense, maybe. This morning the number of auctions for our county was 377, down from around 650 in October. Now its 363; whoops 362(just looked again). 15 vanished off the list this morning alone. (Deeds in lieu??)
I may print off the list and then look up these vanishing Trustee’s sales’ addresses to see if a quiet transfer of title occurred or what. Its a head scratcher for sure.
My folks would like a fair shot to buy a nice bank owned at a fair price. Not doing so anytime soon; guess some trust busting would have to occur for the shadow inventory to be properly released.
The foreclosures the general public gets to see are overpriced, junky, and stale listings that I have seen over and over. There has got to be some sweet backroom deals going on to ensure the nice ones don’t escape their colluding bank buddies/accomplices.
Now down to 356; 8 more properties into the shadows. I’ll print the current list and try and compare it to the (smaller) list tomorrow and see where these props are, and if they are available. I am tired of looking at stale listings.
Update on Recontrust auctions disappearing from list. List is down to 349 in Deschutes County. Our auction, earlier today was scheduled for 3-18. Now it is MIA. I guess we “made the cut.” We have been taken off their list! Our very own home now has no aution date! Can’t find it!
If a foreclosure falls in the forest does it lay in the shadows?
Strangely unsettling; where is our Trustee sale filed now and when will they be taking their house bif we are not on their auction list that runs out to May 23. Stay tuned….
Great posts, Mike!
Thanks for keeping us updated on this. For your sake, I hope it’s stalled (cancelled????), but it would be nice to know what’s going on with these NODs/NOTs.
Please let us know what you find out.
Be careful where you store the stuff. And don’t tell anyone about it!
Chilliwack man shaken after home invaders take $750,000 in silver
theprovince.com | February 16, 2011 | LORA GRINDLAY AND SEAN SULLIVAN
A Chilliwack man says he is traumatized after he was punched, stabbed and tied up by home-invading thieves who made off with his life savings in silver bars.
The two thugs, wearing what he described as fake police uniforms, unloaded a vault and spirited away with $750,000 in silver the man had bought as an investment last year.
The 52-year-old victim, still shaking after the robbery at his Imperial Street home on Feb. 9, now wonders who among his friends or acquaintances is behind the brazen midday theft.
“Obviously some friend, or friend of a friend, or friend of a family member was told and they leaked it to the wrong people,” he said.
Due to the circumstances, the man’s name is being withheld by The Province.
The home invaders initially told the victim they were investigating a domestic assault, then said they were looking for methamphetamine in his vault. One carried a gun.
After punching him hard in the face and stabbing him with a kitchen knife, they forced him into providing the combination for his vault. That vault, about one metre deep and another metre wide, was stacked with what Chilliwack police describe as “several thousand ounces” of silver.
Good heavens, and this was in peaceful polite Canada.
When visiting relatives as a kid, they often told me stories of the Red Army occupation. Back in those days people knew not to speak to anyone about anything relating to any kind of asset - no matter how small. Neighbors regularly turned on neighbors, and assets that couldn’t be well hidden - like horses for instance - were regularly betrayed to gain favor with the occupiers.
It’s hilarious to hear the gold/silver bugs go at it today. On one hand they bank on anarchy to make their fortune, but still expect law and order to be around in time fir them to keep it.
It is not like we want the anarchy but just we expect it may happen. BTW, I don’t expect a total breakdown in society just a default and the demise of fiat currency. Due to that I have shares of precious mining companies and not the metal itself but I understand and do not dismiss the arguments that you need some of the actual metals. My view is that when you run 1.65 trillion deficits to “create” an additional 500 billion of gdp growth the end of fiat currency is near and mining stocks do well in that environument. To protect yourself against a breakdown in government even on a local level: guns, bullets, food and clean water is better to hoard in your home than precious metals.
To own or not to own precious metals seems like a problem for people who have acquired a lot of paper assets and stay awake at night worrying how to keep their accumulated wealth intact in the face of uncertainty. I mean, this guy had three quarter mil just in his safe for goddsakes. For us normal folk who will never see that kind of money in our lifetimes, it seems like a better idea to cultivate useful skills and adopt an attitude of self sufficiency, even something as simple as learning how to cook and maintain your vehicle and home. Make trustworthy friends. Get to know your neighbors. Learn how to live well with less instead of running around all frantic and empty like a typical American hyperconsumer debt junkie. That might be a pretty good idea even if the sh!te doesn’t hit the fan! Remember, happiness is non-taxable!
+1
To own or not to own precious metals seems like a problem for people who have acquired a lot of paper assets and stay awake at night worrying how to keep their accumulated wealth intact in the face of uncertainty.
That’s quite the strawman. You do realize that many of the older generations owned PM, as they didn’t trust banks? I had many silver dollars passed down to me by my grandparents. I know others who inherited a few gold coins.
Many “normal” folk who don’t blindly believe that the government can and will solve all ills have some small amount of PMs on hand. It’s prudent insurance.
Not everyone who has PMs has $750k of silver in a safe. Many people who own PMs also makes a point to know their neighbors, learn useful skills, and be somewhat self-sufficient.
From whom did he buy the gold? Any number of people there might have been able to find out his name and address.
And who installed his safe/vault? That’s size doesn’t sound like a DIY model…
Oops, that’s silver. But the point stands, there are at least two parties to every transaction (more if you pay by credit card). Any one of them could be less than honest.
I hope the guy had insurance . But ,this brings up a good point about storing anything of that sort of value at your home ,even in a safe .
Such a stash would not have been covered by any inusrance policy that I have ever had.
It wasn’t covered. Having a safe is a red flag.
If you must have a safe, pack it with some money,
valuables you won’t miss. The stuff you want to
keep bury in the yard. It’s a nice way to get
robbed without getting hurt and you make the
robbers feel satisfied. Sarcasm is now off.
The basic problem was that the crooks knew that they guy has silver bars. If the bars were not in the safe they could have held a gun to his head and demanded that he go and dig them up in the yard.
So I guess that a precious metals guy who doesn’t trust banks would have to tell absolutely no one what he’s hot in the house or buried in the yard.
He should have never let anyone know. He must have blabbed…I get a little perturbed when the spouse starts telling people all the guns we have. I mean…whyyyy…….
I’d tell him to shut up. Burglaries are way up
in rural and suburban Oregon and as the
economy continues to tank, it will get worse.
Our home defense weapons are an easy
target, even with the alarm systems. Our
long range defense/offensive weapons are
another story. Much, much harder to get to
if you don’t know where they are.
He should have bought a bunch of stainless steel bars and put them in the safe and the real stuff some where else.
That’s right, Mike. After all, the safe was locked, and they just beat him until he opened it.
So much for trying to arbitrage by skimping on the carrying costs.
Well, at least they didn’t use the word “unexpected”
Unemployment benefits jump to 410,000
Yahoo News/AP | February 17, 2011 | AP
The Labor Department says 410,000 people sought unemployment assistance last week, a jump of 25,000 from the previous week. The rise was much larger than economists had expected.
But they did! They just used 6 words to say it.
Yep, the “jobless recovery” continues!
But who needs a job - certainly not millions of people! Perhaps we can all just flip houses… oh, wait…
Why Isn’t Wall Street in Jail?
The Rolling Stone.
Haven’t had a chance to read it yet…
This article is _AWESOME_.
Highly recommended reading.
Jail would certainly be a better deterrent than fining them LESS than the ammount of their ill-gotten gains.
Opening of the article
Over drinks at a bar on a dreary, snowy night in Washington this past month, a former Senate investigator laughed as he polished off his beer.
“Everything’s (edited) up, and nobody goes to jail,” he said. “That’s your whole story right there. Hell, you don’t even have to write the rest of it. Just write that.”
I put down my notebook. “Just that?”
“That’s right,” he said, signaling to the waitress for the check. “Everything’s (edited) up, and nobody goes to jail. You can end the piece right there.”
Nobody goes to jail. This is the mantra of the financial-crisis era, one that saw virtually every major bank and financial company on Wall Street embroiled in obscene criminal scandals that impoverished millions and collectively destroyed hundreds of billions, in fact, trillions of dollars of the world’s wealth — and nobody went to jail. Nobody, that is, except Bernie Madoff, a flamboyant and pathological celebrity con artist, whose victims happened to be other rich and famous people.
Is this a screaming sell signal or what? A bunch of academic economists are on the record saying a stock market correction is unlikely.
EconoMeter: Stocks correction unlikely, most panelists say
By Roger Showley
Saturday, February 12, 2011 at 6 a.m.
A board overhanging the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange shows the Dow Jones Industrial average as it hits 12,000, Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2011. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
The stock market crossed the 10,000 mark last August and hasn’t looked back. It’s now up more than 20 percent, and some stock market watchers are beginning to talk of a market correction. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is currently at about 12,220.
Do you think the stock market will have a correction in the next few weeks, and if so, how big might it be?
…
A correction would be a rational expectation, therefore no correction is in the offing.
The news that the $1m+ home sales market is in California is back is great news for would-be buyers, as the comp prices for which this tier of the market sells provides a useful ceiling on everything of lesser quality. It would be most interesting to see how the prices these homes sell for today compare to what they were selling for back in 2006.
BTW, what does borrowing have to do with $1m+ home sales?
Luxury home sales jump 21% in California
In California, sales of luxury homes rise for the first time in five years even as overall home sales decline.
February 12, 2011|By Lauren Beale, Los Angeles Times
Even the rich love a deal.
California homes priced at $1 million or more experienced a sales boom in 2010, the first increase in five years, even as overall home sales in the state declined, a real estate information service reported. The reason: High-end home shoppers went bargain hunting as certain parts of the economy improved but luxury home prices remained depressed.
Last year, 22,529 homes sold statewide for $1 million-plus, a 21% increase from 2009, according to DataQuick Information Systems in San Diego. In contrast, the total number of California homes sold last year dropped 9%.
“Prestige home buyers respond to a different set of motivations than the rest of us. Their decisions are less dependent on jobs, prices and interest rates, and more on how their portfolio is doing,” DataQuick President John Walsh said.
“When the financial world was full of uncertainty a couple of years back, and the jumbo-loan market dried up, luxury sales plummeted. As the economy started its top-down recovery, some wealthy buyers went looking for a bargain,” he said.
Savvy shoppers trying to time the market swooped in before discounted prices could turn the corner.
“Certainly, we’re pretty sure we’re at the bottom” for home prices, said economist Christopher Thornberg, principal with Beacon Economics in Los Angeles.
Even if prices fall further, he said, “if you are borrowing, buying today makes a lot of sense because interest rates are just incredibly low.”
…
According to Zillow, $1m just gets you an ordinary used house in San Marino.
Eight years on from the 2002 peak, the 2010 rate of high-end ($2m+) North County San Diego home sales showed a (201/2192-1)*100 = -90.8% decline in number sold. I wouldn’t consider that anything to get excited about, but then I am not an MSM-certified real estate ‘expert.’
REAL ESTATE: Busy market in million-dollar homes
By ERIC WOLFF -
North County Times - The Californian
Posted: Friday, February 11, 2011 3:28 pm
In 2010, bargain hunters in California picked up 21 percent more houses priced at more than $1 million than they had in 2009, real estate analyst MDA DataQuick said Friday.
The jump in sales contrasts with a 9 percent decline in overall home sales, the company said.
High-end home owners in the past year started slashing their prices, according to some real estate agents. In North San Diego County, 201 houses sold in 2010 for more than $2 million, 19.6 percent more than in 2009, according to data from a real estate listings database provided by real estate agent Gregory A. Moser. That’s still far fewer than in the boom, which peaked in the high end in 2002 at 2,192 houses sold in that price range.
Fun story that’s developing here in Tucson: Seems that the residency requirement for top officials can be waived if you can’t sell your suburban house.
Great quote from the story:
The majority of the [city] council portrayed its decision as simply being reasonable. You see, the council had no idea in May 2008 when it imposed a residency requirement for department heads that the housing market would get so bad.
To which I say:
Back in mid-2005, our local housing market was starting to stink like a dead carp. How could the city council not have sensed this bad smell three years later?
Just like there are 2 economies, there are also 2 different sets rules. One the rich and influential, and one for the rest of us.
Was 2008 a year with an unusually low level of mortgage delinquencies?
Feb. 17, 2011, 10:02 a.m. EST
Foreclosures tie record high in fourth quarter
Mortgage delinquencies fall to lowest level since 2008
By Amy Hoak, MarketWatch
CHICAGO (MarketWatch) — The percentage of mortgages in foreclosure tied a record high in the fourth quarter of 2010 even though mortgage delinquencies hit their lowest level since the end of 2008, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported on Thursday.
“As we had predicted last quarter, the percent of loans in the foreclosure process increased in the fourth quarter, largely due to the foreclosure paperwork issues that were being addressed in September and October. These issues caused a temporary halt in foreclosure sales, particularly in states with judicial foreclosure regimes, such as New Jersey, Florida, and Illinois,” said Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s vice president for single family research, in a news release.
“With fewer loans exiting the foreclosure process through sales, the foreclosure inventory rate naturally increased, even as fewer foreclosure starts meant that fewer loans entered the foreclosure process in the fourth quarter,” he said.
…
Why Isn’t Wall Street in Jail?
Financial crooks brought down the world’s economy — but the feds are doing more to protect them than to prosecute them.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/why-isnt-wall-street-in-jail-20110216?print=true
We did quite a bit of talking about the Borders bankruptcy yesterday. Today, my alma-paper, The Michigan Daily, weighs in with:
Borders files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
Key passage:
Keith Taylor, coordinator for the University’s Undergraduate Creative Writing Program, was an employee at Borders from 1981 to 1989. He worked at the first store brothers Tom and Louis Borders opened on State Street in 1971.
Taylor said the initial Borders store was a unique concept and was very popular.
“The whole idea of a book superstore was brand new,” Taylor said. “In the early ages, Borders was one of the first ones.”
Taylor said he left Borders because he felt uncomfortable with the company’s corporate atmosphere. He said he thinks that starting in 1985, the bookstore began to make poor business choices which ultimately led to the company’s downfall.
“They ruined themselves,” Taylor said. “They made all the wrong decisions.”
Taylor said he feels no sympathy for the store because of its financial troubles.
“It’s a junk store now,” Taylor said. “It doesn’t deserve to live.”
To which I say:
I can’t help but agree with Keith Taylor. Last few times I’ve been to the main Ann Arbor store, I’ve been very disappointed. It may be the biggest bookstore in a very well-read city, but it doesn’t hold much for the serious reader.
Seems to me that Borders changed its business model to collecting marketing information about its customers with its reward card. They are always sending e-mails about other offers as well as discounts to the store which is needed if they want any sales at all since it is horribly overpriced in almost everything. And they are always badgering to join a higher level of rewards. I don’t think I’ve bought anything there since the last time someone gave me a gift certificate. And the marketing information is easier to get from social networking sites.
Many marketing folks really don’t know squat about marketing. They seem to think that unwanted, annoying and obnoxious badgering of customers is just good business and to say different is heretical.
And that’s no hyperbole.
My 25-year-old coworker thought she had done everything right when it came to protecting her credit. She paid off her student loans early. When she does use a credit card, she pays it off in full each month. And she’s never been late on a monthly bill. Her credit score was over 750, which is considered excellent.
Despite that stellar record, multiple lenders turned her down for a mortgage earlier this year. The reason, they told her, was that her credit record was simply too light. Since she had paid off her student loans and didn’t use much credit elsewhere, they had no way of knowing whether or not she would be responsible with a mortgage. In other words, she was being penalized for living a relatively debt-free life. To make matters worse, one of the lenders told her that because she was shopping around so much for a loan, the multiple inquires into her credit report were starting to negatively impact her score.
news.yahoo.com/s/usnews/20110217/ts_usnews/thedangersofavoidingcredit;_ylt=AjQ.Tbjy57KaYF8qdXFHJ2.s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTQyczcyM2ZlBGFzc2V0A3VzbmV3cy8yMDExMDIxNy90aGVkYW5nZXJzb2Zhdm9pZGluZ2NyZWRpdARjY29kZQNtb3N0cG9wdWxhcgRjcG9zAzkEcG9zAzYEcHQDaG9tZV9jb2tlBHNlYwN5bl9oZWFkbGluZV9saXN0BHNsawN0aGVkYW5nZXJzb2Y-
Despite that stellar record, multiple lenders turned her down for a mortgage earlier this year.
Bad coworker! She’s not a debt slave! Bad, bad, bad!
Yes, you need to HAVE a credit record in order to get more credit. That’s why starting with college I had ONE credit card, cosigned by my dad, for occasional and emergency use, and I ALWAYS paid the bill in full every month. Gads, towards graduation as an engineer, I was getting 5-10 credit card applications in the mail every week, which I promptly tore all up, keeping just the one. Then after graduation I got a second credit card for backup use (in case something happens with the first card). Been doing this for 21 years now.
Another good way to establish a credit history is to get a low-rate car loan from one’s credit union, making sure to pay on time. I never had to do this myself, I had enough of a credit history from my credit (and gas charge) cards that I had no problem getting my home loan about 15 years ago.
Another good way to establish a credit history ??
About ten years ago when my children were in their early twenties, I put all three of them on a mortgage with me to get them a jump start on establishing a credit history…
What sort of downpayment does she have saved up? I bet 20% wold go a long way to comforting the the lenders about the light credit history.
“In other words, she was being penalized for living a relatively debt-free life.”
Oh. You mean she was penalized for…paying her bills…the very thing they claim to be concerned with. The irony.
The mind…it boggles.
She had credit; it’s called 750 FICO.
She also has a payment record; it’s call RENT.
And never mind the credit, did anyone bother to look at her INCOME?
you know, “income?”
hello? (crickets)
25 is just too young to commit to that large an obligation without matching funds in the bank.
Credit or not, she hasn’t been able to show a record of overcoming job loss or other personal catastrophes. 2 things besides death and taxes you can count on to happen in life.
Not to mention that no matter what they think, most 25 yos have no idea how their life is going to turn out nor where they will be just ten years from now.
The smart thing. Keep renting. Keep saving.
Hilarious stuff happening in Wisconsin today! Run dems run!
don’t bust my bunions!
The firefighters & police are not concerned…
China Scraps Property Data, Clouding View ~ WSJ
Accuracy of the Figures Was Questioned
BEIJING—China’s statistics agency said it will stop publishing the country’s much-watched official index of national property prices, scrapping a set of data whose accuracy was widely questioned but which also had become a rallying point for public anger over rapidly rising housing prices.
The announcement Wednesday, part of a broader revision of property-price data by the National Bureau of Statistics, fueled already widespread frustration and skepticism about the quality and transparency of economic data in the world’s second largest economy. It came just a day after the statistics bureau published a lower-than-expected inflation reading based on a revised formula for the consumer-price index that economists criticized as lacking transparency
Interesting…
WSJ UPDATE: Florida Cancels High-Speed Rail Project, Rejects $2B Funding
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)–Florida Gov. Rick Scott said Wednesday the state would cancel a planned high-speed rail line linking Tampa to Orlando, a signature project of President Barack Obama’s high-speed rail …
Tampa and Orlando are about the same distance apart as Tucson and Phoenix. So, Rick, we Zonies would be happy to take that line off your hands.
Do you think such a service between Phoenix and Tucson would get much use? Do you and other people that you know in Tucson travel to Phoenix a lot?
Why aren’t they looking at airline records?
Miami — Boston
New York–Pittsburgh–Columbus–Indianapolis–Chicago–St.Louis–Denver–Las Vegas–LA
Chicago–Dallas
San Diego — Seattle
everything else, probably should fly.
The campaign for high speed rail has been mishandled and in November the window of opportunity slammed shut. The table scraps from the piggies at highway/auto lobby or the cost of a few weeks of our wars would cover the tab. The states are balking at unfunded operational mandates - shouldn’t be a surprise. The Feds offer grand visions but little or no follow through.
Are these guys going to invest in this country or what? Because what’s been done so far seems halfhearted, like stalling tactics. But for what? Oh yeah, the imminent return of the bubble era economy - yes, yes of course.
They had an article in Wi which compared how much those operational funds were. One recent state tax break for a ship builder up north would have covered 65 years of operational funding. That’s just one corporate give away for one project that would have ended after approximately 10 ships were built. When gas goes to 5,6,7,8 bucks a gallon the fools who turned down this money will be looking for a new alias.
I just really wish the Feds would have front run the operational concerns to some degree instead of giving these guys an easy out on this.There just wasn’t a concerted plan to portray this as a national priority, despite all the lip service given to being environmental and reducing dependence on oil. Guess they were too busy trying to get people to buy overpriced houses and cars they didn’t really need.
Meanwhile, China continues to add thousands of miles to theirs.
Illinois governor proposes borrowing $8.7 billion
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — A month after Illinois lawmakers approved a massive tax hike, Gov. Pat Quinn unveiled Wednesday a $35.4 billion budget that depends on state lawmakers approving $8.75 billion in borrowing largely to clear a towering stack of unpaid bills.
The budget, which increases spending by $1.7 billion from the previous year and closes a $13 billion gap, slashes programs for the elderly, the poor and the disabled, but leaves education funding largely untouched.
Quinn emphasized in his budget address the importance of paying off the bills through what he called a “debt restructuring.” The state is six to eight months late with its reimbursements, and vendors are charging higher prices as a result. This costs the state up to $1 billion more a year.
Clipped from Neal Boortz~
If you are looking to start a small business, Minnesota may be the last place you choose to establish it thanks to Democrat Governor Mark Dayton. His brilliant idea to close his state’s $6.2 billion deficit is to increase the state’s top income tax rate. He wants to raise it to 13.95% for those earning more than $500,000, which would be the highest rate in the nation. Those earning $150,000 or more would see their income taxes rise to 10.95%.
But this leads to the rectal-cranial inversion moment of the day. During a press conference, when asked about the proposed tax increases, Democrat Gov. Mark Dayton says …
“This is about restoring tax fairness in Minnesota, and I’m asking our most affluent citizens to help us out during this time.”
Liberals love their notion of fairness. Even though states that have increased taxes on the rich have actually seen their tax revenues decrease ….. it’s all about fairness! Too bad you can’t fill a $6.2 billion deficit with fairness.
Now .. the good news. Minnesota’s newest U.S. Senator? That would be Al Franken. Step up and pay your fair share, Al … you moonbat.
Without articles like this, people making 500k aren’t going to get any sympathy.
For any reason.
Gallup Finds U.S. Unemployment Up to 10.0% in Mid-February
Underemployment surged to 19.6% in mid-February from 18.9% at the end of January.
PRINCETON, NJ — Unemployment, as measured by Gallup without seasonal adjustment, hit 10.0% in mid-February — up from 9.8% at the end of January.
Wonder the U6 is now…
Sounds like Barry traded one retard for another…
The Latest Politics, News & Election ~WSJ
White House press secretary Jay Carney says the Recovery Act added several million jobs and lowered the unemployment rate. According to Carney, the “goals” of the stimulus package “have been met.”
A reporter asked Carney why unemployment is at 9% and not 7%, the percentage projected if the stimulus worked. Carney dismissed the question. “We’ve said repeatedly that we don’t want to relitigate the battles of the past,” Carney told the reporter.
“goals” of the stimulus package “have been met.”
-mission accomplished.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - A House panel on Thursday will take up a bill that would allow anyone who can legally own a firearm in the state to carry a concealed weapon without a permit.
The move to loosen gun laws comes in the wake of the Jan. 8 Arizona shootings that killed six and left U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords recovering from a gunshot wound to the head, as well as a Dec. 14 incident in Florida where an armed man threatened school board members before he was fatally shot by security.
But rather than seeking to tighten gun restrictions, as some Democrats have urged President Barack Obama to do on the federal level, South Carolina lawmakers are looking at how to make it easier to carry weapons for protection.
A House panel last month rejected efforts to give public officials more freedom to carry guns to protect themselves because gun rights advocates said they shouldn’t be singled out for special treatment. Instead, that House panel now will consider doing away with the permit requirements for carrying concealed weapons. The measure has 36 of the House’s 123 members signed on as supporters and few vocal opponents.
“People have a constitutional right by the Second Amendment to keep and bear - not just keep, but bear - arms for self protection,” said state Rep. Mike Pitts, a Republican and retired Greenville police officer who introduced the bill Jan. 12. Pitts noted that recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions have affirmed rights to carry guns for personal protection. “This would be a purist form of the Second Amendment.”
But it’s a trip to the Wild West, said opponent and state Rep. Joe Neal, a Hopkins Democrat. “We have descended into the depths of madness,” he said.
The legislation also would give concealed weapons holders a break. For instance, they now can’t go to place that serves alcohol even if they’re just eating a meal. Pitts still wants to keep guns out of bars, but says they should be allowed in restaurants that serve alcohol, unless the business prohibits concealed weapons.
Concealed weapons permits would still be needed for people who travel to 17 states that recognize South Carolina’s gun permits, including Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.
Pitts said the looser gun law is needed because “the world is becoming a more and more dangerous place and law enforcement can’t be everywhere.”
Even as a retired police officer, Pitts said, concealed weapons are an equalizer. “No one should ever be put in a position of having to watch their family hurt or killed by anyone and not have the ability to stop that individual. No American citizen should be put in that position,” Pitts said.
~~ An opponent said it would be like going back to “the wild west.” The fact is, the movie version of the 19th century west and the real thing were quite different. The fact so many people were armed kept the murder rate down.
The move to loosen gun laws comes in the wake of the Jan. 8 Arizona shootings that killed six and left U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords recovering from a gunshot wound to the head, as well as a Dec. 14 incident in Florida where an armed man threatened school board members before he was fatally shot by security.
Recall that in January, President Obama’s Tucson speech included his exclamation, “Gabby opened her eyes!”
Well, folks, she’s begun to speak again. And it won’t be too long before all sorts of people will be exclaiming, “Gabby opened her mouth!” And I don’t think that they’ll be happy to hear some of the things that she’ll have to say. Getting shot at close range tends to change one’s take on things.
As I’ve said before, things are still pretty nicey-nicey around here. But there have been departures from this script. Such as the photographer who launched a rather spirited defense of his intellectual property rights. He has since backed off.
http://www.safehaven.com/article/19970/the-future-of-public-debt
USA is very high on the list of countries with big debt problems even with cutting entitlements
VAT tax comming soon I suppose
More taxes for us instead of cutting the corporate tax breaks.
Especially the ones for offshoring jobs.
WASHINGTON – The Federal Reserve told Congress on Thursday that it may reconsider its proposal to limit the fee that banks charge merchants for debit card transactions to 12 cents per swipe, the latest twist in a battle over billions of dollars.
Fed Governor Sarah Bloom Raskin made the remark at a House hearing at which lawmakers of both parties attacked the Fed’s plan and asked her to reconsider, saying it would batter banks still reeling from the 2008 financial crisis.
The financial overhaul bill that President Barack Obama and Congress enacted last summer ordered the Fed to issue rules that would set the fees at a reasonable rate. Currently, merchants typically pay between 1 and 2 percent of the transaction’s total and those charges average about 44 cents.
The question of where to set the fees has triggered a lobbying battle pitting merchants and some consumer groups against banks and credit card networks like Visa and Mastercard.
The Fed’s proposed 12-cent cap would be a major victory for merchants, who say higher fees are hurting their businesses and their ability to create jobs. Banks say cutting the fees would cause them to lose money and force them to raise their charges for checking accounts and other services.
BANKS WIN AGAIN BANKS WIN AGAIN
I’ll be paying in cash
Merchants have been trying to get this since 2005 when the new bankruptcy laws went into effect.
Google “credit card merchant fees” and select the range from 2005-2007
Little known fact: MBNA was main lobbyist for the new bankruptcy laws.
Here in Tucson, there are small merchants that ask their customers to pay via cash or check, rather than by debit card. Especially on sub-$10 purchases. Reason: Those debit card fees are brutal.
People often cite their rewards and credit building as the reason they use their CCs for every purchase, little realizing the hidden costs and how they are being scammed.
Wikileaks cable reports that Saudi Arabia has 40% less oil than believed
A new Wikileaks cable reports that a US Diplomat was informed by a Saudi oil expert on the fact that estimates on known oil reserves are 40% less than previously stated.
This shocking discovery has major ramifications to not only future oil prices, but also to the stability of the middle east, and to the dollar itself, which is pegged to oil through agreements with Saudi Arabia.
In an article yesterday by the UK Guardian, this revelation may have been the reason why oil futures rose to over $100.00 last week on world markets, and why future increases in supply may not be feasible to curb prices.
According to the cables, which date between 2007-09, Husseini said Saudi Arabia might reach an output of 12m barrels a day in 10 years but before then – possibly as early as 2012 – global oil production would have hit its highest point. This crunch point is known as “peak oil”.
This revelation alone may also point to the fact that oil prices have remained high during the world-wide recession, where in the past, a drop in demand would have caused the prices to drop under normal market conditions.
Sure, let a key producer whisper in your ear. Which is better for them, price goes up or price goes down?
Possibly peak consumption is behind us for a while.
Oil did go done to about $35 a barrel in December just before Obama took office. Gas was down to about $1.65 a gallon. Then, we did the stimulus and oil took off. Coincidental? Maybe, or maybe the artificial demand from us and China (their stimulus) resulted in enough demand growth to take away the bargain. In any event, Americans are paying $150 billion more a year for gasoline because of the higher prices due to the recovery in world wide demand and Obama’s energy policies, drilling restrictions etc. (1 cent increase in gas= 1billion a year)As with housing prices maybe we should just let the market work and stop supporting crony capitalism with governmental money that we need to pay back.
I forgot to provide a source so I try to look one up to confirm the data I gave off the top of my head. Could find a very credible source but found this one: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/25/business/economy/25econ.html
sarcasm off.
Left out “not”.
No coincidence at all.
Goldman Sachs began heavily speculating in oil futures within the last 2 years.
Yes, you can Google it. Heck, it was even reported in this board numerous times with links.
The revelations about the House o’ Saud’s fudging about its oil reserves merely confirms what several folks have been saying for years. The 2005 book “Twilight in the Desert” explicitly made this point, and other writers may have done so even earlier.
The Saudi govt (i.e., the al-Saud family) has long treated information about its reserves with the same fanatical secrecy that the US guards its nuclear launch codes. Why? For decades, Saudi Arabia has been by far the biggest player in OPEC, and the perception that its reserves were large enough to significantly affect the world markets has conferred substantial standing not only in OPEC and Middle Eastern affairs but on the worldwide stage. If the emperor has no oil so to speak, much of that influence goes up in smoke.
If the emperor has no oil so to speak, much of that influence goes up in smoke.
And nothing smokes like an unrefined petroleum fire.
Employers Rejecting Unemployed Job Applicants, U.S. Agency Told
(Bloomberg)
Employers are screening out job applicants who are unemployed, a practice that may lead to discrimination against women and minorities, worker advocates told a U.S. agency today.
Some companies don’t specifically have a policy to exclude the unemployed and may informally use employment status in hiring, the advocates told the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which enforces federal anti-discrimination laws.
“This is a practice that, regardless of its magnitude, adds to the difficulty that millions of unemployed workers are facing today in navigating the toughest job market any of us has ever experienced,” said Christine Owens, executive director of the National Employment Law Project, which promotes jobs for lower-wage workers. She said no information exists showing the extent of the practice.
The commission is examining the practice after media reports showed some employers were keeping applicants without jobs from being considered, raising concern that minorities may be targeted. Unemployment in January among blacks was 15.7 percent and 11.9 percent for Hispanics, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Among whites, the rate was 8 percent.
The Society for Human Resource Management, which represents more than 250,000 personnel managers, is “unaware of widespread recruiting practices” that exclude the jobless, said Fernan R. Cepero, representing the Alexandria, Virginia-based group.
Employers are screening out job applicants who are unemployed, a practice that may lead to discrimination against women and minorities
wtf? How the hell is their gender or ethnicity relevant to employers not wanting to hire people who aren’t currently working?
Why does everyone need to throw in these extra issues turning it into some political/politically-correct thing?
It’s not discrimination AGAINST women and minorities. The factor they’re being selected on is their current employment status, NOT their gender. NOT their ethnicity.
Way employers screen out job applicants:
No Job
Age (too old)
Credit history
Race (yes this still happens and not just to minorities any more)
Sex (yep, still happens all the time, but no longer just against women)
Looks
Education (do you really need a college degree for everything?)
Experience (too much means you cost too much)
Did I leave anything out?
“Homeowner Bites Bank”
A different kind of foreclosure battle
* Posted by Kai Ryssdal
* on February 17, 2011 2:46 PM
This final note today, in which the foreclosure shoe is on the other foot. You know how we were explaining earlier how some of the big banks have been caught mishandling paperwork and foreclosing on people who shouldn’t have been? Well, bad paperwork cuts the other way too.
One Patrick Rodgers of Philadelphia, Penn., got into a disagreement with his mortgage lender Wells Fargo over insurance requirements. The bank didn’t answer his letter within the time period required by law, so Rodgers took ‘em to court. He won, the bank still blew him off, so he’s filed for a sheriff’s lien and foreclosure of the Wells Fargo Home Mortgage Office in Philadelphia.
The shadow inventory always goes up, just like housing used to do.
* REAL ESTATE
* FEBRUARY 18, 2011
Mortgage Delinquencies Decline
By NICK TIMIRAOS
The number of U.S. households behind on their mortgage payments fell during the fourth quarter to the lowest level in two years, buoyed by improving labor market conditions.
The share of loans where the borrower had missed at least one payment dropped to 8.2% on a seasonally adjusted basis, representing about 4.3 million households and the lowest level since the end of 2008, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association quarterly survey released Thursday.
The number of loans where the borrower had missed just one payment fell to the lowest level since the end of 2007.
But the number of loans in foreclosure remained at its highest level since the start of the mortgage crisis, in part because banks slowed their foreclosure processes late last year to fix document-handling problems that surfaced in September.
While the number of loans entering foreclosure fell, “loans were not exiting the foreclosure process,” said Michael Fratantoni, an MBA economist. The result was an increase in the total inventory of loans in foreclosure.
…