Bits Bucket for April 4, 2011
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The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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Realtors Are Corrupt
“Reverse-Bubble” in progress: We all kind of thought the bubble would never be allowed to just pop (depression causing event). What we are/have been watching (appearing as a slow-motion train wreck) is the best attempt at an orchestrated reverse bubble. An RB takes an enormous amount of government funding as many of you have probably noticed, with the majority of the money going to the most poorly-positioned parties involved in the bubble (megabanks). An RB takes many years and a carefully planned media propaganda effort to distract attention as much as possible from the appearance of rewarding irresponsible business practice. An RB also takes a frightened yet complacent public which is too scared of upsetting the perceived status-quo to stand up to their corrupt leaders. A reverse-bubble has never before been attempted in the modern Western World and the script is subject to further modification at any time.
Alternative hypothesis:
“An RB also takes a
frightened yet complacentgullible, misinformed public which istoo scared of upsetting the perceived status-quo to stand up tolargely ignorant of the questionable actions taken by their corrupt leaders.”Did you know that the word “gullible” is no longer in the dictionary?
Really!?!?
“A reverse-bubble has never before been attempted in the modern Western World and the script is subject to further modification at any time.”
And this is where the gullibility is particularly important, as most folks will blithely ignore the extraordinary interventions or their potential implications.
Case in point: Did you notice how surprised MSM commentators were when housing prices resumed falling after the end of the $8K first-time buyer tax credit, something which was predicted to happen all along by many of us HBB posters?
Case in point: Did you notice how surprised MSM commentators were when housing prices resumed falling after the end of the $8K first-time buyer tax credit, something which was predicted to happen all along by many of us HBB posters?
It’s not just the MSM commentariat. I still run into people who insist that house prices are about to start charging upward again. And I simply ask why.
Most of the time, I get an answer that relates to something they heard on the radio or TV. Which then prompts another round of questions about where the sources of such radio and TV reports might come from.
Housing is a religion to some. And like a lot of zealots, they can throw out a quote from their holy book, but if you ask them to explain anything that deviates from their narrow doctrine, they either get wildly confused and vicious, or scoffing and supercilious.
UHS parrot the “interest rates are going up; buy now before they go up higher” talking point, but the public fails to realize the inverse relationship between interest rates and price.
Yeah, housing is a religion to some. The religion of getting rich while sitting on your duff and then patting yourself on the back and telling everyone else how clever you are.
I am trying to think when exactly it became common practice to gut a kitchen simply because it was “dated”. When I was a kid, that sort of a thing was a rarity. Recently I saw an older house where the kitchen was last redone a few decades ago, and my wife tells me that it would need to be gutted. I simply ask why - what exists is clean and 100% functional, and if it needs anything perhaps just some paint. But she watches the H&G channel where such things are routinely done, and buyers (even for starter homes) seem to salivate over the things.
It is almost like making an offering to the housing gods - put in that new kitchen with the granite alter on which you sacrifice a pizza in the hopes that the gods look upon you with favor and reward you.
D bubble is poppin.
I finally watched ‘Inside Job’ yesterday.
If you have ever wondered why there is a waiting period for guns watch the movie and you’ll know why.
As mentioned here by PB & others, we already knew the bulk of the story. But to see the hubris and arrogance rapid fire will make your blood boil.
‘will make your blood boil’
Not mine. I don’t let stuff like that upset me. I don’t get my blood pressure up about the 3 wars we’re in, etc; after all, what can I do about it? I feel unhealthy when I get worked up like that.
Anyway, we’ve already talked about that show. The one that tells us “how it all happened.” Did it mention the NAR, appraisers, mortgage brokers, builder CEOs, etc? Or did it just get you all mad at wall street? Hmm, I wonder why?
They also left out the part about the FBs who borrowed $700,000 to buy houses in the CA Central Valley off $30,000 in household income…
Dont forget the strawberry pickers!
Don’t forget the RE agents, mortgage brokers, banks all “In the scam” to make their fast money. To hell with the buyers. To be fair some buyers held the same attitudes! Worst were the government no fault watchdogs and the Washington DC gang who wanted the votes and free money to spend. The system will collapse! The sooner the better and then start over if possible.
The latest NAR television spot encourages home buying as a jobs program, with a montage of all the people who’s living depends on it. It’s our duty as consumers to buy homes.
I would have to put the RE agents low on the list for two reasons:
1. many are new, naive and clueless (ie. they probably believed the propaganda)
2. they are salespeople thus expected to be deceitful (no different than a used car salesman– and who believes them?)
Those folks were just pawns in the game. They got to live in a nice house for a few months and then have to give it up. The main problem is that nobody told them it was only temporary, and it would destroy their credit rating.
They also left out …US! Why isn’t everyone and their mamma offering Ben Jones a big job, a free drink, or even a doughnut? How it all went down went like this:
Something stupid was in the air. We could feel it, but couldn’t quite get ahold of it. It was a conundrum of the heart, the mind, and the feet. Then, one day, we woke up in the slime and we KNEW what it was.
Some of us ran from the slime. We bathed ourselves in HBB information, armed ourselves with savings and not not debt, WE DEFEATED THE SLIME. But others, oh the others. They wanted the slime and they courted the slime. The assimilation was as painless as breathing, and it gave a rush like no other.
Those were the ones who became the monster. They became FBs. Now the slime itslef is in retreat, and the FBs are afraid because they are spurned. They wander the night woefully searching for any slime remnant they can find. But it is gone, gone, gone.
Oh, the others.
Did it mention the …
The only one in my family that could patiently & serenely finish a 5,000 piece jungle scene puzzle was my lil’ sis. (Bless her sweet heart) She rarely got caught up the families sometimes chaotic scene of bickering, if fact, when it came to politics, she was nowhere to be found!
“the 3 wars we’re in, etc; after all, what can I do about it?”
Never, ever allow the wars and the people who participate them go without verbal condemnation at every opportunity.
Silence is consent.
Agreed. And that goes for the TSA as well.
“All human progress, even in morals, has been the work of men who have doubted the current moral values, not of men who have whooped them up and tried to enforce them.” ~ H.L. Mencken
I don’t think I can watch “Inside Job” because I am not very well practiced at maintaining healthy blood pressure during such events.
Watch the delete scenes too, if you haven’t.
On the deleted scenes, on the third interview with Satyajit Das, he had interesting comments and observations on bankers and banking.
I forgot about the speculators. Did the film mention these guys:
‘We came with the hopes of buying two houses. We left the first day owning four. Within the next week, owning 6 — all the way up to 19.”
“Between 1997 and 2004, homeowners under the age of 25 jumped 11 percent; and now these youths make up one-quarter of all property owners in the Northeast. ‘I am young and property values are soaring,’said 19-year-old Rayford Kelley, who bought a $560,000 fixer-upper in Roxbury with no money down.”
“25 year old Paul Phadungchai said he probably overspent with $50,000 in renovations…’For a kid like me who had college taken care of and was able to save money a lot of the time, not being able to save money ever is really a life change. It’s all gone and now all I’m stuck with is a huge mortgage. You have to really think about that.’ But it won’t stop him from buying another home by year-end.”
“Kim Kaul, a 36-year-old San Diego homemaker, was an unlikely player..with four young children and a rented apartment. Kaul saw a posting on the Internet..He sold the contract to Kaul for $8,500, money she took out of the family’s meager savings.. the Vegas market caught a chill.”
“She found a tenant, who pays $1,250 a month. But her mortgage was $3,000. When her husband lost his job, the situation became dire. The couple paid the January mortgage with borrowed money, then gave up…’I'm sure the market’s going to pick up, but I can’t hold out that long. This is kind of a bummer.’”
“There’s no reason to have 50% equity in your house,” says Scott Leonard, who is advising many of his clients to strip excess equity and invest it in stocks or more real estate. He defines ‘excess’ as more than 20% of the home’s value.”
“‘Every client who comes into my office asks about buying a condo on spec, every one’ says Benjamin Tobias, a Florida financial planner.”
I forgot about the speculators. Did the film mention these guys:
It was better on covering the financial end, not so much on the housing bubble aspect. A similar type film focused more on the housing bubble could be every bit as compelling a movie, though it would take quite a lot of editing to get all of the possible content down to 90 to 120 minutes.
So many FB’s, so little time to tell ALL of their stories…
That is definitely a good reason for a film like Inside Job to focus on the outlandish behavior of banking industry leaders, advisers and regulators rather than ever mentioning all the little people who played supporting roles.
If the banks had done due diligence and behaved with a modicum of historical conservatism, there wouldn’t BE any supporting role by little people. The sorry speculators that Ben mentioned wouldn’t have been able to get the time of day from the loan officer, much less walk off with hundreds of thousands of dollars. Every single one of them would all have been laughed out of the bank.
This is why I’m hesitant to blame the FB’s. There are always potential FB’s. They were just locked out of being FBs.
It was better on covering the financial end
The smirking 12 year old twins: “Professional” & “Ethical” kinda got the dickens kick out ‘em of Billy Jack / Lil’ Bill Style
‘I’m hesitant to blame the FB’s’
IMO, as a society, we’re never going to agree on who to ‘blame’ for the housing bubble. And I don’t think it’s very important. What we can look at is what laws were broken, if the authorities failed in their duties, what behavior is acceptable to us as a people. I think this film asks why some people aren’t in jail. Fair question; but what laws did they break? And if laws were broken, aren’t we justified in demanding the system do it’s job and holding those people accountable as well?
As far as FB’s and the loans they took out (loan brokers, for instance). If one lies on a mortgage application, and another goes along; both broke laws, both were motivated by greed. Wouldn’t our system be best served if both were punished? Isn’t one of the biggest reasons we punish people to deter such actions in the future?
I’d like to see major law breakers go to jail. What I want to see more than anything; an examination of what actions could and should have been taken to minimize the damage, from the viewpoint of possible future bubbles. That, is a tall task, which gets into all sorts of policy, legal, ethical issues, etc. I’m not too worried about it; eventually the political axes will be ground to dust and we can get down to deciding what changes we can make.
Oh there’s plenty of blame to go around, and precious few innocent victims. But that’s entirely beside the point. The reason to punish people and organizations is to disuade others from doing the same thing in the future, whether it’s robbing banks, or making bad loans. And it is generally easier to use negative incentives to change the behavior of a few multi-billion dollar companies than it is to change the behavior of millions of hopelessly optimistic (read stupid) individuals. There will ALWAYS be plenty of people willing to borrow their way to the poor house. The best way to prevent that is to be sure that the banks are reluctant to lend them that money.
One problem was that the idea that more mortgage lending was ALWAYS a good thing became an unshakable belief of the political classes. Another was that an entire financial system of mortgage brokers, mortgage securitizers, and the like whose main effect was to insulate those making the lending decisions from any possible negative consequences of bad loans.
IMHO at the end of the day, bankruptcy IS the answer. First for the borrowers, and then, quite likely for the “lenders.”
IMHO at the end of the day, bankruptcy IS the answer. First for the borrowers, and then, quite likely for the “lenders.”
I agree, this debt MUST go away before any kind of recovery can take hold. This means debtors go bankrupt if necessary and bondholders take a bath. Bondholders looking for big returns took big risks to get those returns. This is the OOPS side of risk.
“Bondholders looking for big returns took big risks to get those returns.”
Problem is that the huge public retirement plans (think joe sixpack) are among the bondholders. They go down, and the political leadership goes down with them. In the end it may happen anyway, but every trick in the book will be played first…at everyone’s expense.
Rayford Kelly lost his Roxbury home in 2007 foreclosure according to Massachusetts land records.
Ben- What do you think caused, and allowed, so many people to begin speculating on RE?
The motivation behind all financial manias is greed.
But is greed a constant condition of man, or something that flares up occasionally?
And when these manias end there is fear.
Greed is the condition of man. The system either prevents it or allows it to run wild.
‘is greed a constant condition of man’
I’m not one of these people that that thinks all “greed” is bad. It’s a word that describes many things. For instance, isn’t it greed that motivates someone to want a raise, to pay their bills, want a better life, pay for their child’s college, etc? There was the line in one movie, “how many yachts can you ski behind”? If we’re talking about excessive greed, that’s a question that borders on spirituality. Aren’t there those out there who would suggest the world would be a better place if we spurned material things and devoted ourselves to relieving the suffering of our fellow man?
Then there are economic viewpoints; that the pursuit of self interests raises all boats, etc. Or the opposite; that this pursuit oppresses the working people or that money is the root of all evil.
It seems to me that this is a question for society to develop through laws and mores. And in a mania, which could be defined as a mass insanity driven by greed, these judgments are hard to make. But let’s not step over any aspect of it if we’re trying to see what went wrong.
“Greed is the condition of man.”
replace ‘greed’ with ‘response to stimuli’ and that’s all living things.
isn’t it?
You’re confusing greed with ambition, or with just plain longing for comfort and security. Is it greed which motivates someone to want to better himself from living on the street to living in an apartment?
There are definite thresholds between dirt poor and self-sustaining, between self-sustaining and financially cushy, and between financially cushy and filthy rich. I believe that most of us have some ambition to get to at least financially cushy, while a few are satsified with being self-sustaining.
Once you reach financially cushy, however, there’s a margin of diminishing returns on the money. Yes, a filthy rich person would gain some happiness from buying second yacht for $250K. But that same $250K could buy three $80K small houses for three families — more for happiness bang for the buck, and more stable community too.
Such is the philosophical debate that we have here every day. What is a better use of the money we have? Should a filthy rich person keep the fruits of his labor to bring himself up to filthier rich, or should he help to bring some dirt poor up to self-sustaining?
Man’s ambitions and expectations are inherently “inflationary” no matter what the nature of the underlying motivation. Survival/life, however, requires balance - so now we get the balance.
An animal (other than a human) is never greedy. Their “greed” is the basis of their struggle to survive and pro-create the species. Our greed is far different with survival needs being well met at almost all times. man’s greed is the kind of greed that can cause men to murder and steal from one another, the kind that causes wars and complete disregard for the environment or the well-being of other creatures for the sake of wealth pursuits. The greed of man is perhaps the most destructive force on this planet paling tsunamis and earthquakes by comparison. Greed, Mr Gekko, is not good.
Actually the middle class and the slightly upper middle class have a pretty good lifestyle if you want to compare it to the struggling poor that are worried about their next meal or shelter needs . Why we should destroy the middle and upper middle class in order for the rich to fleece this mainstay worker
bee class ,when the worker class are the buyers of the products
of the rich is foolish . The point is this vast group of people called the Majority not only produce the innovations from the upper crust ,but they buy the products .
How much weight to you give a party that simply had the Capital . Ayn Rand did not give enough credit to the worker
bee.
When we see situations like Egypt where the Tyrants pocket 80 billion while the majority population pays 80% of their income toward food ,it a reminder on how absurd this right for the rich to keep their spoils in a rigged deck becomes .
“Greed is the condition of man. The system either prevents it or allows it to run wild.”
That’s what I think, too. Except in this case the system encouraged it to run wild.
” Our greed is far different with survival needs being well met at almost all times. man’s greed is the kind of greed that can cause men to murder and steal from one another, the kind that causes wars and complete disregard for the environment or the well-being of other creatures for the sake of wealth pursuits.”
Ah, but at what point has greed morphed into a lust for power.
Survival/life, however, requires balance ??
+1……
“I forgot about the speculators.”
What Does Speculator Mean?
A person who trades derivatives, commodities, bonds, equities or currencies with a higher-than-average risk in return for a higher-than-average profit potential. Speculators take large risks, especially with respect to anticipating future price movements, in the hope of making quick, large gains.
Where I live in SE Florida I saw, talked to and argued with average middle class normally prudent people who were swept up in the mania. ANYONE who owned a house in Palm Beach Gardens that had been purchased in the mid 90`s for $140k argued that the $500k 2005 price was real and that prices would only go up from there. People regularly told me about houses that had been purchased 6 months earlier by themselves, a friend or a relative and “they had already made $60k”. Many purchased and refied assuming or “speculating” that house prices always go up.
These average middle class normally prudent people “speculators” are now victims of the evil banking system.
By the way…
Go ahead and lock up the banksters, fine with me. I am just as sick of them as I am the “speculators” being called victims.
Jeff I have no sentiment for any of them but The Great Housing Fraud was engineered at the very top. We didn’t “just end up here” and it didn’t “just happen” as the clueless on Main Street believe. If it weren’t engineered/planned, there wouldn’t be so many clueless, whining, moronic FB’s. By 2004 I knew better. You knew better…. yet they didn’t? BS. It’s not circumstantial that I didn’t buy. I have enough to pay cash and have a 830 FICO as does my wife.
See whippet comments from yesterday.
replied.
Grape & cherry tomatoes are $3.99 for 5oz,… Hwy50 feels motivated to do something about that Sit-U-ation,..mmmnn, $4.10 per gallon for petro is a sorta different sit-U-A-shun,…mmmnn, iffin’ eyes can figure out a way to make my transportation needs work off of homemade roomatissin’ medicine, eyes might be able to “conserve” = (passed out) & save ca$h. Eyes reckon it’s illegal to make homemade roomatissin’ medicine,…it’s likely they just’s wants me to buy it from $omeone, then tax me too. ;-/
Not mine. I don’t let stuff like that upset me. I don’t get my blood pressure up about the 3 wars we’re in, etc; after all, what can I do about it? I feel unhealthy when I get worked up like that.
IMO the anger needs to be kept elevated in order to effect change. For me it’s either anger or hopelessness, I prefer anger….
But is greed a constant condition of man, or something that flares up occasionally?
I been struggling with a similar question lately. Mine deals more with the acceleration and scope of the greed. CEO’s who pay themselves one million one year, take two the next. If it was me, I’d hide my ill gotten gains and hope not to be noticed. Guess I am not greedy enough to head a corporations…
Me too, here is the online version
http://www.openculture.com/2011/04/inside_job.html
I like the way it was detailed yet simple enough for a person like me to understand.
Its probably gonna piss you off (cue Charlton Heston on the beach)
The only criticism I have for it is they kinda left out the connection between this grand rip off and the victims killing each other; i.e, WAR. We are expected to “short” each other in order to pay interest to banks and rich people on debts that never should have existed in the 1st place. It may be time to re-read Mien Kampf.
Mikey, I didn’t understand your strawberry icecream comment yesterday because Im not a Nam vet; I like pretending to be one for the “cred”; In addition to noticing the reactions of people when I say it. Gen Xers have no friggin clue; they lookin right at me when I say it and don’t even challenge it?
I was 4 years old in 68.
(((shakin my head)))
I can’t fool older people.
In addition one of my favorite lines to use when people are trying to convince me to do something which will harm me and I don’t want to do is to reply with that line from the blk guy in “Pelam 123″:
“thats what they told me in Vietnam”
It usually causes them to try to refine the line of sh*t they are feeding me.
These wars nowadays remind me of loud arguements. Vietnam was a real war because it was f*cked up; like war is supposed to be.
When my mom died, at the funeral a friend of the family told me the reason he didn’t marry my sister was because he was gonna run to Canada if he got drafted. He said everyday driving past the airport in Houston he would see the flag covered caskets lined up. I think at the time it was 200 KIA a week?
he wasn’t gonna go and that would not have worked out with my dad who went twice. He was a very cool guy. Had a jacked up ford fairlane, and he would speed.
I see, another poser.
“Gen Xers have no friggin clue; they lookin right at me when I say it and don’t even challenge it?”
maybe you look really old for your age
btw, if you were born in 64 you only missed Gen X by one year…
That Japan is dumping gazillions of gallons of nuclear tainted water is no big deal . Until a few decades ago , The USA put all their Nuke Waste in 55 gal drums , and dropped them over the side a few miles deep in the ocean . We’re still here.
Nuclear energy: nothing more than a very expensive and dangerous way to boil water.
Bwahahaha. We haven’t progressed any further than the steam engine.
Wonder if the nuclear plant workers feel that tainted water is no big deal. After all, they stepped in it. I think they’re still there, too. But for how long is another matter.
BTW, I hear nuclear tainted water is a great way to get rid of zits. GE is going to bottle it and do some infomercials. So long, Pro-Activ.
If it’s no big deal then they should store the radioactive water in the living rooms or private swimming pools of the TEPCO (insert your favorite utility company here) managers.
As far as nuclear being I viable long term energy source I have my doubts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_uranium
“In 2005, the world produced a peak of 41,720 tonnes (92.0×10^6 lb) of uranium,[34] although the production continues not to meet demand. Only 62% of the requirements of power utilities are supplied by mines. The balance comes from inventories held by utilities and other fuel cycle companies, inventories held by governments, used reactor fuel that has been reprocessed, recycled materials from military nuclear programs and uranium in depleted uranium stockpiles” (Wikipedia)
Interesting article. Peak uranium or not, there’s still the unsolved problem of long term storage of spend fuel rods. The same type of fuel rods that are causing considerable headache in Fukushima.
The cost of nuclear power is “cheap” b/c a lot of the cost is pushed into the future (decomissioning and spend fuel storage). The long term cost dealing with Chernobyl is immense.
“between 5% and 7% of government spending in Ukraine still related to Chernobyl, while in Belarus over $13 billion is thought to have been spent between 1991 and 2003, with 22.3% of national budget having been Chernobyl-related in 1991, falling to 6.1% by 2002″
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster
Awww, quit being such a wuss. Sure radiation causes cancer, but so does fast-food, smoking, and pre-marital sex. A little radioactive water never hurt anybody and kids love it for atomic waterfighting with their squirt-guns and water balloons.
Solar, wind, geothermal, magnetic field. So far that’s what we’ve got for renewable energy. It can be done. I think the main problem for the energy companies is how to co-opt these technologies with a grid so that individuals can’t cheaply and easily generate their own. The other problem for energy companies is that, being renewable, it’s going to be kind of hard to benefit from speculative shortages, or demand rate hikes, whether at home or at the pump.
I guess it’s no fun if you can’t cause mass disasters or economic pain. Besides, it seems people want energy sources that are crappy, expensive and harmful. Not just the companies and the shareholders, either. Just regular folk. At least, judging from some of the responses to my posts on this blog questioning nuclear energy.
We need a grid:
Solar works in the daytime, doesn’t work at night. Works better in lower latitudes than higher ones.
Wind works only when the wind blows.
Geothermal needs a nearby hot spot.
Magnetic field (?). A dynamo uses a magnet field, but there needs to be a power source involved.
Electric power can be cheaply and easily produced in some places (i.e. Iceland) but needs to be transported to places where it is not cheap and easy to produce; For this you need a grid.
There are places where the wind blows pretty much constantly. Like off the coast of Cape Cod.
Oh, wait.
There are solar plants that can generate at night they use molten salts to store heat.
It is very expensive to stretch molten salt use to the evening. Most of the (soon to be) producers try to shift use by an hour or two past sunset as this reflects the peak time of electricity demand. Economically, solar thermal cannot compete against nuclear or fossil fuel in the non-peak hours between midnight and sunrise. With natural gas trading at $4/MBtu, it is an extremely tough argument to go to renewables without some sort of government incentive.
Uh, hydroelectric.
During the day you move water upstream, then run on the hydroelectric during the night, then keep doing it. Natures battery.
Peak demand is during the day, climate control systems.
You also forgot tidal.
Palmetto, I heard this too. TPTB really don’t like the idea of a solar panel on every roof. Why, then each household can generate most of its own power. They could bypass the grid and the electric company altogether, and they wouldn’t lose 25-30% (?) of the power during transmission.
And people only buy those panels every 20 years or so. Kinda hard to speculate in a commodity like that.
oxide, it sounds a lot like George Westinghouse’s dilemma when Tesla confronted him with cheap magnetic field energy. Couldn’t make money on it, so he buried it.
Although I do recall one of the posters on this board who had a pretty good critique about the pitfalls of the Tesla proposal.
Yet still the cost is two and three times the grid costs. No one is stopping people from going off the the grid. If the economics were there no government subsidy would be needed. I just have a problem with people that need to force people to provide subsidies. Virtually, every article about alternative energy fails to consider the costs. Spain went broke trying to create “green jobs”.
TPTB really don’t like the idea of a solar panel on every roof. Why, then each household can generate most of its own power.
I’m curious what makes you think TPTB don’t like that idea. If that’s the case, why are solar panels subsidized by the gov’t?
“I just have a problem with people that need to force people to provide subsidies. Virtually, every article about alternative energy fails to consider the costs.”
Hi Dan, Who do you think will pay for that Fukushima disaster? Who will subsidise that? How do the economics look now? Who will deal with the spend fuel rods 20,50 a 100 years from now? Who will subsidise that?
Nuclear power is cheap because most of the cost is either front loaded or pushed off to future generations. No insurance company will touch that with a 10 ft pole. Profits are privatised, risk is socialized.
That plant produced cheap energy for 40+ years, the Japanese were able to compete due to that cheap energy. Even with the costs of this disaster the bet the Japanese made in nuclear has paid off. Remember all the reactors that the Japanese have. Customers would have paid much more using any other option available to them. Now, most of the costs will be paid by the shareholders (if TEPCO is private) since they own the reactors that are now worthless. The spent fuel rods are a valuable resource that can and will be recycled in Japan. Many on this board want to compare 50 year old nuclear technology with modern solar. What is sad and demonstrates how far solar is from being commercially viable is that solar is still more expensive. That is why China is building 110 nuclear reactors. Do agree it is past time in this country that the insurance subsidy be ended. However, this country has not paid any money due to this subsidy.
Cheap energy had very little to do with Japan’s economic rise. Their economy is based on adding value to small amounts of raw material. They make electronic goods, not aluminum cans.
As for solar, it needs subsidies to compete against fossil fuel but that is because fossil fuel is already subsidized. There is no pollution charge for fossil fuel energy. The value of that subsidy is dependent on the government. It can be quantified in the form of a tax or rarified in the form of a market allocation. How much are you willing to pay for clean air?
I think the main problem for the energy companies is how to co-opt these technologies with a grid so that individuals can’t cheaply and easily generate their own.
Bingo. And that, my friends, is precisely why centralized power generators aren’t too happy about alt-energy. They won’t be needed, except as a grid-tie backup. Which won’t make them anywhere near the money they’re making now.
Here is a site with the costs broken down:
http://nuclearfissionary.com/2010/04/02/comparing-energy-costs-of-nuclear-coal-gas-wind-and-solar/
Hydro is great but there are only a limited number of sites suited for it, I think the same can be said for wind. Also, you have the problem of availability, you really have to build more gas fired plants if you are trying to rely on wind for when the wind does not blow and that construction cost would have to be paid by rate payers. Solar is off the chart expensive.
Those calculations are bogus. They ingnore the cost to cover catastrophic damage and the long term fuel storage. Both are significant, both are excluded.
The propoased nuclear storage dump atYucca Mountain for example.
“For the first 10,000 years, the EPA would retain the 2001 final rule’s dose limit of 15 millirem per year. This is protection at the level of the most stringent radiation regulations in the U.S. today. From 10,000 to one million years, EPA established a dose limit of 100 millirem per year”
Who will pay for that 100, 1000 or 10,000 years from now? Did that enter the calculations for cheap nuclear energy? I don’t think so.
http://www.neimagazine.com/story.asp?storyCode=2050701
“The US Department of Energy’s (DoE’s) latest estimate puts the total system lifecycle cost for the country’s geologic repository at $96.2 billion in 2007 dollars ($79.3 billion in 2000 dollars). This represents a 38% increase on the last published estimate, which put the cost at $57.5 billion (2000 dollars) in 2001.”
Guess who gets to subsidise that? Cheap nuclear power is a myth, nothing else.
Actually wikipedia dealt with the costs and they are paid by the utilities: The Act established a Nuclear Waste Fund composed of fees levied against electric utilities to pay for the costs of constructing and operating a permanent repository, and set the fee at one mill per kilowatt-hour of nuclear electricity generated. Utilities were charged a one-time fee for storage of spent fuel created before enactment of the law. Nuclear waste from defense activities was exempted from most provisions of the Act, which required that if military waste were put into a civilian repository, the government would pay its pro rata share of the cost of development, construction and operation of the repository. The Act authorized impact assistance payments to states or Indian tribes to offset any costs resulting from location of a waste facility within their borders.[6]
Finally, if our government did not prohibit reprocessing we would not even need these storage facilities. Sorry, but if alternative energy sources were cheap, California would have some of the cheapest electricity rates and not some of the most expensive.
Renewable energy can be cheap if you have the right resource in the right place. Last I time I checked, wind power can be generated in Wyoming for $40-50/MWhr. Unfortunately, there are not very many people in Wyoming and transmission to a viable market is very expensive and time consuming. All the cheap renewable resources (eg. the Geysers) have already been developed. The marginal resources compete for new demand. This is how markets are supposed to work.
The main reason that electricity rates are high in California is that the cost of new production is adversely affected by permitting requirements. This applies to all forms of electricity generation. It takes extra time and resources to go through the hoops and this must be accounted for when calculating the return on investment. This is not necessarily a bad thing if you happen to be living beside a natural gas peaker.
” Utilities were charged a one-time fee for storage of spent fuel created before enactment of the law”
A one time fee for something that needs a baby sitter for thousands of years. How convenient. Smells like a big fat subsidy to me.
I agree aragonzo, I am not saying you could never have cheap renewable energy, hydro is an example of that but unfortunately the best locations have been taken. I am just saying going forward nuclear beats the alternative energy sources on price. Now, you claim that California’s high energy prices are due to permitting requirements that is partially true but they have made the decision not to buy power from states such as Nevada and Utah which produce cheaper coal power. They had the cheaper power and made the decision not to renew the contracts. P.S. Up above someone said that Japan did not rely on cheap power. Long before they made computer chips they made steel, cars and a lot of cheap junk just like China and after the 1973 oil embargo they did need cheap electric power to survive.
Those barrels were supposed to get buried underneath the ocean floor due to their weight. Don’t know if it worked, but I’m just sayin.
Mortgage paperwork mess: the next housing shock? 14 minute video segment
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/04/01/60minutes/main20049646.shtml
I was going to bring up the 60 minutes piece today…it’s interesting for me to see the MSM starting to pay attention to this stuff. I also thought it was interesting that John Reed felt compelled to immediately make a post on what he thought was the problem with the story.
http://johntreed.com/headline/2011/04/04/60-minutes-on-forged-mortgage-assignments/
He doesn’t seem too concerned with making the banks prove anything.
Huh. He stresses the notarized signature aspect, but I thought that MERS also skipped recording assignments at the court house in order to save on fees.
No mention of the high prices the FBs agreed to pay for their homes, or the fact that they stopped paying their mortgage obligation. Otherwise none of these paperwork issues would have surfaced. The FBs must share in the blame here too.
yup
As expected, Paul Ryan and the Republicans are proposing huge cuts in Medicare and Medicaid.
But only for those who are under age 55 right now. Those over age 55 sacrifice nothing. Those under 55, after another decade of no limits on federal debt, will get whatever is left.
I don’t want to hear about inevitability, or circumstances beyond our control. Had Ryan proposed the same rules for those age 55 and over, I wouldn’t have this reaction.
Those currently age 55 and over, but not part of the “Greatest Generation,” are the richest generations in U.S. history. They are also Generation Greed. Paul Ryan knows this, and so do I.
Does anyone want to make the case that it is perfectly fine to do this to your own progeny if they can’t be bothered to stop it?
How about huge cuts to foreign aid, defense, spy agencies, Congress, government grants, etc.? Gee, how much money would that give us?
How about huge cuts to foreign aid, defense, spy agencies, Congress, government grants, etc.? Gee, how much money would that give us?
none, reducing the amount of money that we spend, money that is borrowed or printed, doesn’t “give” us any. it would reduce our deficit and i’m all for it.
It’s cheaper to give Egypt $1 billion a year than set up a no fly zone.
“How about huge cuts to foreign aid, defense, spy agencies, Congress, government grants, etc.? “
So you expect Jesus to change his destination plans?
Does anyone want to make the case that it is perfectly fine to do this to your own progeny if they can’t be bothered to stop it?
It is better than perfectly fine, its the right thing to do for their sakes. Making promises that can’t be kept is a practice that should stop. Just like the housing bubble inflating had its life span so will spending money that we don’t have.
Teaching our progeny self-reliance instead of getting on the dole is the best thing we can do for them.
[disclaimer] I am over 55.
Then you are in favor of apply the same rules for those over 55 right now?
1) Eliminate Medicare.
2) A $15,000 per year federal subsidy for private insurance. Obviously costs rise with age, so…
3) Spending limited to 20% of GDP, so as interest on the debt explodes that $15,000 per year is cut.
The latter provision assumes, by the way, that tax cuts and no limits on those over 55 would lead to a monstrous national debt by the time those younger than 55 reach 65 in large numbers, eliminating their benefits altogether. But maybe if we did it now, the damage later would be less.
Who made the promises to those now 55? They promised these benefits to themselves, and refused to pay for them.
“Then you are in favor of apply the same rules for those over 55 right now?”
The consensus is that we will leave benefits in place for the elderly because many of them have no other means to provide for them selves, while the young can plan for it. I buy into this thinking but recognize that there is not “fair” place to draw the line.
I favor same rules for those over 55 that pass the means testing.
There are 2 people in my household, I’m 58 (on Saturday) and my girfirend is 53. We feel both lucky and cheated.
“The consensus is that we will leave benefits in place for the elderly because many of them have no other means to provide for them selves, while the young can plan for it.”
Plan for it how? Surely you are aware of all those multi-tier plans in the private sector, in which unions agreed to lower pay and benefits for future workers (starting in the early 1980s) in exchange for keeping higher pay and benefits for those already in.
So those under 55 have been paid less, and do not get pensions. Those under 35 have increasingly been made “freelancers” and do not get health insurance. Their children’s education is being slashed to pay for public employee pension and retirement benefits. And the average wage peaked in 1973 — median household income (thanks to two earner families) peaked in 1999.
And it is those younger generations who can somehow now save 40% of their pre-tax income even as their tax rate rises toward 40% and they have to pay for private school?
I favor same rules for those over 55 that pass the means testing ?
So, if one was to have spent his/her life saving, investing and working for 45 years he/she should be “tested” for any benefit they may have payed into ??
Vs.
He/She was a irresponsible consumer of fast men & women, fast cars and slow horses, fast food & drugs, smoking & alcohol who will receive the fullest of benefits ??
That’s the curse of means testing. Only suckers save unless they can hide the money. We have a bad enough problem as it is with “Medicaid planning” for nursing home care.
I had written an essay years ago in which I predicted that means testing would be the Democratic alternative. I was surprised to see Republicans propose it. They were supposed to be the party that cared about economic incentives.
Right.
Those under 35 have increasingly been made “freelancers” and do not get health insurance.
Tell me about it. Not only do we not have access to employer-paid group plans, we have to make do with the junk insurance that dominates the individual market.
“And the average wage peaked in 1973″
I (a purported member of “Generation Greed”) started working full time in 1974, after college graduation. I have been on the downside of the income curve my entire working life. Why do you persist in putting me on the opposite side of a generational divide?
County hospitals will see a huge upswing in geriatric patients, followed closely by huge upswing in taxes to support county hospitals.
“Generation Greed” = those 55 to 84 (born 1927-1956) - by your definition above. BTW, when they first started talking about changes taking effect for those over 55, it would have been 1927-1947. Every year, “Generation Greed” grows. Are your parents part of “Generation Greed”?
“1) Eliminate Medicare.
2) A $15,000 per year federal subsidy for private insurance. Obviously costs rise with age, so…
3) Spending limited to 20% of GDP, so as interest on the debt explodes that $15,000 per year is cut.
“
At 58, I pay less than 15K for my employer subsidized health insurance. On the private market, I would expect to get only catastrophic insurance for less than 15K. If I were 84, I might be priced out completely.
No Medicare means that those over 80 could die of curable illnesses. Palliative care for cancer would also be unaffordable for a lot of people. I guess they could still afford to acquire a fatal dose of painkillers on the black market.
I guess it works from a policy perspective. The premature death of most of “Generation Greed” solves the SS problem. There will be plenty left for you, if you live that long. How do you feel about being thrown away when you get old?
“Who made the promises to those now 55?”
The social contract when I started full time work in the mid-70s was work hard for 40 years and then retire and enjoy life on your pension. The promise was not made by me, but to me. I didn’t believe it then. I have never qualified for a pension and I have never expected to collect SS. I have expected to work until I drop. That presents a problem to my children’s generation. If I don’t retire, then they can’t have my job. Perhaps you propose I just die and get out of the way.
Why do you exclude yourself from “Generation Greed”? ISTM that you are greedy as well.
BTW, I think some of the changes being proposed are ludicrous. E.G. Increase the full retirement age to 70 over the next 65 years. It is way too slow. All of us having these arguments will be gone by then.
We are in the midst of a demographic problem whose seeds were sown more than 50 years ago. Depending on the decisions we make, it will pass in the next 10-20 years. The greatest generation funded their retirement with their children, the boomers.
The boomers delayed and reduced their offspring due to a couple of factors - the pill/abortion and the ZPG (zero population growth) propaganda of the 70s. Our missing children are not here to provide for us the way we provided for our parents.
I think it is silly to expect that retired 70 and 80 year olds should now provide for their own health insurance. Their options are extremely limited. They can’t all be expected to return to the workforce. There just aren’t that many Walmart greeter jobs available. Even if they were chemists, like my father, they cannot expect to be hired back into a field they left more than 5 years ago. And even the healthiest have physical limitations that preclude many low wage jobs.
I do think we can make changes for 55-65 year olds that are still working. Most of us can adapt. And we can make exceptions for those who have health issues that can’t adapt.
We also need to give some serious thought to those who become unemployed through no fault of their own. The long term unemployed in the over 50 age group are burning through their retirement savings now. Do we just throw them under the bus?
As far as health care is concerned, I think we need to provide basic health care for everyone. I would include all infectious diseases and accidents, prenatal and infant care, and birth control. I would probably exclude cancers with poor prognoses, lifestyle diseases.
Very well Charlie Tango. Let’s not promise Social Security to Generation X and Y. If that’s the case, then I would like to stop paying SS taxes right now, and I want a refund for every penny I paid to SS in the past.
Hope you don’t depend on SS.
I believe I could retire comfortably today off all I have paid in to Social Security to date, with accumulated interest. And I am not that close to normal retirement age, either…
How much do you need to retire? Financial
advisers usually recommend 80% of your
pre-retirement income which we found out is a joke. We don’t know anyone who is retired
who has voluntarily cut back on their standard of living.
What’s killing most retired people is the low interest on savings.
“Financial advisers”?
I have paid $152K in SS and FICA over the past 40+ years according to my handy dandy SS statement. Not sure what that would be with compounded interest, but yes, it would be a nice multiplier. Those early contributions were in much more valuable dollars as well.
If I collect benefits for a decade, I will get the principle back. Two more decades and probably get the interest as well. I should be outta here before then. BS on those who say my generation refused to provide ANYTHING for our retirements.
You provided for your predecessors.
I thought the 80% (or whatever % less than 100) was supposed to acknowledge that there are expenses that go with being in the workforce - business clothes and drycleaning, eating out, other things that you might pay for which being retired means you can do for yourself. And I think it also assumes that people are pretty much done with paying for their kids by retirmement.
A lot of those assumptions are no longer valid.
“You provided for your predecessors”
Exactly, generation greed provided for the greatest generation and the next generation will provide for generation greed. Perhaps, WT’s generation should be referred to as generation WHINE.
Blue skye, you forgot about the 40 yrs of matching contributions by your employers.
Good point Kirisdad. That pretty much nails it that I’d likely never get back what was contributed, even if the system found a way to carry on as it is.
A lot of what I paid went to support my grandmother, who lived to 104 and never paid a dime into the system. I thought it was OK.
Generation Whine, I like it!
“…you forgot about the 40 yrs of matching contributions by your employers.”
If labor demand is very elastic (which it is for most occupations), then those so-called employer matching contributions are largely if not fully borne by employees as a reduction in pay from what employees would receive if not for the payroll tax. The 50-50 employer-employee contribution split is more political gimmick than actual cost sharing.
Don’t take my word for it — look it up in any half-decent undergraduate economics text book.
And never any mention of the alternatives: removing the income cap on Social Security taxes, taxing capital gains the same as income, raising top rates of the income tax to somewhere remotely in the neighborhood of their post-WW2 avg.
Tax the wealthy at the rate they’ve historically been taxed in modern America, and our budget would be balanced, our benefits kept intact, there would be far less disruption in the overall system, and a bit more justice (the rich have prospered mightily in the new economic order, maybe they can afford to pay their historic rate of taxes again).
But the rich would have to pay more, so it never even gets mentioned as a possibility in the MSM.
removing the income cap on Social Security taxes = tax hike
taxing capital gains the same as income = tax hike
raising top rates of the income tax = tax hike
Tax the wealthy at the rate … = tax hike
you sound as though there is no problem that other peoples money won’t fix. why do you feel entitled to money earned or owned by others?
do tax increases raise, decrease or have no impact on revenues?
do tax cuts raise, decrease or have no impact on revenues?
No one has any right to make any ideological arguments about this proposal. The issue is two sets of rules, one for those under age 55, one for those over age 55.
The rest is a smokescreen by Generation Greed.
I would prefer to see Medicare for everyone. Modify it to cover basic health care - infectious disease, injuries, prenatal and infant care. Let the insurance companies provide for elective and other, more expensive care.
The sneaky way to get rid of Medicare is to reduce the payments to providers to the point where nobody accepts it. The states are already doing that with Medicaid.
Cut the crap with “Generation Greed”. Most of us are no more greedy than any other generation. Nor are we proposing a split at age 55. Politicians are doing that. Or are you suggesting that only politicians are members of “Generation Greed”.
“do tax increases raise, decrease or have no impact on revenues?
do tax cuts raise, decrease or have no impact on revenues?”
If you look at the post-WW2 period in America, higher rates of taxation coincide with positive revenue for the US gov and a healthy economy, lower rates coincide with government deficits and a boom/bust economy.
Blah blah blah blah blah.
Should all the cuts apply to todays’ seniors right now? If not, why not?
This SS/Medicare senior thinks they should.
“Should all the cuts apply to todays’ seniors right now? If not, why not?”
Because there shouldn’t be any cuts, period.
The money’s there, what’s needed is for the wealthy to once again pay their historic (post WW2) tax rates.
The trickle down experiment has failed. More cuts to maintain low tax rates for the wealthy is not the solution, it’s digging the ditch we’re in deeper.
The Democratic alternative is to deny, deny, deny there is a problem, and then slash benefits for those born 1956 and later at the last minute due to “circumstances beyond or control.”
Oh they’ll raise taxes already. On wage and salary income. After Generation Greed has fully retired. And just to pay interest on the debt, not to pay benefits for those coming after.
I’m in favor of attacking the Health Care Industry to lower the costs by 50% like other industrial Nations do it . That would solve a lot of the problems right there . Further, I am in favor of
raising the costs for Medicare for Seniors ,even charging 50
dollars more a month would help (Not that Medicare is free but
they could pay a little more ). Or perhaps a means testing should determine the amount paid by the Senior ( I know nobody likes this but we can’t afford Medicare at current levels ).
But ,I’m not really that impressed with the Health care Industry anyway . That industry just seems like a racket ,they should be pushing preventive care rather than pills that create side effects that are more ominous . Sure ,Medical science can be life-saving but so much of this nonsense they do is avoiding the subject of why the Americans are so sick .
(Hint : Bad Food ,no exercise,to much stress )
Also ,no reason why the rich can’t pay more on Social Security tax and income tax . It isn’t right that generations to follow will get screwed .
The issue is a reasonable distribution of wealth by taxing to obtain a functional Society ,otherwise we turn into a third World Nation with only the rich and the poor . How would our Society fair if there is no longer a middle class to buy or to
pay some of the tax because now they are to poor ?
Rather than look at it from the standpoint of taking from the rich ,it’s more a issue of the Society would fail without structures that allocated and tax according to maintaining
the Societies needs . The Rich benefit more than any other class from the structures of Society ,and they wouldn’t be anything without the mainstay working class .
Look this is just common sense ,something that is in short supply these days because of lobbying and the takeover of the Government by FAT CATS .
“,it’s more a issue of the Society would fail without structures that allocated and tax according to maintaining the Societies needs .”
And just who is going to determine ‘Societies Needs’? I’m sure that my needs and your needs are completely different, and there is sure to be a conflict as to who’s needs take precedence.
salinaron . I don’t think you can say that its serves Society for
a rich person to have another Mansion that they use 10 days out of the year . Rich people aren’t even investing in America anymore ,it’s all about emerging markets and get rich quick schemes . You really can’t look at the situation without looking at globalism and the gutting of our manufacturing and job base/tax base either . You have to have enough money in the government coffers to perform a number of functions .
Does it serve Society for price fixing monopolies (like health care ) to get rich at the expense of Society as a whole .
Like Michael Moore said ,” A Government by Billionaires for
Billionaires .
It’s pretty clear by common sense who the beneficiaries are of current tax policy and trade balances/tariffs and Wall Street gambling casinos ,price fixing monopolies ,and the welfare to the rich .
The rich saying how dare you attack me I’m entitled to my ill-gotten gain that Society gave me a rigged deck to get ,is
clear . Corporations use to operate on smaller profit margin in the good old days until it changed to this absurd welfare
for the rich and the betrayal of America .
I place more value on the worker bee and whatever maintains that class . Wait until you see what this World will
be like if the rich continue to get their way .
If we had a true capitalist system ,I would say you have a point ,but with corrupted with stacked stacked and rigged systems the rich have had unfair advantage .
he does not need to wait. he can live and mexico and experience it first hand, right now. lucky for him if he is in that clique of movers and shakers.
***blah blah don’t cut my benefits cut someone else’s blah blah blah***
Oh they’ll raise taxes already. On wage and salary income. After Generation Greed has fully retired. And just to pay interest on the debt, not to pay benefits for those coming after.”
Generational warfare I’ve seen this comming for a long time.
Agree with most of what Housing Wizard says but then I’m 50 and just under the “cut-off” as usual
Living in the shadow of a population boom this just comes with the territory.
Lest see what CA does about increasing taxes to support schools, I wonder if older folks their kids through schools will feel they need to pay for grankids…..
you sound as though there is no problem that other peoples money won’t fix.
Why the hell not? Wall Street has lived off of other’s people money for years, and they seem to have fixed themselves up quite nicely.
And why are capital gains income taxed less than labor income? Does the guy who sits there and lets the interest roll in “work harder” than the laborer who is paid a daily wage? Why are capitol gains so special? Because they create jobs? Silly me, looks like we’ve been LOSING jobs.
you sound as though there is no problem that other peoples money won’t fix. why do you feel entitled to money earned or owned by others?
Well they certainly have felt entitled to everyone elses. They have gained the most from the FED while everyone else deals with inflation. They have gained the most from trade policy while everyone else deals with unemployment. They have gained the most from wars while everyone else does the dieing. They gained the most from TARP and other bailout spending while everyone else deals with benefit cuts.
Capital gains and dividend taxes particularly for CEO’s and Hedge Fund managers should be taxed at a higher rate. In the case of these managers to get pay packages in the form of stock they should be taxed as income.
Oh the old if you cut taxes you will actually increase tax revenue arguement. Well I think we can see from GW’s tax cuts that you don’t increase revenue.
meason ….These arguments from the rich/lobbyist are nothing but a con job to maintain a system that is destroying America
for the Majority .
you sound as though there is no problem that other peoples money won’t fix. why do you feel entitled to money earned or owned by others?
Because the money earned or owned by the rich came largely from public policies that benefited the rich at the expense of the middle-class and poor.
Read some historical charts and do some math. It’s not that hard.
Google: Mother Jones income inequality.
One great step toward a solution:
STOP OFFSHORING OUR JOBS. That would allow us to earn more, so we could pay more taxes and save more. Wouldn’t that be grand?
There are some valid arguments for having a difference based on age when you are talking about modifying future payments of cash for living expenses (meaning social security). It may not be wise, but most people figure in the payments promised on those little pages you get every year in their retirement planning.
There is no argument that I can think of that justifies eliminating Medicare for people under 55 and leaving it for those over 55 unless you have some idea that the “market” will need 10 years to figure out how to create insurance plans that can work for that age group. There is no way for an individual to do pre-planning to have to buy insurance from an industry that does not want to cover people with actual medical needs. You can’t plan to be perfectly healthy when you are 65 and over. It is blatent vote pandering.
And when you open your eyes, you see the same things everywhere.
In New York, drastic cutbacks were proposed for (non means tested) senior citizens centers and (means tested) daycare subsidies for children.
All the money for the senior centers was restored in the final budget. None of the money for the daycare was.
There have been stories is the MSM on each. But no stories pointing out the two things together.
Don’t buy a house young people. You’re giving money to seniors who are better off than you are, and it’s money you don’t have. If you must have a house buy a new one, so the seniors don’t get the money and instead some working people get jobs.
daycare subsidies for children.
say what? New York state has daycare subsidies, beyond public schools??
I’m not sure your examples are really completely parallel to the argument I was making.
Both the elderly who use senior centers and families with children who qualify for subsidized child care are likely to have a hard time making plans to deal with their needs quickly. And they are unlikely to have private sector alternatives. Seniors with a lot of options and money probably don’t hang at the federally subsidized senior centers. People who qualify for susidized day care can’t afford it without the subsidy. I know the senior stuff isn’t means tested, but it isn’t for the well off, either. My parents go to the senior centers in their area to volunteer, but they don’t hang out otherwise.
The vote pandering is pretty much the same.
“Seniors with a lot of options and money probably don’t hang at the federally subsidized senior centers.”
You’d be surprised.
My wife’s grandmother lived in a senior citizen’s complex before she died. Being a good Christian, she decided to volunteer to deliver meals on wheels to her less fortunate neighbors, even though she walked with difficulty due to a broken hip.
She was outraged to find herself delivering meals to neighbors who were healthier and better off than she was, but just wanted to take advantage of the program and not have to cook. After all, those who ran it promoted it — you are entitled, and it’s free! — to get the government money.
She was born around 1910 in poverty in Ireland. Every generation entering old age since, it seems, has been more entitled and less concerned with those coming after.
Allowing someone to deliver fully cooked free meals to your house is a little different than hauling your butt down to the senior center so there is another human being to talk at some point in the day. Meals on wheels doesn’t require you to hang out with folks below your station. Hanging at the senior center does.
“She was outraged to find herself delivering meals to neighbors who were healthier and better off than she was,”
I found that, too. Or it was people who were alone, wanted to stay in their homes and found it a hassle to cook for themselves, or maybe it was dangerous. Still it seemed quite the waste of resources. Also a close friend who is a federal retiree uses an equivalent coupon to get senior meals in local restaurants. It’s good for her, since she likes to get out and around, but it means she never has to cook for herself. The restaurants probably like it too.
But it’s all in stark contrast to a much older model of extended families staying together and sharing meals at home more frugally. Americans don’t roll that way now.
Here’s the next dilemma, a wave of autistic children now heading into adulthood. Who’s responsible for supporting them?
http://www.parade.com/health/autism/featured/autisms-lost-generation.html
What did they used to do, before all the programs came along?
72 million people of the workforce make 25k or less.
How many of those do you think are over 55? (hint, more than a million)
Are you proposing to just kick them to the curb?
In the 35 years I’ve been in the workforce, I’ve seen the goalposts move farther and farther out and the rules change almost every year… and it’s not my damn fault. So why should I be punished?
In the 35 years I’ve been in the workforce, I’ve seen the goalposts move farther and farther out and the rules change almost every year… and it’s not my damn fault. So why should I be punished?”
Government loved social security when there was a surplus. spent it and issued IOU’s. how great is that.
Now its just debt that needs to be paid back.
SS is not in trouble and never was. Gen X & Y OUTNUMBER boomers.
There are more of them than there are of us. We could kill them to keep them from voting, I suppose, but that wouldn’t be nice.
12% of my income goes to Social Security. How much goes to Medicare? And what will I get out of it? Maybe nothing. That’s why I have to save another 9% on top of that and just HOPE I can afford to retire before I run out of steam. That’s 21% of my income going toward retirement. Does that sound stimulative to you?
Yet the Baby Boomers will claim that they “earned” their Social Security and Medicare payments. Too bad I can’t have any, I just came too late. Yet I still have to pay for it! ARGH!
See my post above.
Wall St is creating this false crisis so they can take your money.
It is time to put an end to the one party, two factions system in the US. The Reps are most vulnerable, so they’d be the easiest to get rid of first, if everyone voted Democrat or independent. It’s time for that party to go, then we can work on the Dems.
Let’s do it in the reverse order instead.
Damn those $12/hr janitors…. damn them.
So they can sell us down the river?
I say split the difference and stop voting for both parties at the same time. THAT will result in change.
+1, and I got a commitment from a coworker just today to vote Libertarian next election instead of Republican.
I just want change I can believe in. When are we going to get something like that?
We need an informed electorate, and the current American media doesn’t contribute to that in any meaningful way (not all U.S. media, just those that reach the most people).
There are other political structures besides winner-take-all from a mostly two party system, but how well would any of those work with a poorly informed electorate?
so they’d be the easiest to get rid of first,
“Go get ‘em palmy!” (Hwy50 sits back down) “…eyes knows you see that gun in their hand, but you’d better watch out for “The Book”,… it’s got heft to it!”
We have four viable parties, but if you don’t vote for one of the other 2, then you really shouldn’t complain.
Can you name those other 2 parties?
Is one of them New Year’s?
That’s right! And the other is my birthday!
Vote for Gadhafi 2012!
Perhaps thanks in part due to the supporting role of QE, OPEC can just kick back, watch from the sidelines and enjoy.
U.S. oil hits 2.5-year high, Brent nears $120
Fuel storage tanks are seen at Mobil Oil’s oil refinery in Melbourne March 8, 2011. REUTERS/Mick Tsikas
By Christopher Johnson
LONDON | Mon Apr 4, 2011 8:52am EDT
(Reuters) - Brent crude rose toward $120 a barrel and U.S. crude hit a 2-1/2-year high above $108 on Monday. Unrest in the Middle East and North Africa kept the focus on oil supplies as economic growth bolstered demand.
Iran’s oil minister said there was no need for the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to hold an extraordinary meeting, adding to price support.
…
Those guys would freak if we ever saw $40 bbl - or even $20 bbl again. From the Med to the Gulf they’re spending big bucks right now to keep the lid on a huge can of worms - by any means necessary and they need that money.
Funny I didn’t even notice. Didn’t burn a drop this weekend with the electric car. 1 tank lasts 2-3 weeks at 50mpg. I’d be doing even better if I’d purchased a Hummer.
don’t you guys remember. we just had a tax cut. time to mop up those extra dollars from everyone. not to worry much, because once those extra change are gone prices should go down.
I hope you aren’t making future plans based on that assumption. Any slack in demand from the US is quickly being taken up by the Chindians.
Hope none of you plan to visit any national parks over the next couple of weeks.
POLITICS
APRIL 4, 2011
Government Contractors Brace for Shutdown
By ELIZABETH WILLIAMSON
U.S. businesses are bracing for layoffs and disruptions along their supply chains if the federal government shuts down later this week because of an impasse over the federal budget.
Several Democratic and Republican lawmakers said Sunday they expect a budget deal to emerge by the current April 8 deadline. Businesses and lobbying groups in Washington say the uncertainty alone is causing problems.
Especially hard hit are small and midsized businesses that rely on steady flows of revenue from federal contracts to provide a wide array of products and services such as information technology consulting, building construction and maintenance, or food service at national parks.
“Because the budget’s not known, agencies won’t release the awards [and] the new work isn’t coming in,” says Libby Kavoulakis, who owns Metis Group LLC, which contracts with federal civil and defense agencies to dispose of unused government real estate.
Government shutdowns in 1995 and 1996 totaling 26 days stalled nearly one-quarter of $18 billion in Washington-area government contracts. Toxic-waste cleanups stopped at 609 “Superfund” sites, and 2,700 workers were laid off. All national parks closed, costing $14 million a day in lost admission fees and revenue to local contractors and vendors. Most contractors were not compensated for their losses.
…
Current shut down info. Technically it turns out we need a deal by Tuesday night, not Friday night to avoid a shut down (at least over the weekend). New House rules require a bill to be publicly posted for 72 hours before a vote can take place so it has to be posted Tuesday so the House can vote Friday leaving a few hours for the Senate to vote and President to sign. Anything else is a shut down at least for a few hours.
Presumably, it would be a pain in the neck for areas that operate over the weekend (IT people, anyone else who does maintenance over the weekend, parks, etc.), but not what people really think of as a shut down (offices not opening on Monday morning) unless there is no deal that can be posted until Thursday.
“Current shut down info. Technically it turns out we need a deal by Tuesday night, not Friday night to avoid a shut down (at least over the weekend).”
That’s good to know; does it mean that anyone who had planned a vacation to a national park starting Saturday (April 9) will know by this Wednesday whether they have to cancel their reservations?
The House could always vote to waive their 72 hour rule, but it isn’t a great option since they said the rule was essential to responsible law making and transparency. So, no, there is no guarentee that you can’t show up April 9th if there isn’t a deal up and posted by Tuesday, but it makes it more likely.
Right now there is a large internal Republican problem. The only real deal possible is an end run around the tea party newbies, using more moderate republicans and democrats to come up with a deal that the Senate and President can live with. But that hurts Boehner’s visuals as the leader of the House and might cost him the speakership eventually. So its not easy getting to yes on this one.
But if nobody’s working at tha parks, who, exactly is going to preveny you from entering?
But if nobody’s working at tha parks, who, exactly is going to preveny you from entering?
Which is precisely what I experienced in SoCal back in 1981. Seems that, due to some sort of state budget problem, the state park I wanted to camp in was closed.
But it wasn’t at all difficult to push my bike around the closed gate and go find myself a tent-pitching spot.
My camp-mate for the night was a motorcyclist and his dog. The fellow was a delightful conversation partner. And when we tired of chatting, we went off to our respective tents, snoozed the night away, and I left the next morning.
ISTR that the motorcyclist was living at the camp until he felt the urge to move on to another location.
“But if nobody’s working at tha parks, who, exactly is going to preveny you from entering?”
Death Valley has apparently gone to a rangerless honor collection system: Honest people buy a sticker for $20 at a vending machine. I suppose dishonest people don’t pay, which is in keeping with Uncle Sam’s philosophy of rewarding cheaters and punishing those who follow the rules.
I suppose dishonest people don’t pay, which is in keeping with Uncle Sam’s philosophy of rewarding cheaters and punishing those who follow the rules.
Ha, the US Forest Rangers have been “weaponized” (check out what’s in their vehicles!):
“Go ahead
punknon-paying camper, feel lucky?”I reckon spending $20.00 USD has never seemed so “cheap”…
“weaponized”
I did flip through the pages of a book today about the era when the Manson Family hung out in Death Valley. In the post-Manson era, I suppose it makes sense for the park rangers to pack heat.
food service at national parks.
Well, that can readily be adjusted for. (eyes will have to double check but I think that the week beginning April 16th, it’s free to get in the National Parks)
(Thinkin’ ’bout camping in Mojave National Preserve then hit both Death Valley & Joshua Tree…x1 dinner at Clint’s saloon in La Quinta)
Yep, (Just the entrance fees note):
WHAT’S THE DEAL: National Fee-Free Days at U.S. National Parks.
WHEN: Fee-free days in 2011:
* January 15-17 (Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday weekend)
* April 16-24 (National Park Week)
* June 21 (First day of summer)
* September 24 (Public Lands Day)
* November 11-13 (Veterans Day weekend)
Ok. So, yesterday I updated you on the two dumps we’re interested in.
I emailed the Lying Realtor last to let him know we did some reconnaissance on the one place asked WTF is up with these REO’s. His response was basically, “I still don’t know anything and at this point I don’t give a rats ass.” I asked if he had any other REO on his radar and he sent me the cut sheet of a *short sale* candidate that really isn’t all that suitable. Too much gingerbread, too neighborhood-like for me to be parking heaving equipment or a septic truck at but I’m telling you all because of this…
Built: 2004
Sale Price: $280k
Put on Market again 6/26/2010 at $319,900. I said to the realtor.. “WTF is wrong with these morons? They know the current market, they know they need to get out because of job loss and they price a used house $40k over what they paid for it? Are they @#$%ing nuts?” No reply. The current asking is $240k. It’s not really worth it to me. It’s just not suitable, too much gingerbread and foo foo fluff.
Nevertheless, this is more evidence that everyone still has their head up their ass and are blinding themselves from reality. This scenario is no different than me asking $60k for my 2006 GMC Duramax that retailed for $45k. A buyer for my truck my exist at $24k maximum.
The mass delusion hasn’t waned one iota.
Happy Birth Day to your Dad.
90 years old, I would say God Bless him but he already did.
Thanks. He’s quite thrilled he made it to 90. Strangely, he was depressed the last year or so and it was because he was worried he wouldn’t make it to 90 but now he’s back to his normal self. He walks 2-3 miles a day, quit smoking at 45, quit drinking at 60 without help from Bill and retired at 62.
He walks 2-3 miles a day, quit smoking at 45, quit drinking at 60 without help from Bill and retired at 62.
Happy Birthday to your dad. Mine passed about this time last year at 89, never sick a day. I am convinced exercise kept him healthy, he did something everyday. Found him sitting in his favorite chair, crossword puzzle and pencil still in hand. I’d take it….
Ooops.
Happy Birthday.
Happy Birth Day to your Dad.
Ooops.
Happy Birthday to your Dad.
Oh well, that way he knows it was from me.
The mass delusion hasn’t waned one iota.
Maybe exeter can ed-i-cate ‘em?
Casual comments can cost a home buyer or seller:
By Lew Sichelman / LA TImes / April 3, 2011
as Gwen Daubenmeyer, an associate broker with Re/Max in the Hills in Bloomfield, Mich., says: “Loose lips, opportunity slips.”
Reporting from Washington—
The agent in Cory Brewer’s Mercer Island, Wash., Re/Max office received an offer that was far below his client’s asking price. But before the contract could be presented to the seller, the would-be buyers posted on their Facebook page how badly they wanted the house and how much they really were willing to pay.
Bad move. The seller saw the posting and countered at the higher price. The buyers accepted because they loved the place that much, and the deal closed a few weeks later.
That’s what you get when you convince yourself you *must have it*. Typically it’s at ANY cost. That ain’t me and never will be.
The only difference I see now versus in the late-1980s is far less likelihood now that any of the seriously big criminals will be brought to justice. Instead, I see a propensity to let small fry like Madoff take the hits so the whales can keep the bonuses flowing.
April 3, 2011, 9:14 am
The decline and fall of business ethics
Did we learn anything from the profit-at-any-price malaise that infected so many financiers during the 1980s?
Editor’s Note: Every week, Fortune.com publishes favorite stories from the Fortune magazine archives. This one was published in the December 8, 1986 issue — after Ivan Boesky’s fall but before Michael Milken’s indictment. It was the leveraged buyout heyday, when no one on Wall Street could be trusted. Today, with the hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam fighting insider trading charges in a Manhattan courtroom and one of Warren Buffett’s top executives, David Sokol, resigning under suspicions about his personal trades, the lessons from the 1980s still ring true. What makes seemingly smart businesspeople lose all sense of ethics in a fleeting moment? Myron Magnet speculates: “[W]hat pushes some insider traders over the line, beyond mere greed, is a more primitive wish to flirt with danger.”
By Myron Magnet
WHAT IS THIS — the business news or the crime report? Turn over one stone and out crawls Ivan Boesky’s tipster, investment banker Dennis Levine, dirt clinging to his $12.6-million insider-trading profits. Turn over another and there’s a wriggling tangle of the same slimy creatures, from minute grubs like the Yuppie Gang to plump granddads like jailed former Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Thayer. A shovel plunged into the ground above General Electric (GE) recently disclosed a bustling colony industriously faking time sheets to overcharge the government on defense contracts. Almost everywhere you look in the business world today, from the E.F. Hutton check-kiting scheme to the Bank of Boston money-laundering scandal, you glimpse something loathsome scuttling away out of the corner of your eye.
It’s not just illegality. As if trapped by a thermal inversion, the ethical atmosphere of business, some executives mutter, is growing acrid. Says private investor and Fordham business school dean Arthur Taylor: ”I can’t do transactions on the telephone any more because people do not keep their word.” Adds leveraged-buyout panjandrum Jerome Kohlberg of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR): ”Agreements have got to be in writing, and writing is itself subject to interpretation.” Laments Merle J. Bushkin, president of an investment banking boutique bearing his name: ”I used to think that I could tell good guys from bad guys, and wouldn’t deal with people I thought dishonest or unethical. But I’ve learned that I can’t tell the difference. They look alike.”
…
With this lack of regulation and cops on the beat ,does anyone have any question that financial crimes soars and are still ongoing .
From the time of Moses, when Moses turned his back and the people started partying ,human nature is such that they need rules to reach the promise land .
When you have a Society where the morals are such that its a matter of what you can get away with that determines the morals ,than it’s curtains eventually for that Society . Look at how Stars are held up as
the Pillars of Society and envy of rich people is rampant . Values of good hard work the old fashion way is the thing of the past . Do we even value human relationships anymore ?
Everybody is confused these days about what the morals of a Society should be ,and it’s in part due to the co-mingling of so many different cultures and religions . I found out the other day that at Colleges there is a big group that cheats on tests ,so it’s a matter of just getting that paper ,even if you cheated getting it .
Form over substance seems to be the attitude ,and that’s like building your house on sand . The work ethic is eroding rapidly ,and the get rich quick cult has gained power .Drugs and escapism is increasing ,and even endorsed by the pill giving Medical profession on legal mind altering drugs . Half those maladies are simply nutritional deficiencies
that the Medical profession refuses to treat as such .
Doped up amoral Nation headed for the fall . Justice and the rule of law becomes a Joke when you let the Rich, who pulled off the biggest Ponzi scheme in recent History ,get away with it and get bailed out .
Screw the FB’s that gambled or lied on their loan applications ,but get the King Pins that created the scheme to begin with . Our Society made the culprits more powerful and we wonder what is wrong .
No wonder the young people are confused . College kids who studied
hard and did the right thing can’t even get a job because of our screwed up Society where we are allowing thieves in the night (Corporation Monopoly America /Wall Street /Banks / Health Industry ) to rob the Country .
Traitors for money leading us off a cliff .
It’s a aberration of the concept of the rights of individuals and the pursuit of happiness if it means we are creating thieves that think the pursuit of happiness is robbing from the other guy .It’s simply corruption ,and corruption of a concept .
Bank of Boston money-laundering scandal
Worked there in those days. Older customers loved to dump money on my desk and request it be “cleaned”. Earned ‘em an account code change and higher fees
I’ve said it over and over… it’s going to take time get the big boys because there was so much corruption.
http://www.aolnews.com/2011/04/04/insider-trading-case-against-raj-rajaratnam-features-multibillio/
“So many FB’s, so little time to tell ALL of their stories…”
It would be profoundly disappointing if this most massive of booms and busts wasn’t covered with multiple movies. If not, it won’t be for lack of compelling content.
I will not rest until I have ridiculed every last FB.
This has to be a turtle hugger’s worst nightmare!
Live Animals Being Sold as Keyrings in China
by Stephen Messenger, Porto Alegre, Brazil on 03.30.11
Travel & Nature
turtle keyring photo Photo: Li Bo
Keyring ornaments are perhaps the most useless item you’ll ever carry in your pocket or stuff in your purse — but now, thanks to an increasingly popular item being sold in China, it can easily be the cruelest, too. For the price you might expect to pay for some kitschy trinket, Chinese street vendors are selling live animals, permanently sealed in a small plastic pouch where they can survive for a short while as someone’s conversation piece. Apparently, these unimaginably inhumane keyrings are actually quite popular — and worst of all, it’s totally legal.
…
They can’t go back to Tomagachis?
I want a panda bracelet!
There is something deeply wrong with a culture that allows this.
That was my thought, but I didn’t express it out of fear that I would seem culturally biased.
No such qualms here, PB. Any other cultures I can criticize on your behalf?
Wow. Just… wow.
Hopefully the bag will pop and the owner will get Salmonella
I told you guys. CHINA SUCKS.
China = 1,347,000,000
USA = ___314,000,000
Theys got theres problems, we hasin ours.
Step right up & Place your bets!
Nice to see crude over $108.00!
High prices are saving my state’s bacon, that’s for sure.
This Republican proposal is certainly going to get the conversation started on what to cut from the federal budget.
POLITICS
APRIL 4, 2011
GOP Aim: Cut $4 Trillion
Budget Plan Would Transform Medicare, Reset Budget Debate; Democrats Balk
By NAFTALI BENDAVID
Republicans will present this week a 2012 budget proposal that would cut more than $4 trillion from federal spending projected over the next decade and transform the Medicare health program for the elderly, a move that will dramatically reshape the budget debate in Washington.
The budget has been prepared by Rep. Paul Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican and the new chairman of the House Budget Committee, and it represents the most complete attempt so far by Republicans to make good on their promises during the 2010 midterm elections to cut government spending and deficits.
Though Rep. Ryan based the Medicare portion of his budget on a previous plan created in collaboration with a Democrat, Alice Rivlin, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and long-time budget expert, the current plan isn’t likely to get much Democratic support. Instead, it will set up a broad debate over spending and the role of government heading into the 2012 general election.
The plan would essentially end Medicare, which now pays most of the health-care bills for 48 million elderly and disabled Americans, as a program that directly pays those bills. Mr. Ryan and other conservatives say this is necessary because of the program’s soaring costs. Medicare cost $396.5 billion in 2010 and is projected to rise to $502.8 billion in 2016. At that pace, spending on the program would have doubled between 2002 and 2016.
…
You went right by the key point — no cuts for those now 55 and over.
All cuts for those under 55 — who would also have to pay the debts run up by those 55 and over, do not get defined benefit pensions (which were phased out in the early 1980s), and have had lower median wages throughout their lives.
Do you expect Republicans to ask their base (filthy-rich geriatric folk) to have to share in the sacrifice? What are you, some kind of Communist?
Do you expect the Democrats who have been pandering to the same group to call them on it?
Will the MSM, run by the same generation, even report on that aspect of the proposal?
“You went right by the key point — no cuts for those now 55 and over.”
I’m increasingly opposed to these tiered approaches which usually mean protecting the wages/benefits of those that are older at the expense of those behind them.
If these cuts are such a good idea, make them effective now for everyone.
If these cuts are such a good idea, make them effective now for everyone.”
I agree
To play the Devil’s advocate yet again, I would propose a tiered approach which takes into consideration that those now retired have no chance to make up for a change in the level of future entitlement program support, while those who are younger do. So while I am all for shared sacrifice, I believe current retirees would be hurt far more by an across-the-board, equal cutback in program benefits. On the other hand, I disagree with the “we got ours; good luck to the rest of you’s” approach the Republicans seem to be proposing.
So this is Paul Ryan, born in 1970 and not a member of your “Generation Greed”, proposing to cutoff Medicare for anyone under 55. How can you say “Generation Greed” is doing this to you?
You left out the important part:
Participants from that group [under age 55] would choose from an ARRAY OF PRIVATE INSURANCE PLANS when they reach 65 and become eligible, and the government would pay about the first $15,000 in premiums. Those who are poorer or less healthy would receive bigger payments than others.
Not even a public option? This totally privitizes* health care for a group that HAS to buy it. This is Enron for seniors.
—————
*Although, I notice that those private companies who claim to hate government so much couldn’t resist latching their claws into $15K of government cheese.
You left out an another important point — total spending including interest on debts — is capped at 20% of GDP.
And tax cuts and unlimited spending on those over 55 would cause that debt to soar.
So in the end, the $15,000 would not be $15,000. That whole structure is just an excuse to allow Generation Greed to rationalize.
I’m not a Democrat, and not a deficit denier. If this plan is so great, why not apply it to everyone RIGHT NOW?
The whole big government/small government argument pretty much goes away once everyone is treated equally — and everyone has to pay in and get out the same amount.
Big Pharma ain’t gonna put up with that.
WT Economist
Because they know that the current seniors have no ability to
make up for the time loss to prepare for a new system by changing a systems pay outs after the fact . The older you are the more you relied on certain pay-offs . Seniors can’t get a new job to offset the changes in most cases . Some of these senior are already sick and reliant on the system until their death .
I don’t like it either that they just choose a date to screw somebody under a certain age ,that doesn’t seem right to me
either . I just think the health care costs are cracking the backs of every sector and it’s a bogus monopoly that is price fixing . We can do health care for a cheaper price ,bottom line .
The private health care industry would charge seniors 5 thousand a month to insure them ,thats the bottom line .
If they are going to give 15k a year to the next group ,that group would still have to pay high costs to get a good policy .
Over 55 the health care cost skyrocket to insure from the private industry . Private health care only likes the healthier under 55 crowd that they can make money on .
isn’t it apparent that this Insurance system of Health care
isn’t working given that you were suppose to pay in when you were healthy to get the benefits when you became unhealthy .
Really ,the whole Medicare system was a hand out to the private health care Insurance Industry because they avoid paying on the seniors that are the most likely to use the system and need medication and operations and all that .
Like much of Corporate America ,they want the government to pay for the down side and they get to take the upside . This is even to the point that Corporate America thinks they can pass off their retirement benefits promises they underfunded to the government coffers .
This constant transfer of liability from the Private sector to the government is Corporation welfare . It’s allowed for the rich to get richer and the government to get poorer .
It’s Corporate Communist Capitalism©®™.
The only way I know of to “plan” for no Medicare is to get a job that lets you stay on its insurance forever once you retire. 55 is way too late to do that.
That also assumes the insurance doesn’t raise the premiums to the stratosphere or decide to just drop you altogether or you can keep the job for over 30 years.
Participants from that group [under age 55] would choose from an ARRAY OF PRIVATE INSURANCE PLANS when they reach 65 and become eligible, and the government would pay about the first $15,000 in premiums. Those who are poorer or less healthy would receive bigger payments than others.
Oh, goodie! We can continue to be effed over by the private insurance industry ’til we croak!
Sign me up!
Right Arizona Slim ,the private health care industry would simply
rape the under 55 and charge a bundled over the 15k a year . If you were a healthy 55 year old with a decent income you would pay twice what a poorer or sicker person would .
I’m thinking we just have to Nationalize Medicine and have basic care for everyone and maybe if someone wants to pay for it they can get upgraded care .
I just think we have to take the corruption and profit margin out
of the private insurance companies . All these ideas they come up with are designed to aid the Private Health care Insurance Companies .They are parasites ,along with the drug companies .
I’m thinking we just have to Nationalize Medicine and have basic care for everyone and maybe if someone wants to pay for it they can get upgraded care .
how would this not end up becoming what you seem to talk negatively of above:
If you were a healthy 55 year old with a decent income you would pay twice what a poorer or sicker person would .
This is exactly what would happen. Healthy individuals making more money would get gouged by the gov’t.
Gouged by the government or gouged by corporations - tough choice. Which is more likely to screw me royally? Which do I have any measure of control over?
Medicare cost $396.5 billion in 2010 and is projected to rise to $502.8 billion in 2016. At that pace, spending on the program would have doubled between 2002 and 2016.
Q-tips, band-aids and 2oz of $$$ drug du jour sure are placing quite the financial burden on “The Medical Industrial Complex” ain’t it? :-/
Q-tips, band-aids and 2oz of $$$ drug du jour sure are placing quite the financial burden on “The Medical Industrial Complex” ain’t it? :-/
Not to mention a scooter or two here or there…
Not to mention a scooter or two here or there…
Was talking with a family member ’bout another family member. Family member who was the topic of this conversation has a chronic knee problem. Keeps her from walking as much as she’d like, but it’s nothing that can’t be moderated with Advil.
Other family said, “Well, why doesn’t she get her knee replaced? Medicare will pay for it.”
Sigh…
opportunities are never lost, they go to the next guy.
My knee is acting up, and so far ibuprophen is doing the trick. As long as that’s the case, I’m not interested in surgery.
I figure the longer I wait, the better the techniques will be. Maybe by the time I really need one, they will be able to coax my body to rebuild its cartilage.
Think of the financial collateral cottage Industry opportunities!:
Madison Ave bumper sticker ad’s
multiple chrome accessories
Gecko critter scooter Insurance
tear-drop trailers
musical battery charges
Hallmark decorative grandkids stickers…
I worked out with a buddy yesterday. He is in his mid 40s. Divorced father of three, self-employed(broke). LOVES Tea Party. He is dating a woman out of Arizona. Says he is fed up with Illinois, and the audacity of Governorn Quinn telling Caterpillar what their taxes should be. He is also a Peoria native. But then he goes on to say how Caterpillar has been screwing their employees for decades, forcing early retirements on many senior workers, while not offering pensions to the newly hired at much lower wages. Then he says how Arizona has such horrible schools, crappy safety net in the case of job loss(he was unemployed for year and a half) and he doesn’t want to move until his youngest is out of school. All this in a two minute span. I didn’t say a word. No need.
Ah, yes - the “Cat letter” as it is being called. The one in which the CEO of Caterpillar kindly informed the Guv that his employees would be paying an additional $40 M in taxes this year. It was being spun that it was the company that would pay more taxes, but in truth like most corps Cat doesn’t pay a whole lot, the “Cat letter” really speaks to what the employees will pay.
Supposedly a lot of corps are writing the Guv and declaring an intent to relocate. How many do remains to be seen. Mostly I think they are just looking to cut individual deals.
Boeing re-located it’s headquarters from Seattle to Chicago a decade ago after fishing the entire country for the most lucrative package of handouts and “incentives”. I wonder if they are one of the corporations now writing complaint letters to the governor of Illinois.
Note - most of Boeing’s assembly is still in the Seattle area. I mention this because someone said in here a few days ago that Boeing had moved all production to S. Carolina. In fact, they are building some 787 fuselage components in S. Carolina and are also planning a second 787 production line there.
Speaking of the “plastic fantastic” 787, I had to think of the Southwest 737 that had cracking problems with its fuselage, but managed to land safely. I recall reading somewhere that if something like that were to happen to a 787, the whole airplane would come apart.
aren’t they using a ripstop type for this?
The bought the Vought plant and workforce in S Carolina. Vought built it there to be a non-union, non-pension facility (if you accepted a transfer there you were out of the pension plan).
Outsourcing the 787 to China was a complete disaster.
The 787 is not really outsourced to China, rather the Chinese make some pieces, as do the Japanese and the Europeans and various US companies. The main assembly is done in Everett, WA and at some point also will also be done in SC. But you are right, the outsourcing and just-in-time manufacturing is a total disaster. It now appears that Boeing will lose money on the first 500-1000 aircraft.
Supposedly a lot of
corpswhining-crying-woe-woe-is-me Billionaires Inc. arewritingthreatening their local Guv & citizen/fans and declaring an intent to relocate their brilliantly financially self-designed major sports teams.How was the workout?
Good indeed. 33 years old in best shape of my life. Highly recommended. Although quitting a credit analyst position with BofA couple of years ago didn’t hurt my health either.
Then he says how Arizona has such horrible schools, crappy safety net in the case of job loss(he was unemployed for year and a half) and he doesn’t want to move until his youngest is out of school.
I can corroborate the above. Been hearing my child-raising buddies grouse about the horrible AZ schools for a couple of decades. And the lousy job-loss safety net is something that a former boss experienced. She and her family almost landed on the streets.
I just did a google. You Zonies max out at $240 per week!
In Colorado the cap is just shy of $500 per week.
Texas is $280 a week. It was also $240, but the changes made for this recession got it raised.
Oh I believe it. It is just funny how he hates Illinois due to high taxes, but can’t put two and two together. Sometimes you get what you pay for.
“All this in a two minute span. I didn’t say a word. No need.”
Does he carry a sign saying “Gov’t keep your hands of my mom’s Medicare?”
+1
“…Caterpillar has been screwing their employees for decades, forcing early retirements on many senior workers, while not offering pensions to the newly hired at much lower wages.”
This has been SOP for most corps for the last 20 years.
did you even asked him what he wants. it appears that he hates everything except the tea’s.
What he wants? You show me a coherent Tea Party platform I shall show you a coherent tea partier. So far from speaking with him I have gathered this.
-He is against high taxes, unless of course those high taxes help him send his kids to one of the best school districts in the state. Oh yeah he is a renter, in Illinois if you didn’t know about 80% of our property taxes go to local schools.
-He is against entitlements, unless of course one of those entitlements allows him to collect unemployment insurance for an extra year while he gets his s%*t together.
-He is against unions and collective bargaining, he thinks unions protect the weak, unless of course you catch him speaking to one of the guys at the gym asking him if his local union was hiring and needed someone with “good hands”.
He is also against gays, arabs and illegals, but I haven’t gotten around to that with him yet.
What could a person do for money with “good hands”? Hmmmm…
At what point in history did the Fed’s mandate expand from minding inflation and employment to picking winners and losers in the asset markets?
MONEY
APRIL 4, 2011
Fed’s Low Interest Rates Crack Retirees’ Nest Eggs
By MARK WHITEHOUSE
PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla.—Forrest Yeager, a 91-year-old resident of this seaside community, had been counting on his retirement savings to last until he died. The odds are moving against him.
With short-term bank CDs paying less than 1%, the World War II veteran expects his remaining $45,000 stash to yield just a few hundred dollars this year. So, he’s digging deeper into his principal to supplement his $1,500 monthly income from Social Security and a small pension.
“It hurts,” says Mr. Yeager, who estimates his bank savings will be depleted in about six years at his current rate of withdrawal. “I don’t even want to think about it.”
Mr. Yeager is among the legion of retirees who find themselves on the wrong end of the Federal Reserve’s epic attempt to rescue the economy with cheap money.
A long spell of low interest rates has created a windfall worth billions to banks, mortgage borrowers and others it was designed to benefit. But for many people who were counting on their nest eggs, those same low rates can spell trouble.
…
Is it better to get 1 percent on your savings when inflation is running 3 to 4 percent, or get 8 percent on your savings when inflation is running 10 to 11 percent? Or is it a wash?
I know inflation is now taking off, but 3 to 4 percent is about what it’s been the last few years.
“Is it better to get 1 percent on your savings when inflation is running 3 to 4 percent, or get 8 percent on your savings when inflation is running 10 to 11 percent? Or is it a wash?”
The latter case is better, as you can be reasonably sure that inflation will be contained going forward. Low interest rates and higher future inflation are the kiss of death for retiree nest eggs.
Damn filthy rich overpaid retireees!
Oh wait…
well, they cannot have everything. they are already getting excellent heath care insurance.
That’s his fault for not being a bankster, dummie.
Great jobs coming your way!
McDonald’s to hire 50,000 workers - in 1 day
http://money.cnn.com/2011/04/04/news/companies/mcdonalds_jobs/index.htm
There is a new Le Pan Quotidian that is supposed to open up a few blocks from the White House. They have a sign up claiming to be hiring as well. If you can live in or near DC on that sort of money. I suggest not trying to use it as your primary means of support.
The government will see the 50k jobs added in one day and by using the wonders of modern accounting will annualize the hiring rate to be 1.5 million jobs added per month.
You know it.
“She said that restaurant managers can make $50,000 a year.”
What? That’s a “lavish” salary! Those guys need to be busted down to 25K per year!
Hey….. even $25k/yr is living high on the hog!!! What’s this world coming to?
For that chosen profession $50K is a lavish salary.
That said, my sister-in-law works as an assistant manager for a major fast food chain in Michigan. With a college degree she’s only making $10 per hour. That said, even in Michigan she could do better if she applied herself.
I just realized I said “that said” twice. Maybe it’s time to have some PM coffee.
Once upon a time, a salary with purchasing power equivalent to 50K today wasn’t that hard to swing. Now you pretty much have to be a degreed cubicle dweller to get 50K.
Anyway, my remark above was to put teacher salaries into perspective: A Mickey D’s manager earns more than the average teacher nationwide.
Mickey D managers work 12 months a year.
“Mickey D managers work 12 months a year.”
But you don’t need a degree. Any Jamoke with some common sense and who is willing to put in the hours can do it
An’d I’m that with paid holidays and 2 weeks paid vacation a Mickey D’s Manager works 11 months, not 12.
People seem to think that teachers just lounge by the pool all summer. I know my sister does plenty of school related work over the summer. A lot of it is training, but they also get back to work before the first day of school, as there is much to prepare the bell rings.
Per the article majority of the positions offered will be at $8.30 per hour. I assume 50k salaries are offered only in high cost areas. California, New York…..
I think most managers at chain restaurants make $50k or more a year. It’s a tough, more than full-time job, and they work you like a dog, with constantly increasing goals to meet. They put you on salary so they can work you 60+ hrs a week.
At $50k a year, they’re probably only making $15 an hour.
As far as store managers go you’re exactly right. They also have a bonus program though that rewards hard work.
They also have a bonus program though that rewards [hard work.] people in the area having easy access to credit cards.
Fixed it for you.
Hooray! More McJobs!
50,000 more people who can buy new cars and houses!
Oh wait…
Look on the bright side … their foodstamp rations will be reduced.
It’s all good.
At the rate that house prices are falling, they will probably all buy McMansions with their earnings. And no, that was not a joke.
Op-Ed Columnist
Donald Trump Gets Weirder
By GAIL COLLINS
Published: April 1, 2011
Donald Trump has run faux campaigns for president before, flirting with the Democrats and independents. This time, he’s playing a conservative Republican. By 2016, he’ll probably be talking about his affinity for the Alaskan Independence Party or the Whigs.
And, of course, he’s suddenly a birther. “This guy either has a birth certificate or he doesn’t,” he said of President Obama. “I didn’t think this was such a big deal, but, I will tell you, it’s turning out to be a very big deal because people now are calling me from all over saying: please don’t give up on this issue.”
…
Is he Charlie Sheen’s role model or is it vice versa?
What is the deal with Obama’s birth certificate, anyway ? Did he refuse to produce one, or was the original lost, or did he produce one and the Republicans are claiming it is a phony ?
“or did he produce one and the Republicans are claiming it is a phony ?”
That one.
its online, Google it.
Comment by AV0CAD0
2011-04-04 09:44:42
its online, Google it.
Well, I know that, but I figured there would be so many links to claims and counter-claims that the facts would be lost in all of the noise.
Here ya go, pdm,
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/birthcertificate.asp
As bas as Trump is, I get the feeling that if he runs he wins.
I hope the voting public isn’t crazy enough to nominate Trump or Palin.
Never understimate the American people. They are the same people who elected Bush twice and Obma. 47% of them also voted for McPalin.
If Trums wins I’ll go watch “Ass”, that is, if I can get a ticket to the show.
That comment is like a kick to the groin.
I heard “Ass” is up for multiple awards.
I think you are on to it: A Trump-Palin Republican ticket for 2012.
Hey, they’re starting to climb on the “right side” of the Teeter-Totter, they might have to sit on each others laps soon, that might be interesting!
Mitt Romney Uses Despicable Metaphor to Describe Health Care
By Stephen Blackwell Monday, April 04, 2011
This doesn’t bode well for a GOP victory in 2012. The Republican party is guided by the hack-and-slash Tea Party. Their ethos doesn’t jive with Mitt Romney who instituted a public healthcare system in the great state of Massachusetts—a program so successful it became the basis for Obamacare.
No matter the purpose of a speech or context of a public appearance, Romney is going to be asked the same question over and over again: “What’s the difference between what you did in Massachusetts and Obamacare?”
In an appearance over the weekend, Romney argued for his program with a disagreeable defense:
“If somebody in your state who doesn’t have insurance has a terrible automobile accident … we don’t let them die in the street. Guess who pays for it? You. The government.”
It’s statements like that subvert American morality and make citizens feel icky about politicians.
I was in a severe automobile accident about ten years ago, and several people instinctually rushed to my aid. Luckily I had insurance. That said, when a gentleman helped pull me out my car to escape the toxic gas spewing from the vents, he didn’t say, “Jeez who’s going to pay for this?” It’s just not in our nature and public healthcare is a reflection of that.
This doesn’t bode well for a GOP victory in 2012. The Republican party is guided by the hack-and-slash Tea Party. Their ethos doesn’t jive with Mitt Romney who instituted a public healthcare system in the great state of Massachusetts—a program so successful it became the basis for Obamacare.
Jive with Mitt Romney? Really? He doesn’t seem like the sort of guy who’d understand jivin’.
It’s “jive” all right.
Romney never did run as a conservative. He’ll probably change his tune this go around.
As far as Obamacare goes, there are parts of the law that make good sense. What the American public is displeased with is the way in which it was enacted and the individual mandate.
What the American public is displeased with is the way in which it was enacted and the individual mandate.
I’m displeased about how the public option was compromised away while Obama was still stating his support for it.
The public option is run by a corrupt, inept government. It’s the worst of all options.
“The public option is run by a corrupt, inept government. It’s the worst of all options.”
That’s why we see all those Medicare recipients demanding that it be privatised, right?
It sounds like the VA is the way to go.
Time Magazine
For the sixth year in a row, VA hospitals last year scored higher than private facilities on the University of Michigan’s American Customer Satisfaction Index, based on patient surveys on the quality of care received. The VA scored 83 out of 100; private institutions, 71. Males 65 years and older receiving VA care had about a 40% lower risk of death than those enrolled in Medicare Advantage, whose care is provided through private health plans or HMOs, according to a study published in the April edition of Medical Care….
And all that was achieved at a relatively low cost. In the past 10 years, the number of veterans receiving treatment from the VA has more than doubled, from 2.5 million to 5.3 million, but the agency has cared for them with 10,000 fewer employees. The VA’s cost per patient has remained steady during the past 10 years. The cost of private care has jumped about 40% in that same period.
Link for above article:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1376238,00.html
Sounds like the VA is doing a great job. And holding costs steady to boot.
“Mitt Romney Uses Despicable Metaphor to Describe Health Care”
As in ‘Despicable Me’? Because I thought Obamacare was basically Romneycare expanded from MA to the entire USA.
i’m thinking i may write in Mike Rowe…I mean…who doesn’t like Mike Rowe?
I don’t. Now he is doing commercials too. Nobody told Rowe that less is more.
Somebody told him to strike while the iron is hot, though.
I suspect he would rather shovel manure than become President. I suspect many of us here would make the same choice.
Ahhhh, Mr. Trump. The original gangsta who mastered the notion of the economic theory of “privatizing the profits and socializing the losses”. How many Ch.11s is he up to now? Three, four?
Will be fascinating watching him try to explain everything he has bankrupted and mishandled over the years if he does end up running.
does he have a new book coming out?
For those of you feeling a little fiesty, there’s going to be a live national “teach in” tomorrow:
Fight Back USA:
Austerity, Debt, Corporate Greed & What YOU Can Do About It
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
1:00 to 2:30 p.m.
Check your local libraries and/or universities to participate.
Description: This live, streamed event is designed to help campus and community viewers “connect the dots” between corporate/bank greed and tax-avoidance, personal and public debt, so-called “austerity” and the ongoing attacks on public employee unions, public education and social services to the most needy Americans.
And, if you don’t have time to make it to the teach-in, here’s a Tucson-based website from which you can learn at your leisure.
BTW, if you’re ever around this neck of the woods and turn out for local demonstrations, this outfit creates the prettiest protest signs in the biz. It’s a real treat to carry one of them, and, yes, I’ve done it.
Large scale jingle keys across the pond
CORK PROPERTY developer John Fleming’s decision to go bankrupt in Britain is now expected to become a major trend and, in turn, a significant headache for the National Asset Management Agency (Nama).
A second high profile property investor, who did not want to be named, has confirmed that he has recently relocated there ahead of filing for bankruptcy. A number of other developers are known to be considering following him.
You can declare yourself bankrupt in Britain if a judgment or statutory order is registered against you. Bankrupts emerge with a clean slate after 12 months, although the process can take as little as nine months. In Ireland, by comparison, a bankrupt can remain so even after they die.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2011/0404/1224293736119.html
Nama sources believe that those developers who have reached the memorandum of understanding stage with the agency will remain within the process. “There’s been no sign they’re preparing to walk away,” the source said. He acknowledged that a number of developers who refused to engage with Nama may be set to leave.
The National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) (Irish: Gníomhaireacht Náisiúnta um Bainistíocht Sócmhainní) is a body created by the Government of Ireland in late 2009. It is in response to the Irish financial crisis and the deflation of the Irish property bubble.
NAMA will function as a bad bank, acquiring property development loans from Irish banks in return for government bonds, primarily with a view to improving the availability of credit in the Irish economy.1][2] NAMA is controversial, with opposition politicians[3] and some economists criticising the approach,[4] including Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz who has said that the Irish government is “squandering” public money with its plan to bail out the banks.[5][6]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Asset_Management_Agency
They say that greed, in a lack of a better word is actually good..
If they are lacking a better word, it’s a lack of vocabulary, not concept.
Greed is one of the 7 Deadly Sins.
Almost all ancient cultures understood that greed wasn’t a virtue.
Democracy in the Middle East means Islamists taking power:
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=215050
And? Were we really expecting these nations to become secular paradises?
No but why force change that hurts us and the does not help the people of the country? Iran was not helped by Carter and Egypt was not helped by Carter II.
I agree, we should leave them alone.
But we won’t because oil is involved.
You’re probably right about that, but I’ve got to believe we can buy a lot of alternative energy technology and research for what we’ve spent in and on the Middle East over the past 40 years.
“But we won’t because oil is involved.”
But we won’t because Israel’s security is involved.
Democracy in the Middle East means Islamists taking power:
I’ll forward this along to the Cheney-Shrub Legacy Revisionists.
Shazam!-Islam-is-democracy-just-you-wait-&-see!… or…China-has-to-pay-extra-$-to-buy-a barrel-of-opec-oil-right?
“This is incredibly worrying to many Egyptians,” Maye Kassem, a political scientist at the American University in Cairo (AUC), told The Media Line. “The salafis were always undercover in Egypt and now they are emerging as a political force. They are getting too vocal.”
Newly freed from the political strictures of the Mubarak era, Egypt has turned into a battleground between those who envision a liberal, secular state and those who advocate various shades if Islam. The conflict mirrors those taking place elsewhere in the region. In Bahrain, unrest has evolved into a conflict between Sunni- and Shiite Muslims and the US has pulled back from supporting Libyan rebels over concerns they are dominated by Islamists.
“Shazam!-Islam-is-democracy-just-you-wait-&-see!…”
Even Capt. Marvel couldn’t pull that off. Of course he would know that, Solomon’s Wisdom and all that stuff
Kind of like how democracy in the United States means Christians taking power?
The Securities and Exchange Commission reportedly may file civil charges against Wachovia Corp., the bank now owned by Wells Fargo & Co., for allegedly overpricing mortgage bond deals.
The SEC is probing sales of about $1 trillion worth of collateralized debt obligations, a prime factor in the subprime mortgage runup that preceded the recent housing collapse and banking crisis.
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2011/04/04/sec-may-charge-wachovia-over-bonds.html?ana=yfcpc
Let’s see if I can calculate the fine for selling a trillion worth of crap - six divided by five, times .0009, plus 645.00 equals….next to nothing!
See folks? It’s just going to take time to prosecute everyone and everything that needs to be prosecuted. The scale of this disaster is off the charts.
Good find Hard Rain.
From an article by Robert Frank, economics professor at Cornell.
“From 1950 to 1970, incomes grew rapidly and at about the same rate — almost 3 percent annually, on average — for families at all income levels. From 1970 to 2000, however, that pattern changed sharply. Incomes of the top 1 percent grew more than threefold, while median household income grew less than 15 percent.”
Comment by Max Kieser~ “1970…interesting, considering it was in 1971 when Nixon defaulted on the international gold backing of the U.S. dollar and thus began unrestrained money and credit creation which has allowed the Fed to murder the middle class in America in a few short decades. Coincidence? I think not”.
I think not, either. Being an insider works best when the FED can manipulate the money supply and that power is not checked by any form of the gold standard. Add this power with the ability to manipulate inflation data and there is no mystery about what happen to the middle class.Take away the decent paying jobs and give the formally middle class food stamps paid for by the remaining middle class. Add in an asset bubble that allows the formally middle class to keep up its consumption despite less pay and you can concentrate wealth at the top.
In 1972, the top 200 corporations in America formed the Business Roundtable, a sort of Senate for American corporations composed of all the CEOs of those corporations.
It marked the first time that corporations would begin to cooperate together to pressure Congress on favorable legislation and have the weight to back it up.
I’ll take this event as having more to do with destroying the middle class than anything else.
Offshoring began about that time, no? “Globalization”?
LBJ’s Great Society programs were signed into law in the latter 60’s with no idea of how they were to be funded.
Huge debts from the Viet Nam war needed funding.
Israel’s wars of ‘68 and ‘73 meant that the captured territories would require U.S. endless funding.
Nixon began weaving economic ties with China marking the end of labor and huge dislocation funding.
Unfortunately the dawn of the information age concentrated power and wealth, lifting too few boats.
Crowne Plaza San Marcos Golf Resort files for bankruptcy
Status of receivership will be decided this week; officials say business is still robust ~ The Arizona Republic
Owners of the Crowne Plaza San Marcos Golf Resort in downtown Chandler have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
The filing by Denver-based San Marcos Capital Partners LP halted a trustee sale that had been scheduled for March 29.
Business at the hotel will carry on as usual, and no managers or employees will change, said general manager Frank Heavlin.
Financial trouble became evident in October when the property went into receivership under Kirby Payne at Smiling Hospitality in Rhode Island.
A court hearing on whether the receivership will continue is set for this week.
Bankruptcy Court papers filed last month listed assets of the owners at less than $50,000 and liabilities between $10,000,001 and $50 million. The number of creditors is between 1,000 and 5,000.
The bills owed creditors are disputed, according to court papers. Among the claims on file are $2.3 million to Arizona Public Service Co. and $3 million to InterContinental Hotel Group. The bill at Mission Linen Service of Phoenix is $1.4 million and at Phoenix-based Shamrock Foods, it’s $2 million. Chandler is owed $318,000 for utilities.
Other creditors and the bills, in round figures, include Sysco, $1.8 million; Scottsdale-based Lions Gate Communications, $501,548; Humana, $443,000; GE Capital, $385,000; Southwest Gas Corp., $289,000; Stern Produce of Phoenix, $325,000; and Fireman’s Fund Insurance, $376,000.
The San Marcos limited partnership involves 22 members, including Heavlin, who said that business is good despite the bankruptcy.
“We are running the hotel’s day-to-day operations, and it has been a very successful first quarter for us,” he said. “We are honoring all reservations, group bookings and weddings, and we are out there aggressively seeking future business.”
Heavlin said he is optimistic the hotel will survive the bankruptcy.
Sucks to be in a business that caters to millionaire wannabes.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Citi-to-start-clearing-apf-1510892963.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=main&asset=&ccode=
Citi to start clearing smallest checks first in a purported effort to avoid racking up multiple overdraft charges.
I find myself wondering what the ulterior motive is here.
I think that they don’t want any more bad publicity on this topic. That “move your money” rhetoric may be starting to hurt.
A lot of the banks have already done this. My guess is it’s in the hopes of being able to self regulate and keep whatever goodwill still exists between them and the customers.
“I find myself wondering what the ulterior motive is here.”
I’m with you. There has to be some other “gotcha” here.
Some straight talk from Robert Reich:
Why aren’t Americans being told the truth about the economy? We’re heading in the direction of a double dip — but you’d never know it if you listened to the upbeat messages coming out of Wall Street and Washington.
Consumers are 70 percent of the American economy, and consumer confidence is plummeting. It’s weaker today on average than at the lowest point of the Great Recession.
The Reuters/University of Michigan survey shows a 10 point decline in March — the tenth largest drop on record. Part of that drop is attributable to rising fuel and food prices. A separate Conference Board’s index of consumer confidence, just released, shows consumer confidence at a five-month low — and a large part is due to expectations of fewer jobs and lower wages in the months ahead.
Pessimistic consumers buy less. And fewer sales spells economic trouble ahead.
I agree with analysis but probably not his solution. We are like a rocket trying to achieve escape velocity prior to running out of fuel. However, with the stimulus spending just about over, the end of QE II and state governments cutting back especially July 1st, I don’t think that the private sector is going to keep this recovery going.
“Why aren’t Americans being told the truth about the economy?”
Because the gubmin/political types are terrified that without the “consumer”, they will lose any leverage they’ve got in the world. Right now they can play Lady Bountiful: Bank go bust? Here’s TARP. Corrupt Asian nation with a teeming population? Here’s the jobs and the manufacturing and the American consumer will PAY! D*ckass little country surrounded by hostiles? Foreign and military aid, plus subsidies. Earthquake? Foreign Aid. Hostile tribe? Military Aid. European bank? FED discount window. Failed narco state? Open borders! blah, blah, blah…
We don’t need no stinkin’ citizens. It’s all taxpayers and consumers.
The US looks more and more every day like some rich relative who is wanted only because of his money. When the money runs out, the carcass is left for the maggots. Underneath those designer duds the maggots are already feeding.
It’s a double dip only for the rich.
It’s still same damn one for the rest of us.
Let me tell you how I see the last 30 years:
It’s been one long recession punctuated by brief moments of predatory prosperity. And should you time it wrong, you will never dig out of the financial hole you will find yourself in. There simply isn’t enough time between recessions.
“Let me tell you how I see the last 30 years:”
I’d have to agree with you except I say the last 40 years.
Why not date it to 1966? That is about when the stock market peaked for the last time before Vietnam seriously morphed into an inescapable quagmire and the gold standard was forever scrapped.
Say it again…. and again and again.
Comment by sfbubblebuyer
2011-04-04 10:47:48
Housing is a religion to some. And like a lot of zealots, they can throw out a quote from their holy book, but if you ask them to explain anything that deviates from their narrow doctrine, they either get wildly confused and vicious, or scoffing and supercilious.
Feds seek $7M in ‘Liberty Dollars’ that were invented by man to compete with US dollar. ~ April 4, 2011
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Federal prosecutors on Monday tried to take a hoard of silver “Liberty Dollars” worth about $7 million that authorities say was invented by an Indiana man to compete with U.S. currency.
Bernard von NotHaus, 67, was convicted last month in federal court in Statesville on conspiracy and counterfeiting charges for making and selling the currency, which he promoted as inflation-proof competition for the U.S. dollar.
His Charlotte-based lawyer, Aaron Michel, is appealing that verdict. He wrote in a motion filed Thursday that von NotHaus did nothing wrong because he didn’t try to pass the Liberty Dollars off as U.S. dollars.
“The prosecutors successfully painted Mr. von NotHaus in a false light and now the U.S. Attorney responsible for the prosecution is painting the case in a false light, saying that it establishes that private voluntary barter currency is illegal,” Michel wrote.
The trial was scheduled to resume Monday in Statesville. The case involves more than five tons of Liberty Dollars and precious metals seized from a warehouse, which the government wants to take by forfeiture, according to federal prosecutors and Michel.
Von NotHaus began issuing Liberty Dollars in 1998, as head of the Evansville, Ind.-based National Organization for the Repeal of the Federal Reserve and Internal Revenue Code. In 2007, the group’s headquarters were raided along with the Sunshine Mint in Coeur D’Alene, Idaho, where the coins were made. The case is being tried in Statesville because one of the organization’s top officers is based in Asheville, and because an undercover investigator made contact with the group in North Carolina.
Federal prosecutors successfully argued that von NotHaus was, in fact, trying to pass off the silver coins as U.S. currency. Coming in denominations of 5, 10, 20, and 50, the Liberty Dollars also featured a dollar sign, the word “dollar” and the motto “Trust in God,” similar to the “In God We Trust” that appears on U.S. coins.
“Attempts to undermine the legitimate currency of this country are simply a unique form of domestic terrorism,” U.S. Attorney Anne Tompkins said in a statement after von NotHaus was convicted.
Von NotHaus has argued it’s not illegal to create currency to privately trade goods and services. He also has said his organization took pains to say the Liberty Dollars shouldn’t be called “coins” and shouldn’t be presented as government-minted cash. Among other benefits, Michel’s motion argues, the Liberty Dollars were a means to help keep currency in local communities by creating networks of merchants and consumers who used the money.
“Attempts to undermine the legitimate currency of this country are simply a unique form of domestic terrorism”
Well then, I’d like to see a picture of Ben Bernanke right next to Usama Bin Laden on the FBI website.
How can airline miles be legal??
He should have said they were coupons.
I can’t believe they found him guilty of that. His whole point was to create a currency that WAS NOT dollars. He did it because the gubmint keeps sending our dollars cross the border, but we know China won’t take Liberty Dollars for payment. There has never been any way to confuse a Liberty Dollar with a US dollar.
There would have been less of a case against him if he had not used the word “dollar” in the name.
Still, I was appalled at this verdict.
We can’t have anyone creating a sound currency, which might make our intended-to-corrode version look bad.
Iowa school layoffs predicted
DES MOINES (AP) — A coalition of education groups is predicting that Gov. Terry Branstad’s plan to freeze state spending on local schools will force more than 1,500 layoffs.
The groups say the layoffs would happen as the state is only beginning to recover from the recession. They also warn they are running out of time because school budgets must be certified this month, which also is when layoff notices must go out.
The warnings came Monday at a press conference by six groups — the Iowa Association of School Boards, School Administrators of Iowa, the Iowa State Education Association, Area Education Agencies, the Urban Education Network and the Parent Teacher Association.
Branstad said he inherited a financial mess and voters want him to straighten it out.
Why would a “freeze” result in layoffs? It’s not a “cut”. Freeze means continue at current level, no?
Probably because other costs will continue to rise: maintenance, energy, insurance, etc.
Maybe there is a contract with the teacher’s union to give generous raises through the next few years. The lower ranks get freeze-dried.
Doesn’t say why they are closing, probably selling to much merchandise and just got tired, of working so hard. It’s different in Canada I hear.
TABI Closing All 76 Locations ~ Canada NewsWire April 2, 2011
BOSTON, April 2, 2011 /CNW/ — After 30 years as a leading Canadian retailer, TABI is closing all 76 stores. The store closing sales began on Friday, April 1, 2011 and will continue until all merchandise has been sold.
TABI has filed a Notice of Intention to Make a Proposal pursuant to the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act and Farber Financial Group was appointed as Proposal Trustee and Receiver to assist the Company in this process.
Consumers will find terrific savings starting at 20% to 40% off original prices on all apparel including all women’s classic shirts, sweaters and cardigans, TABI’s Wilson pant, skirts, denim, activewear and accessories. In addition, store fixtures such as apparel racks, shelving, cabinets and more are also for sale.
“As a way of expressing our appreciation for their years of patronage, we hope that our customers take advantage of our timeless garments at incredible prices,” said the company spokesperson of TABI. “We thank our customers and hope that the savings found at all stores serve as a thank you to them for their great loyalty over the years.”
It does say they filing for a BK, and it sounds like they are liquidating rather than reorganizing.
Sbarro, Mall Pizzeria Chain, Files Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in New York Court
The Sbarro family started its business after moving to Brooklyn, New York, from Naples, Italy, in 1956. Sbarro now has about 8,000 employees in more than 40 countries, according to its website.
Uno Restaurant Holdings Corp., also an Italian restaurant chain, filed for bankruptcy in January 2010, saying the worst economic slump since the Great Depression had caused more diners to stay home, hurting its 200 U.S. pizzerias.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-04/sbarro-files-for-bankruptcy-protection-after-restaurant-chain-s-sales-slid.html
Sbarro’s Sbankrupt
We have a couple of mom-n-pop pizzerias in town that I like to patronize over Corporate Pizza. Plus their fare is much yummier.
“Sbankrupt”
So stealing that.
“Sbankt” for short…
Sbarros pizza tastes like oil on cardboard IMO. Uno’s, however, pleasantly surprised us on our last visit, but we’d drive by 50 other restaurants on our way there (unfortunately its not too convenient).
I want Libya to win their fight. Hopefully get freedom of speech/religion/press, balance of power, etc. Not housing related, but still.
No free health care? Come on, they deserve it.
Amen to that. But I read today (sorry, no link… maybe AOL news) that a disheartening 1/4 of the rebels are fighting because they think Khadaffy is Jewish-born. A number have ties to Islamic extremest groups, and… well… this doesn’t feel like the USA’s battle to fight. We can’t afford it and we have enough problems of our own.
Not to mention we probably should not have a policy of picking a side in every civil war that occurs around the world. So why there?
How many American Revolutionaries wanted to disband from the Queen because she was Catholic?
A while back we had a discussion about Toqueville and what he may and may not have said about Congress. While I do not think that the pithy statement was an exact quote, (it is a paraphrase) I thought that it was consistent with what he knew about Rome and Greece. This translation from him which does clearly exist in his writings support this: “The disastrous influence which popular authority may sometimes exercise upon the finances of a State was very clearly seen in some of the democratic republics of antiquity, in which the public treasure was exhausted in order to relieve indigent citizens, or to supply the games and theatrical amusements of the populace. It is true that the representative system was then very imperfectly known, and that, at the present time, the influence of popular passion is less felt in the conduct of public affairs; but it may be believed that the delegate will in the end conform to the principles of his constituents, and favor their propensities as much as their interests.”
That’s a good question. The statistics are sobering, something like 1% of all children, higher rate for boys:
“In the last two decades reported autism prevalence has increased by more than 600% and a number of studies have sought to investigate the cause(s) of this dramatic increase in autism prevalence over time. Recent findings suggest that at least a portion of the increase in prevalence can be attributed to changes in diagnostic practices, earlier age of diagnosis, and increased awareness of autism over time. However, converging evidence also suggests that while these factors account for a portion of the increase, they cannot alone explain the dramatic rise in autism prevalence. Thus genetic and/or other environmental factors likely play a role and are the subject of numerous research projects currently supported by Autism Speaks.” [excerpt from AutismSpeaks blog}
Thirty years ago, didn’t we just call all of these kids retarded?
It would be interesting to see whether there has been a marked decrease in diagnoses of retardation, now that we have several other choices to chalk them up to.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Has-the-Residential-Real-ms-3494067944.html?x=0
Postings about RE
It seems Boston and Silicon Valley are doing fine FL not so good
Stumbling blocks remain in US budget fight
Mon Apr 4, 2011 6:37pm EDT
By Andy Sullivan and Thomas Ferraro
WASHINGTON, April 4 (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner on Monday blasted Democratic spending-cut proposals as “smoke and mirrors,” undercutting the notion that progress is being made on a budget deal that would avert a government shutdown.
Boehner and other congressional leaders are due to meet with President Barack Obama on Tuesday to try to make headway on the plan, which would slice roughly $33 billion from this year’s budget and ensure that the government will keep running beyond midnight on Friday, when current funding runs out.
With time running short, aides said they thought a shutdown was unlikely. A spending bill must be worked out by Tuesday night in order to give Congress enough time to act before Friday.
“In the end there will be a deal because a shutdown doesn’t do anyone any good,” a senior Republican aide said. Another short-term spending bill of a few days may be needed, he added.
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market pulse
April 4, 2011, 8:28 p.m. EDT
Bernanke sees ‘11 foreclosure starts at high level
By Sarah Turner
SYDNEY (MarketWatch) — Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said late Monday in a speech that he expects to see a very high rate of foreclosure starts in 2011. “We hope to see this decline by next year,” he said. Bernanke added that foreclosures are negative at a macroeconomic level for the United States. “The most important transmission mechanism is that, so long as foreclosure are creating an ongoing supply of housing vacancies, we we will be seeing continued softness in house prices,” he said. This in turn affects household wealth, consumer confidence, consumer liquidity and the rate of new construction, he added. “The high rate of foreclosures is obviously a serious problem and one of the reasons why our recovery is not as strong as we would like it to be,” he said.
“The most important transmission mechanism is that, so long as foreclosure are creating an ongoing supply of housing vacancies, we we will be seeing continued softness in house prices,”
Why is the Fed so against affordable housing?
http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=183604
Fed money-printing and hyperinflation - think there’s a link?
APRIL 4, 2011, 9:43 P.M. ET
UPDATE: Fed’s Bernanke Downplays Inflation Fears
By Luca Di Leo and Michael S. Derby
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
STONE MOUNTAIN, Georgia (Dow Jones)–Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke Monday downplayed inflation fears which led some of colleagues to recently warn tighter monetary policy may be needed to keep prices in check.
Bernanke said the rise in global commodity prices is likely to be temporary and shouldn’t translate into a broader inflation problem. However, the Fed chief was quick to add that if his prediction is wrong and inflation begins to mark strong gains, the central bank would respond.
“I think the increase in inflation will be transitory,” Bernanke said when asked about recent comments from Walmart (WMT) that input costs will make their way into consumer prices. He attributed the strong gain in global energy and food prices to supply and demand conditions, adding he reckons these prices “will eventually stabilize.”
The Fed chief’s remarks, which came in response to audience questions he faced at a conference held by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, indicate he doesn’t share the inflation concerns aired by a vocal minority of central bank officials over the past few weeks.
Bernanke’s colleagues have been frequent commentators on the state of the economy over recent days, and their statements on the monetary policy outlook have left markets somewhat uncertain about the course the Fed is likely to take.
The loudest voices over recent weeks have come from the Fed’s hawkish wing, or from those who tend to worry about inflation. Officials like Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser and Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher have led many in markets to believe the central bank is moving closer to some sort of monetary policy tightening in order to keep a lid on prices.
Bernanke said that while near-term inflation expectations have risen due to higher food and gasoline prices, measures that look a couple of years out are not of concern yet.
Some officials have suggested the central bank may have to raise interest rates aggressively late this year to prevent prices from rising, even if unemployment remains high. The immediate issue is the future of the Fed’s $600 billion bond buying program, which is slated to end in the summer. A recovering economy, rising commodity prices and increased worry about the inflation outlook are causing many to question the continued need for the Fed’s stimulative program.
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At what point in history did the Fed’s mandate expand from minding inflation and employment to picking winners and losers in the asset markets?
‘No, this is not “supply and demand.” It’s excessive liquidity in the market which is being created by Bernanke, on purpose, with the intention of driving asset prices higher.
The problem is that there’s only two things that are going up: Commodities and stocks.
Among things definitely not going up are wages, houses and consumer sentiment - that is, the willingness to go out and spend.
Guess what else is going to go up? Groceries and other goods. Why? Because as I’ve reported since August, the increases in commodity prices started showing up in the PPI reports at that time, and once that goes into the pipe it will come out - either as crashed margins or higher prices. It cannot do otherwise.
Our economy will not “withstand” these oil and gas prices. Not without a massive contraction. I am already seeing it - again - on the roads around this area. Less traffic, fewer shoppers. The so-called “recovery” that was spiked through all of the monetary drugs by Ben has now resulted in loose-money drug poisoning, exactly as it did in 2008.
This same scheme was run in 07 and 08 and did not work. It will not work this time either. But we have blown an additional $4.5 trillion in government deficit spending between then and now, which is new debt that now has to be paid out of diminishing tax revenues. That in turn will eventually result in either Uncle Sam’s credit card getting cut up or the rug will have to be pulled out from under this scheme by Bernanke before it happens.’
Silver hits 31-year top, iShares Silver at record
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE | Mon Apr 4, 2011 11:23pm EDT
(Reuters) - Silver jumped to its highest since early 1980 on Tuesday on inflation concerns, a rise in ETF holdings to another record and growing industrial demand, while gold hardly moved as the euro held below this week’s five-month high versus the dollar.
In addition to rising investment demand for silver as a cheaper alternative to gold, an expected increase in physical buying from China was likely to support the metal, which gained 22 percent in the first quarter — its ninth consecutive quarterly increase.
Silver, widely used in electronics manufacturing, rose as high as $38.73 an ounce and was quoted at $38.64 an ounce by 0301 GMT, up 22 cents.
“We do see a lot of demand for silver from China, so we think silver used in solar panels have increased. We think China will have a lot of demand for silver in the medium to long term,” said Natalie Robertson, commodities strategist at ANZ in Melbourne.
“With China focusing more on renewable energy, especially after the nuclear crisis in Japan, they will probably be developing a lot more solar panels. Fundamentally, the silver picture looks very strong as well.”
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It’s disheartening enough when my kids exchange insults. But the House Speaker and the Senate Majority Leader? Yegads!
Obama invites top lawmakers to hash out budget at White House as deadline looms
By Paul Kane and and Jon Cohen, Monday, April 4, 10:00 PM
As they dug in for a final week of haggling over the 2011 budget, House and Senate leaders struggled Monday to reach agreement over tens of billions of dollars in spending cuts, renewing doubts about their ability to avert a government shutdown.
After weeks of negotiating over money, time is now the biggest concern. There is general agreement that the two sides must work out a deal by Tuesday night if it is to work its way through both chambers and reach President Obama’s desk before the government runs out of money Friday.
Short of a deal, lawmakers could avert a shutdown by approving another short-term measure to keep Washington open while the two sides work out their differences. But many Democrats and Republicans have said they will not approve what would be the seventh stopgap funding bill since fall.
If lawmakers fail to reach an agreement, the first federal government shutdown since the mid-1990s would start Saturday and the full impact would be felt on Monday, when millions of federal workers across the country would typically report for work.
As the deadline neared, House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) and Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) exchanged insults, each side blaming the other for the stalemate.
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Why Buy? You Can Spend Tons Renting
By MARC SANTORA
Published: April 1, 2011
Between the sweeping shots of Manhattan fast-paced cuts showed glimpses of city landmarks, bustling streets, crowded subways and strollers ambling over the Brooklyn Bridge. As the pulse of the music intensified, New York was depicted in constant motion, with clouds racing above the soaring towers, and with one newcomer to the skyline — its undulating steel skin glistening gold in the sunshine — playing a starring role.
As the trailer ended, four simple words flashed onto the screen: “New York by Gehry.”
It was not a teaser for the newest Hollywood blockbuster. The pitch was for the latest addition to the luxury high-rise rental market in the city, a 76-story tower designed by Frank Gehry at 8 Spruce Street, on the edge of the financial district.
The feature film that followed, “Limitless,” explores what happens when someone taps the full potential of his brain. The Gehry building — along with a dozen other new large-scale luxury rental buildings that have gone on the market in the last year — is testing the limits of the price renters will pay for what developers call “aspirational living.”
Even in a city not known for restraint when it comes to displays of wealth and status the properties — with their tens of thousands of square feet dedicated to amenities like private screening rooms, sprawling gyms and even a dog spa — are something new in the rental market.
The decision by developers to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on rental projects that in past years would most likely have been high-end condos was driven by a number of factors.
In the boom years, developers say, the market was oversaturated with new luxury condo construction. At the same time, and even in the worst period of the recession, rental vacancy rates in Manhattan remained low, never creeping above 3 percent. As lending tightened banks leery of new home construction were more willing to finance rental projects. Then, even that financing dried up. As a result the new mega-rental complexes have the field to themselves, at least for the time being, as few similarly ambitious projects are on the horizon.
More fundamentally people are questioning whether it makes more sense to buy or rent a home in what remains a fragile and often confounding market. Developers are betting that at least for now even those with the money to buy may choose to hang on the sidelines and rent, even if it costs them some very big dollars.
Prices at many of these new luxury rental buildings start as much as 20 percent higher than similar properties already on the market. At the Beatrice in Midtown, for instance, the starting price for studios is more than $3,000 a month; one-bedrooms start at $4,500; and the four penthouses $20,000 per month. Those prices are similar to 8 Spruce Street, where rents start at $2,630 a month for studios and top out at $25,000 a month for three-bedroom penthouses.
MaryAnne Gilmartin, an executive vice president of Forest City Ratner, which developed the Gehry building, said that when the project was taking shape in 2007 including 200 condo units on the top floors was “seriously contemplated.”
“It seemed worth studying because you could create something very special,” Ms. Gilmartin said. But it was the height of the condo craze, before the bust. “We saw the potential oversupply of condos and we were taken aback by it,” she said.
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Any takers on a $14m Las Vegas estate, attractively priced at $25m?
PRIVATE PROPERTIES
APRIL 1, 2011
Massive Las Vegas Estate Slashes Price to $25 Million
A sprawling Las Vegas estate has seen its price cut by a third.
The home, most recently listed for $37.5 million, is now asking $25 million. It had, at one point, been quietly marketed for $60 million and is one of the largest private residences in Nevada.
Photos
Have $25 million dollars to spare? Candace Jackson shows us a Las Vegas mansion owned by a Brunei Prince that was once valued at $60 Million and is now on sale for less than half that amount.
Located five minutes from the Las Vegas Strip, the estate was reportedly built for Prince Jefri Bolkiah of Brunei. Spanning 11.2 acres, the property has more than 73,000 square feet of living space spread across eight buildings. The 18-bedroom, 36-bathroom home has multiple master suites, a sushi bar and a discotheque. The grounds include an equestrian center, polo track and an 11-car garage.
The home is owned by Eric Petersen, a real-estate investor who was president of Consumer Credit Services, a company that ceased operations and filed for bankruptcy protection last year.
Mr. Petersen paid $14 million for the property in 2004 and says he spent roughly $20 million completing construction but has never lived in the home. “I’m losing my patootie on it,” he says. He says he no longer likes Las Vegas and plans to move to Beverly Hills, where he currently lives part time.
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Pass the bubbly!
HEARD ON THE STREET
APRIL 5, 2011
Bubble Trouble in France
By MATTHEW CURTIN
When it comes to bubbles and France, Champagne comes to mind. But runaway mortgage lending by French banks has raised the prospect of a bubble of the real-estate kind.
Home prices rose an average of nearly 9% in 2010 and climbed 18% in Paris. Fixed-rate mortgage lending jumped 73% in February from a year earlier, to €149.9 billion ($213.2 billion), prompting the Bank of France to warn banks to rein in their lending.
A subprime debacle is unlikely given low loan-to-value ratios and conservative lending practices. French banks typically won’t lend if repayments exceed 30% of pretax household income.
But low interest rates have proved a powerful incentive for home buyers in a country where banks traditionally lend at fixed, not variable, rates. The average mortgage rate in February was 3.5%, three percentage points below the 6.5% peak at the end of 2008.
Other factors are also fueling the rise. The 2009 Scellier law entitled purchasers of a €200,000 qualifying buy-to-let apartment to a €50,000 tax rebate over nine years, as part of an effort to encourage more investment in housing. The planned extension of France’s mandatory retirement age to 62 from 60, and the prospect of future extensions, is convincing people they’ll have longer to finance home loans than they were expecting.
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More painful wrist slaps coming to Megabank, Inc?
REAL ESTATE
APRIL 4, 2011
Lenders Near Pacts With Regulators in Foreclosure Probe
By ALAN ZIBEL
WASHINGTON—Fourteen U.S. lenders are on the verge of agreements with federal bank regulators to overhaul their handling of foreclosures and treatment of delinquent borrowers in response to allegations of abuses that emerged last fall.
Regulators including the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Federal Reserve and Office of Thrift Supervision could announce the agreements with the banks and thrifts as early as next week, though a date wasn’t final, according to people familiar with the matter.
The regulators are likely to act ahead of state attorneys general, who are also in talks with the banks. Those discussions are moving at a slower pace amid disputes among several state officials.
Bank of America Corp., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Co. and 11 other home-loan servicers have been under investigation by their regulators and state officials over breakdowns in procedures for handling foreclosures and requests for loan assistance. Several have acknowledged using so-called robo-signers who filed documents to foreclose on homeowners without personally verifying their contents.
Federal regulators are likely to fine the companies, but those penalties are unlikely to be announced at the same time as the agreements to change bank practices, according to people familiar with the regulators’ plans. Any fines, however, could still be coordinated with the state attorneys general.
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Politicians are liars.
REVIEW & OUTLOOK
APRIL 1, 2011
Blinking on Fan and Fred
Republicans miss a chance to put the toxic twins out of business.
Democrats like to paint House Republicans as “extreme” ideologues held captive by the Tea Party. But after reviewing the House GOP’s new plan to reform the housing market, we wish the Tea Party had grabbed a few more hostages.
On Tuesday Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee introduced eight bills to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-created mortgage giants at the heart of the financial crisis. These toxic twins have already gobbled up $156 billion of taxpayer money. But not one of the eight bills would shut down Fannie or Freddie—even on a delayed fuse.
You could argue that the House GOP has rolled out a less aggressive reform plan than one of the options recently floated by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. Yes, the same Secretary Geithner who quietly gave Fan and Fred an unlimited call on taxpayer cash on Christmas Eve of 2009. Can he really be among the Beltway’s boldest voices for reform only five months after a bailout-weary electorate turned the House over to Republicans?
Those Republicans seem to have decided that fundamental reform isn’t possible with a Democratic Senate. At least that’s the charitable view. Another is that Financial Services Chairman Spencer Bachus, a longtime friend of the mortgage twins, still can’t liberate himself from the housing lobby that wants Fan and Fred to rise again. Whatever the reasons, taxpayers hoping for a clean break from Washington’s housing folly are being offered merely incremental enhancements.
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Apr 5, 2011
Page 1 of 3
CREDIT BUBBLE BULLETIN
Faster, faster
Commentary and weekly watch by Doug Noland
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It’s difficult to take issue with the markets’ view that Team Bernanke/Dudley (Fed chairman Ben Bernanke and Federal Open Market Committee vice chairman William Dudley) will win the day - and that an increasingly divided Fed will bicker, float mixed signals and, at the end of the day, stick with ultra-loose for the foreseeable future. And as much as a few prominent policymakers would like to contemplate - and begin planning for - an unwind of the Federal Reserve’s bloated balance sheet, Mr Market listens politely while speculating “a cold day in hell”.
Yet, markets will most likely three months from today be operating without additional Fed liquidity injections. As policymakers had hoped, QE2 provided a powerful jolt. Continued massive issuance of Treasury debt has been accommodated; equity prices have surged; confidence has been boosted; corporate debt issuance has boomed; leveraged lending has been fully revived; an M&A boom has been unleashed; the hedge fund industry has more than recovered; intensive “animal spirits” have been enlivened throughout - and some private-sector jobs have returned.
But has The Jolt incited ample momentum within the private-sector credit system and throughout the economy to now enable a successful “hand-off” from massive public-sector stimulus to a self-sufficient private-sector credit up-cycle? Examining recent corporate debt issuance, stock prices, M&A, and global risk asset prices generally, there is a case to be made for a sustainable expansion cycle. On the other side of the ledger, moribund housing and mortgage credit, along with vulnerabilities in municipal finance, point to ongoing system credit stagnation. Total bank credit contracted during the quarter, and most likely total mortgage debt posted little or no growth. And in the midst of booming debt issuance, it is worth nothing that, at $46.4 billion, first quarter municipal debt sales were only about half the year ago level and the lowest amount since Q1 2000 (Thomson Reuters).
It’s been my view that the power of QE2 was not so much with the $600 billion. It was, instead, that the Fed was right there guaranteeing more than ample marketplace liquidity at the first sign of market tumult. It was the markets’ perception of “systemic too big to fail” - confirmed, just as the markets expected. And why not speculate on risk assets, assured that central bankers would be quick to bolster the markets at the first sign of trouble? Why not, especially appreciating that Fed interventions would both add liquidity and pressure the dollar - bolstering a powerful monetary process now deeply entrenched in traders’ psyche? Why not just ignore risk and speculate, emboldened by the reality that systemic fragilities ensure a potent punchbowl filled to the brim? QE2 was one more in an ongoing series of mistakes by our central bank.
As we begin the second quarter, it’s increasingly difficult for the Fed to ignore mounting inflationary pressures. Commenting on tame “core” Consumer Price Index is not going to resonate. Yet, as a committee, they surely will disregard inflation and cling closely (as Mr Dudley did on Friday morning) to their “full employment” mandate.
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