Bits Bucket for April 10, 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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question for the board: Can the Fed allow rates to go up? Won’t that absolutely crush the housing industry? I suspect it would cause a huge increase in CRE defaults as well. Many CRE properties not only have huge equity deficits, but minimal debt-service coverage, a rate spike will cause a corresponding payment spike, making payments for troubled credits that much more of a challenge.
OR is the monster bet that inflation increases will devalue the outstanding debt faster, but allowing people to pay back debt with cheaper dollars?
One more thing, one would have to think higher rates will increase the speed and severity of real estate value declines, causing even more jingle mail/mortgage holder walkaways.
Any input is appreciated.
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
Eventually they won’t have a choice.
Which is why one should be buying far more T-bills than treasury notes. Those worried about inflation should have ten percent of their assets in precious metals. But have more cash than metals and rebalance the asset allocation.
Dan :
You are forgetting the Millions who now have adjustable rate credit cards…that’s the biggie no one talks about…
It is not covered in the Credit Card bill…fed raises rates the CC companies can also raise rates on previous outstanding balances too…. It’s only not allowed on fixed rate cards…
End of zero-percent car financing as well.
Maybe not. The car financing is all built into the price of the car.
If the interest goes up, they will just adjust the new price to compensate for borrowing costs.
BUt the monnthly nut will still increase, scring how much a month Harry away, not that he can afford today’s prices.
It will be interesting to see what they choose to do. At some point inflation will become so obvious and painful that the gov’t will have to give up citing their iPad and HDTV based “core” inflation numbers to the public as even those will rise in price. The question is what will they do then?
If they raise interest rates mass CC defaults and probably individual BKs will ensue. Car sales will plummet even more, maybe as much as 50% as the remaining “howmuchamoth harrys” will be scared ofby the much higher monthly payments. And housing sales and prices? If the NAR thinks its ugly now, they haven’t seen anything yet.
But the real bugaboo is that the US Gov’ts short term debt will have to be rolled over into high interest bonds and the percentage of the budget to service the debt will soar.
I still believe that they will monetize the debt rather than default. If the Federal Reserve refuses to play along, I could see the Treasury firing up its own printing press.
I’m just amazed at how far they’ve been able to kick the can down the road already. This is an agonizingly slow meltdown.
Once upon a time, a windstorm blew through our neighborhood. After the storm, I noticed that one of the neighbor’s fir trees was rocking back and forth as it was listing toward our house. This tree was easily 100 feet tall. The next day, it came to rest on our roof. Because it took so long to fall, it damaged only a few shingles.
The moral of the story is: A slow motion fall causes less damage than a fast one.
Kicking the can down the road may effectively minimize the damage. Eventually we will have to clean up the mess. We might have a bigger mess if we did not try to slow it down.
“We might have a bigger mess if we did not try to slow it down.”
Or not. Is it better for a SuperMax to chop up one school of fat whales (I’m looking at you banksters) in an instant or to turn off its engines a mile too late when steaming into port? I suppose that the people can get out of the way, but there’s a lot of infrastructure that’s going to be wrecked at slow speeds.
My point is not that my story is perfect but rather that any story can be may up to suit a post hoc view of what happened.
“I suppose that the people can get out of the way, but there’s a lot of infrastructure that’s going to be wrecked at slow speeds. ”
How much infrastructure would be wrecked if SuperMax hit port at full speed (after chewing up some whales without noticing)?
“Can the Fed allow rates to go up?”
It’s a conundrum:
- Higher rates => contain inflation, crash asset prices, potentially kill off the labor market recovery;
- Extend the extended period of low rates => fuel inflation (not just the volatile food and energy sectors, either), keep asset prices bubbly, keep the labor market recovery going.
Which of the above have anything to do with the Fed’s dual mandate (contain inflation, keep employment high)?
Another tricky part (and I believe they are working on this): Would you rather have more jobs and inflation now, or less jobs and inflation now.
And if you opt for more jobs and inflation now, what are you going to do later to kill off the inflationary expectations you have inadvertently fueled without having less jobs later?
“And if you opt for more jobs and inflation now, what are you going to do later to kill off the inflationary expectations you have inadvertently fueled without having less jobs later?”
A good question. But the track record so far is to play kick the can. I doubt it will change.
We already have the inflaiton, but not the jobs.
Paging Lavi……………
They are talking about raising rates because they want to give people a chance to get their ducks in a row first. I’m pretty sure it’s gonna happen.
So many commentators are saying that “they CAN’T” raise rates, but that’s not true. They can do whatever they want. Remember when they “couldn’t” decrease rates any more? They can and they will if they want to. Yes, it may drive some people to default on their cc’s. Yes, it may stem the flow of added jobs to the economy. That doesn’t mean they can’t.
“They are talking about raising rates because they want to give people a chance to get their ducks in a row first.”
Like pay off their $10,000+ CC balances?
No… like SAVE a lot now and get a secured card… Then default on the 10K card when the CC interest rates goes up 5%…
“They are talking about raising rates because they want to give people a chance to get their ducks in a row first.”
Like pay off their $10,000+ CC balances?
The “dual mandate” is laughable. The Fed doesn’t pay unemployment benefits. They have no incentive to keep employment high. You get what you incenitize, not what you wag your tongue about.
So what is our Bank of Banks incenitized to do?
“The “dual mandate” is laughable.”
True dat. The Fed’s sole mandate is to shear the sheeple. Unfortunately their blades have gotten dull due to full-time use.
“They have no incentive to keep employment high.”
I guess if you say so, it must be true?
Humphrey–Hawkins Full Employment Act
The Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act[1] (known informally as the Humphrey–Hawkins Full Employment Act), is an act of legislation by the United States government.
Unemployment and inflation levels began to rise in the early 1970s, reviving fears of an economic recession. In the past, the country’s economic policy had been defined by the Employment Act of 1946, which encouraged the federal government to pursue “maximum employment, production, and purchasing power” through cooperation with private enterprise. Some Congressmen, dissatisfied with the vague wording of this act, sought to create an amendment that would strengthen and clarify the country’s economic policy.
The Act’s sponsors embraced conventional Keynesian economic theory, which advocates aggressive government spending to increase economic demand. In particular, Keynesian theory asserts that the government can minimize the shock of business fluctuations by compensatory spending, intended to maintain or inflate investment levels by government spending.
Consistent with Keynesian theory, the Act provides for measures to create temporary government jobs to reduce unemployment, as was attempted during the Great Depression.
Somewhat contradictorily, the Act also encouraged the government to develop a sound monetary policy, to minimize inflation, and to push toward full employment by managing the amount and liquidity of currency in circulation.
…
I’m not sure how inflation can devalue the debt faster if salaries don’t rise. At this stage salaries are at best stagnant, and people are paying more in fees and taxes locally and getting fewer services. They are paying more for food and fuel leaving less for eating out and buying manufactured goods. Car sales are up but only because 0% interest loans are back.
Other than funneling more dough into the coffers of great vampire squids, I don’t believe the printing press blizzard is doing much to right the wronged economy.
http://www.kitco.com/market/
Precious metals reacting predictably to the insanity that passes for our fiscal policy.
Let’s get it over with !
Don’t know about you Dan, but if they raise the PRIME within 5 years, then i’m bailin’ on three rental properiies.
Iceland again says No
BBC News
Nearly 60% of people were against the plan
Icelanders have rejected the latest plan to repay the UK and Netherlands some 4bn euros lost when the country’s banking system collapsed in 2008.
Partial referendum results show 58% voting no, and 42% supporting the plan.
Johanna Sigurdardottir, Iceland’s Prime Minister, said the rejection meant “the worst option was chosen”.
UK Treasury minister Danny Alexander said the decision was “disappointing” and the matter would go to an international court.
“Many Icelanders feel they should not have to pay for the mistakes of their banking elite, who made deals around the world during a decade of boom before the credit crunch struck.”
I don’t care what they “feel”. Pay up deadbeats….
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hHdLcI1KVsR8ZxBoLwjTssB6uETA?docId=99d415ea249542b8aa5a2d3187e71845
Why should they “pay”? It’s not their debt. Note how the Parliament, supposedly a representative of the “people”, voted to pay out the debts under the negotiated “deal”.
These are private debts. The people who are losing their money deposited their money into “high yield” accounts (greed) during the FED’s devaluing of the world’s reserve currency, not wanting to have their money stolen by Central bankers through inflation of the money supply. I understand it perfectly.
I have had plenty of opportunities to buy Krona, Canadian dollars, Aussie dollars, Brazilian Real, and lots of other ways to keep from losing money I have in the bank.
I have not wanted to “RISK” the money I have with foreign currency investments, ALL of which are paying better than the paltry .025 annual interest rate. So I passed. Why?
Because I fear foreign bank solvency, more than the FED’s, which is insolvent.
So, please explain how the PEOPLE of Iceland should be held responsible for the Iceland Bankster’s debts, which they had NO dealings with, whatsoever.
Do you think Goldman Suchs or JP Morgan are going to listen to anything you or I have to say about what deals they are making with the FREE money they get from the FED??
I don’t think so, either.
So, should we be saddled with JPM or GS or CITI or and other debts? No. We shouldn’t, but the FED is doing just that, as the Bankers rake in record bonus money and consume an even greater share of the American Pie. You and I won’t even get a crumb.
All hail Obama!
“So, please explain how the PEOPLE of Iceland should be held responsible for the Iceland Bankster’s debts, which they had NO dealings with, whatsoever.”
By the Darwinian concept of might makes right, which is the way the world (sadly) works.
Or a Mel Brooks (KIng Louis) said in History of the World: It’s good to be the King!
I was also thinking, if the Iceland taxpayers are supposed to be the bagholders when things turn south, shouldn’t they get a big share of the profit during the good times?
I know, I’m being an idealistic fool.
“share the profits”
Damn socialist.
Next thing you know, you will be promoting socialist health care, instead of being able to brag about our “free market” health care system, that is working so well for everyone.
Thus it is clear private debt IS national debt.
This article has some interesting perspectives to ponder. First, isn’t it amazing that the Icelandic People actually have something to say about the DEBTS that their banks got into. When we, the American People opposed the “bailouts”, our CONgressman voted for TARP.
When the FED bought all the bank’s debts with printed money, illegally, buying “private debt”, not Debt of the US Government, our Congress did nothing. They have given the FED a blank check and not bothered to review the FEDERAL RESERVE ACT of 1913 to understand the LIMITS of the FED’s authority.
TRILLIONS of new debts have been created and put on the backs of the American public. All without on the whims of a few FED gangsters, in coordination with the TREASURY Secretary (owned by the FED).
We got no say in ANY of these ‘deals’.
Note also, that the Rejection of the debts (created by private banking cartels) by the people are now being pursued by an “international court”???
What “court” has the authority to saddle Iceland with the private debts of deals done by its bankers? How much of this is government debt that the people of ICELAND had no say in accumulating?
Did they have a TARP program, too?
Perhaps an “international court” should subpoena Ben Bernanke and the FED governors and investigate them for Counterfeiting US Dollars.
Perhaps they should be tried for Criminal Mischief and Larceny.
They are all guilty, but who is going to hold them accountable?
At least the People of Iceland have had some say in the runnings of their country, unlike We the People here in the US of A. We have been ignored in the ruining of ours, while the “media” cheer-leads the great work of the FED at “saving” us from certain doom.
Perhaps we could learn something from the Icelanders. It may, however, take a revolution because our government is obviously no longer a government of the People, but a servile State beholding to money-printers and money-changers.
When we, the American People opposed the “bailouts”, our CONgressman voted for TARP.
“We” the SAPS (Stupid Ass Public) opposed the bailouts, but then 95% of the electorate turned around and voted for pro-bailout, corporatist, statist candidates, Obama and McCain. So Wall Street and the Republicrats know that for all the supposed “outrage” over bailouts, the sheeple can be counted on to meekly grab their ankles on demand.
I agree. So I stopped trying to make a difference and turned away from politics. You and I are two people from that five percent who have absolutely no political power. Better for my heart to ignore the State.
We may have “no political power” but at least we’re not vegetables.
“Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.” - Edmund Burke
Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.” - Edmund Burke
my new inspiration
“At least the People of Iceland have had some say in the runnings of their country, unlike We the People here in the US of A.”
That’s OK, I’m sure everytime they play the Star Spangled Banner at a ball game and they sing “the land of the free and the home of the brave” everyone gets a warm fuzzy in their chest, even though it’s a lie.
People want to believe, all evidence to the contrary.
Facing up to the truth means you either bend over and take it like a serf, or take a hard look at the reasons why, and doing something about it.
Like, for starters, re examining policies that continually give tax breaks to the top 5%ers and large corporations, and stacking the tax burden onto the middle class.
“International court”. Like the one that decided to hand Sadam Hussein to death? Those aren’t real courts, they are strongarm courts. I wonder how this “court” will enforce its decision anyway? Are we going to attack Iceland now? Something tells me there’s nothing anyone can do to make them pay.
I mean HANG!!!
““International court”. Like the one that decided to hand Sadam Hussein to death?”
Saddam was tried and sentenced in an Iraqi court, not an “international court”.
Course that doesn’t mean it was not a puppet court.
Or a kangaroo court
Trust me, the banksters will do everything possible to extract their pound of flesh, using pliable governments like Britain and supra-national bodies like the EU and IMF.
Iceland has a massive advantage over many countries in that it has virtually unlimited geothermal energy and very cheap electric rates as a result. Most of the worlds Aluminum is smelted there.
And I agree, bondholders are not entitled to gain on the swings and gain on the roundabouts. They took a chance to invest in risky high return mortgages and lost. End of story…
1. They will negate fishing treaties and european boats will pillage the shore of Iceland
2. They will confiscate private Icelandic wealth held in other countries.
3. They will issue trade sanctions
4. Finally they will have a small group of Icelanders start a coup and they will back it up with UN military.
Isn’t that how they took over Lybia and Iraq when their leaders wouldn’t play ball. We all know being a brutal overlord is fine as long as you play ball with the elite.
” They will negate fishing treaties and european boats will pillage the shore of Iceland”
The return of the Cod Wars! (Did they ever really end?)
‘Bring it on’, say the viking-descended Icelanders. They’ll fight for their fish…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_N6URYN_nc4
1. They will negate fishing treaties and european boats will pillage the shore of Iceland
2. They will confiscate private Icelandic wealth held in other countries.
3. They will issue trade sanctions
4. Finally they will have a small group of Icelanders start a coup and they will back it up with UN military.
no they won’t
Dio,
You are spot on with your questions.
“An international court?”. Are we not sovereign?
I could go on and on but won’t. It is clear to me what’s happening.
Sadly, so many Americans are slooooow on the uptake.
A disappointed 5%
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/8440938/Iceland-rejects-UK-repayment-deal.html
Some of the reader comments are priceless. No sympathy for the crooked bankers or the greedhead bondholders who should’ve questioned why they were being offered such high rates of returns.
Most of this money was “loaned” to US Citizens to purchase overpriced homes. Makes more sense the money should be paid back by these borrowers than the citizens of Iceland.
Uh-oh. you’ve caught something I missed. the money trail.
are you sure about most of the money going to defaulting home loans in the USof A???
If that’s true, then the FED now holds the loan papers. Since the FED won’t get the money back and will need to write down the bad debts, that means they are now the debts of the US Taxpayers.
That changes everything.
Those damn Icelanders! They need to pay their debts immediately!! With a huge interest rate attached!!!!
How can they default on this huge debt? It’s shameless! Shameless, I tell you.
All Hail the FED and Obama.
What does this have to do with Obama? He wasn’t even born yet when all this was going down.
“He wasn’t even born yet when all this was going down.”
He’s so evil, he caused it all ex post facto.
We don’t know when he was born because we haven’t seen the birth certificate.
Deleted scenes / “Inside Job”:
Ranger Rover = “Game-Over”
All of these “bankers” should go to the gallows.
Scam…
SEC wrestling with private trading rules
The Securities and Exchange Commission review could make it easier for private companies to raise capital while delaying an initial public offering and the accompanying increase in financial disclosures.
“We are approaching it with an open mind,” SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro said of the policy review on Friday to a group of business journalists. “I really can’t predict what, if any, change will come out of that.”
“Many of the rules we have in place governing the offering process are decades old,” Schapiro said on Friday. “It makes sense for us … to take a look at whether our rules have kept pace with changing market dynamics.”
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/08/us-sec-schapiro-idUSTRE7373MC20110408
Where have I heard this before?
In October 1993 a speech titled “The Derivatives Revolution and the World Financial System”, Shapiro doubted that “consolidated regulatory supervision against regulating derivative markets” of “securities firms and their affiliates” was “necessary or appropriate at this time.” Shapiro instead suggested that “financial innovation” could be the result of “a more flexible regulatory paradigm.
SEC has not managed to get a single conviction in the tiny number of anemic prosecutions they managed to bring following the collapse of the housing bubble and the 2008 market crash, both of which involved massive, systemic fraud. The only time they show any zeal in going after financial fraud is in places at least one time zone removed from New York City, usually in places where people marry their cousins.
So right Sammy.
Reminds me of the UBS agreement to sacrificer 4K +/- ‘small fish’ to satiate the US investigation.
Why wouldn’t you release every name? Gee, I’m confused? I thought justice is blind.
Disgusted in SV
““It makes sense for us … to take a look at whether our rules have kept pace with changing market dynamics.””
Translation - We are Wall St’s prison b.., er, “wife.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/tough-down-payment-proposals-worry-home-buyers/2011/04/07/AFFOCCAD_story.html?hpid=z3
I don’t think housing will return to what is a reasonable price to income until people become embarassed to utter things like this in public:
“Because of the low-down-payment loans, millions of low-to-moderate income families became successful homeowners,” Susanna Montezemolo, vice president of federal affairs at the Center for Responsible Lending, said in a recent analysis. “Mortgages generally performed well … while expanding the middle class.”
“Some critics of the federal proposal say the size of a down payment is not by itself a good predictor of whether a borrower will pay off a mortgage. Some economists say low-down-payment loans carry relatively little risk if borrowers have enough income to cover their monthly mortgage costs, have a history of paying bills on time and take out a long-term mortgage with a fixed rate.”
It’s like the last four years never happened.
I would change that to “Because of low down-payment loans, millions of families with a stable job with a steady income were able to build equity earlier on in life and avoid throwing 4 years of rental cash into the trash.
Really, it’s not a bad idea if you limit it to first-time buyers. The kicker is that house prices were low enough that a middle-class steady income was plenty enough to make the monthly
payment, even at higher interest rates.
The down-payment requirement is the biggest thing that keeps prices low. If you are required to put 10% down, then I guess the median starter home can’t be bigger than, what, 50-100k?
The true purpose of the low down-payment program is to increase house prices.
I might add that low interest rates also support the higher house price. If we had 20% down and 10% interest, starter house prices would need to be much lower than you suggest.
The 29 year old spending $250k on a condo in DC can’t even scrape together 10 percent without borrowing from her parents. She claims it would take “a long, long time” to save 20% and yet still thinks that price is acceptable for what she calls the “low end.”
My parents borrowed from my mother’s parents for the down payment on their first (and only) house.
And my parents bought the home I grew up in with less than 10% down (and now they are debt free, livin’ the dream).
Jamie Dimon’s silly housing subsidy
Let’s say you’re a giant bank with an extra 400 grand lying around. What to do with it?
You could pay six workers the median family income in your home state of New York, perhaps. Or you could pick up the moving expenses for your CEO, who made $20.8 million last year and $58 million over the past three – not counting the $2 million he just cleared on the sale of his house. Which do you choose?
Naturally you choose the latter if you are JPMorgan Chase (JPM). It paid CEO Jamie Dimon $1 million in salary, a $5 million cash bonus, $14.2 million in stock and option awards and around $600,000 in other compensation for 2010 – largely moving expenses.
JPMorgan forked over $421,458 last year to compensate Dimon for moving costs incurred as he moved his family from Chicago to New York. Yes, moving is hell, but you don’t know the half of it.
http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2011/04/08/jamie-dimons-silly-housing-subsidy/?section=money_topstories
Does he have a mortgage with fully deductible interest, to boot?
How rich is enough, for Chrissakes?
“How rich is enough, for Chrissakes?”
There is no limit, we already know that. The sad part is that we have collectively convinced ourselves that such level of greed is a virtue and not a vice.
“…we have collectively convinced ourselves that such level of greed is a virtue and not a vice.”
Speak for yourself. I think Jamie Dimon, Lloyd Blankfein and most other Wall Street Megabank CEOs are slime.
Once these people reach this level, it’s about keeping score with their peers. Their greed knows no bounds. If they’re making $20M per year, but one of their contemporary’s is making $25M per year, they seethe with anger, feeling they are entitled to compensation above that. They are the scum of the earth.
And what did JP Morgan Co. do to “earn” all this money? They borrowed money from the FED at ZERO interest, and sold a whole bunch of it back to the TREASURY, for 4% interest, making an instant profit in the hundreds of millions for basically doing nothing but shuffling papers around.
The rest of the money, they used to buy stocks and commodities, at 20 to one leverage, thereby driving up the price of stocks and commodities, and extracting additional profits from these Operations.
Then, he and his friends got with Ben Bernanke to take all those “bad loans”, off the bank’s books and put them on the Fed’s books. All the bad debts disappeared and we got instant profitability of insolvent banks, thereby booking non-existent profits to pay huge bonuses and of-course the necessary expense of the Bank and its executives.
What net benefit did We the People get from these shenanigans?
We got Trillions of new debt and a stooge in the Whitehouse more than willing to run up a bunch more debts to provide “benefits” to all his supporters.
I couldn’t find stuff like this to imagine for a fictional story of the Collapse of a Civilization. It’s more intriguing than the Fall of Rome.
+1
You could pay six families a median family income.
in exchange for what?
Work that is being offshored?
And wages that are spent in the community, rather than in Shanghai, etc.
So what type of work is there for six people at this bank that has an extra $400,000 lying around? Bank teller? Janitor? Security Guard? Greeter? Loan officer?
It would not be non-bank work obviously, since that is not the bank’s business. The bank must make money off those six people. That is exactly what any company does - pay its employees x and expect to get x + k back.
Companies are allowed to exist by the society because of how socially beneficial they are. Mafias are companies, but they cause a net cost on society, so they are illegal and pursued relentlessly and shut down where they are found.
It is true that a company should seek profit. It is up to the society to make sure that company is providing benefit to society as it seeks profit. This has historically been a very potent force in improving the standard of living of a society.
So regarding paying Dimon his moving expenses versus paying six new employees - it seems to me that the choice is paying the movers and concierges, or forcing Dimon to come up with 400K out of his existing massive compensation to do so.
What is more societally beneficial? I do wish there were a way to a) allow those doing societally beneficial things to be rewarded proportionally to the benefit they yield (and I do think some top executives do yield tremendous benefit) and b) dismantle the existing system of “privatize profits / socialize losses”, which leads to people like Dimon and co from reaping Croesusian profits while imposing gargantuan costs, Mafia-like, on the society. And c) to have a system which generates a more equitable distribution of wealth.
I appreciate there are smart, talented, hard-working people out there and they should be able to obtain riches beyond their dreams - IF they provide commensurate benefit to society. Not just because their lobbying arm is able to extract the most money from the public treasury.
Little known fact: Many corporations often pay the personal income tax of their executives.
So while we stupidly argue about taxing the rich, the rich really aren’t paying their taxes at all.
New trend in banking?
Future of Mount Clemens bank in doubt after CEO’s puzzling death
Troubled Community Central Bank of Mount Clemens is telling securities regulators that it’s doubtful that the bank can continue operating and is likely to be seized by state and federal regulators, with no money left to pay creditors.
Community Central had already been struggling to raise new capital to help it cover bad real estate and commercial loans when its president and CEO, David Widlak, disappeared in September. His office was in disarray, an old pistol of his was gone, and the 62-year-old banker’s car was still in the parking lot.
A month later, Widlak’s body was found floating in shallow water near a Lake St. Claire boat ramp. He was shot in the back of the head with his pistol. Investigators concluded in December that Widlak most likely took his own life — a scenario his family doesn’t buy. An initial autopsy of Widlak missed a bullet wound that was discovered in a subsequent autopsy, prompting police at that time to declare the case a homicide investigation.
From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110405/BIZ/104050389/Future-of-Mount-Clemens-bank-in-doubt-after-CEO’s-puzzling-death#ixzz1J7cMBaUo
“He was shot in the back of the head with his pistol”
?????
Must have been a pretty limber 62 year old.
Poor guy.
Misty in SV
This is how Maddow would have ended up if the Feds hadn’t got to him first. And still got a beat down in jail.
Kind of reminds me of the Whitewater days.
No duh…
Jim Lacey disqualified as company director
FORMER NATIONAL Irish Bank (NIB) chief executive Jim Lacey was yesterday disqualified as a company director on grounds of unfitness. The High Court has ruled his conduct of various aspects of the bank’s affairs was “grossly negligent”.
The period of disqualification will be decided later.
Mr Lacey, Pine Haven, Grove House Gardens, Blackrock, Co Dublin, had strongly opposed any disqualification order, arguing it was unwarranted and would have major reputational consequences for him
While noting Mr Lacey had said he was unaware of various improper practices within the bank, the judge described as “bordering on incredulity” Mr Lacey’s insistence he did not know what a senior NIB official meant in 1989 when describing non-resident accounts as “a sensitive issue” and referring to “this thorny subject” of Revenue concerns.
Mr Lacey should have been aware – and in some cases was aware – of a practice of treating certain accounts as non-resident accounts when they were not, the judge said. Mr Lacey ought to have known that practice facilitated the evasion of Dirt by the bank.
It seemed “to strain understanding” that Mr Lacey sought to deny his knowledge of non-compliance concerning payment of Dirt because the word “bogus” was not actually used by the internal auditors about such accounts during his time in NIB, the judge added.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2011/0409/1224294305362.html
This so called Victory the Congress pulls out , saving 38 B’s will take care of a week’s deficit . It is at 1.6 Trillion now for this ficial year .
Why do you suddenly have your underwear in a knot over high deficits? Were you around during Ronald Reagan’s time in office? We’ve been running them for quite a while already (some of Clinton’s years excepted)…
Federal debt:
Reagan 1.1T start 2.8T finish…………8 years
Bush 1 3.2T start 4.4T finish…………4 years
Clinton 4.6T start 5.8T finish………..8 years
Bush 2 6.2T start 10.4T finish ……8 years (worst)
Obama………..first year 2010…….13.9T
We hated the Bush2 administration for its socialist policies and it’s greater public spending. That’s why the 1st Congress got kicked out.
We wanted them to STOP the spending. They didn’t and we kicked them to the curb. The Democrats did worse.
Debts under Bush2 rose about 4T in 8 years.
Obama’s are up 3.5T for the first go round. We didn’t have a “budget” last year, and this year we are going for broke.
At the current rate, Obama will double Bush2’s debt performance in just 4 years. Do you think it might be a problem?
Ask the folks in Greece.
Got gold?
But the real question is “where to live?”
I have a friend in Houston and he says that there is a veritable exodus of upper class Mexicans (the ones who have the gold) to Texas because it’s too dangerous to live in Mexico.
So what happens when it becomes to dangerous to live in the USA? Will you become Bill in Toronto? Or maybe Bill in Reykjavík?
P Bear, could you please give us an update on the Ca. deficit situation? Any predictions of the outcome etc. Thx
When it becomes too dangerous to live in the USA?
I’ve been reading articles that all the major crimes are decreasing in the USA. This is also mentioned in Freakonomics (at least the movie). There are fewer younger people and more boomers. As people get older they are less likely to be violent.
But I will take the bait. If the USA becomes too dangerous to live in, I will live in a less dangerous country. You have to keep an eye out for relative safety between countries. That way you can spot the trend and escape before it is too late.
As far as I know, the western developed nations and Japan have the best laws on the books. So I would choose among Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and so forth.
I picked up an interesting magazine at the Phoenix airport this morning in the US Airways club. It is called “Americas Quarterly” and is a policy journal covering the Americas. Very interesting. Covers topics such as NAFTA, drug cartels, Brazil’s new President, Dilma Roussseff, compares the industrial policies of the past with the liberal policies of the last 30 years. There are a lot of topics for many HBBers to hate. But the slant of the magazine is for immigration reform (amnesty), free trade, high unemployment, some success stories between Latin American nations, and so on.
Those wealthy Mexicans are joined by upper middle class Mexicans who are engineers living in the U.S. and working in Ciudad Juarez. Too dangerous to be there anymore.
I thought I closed the dang italics in case no one did, here…
Welcome to the future, frequently kicked can. I can see that you have been both stomped by an elephant and kicked by a donkey.
The whole ‘government shutdown’ sideshow is beyond ridiculous.
Don’t worry though, American Idol comes on shortly.
Parallel Universe SV guy
That can must look like crap by now…….
Note much of the cost of Iraq war did not get tallied in that. Note the prescription drug benefit plan also hits later spending.
“We hated the Bush2 administration for its socialist policies and it’s greater public spending.”
Really? What socialist policies? Revising the bankruptcy laws to favor big banks?
We hated the Bush2 administration for cutting taxes (most of which benefited wealthy folks) and starting 2 unnecessary wars. If Bush2 had had his way, he would have privatized Social Security. Socialist?
Also note the capital gains tax cuts and dividend tax cuts for the elite get handed down the line. Dem’s of course couldn’t find a way despite their majority to reverse this.
“Federal debt:
Reagan 1.1T start 2.8T finish…………8 years
Bush 1 3.2T start 4.4T finish…………4 years
Clinton 4.6T start 5.8T finish………..8 years
Bush 2 6.2T start 10.4T finish ……8 years (worst)
Obama………..first year 2010…….13.9T”
Uh, doesn’t St. Reagan’s + 150% increase in the national debt still reign triumphant as the greatest increase?
Actually, no.
It only shows the stupidity of using “statistics” rather than real numbers to make a point.
The increase was 1.7T. Obama’s already doubled that amount in dollars. Has “inflation” been double over this period.
Not according to the FED and the various governmental reporting agencies.
I saw a headline in a small newspaper in Tennessee many years back. It said that the murder rate had doubled since the previous year.
The previous year they had ONE murder in the county. This year they had 2, and weren’t really sure if the death was accidental or homicide.
It made for a real good headline: 100% increase in the murder rate. But the truth was, crime was about the same.
You are so enamored with that fraud in the Whitehouse, you’ll use any excuse you can find to make him look good.
Your usual tactic is to criticize the “right” on just about everything, even when the facts don’t support it.
The basic argument is “we’re better because xxx did something similar or worse”. The spending under this administration is not anywhere close to any of the prior ones.
the excuse is that the economy would collapse without all the spending. it already collapsed. They say it would be worse. How do they know? they don’t.
I’m sure your figures are inflation adjusted — NOT!
That’s the figure that the “media” should be reporting. 1.6 TRILLION in new DEBT. This is deficit spending.
There were NO cuts in spending. Spending increased, and the debt increased. Repeat, NO CUTS.
The Congress negotiated down the amount of DEBT the Obama Administration is proposing in it’s “BUDGET”.
It’s like giving a $500,000 loan to a vagrant and then cutting $100 off the end of the loan because he doesn’t have a job, to provide some security to the Bank for the loan.
What is even worse is there is nothing on the horizon to suggest lower spending in the future. Reagan’s deficit spending lead to strong economic growth. Also, by winning the cold war, it allowed for Clinton to make large cuts in defense spending and his Republican Congress to trade off restraint in social program spending.
“Reagan’s deficit spending lead to strong economic growth”
Not for most of the middle class. It was an OK time to be a cubicle dweller.
I was talking about the U.S. GDP growth,I agree that it was just trending water time for the middle class.
I have been “cubicle free” since 2008 right after the crash when I was last laid off. It has had its trials, but I wont go back…
Much of that growth under Reagan was also the huge surge in offshoring.
The middle class wasn’t treading water, they were being decimated.
GH, I spent a good part of my life in a cube array. I also will not go back, ever.
Also I would like to know from anyone what policies he pursued that really helped the working class or the country as a whole?
What I see is:
1. Promoted easy money and lax SEC enforcement that helped create the Internet bubble and started housing bubble. Helped his tax revenue numbers but set us up for a fall
2. Ignored Afghanistan allowing the Taliban to take over Afghanistan and missed clear opportunities to kill or capture Osama before he became a major threat.
3. Gave China WTO membership and stopped tying it to human rights.
4. Passed NAFTA (by statute not by Treaty).
5. Lax border enforcement.
All policies intended to pay the banksters and the 5%er, and screw typical J6P, gotta-work-at-a-real job U-S American.
Individually, you could make the case for each of these policies. But when you stack a few hundred of these decisions on top of each other, pretty soonyou don’t have a Main Street economy anymore.
1. Commodities Modernization Act of 2000 / Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act 1999 (dismantled the Glass Steagal Act)
2. Reagan and Bush Sr - Bankrolled and armed the Taliban
3. Reagan and Bush Sr - worked ceaselessly to open China for trade and offshore mfg
4. NAFTA - From Wikipedia “Following diplomatic negotiations dating back to 1986 among the three nations, the leaders met in San Antonio, Texas, on December 17, 1992, to sign NAFTA. U.S. President George H. W. Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Mexican President Carlos Salinas, each responsible for spearheading and promoting the agreement, ceremonially signed it. The agreement then needed to be ratified by each nation’s legislative or parliamentary branch.”
5. Lax southern border enforcement has been a problem for 100 years.
Reagan armed the rebels against Russia, some went on to be Taliban after he left office, some of the rebels fought the Taliban. He did not arm them, the Taliban did not exist when he was in office. I will not defend either Bush senior or junior. Bush I and II and Clinton were for a pro international agenda while Reagan was much closer to true conservative. Besides you miss the point, I just wondering why any one on this board really thinks that Clinton pursued good policies for the middle class. Yes Bush wanted NAFTA but it was Clinton that got it passed. Bush wanted to trade with China despite their human rights record but it was Clinton that got them full trade status.
“I will not defend Bush 1 and 2 except to say that they were blameless, and it all their misdeeds were Clinton’s fault. (And Reagan, of course, was God-like.)”
Reagans deficit spending lead to growth but Obamas is bad how?
I hear all the stupid talk about “spending” but when tax credits are given, everyone seems to go silent about it. Tax credits and cuts IS spending.
What’s the problem?
Measton, Reagan’s deficits were the result of increased defense spending that helped cause the Soviet Union to collapse and tax cuts which included middle class cuts. The fact is after they went into affect the country snapped back with rapid growth. Obama’s much larger stimulus package did not result in a similar snap back, that is not opinion that is history. That is why trillion dollar + deficits are projected into the future as far as the eye can see and the U.S. faces an economic collapse since they have debt and deficits similar to Greece.
Maybe if Obama tried increasing the national debt 150%, like St. Reagan did, he might get St.Reagan’s results?
But that would be ’socialism’, right? It was ‘freedom-fighting’ when Reagan did it.
Wih the new Budget, how does it affect the contracting jobs in the DC area? With 2 billion short for this week and 38 billion for next six months, would the agencies still pay $100 per hour to these contractors and $140+/hr to the companies contracting them.
Maybe this would take the air out from the DC RE bubble.
There are $85 per hour contract jobs in less expensive spots. Any contractor who travels light and travels alone can
…find something just as good over the weekend in the lower 48. However, I would love to see significant real cuts in government spending. Until then, if I turn down $85 per hour because it is too much, someone else will quickly take it.
Damn union janitors!
Oh wait…
There are $85 per hour contract jobs in less expensive spots. Any contractor who travels light and travels alone can find something just as nice over a weekend. No worries about the inevitable shutdown. I want it.
From what I have seen, $85 an hour contract jobs are few and far between these days. I see lots of private contract jobs advertised fro $40/hr or even less. I suppose that if you happened to pick the right skill to learn that you might be able to pull down $85 per hour. Of course I remember when you could pull down $120/hr with the current hot skill.
We had contract Test Engineers where I used to work. They were getting about $40/hr until my employer slashed them down to $25/hr. Most stayed on.
And of course, if the gov’t lays off its contractors they will have to look for work in the private sector. More competition == lower wages.
Yeah, IMO rates are at a point where it is not worth the stress… I am doing my own thing.
Colorado, my definition of contractor is someone who is in the private sector. I think I know what you mean. That they’d have to get clients in the commercial sector, not government sector.
I’m ready in that case. Wal-Mart is hiring!
Actually I made enough money the last ten years to be able to downsize my salary to $35,000 or so - if I must.
If the average house price could come down to $100,000 and new car prices average about $25,000, maybe $35,000 salaries would not be so bad.
70 year old guy where I work. His tax loophole expired in November. He is in good shape for a 70 year old. Lives in a cheap hotel. He’s hard of hearing so the riff raff at the hotel don’t bother him. He’s probably earning $60 per hour, maybe $70. I have been puzzled to why he has to commute the long distances every weekend from Georgia to work. He tells me because his wife spends all the money he makes, so he has to work. He’s also getting social security checks. I think he likes being a contractor engineer. Kudos to him for being younger than most 70 year olds.
I’m thinking at 70 I’d be lucky to be able to get around like him. So I must plan as though I will be too tired to work. Commutes are not so fun. I would rather walk to work, or take an elevator.
How are the probes of our banksters coming along?
Reform spotlight to focus on Irish executives
The chief executives of two Irish banks are expected to be among a group of senior directors that will come under close scrutiny by the country’s regulator as part of a fresh probe into the competence of the boards of bailed out lenders.
Ireland’s central bank is planning a sweeping review of the “fitness and probity” of senior directors of banks that received government support, as part of its efforts to step up regulation of the institutions that caused the country’s financial meltdown.
Those deemed to have made a significant contribution to the banks’ demise could face suspension.
The regulator will assess the entire boards of Ireland’s main lenders but its chief focus will be on the directors that have worked at the banks since before the crisis
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b8a68734-607f-11e0-9fcb-00144feab49a.html#axzz1J7j4G649
If by “probes” you means “bonuses”, why… just fine!
Roddy Boyd New Book about AIG:
http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/aig-execs-guilty-heaping-helping-stupidity-boyd-says-20110408-075753-614.html
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/steffy/7469090.html
…In the recent financial crisis, bank executives were among the biggest doofuses (doofi?). Most insisted they couldn’t have seen the crisis coming. No one could. It was — cue the Wall Street cliché machine - “the perfect storm.”
A recent study by researchers at the University of Colorado and the University of New Hampshire, rains all over the perfect storm argument. Sanjai Bhagat and Brian Bolton studied compensation structures at the 14 largest U.S. financial institutions from 2000 to 2008 - in other words, through the mortgage boom that preceded the meltdown. They looked specifically at chief executives’ buying and selling patterns for their banks’ stock.
“We find that CEOs are 30 times more likely to be involved in a sell trade compared to an open market buy trade,” the pair wrote.
Belle Glade housing dream gone to seed - with taxpayer money
By Pat Beall Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 1:49 p.m. Saturday, April 9, 2011
Billed as the CityPlace of Belle Glade, the $65 million development’s 70 acres were supposed to house 338 affordable homes and apartments, two swimming pools, stores, even a six-screen theater, all in a gated community.
Despite hefty infusions of taxpayer money and private loans, though, Abidjan has had just 10 home sales in eight years. Its developer, deeply in the red, owes Palm Beach County and a state housing agency more than $750,000 - and is now in foreclosure, its land slated to be sold at a courthouse auction April 20 to satisfy a $2.4 million debt.
Early warnings
With etched glass front doors, granite countertops and raised wood finishes, Abidjan homes don’t look like affordable housing. Named after the capital of Africa’s Ivory Coast, the small cluster of houses looks like any other well-manicured subdivision. But they are bounded by fields of weeds and rubbish. The entrance to the homes is dirt and gravel, the welcoming sign - “Abidjan: a New Beginning for the Glades” - is fading and partly obscured by unmowed grass. On a recent day, turkey vultures perched on a pile of unused building material.
timeline of failed $64 million housing development in Belle Glade
Groundbreaking. Company co-owned by relative of We Help board member gets construction contracts. 2004
2005 We Help presents the Belle Glade city commission with a timeline saying the first phase of roughly 76 homes would be done by July 2006.
Belle Glade amends repayment terms of its $250,000 loan so We Help can pay $6,250 instead of a $125,000 initial repayment by Oct. 1, 2005.
2006 We Help taps into city water lines for the project without paying for permits or picking up a water meter.
2007 Citing rising construction costs, gets county permission to raise prices on homes
2008 First Abidjan home sells for $195,000, more than 34 percent higher than originally planned.
2009 Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta announces We Help/Abidjan gets $1 million as part of Affordable Housing Program
2011 17 homes built, 10 sold. Foreclosure is finalized.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/money/foreclosures/belle-glade-housing-dream-gone-to-seed-with-1388540.html - -
The future of these subsidized housing developments. We have two massive subsidized housing developments in this area and they keep on expanding. I can’t wait to see what will happen when that little local bubble pops and splatters all over the place.
What’s even more amazing is how these people even get mortgages at this point in the housing mess. The down payment is sweat equity.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/world/9158134/in-abidjan-streets-looting-scramble-for-water/
Talk about irony. In the town this development is named after - Abidjan, Ivory Coast - anarchic violence rages on.
“Some residents could be seen trying to break water mains as others, holding jerry cans or balancing green plastic containers on their heads, waited impatiently nearby.”
“2006 We Help taps into city water lines for the project without paying for permits or picking up a water meter.”
Twilight Zone music.
Affordable gated community?
Oxymonon alert!
GAH! oxymoRon
A couple of more banks bit the dust last week. That’s 28 shuttered this year by the FDIC. At this rate we can expect more than 100 banks to have failed before the end of 2011.
Thanks to the depression era invention of the FDIC average bank customers have nothing to fear from a bank closure. Their individual deposits are covered up to a quarter of a million dollars each!
But if you must have something to worry about, consider the stress on the FDIC! However - if bank closures get out of hand the FDIC has backup; the U.S. taxpayer.
The FDIC is out of money. They are going to have a hard time shutting down lots of additional banks. The zombie banks will be going on for a lot longer…
Homebuilder Pasquinelli files for bankruptcy ~ Chicago Tribune
Pasquinelli Homebuilding LLC, the Burr Ridge-based homebuilder whose business started in Chicago’s south suburbs but expanded to seven other states, has filed documents with U.S. Bankruptcy Court to liquidate the company.
The Chapter 7 filing, made late Thursday by the company headed by Bruno Pasquinelli, lists assets of between $500,001 and $1 million and liabilities of between $10 million and $50 million. It also said the company has between 10,001 and 25,000 creditors.
However, an attorney for the company said late Friday that despite the disparity between assets and liabilities, there likely would be some funds for even unsecured creditors.
“It’s our belief that there are assets that will be available for creditors, unsecured as well. It depends on what the trustee does with them,” said attorney Brian Shaw.
The bankruptcy petition is a dramatic turn of events for Pasquinelli, which started building homes in the Chicago market in 1956, and whose business expanded under the Pasquinelli and Portrait names to Indiana, Ohio, North Carolina, South Carolina, George, Florida and Texas. A civil lawsuit filed against the company last year said as of 2006, the company’s annual revenues had surpassed $580 million.
“Business has been shut down for a while,” Shaw said. “This is a result of the housing crash. With the few assets they had left, (a liquidiation) was the best way to preserve the value they had.”
The filing adds Pasquinelli to the list of longtime local homebuilders whose names have disappeared from the Chicgao area residential construction scene. Competitors like Kirk Homes and Kimball Hill Homes also enjoyed the housing market’s bubble before it burst and they were forced to fold.
Another one bites the dust!
Banks Are Off the Hook Again
“Americans know that banks have mistreated borrowers in many ways in foreclosure cases. Among other things, they habitually filed false court documents. There were investigations. We’ve been waiting for federal and state regulators to crack down.”
http://tinyurl.com/44qxad9
We’ve been waiting for federal and state regulators to crack down.”
Good luck with that.
I find it amazing that the mindset and arguments of those who have been living free for years went from “victim” job loss,hard times Aug. 2010 to crusader with “dedication and determination in seeking Justice for the homeowners” April 2011
17,000 people attend loan-modification marathon in West Palm Beach
By Kimberly Miller Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 6:09 p.m. Tuesday, Augt. 31, 2010
WEST PALM BEACH — The Neighborhood Assistance Corp. of America is finishing up its five-day mortgage modification event tonight with about 31 percent of homeowners walking out with a new lower monthly loan payment.
NACA spokesman Darren Duarte said at 5 p.m. - three hours before the non-profit group closed its doors - that about 17,000 people, representing 11,149 households had attended the program at the Palm Beach County Convention Center.
COMMENTS
I am interested in getting a modification from NACA. Please help me save my home. I have been working with Countrywide first then Bank of America. I cant seem to get anything done even though I have done everything they asked. Its as if we are not getting anywhere. One minute they write and told me I was approved, then two months after they say I am not approved. We are both retired and this caused a change in our income. The Home Affordable Program is not working for so many people. Help us!!
C.M. McD
8:29 PM, 8/31/2010
For all of you tools talking about freeloaders, there are many of us out here who bought what we could afford and due to layoffs, we can’t afford it anymore.
Grow a heart you careless keyboard cowboys. I hope what has happened to me and my family comes back on you 10 fold.
Dude
10:09 AM, 9/1/2010
you whining about ‘free money’, do you think it would be better if these people stopped paying altogether and let the houses go?
I bought only 2 years ago. I paid $270k and now my latest tax assessment shows another 40k hit this year. My property value is now $100k.
It would make total sense for me to use the perfectly legal bankruptcy laws to get rid of this situation. Instead I modified to simply a 5% loan, which was par for the course on the date of my mod.
No principle reduction.
Mr. Bojangles
10:19 AM, 9/1/2010
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/money/17-000-people-
attend-loan-modification-marathon-in-889890.html - 92k -
———————————————————————–
Woman on ‘60 Minutes’ has foreclosure dismissed
By Christine Stapleton Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 7:03 p.m. Tuesday, April 5, 2011
WEST PALM BEACH — A judge dismissed the foreclosure case against Lynn Szymoniak, the Palm Beach Gardens lawyer featured Sunday on 60 Minutes, but gave the bank 30 days to refile the lawsuit with appropriate, verified documents.
At a brief hearing Tuesday, Circuit Judge Jack Cook dismissed the case after finding that the note for the loan was not attached to the original foreclosure complaint. Deutsche Bank filed the foreclosure case in 2008, shortly after a dispute with her lender, Option One Mortgage, over her adjustable rate mortgage.
COMMENTS
CONGRATUlATIONS Lynn!!
Thank-you for your dedication and determination in seeking Justice for the homeowners in FC. Your story rings true for alot of us faced with the same problems. Your win resignates hope for the families whom find themselves in this same situation.
For those who believe we are all “deadbeat” homeowners think again, this isn’t about getting a free home, but about the principal, morals and integrity of this Country’s Land Records.
KT
I am very happy for you Lynn, you must be happy and in shock, I was in shock after I fought for 4yrs, it was an agonizing , trauma which lasted forever, it seemed.
BRIAN KORTE ESQ did so well for me, I am forever so very great-full to him, what a release it is, to not have to live with this sort of mental torture.
Lynn helped so many people in such a good way, just goes to show that people who do good things get good things back. Rest well and pack up all that paper like I did.
mario kenny
11:47 PM, 4/5/2011
Hooray for Ms. Szymoniac.
These banks ran a scam upon people and then they ended up being scammed by these fake mortgage documents. Poetic Justice. Let the law run its course. If Deutche does not have the the originals, then their is no mortgage.
Lets just stick to the law.
Dean Kruger
7:57 AM, 4/6/2011
31 percent of homeowners walking out with a new lower monthly loan payment.
And pray tell, how many of those modifications were three-month trials with a balloon payment or something similar? And how many of thsoe FB’s went directly from the mod fair to the mall?
I would submit that a good part of our supposed economic “recovery” is due to deadbeat FBs who have quit paying their mortgages, and thanks to their rent-free living arrangements have more disposable income to spend on iCrap.
” and thanks to their rent-free living arrangements have more disposable income to spend on iCrap.”
I would like to dedicate this rewrite to all the victim deadbeat FBs who have cut off their toes while cutting the lawn or fallen ill and lost their job or grown a third ear right on their forehead which caused a job loss and rendered them unable to make a mortgage payment for the last 3 years.
Born Free
Rent free, as free as the wind blows
As free as the grass grows
Don`t pay and follow your heart
Live free, and beauty surrounds you
The world still astounds you
Each time you buy a new car
Stay free, where no walls divide you
You’re free as a roaring tide
So there’s no need to hide
Rent free, and life is worth living
But only worth living
Cause you’re rent free
How many years until we don’t have millions upon millions of people living mortgage free in homes they do not deserve to be in?
Option One was one of the biggest subprime players, this “buyer” must hav had lousy credit…
“this “buyer” must hav had lousy credit…”
Who Lynn Szymoniak? The Palm Beach Gardens lawyer featured Sunday on 60 Minutes. The one a judge dismissed the foreclosure case against a couple of days later. The new leader of deadbeat nation. One of those who Sheila Blair says the banks need to build a fund of billions to pay so they will accept the fact the banks have title without the proper paperwork. The one who has been living in Steeplechase in Palm Beach Gardens for free for the last several years. That buyer? Bad credit? Lets go to the county records and see what she has been up to since she bought the place for $392,800 in Apr-1998 WARRANTY DEED SZYMONIAK LYNN E.
View SZYMONIAK LYNN E ABIS DAVID & KAREN 05/08/1998 D 10392 989 19980172275 HORSHOE AC W. RPL B5 L12
* View SZYMONIAK LYNN E FIRST BK FL 05/08/1998 MTG 10392 990 19980172276 HORSHOE AC W. RPL B5 L12
View SZYMONIAK LYNN E WOLFE CHARLES A 11/10/1999 D 11448 1494 19990449234 SQUARE LK L94
* View SZYMONIAK LYNN E FIRST UN MTG CORP 11/10/1999 MTG 11448 1496 19990449235 SQUARE LK L94
* View SZYMONIAK LYNN E FIRST UN MTG CORP 04/21/2000 MTG 11734 1937 20000147532 VLG NPB 4 BO L2
View SZYMONIAK LYNN E FRONT GATE PROP INC 04/21/2000 D 11734 1935 20000147531 VLG NPB 4 BO L2
* View SZYMONIAK LYNN E FIRST UN NAT BK 07/18/2001 MTG 12737 1072 20010305701 HORSHOE AC W. RPL B5 L12
* View SZYMONIAK LYNN E FRASCA PETER J 2ND 08/08/2001 D 12800 689 20010340728 VLG NPB 4 BO L2
View SZYMONIAK LYNN E FIRST UN NAT BK 09/21/2001 SAT 12924 847 20010411260 VLG NPB 4 BO L2
View SZYMONIAK LYNN E FRIED STEVEN E 03/19/2002 D 13518 1318 20020142740 OC AT BLUFFS 3 CN U504
* View SZYMONIAK LYNN E FIRST UNION NATIONAL BANK 03/19/2002 MTG 13518 1320 20020142741 OC AT BLUFFS 3 CN U504
* View SZYMONIAK LYNN E DUMITRU ION 12/01/2003 D 16246 1478 20030738010 OC AT BLUFFS 3 CN U504
View SZYMONIAK LYNN E WACHOVIA BANK NA 12/12/2003 SAT 16307 1405 20030766147 OC AT BLUFFS 3 CN U504
* View SZYMONIAK LYNN E WACHOVIA BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION 09/15/2004 MTG 17516 209 20040527663 HORSHOE AC W. RPL B5 L12
* View SZYMONIAK LYNN E BLECHMAN BETH L 09/15/2004 D 17502 1858 20040522533 SQUARE LK L94
* View SZYMONIAK LYNN E FIRST UNION NATIONAL BANK 09/16/2004 MOD 17518 1778 20040528882 HORSHOE AC W. RPL B5 L12
View SZYMONIAK LYNN E MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS INC 09/22/2004 REL 17549 1583 20040543821 SQUARE LK L94
View SZYMONIAK LYNN E FRONT GATE PROPERTIES INC 12/21/2004 D 17914 678 20040719009 GLENBROOK CONDO U16A
* View SZYMONIAK LYNN E USA SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 01/03/2005 MTG 17961 1035 20050001026 HORSHOE AC W. RPL B5 L12
* View SZYMONIAK LYNN E USA SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 01/03/2005 MTG 17961 1039 20050001027 GLENBROOK CONDO U16A
View SZYMONIAK LYNN E USA SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 03/08/2005 REL 18230 866 20050132320 HORSHOE AC W. RPL B5 L12
View SZYMONIAK LYNN E USA SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 03/08/2005 REL 18230 868 20050132321 GLENBROOK CONDO U16A
* View SZYMONIAK LYNN E CASEY KEVIN 09/29/2005 D 19327 1933 20050617041 GLENBROOK CONDO U16-A
* View SZYMONIAK LYNN E OPTION ONE MORTGAGE CORPORATION 02/15/2006 MTG 19933 1827 20060092890 HORSHOE AC W. RPL B5 L12
View SZYMONIAK LYNN E WACHOVIA BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION 03/02/2006 SAT 19998 443 20060125384 HORSHOE AC W. RPL B5 L12
View SZYMONIAK LYNN E WACHOVIA BANK NA 03/08/2006 REL 20025 685 20060138198 HORSHOE AC W. RPL B5 L12
View SZYMONIAK LYNN E WACHOVIA BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION 03/08/2006 SAT 20028 835 20060139494 HORSHOE AC W. RPL B5 L12
View SZYMONIAK LYNN E DEUTSCHE BANK NATIONAL TRUST COMPANY TRUSTEE 08/06/2008 LP 22796 1110 20080293601 HORSHOE AC W. RPL B5 L12
* View SZYMONIAK LYNN E METROPOLITAN DEVELOPMENT GROUP LLC 12/10/2010 CP 24251 125 20100474196
And Option One was the mother-load in 2006.
Type: MTG
Date/Time: 2/15/2006 08:27:13
CFN: 20060092890
Book Type: O
Book/Page: 19933/1827
Pages: 14
Consideration: $780,000.00
Party 1: SZYMONIAK LYNN E
Party 2: OPTION ONE MORTGAGE CORPORATION
Legal: HORSHOE AC W. RPL B5 L12 BL
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/money/foreclosures/woman-on-60-minutes-has-foreclosure-dismissed-1378008.html - 84k -
Poor Lynn having to hunker down in her little 4134 sq ft
estate while she has had to worry about what might happen to her for not paying her mortgage for years. As one of her deadbeat supporters wrote “I was in shock after I fought for 4yrs, it was an agonizing , trauma which lasted forever, it seemed.” And now it seems all the hard work of not paying your mortgage has paid off.
“CONGRATUlATIONS Lynn!!”
“Thank-you for your dedication and determination in seeking Justice for the homeowners in FC.”
Owner Name: SZYMONIAK LYNN E
PCN Number: 52-42-42-23-04-005-0120
Building Structural Data and Drawing are for the Current Tax Roll.
Structural Element for Building 1
1. Exterior Wall 1 CB STUCCO
2. Year Built 1991
3. Air Condition Desc. HTG & AC
4. Heat Type FORCED AIR DUCT
5. Heat Fuel ELECTRIC
6. Bed Rooms 0
7. Full Baths 3
8. Half Baths 1
9. Exterior Wall 2 N/A
10. Roof Structure GABLE/HIP
11. Roof Cover CONC. TILE
12. Interior Wall 1 DRYWALL
13. Interior Wall 2 N/A
14. Floor Type 1 CARPETING
15. Floor Type 2 CERAM/QARY TILE
16. Stories 1
Subarea and Sq. Footage for Building 1
No. Code Description Sq. Footage
1. BAS BASE AREA 3018
2. FOP FINISHED OPEN PORCH 275
3. FOP FINISHED OPEN PORCH 105
4. FGR FINISHED GARAGE 736
Total Square Footage : 4134
Total Area Under Air : 3018
Extra FeatureDescription Year Built Units
POOL - IN-GROUND 1991 98
PATIO 1991 925
WALL 1991 138
SCREEN ENCLOSURE 1991 2622
Holy Moly, I never woulda thought this would happen. How in the world?
China posts quarterly trade deficit
http://money.cnn.com/2011/04/10/news/international/china_trade_deficit/index.htm?source=cnn_bin&hpt=Sbin
It doesn’t surprise me at all. Just means that the multinational corporations found a new slave-labor country to exploit. The race to the bottom finished another lap.
It’s not possible for every country in the world to have a trade deficit at one time, is it?
Yes, it is.
However, we’re not there yet.
How?
ecofeco
Sorry, by “we”, I meant the world. However, “we”, the U.S., is screwed.
If you meant, “how could every nation in the world run a trade deficit?”, just think of all the derivatives in play right now. There is already enough world wide debt equal to approx the entire GDP of the world… for the next 30 years. (I’m just using derivatives as an example)
The same could happen with merchant trade. China may be running a trade deficit, but not with us. This happens with almost every nation. It may have a surplus with one country, but be running a deficit with another.
After reading about how the Chinese are importing raw materials, then putting them in storage…..to use as collateral to borrow money to invest in speculative investments, it makes me wonder if that’s not what we are seeing.
How do you say “Mother of all Ponzi Schemes” in Chinese?
Interesting that they blamed it partially on food inflation.
I surrender!
After nearly 3 decades of voting for just about anyone that could spell the word constitution and had even a minor grasp of it’s intent. I am now going to join the ranks of the brain dead moron voters. Go Barry! This idiot is creating more paper wealth for me than anyone else before, as I have said before he makes the former clown -in- chief look like Hetty Green. I love watching the dollar go down in flames! Keep voting the same way America, my house will be paid for 10 years ahead of schedule!
Stupid is as stupid does, and the dumb azz voters prove it time and time again, thank god for big gubmint, I have seen the light!
” I love watching the dollar go down in flames! Keep voting the same way America, my house will be paid for 10 years ahead of schedule!”
You are right. It`s better to own something or anything priced in $ than to have $. With your house being paid for you may even be able to afford a couple of $20 gallons of gas and a $40 jar of peanut butter.
I could easily afford $20 gas and $40 peanut butter if my income increased 10-fold.
Fixed income folks are screwed.
“I could easily afford $20 gas and $40 peanut butter if my income increased 10-fold.”
That`s why I have a buy rating on ….
Silver, Peanut Butter and Ammo.
and crackers, can`t forget the crackers.
And the kitty litter.
And a ton of toilet paper.
Yes kitty litter too.
Silver, Peanut Butter, Ammo,crackers and kitty litter.
“And a ton of toilet paper.”
DAMN! I forgot the toilet paper.
O.K. Silver, Peanut Butter, Ammo, crackers, kitty litter and toilet paper.
Strong buy on Silver, Peanut Butter, Ammo, crackers, kitty litter and toilet paper.
While some homes in Cureton list for more than $300,000, some lots have nothing but concrete slabs where a house would go, surrounded by piles of rocks, dirt and twisted metal and mountains of weeds. The subdivision tells a cautionary tale of these depressed times in the real estate business.
“You’d think a bomb went off or that this was a moonscape or something,” said resident Mike Otten, who has taken the lead in trying to get the developer to respond to their concerns.
http://www.ajc.com/news/cobb/subdivision-residents-wrangle-with-902935.html?cxtype=rss_news
Let me guess- they’re asking $150,000 for the concrete slab “with potential” among the weeds?
I am reading Tocqueville again and finding he has something to say even on Libya. He states in his writings that Islam and democracy cannot co-exist for long while Christianity is supportive of democracy: “….the first of these two religions could not possibly prevail in times of enlightment and democracy, while the second is destined to have dominance in these times as much as in any other.” Penguin Classics, Alexis De Tocqueville “Democracy in America and Two essays on America” p.513.
Why would you need to read De Tocqueville to figure this out? The 2 religions are completely incompatible. The history of the world is one of “nations”, or more biblically “ethnos”, rather than the Socratic “ethos”.
All nations are based on the racial and religious makeup of their tribes.
It is only recently, with the ability to commute over great distances with relative ease, and the establishment of “human rights” and “entitlements” that large masses of people from one group have injected themselves among other groups, largely based on economic benefit.
In the past, Mexicans coming across the border in droves would be seen as an invasion force and repelled. Border wars would ensue.
Muslims invading Europe would have been stopped, but they are not.
Instead they are given “rights” as refugees, and here, Mexicans are “undocumented workers”. They are not Muslims, though.
We have recently seen the unrest in France and parts of Germany. Holland is getting mal-adjusted, and other areas, even England is seeing dis-quiet among its native people with the “adjustments” necessary to accommodate various beliefs, which translate into ways of living.
Here in Florida we have about 150,000 Haitian and Puerto Rican Santarians, a cross between Voodoo and Catholicism.
It’s only government FORCE that makes these groups “compatible”. Our new mantra is Life, Liberty and Tolerance. Forget happiness. You just need to put up with those things you find intolerable and allow “multicultural” ideologies to flourish.
Remember Yugoslavia. It existed so long as the Soviet government prevented any rebellion of the mixing of the various tribes and sects.
When the government collapsed, the country disintegrated.
In the end, I truly believe that a visceral rebellion will take hold over the “tolerance” regime.
Why have a concept of “nation” when the doors are open to everyone and anyone who wants to move in and enjoy the benefits of someone else’s forefathers. There is nothing to inherit, because someone else, from somewhere else will move in and take over, not by force, but by right of “entitlement”.
We are doomed. Christian nations have simply rolled over to allow their countries to become surrogate to Muslim “immigrants”. When their numbers become large enough, the “tolerance” will be stopped.
Remember what happened last week when one Florida preacher burned a Koran as a protest to the Muslim brotherhood. Chaos. Where’s the “tolerance”. It’s a one-way street. It’s not a reciprocal concept.
Welcome the New Sharia Law of the East. Goodbye Constitutional Law of the West. Your future foretold.
“When their numbers become large enough, the “tolerance” will be stopped.”
History shows you can bank on that.
OTOH, it’s hard to keep the kids on the Sharia reservation, after they have spent a lifetime growing up in the Big PX.
A undervalued benefit of Public School Systems.
This is true.
“It’s only government FORCE that makes these groups “compatible”.”
That’s the money quote right there.
Some People think, “the anti-Sharia campaign is rooted in a full-scale hostility toward common law of ANY kind — and that’s what sharia is, in its broadest …sense.”
http://www.scribd.com/doc/36387774/The-Islamic-Origins-of-the-Common-Law-John-A-Makdisi
Whoops, the quote about the anti-Sharia campaign is from the FB page of Will Grigg, operator of Pro Libertate, made while discussing the article.
“It is only recently, with the ability to commute over great distances with relative ease, and the establishment of “human rights” and “entitlements” that large masses of people from one group have injected themselves among other groups…”
On the contrary, the idea of the ‘nation-state’ as being identical with a tribe and its area is a relatively modern idea. Most of history is one multi-ethnic empire after another (Great Britain, Ottoman, Rome, Greece, Persia, India, China, etc were all multi-ethnic empires, run by people who ‘injected’ themselves into other societies and sucked their money supply long before there were any ideas about entitlements and human rights.
I agree that Muslims expect more tolerance than they give. I do not agree that we should stoop to their level.
I think we really should cut it out with the offshoring and importing of foreign labor (legal and illegal), but that doesn’t mean we should start violating people’s human rights just because they’re rude.
Did not need to read it to figure it out,as my earlier comments demonstrate. However, I find it interesting that he figured it out more than a century ago and Obama still has not figured it out. I think everyone should read or re-read Tocqueville. Many of the factors he cited as supporting a democracy are being undermined. The collapse of the shortlived Russian democracy lead to Stalin’s Russia, the collapse of the Weimar, lead to Hitler, the 300 year Roman republic to close to over 1500 years of tyranny. Once lost, it is difficult to create a democracy and I think we are close to losing this one.
“Once lost, it is difficult to create a democracy and I think we are close to losing this one.”
I agree, we’re almost a plutocracy now. We must start taxing the wealthy at their historical average to avoid it.
I actually agree. But we must also end the unskilled immigration that creates the labor glut that destroys the middle class. We must also limit the federal government’s role, so the rich cannot use the poor to control the government and stick the middle class with the bill,such as Obama care and other transfer schemes. Additionally, the U.S. Constitution insisted that Treaties be passed by 2/3 of the Senate, (NAFTA was not), wars be declared by Congress, (hasn’t really happened since WWII). Tocqueville’s warning about governments being bankrupted by aid to the indigent is happening. We need a return to middle class government. Sound money which means money that cannot be created out of thin air. The framers insisted upon gold but control of the money supply by the banksters must end. Finally, change by constitutional amendment not by a “living constitution.”
I hope I am not too far off topic but since we spend our summers in Mammoth Lakes, Ca I found myself thinking of past HHB characters this AM. Aladinsane, who had his doomsday scenario of a Ca drought disaster should be amazed at this seasons snowfall total to date of 624 inches (average is 365 inches). The Sierra Nevada is hundreds of miles long so this could amount to a lot of much needed water.The streams,rivers and waterfalls will be spectactular this suumer.Enjoy them if you can.
CA has a history of extreme weather cycles. Their drought of the late 19th wiped out many species of pants and wildlife.
And without modern irrigation and water control, most of S. CA would be inhabitable even in normal times.
ecofeco
Yep, wiped out many species of PANTS. The triple pleated khaki was one casualty.
Unfortunately, the Capri survived….
Dam, another fashion casualty. Darnit all.
The dear laddie made quite a bit of sense to me . He’s probably hiking the Sierras now with a pack full of Krugerrands.
I think the overall issue of water is a huge one, especially for the south west. I think the Great Lakes area is positioned quite nicely when it comes to this particular problem. Even though the area has now fallen so far out of favor, its proximity to vast amounts of fresh water will bode well in the future. How far in the future is anybody’s guess.
The Governator tried to address Kalifornia’s water supply issue by creating more reservoirs. I don’t know what ever became of it?
the overall issue of water is a huge one,… no doubt:
US farmers fear the return of the Dust Bowl
For years the Ogallala Aquifer, the world’s largest underground body of fresh water, has irrigated thousands of square miles of American farmland. Now it is running dry
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/8359076/US-farmers-fear-the-return-of-the-Dust-Bowl.html
The good news:
Texas has the shallowest parts of the aquifer. Texas is running out because they don’t believe in that “Socialist” stuff like managing resources for everyone’s benefit, like those French Fry, wine, and brie eating Socialists in Kansas.
So, let me get this straight……
-Texans, being the rugged individualists, keep-the-government-off-my-back folks that they are, use all the water from their part of the aquifer, making their land worth essentially nothing.
- After running out of water, they join the CRP and get a government subsidy to let the land lie “fallow”, never mind the fact that said rugged individualist pretty much has no choice at this point in time.
Just remember, it’s not welfare when rich white people get it.
Only the northern parts of Texas.
The rest of Texas relies on numerous rivers and rains. But the current record breaking drought is “putting the hurt” on that.
Thank god there is no global warming or we might be in trouble.
La Nina is causing the shortfall in rain this year in the southern parts of the country. La Nina is a cooling of ocean water. Don’t see how you can blame that on GW but the heavy rain in California is just weather.
BTW, I do support banning SUVs on Mars to arrest the melting of the ice caps there: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/02/070228-mars-warming.html
from the article
“Simultaneous warming on Earth and Mars suggests that our planet’s recent climate changes have a natural—and not a human-induced—cause, according to one scientist’s controversial theory. ”
Wow! One scientist’s controversial theory! That settles that.
Nothing is settled in science, no matter what the scientific idiot Gore would have you believe. But it is clear that the GW models cannot explain either the previous warming or why that warming has stalled despite CO2 levels increasing. The warming has followed sunspots much more closely and that is the only theory that explains why both Mars and Earth would experience the same warming.
Realtors Are Liars
As long as we are doing “moral of the stories”
Foo Bird is sitting on a branch, above a side walk. Guy walks under Foo Bird……bird takes a dump on him. Guy wipes it off his head. As soon as he does, he keels over and dies….
Another guy walks under the Foo Bird. Same thing happens again. As it does to everybody else that walks under the Foo Bird.
Moral of the Story?
When the Foo $hits, wear it.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2014724523_pfmakeover10.html
Another financial makeover recommending that a young couple move out of their apartment and buy a house. I get that they should live closer to work, but what is wrong with renting? Two teachers, one working part time, with education budgets being cut = bad time to buy.
And is this the best time to get a PhD? Unless his work is going to pay for it, I’d say it’s a bad move to take on more debt.
OMFG
“she tries to budget but isn’t sure where to begin.”
“Troy estimates he spends $8 per day on coffee at work — Maryna thinks it’s more than that — and his biggest indulgence is $120 per month on jazz guitar lessons, which he is passionate about and not willing to give up.”
“They also recently consolidated $3,000 in credit-card debt into a 6.5 percent, five-year bank loan.”
Lol. Buy lattes today and pay for them over the next five years?
“It also makes sense to buy a house now, he said, because Maryna’s part-time status allows them to qualify — under lower-income requirements — for a loan with a low interest rate and no down payment offered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to buy a house in a rural area.”
The nonsense continues…
Question: How many people are the ones who are holding defaulting loans, which is causing the whole imploding mortgage problem?
I get the impression that it’s a few million people, out of 300 million, along with the financial companies, that have saddled the rest of the US population with a gargantuan (and growing) multi-generational debt.
I’d be very interested in identifying the number of people who actually are part of this imploding mortgage problem.
Bofa has 2600 auctions scheduled in Oregon for august. Recontrust dot com is where they are listed. Look up the addresses via property records and there you have lots o’ names and addresses. But remember the banks are setting up deadbeats’ exit dates, not the deadbeats themselves.
They had to cancel them all for some reason or other recently in Oregon; now are rescheduling (about 1/2 so far are back on; just at a later date not chosen by the deadbeat but rather the bank)them for August. My wife’s condo, where we still reside, has been on their list since November 2010. What good would it do to move out because she nor I can afford the mortgage anymore; when the bank is not ready to move on the imploding mortgage? Move away in shame and leave an empty blighted neighborhood while still being on the hook for damages, carrying costs taxes, etc?
Although the sale had been outright cancelled at one point; they are now adding sale dates back to the courthouse rosters; not my wife’s unit just yet though. So they are sorting it ever so slowly; and collecting extra fees from their ATMS and credit cards in the meantime(hmmm? maybe in order to have capital to absorb monumental losses)
Not all FB’s are to blame regarding the ultimate solution; banks could hire more people to foreclose but for some reason, not explained by them, they are moving at a snail’s pace-refusing to repo a non-performing asset in any sort of timely manner can’t be helping your frustration either.
We would have been happy to go at the first scheduled sale date; moving the date repeatedly was done completely out of our control; so was their cancelling it without explanation. So here we sit, waiting to move.
Living the vida loca; what with our $20,000 per year private health insurance premiums and deductibles we would like to personally thank the bank for their obviously lionhearted gesture to let us stay! Or maybe their motives are not altruistic and they are playing all of us somehow…
“I’d be very interested in identifying the number of people who actually are part of this imploding mortgage problem.”
I’m guessing 13 million or so.
Putting the ‘Own’ Back In Homeowner
By allowing borrowers to write off the interest on their mortgages, the IRS is incentivizing homeowners to drag out their payments for years. There’s a better way.
By ARKADI KUHLMANN
If the financial crisis revealed anything about homeownership in this country, it’s that “ownership” is too often a misnomer.
Since the crisis began, more than five million homeowners—people who thought they’d achieved the American Dream—have seen their houses reclaimed by lenders. Thirteen million more will be forced out by 2015. That’s hardly the kind of security one associates with owning.
…
As the pundits with MSM bully pulpits are all advocating for the government-engineered slow-and-careful exit from insane levels of housing market subsidy and support, I am increasingly leaning towards exiting the owner-occupied housing market for the remainder of my life. I can’t help but assume that there are other aging baby boomers who are seeing absolutely no reason to heroically catch falling knife super-sized McMansions as the empty nest phase of their lives approach.
But I am starting to save up down payments for my kids to some day buy homes. Meanwhile, they had better treat me right.
Signed,
Disgruntled, disaffected, disenfranchised renter-dad.
“Getting government out of the mortgage business would mean significant upheaval in the ways homes are paid for in America, so if it’s going to happen it must happen slowly and carefully. But by forcing banks and consumers to put more skin in the game, Congress could help head off the next housing crisis. The best thing we can do for America’s homeowners now is to make sure they own as much of their homes as they can.”