Bits Bucket for April 13, 2011
Post off-topic ideas, links, and Craigslist finds here.
The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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Police: Rising Gas Prices Causing More Gas Drive-offs
(ABC 6 News) — On average, Minnesotans are paying more at the pump than the rest of the nation.
The average price of unleaded gas is now $3.84 a gallon, compared to a national average of $3.75. And it’s creating problems other than paying the cost of a fill-up.
“We are seeing an increase, obviously with the gas prices,” said Austin Police Chief Brian Krueger. “There’s definitely a correlation between the two.” Those “two” are rising prices and gas drive-offs.
“Within the last two weeks we had two or three in one day,” Krueger said. And with $4 gas on the horizon, gas stations and convenience stores are taking steps to fight back.
“We are writing down their license plate numbers,” said Tom Hartman at one of Austin’s Ankeny Mini-marts.
“People see us with the binoculars looking at their license plates, so that’s a deterrent also,” he said. “You can get a feel for people, too, for as to how they’re acting out at the pump, if anything looks kind of suspicious or they’re trying to distract you in any way.”
More stations are also asking customers to pay before they pump.
Live in the house rent free because you feel you don’t have to pay, why not walk away with a tank full of gas?Contract’s don’t mean anything any more. Maybe we need ‘red light’ cameras at gas stations to put the driver behind the wheel, after all, my car may have been at the gas pump but that doesn’t mean that I was the culprit.
Live in the house rent free because you feel you don’t have to pay, why not walk away with a tank full of gas?Contract’s don’t mean anything any more.
How is living in a house “rent free” breaking the contract? Do the contracts say one must automatically vacate within 60 days of not paying? Or do the contracts say certain procedures implemented by the banks will begin before one is ordered to leave one’s home?
If these certain procedures have not been instituted by the bank I don’t see how any contract has been broken yet.
Walking away with a full tank of gas is not breaking a contract, that is full on stealing.
It is stealing, and frankly I would not want to risk jail, but if you think about it who is stealing? I know it is not the gas station owners, but big oil lobbies millions and gets all kinds of goodies while the rest of us pay what is essentially a tax increase.
In the Centenial State you can lose your drivers license if you gas-n-dash. Not that I think a would be thief would care.
It’s not stealing. It’s tarping. And TARPing is not against the law.
“More stations are also asking customers to pay before they pump”.
Really? This is new? Here in central S.C. you either pay at the pump with credit or debit or pay cash prior to pumping. Been that way for years now, as it is everywhere I travel.
Locking gas cap sales will climb also.
I did not think there was a gas station left that allowed you to pump and then pay later.
‘Round these parts (Maryland) pump and pay pretty much disappeared ~25 years ago. Interestingly, there WAS a period at some stations when you could pump and pay regular unleaded, but premium was strictly pre-pay. ‘Cause when people are intending to steal gas, they usually steal premium.
“pump and pay” is still the norm in Ottawa, Canada
Pump and pay is still half-way a norm in the Midwest too. It’s an insult and an inconvenience (especially in Winter) to have to pay first. I go elsewhere when I encounter such.
“It’s an insult and an inconvenience (especially in Winter) to have to pay first.”
Really? I think it is kind of presumptuous to assume that a place of business is going to let you remove their product from their posession and put it in your vehicle without assuring payment in advance. I have no problem with dropping a few twenties with the clerk, pumping and getting my change after I’m done. If I wanted the transaction to go faster, I could use a credit card.
Lots of businesses let you remove their product from their possession and put it in your vehicle without assuring payment in advance. It’s not a total viper nation,… yet
The gas station takes a loss even if you’re using plastic to pay. Pay at the pump and you don’t go inside to buy anything else, the source of most profit for the station, or so I’ve been told.
With pre-pay in cash, how do you know how much it takes to fill the tank? You don’t, so you get less than otherwise, another loss and likely don’t buy anything else from the store.
If they don’t trust me not to rip them off, why should I trust them to not rip me off with bad gas or uncalibrated gas meters, and if they want to have a relationship of repeat business, don’t treat me like a criminal by requiring me to pre-pay.
Freeze your butt off pre-paying if you want, but when it’s sub-zero with high winds every second spent outside is often a bit more than an aggravation and two trips inside are a waste of time.
“Lots of businesses let you remove their product from their possession and put it in your vehicle without assuring payment in advance.”
Who? Other than a doctor expecting the rest of their payment from an insurance company (they already have my co-pay), I can’t think of any that I use. I pay before I leave the supermarket, the pharmacy, harware store, clothing stores, etc. I guess you get to eat the food at a sit down restaurant first, but you don’t get to put yourself in the car until you pay. We aren’t talking about a commercial transaction with ongoing suppliers of a business, here. We are talking retail.
Things I put in my car or truck before I pay for them: landscapers greenery, gravel and rock, feed corn from silos and sweet corn from roadside vendors, lumber and other items from a hardware store lot, and firewood… ran out of time…
Of course you pay before you leave the supermarket, the pharmacy, hardware store, clothing stores, etc., but you don’t pay before you get the item.
So, except for the sweet corn, only items that are so large you need help to load them and a person from the store goes with you to your car? And you consider having an item in your shopping cart to be the same as having it in your car?
Garbage. Normal retail transactions require payment before you have possesion of the item outside the store and stored in your vehicle. Stop being so darn lazy and pay the guy at the gas station in advance. The 50 foot walk there and back won’t kill you, even in cold weather.
“It’s an insult and an inconvenience (especially in Winter) to have to pay first.”
I don’t follow this. I guess heading right to the pump has some path-of-least-resistance value to it, but what difference does it make if you walk in to pay before, or walk in to pay after? You still have to do it.
Frankly, once I’m done pumping (when I travel out of Oregon), I want outta there, so I’d rather pay first. Still, what’s the difference?
No polly, the items I mentioned didn’t require help to get into the vehicle, large or small.
No Person from the store is around most of the time.
I don’t consider having an item in a shopping cart the same as having it in your car. I’m just saying, you don’t pay before you get the item, it is in your possession, in the store or not.
It’s not about being lazy, polly. It’s a business relationship, a way of doing business that much of the country has forgotten or is no longer able to do because of all the criminals and People with no ethics. I imagine it could be charted on a graph and it would correspond to the increase in the number of realtwhores?
sleepless_near_seattle, you didn’t catch the whole bit about not knowing how much gas you’re going to buy?
Not everyone has more money than is required to fill the tank to leave at the cashier. And why do I have to trust them with that money, but they won’t trust me? What the heck?
If you have to pre-pay it’s another way of them saying, you’re a criminal we think you’re going to steal, that’s the insult.
Around here gas stations have had video cameras “for years” too. If your station’s security system consists of a set of binoculars, its behind the times.
I remember when everyone had locking gas caps in the late 1970’s because gas had gone over a dollar a gallon!
Ehh a dollar was worth a dollar back then, sonny boy. Or at least more than it’s worth now.
Collapsing Economy Causing More Gas Drive-Offs.
fixed the headline. The fake Recovery is just fake.
My canary in the coal mine moment:
One of the cars needed new tires, so off I went to Sam’s Club Saturday morning, expecting a wait (they don’t make appointments).
So I arrive around 10 AM. First thing I notice is that only 2 of the 5 bays are in use. I go inside and buy the tires (free installation, lifetime balances and rotations, plus road hazard).
And there was no wait for the installation.
On a Saturday morning.
Colorado, I took you for a Costco type of guy.
The closest CostCo is 30 miles away.
I convinced my wife to go to the local place for a tire fix-up. We pay a little more, but it keeps some jobs in our area rather than making the big box the only option and shipping monies off to rich fignuts in Greenwich, CT.
We could have lost our lives trying to keep a small tire store in business. We bought tires there and a service contract. Months later, they rotated my tires, and forgot to bolt one of the tires back on. It came off on the freeway. Luckily my husband was driving my car w/ me as the passenger,and knew what to do. If I was alone, a might have been killed (& maybe taken others with me).
Lesson learned: double check
“We could have lost our lives trying to keep a small tire store in business…”
Moral = always go to Wall - E World?
Happened to me, too, though it never came off. I just ended up somewhere between Challis and Idaho Falls with wobbly wheel.
I drive that stretch of highway frequently. Not a good place to break down.
A now deceased buddy owned a car repair shop a few blocks away from the Arizona Slim Ranch. He’d been bemoaning the down state of his business for several years before his death.
Although I don’t know the details surrounding his demise, I wouldn’t be surprised if the lousy economy had something to do with it. I know of two suicides that can be connected to things happening in the economy.
Syracuse just lost their Symphony Orchestra. They rallied for fundraising and then abruptly closed w/o warning. They offered no refunds to people who just a week before had been sending them donations and are now selling off their instruments. Some had paid $75/ticket to see a guest performance of Yoyo Ma later in the season.
Apparently the organization had been in financial straits for years. They’re deeply in debt. Interesting that all the movers and shakers in the glossy pictorals of the local “CNY Life” magazine couldn’t keep it going (or chose other priorities?). Or maybe there were bookkeeping improprieties. Who knows. Embezzlement and fraud stories do seem to permeate the local news.
Sad to hear this. I attended a couple of their performances when I lived there. They basically went under some 9 years ago, but somehow were resurected as a smaller symphony. They hired a music director from Birmingham Symphony, I think (with ties to the Cincinnati Symphony). I had heard they were sounding really good these days.
I hope Syracuse Stage does not close.
The Tucson Symphony has been on shaky ground for years. Big part of the problem is that their audience (and donor base) has been dying off for years. And the symphony does very little to reach out to younger, more ethnically diverse audiences.
My BIL had Leonard Bernstein as a dinner guest growing up (more than once). How cool is that.
I break into “Somewhere”, singing it in my head, whenever I think of LB. LOL
Beautiful piece.
My great aunt dated Lenny for a while. There is a reference to her in one of the biographies, though the interviewee just says “someone named Lily” and forgot her last name.
Polly
My BIL’s father was Jakob Gimpel, an internationally known pianist, noted for his interpretation of Chopin. , and his Uncle was a famious Violinist. They knew Bernstein from the Israeli Philharmonic, I believe.
I would not be surprised if your Aunt knew my BIL’s family. It’s a small world.
“The Tucson Symphony has been on shaky ground for years.”
We have a friend who used to be a member. Now she is in the Modesto Symphony Orchestra (another shaky ground group…).
Is there a term to describe a recoveryless recovery?
“Is there a term to describe a recoveryless recovery?”
A LIEcovery?
“Jobless recovery.” Coined about 2 recessions ago if not longer.
Seeing boatloads of inventory in nice parts of North County San Diego which won’t sell because the wishing price is surreal.
Case in point: This home is offered at $14,000,000 off the May 03, 2008 list price, and still no takers!
Property History for 9826 LA JOLLA FARMS Way
Date Event Price Appreciation Source
Feb 12, 2010 Price Changed $25,000,000 – TheMLS #08-277145
Jun 23, 2009 Price Changed $28,500,000 – TheMLS #08-277145
Aug 30, 2008 Price Changed $32,000,000 – TheMLS #08-277145
May 03, 2008 Listed $39,000,000 – TheMLS #08-277145
Jun 19, 1998 Sold (Public Records) $1,200,000 5.5%/yr Public Records
Jun 13, 1988 Sold (Public Records) $700,000 – Public Records
I am really looking forward to Komrade Napolitano’s new video imploring us to watch other pumpers at the station.
Scotty, beam me up.
Ha-ha, Rosa Klebb is all moist with delight watching the latest TSA pedo-porn video. The one where the huge lump of lard meticulously gropes a six year old.
We get announcements for this all the time on Metro:
“excuse me is that your bag?”
“See it, say it.”
“This is police chief whoever. If you see something call this really long phone number which you will never remember.”
“This is Janet Napolitano. Blah Blah. “Safety is everybody’s responsbility!”
“This is police chief whoever again. Metro will be conducting random bag checks…”
It’s to the point where a friend and I drive downtown on weekends. Parking is less than train fare, and I’m not subjected to endless announcements while waiting 20 minutes for a train.
Dine-n-dash = double-dare
Gas-n-dash = desperation
Trash-n-dash = CEO Corp Inc. pay increase tool
Flash-n-dash = MegaFinancial Inc. “we’re a bully” …reminder
Ca$h-n-dash = Anything RE fee/service/product related
Mash-n-dash = (see #3 above)
Bash-n-dash* = Fed Inc. [vs] micro-citizen-$avers (*they really don’t run anywhere, just sit & smirk knowingly)
“There’s definitely a correlation between the two.” Those “two” are formerly rising RE prices and
gas drive-offsthe National Family Income.And with $4 gas on the horizon ??
That horizon has already come and gone here…$4.26 for regular & $4.39 for premium here…
Wow! I saw stations on the way in to work with regular as low as $3.46
Kuwait just stopped exporting oil due to…sandstorms?
Yeah, $3.84 is so one month ago.
On it’s way $5.00 to $6.00 for gas. It is Profit Time Now don’t you know!
It is Profit Time Now
who do you think is making profits? And isn’t that how businesses stay open?
Do you think that some people in the production chain don’t deserve profits?
Do you think the price shouldn’t respond to the supply/demand curve?
I would have no problem with the supply/demand curve if the demand were actually real.
Anytime I buy a concrete commodity such as wheat (bread) or oil (gasoline), don’t I have to take delivery right away? Make those speculators take delivery on that oil, and let’s find out exactly how real that demand is.
Anytime I buy a concrete commodity such as wheat (bread) or oil (gasoline), don’t I have to take delivery right away? Make those speculators take delivery on that oil, and let’s find out exactly how real that demand is.
Fair enough. However, I’m not certain the price of gasoline is rising due to input (oil) costs, or other factors.
Anytime I buy a concrete commodity such as wheat (bread) or oil (gasoline), don’t I have to take delivery right away? Make those speculators take delivery on that oil, and let’s find out exactly how real that demand is.
——————
No, because the product may not be available yet, ie if the price of wheat is not what the farmer is willing to grow it for, it will never exist. These futures contracts are to deliver the product on a certain day in the future for a defined price. That is what speculators speculate on.
The spot price is the price on the day the farmers are actually selling it, and the price at which someone has to take delivery.
You are correct that speculators have to sell their contracts though, and it is selling right now. Speculators may be taking a percent (maybe 1-2% on the price of a barrel), but that’s it. Global unrest and global demand are much larger drivers of price right now.
JP Morgan leases oil tankers to “take delivery”, not to make money mind you, but to screw the futures traders that have no intention of taking delivery.
It’s easy to do if you have a few billion dollars to spare…..
Each supertanker can hold 2m barrels per:
Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_gallons_of_gas_does_a_oil_tanker_carry#ixzz1JR2AQUgB
The United States consumes an average of 20 million barrels of oil per day (bbl/d, according to the Department of Energy.
Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_much_oil_does_the_US_consume#ixzz1JR2M8K2hc
So if JP Morgan leased 10 super tankers, they could hold 1 day of US fuel, this would cost them $2 billion dollars at $104 per barrel. 1 year’s worth would be $750b.
I’m not sure speculators storing oil on a tanker really explains the current price. Marginally, maybe it’s a good business. But it’s not driving demand.
The US SPR is 700 million barrels or 35 days worth. Again, not really enough to drive demand.
Total World Daily use is 85 million barrels per day.
It is Profit Time Now don’t you know! ??
For Alaska & Texas maybe…
they are still in the tax-cut-to-j6p-mop-up phase. gas should go down once the surplus is drained. was it a 2 year tax-cut?
If you take the time to research the price of gas and correlate the average wages you will find that gas would have to go up to about $6 to equate what has happened in the past.
1947 I made 65 cents an hour gasoline was around 20 cents a gallon. or about 1/3 of an hours wage. Minumum wage now in Cal is $8.25, gasoline would be about $2.75 a gallon.
However in 1940, I made 25 cents and hour and gasoline was 15 cents a gallon. about 60% of an hours wage, with wages at $8.25 to equal that gas would have to be about 4.85 a gallon, and I just paid $4.13 for reqular gas, and $4.33 for high test.
Going further in 1930s , oil was $3 a barrel, a quart was 10 cent when going in the car, but based on today Oil should be about$120 a barrel and it is not much below that today.
Why car repair shops are going out of business is easy. The cars are too good. In the 1930 you needed a valve job every 10-15,0000 miles and an engine overhaul at 25,-35,000 miles. My cars , Crown Vics, have run, 165,000 miles, and during the last 10 years, one of them has been in the shop, but none of them for engine problems.
My tires in 1947 cost me $12.50 for a retread, or about 20 hours of work at 65cents an hours.
We live in good times now when it comes to gas , oil, and car repairs, compared to 75 years ago.
sorry about that
I saw an interesting contrast at a local gas station of how we are threatening our English-speaking population and catering to our Spanish-speaking population. The English sign showed a picture of a cop holding someone’s drivers’ license with this warning: “If you don’t pay for your gas, you will lose your license.” The Spanish sign ( no pic. of a cop holding a drivers’ license) said: “The owner requests that you please do not drive off without paying.”
And it’s not like the Spanish version has to be oh-so-polite. I remember seeing many a sternly worded sign when I was in Spain.
Even though the sign was in Spanish, somehow I don’t think they were written for people from Spain.
“they were” should be “it was.” This site needs some way to edit a post after it has been posted.
Well… illegals don’t bother with trivialities like driver’s licences.
That, in a nutshell, is our biggest problem.
No licence or insurance? No big deal, that stuff is for suckers anyway. Won’t be a problem, until they get drunk and run a light, and T-Bones a van full of Honor Students. (And it’s always the Honor Students who get in accidents). Besides, there’s no money to be made ticketing unlicensed/uninsured drivers. If they had any money, they might get insurance. Better to write speeding tickets to someone who can afford to pay the fine. Gotta keep the revenue stream going.
All the way up and down the food chain, nobody can be bothered to put people in jail. Costs too much, and it’s too hard to do.
Don’t get me started. I recommend every time one of these turds murders a citizen with their drunk driving exploits, an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.
“All the way up and down the food chain, nobody can be bothered to put people in jail. Costs too much, and it’s too hard to do.”
So how did we end up with the largest percentage of our people in jail of any country in the world?
Low hanging fruit. Sometimes people do stuff so stupid, it’s impossible for the cops to ignore.
A lot easier to slap a poor guy in jail than a rich guy. So they slap a lot of poor people in jail for being stupid, while the guys that steal millions get a pass. Because they can afford good lawyers.
My view is that people who have positions of great responsibility (and the perks that go with that position) have an obligation to society greater than the typical J6P. The penalties for being stupid or criminal while in that position should correspond with the damage a stupid or criminal act inflicts on society.
Prison is a big business nowa days.
Inflation Actually Near 10% Using Older Measure
cnbc.com
Inflation, using the reporting methodologies in place before 1980, hit an annual rate of 9.6 percent in February, according to the Shadow Government Statistics newsletter.
Since 1980, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has changed the way it calculates the CPI in order to account for the substitution of products, improvements in quality (i.e. iPad 2 costing the same as original iPad) and other things. Backing out more methods implemented in 1990 by the BLS still puts inflation at a 5.5 percent rate and getting worse, according to the calculations by the newsletter’s web site, Shadowstats.com.
“Near-term circumstances generally have continued to deteriorate,” said John Williams, creator of the site, in a new note out Tuesday. “Though not yet commonly recognized, there is both an intensifying double-dip recession and a rapidly escalating inflation problem. Until such time as financial-market expectations catch up with underlying reality, reporting generally will continue to show higher-than-expected inflation and weaker-than-expected economic results in the month and months ahead.”
Investors are anxiously awaiting the release of March’s CPI reading on Friday. The consensus estimate from economists is for an annual inflation rate of 2.6 percent.
But its only temporary so it doesn’t count.
Gotta exclude the “volatile” food and energy prices.
“Gotta exclude the “volatile” food and energy prices.”
Okay, that’s it.
Time to get a bike, run the deer over and drag them home to the freezer like Slim does…..Ooops!
i just watched 350lbs of bear meat walk by my window, hmmm
salt licks are your friend.
Hey you two…Let the wildlife be…
Wildlife? Here? In the city?
Yep, a large herd of deer roam from the parks to our place, eating roses, hundreds of feet of photinia on our driveway, all the ground cover….can’t shoot the forest rats, put out deer netting and they push it aside, use liquid fence and they think it’s salad dressing…They walk by my office window so close I could almost touch them…our dogs think they’re protected species so they just more or less ignore them.
And then there’s the racoons, the otters, the fox who lives across the creek, the squirrels, and the jays…we have more here than at the ranch. I wouldn’t be surprised if a bear didn’t raid our freezer out in the breezeway
Wildlife? Here? In the city?
Wildlife in the city or a city in wildlife habitat ??
Wild animals are losing their fear of man.
If enough people get hungry enough, they might get it back.
Wildlife in the city or a city in wildlife habitat ??
Right smack in the middle of the city. City
park across the river from us and more
wildlife than we had on our ranch.
“Rats with Antlers” are plentiful within the city limits. No hunting in city limits (yet).
I love the animal huggers that think we should have “birth control” for the RwAs. Can’t wait for them to try to put Trojans on a buck. Put it on YouTube, it will go viral.
I love the animal huggers that think we should have “birth control” for the RwAs. Can’t wait for them to try to put Trojans on a buck. Put it on YouTube, it will go viral.
I’d like to see some form of birth control for feral cats. Quite the population of them in central Tucson. And the coyotes haven’t been in this nabe in a while.
I’d like to see some form of birth control for feral cats.
a number of people/organizations trap feral cats, spay/neuter them, then release them back into the “wild.”
Feral cats keep rats down, which is a very good thing.
a number of people/organizations trap feral cats, spay/neuter them, then release them back into the “wild.”
Where they continue to kill off the native bird species.
Where they continue to kill off the native bird species.
yeah, that’s kinda the whole circle of life thing.
The birds kill of other animals. What’s your point?
So what part of moving average would not take care short term lumps? And are prices which stay high year after year short term?
The fact that Shadow Stats is in the national news tells us that people already know that prices are skyrocketing, and that the Bureau of Lies and Statistics numbers are phoney. It’s only news if people already believe it.
Also in the “news”
Fed official says Big Banks are GSEs.
Like quotation marks around “news”.
They didn’t compute the CPI correctly in 1980 either…
Rental market swings back in favor or landlords
Days of renters able to negotiate price, perks over for now in many cities. ~ MSNBC
NEW YORK — Apartment bargains peppered virtually every block during the throes of the recession, even in typically high-demand cities like New York and San Francisco. Not anymore.
More renters, feeling better about the economy and their jobs, are moving out of mom’s basement or ditching a roommate. Across the country, apartments are filling up and landlords are boosting rents.
The only discounts left are concentrated in cities still reeling from the housing collapse or high unemployment, or in areas with too many new developments.
Tips for renters
1.
Ready to move from Dad’s couch to one of your own? Consider the following tips as you look for an apartment.
Set a budget
To stay in control of your finances, spend no more than 30 percent of your monthly take-home pay. Your landlord will probably ask for the first month’s rent and a security deposit upfront. Don’t forget to factor in utilities, cable, Internet, phone service and renter’s insurance. If utilities aren’t included in the rent, ask for an estimate. Also inquire about extra fees for parking or pets, for example. Consider doubling up with a roommate to share expenses.
Do your homework
Narrow down the neighborhoods that appeal to you using your budget as a guide. Check websites like Apartments.com, Rent.com and Craigslist.org to compare rent. Prioritize amenities. If you have children, you may want on-premise laundry, a playground or pool. If you own a car, you’ll want convenient parking. Other perks to look for include gyms, tennis courts, dog walks and roof decks. When you visit a complex, ask residents for their opinions. They likely will give an honest assessment.
Get it for less
It’s getting harder to find deals, but new developments often offer incentives such as one to two months rent-free for new tenants. Other landlords will reduce the monthly rent if you sign a 2- or 3-year lease. Ask about any manager’s specials and bring advertisements from nearby apartments if they offer lower rents. Some landlords may try to match the rent.
Put it in writing
Landlords likely will run a criminal background check and a credit check before you sign a lease. So be prepared to provide identification and your Social Security number. Other apartment owners may want proof of employment like a letter from your employer or pay stubs.
Make sure to read the entire lease before signing. Are the terms correct? Is the rent accurate?
Understand the rules regarding apartment improvements, pets, subletting, security deposits, noise violations and common areas. Note any penalties for terminating the lease early or leaving the apartment in bad condition. Include any repairs that need to be done in the lease and document damage that is already present.
In most of the country, landlords are gaining sway.
Rental activity recorded its best start to the year since 1999, despite a snowy winter and what’s traditionally a slow time for leasing, said real estate tracker Reis Inc. The vacancy rate dropped to levels not seen since mid-2008, and rents have increased for the past five quarters to $991 per month.
Concessions are also sliding. Landlords are back to offering typical inducements like one month free. A year ago, new tenants received three to four months rent-free to ink a lease. Gone, too, are the giveaways like new TVs or carpeting for existing tenants.
The outlook for renters is expensive. Analysts expect apartment vacancies to shrink and rents to rise all the way through 2013 as the economy recharges and the labor market improves.
The cities where renters have little haggling room are on the coasts, including New York, Washington, D.C., Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and San Jose, Calif. New supply in these areas is low and the local economies are adding jobs.
Seattle landlord Andrew Davies put a townhouse up for rent in January and three weeks later signed a lease. Davies advertised for $1,600 a month, a little on the high side but he wanted to build in a $100 negotiating cushion. He ended up signing the lease for $1,500 a month, exactly what he expected to get.
Nice propaganda.
Inventory is inventory.
Eventually yes. But during the bubble run up, effective supply was tightend by rental apartments being re-habbed into condos. As the bubble bursts, the number of people who are choosing or are forced to rent is driving the demand for rental housing up more quickly than owner/occupant housing can be converted to rental use. Repartments ane rentominimus and accidental landlords are only slowly converting housing into rentals. So the tightening in the rental market is temporary, but real IMHO.
I don’t think you can say that is the case everywhere. Get a copy of a Sunday Phoenix newspaper; the supply of newer rental houses with pools is astounding. I’m pretty sure it’s the same in Vegas. When I was in Florida last summer, I could see that the vacancy rate is off the chart, and advertised rents for condos included a lot of give-a-ways.
Ben, I live in South Florida and the condos in downtown Miami are renting. It is also much harder to find a single family home for rent than it was last year - inventory is way down and prices have gone up.
Blame all those wealthy folks from South America who are coming here.
I didn’t make it down to the Miami area. I understand what you’re saying. I’ve tried to call attention to the situation; for example, the guy at zillow let slip last year that they counted 6 million shadow inventory units in Florida. I’ve never seen that number again, but if true that’s bound to have an effect.
Here in Flagstaff, us working stiffs say it’s “poverty with a view”. But nobody laughs when they say it. The media house price is $100k higher than Phoenix, rents are a lot higher and the median income is way lower. Meanwhile, we’re surrounded by govt land as far as you can see in every direction. All this market manipulation is disgraceful. What if they were doing this with the price of food or milk? People would be rioting. But housing is a much bigger part of our budget, yet the govt gets away with the largest market manipulation in history!
Anyhoo, it’s interesting to hear that the downtown Miami condos are renting. Weren’t they sold for serious bucks a few years ago? There’s tens of thousands of units, right? I wonder who is holding that bag?
Absouloutely, different markets have seen different ammounts and kinds of overbuilding, so exactly how the bust affects markets and the timing of those effects vary a LOT. But I think that in many of the areas where the rental supply is tightening that will be a temporary effect.
Most of the original buyers were foreclosed on - a lot of private equity coming in buying up blocks for pennies on the dollar. The rents on the condos are relatively low for a major city - we have friends who have moved to the area for job transfer (and can’t/don’t want to buy in Miami b/c they aren’t sure what the future holds with the job). Also FHA money is now becoming available on some of the buildings - this wasn’t the case last year. So some of the units are selling - but it’s mostly renters (and the buildings are at high occupancy). And Palmetto, I know you don’t like to hear this, but yes, there are South Americans buying. I live on Key Biscayne with a population of about 75% South Americans (most of whom pay in cash).
Apt. vacancy rates are so low in my burg that there are Apt. complexes being built.
“All this market manipulation is disgraceful. What if they were doing this with the price of food or milk?”
Well…
Posted: Thursday, March 17, 2011 10:00 AM
National Milk Producers Federation approves reform proposal
Proposal aims to simplify milk pricing, maintain orders
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
The National Milk Producers Federation’s board of directors voted last week to support major reforms in the federal milk marketing order program.
The federation’s proposal would base federal orders on a competitive milk price and eliminate make allowances, which represent processors’ cost to make the product, said Roger Cryan, the federation’s vice president of milk marketing and economics.
According to a news release, the proposal centers around five objectives:
* Replace end-product pricing formulas with a competitive milk-pricing system.
* Simplify to two classes of milk: fluid, which is now Class I, and manufacturing, which is now Class II, III and IV.
* Maintain calculating the Class I minimum base price through either milk sold for cheese or milk sold for butter-powder, whichever is higher.
* Maintain current Class I regional differentials.
* Maintain the number and basic structure and provisions of the federal orders.
“There’s a lot of concern with those formulas,” Cryan said. “Milk prices are set using a formula starting with product prices.”
…
“It is also much harder to find a single family home for rent than it was last year”
They don`t rent single family houses that are in the shadow inventory. I know of literally hundreds of single family houses in Northern Palm Beach County that I would love to buy or rent. But they have people living in them not paying the mortgage or they are empty and not for sale or rent.
“They don`t rent single family houses that are in the shadow inventory. I know of literally hundreds of single family houses in Northern Palm Beach County that I would love to buy or rent. But they have people living in them not paying the mortgage or they are empty and not for sale or rent.”
Bang the gong on this one because it’s true in the northeast too. In the case of the empty houses, WTF are they waiting for? There’s two empties I’d cash offer today if they were 4Sayle.
I agree. The problem with shadow inventory is that not only is there less inventory to rent out, which decreases supply of rentals and drives up prices, but it also keeps house prices high so no one is buying, which increase demand for rentals and keeps prices high.
Add in some stable jobs to back up the extend-and-pretend, and the landlords are making a LOT of hay while the sun shines. And yes, you do get a month free the first year. But then they jack up the rent like crazy. The only way to keep reasonable rent is to meove each year. No thanks.
Yet renting is still better here in the burbs of Boston. The cheapest “home” to buy is a 630 sqft 2Br/1bath house with 360 sqft of “finished basement”. It is listed for 365K and according to Ziprealty will cost about $2070/month with 20% down or $2400 with 0% down. I currently rent 750 sqft for $1500 heat and hot water included. But since the little one arrived am considering moving to a 1400sqft 3BR apartment (lower half of a beautiful Victorian house) with heat included for $2100 a month.
It used to be that a good house price is 110x a month’s rent. Now, instead of house prices going down to the normal 110x a month’s rent, rents are increasing to 1/110 the house price. The new normal…
Whatever happened to 2.5x income?
2.5x income hasn’t been true for California since the late 1960’s. Now it’s 4.5x in the “bad” times and 6x in the “good” times and 10x during the late 2000’s Option ARM heyday.
It’s time to start squatting en masse, get all of the housing occupied. Decades of overpaying for housing needs to come to an end sooner rather than later.
Big banks are government-backed: Fed’s Hoenig
CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (Reuters) - Big banks like Bank of America Corp and Citigroup Inc should be reclassified as government-sponsored entities and have their activities restricted, a senior Fed official said on Tuesday.
The 2008 bank bailouts at the height of the financial crisis and other implicit guarantees effectively make the largest U.S. banks government-guaranteed enterprises, like mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, said Kansas City Fed President Thomas Hoenig.
“That’s what they are,” Hoenig said at the National Association of Attorneys General 2011 conference.
He said these lenders should be restricted to commercial banking activities, advocating a policy that existed for decades barring banks from engaging in investment banking activities.
“You’re a public utility, for crying out loud,” he said.
The Kansas City Fed president has been a vocal critic of rescuing the biggest banks rather than allowing them to fail. He has criticized the Fed’s easy money policies in the wake of the crisis.
There are slim chances his proposal to classify banks as government-guaranteed enterprises would be adopted. Eighteen out of the 19 biggest U.S. banks have repaid 2008 bailout aid, removing most government investment over the last 18 months.
In a later session, Bank of America Chief Executive Brian Moynihan rejected the notion that the largest banks should divorce their commercial and investment banking operations.
“I think customers want it together,” said Moynihan, noting he sees the combination as necessary to effectively serve large American companies with global operations.
““I think customers want it together,” said Moynihan, noting he sees the combination as necessary to effectively serve large American companies with global operations.”
“I think our corrupt inside-trading large customers want it together” said Moynihan…
The Kansas City Fed president has been a vocal critic of rescuing the biggest banks rather than allowing them to fail. He has criticized the Fed’s easy money policies in the wake of the crisis……“You’re a public utility, for crying out loud,” he said.
Hoenig relatively rocks. Our TBTF banks should have been nationalized as they were in Sweden in 1992. Bush chose not to. I wonder why.
Stopping a Financial Crisis, the Swedish Way September 22, 2008 NYT
Sweden did not just bail out its financial institutions by having the government take over the bad debts. It extracted pounds of flesh from bank shareholders before writing checks. Banks had to write down losses and issue warrants to the government.
That strategy held banks responsible and turned the government into an owner. When distressed assets were sold, the profits flowed to taxpayers, and the government was able to recoup more money later by selling its shares in the companies as well.
“If I go into a bank,” said Bo Lundgren, who was Sweden’s minister for fiscal and financial affairs at the time, “I’d rather get equity so that there is some upside for the taxpayer.” NYT
Big banks = government-sponsored theft operations…
theft operations… ??
If you want to rob a bank just start one….
He said these lenders should be restricted to commercial banking activities, advocating a policy that existed for decades barring banks from engaging in investment banking activities.
“You’re a public utility, for crying out loud,” he said.
Thank you, Mr. Hoenig. Keep saying stuff like this.
Eighteen out of the 19 biggest U.S. banks have repaid 2008 bailout aid, removing most government investment over the last 18 months.
Which one hasn’t repaid? I’m guessing its name rhymes with “Shittybank.”
By my understanding the restructured the debt to pay off the onerous federal debt with other less onerous debt…
Realtors Are Liars
I saw a Realtor yesterday.
She was a fixer-upper.
A fixer-upper is a real-estate property that will require maintenance work ( redecoration, reconstruction or redesign)
Plastic surgery now or be priced out forever.
She said her car was in the shop and that was why she was driving a Kia. BUT I THINK SHE WAS A….. well,
I don`t think she was telling the truth.
You think she was a……. funny person? …….a…….. smart person? mmmm…. something… What was it?
What was it?
A LIAR!
DING DING DING DING!!
We’re all winners when we acknowledge the truth about Lying Realtors. It is recognizing and acting upon the lying nature of realtors that I saved myself from years of mortgage and debt slavery.
I shall procure bumper stickers that state the truth about Lying Realtors.
Any ideas?
I shall procure bumper stickers that state the truth about Lying Realtors.
Any ideas?
How about….
Have You Given Your Realtor
A Lie Detector Test Today?
(laughing)
Why go through that effort when we already know they’ll fail miserably?
‘What was it?
A LIAR!’
Realtor training video:
www youtube com/watch?v=fxrd_jZJxkg
Bumper Sticker:
Three groups of Liars
R I P (drop dead)
Realturds.Investment Coaches.Politicians.
I sure miss my ex real estate agent….but my aim is getting better every day!
The Fed Rescue Program Too Bizarre to Be True:
By Michael Lewis - Bloomberg Opinion
Last week the Federal Reserve bravely released 894 PDF files containing 29,346 pages that detailed its heroic actions during the financial crisis.
These documents revealed how open-minded the Fed can be when it needs to be. Local governments in Belgium, Japanese fishing cooperatives, the Libyan government and many other unlikely parties received the Fed’s financial aid. Failing U.S. banks, such as Citigroup and Morgan Stanley (MS), were of course handed whatever they wanted, and permitted to post as collateral pretty much anything they could get their hands on: junk bonds, defaulted debt, volatile equities.
To naive critics this came as just more evidence that the Fed had mistaken the wants of a handful of rich people for the needs of the wider society.
Many Fed spokesmen have wisely declined to comment, many times.
Upon seeing how incapable the public is of understanding its wisdom, the Fed judiciously elected to withhold a second, far longer document. This previously unexamined collection of 10,427 encrypted PDF files should no doubt offer not merely a record of financial heroism, but a snapshot of peerless financial leadership during a crisis.
‘American Public’
Unfortunately, it won’t.
“We decided not to release any more details,” said one Fed spokesman, “because frankly, the American public is too stupid to understand them.” Instead, to prevent another pesky Freedom of Information Act request of the sort that led to its first brave disclosure, the Fed has offered physical access to its building.
A team of Bloomberg investigative reporters, led by Kram Namttip, was allowed to spend a day examining what remains of the collateral collected by the Fed during the crisis. What follows is a brief summary of their findings.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-12/the-fed-rescue-program-too-bizarre-to-be-true-commentary-by-michael-lewis.html
‘A vault in the Fed basement filled with young women, who claimed, in broken but excited English, they had been repo-ed by the Italian government…A box of brightly colored beads labeled “If Found, Return to Ivory Coast…Hastily scrawled receipts for several hundred million dollars in short-term loans to the Taliban…When shown documents that suggested that the Federal Reserve was actually an arm of the U.S. government, and thus in no position to cut a deal to sell bin Laden to that government, the Fed spokesman declined to comment.’
See, this is along the lines of what I’ve posted about Lewis before. When his book came out, he was on NPR twice in a week. He had long interviews detailing all sorts of shenanigans about wall street, and then, at the conclusion he was adamant that no one should go to jail. This is how the establishment soothes public anger.
Here we have just an inkling of what the Fed does behind closed doors, maybe the first time ever. It should be shocking; we should demand an audit, and if what we find is like the 12 trillion dollar, uh, whatever it was, we should consider ditching this band of secretive billionaires. What they do shouldn’t be allowed in a free society.
But to Lewis, it’s all a big joke! Ha ha, those crazy Fed guys!
Step #1 - Eliminate the FED.
I concur$ Mr. Ben!
(modified for my mind$ eye$ to follow):
It $hould be $hocking; we $hould demand an regular $cheduled audit$, and if what we find is like the 12 trillion dollar$, uh, whatever it wa$, we $hould con$ider ditching thi$ band of $uper $ecretive billionaire$$$$$$$$$$$$. What they$ do $houldn’t be allowed in a free society.
(Ok, OK, I added a few $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ and a couple micro-idea$)
As my old Italian friend in Long Island NY, “The$ponge” Gianbruno wa$ fond of $aying: “Follow$ the monie$ Hwy, just Follow$ the monie$”
Yeah, give them a free pass. Wouldn’t want to stifle “innovation” like this.
“The Fed Rescue Program Too Bizarre to Be True:”
This is why these people NEED to be audited. All kinds of bizarre stuff can play out indefinitely outside the revelatory light of public scrutiny.
My mother used to take in laundry from the House of Blue Lights
“We decided not to release any more details,” said one Fed spokesman, “because frankly, the American public is too stupid to understand them.”
Let’s see if I git it:
Whenever there is a financial crisis, the Federal Reserve Board can agree to create electronic book entrees in its computer which indicate a monetary expansion to the tune of how ever many hundreds of billions of dollars it decides on. This electronically created money can then be used, at the Federal Reserve Board’s discretion, to pick winners (mainly banks or anything that resembles a bank) and losers (e.g. Main Street households and small businesses), making discriminatory loans to the winners at near-zero percent interest rates so they can make loans to the losers at ‘market rates,’ and pocket the spread.
Am I being stupid here?
You know too much. Now you will be transported to the “village”.
Beware of large balloon like objects.
You, are number 6.
LOL!, I was wondering if anyone would get it.
Loved the opening theme music. Some of the best TV music ever created.
“I am not a number, I am a free man!”
“I am not a number, I am a free man!”
Which brings us back to guitars.
LOS ANGELES—Talk about a TKO.
Legendary boxer Sugar Ray Leonard was knocked out of the “Dancing With the Stars” ballroom Tuesday—one night after earning his highest scores on the hit ABC show.
Leonard and his professional partner, Anna Trebunskaya, collected 21 points out of 30 for their Viennese waltz on Monday’s episode, but viewers failed to keep them as contenders…
Is there something in the water lately with Hollywood Celebs?
———————-
The Osbournes $1.7 Million In Debt, Risk Losing Home
Us Magazine
Apr 11, 2011
Even the Prince of Darkness has to pay up to Uncle Sam.
Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne owe more than $1.7 million in back taxes to the IRS, according to Financial-Planning.com. The rocker turned reality star, 62, and his wife and manager, 58, reportedly owe $718,948 from 2008 and $1.024 million from 2009.
The IRS has placed a lien on their Los Angeles house, meaning if the Osbournes don’t pay up soon, they’re in serious danger of losing their home. Their daughter Kelly, 26, also owes the government money; TMZ reported that the state of California filed a lien against the actress for $34,000 last month.
Sharon wrote on her Twitter page Friday: “You can’t rely on anyone but yourself. You have to be on top of your own business affairs. My fault….. lesson learned.”
“Is there something in the water lately with Hollywood Celebs?”
Lately? Lol. These Hollywood people have always been nuts.
To make it in Hollywood you have to be willing to do ANYTHING. This selects out those who have limits on what they will or will not do, which means the entertainment field gets loaded up with a bunch of insecure nutcases.
Speaking of Hollywood:
This was once Yvonne de Carlo’s home. In her later years, she played Lily Munster. http://www.redfin.com/CA/North-Hollywood/3160-Coldwater-Canyon-Ave-91604/home/5259985
I could adapt to living there. LOL
Crazy Train is now a financial trainwreck.
I see a another world tour for Ozman.
I just finally nailed the solo for Crazy Train last night too. Sweet.
Nice. What kind of gear do you have?
Nice. I’ve been playing the rest of the song for 25 years, but never put the effort in to be able to play the solo. I always let somebody else do that :-).
How about smoke on the water? Do you play a Strat?
“How about smoke on the water?”
lmao
Hey RAL, if you don’t think thats a tasty peice of Blackmoore lead, fine; but look at lead guitar today? A million notes a second, everyone of which is fondled with a ton of effects… and its going nowhere.
(((shakin my head)))
Maybe he thinks all white people are Beavis and Butthead.
<<>>
Just giving you a hard time, Spookwaffe :-).
“FREEBIRD!!!!!!”
Or “Stairway to Heaven”
I like RB but his style and tone is still 1960’s. He’s a great representation of that era but like a 40 year old rancher, *it needs updating*
Point taken RAL, but thats exactly why that old school lead is so good. It was more melodic because those guys probably got their riffs from horn players; trumpet,clarinet… which were the lead instruments they probably heard growing up. Im not sure, just a theory.
Take a Jimmy Page guitar riff like “Black Dog” and play it on clarinet or sax,
see what I mean?
Very cool observation, Waffster.
Thanks for this.
Tsunami vid
People who ran up on the hill and watched this thing come in and
destroy all they owned.
Don’t watch this if this kind of thing disturbs you. Lots of crying
and wailing. Looks like some people get killed too because towards the
end you see people running out of the houses. Why did they wait so long?
They don’t show it but I suspect some of them didn’t make it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vZR0Rq1Rfw&feature=player_embedded
Amazing. Can’t imagine being there and watching something like that.
Those images will live in the minds of anyone who viewed them for the rest of their time on the planet.
Personally, I must confess that the site of watching a sea of houses engulfing anything and everything in its path puts me less in the mood for buying a home than ever…
At least 20,000 people didn’t make it.
May they rest in peace.
And the amazing thing here is, poor misunderstood Travontae was on probation already, but still managed to bring a gun to school. And some on this board think home-schoolers are whackjobs. Gee, I guess those who don’t want their kids to have classmates like this must be out of their ever lovin’ minds.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/police-arrest-16-year-old-with-gun-at-high-school-in-tampa/1163452
The worry of some nutjob kid pulling another Columbine is on every parent’s mind. We of course are very sensitive about this here in the Centennial State.
Also, being enrolled in a private school is no guarantee that some loon won’t just walk in off the street and start shooting.
A few years after one of my cousins went there, a guy shot up the Silvermine School in CT. ISTR that Silvermine was (and is) a private school.
When a large portion of the population believes in angels but doesn’t believe in evolution, and these people are teaching their kids verifiable falsehoods and the same old things that have dogged the human condition for millennia (xenophobia, superstition, provincialism, pseudo-science, etc.) be they rural, suburban or urban folk, yeah, I get worried.
Do I think that state education, working off of an educational model used the Prussian army, is the perfect solution? No. Do I have a better idea? No.
I think SOME home schoolers are whack jobs.
I could afford neither private school nor home schooling, so I chose to live in one of the best public school districts. My kids were still exposed to drugs and other hazards. I have heard that there is a high pregnancy rate in the private, Christian schools. And I think drugs are everywhere.
I understand the attraction of home schooling. It has its own risks. I think most parents are unprepared to teach all subjects. And many lack the organizational skills to manage educating their children and earning a living.
I homeschooled my son for math when the school district changed the curriculum. That lasted one year. It became a source of conflict and I decided that our relationship was more important than math.
Where I went to school there was considerable wealth and some drugs. The school hired private security people to come in and ferret out those doing drugs. They posed as students and those violating the rules were expelled. Expulsion is a nice private school luxury, but seldom used in public schools except for weapons violations. I did not have to put up with public school rites of passage like bullying and do believe the experience was a positive one in my life.
CNBC just had a guest on, John Taylor, who is predicting a new recession by the end of the year. Have to go, everyone have a good day too busy lately.
“CNBC just had a guest on, John Taylor, who is predicting a new recession by the end of the year.”
What`s wrong with the old recession? Do we really need a new one? Can`t we just get a few more years out of the old one.
I hope this new recession fixes the old recession’s annoying tendency to cause economists to frequently “call the bottom”. There should have been a recall on that recession just because of that flaw.
Maybe we can get a new jobless recovery. This one is starting to suck.
We interrupt this recession…
With another recession.
Hope and Change!
4 more years!
Misery and Sameness.
Black on the outside and banker on the inside…
Hope and change is coming thanks to Obama. That is, if you live in Libya.
The sheeple have given up on Obama’s candy crapping unicorn. So now they’ll vote in the GOP’s fecal crapping unicorn, the one that will cancel Medicare and Social Security while giving the super rich even more tax cuts and loopholes.
Poor Ozzy, he got the shaft because he earned his income, as opposed to getting capital gains. I guess another world tour is in the works. The question is: will anyone pay to see/hear him?
His live show was pretty poor 10 years ago. I can’t imagine what it will be now. I sure won’t shell out any money for it.
Speaking of people not being willing to shell out money for live concerts, I went to one last Friday night. Blues singer Shemekia Copeland, and she burned the house down.
Sad thing was, the house wasn’t even half full.
The boomer’s and Gen X still spend money. Maybe it’s more a problem of the music industry. In it’s present form, it’s harder and harder to get your sound out. So tired of Syracuse stations mostly playing 30 year old tunes. Consider the following:
” (Yet) with 26 dates to go, (U2’s) “360 Tour” has grossed more than $554 million since it launched in 2009. That beats a previous record set by the Rolling Stones’ “Bigger Bang Tour.”
“Live Nation…trumpets the “360 Tour” as the highest-grossing rock ‘n’ roll endeavor ever”
http://blog.syracuse.com/entertainment/2011/04/u2_sets_record_for_highest-gro.html
I tried to get tix for My Chemical Romance. Looked at 6 different east coast venues and nothing was available. These are not stadiums but they’re sold out way before the show.
So tired of Syracuse stations mostly playing 30 year old tunes.
That’s what internet radio is for! Now there are more outstanding stations than I will ever have time to sample properly.
“The sheeple have given up on Obama’s candy crapping unicorn. So now they’ll vote in the GOP’s fecal crapping unicorn, the one that will cancel Medicare and Social Security while giving the super rich even more tax cuts and loopholes.”
Look at Wisconsin as an example of what can happen. Obama hasn’t been good, but the alternatives can be far worse.
Same here in Ohio. The old Governor (Dem) was highly in-effective. The new Governor (Rep) is a nightmare.
Based on the current crop of Republican hopefuls, I think Obama gets re-elected. Romney, Huckabee, Trump, Gingrich, Palin all have significant weaknesses. Pawlenty and Daniels may have the best chances, since they are relatively unknown. Will either Ron or Rand Paul run?
A lot can change in the next 18 months. If the Tea Party gets stronger, they may nominate a Republican that is extremely distasteful to the rest of the voters. Like the Senate race in Nevada last fall. Reid was vulnerable, but Angle was a weaker candidate.
If the Tea Party fades, the Republicans have a better chance of nominating a candidate with broader appeal.
He might have to bite the heads off a few live bats in order to drum up sizable relics of his fan base…
“He might have to bite the heads off a few live bats in order to drum up sizable relics of his fan base…”
Obama or Ozzy?
Ok, I lurk but rarely post, but I have to pipe up and give you a actual LOL for that one.
“Obama or Ozzie?”
Both
The question is: will anyone pay to see/hear him?
I JUST met a Swedish girl who JUST saw him in Brazil like a week or something ago. Said it was good.
No worries, I am almost ready to release my software to an unsuspecting world. I am going to be rich rich rich and will need all the tax breaks I can get.
No banana, this time we’ll blame it on the Republican House and their hostage-taking tactics to extend those tax cuts on the rich.
I seem to recall that corporations, and the Republicans who love them, promised up down and sideways that they would create all kinds of jobs if only they could have just a little more time with those tax cuts.
Where are the jobs, banana?
China?
A new recession? Compared to… what?
whyoung, I predict the US will start breaking up within a couple of years. At the outside. All the signs are there, including the fact that the rule of law has been totally busted out, where you have laws that are not enforced, or twisted to favor certain classes and ethnicities and economic strata. A defense that’s in utter shambles. A federal government that’s broke and out of control, etc.
Someone mentioned that they there was still sentiment in the South for secession. Nothing could be further from the truth, since “the South” is full of government clients, especially from other countries.
But secessionist movements are indeed alive, in Vermont and in Cascadia and other places. I read about Cascadia yesterday. Fascinating.
Thoughout history, nations have arisen and crumbled, or re-formed. Why should the US be any different? And in fact, secession or break-up is probably the only way to repudiate the debt. And that’s a big benefit.
http://www.aolnews.com/2011/04/13/poll-4-in-10-southerners-still-side-with-confederacy/
That’s a pretty big percentage. Of course most of them have no clue of how dependent they are on DC Pork
Here is the difference:
Southern government gravy train folks have guns, tend to join the military and the pork is military related.
Northern government gravy train folks have been disarmed, tend to shun the military and the pork is human services related.
Who do you think will win that fight?
You don’t have to be southerner to have lots of kids in the military. Here in blue Colorado 25% of my daughter’s graduating HS class tried to enlist.
Being a grunt in the military is the Blue Collar job in America that pays a living wage.
And do you think no one in the south is on welfare?
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/01/25/us/20090126-welfare-table.html
From examining the table its obvious that the South is very welfare heavy. “Prosperous” Texas has more foodstamp recipients than more populous California.
Texas has a large number of illegal aliens and thier children. They consume a lot of food stamps and medicaid.
Without Medicaid, 1/2 the dentist offices in Dallas would close.
And do you think no one in the south is on welfare?
Ho ho, hah hah, hehehehehehe, BwaHaHaAhHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! (Cantankerous Intellectual Bomb-thrower™)
Ca discontinued Med-ical (our Medicaid) for Dental, however I think our criminal invaders were grandfathered in, for work in process.
Ca is full of illegals too, and they are eating better than most Americans. Food Stamps, as well as any welfare, really should be means tested by citizenship, imo. Citizenship should be granted by parental status, not just American soil.
/rant off
Here in blue Colorado 25% of my daughter’s graduating HS class tried to enlist.
And the key words in the previous sentence are “tried to enlist.” I’d be willing to wager that a good portion of the aforementioned 25% wasn’t successful in the attempt to enlist.
And the key words in the previous sentence are “tried to enlist.” I’d be willing to wager that a good portion of the aforementioned 25% wasn’t successful in the attempt to enlist.
Yup. The military is getting the pick of the litter.
“Texas has a large number of illegal aliens and thier children.”
So does California.
But you can’t blame the large # of foodstamp reicpients in the entire south on just illegals. We have boat loads of them here in the Centenial State, and our foodstamp participation is well below the national average.
Yup. The military is getting the pick of the litter.
No kidding.
Over the weekend, I thumbed through an ASVAB test prep book at the library. Trust me, the math section of that puppy is NOT a piece of cake. And this is a test that high school kids take.
Food Stamps, as well as any welfare, really should be means tested by citizenship, imo. Citizenship should be granted by parental status, not just American soil.
Agree on the food stamps. IMO, if you have two anchor babies, then you should get food stamps for two babies.
However, I’d like to not yank the American soil citizenship unless it’s needed as a last resort. In other words, build an actual wall, stop sending cheap subsidzed corn to Mexico, demand papers of ANYONE who has little grasp of English, get serious about deportation, and start throwing employers in jail. If that doesn’t work, then we can resort to the Constitution.
Yup. The military is getting the pick of the litter.
Is that why they were lowering standards w.r.t. criminal history and whatnot a year or two ago?
2005-2007
-Height of the Housing Bubble ATM. Plenty of make believe jobs to go around.
-Height of the Iraq insurgency. Plenty of our guys coming home in caskets and on medical evac flights from Germany
I still think military service should be mandatory for the top 5%ers and their families. After all, they have a lot more stuff to “defend”. Make sure they are all in rifle companies. Or combat engineers. Put them all in one Army Division, and call it the “GolSacs” Division” (thks for the idea, Americal Division)
You guys in CA need to get on the ball with the food stamp program:
California continued to struggle, with the second lowest participation rate in the country. There are more eligible nonparticipants in California than in the entire Midwest. An eligible working family is three times as likely to get benefits if the family lives in West Virginia (which reaches 91 percent of working poor families) than in California (which only reaches 31 percent of the working poor).
Is that why they were lowering standards w.r.t. criminal history and whatnot a year or two ago?
I think that was back when Iraq was sucking hard and the bubble hadn’t popped yet.
I think that was back when Iraq was sucking hard and the bubble hadn’t popped yet.
well, it was at least late 2007 and early 2008:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,308880,00.html
http://www.slate.com/id/2182752/
Who do you think will win that fight?
The North as usual.
You just keep on believing that, 2banana. You just keep believing that….
Why not cut off the welfare states of the confederacy, the states that get back far more from the federal government than they pay in taxes?
Why not cut off the welfare states of the confederacy, the states that get back far more from the federal government than they pay in taxes?
why not simply stop using the federal government as a means to redistribute wealth/income between the states (with strings attached, no less)
why not simply stop using the federal government as a means to redistribute wealth/income between the states
I know. We should let charities and the churches do it like that one successful country that I forgot the name of.
I never understood this. A lot of people say that government should stop giving money to the welfare queens because handouts encourages people to be lazy. But these same people say “give to churches instead.” But isn’t it now the churches handing out and encouraging the same people to be lazy?
So why is it OK for churches to give handouts but not government?
“So why is it OK for churches to give handouts but not government?”
Because for the most part, they don’t give handouts.
In our little burb a lot of churches send supplicants to our Parish office, because we actually help people, unlike the other churches who have better uses for their budgets.
In our little burb a lot of churches send supplicants to our Parish office, because we actually help people, unlike the other churches who have better uses for their budgets.
Same thing happens where my parents live. Their church has had a community dinner for the poor and homeless for years. And, from what my mother says, this church and the town’s Catholic parish are the only two that can be bothered with such a thing.
As for the other churches? To hear it from my mom, they’re too busy singing songs of praise and going on and on about their *personal* relationship with Jesus to care about the less fortunate among them.
So why is it OK for churches to give handouts but not government?
oxide, you’re smarter than to need to ask this question.
it’s OK because the money given to churches is done willingly, voluntarily.
The money handed out by the government was not given willingly nor voluntarily for that purpose.
Also, church volunteers are right there on the scene to see who gets what and how they behave. Harder to game that system.
“whyoung, I predict the US will start breaking up within a couple of years.”
I’m thinking more like 5 to 10. Once Uncle Sugar runs out of borrowed money to hand out it will be over. The states will see no benefit in being part of the Union but will see lots of liabilities (servicing the debt).
If the government defaults, then do we still have to service debt? And without government money, parts of the US will turn into a third-world country FAST. In which case, those rentals owned by “survivalists” aren’t going to do much good.
I’m really starting to wonder what would happen if the US really does default. Would they institute an immediate tarriff to bring in quick money? Would they bring all the soldiers home, put them on the border and say to the Chinese and Mexicans — you want it ,come and get it? But then how would I gas up my car?
I’m sorry, but the traditional Eisenhower views of “family values” and lecturing the middle class to “better themselves and get a job” just isn’t going to work anymore.
A default would been having to refinance the existing debt at a somewhat higher interest rate. Probably not astronomical as you need to keep the payor alive in order to collect on unsecured debt. I expect there were would be some terms about the refied debt being “senior” to any new borrowing. New borrowing would cost a lot more, and would likely be subordinated to the previously mentioned refinanced debt.
Just a guess. It would all depend on how well treasury does in negotiating with China and our other creditors on the terms.
“whyoung, I predict the US will start breaking up within a couple of years.”
“I’m thinking more like 5 to 10.”
There are lots of divisions now, but they aren’t as geographically clean as during the Civil War.
I think some form of separation is possible, but it will take longer than 10 years. I think the first step will be things becoming more local. After that, the cost of separation is less.
“…the rule of law has been totally busted out…”
Why does that matter so much?
With the TSA molesting 6-year-olds, support for the establishment will continue to erode.
With corporatist politicians molesting the working class on behalf of banks and corporations, the establishment will continue to erode.
Maybe we do have some common ground…
I thought drug testing children at schools and forcing them to wear uniforms would cause a change in people’s perceptions of authority. Now it’s completely accepted.
Now it’s completely accepted.
Bugs: “eh, t’aint necessarily so Doc…”
I had my first TSA feel-up last Friday night. I hope it was as good for the TSA guy as it wasn’t for me.
When confronted with a dose of radiation or being felt up, I always go for getting felt up. Fortunately most of my flights have only required the traditional metal detectors.
Radiation was not an option; if it had been, it would have been a tough choice.
Secessionist wingnuts have little financial clout. I don’t see the US breaking up. Figuratively imploding, yes. In fact threat of breakup will actually be a great rallying point much as war is a great unificator.
Breakup is inevitable when a nation has done so much harm in the world, much like Rome. It’s inevitable when when you have too many disparate cultures competing with each other. In fact it is natural when there’s no unifying factors. Cultures are fragile, countries break up and re-form all the time over history. We’re way past our expiration date. And in fact it’s a great time for the great re-configuration. Never better, in fact. New alliances, new currencies, new systems.
I fully expect Mexifornia to go first, they have a pretty brutal and well financed army.
Breakup is inevitable when a nation has done so much harm in the world, much like Rome.
——————————–
What? Are you thinking some other nation is going to come break up the US? And a few drug dealers in Mexico are your first guess at who that’s going to be? Seriously? In 5 - 10 years?
In terms of Vermont, like the southern states, they also take in more federal funds than they send out. And the majority of the southern states have less population than major US cities. They aren’t going to secede from anything.
“I fully expect Mexifornia to go first”
Welcome toBienvenidos a la República de Aztlán.Has anyone her ever read Heinlein’s novel Friday? Set in a future world where North America has broken up into a number of different states.
I remember the cover on the copy that I had…
Or Ecotopia, where Northern California, Oregon, and Washington seceeded to be an eco-paradise? Actually not a bad book. The author predicted hand-held computers and biodegradable plastics. The best idea was the white bicycles. There were dozens of white bikes lying on the sidewalks. When you wanted to go a bit faster than walking, you picked up a white bike, rode it, and set it down whenever and wherever you were done. No fees or sign-ups — just grabbed one. The cost savings from no cars more than made up for maintenance and theft (but there was no theft because there were so many hanging around.)
Had to poke my head in here…..for more reading along the same lines.
Enemies Foreign and Domestic. DAMN good series
Agree. Matthew Bracken’s trilogy (Enemies Foreign and Domestic) is outstanding! Although if you’re PC-whipped, you won’t like it.
I predict the US will start breaking up within a couple of years
Oh goody, another “Got popcorn” parade event as Hwy50 gets to watch “America-The-Nation” finally get a “Total-Net-Worth” appraisal value! (I’ve been waiting with “great expectations” for years upon years for such a simple calculation, can you even image what the number musta been on Jan 2007!!!!!!!!!!! WOW!)
On a side-note, you figure the Boulder dam has depreciated much since then? (After-all the concrete is kinda,…old.)
Here’s why:
http://www.correntewire.com/truth_about_confederacy
Because the 4 out of 10 that will try and force the issue are not the majority and the other 6 will make it a point to sabotage any chance of success. But not until after a lot of people have died.
For those of you who manage to slog through this essay, you will notice an eerie similarity to modern day GOP policy and actions.
Shocker - Most of that spending went towards gas…
————————-
Consumer spending increases 0.4 percent in March
Yahoo - 13 APR 2011
WASHINGTON – Consumers spent more in March, but most of the added money went toward higher gas prices.
Retail sales increased 0.4 percent last month, the ninth consecutive gain, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. The increase shrank to a slight 0.1 percent when sales at gasoline stations were excluded.
I’m now just 5 miles from work. I take my bike most days. I have more money to spend but unfortunately most of my customers have less. $4 gas is not good for consumers and it’s not good for business.
What sort of business? I ask because there was a lot of push back from business owners in SF concerning the removal of parking spaces for their customers. So a study was done showing that bikers and walkers frequent shop more times giving them more chances to buy random stuff they wouldn’t have purchased had they driven. No link, so take with a huge grain of salt.
But all bets are off if you sell huge tvs! Although my bike and I have been known to elicit comments as we bike by with groceries and those huge tp packages!
MrBubble
I’m an insurance agent. People begin to cut vital coverage when all the money goes into their gas tanks.
Gotcha. Gas hikes are bad for business, but at least your customers don’t have to haul anything!
Is there some sort of special insurance for people who get nailed by cars (other than med/life insurance…gulp)?
Any way to make your place more bike/ped friendly? A convenient place to lock up the wheels is always appreciated. And traveling through parking lots is a nightmare.
There’s no insurance I’m aware of for people who get nailed by cars except for the bodily injury protection the driver of the car is supposed to carry.
My office building has nowhere to lock a bike so mine comes into my office and stays in the storage closet until I go home.
“office building has nowhere to lock a bike”
The owners/managers are definitely making a statement there! I usually lock mine in an inappropriate place when I shop at the market that doesn’t have a rack.
been locking mine to a tree.
“been locking mine to a tree.”
Here, they’ll cut the tree down or get a ladder and pull it up and over (if the tree is small enough).
I live 5 blocks from a grocery, a drug store, a Family Dollar, and a used bookstore. Once a week I drive to pickup bulky or heavy itgems liked canned goods. I walk the rest of the time and get fresh fruit or produce almost daily. Very little impulse shopping since bags get heavy very fast. I’ve seriously considered a bicycle since that would put the library within range. Unfortunately the area is not very good for biking.
Yeah, we’re not living better, we’re just paying more to live.
Just what we need: Another Ayn Rand-inspired zealot with his hands on the levers of power.
The Echoes of Ayn Rand in Paul Ryan’s Budget Plan
By Garance Franke-Ruta
Apr 11 2011, 9:13 AM ET 6
Jonathan Chait examines the intellectual underpinnings of the movement to slash budgets — and especially programs that serve the poor, elderly and weak — in a Newsweek piece, and argues that this is no accident:
…the furious Tea Party rebels and Ryan the earnest budget geek … both spring from the same source. And it is to that source that you must look if you want to understand what Ryan is really after,
Who was Ayn Rand? A first-class nutjob sociopath maybe.
Fact: Ayn Rand greatly admired a murderer and a rapist because “he represented “the amazing picture of a man with no regard whatsoever for all that a society holds sacred, and with a consciousness all his own.
She announced that the world was divided between a small minority of Supermen who are productive and “the naked, twisted, mindless figure of the human Incompetent” who, like the Leninists, try to feed off them. He is “mud to be ground underfoot, fuel to be burned.” It is evil to show kindness to these “lice”: The “only virtue” is “selfishness.”
She meant it. Her diaries from that time, while she worked as a receptionist and an extra, lay out the Nietzschean mentality that underpins all her later writings. The newspapers were filled for months with stories about serial killer called William Hickman, who kidnapped a 12-year-old girl called Marion Parker from her junior high school, raped her, and dismembered her body, which he sent mockingly to the police in pieces.
Rand wrote great stretches of praise for him, saying he represented “the amazing picture of a man with no regard whatsoever for all that a society holds sacred, and with a consciousness all his own. A man who really stands alone, in action and in soul. … Other people do not exist for him, and he does not see why they should.” She called him “a brilliant, unusual, exceptional boy,” shimmering with “immense, explicit egotism.” Rand had only one regret: “A strong man can eventually trample society under its feet. That boy [Hickman] was not strong enough.”
http://www.slate.com/id/2233966
“the amazing picture of a man with no regard whatsoever for all that a society holds sacred, and with a consciousness all his own. A man who really stands alone, in action and in soul. … Other people do not exist for him, and he does not see why they should.” She called him “a brilliant, unusual, exceptional boy,” shimmering with “immense, explicit egotism.” Rand had only one regret: “A strong man can eventually trample society under its feet. That boy [Hickman] was not strong enough.”
“Hickman” is current political “TrueDeceiver™” slang for: C_H_E_N_E_Y
For a minute there, I thought they were talking about Dwayne Hickman.
Jonathan Chait examines the intellectual underpinnings of the movement to slash budgets — and especially programs that serve the poor, elderly and weak — in a Newsweek piece, and argues that this is no accident:
To all big government socialists…
ANY CUT to the bloated government budget to ANY PROGRAM will:
starve kids
throw grandma in the street
force blacks back into slavery
make the water dirty
make the air un breathable
allow clear cutting of all national forests
etc.
It is the same old line. Any cut to any government service will kill us. What they really mean is that “any cut to any government service will erode my power base.” And we can’t have that.
You want really throw grandma in the street and starve kids? Keep government spending at current levels until the whole ponzi scheme collapses.
“ANY CUT to the bloated government budget to ANY PROGRAM will:”
You said it; guess we will have to take your word for it…
But welfare for the rich is okay, right?
Setting aside the minor fact that she was Jewish, Ayn Rand would have made a great Nazi.
“Just what we need: Another Ayn Rand-inspired zealot with his hands on the levers of power.”
Surprise, surprise, Rand Paul is a big Ayn Rand fan too. I agree with the description of Ayn as being a politicized L. Ron Hubbard. Their followers somehow remind me of each other.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/weigel/archive/2011/04/12/rand-paul-quotes-ayn-rand-at-length.aspx
How van that be a surprise?? He was named after her.
No, his real name is Randal. (But I was being sarcastic;-)
Is Ron Paul a Randian, too? Did he and Greenspan exchange secret handshakes? Inquiring minds want to know!
I think he favors Hayek and von Mises more than Rand.
Tea Party folks did not come from some rant on CNN or whatever. The Tea Party is just a name for conservative folks who became very angry. Let’s go back. Bush ran as a conservative and became a huge spender. The former Republican Speaker of the House was a huge spender.
So people voted for conservative principles and got big spenders who served the bankers. So Obama promised some change but he goes in with Geitner and the bankers. That is the genesis of the anger. Why vote for a Republican if he/she is another big spender?
The Tea Party is a disorganized mess of angry people that have a clear idea that politicians who ask for the conservative vote should not do the opposite of what they say when they are elected. No excuses will be accepted.
Here in SC, it is a clear majority. If you run as a conservative, and then get elected and do something else, you are gone. Rep Inglis who served for many years got like 15% of the vote in the Republican primary here.
People have caught on.
The Tea Partiers are simpletons who want their bennies (SS and Medicare) and military spending but don’t want anyone to pay for it via taxation so they instead focus on Welfare Queens.
Most people I know who identify with the tea party (note there are no caps because it’s not an actual party) are for phasing out social security.
“TrueAnger™” + “TruePathToProsperity™” advocates/disciples have a funny way of “TruePrioritizing™” what is in their “TrueInterests™”
A new WSJ/NBC poll shows Americans do not approve of the government slashing Social Security and Medicaid to reduce the nation’s deficit.
Wall Street Journal
In the poll, Americans across all age groups and ideologies said by large margins that it was “unacceptable” to make significant cuts in entitlement programs in order to reduce the federal deficit. Even tea party supporters, by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, declared significant cuts to Social Security “unacceptable.”
Define cuts. No one seems to want cuts to present recipients…I think there’s no better place to start.
“In the poll, Americans across all age groups and ideologies said by large margins that it was “unacceptable” to make significant cuts in entitlement programs”
Since when is a program that I have already paid over $200K into and will probably pay another 200K+ into before I retire an “entitlement”?
“Since when is a program that I have already paid over $200K into and will probably pay another 200K+ into before I retire an “entitlement”?”
Since they started allowing people who stub their toes to collect disability. Since they started pillaging the trust fund to pay for other programs.
This is what happens when you trust the government with your money.
“Since they started allowing people who stub their toes to collect disability.”
Oh please. I kow people who really are disabled and are trying to collect disability. It’s like pulling teeth. They have to hire an attorney.
“They have to hire an attorney.”
Yes, and the same attorney will get the person who stubbed their toe benefits. Disability needs to be defined as total disability that allows you to do NO work, not just your selected work.
same attorney will get the person who stubbed their toe benefits.
This means nothing.
Show us some stats of the percentage of SocSec payments that go towards disability then show us a study that estimates the level of fraud. Then show us what percentage of the whole of Social Security is possibly fraudulent.
Then make an argument that this very minor percentage should be the representative poster child argument that Social Security is an “entitlement”.
It means everything. Your argument that fraud makes up a small percentage (with no statistics to prove it) is worthless. Fraud and waste adds up. Government pillaging of your money and mine for other programs adds up.
It means everything. Your argument that fraud makes up a small percentage (with no statistics to prove it) is worthless
It means nothing, you’re babbling.
I did not make the argument that fraud is a “small percentage”. I made no argument.
Re-read my post. I told YOU how to make a valid argument to show us your point was correct. I did you a favor.
But apparently you can’t make the argument that I showed you how to make so apparently you’d rather just babble.
“Yes, and the same attorney will get the person who stubbed their toe benefits.”
Baloney. I know people wit real disabilities who have had their claims denied.
If its so damn easy, why don’t you go “stub your toe” and collect that big fat check.
SS Disability is notoriously difficult to collect. When I worked at HP we had company provided disability and the HR drone even told us that it was a great benefit, as SS Disability is next to impossible to collect.
“Then make an argument that this very minor percentage should be the representative poster child argument that Social Security is an ‘entitlement.’”
Your words, not mine.
“Yes, and the same attorney will get the person who stubbed their toe benefits.”
Baloney. I know people wit real disabilities who have had their claims denied.
If its so damn easy, why don’t you go “stub your toe” and collect that big fat check.
Here is a data point on massive fraud in workers comp by public union goons…
25,000 out of 70,000 Illinois State Employees are on Workers’ Comp
http://www.pjstar.com/opinions/ourview/x1302185110/Our-View-Workers-comp-reform-is-too-important-to-state-business-climate-not-to-address-soon
I took a quick looksie at the SS website. Approximately 20% of SS recipients receive disability benefits, with an average monthly benefit of $921 per month.
By definition the recipients paid into SS prior to their disability, so it’s an insurance payout, not an “entitlement” like foodstamps.
As for fraud or get big bucks for “stubbing your toe”, all I can say is that I know people with genuine disabilities, who have retained an attorney and are denied their claims.
If there is an entitlement in SS, it would be SSI, which is about 7% of total SS benefits paid. The average monthly benefit is $497.
My father-in-law, with the help of an attorney was deemed too fat to work. Don’t have this discussion with me, I’m not the right person to defend the nonsense to.
But you’ve just proved the point.
He HAD to hire an attorney.
disab
From 2003..
The opportunity for fraud is enhanced because
SSA is an agency that has, historically, made
extraordinary efforts to ensure accessibility to its
benefits programs by qualified Americans.
According to current estimates by auditors of the
SSA, fraud against the various SSA benefits
programs may account for as much as ten percent
of all costs to the Social Security Trust Funds.
SSA/OIG 2003 Semiannual Report to Congress,
available at http://www.ssa.gov/oig/
ADOBEPDF/sar102002032003.pdf. Considering
the volume and amount of payments SSA makes
each month, even the smallest percentage of fraud,
waste, and abuse can result in the loss of millions
of dollars. It is not surprising, then, that fraud
perpetrated on Social Security benefits programs
has increasingly attracted national attention
“Disability needs to be defined as total disability that allows you to do NO work, not just your selected work.”
That is how it works. You have to be deemed unable to do any work, in any area (with some reasonableness built in). The older you are the easier to collect. Goes by 5-yr increments, so that if your claim failed at 48 for obesity disability it might fly at 53. Also the less education the better. An 8th-grade dropout is more likely to collect because he’s not qualified for many jobs.
Lots of people file but don’t have any good medical evidence, and rely on the SS doctor who almost always fails them. Got to have your own medical. First claims are almost always rejected anyway. Get that out of the way, then get an atty for the appeal. The admin judges are usually pretty tough.
I’m told mental claims are the soft gray area and the favorite of malingerers.
disab
Doesn’t strike me as insignificant…
Two years ago the United States Bureau of the Census reported that 11.8 million Americans ages 16 to 64 had a medical condition impeding their ability to find a job or remain employed. That accounts for approximately 6
percent of the total population in this age group.
Ten years ago, the Ohio census reported 20,258 Greene County residents over the age of 5 who were receiving disability benefits. In 2009 the U.S. Social Security Administration experienced a surge in applications for disability benefits, from 550,000 to 725,000.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2582209/think_twice_about_disability_fraud.html
That is how it works. You have to be deemed unable to do any work, in any area (with some reasonableness built in).
I’ll disagree with that. My mother has been getting SSD yet was still doing part-time work. There was actually a disincentive for her to work more, as she’d lose the SSD.
And she took no efforts to “game” the system, AFAIK.
Her issues? She had a few fused vertebrae and knee replacement surgery.
disab
“SS Disability is notoriously difficult to collect”
The numbers indicate otherwise….
In the Social Security program alone, the White House proposes to spend $4.3 billion over five years to fight fraud associated with disability claims — a problem, officials say, that stems from lack of oversight. Federal spending on disability insurance leaped 65 percent from 2001 to 2007, “yet the number of full medical reviews, one type of review for evaluating claims for eligibility for continuing disability payments, fell from 840,000 in 2001 to 190,000 in 2007, according to the Social Security Administration,” as The Wall Street Journal reported this week
http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/07/the-disability-mess/
By definition the recipients paid into SS prior to their disability, so it’s an insurance payout, not an “entitlement” like foodstamps.
Huh?
The lawsuit names eight plaintiffs who were denied benefits, including a 50-year-old Guyanese man who says he has seizures and a muscular disease, and a 55-year-old woman with a long history of mental illness who has never held a job.
At a time of budgetary crisis, the Social Security disability program, which paid $172 billion last year, has attracted criticism nationwide from those who call its benefits too generous and urge the program to issue more denials. Yet in New York, the Queens lawsuit has drawn support from the city’s public advocate, Bill de Blasio, who joined the lawsuit with a friend-of-the-court brief.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/13/nyregion/13disability.html?src=me&ref=nyregion
Doesn’t appear Arkansas will be fighting for succession anytime soon…
About 8.2 million people collected disabled worker benefits totaling $115 billion last year, up from 5 million a decade earlier. About one in 21 Americans from age 25 to 64 receive the benefit, according to an analysis of Social Security data by Prof. Mark G. Duggan, an economist at the University of Maryland, compared with one in 30 a little over a decade ago. In Mr. Howard’s home state of Arkansas, the figure is one in 12, among the highest in the nation.
“My mother has been getting SSD yet was still doing part-time work. ”
I know someone who does that, too, but I think SSA does some sort of review periodically…not sure what the criteria are for staying on SS. All I know is the scope of jobs that someone is deemed “qualified” to do is very wide, even if there are no such jobs in the area. Security guard was a biggie. “but I can’t find a job as a security guard - ” didn’t matter. They could get one somewhere, so move.
But it’s limited by education and a 50+ applicant has an easier time of it than someone in his 20s. Proving a listed ailment is the big hurdle to get over and all the ailments have different implications IIRC.
Ryan voted for TARP and GM bailout.
Yes he’s so up on Ayn Rand
He’s a pig dressed in Ayn Rand clothing.
Black man rips Obama a new one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CueE-HGA2U&feature=player_embedded
Cover your eyes if you’re a “yeswecanner”,
its not pretty.
*disapointment is the mother of rebellion*
Black man rips Obama a new one:
He sounds kind of mad and he called President Obama a “negro”.
Excellent! Now let’s get the ball rolling here for our investment banks. The Move Your Money campaign was way too vague and powerless:
Dutch bankers’ bonuses axed by people power
“Britain has a rival when it comes to bashing bankers. After a furious row over pay packages at Amsterdam-based ING in which thousands of customers threatened to make mass withdrawals, the Netherlands is now vying for the title of Europe’s most bonus-hating country.
A growing Dutch political storm could end with a blanket ban on bonuses to financiers who work for institutions bailed out by the taxpayer.
ING customers mobilised on Twitter and other social networks to protest at bonuses paid to bosses at the bank, one of the biggest in the country. The threat of direct action raised the spectre of a partial run on ING…”
Link to come under separate post.
Thank goodness I threw out that $25 check that ING sent me yesterday.
If I was more active in social media, I would start a movement to send a message to BofA. 17 year customer am I; free checking is now $8.95/month. AX card limit cut from $25k to $2500; Visa card limit from $20k to $1500.
Never missed a payment, both credit cards I have held 10 yrs now have yearly fees of $89 and $59 dollars. The only reason I have not closed the cards is that I assume, by keeping the balances at zero, keeping them open improves my credit rating using the fico formula of revolving balance/total credit available. Closing the cards would lower my score; maybe not by that much.
For the bank account I have no good exuse to put up with the fees; we will be closing it this month as we have found free checking elsewhere.
If, via the facebook or twitter commication network, remaining checking account holders talked with their feet at the same that would send a great message.
C’mon all you BofA cutomers; let’s set a date and cancel our credit cards and checking accounts together!
Have you heard of US Uncut? They’ve been organizing massive protests against non-taxpaying banksters like BofA. You might want to share your idea with them.
If it makes you feel better I know someone who stiffed BofA about 50K in a BK!
“…I know someone who stiffed BofA about 50K in a BK!”
Auto loan or credit card default?
Ummm, are you sure it is BoA they stiffed? Can anyone really stiff a TBTF?
People say banking locally or go to a CU. Fine, but my family was banking locally - for many decades - until BoA bought it up.
Staying ahead of those TBTF guys can be a part time job. They’re always looking for stable banks to buy out - like a virus seeks additional host organisms.
Any chance the mortgage company took a paint ball gun to your credit report, which is then noticed eventually by the ccd company, who then reduces their risk by lowering your limit, which in and of itself lowers your credit rating (as %owed of credit line), which eventually gets you arrested for running down the street naked screaming “I can’t take it anymore”?
I’ve never held a mortgage during the recent past. They took away most of my credit lines just after the credit card bill passed. My wife, who holds the mortgage in the family, had her bofa card revoked.
I did hold high balances however; sold a house; paid them in full; they lowered my limit by a factor of 10. which did lower their risk as I cant hold high balances and stiff them.
My wife had $500 limit card revoked when she stopped paying her $300,000 mortgage. Fair is fair.
See Ya Bofa day 2011—the day after I run the field naked screaming I’ll get a movement aimed at them together!
I love ING! SO much I bought their preferred shares when the interest on them was over 30%. Too bad I did not put it all in. Price has tripled since then.
Who said this:
The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can’t pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies. … Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that “the buck stops here.” Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.
Wait for it…
Sen. Obama’s Floor Speech, March 20, 2006:
It was different…at that time it was RepubliCONS doing the spending and the Dumbocrats didn’t like it.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney already claimed that was a “mistake”.
“He now believes it was a mistake,” Carney said. He said Obama understands that senators want to make it clear when they disagree with the administration but that there are other ways to go about doing it. He said the debt ceiling vote is not something Washington “can play around with,” warning that a failure to lift the cap would be “Armageddon-like” for the economy.
It sounds Obama did bring some change.
Failure to raise the debt cieling would drop FedBov spending like a rock, which would in and of itself collapse our precious GPD number. Grow or Die stuff.
That would do wonders for the military. Which is why the Tea Partiers will threaten to block raising the debt ceiling, but it’s just a bluff.
And GE, among almost half of the other Fortune 500 corporations, paid NO taxes.
I wonder if there is any correlation with our debt….
Tea Party Schism
“you can’t be a fiscal conservative and not be a social conservative.” Really? Why?
As a Wisconsin Election Takes A Fishy Turn, is the Tea Turning Toxic?
http://www.wnyc.org/articles/its-free-country/2011/apr/07/tea-turns-toxic-wisconsin/
Added to this political bad taste left behind Walker’s anti-union legislation is a schism in the magic of the Tea Party story. What was once widely portrayed as a grassroots movement from middle-America has now taken on the character of more a traditional conservative agenda (see Karl Rove and the billionaire Republican backers Koch brothers). Small-government libertarians in the party are at odds by the more conservative activist-types, who seek to expand government’s reach over things like immigration, prohibiting gay marriage and abortion. Tony Perkins, head of the conservative Family Research Council, has said that a majority of Tea Party voters self-identify as conservative evangelicals. Conservative senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) effectively alienated a large portion of the Tea Party by seeming to argue that libertarians don’t exist, saying “you can’t be a fiscal conservative and not be a social conservative.”
The split is quickly becoming evident at a federal level as well, as the Republican House struggles internally between those whose agenda includes remaining electable enough to promote a conservative agenda, and those whose entire agenda is to cut the budget, regardless of the political fall-out. Many in the Tea Party feel that their success and momentum has been co-opted by the Republican establishment and is now being used to promote a conservative social agenda —
Many in the Tea Party feel that their success and momentum has been co-opted by the Republican establishment and is now being used to promote a conservative social agenda.
The label on the “TrueAnger™” PeeParty tea toadlers new 2010 congressional dance party dress
givenloaned to them by the ““TruePurity™” repubican establishment” reads:“Used & Abused Inc.”
(Designed by: “kick’em-to-the-curb” Inc. in a unnamed Southern State)
“There you go again,…” ronnie Raygun
“TrueAnger™” + “TruePathToProsperity™” advocates/disciples have a funny way of “TruePrioritizing™” what is in their “TrueInterests™”
Exactly….Neocons in a new suit thats all…
Koch brothers blah blah
You’ll need more than “blah blah” to discredit the facts.
blah blah blah.
I would be happy if the social conservatives and the left wing do gooders would stay out of my life. I will listen to any argument from those who do not wish to control me and I think most fair minded Americans would as well.
Word on the street, Obama to take away mortgage deduction. Anxious for speech!
lil opie, Lordy, emancipation!
(you clever lil’ (non-Hawaiian) yous did read your 1860’s US vs CSA political history lesson, looks like Hwy will be tossing you a re-election vote in 2012!)
Get rid of all bogus deductions.
Including special treatment of capital gains.
How about we start with ALL deductions? Lower tax rates and increase revenues. Seems logical which is why it will never fly.
How about taxing capital gains at income rate.
Sure, if you like that sort of double taxation thing let’s make it the same as any other income.
If you’re talking about dividends, then fine. But if you sell stock there’s no double taxation involved.
If you used post tax dollars to purchase the stock, it’s double taxation. I have the same fundamental problem with taxing bank interest.
No, it isn’t. In your example, it is only double taxation if you don’t subtract your basis. The retained profits of the company are not directly linked to the increase in value you get when you sell stock.
It is taxation of any increase that is due to inflation. You are mixing up your concepts.
I used post tax dollars to purchase everything and I’m dinged for sales tax. Everything is double taxed. And I have no chance of an ROI for toothpaste.
“Income.” What does it mean?
“If you used post tax dollars to purchase the stock, it’s double taxation. I have the same fundamental problem with taxing bank interest.”
Only the appreciation is taxed. The base is untaxed when you sell, hence single taxation.
“And I have no chance of an ROI for toothpaste.”
Oxy, Would you prefer SummerTeeth?
Taking it away or floating a trial balloon?
********************
“Word on the street, Obama to take away mortgage deduction.”
I guess this form of taxpayer-funded welfare is OK, since it primarily benefits rich people?
* April 12, 2011, 3:15 PM ET
Budget Deal: Could the Mortgage Deduction Get Chopped?
Deal Journal
By Shira Ovide
As the U.S. government looks under every rock for spending cuts, here’s an intriguing thought: What happens if Washington takes this opportunity to take down the tax break on mortgage interest?
…everyone from the International Monetary Fund to the Tax Policy Center to the White House fiscal commission have called for the U.S. to cap, redesign or simply get rid of the deduction. The IMF called the mortgage tax break “expensive and regressive.” But this comes up every few years or so, before everyone realizes it’s impossible to hack away at a cherished part of the tax code.
Critics of the mortgage tax break says the country simply can’t afford to turn down billions of dollars a year for federal and state coffers. The mortgage deduction also may push people to take on risky mortgage they can’t afford, say critics, and isn’t equitable because the deduction applies to taxpayers who itemize their deductions – and benefits higher-income households more.
Well I’m far from rich, but since I just bought a home recently, I’d be kind of pissed if that went away. For the first time ever in my life (I’m 45), I itemized my deductions this year.
However, I wouldn’t go broke or lose my house if it was repealed.
Looks like you may be safe… Omaba merely hinted at eliminating MID, and even then it sounded like he was only talking about it for the top 2% of wealthiest Americans.
Top 2%1?! But then they won’t be able to create any jobs…
Seriously though, why connect the MID to income? Simply cut it off at a certain house price.
“Simply cut it off at a certain house price.”
I agree. Though maybe more like cut it off at a certain mortgage amount, say $125K.
Or maybe better still, a certain interest amount.
My guess is that the MID would be grandfathered for anyone who bought under the assumption that they would be able to deduct their interest indefinitely. A failure to do so would clearly be unfair (not to suggest the MID was fair to begin with, or anything…).
Jenga anyone?
“‘Diz ALL the Gubmint’s fault!”… “‘Diz ALL the Gubmint’s fault!”…
We’re Worrying About the Wrong Deficit:
Rex Nutting / MarketWatch / Wednesday, April 13, 2011
The 2008 financial panic shows what can happen when households foolishly take on more debt than they can handle to buy speculative assets.
The 2008 global recession was sparked by too much American debt, but it was debt from the private sector, not government, that was the problem.
Annual borrowing by the private sector — households, companies and banks — doubled from 2001 to 2007, rising from $1.9 trillion to $3.9 trillion. Government deficits also increased during that time, but by much less — from $100 billion to $428 billion.
but, but, but…
Debt isn’t all negative.:
It’s often said that the $14 trillion federal debt represents an awful curse on our children, but it’s easy to forget that it also represents a tremendous blessing of wealth for this and coming generations.
For instance, workers and retirees have $2.6 trillion in Treasury bonds set aside for their benefit in the Social Security trust funds. Yes, taxpayers will have to pay to redeem those bonds, but the proceeds will go right back to the people who have paid extra taxes for the past 30 years to build up the trust fund. And those proceeds will be spent — for the most part — inside the United States, boosting aggregate demand.
Apples and oranges math.
Private debt doubled and so did Public debt (less guarantees and obligations).
Private debt up $2T.
Public Debt up $5T.
We get the government we deserve!
Private debt up $2T. = “anonymous” (to-remain-unnamed-our-lips-r-zipped-we’ll never-boast-about-it)
bagholders“savvy investors” who are notadmittingpublicly acknowledging it but are still full of “TrueAnger™” outwardly(Methinks the “TruePathToProsperity™” clarion call is music to their ears.)
WBBR just report that state attorneys and banks have come to a settlement on mortgage servicing.
Could this be the beginning of liquidation of shadow inventory?
from cnbc, reporting on the just-announced mortgage servicing settlement:
As part of the enforcement though, the banks will be required to engage an independent firm to review foreclosure actions from January 1, 2009 through December, 2010 to assess whether foreclosures complied with federal and state laws and whether there were in fact grounds to foreclose.
If the foreclosures are found to be faulty and borrowers were harmed financially by “deficiencies,” the banks will have to remediate the borrowers in some way.
There’s your big can of worms. I asked an OCC spokesman if this wouldn’t release an incredible floodgate of claims, he replied, “There are going to be a large number of claims submitted.” He said that remediation could include monetary damages and even the borrower getting the home back.
Whoa. It’s just keeps getting better and better.
Not.
When you say “getting the home back” you mean they get to keep paying the mortgage, right? They don’t just get the home… or else I will be quite miffed.
The guest analyst(FBR) on WBBR stepped all over the idea that anyone was going to get something for free. Surprisingly he sounded like one of us. He said something like “this won’t effect you if you’re not paying your mortgage.”
We’ve all heard of staging houses…
realestate aol com/blog/2011/04/12/real-estate-broker-warms-up-cold-listings-with-hot-models/?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-n%7Cdl6%7Csec3_lnk1%7C209639
“You can thank Vogue for sexing up real estate marketing. When real estate broker Dimitrios Aletras of high-end agency Nest Seekers was flipping through fashion mags, he wondered why he couldn’t do for vacant apartments what fashion stylists do with belts and shoes: Get hot models to make them look fabulous.
“I would look at those magazine ads and think, ‘Why can’t it be this way for real estate, too?’” says Aletras, the agency’s director of business development. The result, at left, is an ad campaign that “throws the market on its head. The images really show you the lifestyle you want for yourself,” he says. “They are insanely sexy!”"
Kim
IIRC, like us, you’re looking for a home, too. I am not swayed by staging, in fact I prefer vacant. I look at the real stuff. Neighborhood, sq ft, room shapes, the lot, electrical, plumbling, and of course exterior and interior Architectural Style.
The rest is noise.
We much prefer looking at vacant houses as well. As to having people there (other than DH and our agent), well… staged people or not, that’s an even bigger turnoff than looking at sellers’ bad decorating.
The women go in for a lot of clutter now don’t they. Photos and “crafts” everywhere.
Kim-
Absolutely. Staging communicates desperation and lemming to me. I want to be alone w/ DH when home shopping. We need to evaluate the place.
wmbz
I hear you on the “lifestyle” thing. Same thing for fancy “lifestyle” centers.
“throws the market on its head. The images really show you the lifestyle you want for yourself,” he says. “They are insanely sexy!””
Puke! The word “lifestyle” has been done to the grave and beyond!
People must be clueless as to want they want in life so have to be told what it is.
Big Freakin Deal…
—————————
Major banks sanctioned over mortgage practices
MarketWatch/WSJ | 4/13/11 | Ronald Orol
Without assessing fines, federal banking regulators on Wednesday sanctioned the country’s largest banks over “a pattern of misconduct and negligence” in residential mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure processing.
“These deficiencies represent significant and pervasive compliance failures and unsafe and unsound practices at these institutions,” the Federal Reserve said in a statement.
The action was taken jointly by the Fed, Office of Thrift Supervision and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
“Without assessing fines”
In other words, pure window dressing.
We should all be so proud to be American with our “best healthcare in the world”. (The USA is the whole world right?)
Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: An International Update on the Comparative Performance of American Health Care
http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Content/Publications/Fund-Reports/2007/May/Mirror–Mirror-on-the-Wall–An-International-Update-on-the-Comparative-Performance-of-American-Healt.aspx
Despite having the most costly health system in the world, the United States consistently underperforms on most dimensions of performance, relative to other countries. …
…The U.S. health system is the most expensive in the world, but comparative analyses consistently show the United States underperforms relative to other countries on most dimensions of performance. This report, which includes information from primary care physicians about their medical practices and views of their countries’ health systems, confirms the patient survey findings discussed in previous editions of Mirror, Mirror. It also includes information on health care outcomes that were featured in the U.S. health system scorecard issued by the Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System.
Among the six nations studied—Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States—the U.S. ranks last, as it did in the 2006 and 2004 editions of Mirror, Mirror. Most troubling, the U.S. fails to achieve better health outcomes than the other countries, and as shown in the earlier editions, the U.S. is last on dimensions of access, patient safety, efficiency, and equity. The 2007 edition includes data from the six countries and incorporates patients’ and physicians’ survey results on care experiences and ratings on various dimensions of care.
The most notable way the U.S. differs from other countries is the absence of universal health insurance coverage. Other nations ensure the accessibility of care through universal health insurance systems and through better ties between patients and the physician practices that serve as their long-term “medical home.” It is not surprising, therefore, that the U.S. substantially underperforms other countries on measures of access to care and equity in health care between populations with above-average and below average incomes.
Slavery! It’s what for dinner!
http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2011/03/25/unpaid-jobs-the-new-normal/
“It’s good for the economy!”….. just not yours.
Thank you,ecofeco. I read that article, and then some of the comments. I agree with many comments, that it was written from an employer’s standpoint. I don’t think any internship should be legal.
I had a friend who interned at CBS in the 70’s while in college, and back then, it meant something. She was always a high achiever, and moved up quickly. Brilliant gal,
and as nice as they come. I can somewhat understand an entertainment internship. A little.
the onion?
Look at the link. This is CNN Fortune magazine and they AREN’T kidding.
Also, you did see where some states are trying to modify child labor laws, right?
Hope you studied your 19th century history, because that’s where we’re headed back to.
“she has been burned in the past by people who were trying to juggle a paid job with their commitment to Remote Stylist”
What does she expect them to eat for 4 months?
“300 responses for an editor position and 700 cameraman applications after only one week of advertising a project to drive from Germany to Cambodia in plastic cars. Not only were the positions unpaid, but successful candidates had to pay their own expenses.
One editor and two cameramen ended up quitting before the end of the trek due to rough conditions and 16-hour workdays. In retrospect, Lovejoy says, “I would screen a little bit better and make sure they understood that this wasn’t a vacation.”
“
No pay + Pay your own expenses = vacation in my book.
“”People who work for free are far hungrier than anybody who has a salary, so they’re going to outperform, they’re going to try to please, they’re going to be creative,” says Kelly Fallis, chief executive of Remote Stylist”
Hungry is right.
“Crystal Green, owner of Tallahassee-based event planning firm Your Social Butterfly, has had mixed results with unpaid staffers who didn’t take their responsibilities seriously. She’s even had to retrace the missteps of unpaid staffers and apologize to alienated business partners.
“It’s really hard as a single entrepreneur to babysit these people who need to learn. They’re not making any money, so you have to be very patient,” Green says.
…
“It’s better to have one decently paid person than nine unpaid people who are making it so difficult because they’re slacking off or they’re difficult to manage,” Green says.”
So one “entrepreneur” who thinks people work harder when they are not paid. One who complains about unpaid workers having other jobs. And one who thinks 1 paid employee is better than 9 unpaid employees.
Oops - the one who thinks people work harder when not paid is the same one that complains about unpaid workers haveing other jobs.
Stunning…. absolutely stunning.
Fourteen million unemployed in the U.S. and a small percentage of them will work for free. The percentage the unemployed that will do this doesn’t have to be large, not when there are fourteen million of them to choose from.
Why buy a cow when you can get the milk for free?
Churn ‘em and burn ‘em. Reminds me of Hollywood. Thousands of wannabe actors show up for the cattle calls and a couple are selected - maybe. The wannabes keep showing up because they are hungry for fame and fortune and they will do ANYTHING to get selected.
I wonder what percentage of these fourteen million unemployed will do ANYTHING to get selected?
Maybe it’s time to re-read the book “Hard Times”. Lots of stories about what people did to keep their jobs during the Great Depression.
My history teacher in college told us that during the GD he had to show up to work every moring at six then work ’til eight THEN - at eight O’clock - he punched in his time card. Then at four O’clock he punched out his time card and stayed at work ’till six.
Work twelve hours, get paid for eight. For eight hours they paid you for the work you did. For four hours you worked for free so as to express your appreciation for them allowing you to have a job.
I can see there being a heavy market demand for schmooze artists - those folks who are highly skilled at making promises to desperate wannabees.
Promises are much, much cheaper to hand out than scarce cash.
Realtors Are Corrupt
Realtors siphon gas.
And, oopsie-daisy, they swallow it.
Are they smart enough to be corrupt? I think they are just ignorant and lazy.
They are no “budget cuts” but the gullible bit into it every time. Just like there will be no deficit reduction! Smoke & mirrors works time and time again.
CBO: Budget deal cuts this fiscal year’s deficit by just $353 million, not $38 billion touted Associated Press, Wednesday, April 13
WASHINGTON — A new budget estimate released Wednesday shows that the spending bill negotiated between President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner would produce less than 1 percent of the $38 billion in claimed savings by the end of this budget year.
The Congressional Budget Office estimate shows that compared with current spending rates the spending bill due for a House vote Thursday would pare just $352 million from the deficit through Sept. 30. About $8 billion in cuts to domestic programs and foreign aid are offset by nearly equal increases in defense spending.
The House began preliminary debate on the measure Wednesday with it easily advancing over a procedural hurdle by a 241-179 vote. The measure appears on track to pass the House and Senate this week before a stopgap spending measure expires Friday at midnight despite opposition from some of the GOP’s most ardent budget cutters.
The budget deficit is projected at $1.6 trillion this year.
Which is not a miniscule reduction, it’s a huge increase. The reduction is from the proposed budget, not from some baseline.
It’s much like when the Ex told me she’d saved $50 by buying three of these things “on sale”. Cost a bundle.
wmbz
Do you have the place the way you want it yet? If so, is it the way Mrs. wmbz wants it? Hope you are enjoying it, I wish I was done with this.
I’ll second that.
I just had a long email exchange with another HBB’er expressing their frustration with the pace of this. I wish it were over too but I wish far more to preserve my capital and maintain mobility. I will not slave for a shanty and a bank.
interesting comment from the american i interviewed with at that French energy company. he said that american companies tend to think in terms of the quarter or annual performance. the french think more in terms of a decade or even a generation.
i kinda like that.
But profits?? What about profits? And those french… they’re bad people. very very bad people.
Reminds me of that Henri Cartier-Bresson photo of the snaking roads with groups of tall trees. The trees were planted to enable Napoleon’s soldiers to march in the shade. That’s some generational thinking.
But then they shaded the Prussian Army… then the Germans… Oops!
Instead of pulling over for police, Coral Springs woman pulls into McDonald’s drive-thru, orders lunch
By Sofia Santana and Danielle A. Alvarez
Sun Sentinel
Posted: 8:47 a.m. Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Flashing police lights apparently couldn’t stop a Coral Springs woman with a fast-food craving.
Police say when an officer tried to pull over Roberta Spen, 64, Monday for having faulty brake lights, she instead pulled into a McDonald’s drive-thru lane and ordered lunch.
The bizarre exchange happened along University Drive just south of Atlantic Boulevard at about 2 p.m., and it spawned an all-out police pursuit.
Officer Courtney Vassell pulled up behind Spen in the drive-thru lane, and got out of the patrol car. With police lights flashing behind him, he told her to pull out into the parking lot for a traffic stop, according to a police report.
Spen, though, completed her food order, paid the bill, and then drove her bronze 2001 Chevrolet out of the parking lot and onto Northwest Sixth Court, Vassell said.
Vassell again flipped on his siren and stopped Spen outside the McDonald’s, where he said she “rolled her window down one inch and said she was not speeding and she would not roll her window down.”
Spen also refused to hand over her driver’s license, vehicle registration and proof of insurance, then drove away from Vassell, police said.
Vassell got back in his patrol car, flipped on his emergency lights — again — and followed Spen as she turned north onto Northwest 98th Avenue, east onto Atlantic and then north on University Drive.
Several other police officers joined in the pursuit.
Although the police lights did not stop Spen, a red light at University and Ramblewood Drive did, and several officers attempted to box in Spen’s car. Somehow, though, Spen was able to drive in reverse out of the box and continued driving north on University, police said.
Spen finally stopped at the Mobil gas station at 1351 University Drive., where officers again surrounded her car.
This time, when she refused to leave the car, the officers went in and got her — smashing the driver’s side window and pulling her out, police said.
After a quick check-up at Coral Springs Medical Center, Spen was taken to a Broward jail, arrested on charges of fleeing and eluding, resisting arrest without violence and driving with defective equipment.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/instead-of-pulling-over-for-police-coral-springs-1395753.html?cxntlid=cmg_cntnt_rss - -
Wow. Sees that no matter what the age, many people think the rules don’t apply to them.
Well, unless you’re a Banksta, that is.
Published: April 13, 2011
Updated: 2:54 p.m.
SoCal housing market off to a slow start
By JEFF COLLINS
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Southern California’s housing market got off to a slow start this year, with home sales and prices both dropping from a year ago, DataQuick Information System figures show.
DataQuick blamed the usual suspects: Tight credit, high unemployment rates and uncertainty over the future keeping would-be home shoppers on the fence.
More from Business
* Nearly half of state’s jobless are long-term
* See $3.9 million Surf City ‘trophy house’
* O.C. school supply retailer to close April 30
Among DataQuick’s findings:
* March’s median home price, or price at the midpoint of all sales, fell or was flat in all six counties in the region.
* Last month’s median price of $280,500 was up 2% from February, but down 1.6% from March 2010.
* During the first three months of the year, the median price fell 0.7% from the same period in 2010.
* Sales dropped last month in every county but Ventura.
* Regionwide, there were 19,412 home transactions last month, down 5.2% from the year before.
* Last month’s sales count was 21.4% below the average tally for the past 24 years.
* At 48,239 total sales for this year so far, 2011 transactions are down 5.8% from year-ago levels.
* This year’s total sales are 20% below the norm.
* Still, 2011’s sales are slightly better compared to late 2010. Sales in the last half of 2010 were 25% to 30% below average.
…
Washington state benefitting from Wisconsin and Ohio governor’s return of high speed rail funds.
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/News/2011/04/8_WASecuresOHWIRailFunding.htm
“Federal and state officials signed documents Thursday that guarantee Washington state will get $145 million in high-speed-rail funding originally intended for Ohio and Wisconsin. Washington was initially awarded this portion of federal funding in late 2010 when the U.S. Department of Transportation redirected money returned by governors in Ohio and Wisconsin.”
Now THAT’S SWEET!
Yeah! More boondoggle to increase the deficit! SweeeeeT!
More boondoggle
You really ought to try driving on the est. 1947 Federal Interstate Hwy System, much less vehicle repairs then using the rough open country you prefer. Might be a tad faster too, especially if you have an injured LO that needs to be rapidly transported to a hospital.
Naming Culprits in the Financial Crisis
By GRETCHEN MORGENSON and LOUISE STORY
Published: April 13, 2011
A voluminous report on the financial crisis by the United States Senate — citing internal documents and private communications of bank executives, regulators, credit ratings agencies and investors — describes business practices that were rife with conflicts during the mortgage mania and reckless activities that were ignored inside the banks and among their federal regulators.
The 650-page report, “Wall Street and the Financial Crisis: Anatomy of a Financial Collapse,” was released Wednesday by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, whose co-chairmen are Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, and Tom Coburn, a Republican of Oklahoma. The result of two years’ work, the report focuses on an array of institutions with central roles in the mortgage crisis: Washington Mutual, an aggressive mortgage lender that collapsed in 2008; the Office of Thrift Supervision, a regulator; the credit ratings agencies Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s Investors Service; and the investment banks Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank.
[...]
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/14/business/14crisis.html
India is already a very poor and extremely stratified country financially. I don’t see this ending well. For India anyway. The vampire squid is fantastically efficient at extracting wealth from a population, as we’ve seen in the US. If there is wealth to be extracted in India, they’re the company to do it. With India’s existing pervasive corruption, this will probably bode well for GS and its share price. GS can be seen as a global East India Tea Company.
Goldman Advance in India Means Turning Half-Cent Fees to Profit
April 12, 2011, 6:36 PM EDT
By George Smith Alexander and Ruth David
April 13 (Bloomberg) — For Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which is ramping up efforts to arrange takeovers and stock sales in India, progress can be slow and profit from deals elusive.
The New York-based company that dominated global merger advisers for most of the past decade spent three years working on the transaction that vaulted it to second from ninth place in India. Its first share sale in India this year may be a $1.3 billion offer from state-owned Power Finance Corp., for which it will split a fee of 1 rupee (2 cents) with three other banks.
[...]
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-04-12/goldman-advance-in-india-means-turning-half-cent-fees-to-profit.html
GoldenmanSucks Inc. (SCOTUS person) = “TrueFinancialCult™” / “TrueSerialLiquiditist™”
AS it focuses on patterns of behavior
IT focuses on patterns of behavior
FOCUSES on patterns of behavior
ON patterns of behavior
PATTERNS of behavior
patterns of behavior
patterns of behavior
patterns of behavior
patterns
OF
BEHAVIOR
Lucy: “Hwy, you’re such a Broken Record!, …you Blockhead!”
Off topic: Lines from a headstone…
Ma loves Pa — Pa loves women
Ma caught Pa, with 2 in swimmin
Here lies Pa…