Bits Bucket for April 26, 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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‘Optimism’ In Housing?
25 Apr 2011 | By: Diana Olick CNBC Real Estate Reporter
Thanks to all the streaming feeds of constant news I’m subjected to, I just clicked on a CNBC story titled, Four Years Later, Housing Market Shows Signs of Life.” I was curious, seeing as I write about housing for CNBC, and I didn’t write that. It’s a Reuters piece, and I don’t buy it.
But wait, what about this morning’s report of an 11 percent jump in sales of newly built homes and last week’s report of a 4 percent jump in sales of existing homes; March was a great month, right? A little perspective, please.
Yes, the numbers are going in the right direction, but only after big, albeit partially revised, drops in February. We’re working off a bottom here, and we’re still bumping around it. My concern, as it has been for years now, is distressed properties. Foreclosures and short sales (where the home is sold for less than the value of the mortgage) are ruling the roost, and that is not good news for home prices, which are still dropping, despite this one month of rising sales. Sales are all well and good, but prices are key in so so many ways.
For existing homes in March, the bulk of the market, 35 percent of all transactions were all-cash (that’s a new record), and 22 percent were sales to investors; investors don’t necessarily want to hold on to these properties for very long, so they may come back on the market again soon.
But back to the distressed properties. While the National Association of Realtors says 40 percent of March sales were distressed properties (up from 39 percent in February and 35 percent a year ago), another survey from Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance finds nearly half of all homes on the market are distressed. Short sales are “booming” according to the same report up to nearly 20 percent of sales. But short sales are a double-edged sword. Yes, they’re better for the banks and the sellers because there is less of a financial loss to the bank and less of a credit loss to the seller, but they make comps and appraisals even murkier than they already are.
“investors don’t necessarily want to hold on to these properties for very long, so they may come back on the market again soon.”
Yeah, and those properties will come on the market with a $3K cleaning/carpet/paint job but with a $23K price hike.
“Yeah, and those properties will come on the market with a $3K cleaning/carpet/paint job but with a $23K price hike.”
I have seen a bunch of that, only with a $50k price hike.
Standard bottom feeder tactics will not survive duration duration duration. The dumb folks who want to buy can’t get loans, and the smart folks who can get loans don’t want to buy.
What about people like me, dumb folks who can get loans and don’t want to buy, yet.
If you don’t want to buy, yet, then you’re not dumb.
“If you don’t want to buy, yet, then you’re not dumb.”
I want to buy now at future prices. And by “future prices” I mean 20% discount to today’s prices.
“I want to buy now at future prices. And by “future prices” I mean 20% discount to today’s prices.”
See, you are smart.
I’m optimistic that affordability is set to improve for years to come.
This is actually the “false bottom” that Charles Hugh Smith demonstrated in his excellent bubble-bust graph. We are just on the edge of the precipice right now, as far as housing prices are concerned. The steep dive is about to begin. Believe it.
Gorilla capital bought a home we were interested in for 80k. Don’t know how but they got first crack at it. They did nothing that I can tell and have it offered at 120k; and are bragging that its not a short sale or foreclosure even though they bought it from the bank and are flipping it.
This type of thing really pisses me off. Without all the FED help (QE, bailouts, backstops, etc), companies like this would not have access to cheap money to speculate on supply and demand manipulation tactics. A market should be a market.
Sounds like a classic public-private “partnership.”
Where “partnership” refers to *ahem* the destination for the Joshua tree.
Your example illustrates perfectly how the fleecing of the American public is taking place:
Megabank Inc. makes horrible, oftentimes illegal, loans which should lead to their takeover by the FDIC.
Megabank Inc. is instead allowed to offload garbage loans to the Fed, and Fannie and Freddie (backed by taxpayers), in exchange for real dollars.
Megabank Inc. uses real dollars to speculate in commodities and drive up the cost of living for ordinary people.
Megabank Inc. makes obscene amounts of money blowing GIGANTIC commodities bubble as ordinary people cannot refrain from eating and heating their homes and must pay for food and fuel, whatever the cost.
Megabank Inc., flush with massive amounts of cash from said commodities bubble, starts buying blocks of foreclosed homes at pennies on the dollar through sweetheart deals only available to insiders, the same foreclosed homes which they originally sold loans on.
Megabank Inc. turns around and sells homes to taxpayers for huge profits.
You’ve summed that up nicely, Grizz.
Yes, it’s positively disgusting.
And I say woo-hoo to that. We still have a bit to wait, for the bottom feeders to give up on flipping.
A month ago, my co-worker finally accepted an offer on his former house in Texas. A year I said he needs to drop the price NOW and get it over with. Coworker instead spent a year going through three realtors, several stagings, weekday showings, and at least one insult war with lowballers. I didn’t ask about the final price, but I suspect that if he had offered that same price a year ago, he would have sold in a week and saved a lot of hassle.
Here, oxide. This is Charles Hugh Smith’s graph, originally posted in 2006-2007, entitled “Bubble Symmetry and Phase Transitions”. It has played out this way thus far.
http://www.oftwominds.com/blogmar11/phase-shift-housing3-11.html
The other day I had a conversation with a couple who finally sold their home in a gated community and acknowledged they took a hit on it. And then they doubled down and bought another, less expensive place in the area, but not in a gated community. I think the main reason for selling was the condo fees, which according to them were astronomical. The alligator was eating them.
But the most interesting aspect of the conversation was the obvious envy when I said I was a renter, staying loosed and exploring my options, considering an eventual move out of the area.
Footloose, fancy free, that’s me!
I love the smell of capitulation in the morning, smells like…victory.
Considering how emotional housing is to so many people, Hugh Smith’s projection makes even more sense. Heck, we see that kind of action in the stock markets where things are relatively more liquid and less emotional.
The spread of local prices I’m seeing this spring runs the gamut from wishing price to panic price - but up until last summer panic prices were largely absent. Another anology would be of a Slinky - slowly working it’s way down the stairs - pausing at each stair to let the back end catch up before starting down the next stair.
Looks like the Slinky is about to tumble, though. I remember when I first saw Smith’s chart, some years ago. It really bummed me out. I didn’t like the idea it would take that long for things to play out. But now here we are, and I’ve survived as a renter, and in fact have come to like it.
‘This is Charles Hugh Smith’s graph, originally posted in 2006-2007, entitled “Bubble Symmetry and Phase Transitions”. It has played out this way thus far.’
Take home message: Don’t buy until after 2014…
Got a link to the bubble bust graph?
Speaking of Charles Hugh Smith’s graph, here’s a linky-link.
Starting to think that I will be “priced out forever” in San Francisco. I get that it will always be pricier here than other places, but other than the ghetto (where there are many many forclosures in the Bayview) and some condos downtown (not for us with our pets and kids), prices here seem pretty stuck.
yes, it appears he is at least off on his timing…
When you consider all the unusual government and bankster shenanigans thrown into the mix, he’s not much off on his timing, maybe half a year. The local news this evening in full of news about the 32% drop from peak in prices in the Tampa Bay area, another 2% from last month, I think.
I think the real plunge is just beginning and I couldn’t be more delighted.
hope you are right— I will be delighted as well
“I think the real plunge is just beginning and I couldn’t be more delighted.”
Music…. sweet sweet music.
So will any families switch back to reusable cloth diapers. Wash them out and hang them on the clothes line?
Kimberly-Clark to hike prices after profit falls
Kimberly-Clark’s profit falls; company blames rising prices for raw materials.
DALLAS (AP) — Kimberly-Clark Corp., the maker of Huggies and Kleenex, said Monday that it plans to raise prices, its third such announcement since the middle of March.
The company said it’s merely passing along the higher prices that it has to pay for raw materials like oil and wood pulp. It also more than doubled its predictions for how much the prices for such commodities will increase.
It’s a refrain that’s becoming familiar — and, to budget-conscious shoppers, tired — this spring. Rising commodities prices are taking center stage at a number of companies, from restaurants to clothing manufactures, who say they have no choice but to pass along those price hikes to customers.
One of Kimberly-Clark’s chief rivals, Procter & Gamble Co., said Monday it will raise prices for Pampers diapers, Charmin toilet paper and Bounty paper towels by 3 to 7 percent.
If washing cloth diapers is such a grand idea to you, step right up and get yer washboard out.
My mother actually used a washboard in one of the houses they lived in when my dad was stationed in Europe, probably Germany. The washboard is currently hanging (at a jaunty angle) on the wall of their (single car) garage. I don’t think you really want to see people washing diapers with a washboard. It is much easier to use outside, than inside and the…um…accidental runoff, might not be great for public health.
I did it, twice (2 kids). It’s not that bad. 10 years later we still have a great pile of rags for cleaning, which I also still wash and hang.
The standard of life we have now will not exist in 20-30 years. The conveniences we depend on will vanish. I expect that my kids will live in an entirely different world than we do now.
<>
Technology has advanced and we have low water using washing machines now. Not a big deal to use Kushies. Mother Earth will thank you.
I think couples are less likely to have additional children. Diapers + food + medical + child care = We can’t afford another, dear.
Which couples? Because it’s not gonna stop illegals from spoinkin’ ‘em out with a vengeance, when Uncle Sam rewards them for that. (Short on money? Lordy, Maria, let’s make us another baby)
Although, having said all that, I have a very strange feeling that the whole illegal immigrant/birthright citizenship scam is about to grind to a halt. I don’t know why, I have no real reason for feeling that way, but it’s something in the air. Maybe it’s that whole threat of default thingie.
Natural-born is in the Constitution and American soil is as natural born as you’re going to get. By the time an amendment goes through the constitutional process, you’ll have a whole new generation starting up. Perhaps it would be more effective to truly sealing the border, throw employers in jail, stop ESL and translating docs into other languages, and institute draconian measures like restricting welfare to citizens only (ie, kids get fed in school and thus no food stamps for madre y padre.) If you have kid-born citizens, then embrace them make them full citizens and save the the contempt for the parents. Sounds draconian, but when you give an inch and they take a mile, it might be an effective option.
Actually Ox…it sounds like we need to enforce English in our schools…of course the rap hip hop crowd would get nasty about that.
Also eliminate the work requirement for any kind of public assistance and instead force people to learn English for their guvmint aid.
I dunno DJ, I don’t think English is going to kill the rap hip hop crowd. The snippets of rap music that I’ve heard seem to have a good grasp of English, and i’m pretty sure they could clean up the grammar and pronunciation if they chose. The trick will be in convincing them to rap a sentence only two times in song instead of 53 times.
“If you have kid-born citizens, then embrace them make them full citizens”
Uh, that’s already been happening, due to the gross mis-interpretation of the 14 Amendment. To paraphrase Inigo Montoya, “I don’t think it means what you think it means”.
But whatever, I’m not going to argue the 14th Amendment here. I just think the whole thing is going to grind to a halt one way or another. It’s just a feeling.
If mandatory conscription ever comes back, wait and see how many of these anchor babies favor their Mexican citizenship all of a sudden.
Anyway I don’t accept them as citizens of the US. Never will. Not in my heart.
You’re confusing two different clauses. “natural born citizen,” is part of the clause defining the qualification for the office of president. The phrase that’s part of the definition for citizenship is “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” A fairly common reading of that phrase is that it was intended to exclude Indians.
” don’t know why, I have no real reason for feeling that way, but it’s something in the air. Maybe it’s that whole threat of default thingie.”
I thought there was a cap on food stamp bennies. Of course it won’t stop the kiddies from getting free breakfast and lunch at school. Speaking of which, I seem to recall reading in our local paper that about 1/3 of all students in our district qualify for the free meals at school, and this is in “prosperous” Loveland.
During the summer the USDA runs a free lunch program at some of the local schools. No proof of hardship is required either. When the kids were younger my wife would take them occasionally. She said that the lunches were pretty healthy, not like the junk food diets they get during the school year.
“Anyway I don’t accept them as citizens of the US. Never will. Not in my heart.”
And I think there are many who share my feeling. This is at the root of the problem, IMO. Consent of the governed. You can force it legally, but that means nothing if it is not felt in the heart. Otherwise it is nothing more than a conquest, not consent. Mass amnesty, mass breeding, etc. is already splitting this country into pieces. Not accepting these people as citizens, who wants to pay to defend them or protect them? Who gives a flip how or whether they’re educated or fed? I don’t. Nor do I care a flip about my so-called fellow citizens who have supported all this. In fact if anything I care about them even less.
The unfortunate thing is that most of these children will follow the example set by their parents. Which is bad news for private property. Their attitude is that people don’t really own anything, so it’s OK for them to take what they want and do as they please. I already saw this in South Florida many, many years ago. Agreements were a huge joke. If you think the US is corrupt now (and it certainly is) you ain’t seen nothing yet.
We can fix the anchor baby problem fairly easily without changing the Constitution. Just deport the parents if they are illegal. Are they going to leave their kids behind?
You will always be a tiny tiny minute cog in the big machine.
So true OX
Fisher lets give them a carrot your kid will be an American citizen at 18..then they can sponsor you. now back to Mehiko
The trick will be in convincing them to rap a sentence only two times in song instead of 53 times.
That’s what they said about my Italian grandparents (greasy wops) and the Irish, and the Chinese, and the Jews.
While I agree that we have a real problem with immigration, esp. in CA, I also think that looking at it from an historical perspective is critical.
Everything that is being said about immigrants today has been said a million times before, just at a different time and about a different group of people.
BTW, my grandparents were not considered “white” or “anglo” when they got here in the 1920’s. But today, no one would consider an Italian-American to be non-white.
Are their black African Kenyan Fathers going to leave their (non-Hawaiian) Kansas birth-Mother kid
swho are at “Harrrrvard” focused-on-destroying-America,… behind?Here in Tucson, the crackdowns on employers are underway. Here’s the latest case in point:
Chuy’s reopens 2 of 4 local restaurants closed in immigration raids
Key quote:
Agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Internal Revenue Service served search warrants at 15 Chuy’s locations in Arizona and California, including those four in Tucson. The searches coincided with the arrest of the restaurants’ father-son owners, Mark Evenson and Christopher Evenson, as well as company accountant Diane Strehlow on allegations they were knowingly hiring illegal immigrants and paying them under the table.
Amazing!
shweet
Looks like the people who have been saying “Go after the employers!” are starting to get their wish.
And I’m of the mind that we’re going to see a whole lot more enforcement of the Chuy’s kind. With some hefty prosecution to boot.
About damn time. Hiring illegals is nothing short of being a traitor.
Doing the work Americans don’t want? I know several hundred teenagers who WANT jobs. THOSE jobs, and are more than willing to do them.
Wonderful news!
Prolly. They used to make special washing machines just for diapers. Some of those old machines still work. I’ve seen them for sale here and there.
We are using the BumGenius diapers. Hose them off with a toilet attachment called the Lil Squirt into the toilet, pull out the insert, throw in the can, wash every two days while I have a cocktail, air dry on the deck. Wife did the cost Bennie and we’ll be 700$ ahead in two years without the kimberley Clark hikes. Make it a grand once we are done. Saving energy too as long as we don’t machine dry.
And I get my cocktail. Biked 9 miles to the ferry today and 20 all the way Friday. I don’t see how people afford to drive and throw stuff away. Weird scenes…
MrBubble
We use BumGenius as well. I really like them. But we have a big old utility sink by the washing machine with a powerful sprayer. We shake off the big stuff in the toilet, then I wash them off in the utility sink with warm water, then flush the sink with a bucket of water.
I used to use the toilet bowl attachment, but the freezing water and splash radius made me SUPER glad to get into a place with a utility sink.
The people that I know that used cloth diapers used a diaper service… you drop then in the provided airtight canister (poop and all) which is taken away to the service’s laundry. (At the time, was price competitive with disposables.)
Cloth is much better for the environment.
Diapers made up 3.4 million tons of waste, or 2.1 percent of U.S. garbage, in landfills in 1998 — the last year this information was collected, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
http://m.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2004/04/63182
Last time I checked, (2 months ago) a diaper service was about 20% higher than buying them at the discount store (cheaper) or through Amazon (cheapest).
I’d call that price competitve, but a but on the ’splurge’ end, depending on your opinions about the environmental/comfort impacts of cloth vs plastic.
Occasionally there is more to it than just cost.
Some babies have skin that is sensitive to the chemical additives found in a lot of disposible diapers. OTOH, babies easily prone to diaper rash might do a little better with disposibles because some of the moisture can wick away.
Ha ha, I am now picturing hip and trendy granite/stainless condos crisscrossed with improvised clothes lines full of diapers!
Do daycare providers still require cloth diapers?
“Charmin toilet paper “
Anyone up for cloth toilet paper? How about reusable cloth sanitary napkins?
It’s actually hard to find daycare providers that will deal with cloth diapers. Most only want disposies.
Don’t Like a Weak Dollar? Might as Well Get Used to It.
~ CNBC
Weakness in the US dollar, which is causing everything to go up—including gas prices, food and stocks—is unlikely to go away soon as a selling frenzy hits the currency market.
The greenback is approaching pre-financial crisis lows and threatening to smash through its all-time low when measured against the world’s predominant national currencies.
A combination of factors accounts for the weakness, with the Federal Reserve’s easy-money policies, huge national debts and deficits and the consequential possibility of a debt downgrade because of the financial mess in Washington leading the way.
In short, as trader Dennis Gartman noted Thursday, “the rout of the US dollar” is in full effect.
“Panic dollar selling is setting in,” Gartman, a hedge fund manager and author of “The Gartman Letter,” wrote in his daily commentary. “This may carry farther than any of us dream of or, worse, have nightmares of.”
How low can it go?
Rick Bensignor, chief market strategist at Dahlman Rose in New York, said the dollar index [.DXY 73.86 -0.13 (-0.18%) ], which measures the greenback against a basket of select other global currencies, has scant technical support “that has any meaning” between its present level and the historical low of 70.70.
That’s a widely shared view, even as currency pros wonder how the dollar could be falling against the euro considering the near certainty of sovereign debt defaults in smaller European Union nations.
Gartman described the dollar as being in “serious jeopardy” because of its status against the euro, which was defended recently as European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet announced a rate hike in the zone.
No such defense is being offered in the US, where neither Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke nor most of the rest of the central bank’s Open Market Committee seems much in the mood to raise rates despite the anemic dollar. Though the Fed is ostensibly apolitical, there is no pressure as well from the Obama administration to boost the dollar’s value.
“If things were to somehow go into freefall or there were disorderly markets, or if it is associated with a rise in interest rates, there could be some concerns there,” said Josh Feinman, chief global economist at Deutsche Bank Advisors. “But that’s not happening at all. Rates in the US are still very, very low. At the margin, (a weak dollar) is a slight easing in financial conditions.”
I think there were a lot of folks here who predicted this as a possible outcome. The Fed is “printing their way out” of the housing problem, or, more accurately, TRYING to print its way out of it.
Inflation is the cure to all that’s wrong with the banks, credit, and overextended consumers. Problem is, the inflation is all in the wrong place. The Fed want’s wage inflation, what we’re seeing instead is commodity inflation. That is like throwing gas on a fire, it’s making the situation worse, but the Fed stays the course and continues to print in the hopes that it eventually makes it way into wages (which, IMHO, it probably will; who knows how much damage it will cause getting there).
I think that betting against inflation is a suckers bet right now; I don’t know how much it’s going to go up, but, without a doubt (IMHO), it’s going to go up. You can’t print this much money and not eventually result in wage inflation; it’s just that there’s lots of pain points before we get there.
My take (if I was the fed). Gradually ease rates to about 5% (FFR). Yes, banks will fail. Who cares? We act like banks are the American Red cross with food shipments for Kenya; they aren’t, those that fail will be replaced, and the world will probably be better for it.
And yes, raising interest rates will cause housing to go down further. I’m a homeowner, and I accept that as the probable best solution; it’s not good (in the short run) for me financially, but that doesn’t mean it’s not in the countries best interests. Our currency is too important to let sycophant banks and overextended borrowers determine it’s course; we need a strong Fed that will do what’s necessary, not what’s popular.
“but the Fed stays the course and continues to print in the hopes that it eventually makes it way into wages”
Possibly sooner rather than later. People aren’t going to commute very for those $10.00/hour jobs we got here in the Tampa Bay area. I also wonder how some of the part time big box store employees are handling this, because under current policies, they can show up for work and be sent home an hour later if the management deems there isn’t enough traffic or whatever. It’s called “over hours”. Which means if a particular department didn’t do so well one week, the man hours allotted to it get cut.
I know some folks working those types of jobs.
What they do is quit for a better job as soon as they can.
Having been in their position, that’s exactly what I did. And I burned rubber getting out of some of those jobs and into better ones.
Why? Because there’s nothing like a lousy job to motivate you to find a better one. Or to become self-employed.
“we need a strong Fed that will do what’s necessary, not what’s popular”.
Their very long track record shows otherwise. We need a congress with a brain and a backbone to abolish the federal reserve.
This will put a crimp in China’s style. I am personally against the weak-dollar policy, but I have to admit it will bother China, and I like to bother China.
Actually, China is against a weak dollar policy too given that they are sitting on a ton of greenbacks and they can stay competitive as long as the dollar is strong.
Yes, that’s what I’m saying. This should bother China.
Unemployed workers can cause a lot of problems in China.
As they already have. ISTR a video of a Chinese factory closing. Video showed the workers trashing the place.
“…which is causing everything to go up—including gas prices, food and stocks…”
It’s not clear that everything actually is going up; what about wages? Or housing?
I’m thinking wages will remain stagnant over the foreseeable future, thanks to such a large pool of unemployed workers plus an oversees labor force to which jobs can be outsourced if domestic wages are too high.
And so long as wages are stagnant and hiring is weak, the household expenditure budget is not going to increase; in this world, higher prices of consumer stapes like food and energy translate into less money available to pay the rent or mortgage. Fundamentals thus suggest lower home prices over the near-term future.
thanks to such a large pool of unemployed workers plus an oversees labor force to which jobs can be outsourced if domestic wages are too high.
Oh, the sweet smell of success!
Labor = have ‘em by the throat
Corporate profit$ = “we’re suffering” …need to get Corporate Inc. taxation to .015%… sub-contract work to: Yell!…Scream!…Holler! disciple-advocate drones
peon-worker = make ‘em sweat & pay additional for health benefits
key management = send to “retreat” for brain-storming & revitalization
Political-lobbyi$t donation$: $ub-contract to any politician that has weakne$$ in character, force ‘em to $ign “TrueEndearment™” “we’ll-discard-you-like-cheap-Mardi-Gras-beads” loyalty clause.
Ain’t that America!
Dang, I shoulda tossed in something about billionaire philanthropist’s building a native American treaty museum & casino…
“Fundamentals thus suggest lower home prices over the near-term future.”
Conjecture confirmed:
Home prices falling in most major US cities
Home prices drop in 19 major US cities; 10 metro areas are at lowest point since bubble burst
Derek Kravitz, AP Real Estate Writer, On Tuesday April 26, 2011, 9:46 am EDT
WASHINGTON (AP) — Home prices are falling in most major U.S. cities, and at least 10 major markets are at their lowest point since the housing bubble burst.
The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city index shows price declines in 19 cities from January to February. The index fell for the seventh straight month. Prices fell at a faster rate in 11 markets in February compared with the previous month.
High unemployment, stricter lending rules and fears that prices will fall further are among the reasons why few people are buying and selling homes. A record number of foreclosures are forcing down home prices in most metro areas, and prices are expected to keep falling through this year.
“There is evidence that potential sellers are holding their properties off the market, waiting for housing prices to stop falling,” said Bricklin Dwyer, an analyst at BNP Paribas.
Detroit was the only market to show a monthly gain, although the Motor City is one of five cities where home prices are now below their January 2000 levels.
…
potential sellers are holding their properties off the market, waiting for housing prices to stop falling,
Now that is one funny sentence and concept…
Yeah, that would be like not deploying your parachute, hoping that will stop your fall.
A few years ago my brother moved and bought he new house before sellingthe first one.
I told him to undercut everone in his neighborhood. At first he balked, because he didin’t want to “give it away”.
After it sat unsold for 5 months he dropped the price and it sold in two weeks.
Fast forward to today: That house would sell today for 50K less than he got when he “gave it away”.
“After it sat unsold for 5 months he dropped the price and it sold in two weeks.”
By comparison, lil’ sis did the same thing (bought a new place at year-end 2006 before selling the old). Today she is an accidental landlord waiting for the market to come back until she sells…
Realtors Are Liars
Realtors are inconsequential kool-aid guzzling pawns.
Wealthy Leaving Las Vegas Mansions as Foreclosure Pain Spreads
Apr 26, 2011 ~ Bloomberg
Nicolas Cage, the Oscar-winning star of “Leaving Las Vegas,” bought a seven-bedroom home with a panoramic view of the city’s casino-lined Strip in 2006 for $8.5 million. By January 2010, it was in foreclosure.
The next owner, who property records show paid $4.2 million, has put the house on the market for $7.9 million — an “unrealistic” price, according to Zar Zanganeh, the broker handling the listing.
“It’s sad,” Zanganeh said, his high-heeled boots clacking on the marble floor as he gave a tour of the 14,000-square-foot (1,300-square-meter) mansion featuring a six-person steam shower and a closet the size of a small apartment. “There’s a lot of inventory, a lot of homes like this waiting for an owner.”
A growing number of high-end homes are selling at a loss or facing repossession by lenders in Las Vegas, which already has the highest rate of foreclosure filings among large U.S. cities. The wave of defaults that began with subprime borrowers and the unemployed has spread to upscale homeowners who see no point of staying even if they can afford to.
In the 15 months through March, at least 25 houses in the Las Vegas area changed hands for more than $3 million, with at least seven doing so through foreclosure or by selling at a loss, according to the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors and Clark County property records. In 2009, 14 homes sold for more than that amount, with one trading at a loss.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-26/wealthy-leaving-las-vegas-mansions-as-pain-of-foreclosure-crisis-spreads.html
The very concept of a six-person steam shower is giving me thoughts I’d rather not have this early in the morning (or any other time, for that matter). And that real estate agent is a “he?”
I believe the word you are looking for is “sextet”.
I prefer to think of it as Elvis-sized.
Life imitates art.
a six-person steam shower
? …creativity seems to come in many ways.
Wonderful, now scores of congressional aides are probably out getting plumbing quotes for their bosses.
Actually, most congresscritters rent. Well, in D.C. anyway.
What I don’t get is why would anyone want a mansion in Vegas?
If you’re going to party, it’s a lot cheaper to stay a luxury hotel.
If you’re going to live there … now why would you want to do that?
Because you’d be living 7×24 in an Adult Disneyland, bay-bee!
-shudder-
the Pawn Shop guys need to live somewhere
I was born in Las Vegas. You have no idea what it’s like to be a fetus in Vegas. No idea.
“The next owner, who property records show paid $4.2 million, has put the house on the market for $7.9 million — an “unrealistic” price, according to Zar Zanganeh, the broker handling the listing.”
This business is filled to the brim with unrealistic MF(s) who…
Cry me a river.
Those poor, poor oppressed rich people!
Remember that town I told you in 2006/2007 was building like crazy?
http://cnyhomes.com/Listing/Search/info.cgi?mlnum=S234581 (empty)
http://cnyhomes.com/Listing/Search/info.cgi?mlnum=S244752
http://cnyhomes.com/Listing/Search/info.cgi?mlnum=S249465
(empty)
http://cnyhomes.com/Listing/Search/info.cgi?mlnum=S246754
(not empty but almost looks like squatter-furniture does not match grandeur of home)
http://cnyhomes.com/Listing/Search/info.cgi?mlnum=S237110
(1900 restored farmhouse–I would buy this if I was looking there and my budget was in that price niche)
Lysander is a bit further out from Syracuse making it somewhat less commutable especially since being north of the city they are more prone to lake effect squalls in the winter. It’s largest employer is InBev formerly Anheuser Busch. It’s known as a nice school district.
Ikea-ish dining set, brown leather sofa and zebra-print rug — in a Traditional-style home?
That’s clearly rental furniture likely leftover from staging a bachelor pad condo. The rest of the house IS empty.
Gotta’ love the NYS taxes! Holy crap
Same rate I pay in Texas.
But in Texas you have no state income tax?
No state income tax, but properties values are re-assessed every year.
I know. Some people buy brand new vehicles for less than that annual nut.
“Gotta’ love the NYS taxes! Holy crap “
I never thought of Lysander as being “a bit far out”. Heck, to me, B-ville was a standard residential neighborhood as well. Now Fulton is “a little further out” but that is not very far in my mind. You can easily commute to downtown in 20 minutes, you get very good schools, and the houses are much less expensive (yea, you do need a snow-blower).
I always thought of Lysander as “new-build Hell”, endless tract homes that looked pretty much alike. The lady I know who built a new home there was repainting the molding after 2 years in the house because the builder did not prime the wood and only put one coat of white paint on it!
The only house on your list that looks remotely worth seeing is the last one. But you can go 10 miles further north to Fulton and get that same house for half the price. And unless you are one of the uppity snobs in the right cliche, the school district is better as well.
Hi.
The other day, I told you all that my employer pays more foreigners than US citizens. I want to put that little tidbit in context for you all.
Can you imagine what would happen if all those overseas offices were closed, and all those jobs were brought back to the US? Dudes, those vacancies could employ every unemployed person in this entire metropolitan area, and this is just one company. Now multiply that by all the companies in this country who refer to themselves as “international companies”.
They are no more “international” than I am. They were born here, they were nurtured here, and they would be nowhere if it weren’t for the US. They are American companies and they are a part of the economic powerhouse that makes this place so awesome.
The POTENTIAL of this country is huge. There is no reason we shouldn’t all be living well, with bright futures and comfortable finances.
Hear, hear. Well said.
X2
“They are no more “international” than I am. They were born here, they were nurtured here, and they would be nowhere if it weren’t for the US.”
This is so true. I seem to recall at one point that Bill Gates actually acknowledged that if he lived in any other country, he would never have been able to accomplish what he did. He said that his company benefitted from the (taxpayer supported) US infrastructure and systems. Not just things like transportation and shipping, but the legal and education systems.
So what does he and his company do in thanks? Offshores, outsources, takes advantage of tax breaks, etc.
BTW, great story in Vanity Fair this month by Paul Allen, gives some major insight into who and what Gates really is. Fascinating.
“There is no reason we shouldn’t all be living well, with bright futures and comfortable finances.”
But what about “shareholder value”? Those poor shareholders, they’re counting on slave wage labor to keep them in the green.
Of course a collapsing USD could change all that, even for unskilled labor. China might peg their currency to the USD, but they are experiencing all sorts of inflation, including wages.
The real question is whether or not Coprorate America will bring the jobs back. I have my doubts still, I think that they’l just look for the next desperate place, probably Africa, to setup shop.
On a related note, the contract engineering shop where I work had to let 10% of the staff go due to a lack of contracts. Actually, the contracts are pending, the customers are hesitant to pull the trigger.
“Actually, the contracts are pending, the customers are hesitant to pull the trigger.”
Well, whoever does the selling for your shop is the problem. It’s up to him or her to MAKE the customers pull the trigger.
The staff getting laid off can thank them for not making it happen.
Salespeople are often reviled. But someone has to sell something, close a contract, etc. so others can eat.
The sale has been made. The customers are just deferring the start of the work (probably because they waiting on their customers).
Are those contractors being laid off permanently, or can they collect unemployment until they are called back, like autoworkers in the old days?
In theory they were furloughed, and will keep their health bennies while laid off and collected UE. The expectation is that they will return no later than June. Of course if the customers (who keep telling us that we have the jobs, but that we need to wait just a little longer) say they need more time, then these folks are out of luck.
Fortunately the contract I’m assigned to has 4 years left, and looks like it will be extended.
probably Africa
The Dark Continent, what might it have of “value” that could possibly ever be
exploitedbait-n-switchedconned-out-of“utilized” by China Inc. & USA Inc. & Europe Inc. for the daily needs ofthemselves…Africa’s native poor suffering people? hand-weaved baskets? colorful hand-carved trinkets? willful indentured-workers? NBA Inc. player prospects without signing-agents?I dunno. Big V. The town I provided links to above, the largest employer is InBev. If everyone brought their employees home to the parent company’s country we’d also lose a lot of jobs. How ’bout all Japanese car manufacturers that build autos here? Wouldn’t want to lose those jobs even if their pay is only 1/2 of what the union auto workers used to get paid My first job out of college was working for a French company in NH. That was 1984.
No, the few Japanese car makers would not cancel out the huge numbers of US jobs that have been offshored. Besides, one of the biggest reasons Japan manufactures in the US is because of tariffs. They don’t have to pay them if they manufacture here.
And no, your French employer from 1984 is not relevant.
The Japanese plants in the US are assembly plants.
The actual manufacturing takes place in Japan/China/Mexico/etc.
What’s the difference between assembling and manufacturing?
The engineers, designers, and all those other highly paid, value added jobs.
Add to that the high value sub assemblies…..engines, transmissions, computers of all types. Most if not all the design work is done elsewhere.
It isn’t about the $15-30/hr UAW guys. It only takes about 10-15 man/hours to “assemble” an automobile.
Most of the overseas manufacturers have “design (styling) centers” in California or Michigan. Maybe a few hundred guys drawing pictures of cars, at most.
Sounds like the difference is more between designing and manufacturing, rather than assembling and manufacturing- although I agree that the final ‘put-together’ will involve parts assembled elsewhere, I think a lot of those previously put-together parts are also assembled (or manufactured) here in the US. When Toyota’s accelerators were a problem , they were being assembled/manufactured by a US company, IIRC.
So you want to make one rule for American jobs sent overseas but its reverse is ok when foreign employers employ Americans here? Sounds like a banking concept. Heads I win. Tails you lose.
The point about 1984 is we’ve enjoyed their jobs on our soil for a long time because the employer wanted to utilize people who understood and had experience selling to our market. But now our market is mature and no longer expanding. So multinationals from many backgrounds are moving onto the next growth opportunity where their markets are young and growth is expanding.
Tit for tat, huh? That doesn’t exactly make sense.
Firstly, all other countries exact tariffs (large ones) on US products. These tariffs come in two forms: Plain old tariffs; and low-value currencies. You see, the United States does not have soveriegnty in other countries, so we can’t tell them whether or not to tariff our goods. We can only decide whether or not to tariff theirs. Too many Americans are wandering around under the misconception that the rest of the world is being “fair” by not charging tariffs on US goods, as a reward for our own good behavior. That is just not true. India, for instance, places a 100% tariff on US electronics. I got that information from some people I know who live in the US, but are Indian citizens.
Secondly, the purpose of US international trade policy should not be to try to seem fair. Nor should it be to give multinationals an easier way of moving on to the next growth opportunity. It should be to strike the best deal that can be had. The deals that have been stricken over the past 30 years have been very bad for us, as evidenced by the massive hemorrhaging of our prosperity. Only a willfully ignorant fool could deny that the offshoring is ruining us. Because we are the sovereign people of our own country, it is our responsibility to discontinue the policies that have hurt us so terribly, and that continue to hurt us even now.
The number of US citizens who have gained employment from foreign companies or foreign consumerism is negligible compared to the number of US citizens who have lost employment from offshoring. Anyone with any modicum of common sense or economic understanding will tell you that tariffs are always required when people trade in different currencies. Otherwise, you end up with artificial trade imbalances that cause macroeconomic destruction the likes of the Great Recession.
It truly baffles me that there are still some naysayers out there who refuse to grab the bull by the horns and bring US jobs back to the US, for the purpose of sustaining the greatest socio-political entitity ever formed by mankind.
The overseas guys aren’t hiring many engineers here.
They are hiring the $12/hour Old South former sharecroppers who know their place, Confederate Flag on the front of the truck, Larry the Cable Guy watching good old boys, while letting the state pay for the factory and their training …….training meaning how to use an air ratchet or screwdriver.
We’re trading 100k yr engineering jobs for $15/hr assembly line jobs.
It looks bad on paper, but we’ll make it up on volume.
“Wouldn’t want to lose those jobs even if their pay is only 1/2 of what the union auto workers used to get paid”
My understanding is that they receive the same hourly wages, but not the same bennies.
And FWIW, the big three are only paying new hires something like $14/hr.
Great idea! Close all sales and support offices overseas. How about any R&D? Close that too - who cares if you piss off foreigners - they’re stupid and will continue to buy from you because hey America is God’s gift to the world. And all those laid off workers will starve to death so that takes care of them. They have no useful skills to speak of, nobody will hire them and they won’t be able to do anything on their own.
Now back to reality. Your company’s overseas sales will get crushed. There will be a heavy price to pay for all the negative publicity, as well as broken employment contracts. You might get shut out of certain markets which require a local presence or partner. Your talented ex-employees will start off their own businesses in direct competition to yours, or will get lapped up by your competitors in those markets. And if you still have any foreign sales, you’ll get slammed by Uncle Sam when you repatriate the money back home.
Welcome to the real world.
I dunno, according to a couple of reports posted here recently, the bloom is off the global rose. Major disenchantment in India, due to byzantine government and corruption (I can’t even begin to imagine how bad it must be if a US corp is accusing India of corruption, lol). Major fear and loathing in Russia, because if you mess up and screw them over, it’s the gulag for you. And if you manage to flee the country, Igor can still track you down and slip you a mickey.
Corps are finding out that other countries do business differently than the US. Different customs, different legal systems, different rewards and penalties.
Yeah, Yensoy, your comments are not related to my point. If people in other countries have marketable skills, then they can find employment at one of the many local companies over there, right? Good for them.
Overseas sales are a tiny percentage of profit for US companies. US companies rely on high-paid and high-paying US consumers to fund their R&D costs, reliable legal environment, etc. In my industry, foreign consumers pay 10-50% of US prices. As long as the Americans are there to cover the base costs, then the company can make a little extra money by selling a few more units to some foreigners, but those foreigners can not afford to pay enough to support the company on their own. Get rid of the US middle class, and the US corporation goes down too.
Now, back to our potential. China can take care of itself, right? Inda too? Brazil, etc? Well, so can we. Let’s do that. The American Dream is HUGE, let’s live it. Bring US jobs back to US workers and get back to the days of prosperity that our forefathers worked so hard to create.
Comment by Big V
2011-04-26 07:56:25
Yeah, Yensoy, your comments are not related to my point. If people in other countries have marketable skills, then they can find employment at one of the many local companies over there, right? Good for them.
Overseas sales are a tiny percentage of profit for US companies. US companies rely on high-paid and high-paying US consumers to fund their R&D costs, reliable legal environment, etc. In my industry, foreign consumers pay 10-50% of US prices. As long as the Americans are there to cover the base costs, then the company can make a little extra money by selling a few more units to some foreigners, but those foreigners can not afford to pay enough to support the company on their own. Get rid of the US middle class, and the US corporation goes down too.
Now, back to our potential. China can take care of itself, right? Inda too? Brazil, etc? Well, so can we. Let’s do that. The American Dream is HUGE, let’s live it. Bring US jobs back to US workers and get back to the days of prosperity that our forefathers worked so hard to create.
—————————-
This (in bold) is key. What many people don’t acknowledge is that we are a net importer. By (hypothetically) stopping all trade (except for oil?), we would be better off that we are today, IMHO.
Also, foreign corporations set up plants here because they want to sell to Americans. Our corporations set up plants in foreign countries because they *want to sell to Americans,* but they want to hire cheap labor so that their margins are fatter. They don’t want to pay us the kind of wages we need to continue paying their prices without going into debt. That’s why we’re in the mess we’re in.
I agree with the others. The amount of exporting we do does not make up for the importing we do. We are growing poorer by the day because of this. “International trade” is good when you are selling/exporting more than you are buying/importing.
I’d rather pay twice as much for a well-made product that lasts three times longer than its Chinese counterpart. We’d all be much better off because of it.
BTW, I agree with having plants set up in countries where we want to SELL to people in those countries — using local labor to sell to local customers. I do NOT agree with setting up plants in countries just to use the *cheap* local labor, while attempting to sell to U.S. citizens whose jobs have been off-shored by these very same companies.
I guess in the simplest sense, wouldn’t losing all those trade partners simply result in American flipping directly from a net importer to a net exporter (good for the US)?
I guess Americans will have to get by with paying twice as much for the iPads and TV’s and clothing and dishes. I don’t see that as much of a loss, since it seems that foreign-made stuff* lasts only half as long anyway.
However, we can’t unring the intellectual property bell. I’ll trade a cheap foreign-made T-shirt for making other countries pay full price for American medications.
———-
*I’m not knocking foreign-made quality. I realize that a lot of the shoddy quality is the result of cost-cutting decisions made by American executives. Most famous is the practice of Wal-mart putting a prototype widget on a table and letting Chinese companies compete for the production, dealing in pennies.
“I guess in the simplest sense, wouldn’t losing all those trade partners simply result in American flipping directly from a net importer to a net exporter ”
trade partners = countries that sell cheap junk to us, but don’t buy our stuff unless they absolutely have to.
I say go for it.
“Most famous is the practice of Wal-mart putting a prototype widget on a table and letting Chinese companies compete for the production, dealing in pennies.”
Its not just WalMart.
When I worked at HP we would have Taiwanese suppliers bid on designing and manufacturing flatbed scanners for us. We would put the spec sheet together and let them go at it.
So if you ever wondered why your old ScanJet 3C (made in Greeley) still works, while the newer scanners fall apart after a few years, now you know.
Or conversly, Americans could buy only 1/2 as much junk at WalMart and make do with only two flat screen TVs.
We only have one, which was purchased to replace an old picture tube set that gave up the ghost (after 18 years)
China is rapidly using up its natural resources making items with very low margins. One of the reasons I believe China is going to hit the wall a lot sooner than people think.
Not to mention the extreme damage done to their environment (although of course a ‘conservative’- ironic word, eh?- wouldn’t want to mention that, since they seem to think environmental damage is a sign of productivity,).
I neither consider myself a conservative nor a liberal and I do consider environmental damage when I consider productivity. BTW, I really don’t want to say too much and reveal my identify but I have always had public service jobs and was essentially run out of a state for forcing mines to obey environmental laws and reclaim their mess. I graduated near the top of my law school class and could have worked at a firm for three times the salary I received doing government service. You think you know me but you don’t. There are thousands of acres reclaimed in the West due to my efforts. I just believe that resources can be exploited and land restored to a better condition then when it was first mined and I have seen it done with my own eyes.
“I just believe that resources can be exploited and land restored to a better condition then when it was first mined and I have seen it done with my own eyes.”
The exact words used by those who excuse mountain-top removal mining around here. And as big a crock as your ‘plantsneedco2′ website. I’m sure your idea of restoring the land to a better condition involves the idea that it can now be easily developed, since it’s been scraped flat and has no more topsoil, and all those pesky streams and wetlands were filled.
Big V:
Why not allow companies to repatriate all overseas earning with no taxes (instead of the 35%) only if they spend it on American factories and American workers…no H1B or people with visas…
Why cant i-pads be made in kansas?
Or at least being back the tens of thousands of call center jobs…
They already did that a few years ago ( minus the new jobs thingy).
They did spend it on American workers. Banksters are “American workers”
Just last Sept the Dems proposed a bill to end tax breaks for offshoring jobs and instead, transfer those tax breaks back onshore for hiring.
It was shot down by the Repubs.
“There is no reason we shouldn’t all be living well, with bright futures and comfortable finances.”
Well yes, there is. Greedy sociopathic SOBs with “compensation”, Calvinistic, Social Darwinism complexes.
More cake?
Realtors are Liars.
realtors put 150k price tags on 300k homes. Jacka$$es.
You got it in reverse.
~Realtors Are Liars
Liz pendens are pending.
lol. Indefinitely apparently.
No doubt soft start.
“To receive Hardest Hit money, homeowners cannot be more than 180 days late on mortgage payments”
Soft start for Hardest Hit foreclosure prevention program
By Kimberly Miller Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 9:41 p.m. Monday, April 25, 2011
Nearly 9,500 homeowners applied for Florida’s Hardest Hit foreclosure prevention program during its statewide debut last week, only a quarter of the estimated 40,000 borrowers the $1 billion plan is intended to reach.
The online application process opened April 18 after a yearlong buildup. The Obama administration announced the initiative in February 2010.
It’s aimed at unemployed or underemployed homeowners, who can receive up to six months’ worth of mortgage payments or $6,000 to bring a late loan current. The mortgage payments are capped at $12,000.
A year-end Mortgage Bankers Association report found nearly 20 percent of the state’s home loans were in foreclosure or at least 90 days late.
To receive Hardest Hit money, homeowners cannot be more than 180 days late on mortgage payments - a requirement that leaves out thousands of borrowers. The home also must be the borrower’s primary residence, and the homeowner cannot have unencumbered assets of $5,000 or more.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/money/foreclosures/soft-start-for-hardest-hit-foreclosure-prevention-program-1432740.html - -
This is a reply I got in the comments section of this article by a FB who doesn`t share my views.
Hey Jeff
Why don’t you tell the good folks of PB County what you do for a living?
It seems Mr. Saturday is a mortgage broker. I’ve seen some of your loans you have put together and you, my friend, are part of the problem. Is this guilt talking?
Does that PBG home loan ring a bell?
You made a ton of $ off of these people now you insult them? Why don’t you crawl back under that rock dirt bag.
Bank insider
5:45 PM, 4/26/2011
I’d be curious to see what HBB posters could add to this hypothetical list of questions for the Bernanke press briefing tomorrow:
The Wall Street Journal
MARKETS
APRIL 25, 2011
The Fed Meets the Press
The Wall Street Journal’s Real Time Economics Blog asked readers what they would ask Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke if they were able to attend his press briefing on Wednesday—the first of what will become regular gatherings with the Fourth Estate each quarter. More than readers 100 responded. Here is a sampling of some of the best, most common and silliest responses:
1. Is it your objective as Federal Reserve Chairman to lower the dollar’s value? What responsibility, if any, does the Fed take for the falling dollar combined with soaring food and energy prices?
2. Why must the Fed punish savers and investors by dropping short-term interest rates to near zero? If there is a positive psychological wealth effect from a bubbling stock market, isn’t there a contrary effect from the dwindling earnings of a savings account?
3. How far away is real economic growth of the kind that produces quality jobs in quantity?
4. Are you willing to let interest rates move much higher, even to double digit territory, in order to keep inflation under control?
5. Can you name a price for gold that would cause the Fed to become concerned that its latest policies are not working?
6. Wouldn’t the marketplace be more efficient and less risky if commercial lenders, investment bankers, stock brokerages, and insurance companies were broken up into manageable entities rather than the current structure of risk concentration?
7. If you are serious about operating a more transparent Federal Reserve, why did it take three years to get you to release data on discount window borrowings by banks during the country’s worst economic disaster since the Great Depression?
8. Boxers or briefs?
7. Three years and a court order, I may add.
9. Why are banks allowed to borrow at 0% interest rates and lend at 2% but individuals are not allowed to do the same?
10. Why are investment companies getting first crack at shadow inventory while shutting out the public? (not sure this is a Bernanke question.)
Why are bank and wall street bonuses at record levels as these firms have only:
1. Been saved from bankrutcy with trillions of US taxpayer money that will never be repaid
3. Been only able to make money by borrowing from the US taxpayer at 0% and re-loan that same money is US Treasuries at 2%
They gotta retain the “talent”, which I believe is “talent for ripping others off”
Why is it that pitch forks and guillotines are so expensive these days?
9. Which would work better to drum moral hazard out of the banking system: pitchforks, or tar and feathers?
10. Don’t you wish a reincarnation of Andrew Jackson could run for the White House in 2012?
Or Teddy Roosevelt.
He’d get my vote!
Don’t you wish a reincarnation of Andrew Jackson could run for the White House in 2012?
I would expect his candidacy in 2012 to fail miserably.
Ron Paul announces possible Republican 2012 presidential bid
Long-time Texas politician and Tea Party favourite has made a key step on the official route to the White House
Paul Harris in New York
The Guardian, Wednesday 27 April 2011
…
Marvin the Martian: “earthling, take-me-to-your-leader!”
1. Is it your objective as Federal Reserve Chairman to lower the dollar’s value?
Isn’t that what the FedRes has done since its inception?
“Isn’t that what the FedRes has done since its inception?”
+1 That’s how “they” percolate to the top - by supporting socialism, asset inflation and weak dollar policies.
“by supporting socialism,”
The Fed is socialist? Why do they support billionaire banksters and screw over the little guy?
Or is ’socialism’ just a catch-all word for everything bad in government? “The socialist IRS is auditing me.”
“They” refers to the stewards of the fed.
I’d still love to hear why the wives of executives at top Wall Street firms got free loans through TARP.
Gotta agree with you there.
Good grief - the news on the housing bubble fallout just keeps worsening. Any vestiges of Schadenfreude I once felt have giving way to shock over what figuratively looks like a tornado-damaged wreck of an economy.
Healthy Aging
Homelessness up among seniors
HUD projects a 33 percent increase over the next 10 years
By Mario Garrett
Tuesday, April 26, 2011 at 12:01 a.m.
The economic downturn continues to affect older adults, as evidenced by AARP’s recent suit against the Department of Housing and Urban Development. It’s about reverse mortgages. AARP argues that HUD — by insisting that surviving spouses (who are not named on the mortgage) pay the full loan balance to keep their home — is pushing older adults into foreclosure. And in fact, this policy ignores HUD’s own provisions against displacing a surviving spouse.
Reverse mortgages, which pay older homeowners a regular sum against the equity in their house, were designed to shield borrowers from economic upheaval. More than a half-million people have received reverse mortgages since Congress authorized the program a quarter-century ago. Those who withdraw equity cash through this program must be at least 62. Participants receive either a lump sum or monthly payments from lenders. When a participant dies, the house is sold and the mortgage is paid off. However, lenders sometimes encourage only the elder member of a couple to put his or her name on the mortgage—hence the issue with the surviving spouse having to pay off the mortgage.
Since last year, more than 32 percent of all San Diego County homeowners with mortgages were upside-down — owing more on their mortgage than the house is valued — according to CoreLogic, a real estate analytics firm. During the past three years, more than 640,000 Californians have lost their homes. This statistic reflects other key indicators of economic health. The average credit card debt among adults 65 and older was $10,235, according to a study released in 2009 by a New York public policy organization. The consequences of the burst housing market and the resulting loss of equity have resulted in one in seven older adults facing retirement with a negative net worth.
…
lenders sometimes encourage only the elder (most sickly looking) member of a couple to put his or her name on the mortgage—hence the issue with the surviving spouse having to pay off the mortgage.
“They” wouldn’t do that, that would be kinda-sorta “Un-Profee$ional” & $lightly “Un-Ethical”
But, but that can’t be right! We all KNOW the elderly are rich and greedy!
It has been a rough spring, weather-wise, for the lower Midwest. I feel lucky my folks are alive, as a map I saw last night showed the St Louis Good Friday EF4 tornado passed through literally within walking distance of their home.
Severe Storms Tear Through South
AssociatedPress
Uploaded by AssociatedPress on Apr 26, 2011
At least five people are dead in Arkansas after severe weather swept through the state. A line of severe storms is also causing flooding fears in the region. (April 26)
Speaking of tornados, have you seen this video?
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/hottopics/detail?entry_id=87779
Ford First-Quarter Net Rises 22% as Vehicles Win Higher Prices
~ Bloomberg
Ford Motor Co. , the second-largest U.S. automaker, said first-quarter profit rose 22 percent to the most for the period since 1998 as it won higher prices for fuel- efficient new models.
Imagine what they could’ve accomplished had they reduced their peon-labor cost$?
Corp. Inc. Et. al: “we’re suffering!,…we’re suffering America, can’t you feel our miserable pain?”
But they did reduce peon costs. They gave the oldsters incentives to retire early and hired youngsters at $14/hr to replace them. The kids can’t afford to buy the $30K+ cars they assemble.
and hired tattooed “unions-are-evil” youngsters at $14/hr to replace them. :-/
“Get outta here!” or “Why, shut my mouth!”
deci$ions,…deci$ions
Price and wage cuts, not volume, eh?
“as it won higher prices for fuel- efficient new models.”
Check out what they’re asking for new Focuses and Fiestas: 20 grand or more.
Want a new Mustang GT? That can run as high as 40 grand.
Yeah, that new Boss 302 is looking pretty good by muscle car standards. Then I saw the price.
Home Prices in U.S. Probably Dropped, Consumer Confidence Rose
(Source: Bloomberg) 4-26-11
Residential real estate prices probably dropped in February by the most in more than a year, a sign the housing market is struggling to stabilize, economists said before a report today.
The S&P/Case-Shiller index of home values in 20 cities fell 3.3 percent from February 2010, the biggest 12-month decrease since November 2009, according to the median forecast of 25 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Another report may show consumer confidence increased in April as job gains helped cushion the effects of rising gasoline costs.
Increases in foreclosures are adding to a growing inventory of unsold homes, which may further depress prices and dissuade potential buyers anticipating even cheaper dwellings. Declining property values also limit construction and restrain consumer spending as homeowners have less equity to borrow against.
“The massive overhang of houses is going to keep pressure on prices,” said Joshua Shapiro, chief U.S. economist at Maria Fiorini Ramirez Inc. in New York. “We need supply and demand to be in much better balance, and with the enormous amount of supply out there — both existing and looming from foreclosures soon to be — that’s going to take a while.”
The S&P/Case-Shiller index, based on a three-month average, is due at 9 a.m. New York time. Survey estimates ranged from declines of 2.5 percent to 4 percent. Prices dropped 3.1 percent in the 12 months ended January.
The New York-based Conference Board’s consumer confidence gauge, due at 10 a.m., rose to 64.5 this month from 63.4 in March, according to the survey median. Projections ranged from 57 to 68.
Confirmed with 19 out of 20 cities dropping: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Home-prices-falling-in-most-apf-188178585.html?x=0
+1 Slip sliding away!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AcC2cua9Iw
Palmy, I was unable to respond to your request for info on the Greenville-Asheville corridor when you posted it a few days ago.
The distance between the two cities is 63 miles, going north on U.S. 25 out of Greenville to just over the NC line where you pick up I-26 to Asheville. Hendersonville is about mid-way. Travelers Rest is much closer to Greenville and a very attractive area. Here’s an example of what $180K will buy you.
http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/115-Fox-Creek-Ct_Travelers-Rest_SC_29690_M57043-99628
City/MSA population- Greenville 62K/640K and Asheville 83K/417K. We’ve only gone to Asheville to visit the Biltmore estate; don’t know much else about it.
The elevation difference of about 1200 feet means winter is about a month longer in Asheville. January hi/lo- Greenville 50/30, Asheville 46/27. July hi/lo- Greenville 88/68, Asheville 84/64. Being a warm weather person, Greenville’s climate is more to my taste. With the recent arrival of Southwest, Greenville has better air service. Don’t know how taxes and cost of living compare between the two states.
Hope you get up this way soon. Nothin’ can be finer than to be in Carolina…
Bill, thanks so much. I’m planning a trip in August and am looking into vacation rentals in the H’ville area, so I can explore in both directions. Provided I can get some time off from my current gig. It has lasted longer than I thought it would.
I’ve been reading various threads in the Western North Carolina
City Data forums. A real wealth of information. Traveler’s Rest gets high marks, so does Tryon. Folks are pretty much in agreement that the Greenville area has the jobs and money for people needing or wanting to work. One poster said the same job in Greenville pays twice as much as in Asheville. Asheville has the “atmosphere”, the scenery and the hype.
You really have to spend some time anywhere to really get a feel for the general area and what it’s like to live there. I’ve been used to “living on the flat” and have a little hesitancy about driving in the area. The “black ice” thread gave me the willies. I’ve also learned about the paper mill in Canton and the liquid coal operation near Asheville. Oh, and there was one thread on a small town in the area that cracked me up. Apparently very inbred and gossipy, to the point of nastiness. Definitely to be avoided.
But for the most part, the people in the A’ville/G’ville area, from all walks of life, get high praise for their general decency. I am impressed.
Bottom line, though, no matter where I land, I’ll be sure to rent there for a while until I really understand the area and which places to avoid, and which places to embrace. The locals and transplants both counsel this. I can’t tell you how many threads I read that begin “Moving to Asheville!”, and then follow with inquiries on where to buy, etc. Sheesh. There’s so much to know before you buy. For example, some folks are trapped in an area built over some old industrial plume and now have to spend for mitigation.
The Western NC and Greenville, SC areas became some sort of mecca for people during the boom. Heck, even Californians, Coloradans, New Englanders and people from the PNW have been involved in these City Data threads, inquiring about moving there.
Palmy, since you’ll be here during the summer, check out what they’ll be offering at the Flat Rock Playhouse and the Brevard Summer Music Festival. Oops, Brevard closes on August 7 with a performance by Yo-Yo Ma.
http://www.flatrockplayhouse.org/
http://www.brevardmusic.org/
With respect to black ice, it’s the temperature not the terrain. We had black ice bring the city of Dallas to a halt several times in the years we lived there.
“it’s the temperature not the terrain. ”
I have to disagree. Obviously, it has to be below freezing to have black ice, but in the mountains, it can be above freezing on 98% of the roads you’re driving on, but down in some shady valley, you can suddenly discover that your little stretch of road, unlike all others in town, has never received enough sunlight and warmth to melt. That’s when black ice gets you- not when it’s everywhere, and you now to be careful. But when you’ve been driving all day with no problem, and suddenly find that little patch of ice in the perma-shade. The fact that water will often seep out of cuts in the hillside and spill across the road days after precipitation is another way mountains can create unexpected patches of black ice.
Strangely enough, i have a friend that commutes from Greeneville TN to Ashville.
I am writing a screenplay…
“The Hapless Homeloaner”
Are the actors going to be naked?
Interesting POV of “squatters”
ew
Reply
U-WERE-1ST…
MANILA (AFP) – Soaring global food prices threaten to push tens of millions of Asians into extreme poverty and cut the region’s economic growth this year, the Asian Development Bank warned in a report on Tuesday.
Coupled with skyrocketing oil prices, the spike poses a serious setback for developing Asia after having rebounded rapidly and strongly from the 2008 global economic crisis, said chief ADB economist Rhee Changyong.
“Left unchecked, the food crisis will badly undermine recent gains in poverty reduction made in Asia,” Rhee said in a statement.
There a large # of consumers going poof across the globe.
news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110426/bs_afp/adbasiafoodinflationpoverty_20110426094036
“Soaring global food prices threaten to push tens of millions of Asians into extreme poverty and cut the region’s economic growth this year”
Well, they just need to work harder, right?
I cringe when I contemplate how this will all end.
As it always does… badly.
Maybe after Asia’s proletariat rises up and slaughters their elite (on the news!), our Big Boyz will finally realize it really is in their own best interest to pay a few more percentage points of taxes, in order to keep their heads on, rather than squeeze every last dime out of everyone else’s pockets.
Fear of the mob is the beginning of wisdom.
Quarterly revenue increased to $26.31 billion, up from the prior year’s $18.5 billion.
Analysts, on average, had expected Valero to earn $1.18 a share and generate revenue of $25.4 billion, according to a survey by FactSet Research.
With the grade of West Texas Intermediate crude enjoying a cost advantage of $11 a barrel over Brent, Valero’s been capitalizing on its Midwestern refineries, which have close access to the glut of oil at the U.S. storage hub in Cushing, Okla
So let’s recap, there is a shortage of oil due to demand rising but a glut of oil in storage???
Last 5 months US gas and oil production has been declining.
I suspect you are seeing the same across the globe.
Saudi Arabia cutting production due to a “glut” of oil.
Food inflation driving more and more in asia into poverty.
We must not question the technocrats, our lot is to endure these privations until enough time passes so that a least a portion of their contorted theories are successfully tested and they can claim victory…or the whole thing bursts at the seams.
Some people are comfortable trusting mere mortals with these enormous tasks, and some are not.
Sorry measton, but everyone KNOWS it’s the lack of enough drilling permits in the Gulf.
How dare you bother with facts?!
BTW, his appointees to an EPA board just prevented another drilling project in Alaska where Shell expected to find tens of billions of oil. If he was to continue his foreign policy and his energy policy for another term, $300 a barrel oil is a certainty not a probability. That is what you are seeing in the futures market, people pricing in his policies vs. his reelection prospects.
No, what you are seeing is Wall St. manipulating the market just as it’s always done.
The story of Alaskan drilling is an old one and has ALWAYS had some very strong environmental issues. Always.
The futures market is just that, the drop in production that it sees in the U.S. and the possibility of a middle east supply disruption over rides a short term glut particularly when that glut is confined to cushing. Natural gas is in shorter supply than oil right now but is not soaring because the future traders see a glut in the future.
Story about Cushing, OK and why the glut exists:
http://www.xe.com/news/2011/04/26/1860005.htm
The futures market is just that, the drop in production that it sees in the U.S. and the possibility of a middle east supply disruption over rides a short term glut particularly when that glut is confined to cushing. Natural gas is in shorter supply than oil right now but is not soaring because the future traders see a glut in the future.
U-r-a hoe..butt-4-who?
Is that the best you have a personal attack? So tell me why don’t the big bad evil speculators or oil companies raise the price of natural gas too? On a BTU basis it should sell for about $20 MCF on a historical ratio basis it should sell for about $12 but it sells for just above $4. Those evil speculators are holding down the prices. You just can’t handle that Obama just has a lousy energy policy and a naive foreign policy. BTW, I think the whole birth certificate thing is misdirection, I suspect what he really doesn’t want people probing is his school records both because they reveal he is not the genius that some people claim he is and that he is very much ideologically driven and not fact driven.
Snap out of it.
“You just can’t handle that Obama just has a lousy energy policy and a naive foreign policy.”
But it’s keeping nat gas prices down, like you just pointed out! Oh, I bet that’s not Obama’s doing, right? Only the bad stuff, like oil being up, is his fault, right?
“he is very much ideologically driven and not fact driven.”
*snicker*
This guy is truly pathetic.
Geithner vows to defend strong US dollar policy
Apr 26 09:45 AM US/Eastern ~ AFP
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner vowed Tuesday that the United States would never follow a strategy to weaken the US dollar.
“Our policy has been and will always be, as long as I will be in office, that a strong dollar is in the interest of the country,” Geithner said at a New York conference organized by the Council of Foreign Relations.
“We will never embrace a strategy to weaken the dollar.”
It was the first time this year that Geithner had publicly proclaimed a US strong-dollar policy, a mantra of treasury secretaries for more than a decade.
In the year to date, the dollar has lost 6.5 percent of its value compared with a basket of currencies held by its major trade partners.
“In the year to date, the dollar has lost 6.5 percent of its value compared with a basket of currencies held by its major trade partners.”
I’d hate to see how Uncle Buck would have fared with a ‘weak dollar policy.’
Bwahahahahaha!!!!
Military Personnel Saving our Country — and the Economy
~ Fox News April 25, 2011
NICEVILLE, Fla. – In some much-needed good news for the local economy, an influx of military personnel into the Florida Panhandle has created something of a real estate boom. Just a year after taking a hit in tourism as a result of the BP oil spill, these new arrivals are coming at a good time for local businesses.
“Before the oil spill, [home sales] were up about 30 percent. April 20, it just came to a halt,” said Jean Floyd, the president of the Emerald Coast Association of Realtors.
Now, Floyd has good news to report again. Eglin Air Force Base, one of the nation’s largest military installations, is undergoing a massive increase of personnel. Starting last year, the Army 7th Special Forces Group and the Air Force Joint Strike Fighter Training Center began adding thousands of members. Even more new residents will be arriving to fill support jobs for the military units.
To local real estate agents and local businesses — that means more consumers.
“[The real estate market] started picking up again, and now, since the first of the year, we are up 30%,” Floyd said. “I think it’s going to keep getting better because the troops that are coming in.”
Floyd is referring to residential sales, which are up more than 30 percent, but condo sales are also up — more than 25 percent. And townhome sales are up more than 50 percent.
One of the new arrivals is Capt. Gary Roos and his wife Danielle.
“They’re closing down a few bases and transferring over a lot of units, so I know Eglin Air Force Base is getting a pretty big influx of Army folks and some Air Force,” said Gary Roos. “I think it’s really good for the local economy. I know we bring a lot of tourism, a lot of families come from out of town and we do a lot of shopping and things in this area.”
The couple admits in a few years, it will be time for them to pick up and move to another base. But they purchased their home, with the future in mind.
“I know a lot of people who will buy a home, move to the next base and buy a second home. They keep the first here and rent it out, especially how it’s a good market to buy,” Gary Roos said.
Why not just hand out free money to the locals?
“They’re closing down a few bases and transferring over a lot of units
Sucks for them folks towns lost revenue$,…”Diz all the gubmint’$ fault!, …Diz ALL the gubmint’$ fault!”
“TrueReducetheDeficitNow!™” = military $pending is the right hand of god
lil’ Opie’s 1st attempt to reform 48 million Americans with none-to-puke health insurance? = “evil” + (non-Hawaiian)
And a lot of those military families will regret buying a home even though they knew they were only going to be there a few years. Gotta have a yard for the kids and all that…
And a lot of those military families will regret buying a home even though they knew they were only going to be there a few years.
doesn’t the taxpayer help with this/pick up the tab if they get transferred?
For the most part, no. Only moving expenses.
There are some exceptions, but I don’t know what they are right off the top of my head. (high ranked officers?)
FYI, most military families rent, so it’s the landlords who are actually buying the houses.
Petrobras; The Brazilian oil giant:
And the public good vs shareholder value battle when a company is about 60% government owned and 40% stockholder owned. Good or bad? Both? And if we bailed out US Banks with public money, should not Americans have benefited from it as Brazilians benefit from government ownership of Petrobras?
Petrobras Plunge on Gasoline Price Sinks Brazil’s Sovereign Fund in April
Petrobras Plunge on Gasoline Price Sinks Brazil’s Sovereign Fund in April
Brazil’s refusal to allow higher gasoline prices is cutting into returns of its sovereign wealth fund, whose main holdings are shares of state-controlled Petroleo Brasileiro SA. (PETR4)
The government is pressuring Petrobras to keep fuel prices steady as policy makers try to contain the fastest inflation since 2008, …. The company hasn’t changed gasoline prices since mid-2009, cutting into profits even as crude oil climbed 61 percent…
“Society had to benefit in some way from the fact that Petrobras is owned by the state,” Salto said in a phone interview. “The benefit is to avoid a fuel price increase in a moment of accelerating inflation, even if this affects the company’s shares or the sovereign fund.”
…(Brazil) Consumer prices rose 6.44 percent in the 12 months through mid-April, approaching the 6.5 percent upper limit of the central bank’s target.
“Fuel prices have to rise,” Nelson Rodrigues de Matos, an analyst at Banco do Brasil,…“Petrobras’s CEO says that if oil prices stay near current levels, domestic prices have to go up. Then the Finance Ministry says there’s no need for an increase. That’s probably why investors are concerned about the company.”
The lost revenue is causing Petrobras shares to miss out on a rally by crude producers worldwide….Exxon Mobil Corp., the largest U.S. oil producer, soared 18 percent this year through last week, while Europe’s biggest, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, added 4 percent. PetroChina Co., the nation’s largest oil company, advanced 6 percent. The Brazilian producer’s preferred shares, the most traded, dropped 3.7 percent in that period.
Above Petrobras article link:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-26/petrobras-drop-on-fuel-prices-sinks-brazil-s-sovereign-fund.html
The lost revenue is causing Petrobras shares to miss out on a rally by crude producers worldwide
even if this affects the company’s shares or the sovereign fund.”
So, remind me again Rio, how does Brazil keep GoldenmanSucks Inc. from leasing office space with “our-DSL-is-faster-than-your-DSL” built-in-”connections”?
Power Saw Used In Plymouth Murder-Suicide
PLYMOUTH (CBS) – Police are trying to figure out what happened after a gruesome incident in Plymouth late Monday night.
Officers were called to a home on Farmhurst Road around 10 p.m. for a well-being check.
When they arrived they saw a man in the living room who then picked up a power circular saw and cut one of his legs.
He was rushed to the hospital where he died.
As officers searched the home they also found a dead woman and two dead dogs. It’s not clear yet how they died.
The owner of the home told WBZ NewsRadio 1030 the couple was from Vermont and was behind on their rent.
It’s not known if that was a factor in the murder-suicide.
If you live by the Makita, you die by the Makita?
LOL! And darn you for that! I almost flubbed a call from nature!
“It’s not clear yet how they died.”
Yes it is. They were killed by a man with a power saw.
Looks like the DOW is set to cruise on up to 13,000. The consumer is said to be feeling better about the economy. Profits are looking up in big business. So I’m guessing energy and food prices are nothing more than an annoyance for the consumer in general.
“The consumer is said to be feeling better about the economy.”
Where do they find these “consumers”. I only ask because the local shopping malls, car dealers, realtor offices, etc. look like ghost towns in my neck of the woods.
“Profits are looking up in big business.”
While Main St. burns to the ground.
All this spin is making me dizzy .. or making me want to buy a new car … no wait … its just making me feel dizzy.
I was ready to buy a car this spring. Really thinking about it hard. But I now think that I may be on an indefinite furlough sometime this fall. The car can wait despite the fact that I could pay cash and still have years of living expenses saved up. My consumer confidence is down, and if I want to buy groceries over the summer in a car without A/C, I can do it at night or very early in the morning before it gets too hot.
I will get the new computer at some point. Just haven’t been able to find the deal that makes me pull the trigger.
While consumer confidence is suffering, my comfort is up. My building turned on the air conditioning yesterday (first day it was really needed). Included utilities are a nice benefit.
After 2001 recession: the jobless recovery
After 2008 recession: the recoveryless recovery
Another +1 to In Colorado’s frequent but necessary reminders that half the country makes $500 per week or less
Which is one of the reasons Main St. is burning to the ground.
Oh but it’s the same half that pays no income tax, those slackers. /rush
The sad thing is that the “3 part time jobs” crowd is perhaps the hardest working demographic in the nation.
Disgraced California City Official Set Up Secret Pension Fund
April 26, 2011 | Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — A former public official accused of orchestrating a scam that nearly bankrupted a working-class Los Angeles suburb set up a secret pension fund containing $4.5 million to skirt retirement limits for California public employees, according to a newspaper report Monday.
Grand jury transcripts reviewed by the Los Angeles Times revealed that ousted Bell city manager Robert Rizzo and his former assistant, Angela Spaccia, set up two pension plans to inflate the already generous compensation paid to city employees.
One account benefited 40 employees, guaranteeing them at least $2,000 a month if they retire as early as age 52 and had spent five years in office. That’s in addition to their normal payments from the state pension system.
Another account was set aside just for Rizzo and Spaccia, allowing them to circumvent IRS regulations capping government pensions.
Lourdes Garcia, the city’s director of administrative services, testified under a grant of limited immunity that Rizzo told her in 2008 that he wanted the city to spend $14 million on the secondary pension fund.
“My reaction was `That’s a lot of money,”‘ Garcia testified. “The city doesn’t have that kind of money … He knew that money was getting tight.”
An attorney for Rizzo, who faces more than 50 counts for masterminding a scam in which he paid himself and other top Bell officials massive salaries, denied that his client was setting up his own retirement plan.
“It could be that Ms. Garcia is misremembering facts,” James Spertus said.
Members of Bell’s new City Council say they will look into recouping some or all of the money to help reduce the city’s debt.
In all, prosecutors said, Bell was looted of more than $6 million. The city of 40,000 people, where one in six people live in poverty, is in as much as $4.5 million debt.
Rizzo had an annual salary and compensation package of $1.5 million, Spaccia was paid an annual salary of more than $375,000 and six former Bell City Council members each received about $100,000 a year for part-time service.
Bell’s interim chief administrative officer put a halt to payments to the supplementary pension fund several months ago.
Bell City: The gift that keeps on giving.
Gotta hand it to Robert Rizzo, “modest” wasn’t in his lexicon.
Gotta hand it to
Robert Rizzorue-puck Murdick, “modest” wasn’t in his “I-&-my-non-American-non Hawaiian-offspring” lexicon.And if you think this is an exception….
Republicans: You have some really messed up people pulling your strings on health-care. Is this satire or the truth?
Mitt Romney Haunted By Past Of Trying To Help Uninsured Sick People
BELMONT, MA—Though Mitt Romney is considered to be a frontrunner for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, the national spotlight has forced him to repeatedly confront a major skeleton in his political closet: that as governor of Massachusetts he once tried to help poor, uninsured sick people.
Romney, who signed the state’s 2006 health care reform act, has said he “deeply regrets” giving people in poor physical and mental health the opportunity to seek medical attention, admitting that helping very sick people get better remains a dark cloud hovering over his political career, and his biggest obstacle to becoming president of the United States of America.
“Every day I am haunted by the fact that I gave impoverished Massachusetts citizens a chance to receive health care,” Romney told reporters Wednesday, adding that he feels ashamed whenever he looks back at how he forged bipartisan support to help uninsured Americans afford medicine to cure their illnesses. “I’m only human, and I’ve made mistakes. None bigger, of course, than helping cancer patients receive chemotherapy treatments and making sure that those suffering from pediatric AIDS could obtain medications, but that’s my cross to bear.”
“My hope is that Republican voters will one day forgive me for making it easier for sick people—especially low-income sick people—to go to the hospital and see a doctor,” Romney added. “It was wrong, and I’m sorry.”
According to Romney, if he could do things over again, he would do everything he could to make certain that uninsured individuals got sicker and sicker until they died.
http://www.theonion.com/articles/mitt-romney-haunted-by-past-of-trying-to-help-unin%2C20097/
“Though Mitt Romney is considered to be a frontrunner for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, the national spotlight has forced him to repeatedly confront a major skeleton in his political closet: that as governor of Massachusetts he once tried to help poor, uninsured sick people.”
How dare he embrace Christian values in an allegedly Christian nation?
Particularly since Mormons would not be considered Christian by many since they reject the Nicene Creed.
I actually meant to say reject the Nicene Council’s view of core Christian beliefs but that is largely reflected in the Creed.
Eh, I was being charitable. But I understand how it can be problematic to label LDS theology as “Christian”.
I understand but I don’t think a lot of people understand his problems in the bible belt. My problem with him is the last thing we need is another wall street type leading the country not his religion. Particularly, one who seems to have the ethics and core principles of a used car salesman. Honestly, I would rather have another term with Obama and I would vote for just about anyone than Obama.
How do we know that Romney was born in America?
I mean, seriously, ‘Mitt’? That just sounds foreign, and that’s enough to go on, right? I mean, anyone can fake-up a birth certificate.
I say he’s a foreigner!
And Sarah! Could she see Russia from her porch, or was she actually born there ?
Or because they don’t believe that Jesus Christ is their lord and savior. That would be another reason.
The Nicene Creed answer made sense to me, this one does not. Not that anybody really wants to talk about this stuff here.
Carl:
Just google “mormon”. They have their own prophet, which is not Christ.
I don’t need to Google, I am LDS. I don’t think I understand your point. Of course no prophet is Christ. Not in biblical times, not now. Should the Hebrews of the old testament have refused to follow Moses because he was not Christ?
No, that’s why they are not considered Christian.
OK, I see…walked into that one :-). But, who was Moses getting his direction from?
“My hope is that Republican voters will one day forgive me for making it easier for sick people—especially low-income sick people—to go to the hospital and see a doctor,” Romney added. “It was wrong, and I’m sorry.”
I know that this article is satire (The Onion), but its scary how close to the truth it actually is.
I know that this article is satire (The Onion), but its scary how close to the truth it actually is.
Vote accordingly…
Mitt Romney Haunted By Past Of Trying To Help Uninsured Sick People
I’ll be brief:
BWAHAHAHicHAHAHicHAHAHAHAHicHAHAHic* (DennisN™)
&
Ho ho, hah hah, hehehehehehe, BwaHaHaAhHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! (Cantankerous Intellectual Bomb-thrower™)
&
heheeeheeeheehaahaaahaaheeehaahaaa… (Hwy50™)
It’s the ONION
sheesh
Oh no now one of my favorite foods is on the rise, I love peanuts!
Peanut-Butter Price Surge in Store for U.S.
April 26 (Bloomberg) — David Strasser, an analyst at Janney Montgomery Scott LLC, discusses the outlook for food prices and the potential impact on U.S. retailers. Strasser speaks with Margaret Brennan on Bloomberg Television’s “InBusiness.”
Peanut butter may soon reach its highest price in more than a quarter century on U.S. supermarket shelves as manufacturers pass along cost increases, according to Judy E. Hong, a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analyst.
The CHART OF THE DAY shows the monthly average retail price of creamy peanut butter since 1984, as compiled by the Commerce Department. The arrow depicts the 20 percent increase that’s necessary to offset higher costs for peanuts, sweetener and plastic jars, cited by Hong in a report two days ago.
Prices would have to rise 10.3 percent, or about half as much as Goldman projected, to surpass their peak of $2.208 a pound in April 1991.
Contract prices for peanuts harvested in October have jumped 40 percent to 50 percent from a year earlier, the report said, citing unnamed industry participants. Prices posted weekly by the Agriculture Department have surged 74 percent.
J.M. Smucker Co. “has the most to lose” from these increases, Hong wrote, largely because peanuts are the company’s third-biggest commodity expense. Smucker suspended production on eight versions of Jif peanut butter until at least October, the Omaha World-Herald reported last week. The company declined to comment to the paper.
Hershey Co. (HSY), the maker of Reese’s peanut-butter cups, also may suffer financially because peanuts are the company’s fourth- biggest raw-material cost, the report said. ConAgra Foods Inc. (CAG), which produces Peter Pan peanut butter, and Kraft Foods Inc. (KFT), which makes Planters peanuts, will be hurt less in Goldman’s view because they sell a wider variety of products.
Peanuts are crap. Only Americans dilute chocolate with peanuts.
what is wrong with you?!
there’s nothing wrong with In Colorado. Being from Mexico (or having ties to the country) Colorado understands the true wonders and mysteries of chocolate, food of the gods. Today it bears very little resemblance to the real thing that Aztec royalty knew.
Chocolate with a touch of chili pepper. Awesome!
Chocolate is fine; but slamming the peanuts is not.
Dark chocolate with chili pepper is the best.
Only Americans ruin choclate with peanuts or peanut butter. You’ll NEVER see a Swiss or Belgian chocolate with peanuts in them.
Peanuts are the riff-raff of nuts (yes, I know, they aren’t nuts).
Mexicans put peanuts in their chocolate all the time.
Yes, the people of your favorite southern country put peanuts in chocolate all the time.
“Mexicans put peanuts in their chocolate all the time.”
They also eat at McDonalds, they pick up some pretty bad habits in/from the US. But it is not original to their culture. The American diet may not be good for Americans, but it is hell on Mexicans.
I like peanuts and peanut butter, as does most of the English speaking world, no? At least, the Brits do, and I’m pretty sure the Canadians. Africans enjoy peanuts, too- that’s who brought them here, from Africa, where they’re a beloved native crop. Mole sauce- a Mexican specialty- is often made with a combination of peanuts and cocoa. Peanut oil is also superb for frying, due to its high heating tolerance, and good flavor (a billion Chinese can’t be wrong).
But peanuts do not have the affinity for chocolate, especially dark chocolate, that pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts, and almonds do.
They’re still good on a hot fudge sundae, though.
Well, I don’t think peanuts were in our culture either until we imported the plant here from Africa, like alpha-sloth said. Mexicans like peanuts and so do the Swiss. Everybody likes peanuts and mostly extoll us Americans for turning them on to it.
“Peanuts are crap. Only Americans dilute chocolate with peanuts.”
Strongly disagree. It may have started with marketing but they really are two great tastes that taste great together. Now, if you cover my cashews or maca-ma-damia nuts in chocolate, I will get upset.
We have been conditioned. Why? Because peanuts are cheap.
And don’t get me started on peanut butter. Another horror only Americans eat, almost as bad as Vegemite and Marmite.
Why do you assume that it must be bad if “only Americans” eat it? It was invented in the United States by a black man. I remember learning that in school. Peanuts are for everyone, and I’m glad they’re cheap. That just means there’s more to go around.
Peanuts are high in fat, but it is (relatively) good fat. It is great for you in moderation; a good high-energy snack before working out.
But make sure you get the right kind, with NO additives. Not that Skippy junk.
“Why do you assume that it must be bad if “only Americans” eat it?”
Allow me to clarify: Pretty much everywhere outside of North America, PB is considered to be disgusting. And I agree, its an acquired taste like vegemite.
And trust me, American Multinationals have tried to market PB outside the US, and fallen flat on their faces, and for good reason, PB is gross.
Interesting factoid about PB Colorado. Thank you.
Sure are a lot of peanut/peanut butter products in Asian foods: satays, pad Thai (Thailand’s national dish), etc.
And the English certainly eat peanut butter (not that that’s much of a recommendation).
I love peanuts!
Lucy, Marci, Schroeder, Pig-Pen, or Violet Gray?
I do like peanuts in chocolate, if you are eating milk chocolate. Dark chocolate should be pure or with green chili.
“Dark chocolate should be pure or with green chili.”
Amen, brothah! Nothing like it.
Platinum Properties Files Bankruptcy, Sues Creditor PNC
April 26 (Bloomberg) — Platinum Properties LLC, an Indiana developer of residential real estate, filed for bankruptcy and sued one of its banks to prevent it from winning a claim.
Platinum sought Chapter 11 creditor protection with debt of $100 million to $500 million, according to papers filed yesterday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Indianapolis. Assets are $10 million to $50 million.
“The debtors are victims of the well-publicized collapse of the residential real estate market that began in early 2006,” Platinum said in court papers. “Total lots sold by the debtors plummeted.”
The Indianapolis-based developer accompanied its Chapter 11 filing with an adversary complaint against PNC Bank, which is listed as an unsecured creditor with a claim of $16.4 million.
PNC was the lender for three Platinum projects, according to the complaint. After the loans matured in 2009, PNC moved to foreclose on the properties, suing Platinum in Hamilton County in Indiana. PNC won a judgment in January totaling $16.1 million.
With this lawsuit, Platinum asked the bankruptcy court to disallow PNC’s claims.
Muriel Stanton, listed in court papers as the developer’s representative at PNC Bank in Indianapolis, said in a telephone interview that the bank has no comment.
Biggest Creditors
Platinum’s largest listed unsecured creditor is Duke Construction LP of Indianapolis, with a claim of $31.9 million. Bank of America of Chicago is the largest listed secured creditor, with an $11.6 million claim.
Paul Rioux is named as the largest equity holder in Platinum. The company said in court papers it owns or is developing five real-estate projects, including Bellewood and Maple Knoll.
The case is In re Platinum Properties LLC, 11-05140, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of Indiana (Indianapolis).
Home prices in ‘double dip’
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Home prices in February sank 3.3% to just above the post-crisis lows reached in April 2009. It was the seventh straight month of declines.
Home values are down 32% from their peak set in May of 2006, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller index of home prices in 20 cities.
“There is very little, if any, good news about housing,” said David Blitzer, spokesman for S&P. “Prices continue to weaken, trends in sales and construction are disappointing.”
The drop has come in two stages. First, the index recorded 36 months of nearly uninterrupted declines after reaching the spring 2006 peak. Then came a 13-month upswing during which the index recorded a 5% gain. That rebound ended last June.
Since then, the index has recorded losses every month and it has now edged closer to a new low — the dreaded double-dip. (8 best shrinking places to live)
The index now stands at 139.27, just a whisker above the first low, which came in April of 2009, when the index was at 139.26.
Of the 20 housing markets covered by the index, only Washington recorded a price increase from last year — 2.7%.
In Phoenix, where prices are off a whopping 56% from their peak, prices fell 8.4% over the past 12 months, more than any other metro area. Minneapolis was close behind with a 8.3% drop and Chicago prices plunged 7.6%.
Price rebound a distant memory
Economists say the initial rebound after the financial crisis was artificially inflated by government initiatives.
Lawmakers implemented a tax credit for homebuyers. And the Federal Reserve helped keep mortgage rates low.
Also artificially supporting prices at the time was a decrease in the supply of foreclosed properties. That was the result of government loan modification programs, but many foreclosed properties have again come back to market.
Distressed properties — bank repossessions and short sales — now account for more than 30% of sales, and they’ve been selling at about a 34% discount to conventional sales. (’10 foreclosure hotspots’)
Peter Morici, who teaches finances at the Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, is one pessimist. He thinks homebuyers are hunkering down, unconvinced that conditions will improve.
“There is deep pessimism about the economy,” Morici said, “and people are reluctant to make the commitment to buy homes.”
72 million of them can’t.
While I like Dr. Paul he doesn’t stand a snowballs chance in hell of getting the republicant’s nomination. They’ll trot out some old retread and stand by with their jaw dropped, finger in their nose, scratching their head as to why they lost. The democraps are stuck with their mistake, but Barry’s brain dead base will pull the trigger yet again. So we’ll stay on the same losing path in 2012… Yippee!
House’s Ron Paul Will Announce Committee to Explore Bid for U.S. President (Bloomberg)
U.S. Representative Ron Paul of Texas plans to announce today in Iowa that he is forming an exploratory committee for a third presidential campaign.
Paul, a 2008 Republican presidential candidate whose anti- tax, anti-government politics struck a chord with a swath of voters and fueled fund raising, will make a decision on whether to run by the middle of next month, said Jesse Benton, Paul’s political director.
“There’s a lot of enthusiasm,” Benton said. Paul plans to attend a Republican primary debate May 5 in South Carolina.
Even if RP were elected prez, he would still have to deal with a bought and paid for House and Senate.
ding ding ding. Ron Paul wouldn’t be able to advance his agenda any further than Obama has advanced his.
Ron Paul wouldn’t be able to advance his agenda any further than Obama has advanced his.
Perhaps, but at least we’d know what Paul’s agenda is. Does anyone really know what Obama’s is, vs what he was simply saying in order to gain votes?
Simply having integrity in the oval office would be a great improvement.
Obama has more integrity than RP. I’d love to see you show evidence of the contrary.
I’d love to see you show evidence of the contrary.
perhaps you should back up your assertions before you challenge mine?
I know you are, but what am I?
You’re the one who brought it up, m’man.
I know you are, but what am I?
Glad to see you’re bringing maturity to the discussion :rolleyes:
You’re the one who made a direct assertion. “X is true. Prove it’s not!!!” Not really an effective way of making a point….
If you’re asking why I think Obama doesn’t have integrity, simply look at what he said on the campaign trail vs his actions. It’s very clear his actions don’t back up his words. Guantanamo Bay, Iraq, Afghanistan, now Libya. Supposed “transparency”, getting rid of the lobbyists…and I’m not even talking about what he’s actually accomplished. I’m talking about what he’s even moved to do. It’s not like he’s actively tried to change these things and been overriden by Congress or the judicial branch. He’s simply failed to even try. The words were clearly empty.
So my question stands: Does anyone really know what Obama’s is, vs what he was simply saying in order to gain votes?
Ron Paul has proven that he says what he means and he will vote accordingly, even if it’s not popular.
Yes, Obama has moved to do all those things, but has been cynically blocked by immature crybaby Republicans the whole way. They would rather watch America fail than lose an ounce of their own power.
Probably a lot less, but the big speeches would be really fun.
i would love to just see a president who would rip geithner and the bernarnke a new one.
I would not be so sure. All the members of Congress need to answer to the voters. If Ron Paul using the power of the office persuaded the people to call their elected officials they would be hard pressed to resist the pressure. Ronald Reagan got a lot of his agenda through even though his party never controlled the House during his years.
I agree!
About all he could do is gum up the works some and that would suit me just fine.
Yeah I always picture his experience would be like Volker under Obama or Elizabeth Warren or Brooksey Bourne. They’ll just undermine his power and cut him off at every corner. Heck why bother. In the campaign they’ll make up dirt if they can’t find any. Even if there is a handful of good guys in Washington, the powers stacked against them are pretty formidable.
“There’s a lot of enthusiasm,”
There was alot of enthusiasm last election. It was just trampled on by the stampede of partisan sheeple who didn’t want to “throw their vote away”. Idiocracy will prevail.
Ironically, all the mccain voters “threw their votes away”
by the stampede of partisan sheeple who didn’t want to “throw their vote away”.
To a bridge somewherespecial to Crawford, TX again: aka: McSame & I-see-Russkin’s-right there!!!!!
World’s Last Typewriter Factory Closing Its Doors
By Leslie Horn ~ pcmag.com April 26, 2011
You might want to be sitting down for this. It’s time to say your goodbyes, because the world’s last remaining typewriter factory, Godrej & Boyce in Mumbai, India, is closing its doors.
Although typewriters have long been obsolete in the West, they remained popular in India for a long time. However, Godrej & Boyce stopped production in 2009, and now its inventory has dwindled to just 500 machines, most of which are Arabic-language models, and no more will be made. It’s a different tune than the company was singing back in the ’90s, when it produced 50,000 typewriters a year, a third of India’s total output of 150,000 units, India’s Business Standard reports.
“From the early 2000s onward, computers started dominating,” Godrej & Boyce’s general manager of operations Milind Dukle told the Business Standard. “All the manufacturers of office typewriters stopped production, except us. [Until] 2009, we used to produce 10,000 to 12,000 machines a year.”
When Godrej & Boyce opened in the 1950s, the Business Standard says the typewriter was a “symbol of independent and industrialized India.” More than half a century later, one of the company’s plants in Shirwal that closed in 2009 was morphed into a refrigerator factory.
The first typewriter, a cylindrical machine known as a “writing ball,” went into production in Europe in 1870. Remington started manufacturing typewriters in the U.S. three years later with the same QWERTY keyboard still used on keyboards. Until the early 1900s, typewriters came in many different designs, but in 1910, they were standardized to include features like a type-bar, a shift key, and symbols like the ampersand and percent sign.
I remember using a typewriter to create my first resumes in the early 1970s. Just ONE mistake and you ripped out the sheet of bond paper and started over. Arggggh! Didn’t have access to an IBM Selectric which had a superior erase feature.
Anyway, I guess we’ll be able to add the clickety clack sound of a typewriter to that list. It will be recognized as familiar, but people won’t be able to put their finger on it.
We can add typewriters to (cheap) record players as an object you can still recognize but can’t buy anywhere.
Funny anecdote: my kids had no idea of what the source of the “needle dragged across a record” sound was, even though is still used in sitcoms and such and they clearly recognized it. (we were watching a show and asked them “Do you know what that sound is?”, they shrugged their shoulders)
Here in Tucson, a vinyl-only recording company just celebrated its first anniversary.
If they don’t know the sound, then they clearly don’t listen to rap music or go to DJ-run clubs.
The sound of a record rotating back and forth isn’t the same as the sound of a needle being dragged sideways across the record. I think In Colorado is talking about the latter. I’m not aware of any DJs doing the latter.
A big bank executive wrote Sec’y Geithner a warning letter yesterday.
J.P. Morgan is a b-i-g bank. Matthew Zames is its managing director and he is warning those politicians down in Washington they’d better not drag their feet on hiking the public debt ceiling.
“Any delay in making an interest payment by Treasury even for a very short period of time would put the U.S. Treasury and overall financial markets in uncharted territory, and could trigger another catastrophic financial crisis,” warned Zames, in a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner dated Monday.
~ Congress is under pressure to raise the current debt ceiling to continue funding the government and not many people think it won’t. (It always does!!) Who’d want to keep holding government debt if Congress doesn’t let the Treasury Department keep borrowing to continue making those interest payments?
“Who’d want to keep holding government debt if Congress doesn’t let the Treasury Department keep borrowing to continue making those interest payments?”
A very good question.
“…keep borrowing to continue making those interest payments?”
Reads just like Catch-22, IMHO.
Yeah, it sucks to be in debt. Turns out deficits do matter.
Firefighters union halting federal contributions
WASHINGTON(AP) – The nation’s largest firefighters union and one of the Democrats’ most reliable sources of campaign money says it will quit donating to federal candidates this year because members of Congress are not doing enough to support organized labor.
International Association of Firefighters President Harold Schaitberger says there is a more urgent need to spend money defending anti-union measures sweeping GOP-controlled statehouses across the country.
Schaitberger wants the move to send a message that lawmakers shouldn’t take firefighters’ support for granted. He says members of Congress should be doing more to speak out against efforts in states to take away collective bargaining rights and weaken union clout.
The union and its 300,000 members are among the most influential and biggest-spending lobbying groups on Capitol Hill.
It will be interesting to see if their influence declines after they cease spending on Capitol Hill.
More good news!
Report Shows Reliance on Government Income at an All Time High
Fox News | April 26, 2011
Americans are relying more on federal government aid than ever before according to an analysis of federal data conducted by USA Today.
Last year, 18.3 percent of American income came from government programs such as Social Security, Medicare, unemployment benefits and food stamps, while earned income accounted for only 50.1 percent, the lowest number recorded.
The percentage of government income Americans received hovered around 12 percent during the 80s and 90s but rose during the last decade, the report says, due to an aging population, the economic downturn and an expansion of health care benefits. The biggest increase took place in the back half of the decade as the recession took hold.
When looking at those percentages as actual income, the amount of money the average American received from the government doubled from 1990 to 2010, increasing from $3,686 to $7,427, adjusted for inflation.
The report notes that Medicare spending is set to skyrocket once Baby Boomers start to retire in the coming years. Most were still working in 2010.
Yet the Fortune 1000 are showing all-time record profits.
What’s wrong with this picture?
Nope. No welfare for the rich here. No siree!
I’ve been wondering if we are missing the master plan here.
We’ve tried to work with our trading partners and the MNCs to work toward a more sustainable global economy, IOW, one not based on selling stuff in the USA, and were basically told to pound sand.
As a reaction, we are printing money, and screwing up a bunch of other economies, to the point where they are having rioting in the streets. In the meantime, no signs of the same here.
Yeah, they will blame us, but we get blamed for everything anyway, so WTF not?
I’m wondering if someone is trying to make the point that turmoil and instability works better for the USA than anyone else.
Economic shock doctrine.
There is even a book by Naomi Klein on the subject.
lower standard of living ahead
April 26 (Bloomberg) — Brady Miller is paying more for vinyl siding for his construction business and for groceries to feed his family. He can’t charge customers more, showing why some Federal Reserve officials say inflation will ease.
“We don’t spend money on anything, we don’t take vacations, and I am not saving money right now,” Miller, 36, says. He has told his wife that he is going to drive their 2005 Dodge Caravan “until that thing falls apart.”
The Mossville, Illinois, homebuilder also hasn’t given his crew of two a raise in two years and says they shouldn’t expect one soon. Their predicament illustrates the downside of what Fed Vice Chairman Janet Yellen calls “transitory” inflation: Household purchasing power is shrinking because wages and salaries aren’t keeping pace with food and energy prices.
Researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York are also finding no evidence that higher prices are boosting expectations for wage increases, suggesting underlying inflation and consumer spending will remain low. That’s why officials led by Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke will be in no hurry to withdraw record stimulus after completing a $600 billion bond-purchase program in June, said Michael Feroli, chief U.S. economist at JP Morgan Securities LLC.
“It’s tough,” Feroli said. “Consumers will have to reduce real spending” if they don’t draw down savings or take on more debt. He said the Fed will probably keep its balance sheet constant by reinvesting maturing bond proceeds for several weeks after it stops outright purchases. It may then allow the record $2.69 trillion balance sheet to “passively decline” in the second half of this year as investments mature, said Feroli.
I want to post this because libertarianism and politics are volleyed here. I mean this in no flaming, value-laden way, but one of my issues with some libertarian platforms is rolling back on things that have already been hashed out in the courts. This is a massive waste of taxpayer money/time any way you slice it. This is a perfect example:
“The federal judge presiding over a contentious Everglades restoration lawsuit took a swipe at Gov. Rick Scott’s water quality policy Tuesday and announced his intention to strip to Florida environmental regulators of their role in enforcing the Clean Water Act and return those powers to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.”
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/state/u-s-judge-blasts-scott-says-hell-have-1434502.html
Does Gov. Scott really believe water is a “local” issue? Either that or he knows he can gum up the system by being passive/aggressive. I am all for less government, but this is just silly.
There are some things we need a federal government for.
There are some things we need a federal government for.
Women using birth control = “murders!”
“did you use birth-control?”
anybody’s woeman: “Yes”
“You’re a murder!”
“Says who?”
“Says me!”
Who-r-u ?
Let’s start a Hbb list:
Murder! YES!:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Murder! No!:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Be who you are, or lie!:
I am not smart/abstract enough to understand your response.
Wait, I think I got it.
GOP efforts to roll back the middle class safety net in order to protect the top 1% Republican superrich base from tax increases are roiling the Common Man. It’s schweet to see these Republican party hacks get bitten in the back of their necks by their extremist policy proposals.
House G.O.P. Members Face Voter Anger Over Budget
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER and CARL HULSE
Published: April 26, 2011
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — In central Florida, a Congressional town meeting erupted into near chaos on Tuesday as attendees accused a Republican lawmaker of trying to dismantle Medicare while providing tax cuts to corporations and affluent Americans.
At roughly the same time in Wisconsin, Representative Paul D. Ryan, the architect of the Republican budget proposal, faced a packed town meeting, occasional boos and a skeptical audience as he tried to lay out his party’s rationale for overhauling the health insurance program for retirees.
In a church theater here on Tuesday evening, a meeting between Representative Allen B. West and some of his constituents began on a chaotic note, with audience members quickly on their feet, some heckling him and others loudly defending him. “You’re not going to intimidate me,” Mr. West said.
After 10 days of trying to sell constituents on their plan to overhaul Medicare, House Republicans in multiple districts appear to be increasingly on the defensive, facing worried and angry questions from voters and a barrage of new attacks from Democrats and their allies.
The proposed new approach to Medicare — a centerpiece of a budget that Republican leaders have hailed as a courageous effort to address the nation’s long-term fiscal problems — has been a constant topic at town-hall-style sessions and other public gatherings during a two-week Congressional recess that provided the first chance for lawmakers to gauge reaction to the plan.
…