Bits Bucket for May 19, 2011
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The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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It’s great to see how well our “strong dollar policy” is working out for all-cash foreign investors who are enabled to snap up homes at fire sale prices.
May 18, 2011, 4:11 PM ET
Foreign Buyers Getting Firesale Prices on U.S. Housing
By Kathleen Madigan
For U.S. homeowners, the family moving in next door could be Canadian. Or Chinese.
U.S. real estate, especially on the high end, is getting support from international buyers. If U.S. buyers find homes attractively priced, global buyers are finding a fire sale once exchange rates are figured in.
According to a report released Wednesday by the National Association of Realtors, foreign clients spent about $41 billion in U.S. housing in the 12 months ended in March 2011. Individuals with visas to stay for more than 6 months purchased an additional $41 billion. Taken together, that’s about 8% of the total U.S. housing market.
Foreign buyers are more likely to buy on the high end of the market. The report notes that the average purchase price paid by an international buyer was $315,000 compared to the overall U.S. average of $218,000. (Read related Journal coverage.)
International buyers are also more likely to pay cash, in part because they face difficulties getting U.S.-based financing. The report said 62% of foreign buyers used all cash. In recent months, about one-third of existing-home sales were all cash.
What is interesting is that more international buyers are going downmarket. The NAR says in the latest year 45% of the international sales were under $200,000. That share is up from 28% in 2007.
“Almost 80% of realtors reported that the value of the dollar had an impact on international sales” the NAR says.
“When the dollar depreciates against the euro it also tends to depreciate against other currencies, so overall the U.S. home buying market has become increasingly attractive to international purchasers, ” the report says.
…
AAAAAAAAAAKKKKKKKKKK.
Really? Only the foreign buyers have access to these “fire sale” prices? And they are more able and willing to purchase these houses than people who actually live here? Seriously? REALLY?
Exactly. If the deals were really that sweet there would be local buying interest. Going further and further afield for patsies says a lot about what’s really going on right now.
Their currency now buys a lot more $. It’s not rocket science V.
I thought the yuan and the euro were in deep doo-doo too.
Big V, you said it in two words. To buy a house, you need:
Ability; and
Willingness.
Here, we are bombarded with constant news of foreclosures, and continued prognostication of home prices falling even further. All of this keeps people sitting on their wallets–regardless of their ability, they are not willing. The negative sentiment is keeping them away.
Those who are not constantly bombarded by the negative US media are not as subjected to the negativity. So, they look at the property, decide if they want to buy it, and determine whether they are OK with the price based on their own timeframes (both backward looking and forward looking). They are less effected by negative sentiment is not keeping them out of the market.
Add on top of it that the dollar is weak, and they are seeing an opportunity where US home prices are toward the bottom and their currency will go farther than ever before, and they are seeing it as an opportunity.
They are not necessarily more able, just more willing.
Or, we may all end up renting from them.
Shouldn’t they be buying up all that excess inventory in China first?
For U.S. homeowners, the family moving in next door could be Canadian. Or Chinese.
Maybe in the more desireable areas. I don’t see our Chinese overlords moving to flyover bastions like Pueblo, Colorado or Topeka, KS.
Right.
They would be competing with all the illegals.
Steal now, or be priced out forever……
I’ve been watching this in my own locale for some time now. Chinese nationals and Canadians (many of Chinese descent) buying “distressed” properties at well over market value. It’s almost as though they have no concept of what properties are worth in any locale. Oh well, they can choke on ‘em.
It’s almost as though they have no concept of what properties are worth in any locale. Oh well, they can choke on ‘em.
Reminds me of when the Japanese overpaid for Rockefeller Center back in the 1980s. We know how that turned out.
Ha! My thinking exactly. That was, of course back in the days when we thought Japan would rule the world. Methinks the Chinese may be in for the same fate.
Isn’t that the smart thing to do? Buy the USA with money you got selling us Happy Meal Toys?? A lot cheaper than war.
I was hoping the USA would buy Baja Calif.
I was hoping the USA would buy Baja Calif.
Not likely, as Mexicans are still taught in school that the US stole the SW from Mexico.
Not likely, as Mexicans are still taught in school that the US stole the SW from Mexico.
ISTR reading that Mexico City wasn’t very interested in those northern hinterlands that are now located in the United States. Reason: They were way too far away from the capital city, so they were considered expendable.
Feel free to correct me on this point, people.
Maybe places like Utah, but Mexico went to war with the US over the location of the Texas border (The Rio Grande, or as its callin Mexico the Rio Bravo, vs the Nueces River.
Of course that was then. Today LA is a 3 hour flight from Mexico City.
from what i read, it was the yankee who invaded mexico. but stop short of getting the entire country for fear of assimilating *nonwhite* who suddenly will become the majority and elect everybody out at will.
They are likely to know their local price, but not so much here. In many places in China, a single family house are much much more pricey. Average-priced house in USA does look attractive without factoring in tax, local economics and so on. If they are doing money laundering, it is another story.
Oh well, they can choke on ‘em.
heheeeheeeheehaahaaahaaheeehaahaaa… (Hwy50™)
Buyers expect 38% foreclosure discount
BY FRANCINE KNOWLES
Business Reporter/fknowles@suntimes.com
May 18, 2011 9:35PM
Americans expect to pay 38 percent less to buy a foreclosed home compared to a similar home not in foreclosure, a new RealtyTrac survey finds.
That’s not far above the average discount of 36 percent on sales of bank-owned homes compared to sales of homes not in foreclosure revealed in a RealtyTrac 2010 market report.
…
I have to wonder…why? In a normal market, foreclosures represent a seller that is motivated to move the house fast (because for a bank REO is all cost and no benefit) and rare enough that you’re less likely to find a foreclosed house that meets your other needs. But with foreclosures representing a third or more of the market, why are people willing to pay so much more for a non-foreclosed house? If you can still get title insurance foreclosure-gate shouldn’t be a big issue.
I have looked at only a few foreclosures, but each had some glaring defect that would be expensive or impossible to fix. Add that to the typical distressed “lived in” look and the fact that neither the bank or the realtor have any incentive to disclose anything.
Or they’ve been tarted up in a tacky granite countertop way that is revolting.
“…each had some glaring defect…”
Bingo. What tends to get lost in discussion of foreclosure home prices is the quality discount for the cost of repairs needed to restore the condition of the home to livable.
Exactly Bear. So how much of the decline in house prices, the last few months, is just because more foreclosures are in the mix of existing sales and how much is a real decline in the value of existing houses is the question I would like answered.
Redfin noted in the Bay Area last month that the quality of bank-owned properties is falling, which is driving the median home prices down.
Anything of quality that comes on the market has multiple bids and competition.
I suspect that your answer about real decline in values will be answered in the coming months with Case-Shiller.
Blue
We have looked at many loser foreclosures too, and all have been horrible locations, backing up to apt bldgs, busy streets, schools, etc. I agree about the condition of the homes being a financial train wreck. And they sell, which blows our minds. That disclosure issue is why we are staying away from them. The lobbyist sure did their job, didn’t they! (So Ca.)
It seems weird to us hard-hearted HBB ppl, but most people are emotionally repelled by the thought of foreclosure. They worry they are buying “bad karma”. It’s OK if someone else buys the foreclosure and then sells it to them, but they don’t want to be the one to do the dirty deed.
Emotionally repelled? Bad karma? Most people?
Please.
What exactly are you trying to imply?
That your comments are sillier than usual. Did you really not understand?
JoJo:
Really, you extracted that from what Colorado wrote? Are you sure you aren’t just living mostly in your own head? Where did you come from anyway, and why do all your comments contain no substantive information or thought? You do realize that it does not add to the conversation when you parrot things from other sites and make ambiguous attacks without actually addressing the points made, right?
“bad karma”
Plus the thought that the former owner might return with shotgun in hand to reclaim his little piece of the Ownership Society…
Also, who knows how badly he trashed the place on the way out, in ways that might not be visible in a cursory inspection, if you are even allowed to perform such an inspection.
Kind of like when the last owner died in the house and it is being sold “furnished”.
Back on New Year’s Eve of 2001, I was visiting my parents in PA. Down the street, there was quite the commotion. So, I walked down to investigate.
It seems that the police and fire department had found a body in a house that Mom thought was unoccupied. We’d been walking her dog on that side of the street, which was quite the change of pace.
Reason: The lady who lived in that house hated just about anybody and anything going by. To the point where she once threatened to shoot anybody driving by in a VW Beetle. Guess what my father drove. Mom had to tell him to take a different route to and from work.
Any-hoo, Mom was blissfully walking the dog on that side of the street because she thought that Mrs. L had been moved elsewhere by her family. Wrong-o. Mrs. L had been deceased inside the house for several weeks.
I’m told that the house had to be gutted inside before it was put on the market.
I suppose some percent of buyers will look askance at a foreclosure just because it’s a foreclosure, just as some avoid houses that don’t comply with “feng shui” design.
Is one a better reason than the other? I don’t think so and I don’t think a majority of buyers think so. That’s all I was saying.
Carolina (sorry I called you Colorado):
I wouldn’t think most buyers would see it that way either, but I haven’t met anybody (apart from the HBB crowd) who hasn’t indicated an emotional distaste for all things foreclosure. Most of them are deeply offended at my own foreclosure investment. Thanks to Ben Jones, I am getting a huge ROI, but I can’t tell ppl about it without them getting visibly mad at me. It’s weird.
Don’t worry, Bill. Your meaning came through loud and clear. As Jojo rightly pointed out, V was being sillier than ususal.
The Manson murder house was never sold…
Polly:
Are you on the rag all the time? Do a freaking survey if you think I’m not right. And grow up already.
That’s enough, V. Time for your pill.
(Go ahead and remove this; just a friendly reminder….)
Pax,
a
Ahansen, you’re just mad because I always pick apart your stupidity. Why don’t you just go away if you can’t think of anything substantive to say? Seriously, the number of “I hate you” comments on this board has got to go down.
Note to stupid people: Don’t reply to a comment unless you have something to say about the points made in the comment.
Jer. 5:11
What is Jer. 5:11? Have you been drinking? I think you might be an airhead. Have you checked?
Hey now girls, you’re remindin’ ol Hwy of his dear departed sisters. Summer at home, one blurted sentence, then… one would twist my arm behind my back, whilst the other grab my scalp hair…dang that hurt, dragin’ me ever which way,…but all was forgiven before the most hurtful & fearful of “authorities” arrived home. Lesson learned: Don’t tell sister “B” what her former boyfriend said about sister “A”!
Run Hwy, …run!
Lucy: “Hwy, you’re such a blockhead!”
Cole Younger: “Women, love ‘em!”
Jim,
There is a difference between if the home is REO, or purchased at the courthouse steps.
If REO, the discount is going to be less, especially if the bank is marketing the property normally.
On the courthouse steps:
1. You can’t do the same due diligence; and
2. You must pay all cash.
It is #2 that limits demand at a foreclosure sale. It’s all about liquidity.
Which is why in a normal market, the lender bids what they’re owed on the courthouse steps to limit their losses.
And, please correct me if I’m wrong, isn’t it true that at least in CA, you then become the one responsible for evicting the FB out of “his” home?
My rule of thumb for commercial properties was always 20% (and that is the collective view). But yes, the perception for buyer is that they must get a deal.
And since buyers of foreclosures need to pay all cash, there are fewer buyers…if the collective view is that they need a big discount off what the price would be as a typically marketed home, then they will get the discount.
Rational expectations are beginning to overwhelm Fed-fostered irrational exuberance about the ever-receding housing recovery time horizon.
May 18, 2011, 4:16 PM ET
Housing Recovery in 2014, Survey Says
By Mark Gongloff
Fifty-four percent of Americans don’t think the housing market will recover until at least 2014, according to a survey of homeowners and renters by Harris Interactive for the real-estate site Trulia.
That’s up from 34% in November, when most of those surveyed thought the market would recover by 2012 or 2013. Now just 39% think it will recover by 2012 or 2013. Only 5% think the market has already recovered, and 3% think it will recover this year.
Most economists, in contrast, see a small recovery in home prices starting next year. But they’ve been steadily lowering their forecasts for home prices all year.
…
Apparently I am out of step with 101% of Americans.
2014 was the year of the bottom, according to Charles Hugh Smith’s excellent bubble/bust graph.
Have looked back at that graph so many times.
http://www.oftwominds.com/blogaug06/post-bubble-symmetry.html
Aw, nice. Then post-2014 is a long, gradual slog back up. Or not.
It’s not clear to me what is meant by “recover” here. Does recover mean prices stop falling, start going up, resume their meteoric 20% appreciation, or return to their bubble heights? Depending on which way you interpret the word recover you could have RADICALY different answers. We might well be near bottom, but I’d guess that we won’t see the sort of appreciation that we saw during the bubble again in our lifetimes. And only if inflation really kicks off will we see bubble price levels withing a decade.
This is one of those surveys where I need to see the EXACT wording of the question before I have any idea what conclusions I can draw.
A “recovery” in housing is dramatically lower prices by definition. Outside of raising wages 100 or 200%, how else will sales increase?
Lower interest rates.
Homes are not selling because of math anymore. They aren’t selling because of sentiment.
Once people no longer believing that the market will keep falling, sales will pick up and prices will increase…starting a virtuous cycle.
The catalyst will likely be reports of a number markets going up in value significantly after the supply of quality foreclosures has disappeared.
People making $12hr, oops, now $11hr, can’t buy houses.
That’s 72 million people, or almost half the working age population. (156 million)
100 million make less than 40K, That does include the above mentioned 72 million.
Until you can sell to that group, you have to reply on the other 56 million, most of whom aren’t even close making 100K. Now your number is even smaller.
Keep dreaming.
Well “can’t” and “shouldn’t” are two different things. $11 per hour, x 2 worker bees = $44k per year = max reasonable mortgage of $132k. I’m not saying they’re going to buy a penthouse, and not even saying that they should buy a home, but there are people with those levels of income who own homes.
But I digress from my main point:
How many renters are there who make enough to pay a mortgage? Since in the 80% of US cities where it is cheaper to own than rent, the answer is “nearly all”. So, let’s assume 38% of the working population rents. However, I suspect a fair number of the 62% homeowners don’t work…retirees like my folks, which would tend to mean that more than 38% of the working population rents (making the numbers I’m about to go through actually larger).
So, 38% of 156 million is about 60 million working age renters. A large percentage of those are now paying more in rent than a mortgage would cost on a home in their market. So they can afford a mortgage. To be conservative, let’s call it 60%, not 80%, or 35 million people. What percentage of those have had the discipline to save a down payment (or would get a down payment from mom and dad…sigh)? 5%? 10%? 15%? 20%? A recent survey (2011, I believe) showed that 80% saw a down payment and closing costs as the major obstacle to home ownership. So, let’s say the number is 20%.
So, conservatively, there are 7 million renters (20% of 35 million) out there who rent, and are paying more in rent than the cost of a mortgage, and don’t see a down payment as an obstacle.
More aggressively, there are 12 million renters who don’t see the down payment as an obstacle, and may or may not be paying more in rent than a mortgage.
How many of those renters will move off the sidelines if they believe that home prices are not getting any cheaper?
How many of those renters will move off the sidelines if they believe that home prices are not getting any cheaper?
Your math is good as usual but does it take into account the down shooting of the long term trend lines when bubbles break?
Mass psychology for quite awhile after bubbles burst does not usually conform to math.
We’ve overshot the long term trend lines on other parts of the math. Mainly in terms of affordability and price to income ratios.
Yes the trendlines will move, but if you are talking about a multi-decade trendline, the move down of a trendline will not be all that significant. We are probably talking about a reversion to the trendlines that were in place before the bubble began.
What we are seeing right now is mass psychology not conforming to the math. The housing market right now is acting as Benjamin Graham’s voting machine. Eventually it will act as Benjamin Graham’s weighing machine.
Stop falling. It will take far, far longer to get back to 2006-2007 prices.
Yup. And when prices do return to those levels, it will only be on nominal (inflated dollar) terms. We’re not going back to 2006 prices in real terms for at least a generation (30 years?).
We’re in agreement as to the likely future of the RE market. But without knowing EXACTLY what the wording of the survey question, I can’t tell how I would answer it. Without a more precise question, the survey isn’t worth much as a way of judging consumer sentiment. If people say that they think that the market will “recover” in 2014, what do they think that means? If they mean stop falling, I agree. If they mean resume crazy appreciation, or return to 2007 pricing, I laugh at them.
Even knowing the exact wording of the survey doesn’t always help. It might have been as innocuous as “When do you think that the housing market will recover?” Then, if the person being surveyed asks what does “recover” mean, they will be told that it means whatever they think it means and they should answer using their own meaning.
Yes, I’m serious. I got called once on an economic confidence survey. Got asked if I was planning any major purchases in the next - I think it was - 2 months. Well, I had been out of work for a while at that point and considered $4 on a commercial cleaning product to be a major purchase, so I figured that by my own internal definition, I would probably make a major purchase of some kind in the window specified. I knew that they didn’t really mean that and said no. But if I got a similar run around on a housing recovery survey? I’d say the housing market was already in recovery and had been since about 2007. By my definition, falling prices are a recovery.
Polly, you’re probably right. But it’s also possible that the survey WAS well written and clearly defined what the terms they were using meant, but the reporter lost all that detail. But without seeing the question, I can’t even decide whether the survey was well enough worded for the results to mean ANYTHING, much less exactly whet it means. Of course it’s possible that this was a “push” survey, worded in such a way as to elicit a specific response, and then reported in such a way as to imply that it meant something else. Bad survey or bad reporting, you just can’t tell.
The funny thing about these latest Trulia survey results is that they are right in line with what we so-called “pessimists” have been saying here ever since the green shoots / recovery meme was unleashed on the unsuspecting sheeple a few years ago. Luckily we have myriad foreign buyers snapping up U.S. homes with all-cash offers, or our housing market would be in trouble.
Chart of the Day: The Plummet in Housing Market Sentiment
By Daniel Indiviglio
May 18 2011, 2:21 PM ET
Polls are sometimes irrelevant. For example, a poll about whether most people think global warming is a problem won’t make it any more or less a problem in actuality. That’s up to science, not popular opinion. But in economics, sentiment does matter, as it can drive demand, which has a very real effect. So when a new poll reveals that housing market sentiment has plummeted since just last November, it could have significant implications.
According to the latest Trulia/RealtyTrac/Harris Interactive foreclosure attitude poll, Americans have become much more pessimistic about the housing market:
…
> a poll about whether most people think global warming is a problem won’t make it any more or less a problem in actuality.
Unless these opinions are indicators of subsequent behavior. If everybody thought global warming was a problem, and therefore made real efforts to conserve energy, drive smaller cars, etc.; it might make a difference.
Exactly. Far too many “eCONomists” and “analysts” and “planners” of all types mistake the map (theory) for the terrain (messy reality).
This could get interesting in a hurry.
Fed Nears Accord on How to Exit Record Stimulus With Timing Still Unclear
By Scott Lanman and Craig Torres - May 18, 2011 9:00 PM PT
Federal Reserve policy makers neared agreement on the sequence of tools they will use to withdraw record monetary stimulus, with little accord on when to start.
The central bank should first end its policy of reinvesting proceeds from maturing securities and later raise interest rates and sell assets, majorities of policy makers said at their April 26-27 meeting, according to minutes released yesterday. The caveat: Talks about the exit strategy don’t mean that tightening “would necessarily begin soon,” the report said.
“It’s almost like planning for retirement but not knowing when you’re going to retire,” said Keith Hembre, a former Fed researcher who’s now chief economist and investment strategist in Minneapolis at Nuveen Asset Management, which oversees about $205 billion.
The discussion shows how Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and his colleagues are trying to reassure investors that they can manage an unprecedented effort to unwind a $2.6 trillion securities portfolio and raise a near-zero benchmark interest rate. Getting the timing right may determine whether the Fed can contain inflation without unnecessarily harming economic growth and employment.
“There’s a fairly stark division” among Fed officials about when to exit, Hembre said. Still, he said there’s no hurry among the Fed’s top three officials — Bernanke, Vice Chairman Janet Yellen and William C. Dudley, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Those three are “driving the boat here.”
…
“driving the boat here.”
Nice to start the day off with a good mixed metaphore.
Oops! Nice to start the day with spelling errors.
“driving the boat here.”
Is there any doubt inbred morons run our country?
MAY 19, 2011, 4:19 A.M. ET
China Shares End Down On Concerns Over Slowing Economy, High Inflation
SHANGHAI (Dow Jones)–China’s shares ended down Thursday, with broad-based weakness in the market fed by concerns China’s economy may be slowing while inflation stays high.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, which tracks both A and B shares, ended down 0.5% at 2859.57. The Shenzhen Composite Index fell 0.4% to 1197.31.
The Shanghai index now faces immediate psychological support at 2850, while the market remains largely in consolidation mode in the absence of fresh catalysts, analysts said.
“The market isn’t likely to fall much further, but worries that China could enter a period of higher inflation and lower growth are keeping it from rising,” said Li Lei, an analyst at Gold State Securities.
Property developers eroded most of their gains Wednesday amid concerns Beijing may implement further tightening measures to rein in stubbornly high housing prices and asset inflation.
China Vanke lost 1.8% to CNY8.26, Poly Real Estate fell 2.1% to CNY10.11 and China Merchants Property Development gave up 1.2% to CNY18.38.
But the losses weren’t limited to the property sector. “No sector appears to be clearly in a better position in this market,” said Zeng Xianzhao, an Donghai Securities analyst.
…
Something tells me the Paper Tiger is in for one huge effing.
And how about those exploding watermelons, eh? Sure, if a little growth hormone and enhanced fertilizer is good, let’s really pour on the stuff and see what happens!
And we have no way of knowing how much of this stuff we’re ingesting. You buy a box of some pre-fab junk (Cheez-Its, let’s say), you read the ingredients, you see “cheese”. It doesn’t say cheese made from milk from Chinese cows. The label might still say “Made in Louisianna”. You can not make good consumer decisions without this information.
I agree, V. I spoke with an older couple a few weeks ago who still have Chinese drywall in their home and are awaiting the resolution of their case. OTOH, I spoke with another couple who have already had the drywall remediated. I guess speed of remediation depends on who the builder was, or maybe on the homeowner’s insurance?
Chuck Fina.
palmetto and Big V, thanks for living with your eyes wide open. Monsanto and its peers are evil. What ever good science they’ve given us, is an era gone by.
I have an issue with gluten, since the protein in wheat has changed over the years. My new doc is seeing more and more food allergies and sensitivities. Our food supply is tainted.
Awaiting, it is my theory that widespread obesity has a lot to do with a tainted food supply. Sure, there are always a few people who will struggle with obesity. But this explosion of fat tells me something’s horribly wrong.
I agree on the obesity food issue. Growth hormones, genetically modified foods etc.
The dirty secret is that we are not capable of feeding 7 billion humans on Earth without all these nasties.
Of course birth control is out so I guess nature will step in with a heavy hand at some point and whack a good percentage of us.
“Growth hormones,”
Holy Exploding Watermelons, GH, that just jumped out at me in relation to obesity. It’s the growth hormones!!!!!!!
Does this mean that morbidly obese people will start exploding at some point, like the Sta-Puf Marshmallow Man?
All kidding aside, I think you just nailed it, GH. Growth hormones. That’s what’s at the root of the obesity. Food is lousy with the stuff.
Glad to know it’s not excessive PlayStation use and not the size of the Super Size meal.
The Super Size meal is probably loaded with growth hormone.
Play Station may promote flabbiness, but no more than a desk job in the 1950s.
Check out the documentary called “Sugar… the bitter truth.”
edited for clarity:
thanks for living with your eyes wide open. Mon$anto and it$ peer$ are evil$. What ever good $cience they’ve given u$, i$ an era gone$ by.
“Glad to know it’s not excessive PlayStation use and not the size of the Super Size meal.”
There was talk of exempting soft drinks here from sales tax as they are considered to be a “staple”.
“Play Station may promote flabbiness, but no more than a desk job in the 1950s.”
True, but we ate a lot less back then. For example, what today is considered a child’s hamburger was considered an adult burger back then. No Wendy’s Double or Triple burgers back then. A standard order of fries: same story. And your soda pop looked like a kids drink does today, and no free refills.
Its the calories, plus you were more likely to do physical labor back then.
When I was dating my wife she took a job as a cashier while in college and put in a lot of hours. She lost a lot of weight just by standing on her feet (oh baby, she was hot … I mean … she still is … phew!). Of course she didn’t have a half pound cheeseburger, a jumbo fries and a 64 oz cola for lunch. Has anyone eaten at 5 Guys Burgers? Have you seen how many fries they give you? And they’re good, so you pig out. I avoid that place like the plague.
Hi, it’s me again.
I have a new habit for lunchtime. I drive through Wendy’s and get a spicy chicken go-wrap with no sauce and no bag. It’s like $1.70 and just enough food for one chick. There is a trick to this fast food thing.
“I avoid that place like the plague.”
Yeah the DH love that place so much we never go there. Funny how that works.
“Of course birth control is out so I guess nature will step in with a heavy hand at some point and whack a good percentage of us.”</I.
As always. And we never learn.
From Blue Oyster Cult “Godzilla:
History shows
Again and again
How nature points out
The folly of men
http://www.youtube.com/movie/super-size-me
Super Size Me the movie. Free on YouTube.
Maybe they can irrigate with Brawndo.
We’re soaking in it.
Seriously, Idiocracy was NOT about the future.
Who remembers the slogan “Better living through chemistry”? I think it was Dow’s but not susre. It doesn’t seem to mean what we meant by it in the ’60’s, and we did mean what the company meant.
It was DuPont.
“Without chemicals, life itself would be impossible.”
Monsanto
minor correction:
Mon$anto
Sure, if a little growth hormone and enhanced fertilizer is good, let’s really pour on the stuff and see what happens!
I $en$e connection$ between this $tatement & Goldenman$ucks Inc. $COTUS per$on) aka., “True$erialLiquiditi$t™” & their AAA+ justouropinion$ helper$ those Moody “True$erialLiquiditi$t™”
(That made Hwy thirsty, hmmm,11:05,…good x1 $mithwick’s left-over.)
Opps, eyes got distracted:
& their AAA+ justouropinion$ helper$ those Moody “True$erialEnabler’$™”
Back in the 1970s, when I was a University of Michigan economics major, I took a course on the Chinese economy. The prof was internationally renowned as an expert on the topic.
One of his big challenges — and one that he loved to discuss at great length in class — was getting reliable data. It seemed as though a big part of his job was obtaining the official government data, then teasing out the real facts behind what he was researching. It was an art as well as a science.
As for the corruption? He didn’t talk about that — at least I don’t remember him doing so. But, from what he did say, China seemed like one of those “You gotta know someone!” countries.
I do recall that he wasn’t very impressed with the Maoists. Reason: They were better at being ideologues than governing in general, or managing an economy in particular. And, since it was the late 1970s, it was still too early to tell what Deng & Co. were truly up to.
But it seems as if, below the surface sheen, China hasn’t changed that much.
There is no reason to believe corruption hasn’t grown in China along with their economy.
It certainly has in ours!
Big money attracts big thieves.
“….getting reliable data…”
“You gotta know someone.”
Gee……sounds familiar……like some economy that I know.
Maybe we’ll have our own “Cultural Revolution”
We already did and made a movie about it. It’s called Idiocracy
I’ll be brief:
Humans + behavior + needs + wants = “too bad for the genetics of elephants & giraffe’s & redwood trees.”
China = 1 Billion + 340 Million reproducing organisms
USA = 314 Million reproducing organisms
Theys gots their problems, wees gots ours.
Although, there’s a Swede who has a fancy rebuttal chart that shows “statistically” everyone’s goin’ do just fine!
I hope so! I have been short for 6 months and it hasnt played out too well.
Yeah, and we’re supposed to believe they’ll make up for it with the income from all the cheap American rental properties they’re snapping up.
May 19, 2011, 5:41 AM ET
Economic Effects of Japanese Quake Ripple
By Alex Frangos
Much as radiation from the Japanese atomic power crisis was detected across the globe (mostly at safe-for-human levels), economic effects from the natural and nuclear disasters are starting to be detected, most acutely in Japan, where the economy shrank for the second quarter in a row. Outside Japan, the impact is less severe, but starting to be noticed in the economic data. No countries outside Japan are forecast to suffer major growth impacts from the disasters, but the effects are being felt nonetheless.
The earthquake economic impact comes at a time when the global economy is trying to sustain momentum in the face of handful of problems, including renewed European debt woes, $100-a-barrel oil and a possible slowdown in China.
…
Meanwile, back at the Big Muddy…
When I was in high-school I had a science teacher who used to say “Don’t mess with the river gods, don’t live in the flood plain”.
Why Japan’s earthquake caused a recession
Posted by Michael Schuman Thursday, May 19, 2011 at 2:17 am
Japan’s economy always seems to surprise – unfortunately, on the downside – and it has done so once again in the wake of the devastating quake and tsunami that hit the northeast coast on March 11. GDP in the January-March quarter contracted by a staggering annualized rate of 3.7%, sending the economy into yet another recession. Economists had been steadily lowering their growth forecasts for the quarter as the scale of the economic disruption became clear. Factories across the country shut or slowed output due to supply chain upheaval, power outages caused by the chaos at the Fukushima nuclear plant, or outright damage from the natural disaster. Still, the depth of the downturn in the last quarter was far worse than expected.
At first glance, it seems obvious that we should blame this latest Japanese recession on an act of God. There is little policymakers and politicians can do to offset the damage done by a natural disaster in a just a few weeks time — aside from boosting government spending, which did increase in the quarter. But that’s not the whole story. In order to be in a technical recession, an economy needs to contract for two consecutive quarters, which Japan managed to achieve. GDP shrank in the fourth quarter of 2010, before the quake hit. Even as the recovery in much of the rest of the global economy was proceeding along nicely, Japan was losing momentum, and more than we originally thought — the fourth quarter contraction was revised downward as well. So the causes of Japan’s recession go much deeper than the quake. It is a result of two decades of misguided economic policy that have left the country incapable of surviving any sort of unforeseen shock.
…
Rather, it is an example of the rule that when you are already bent over and grabbing your ankles, nature comes along with a good kick in the posterior.
I reckon we are one big disaster from the next economic step down here too. A big California quake? Tsunami on either coast? Direct Florida hurricane hit? New York quake or hurricane? Big volcanic eruption?
Point is we are pretty much stretched thin as it is and I doubt it would take much to send things into a tailspin. California especially could end up with banks holding hundreds of billions in unpaid mortgages on flattened homes…
You know, that’s one of the problems with globalization. An earthquake in Cali, or hurricane in Florida, shouldn’t affect what happens thousands, or even hundreds of miles distant.
Our supply chain reminds me of a quote from a Korean War vet from his days on the Pusan Perimeter:
“We were spread really thin……to the point of being invisible.”
Some homes in the path of the lower Mississippi flood are soon going to be literally (and deliberately) under water. It’s interesting how people are given the opportunity to build in the path of future disasters.
Mississippi River Flooding: More Floodgates Opened at the Morganza Spillway
PHOTO: Water flows through four open gates of the Morganza spillway.
Mississippi River Floodgates Open
By YUNJI DE NIES, EMILY FRIEDMAN (@EmilyABC) and BEN FORER
May 16, 2011
The Army Corps of Engineers opened two additional gates at the Mississippi River’s Morganza Spillway today, unleashing a wall of water which is now flowing into the spillway at a rate greater than that of Niagara Falls, more than 100,000 cubic feet per second.
At that rate it would take just over an hour and a half to cover the entire island of Manhattan in a foot of water. So far only 11 of the 125 gates have been opened and the Corps plans to open more as the river rises.
The Corps began flooding the spillway on Saturday, opening the floodgates for the first time in 40 years. The goal is to divert the record high waters of the Mississippi away from Baton Rouge and New Orleans, choosing to risk smaller communities in an attempt to avert disaster in the most populous cities.
The Mississippi River crest is not expected to arrive at the Morganza spillway for at least a week and mandatory evacuations are already under way in many places. Neighborhoods in the water’s path have turned to ghost towns with sheriff’s deputies and members of the National Guard going door to door telling residents to pack up and get out.
…
“The Army Corps of Engineers opened two additional gates at the Mississippi River’s Morganza Spillway today”
Florida has spent millions (perhaps even billions) correcting the past work of the Army Corps of Engineers, which consisted of draining rivers, diverting the flows into canals. It like performing expensive botched surgery, following up with expensive corrective surgery. Turns out, wasn’t such a great idea. But of course, now there are people (mostly farmers) living in areas where the river used to be, and they’re not happy.
It’s interesting how people are given the opportunity to build in the path of future disasters.
Now, now Mr. Bear, I’ll edit your pondering thought for your local RE region:
It’s interesting how 30+ million people are given the opportunity to build
inon the path of future disasters.CA = Shake, Rock, Rattle & Roll!
Are people required to buy federal flood insurance?
Iffin’ your stucco is in a designated flood zone, and you want Gov’t 30 year hand-holding, then yep, it is.
Yes, if you have a mortgage.
Perhaps flood insurance should require relocation instead of rebuilding?
Floodplains make great farmland. Trouble is, the dams hold back the water for too long, so when it floods, it floods way too much.
I just worry about how this will affect food prices starting next year.
IPSU is loving their stock price, I’m sure.
Next year’s prices? Well… if you like this year’s inflation then you’re in luck!
Quick poll, who here believes that the fed reserve will exit “stimulus” and start raising interest rates? Also does anyone think that there will be no more monetizing after the end of June?
Fed Nears Accord on How to Exit Record Stimulus With Timing Still Unclear. (Bloomberg) May 19, 2011
Federal Reserve policy makers neared agreement on the sequence of tools they will use to withdraw record monetary stimulus, with little accord on when to start.
The central bank should first end its policy of reinvesting proceeds from maturing securities and later raise interest rates and sell assets, majorities of policy makers said at their April 26-27 meeting, according to minutes released yesterday. The caveat: Talks about the exit strategy don’t mean that tightening “would necessarily begin soon,” the report said.
“It’s almost like planning for retirement but not knowing when you’re going to retire,” said Keith Hembre, a former Fed researcher who’s now chief economist and investment strategist in Minneapolis at Nuveen Asset Management, which oversees about $205 billion.
The discussion shows how Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and his colleagues are trying to reassure investors that they can manage an unprecedented effort to unwind a $2.6 trillion securities portfolio and raise a near-zero benchmark interest rate. Getting the timing right may determine whether the Fed can contain inflation without unnecessarily harming economic growth and employment.
“There’s a fairly stark division” among Fed officials about when to exit, Hembre said. Still, he said there’s no hurry among the Fed’s top three officials — Bernanke, Vice Chairman Janet Yellen and William C. Dudley, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Those three are “driving the boat here.”
I don’t see the Fed exiting quickly because that would mean Obama would have to run for reelection with 10% unemployment. As I said yesterday, the Fed used QE II to raise the stock market and slow down the decline in housing prices (actually the wanted to raise them). That lead to a rise in spending at least among the wealthy which did help the economy at least until oil and food took off which decreased spending by the rest of people. If they stop now and try to raise interest rates we will have either very slow growth or a double dip either of which will raise the unemployment rate to 10%.
Obama may have 10% unemployment even if the Fed holds interest rates low. Latest weekly initial jobless claims: 409,000.
Certainly it will be 10%-ish IMHO. I just don’t see much chance of the headline unemployment numbers dipping below 8% before the election, and somewhere north of 9.5% seems more likely.
Frankly with all the QE and other steps the Fed and Treasury has taken, we’ve busted so far below the “zero-bound” that they won’t actually RAISE rates for quite some time.
The upward slope of interest rates is going to be painful for the banks, so I expect there will be reluctance. One little tidbit I am still preoccupied with is the revelation that the Fed lent trillions overseas. If they pull that back in to keep US banks last in line for failure, it would be interesting. Maybe they will kill the Euro this way?
It has to happen eventually.
Citizens of some countries refuse to take financial crises, financially-engineered wealth transfers from the masses to the wealthiest, and subsequent austerity measures, sitting down.
Thousands protest economic crisis, high unemployment in Spain
By Al Goodman, CNN
May 18, 2011 2:53 p.m. EDT
Madrid, Spain (CNN) — Protests against Spain’s economic crisis took a new turn Wednesday as social media networks fueled calls for demonstrators to take to the streets before local elections a few days away.
Thousands returned late Tuesday to Madrid’s central Puerta del Sol plaza — where the main protests began Sunday.
A few hundred demonstrators camped out there overnight, while similar but smaller protests were held in Barcelona and other Spanish cities, a protest organizer said.
“The economy and unemployment are key to the protest because that binds all of us together,” said Jon Aguirre Such, a spokesman for the Real Democracy Now, one of many groups convening the demonstrations.
“In this crisis, while some have gotten rich, most people have less income,” Aguirre said.
Demonstrators are protesting Spain’s 21% unemployment rate and a record 4.9 million jobless.
…
The problem is they protest and that causes the interest rates on their bonds to rise. This makes the problem even worse. I said a few months ago I thought Spain was in trouble, at the same time, the MSM had stories that they would weather the storm. Spain has a housing bubble problem and a government that spent billions trying to green jobs going while destroying jobs with high energy costs. Sounds like California to me.
albuquerque dan,
Have you ever lived outside of New Mexico? I have lived in a total of 5 states throughout my life. Trust me, the government in CA is not any more wasteful or short-sighted than the rest. CA actually has a pretty good track record of respecting its people’s rights. Don’t even think that today’s problems are CA-specific. It’s the whole country + most of the world. IMO, the root cause of all this onerous national debt and increasing wealth for the few is globalization.
Yes, in the Northeast, Mountain West and Southwest. I disagree with your assessment and many rankings support my conclusions. California’s handling of its energy policy has given it some of the highest electric rates in the country. It has one budget crisis after another. Its rankings have dropped like a stone in educational achievement etc and while it is still very much a high cost state, I would not say it is still a high wage state. I actually visit California quite often and love some areas of the state but I do not find that it has a good government.
Look at the residential price of electricity for California and compare it to its neighbors, this is a direct result of their “green” policies and that is why I made the comparisons with Spain, the housing bubble was more due to world wide factors but is not like the CA government stepped in to regulate sub-prime mortgages
: http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epm/table5_6_b.html
For example, California rates are almost twice the rates in Utah.
Dan:
CA used to have the lowest prices for gas and electricity in the nation. Then people voted for deregulation and Enron happened. After that, we got reregulation, but the prices never fully recovered. The price of energy in CA is a result of political corruption combined with a lack of critical thinking among the masses.
CA used to have the highest-ranked schools in the nation. Why the change? Prop 13 + illegal immigration. Low wages? Illegal immigration + legal immigration + offshoring (i.e., “globalization”).
There is a trend in CA and everywhere else where powerful business interests are able to force legislation that benefits them. At first, people stupidly fall for it. They don’t realize what’s wrong with it until it’s too late. Something to do with corporate personhood.
“their “green” policies”
I guess the Californians got tired of the smog. They could always revert to their previous model, but how would that layer of smog affect tourism and economic development?
Alpha why is it one or the other? California does not have to have the smog when the could buy from coal plants outside the state but they refuse to do so. These coal plants either have or could have the latest pollution controls. Another possibility is nuclear power either in the state or in another state. No, it is not a question of having smog or electricity rates twice the average of Utah. Finally, If they really want to cut smog they need to get the cars and more often trucks and SUVs that the illegals are driving around off the road.
Link showing sources of smog:
http://www.bar.ca.gov/80_BARResources/02_SmogCheck/Air_Pollution_Sources.html
California has both the worse air and some of the highest electricity prices in the country. Seems like they should be concentrating their efforts differently.
In San Diego SDG&E used to proudly proclaim that it was “San Diego Owned and Operated”, as if that was any consolation for the horrid rates they charged.
During my time down there I saw more than once cars with bumperstickers that said: “Welcome to San Diego, owned and operated by SDG&E”
The last survey of California had it having 8 of the 10 most polluted cities in terms of smog. So if you combine the link I sent earlier (which has not posted) and that information, you see a failed, expensive strategy to address a real problem because addressing the real major problems illegal immigration and old polluting vehicles are not addressed because they require actions against people protected by political correctness.
I think the green law that cleared the smog was about auto pollution.
My point is, not all green laws and policies are bad. California wouldn’t be better off under a blanket of smog.
California’s problem is the mountains catch all their pollutants and trap them above the places they’re produced. They can’t let it blow away downwind, and have it be someone else’s problem, like all those cheaper places do on the other side of the mountains.
And if you think their pollution problems could all be solved by somehow taking away illegals’ cars, then you’re high on talking points.
+1. Geography plays a huge roll in so cal smog. CA is much better off now than in the 70’s when it hurt to take a deep breath on some summer days.
Santa Fe, NM doesn’t even ask you to have your car smogged. Why?
For the record, Prop 13 was a reaction TO, not the cause OF the deterioration of the California State School System under Governor Ronald Reagan.
In addition to removing University of California Head Regent, Clark Kerr, and severely de-funding the entire UC system, throughout his eight-year administration Mr. Reagan and his cronies consistently and effectively opposed any additional funding for basic education as well. This in spite of a huge demographic surge of school-aged Baby Boomers and out-of-state migration into CA.*
This de-funding led to painful increases in local taxes to attempt to take up the deficit and the subsequent deterioration of California’s public schools when those increases proved unsuccessful. (Los Angeles voters got so fed up picking up the slack that on five separate occasions they refused to support any further increases in local school taxes.) Infrastructure crumbled, teachers walked off the job, and property taxes continued to skyrocket, threatening long time homeowners and pensioners with unaffordable tax bills to finance the shortfall.
Ultimately Howard Javis’ Prop 13 put a stop to these approaching-confiscatory property taxes, and school funding therefrom was apportioned equally throughout the State (instead of local taxes supporting only local schools.)
Ronald Reagan’s grateful cronies handed him the Presidency in return, and California’s schools, parks, public clinics, mental health system, infrastructure, and public utilities took the hit as once-public systems were privatized in favor of Mr. Reagan’s associates. Now the entire country is paying for his perfidy.
*Btw, illegal immigration at the time was at a near stand-still due to political backlash to Caesar Chavez’s Farm Workers’ Union, and services for their children were minimal. The immigration floodgates opened under Mr. Reagan’s administration.
So coastal Californians got tired of paying the taxes to support the schools in their own districts, and instead wanted to pull money from other districts so they could help out with the tab, at those other districts’ expense?
This group’s children covers the internet in posts about how the coasts would be better off if they could stop supporting Alabama, and the South or whomever else it is.
What a bunch of dicks.
Yes, Overdog, the Prop13 thingie (by Boomers and for Boomers) is definitely indicative of that.
No, just the opposite. Inner city and rural schools had become so sub-standard that coastal districts (which had up until then been supporting only themselves,) were subsequently forced to pay into a State pool which was then apportioned back equally throughout the state on a per-student basis.
Political horse-trading at its finest….
Most boomers were still in school in the 1970s. High school and college.
Most boomers didn’t go to college. They bought houses in the 1970s.
Ronald Reagan’s grateful cronies handed him the Presidency in return, and California’s schools, parks, public clinics, mental health system, infrastructure, and public utilities took the hit as once-public systems were privatized in favor of Mr. Reagan’s associates. Now the entire country is paying
Yeppers, I was there.
Wait, I’m still here. Wait, he isn’t. Wait, I need to consult Nancy’s astrologer for detail’s. Wait, I haven’t sold my property bought in 1989. Wait, I’m 1 year from AARP membership. Wait, I’m a Taoist-Amish throw-back so who cares! Wait, the 30 year life insurance folks will not stop calling. Why? Wait, I’m not finished, but I’ve gotten thirsty…
No, just the opposite. Inner city and rural schools had become so sub-standard that coastal districts
———-
I wasn’t around so i can only take you word for it, but the pov of your story doesn’t really come from the plight of the small schools or inner city. You mentioned confiscatory high taxes, and small towns don’t really suffer from that. Poor people don’t (can’t) lobby the gov’t to change tax laws, they just move. Also, plenty of states distribute taxes between wealthy and poor districts but don’t have prop 13 type tax caps. LA/Hollywood inner city schools are still terrible, at least according to my in-laws who plan on sending theirs to private schools, so redistributions didn’t seem to help that much.
So, yeah, I don’t buy it. It reads like a story of the haves changing laws so they don’t have to pay taxes to support schools after their own have graduated. The compromise there was that small towns begged for redistributions which I guess shows that good can come out of bad laws.
Confiscatory taxes affected everyone–the poor and the well-off alike. But it was the middle class, not the wealthy, behind the taxpayer revolt. The wealthy then, as now, were not as affected by property tax hikes as the poor; they were wealthy, you see…..
Thousands returned late Tuesday to Madrid’s central Puerta del Sol plaza — where the main protests began Sunday.
And, when it comes to plazas, Puerta del Sol is the real deal. Meaning that, if your protest isn’t happening there, well, sorry, bucko, it just isn’t happening in Madrid.
Alpha why don’t we try the Socratic method if you think my comments about illegals was just a “talking point”
1. What percentage of the overall pollution in California is caused by vehicles and how much by utilities?
2. What percentage of the overall population of California is illegal?
3. How does the performance of old vehicles compare to newer vehicles in terms of pollution?
4. Do illegals tend to drive old or new cars and are they fuel efficient?
5. Are the vehicles in compliance with emissions laws at the same percentage as U.S. citizens?
5. What percentage of overall vehicle pollution is caused by illegals.
6. After taking into consideration the percentage of pollution caused by vehicles and then the percentage of that pollution caused by illegals, is the percentage greater or lesser than the entire amount of pollution caused by utilities?
7. Still think this is just a “talking point”?
Bonus information about the population impact of illegals and why amnesty is a bad policy for the environment.
http://www.npg.org/CAPS.html
From today’s WSJ online:
Most Common Jobs Among Lowest Paid
“The largest occupations in the U.S. last year were mostly low-paying jobs like salesmen and waitresses, a new report shows.
The 10 largest fields accounted for about 20% of the workforce last year — and they tended to include some of the worst-paying positions, the Labor Department said Tuesday. Heavily concentrated employment in low-paying jobs has been a concern for some economists, who note the economy is creating more low-paying jobs”
“the economy is creating more low-paying jobs”
Sure. Mickey D’s, Home Despot, Wally World, life’s good.
I think that by salesmen they meant retail clerks.
The under $500/wk crowd keeps getting bigger and the number receiving foodstamps and other antipoverty aid continues to grow. But no worries, low wages makes America strong. We just need to reinflate the housing bubble so these people can buy houses with toxic loans (and cars with equity loans) and happy days will be here again.
Maybe the end of the world has nothing to do with earthquakes, volcanos or killer asteroids. Maybe it will be when the debtor nations default and stop buying stuff from nations that produce far more than they consume and the entire global economy goes down the toilet. Where’s Nostradamus when you need him?
That won’t be the end of the world, when we are done buying crap from Asia with borrowed money. It might hopefully be the beginning of the end of Globalism. It is the end of the Great Credit Expansion.
“It might hopefully be the beginning of the end of Globalism.”
From your lips to God’s ears, Skye. Globalism. Worst. Idea. Ever.
I didn’t mean the end of the world figuratively, but the ride will be very bumpy by the time everything crashes. By that that time we’ll have gone through some big hyperinflation (which I think will happen once we default), and most mortgage balances will be about the same as the price of a loaf of bread. Of course most people won’t be able to afford a loaf of bread, but I digress.
And I won’t miss globalism either.
The low paying jobs weren’t a low paying when they were supplemented by debt and stretched by low inflation for necessities.
The serfs have to get restless eventually. Perhaps low housing costs are a way out.
“The largest occupations in the U.S. last year were mostly low-paying jobs like salesmen and waitresses, a new report shows.”
Did they happen to mention what and where the good paying jobs are?
China and Europe, but they have these really tough immigration laws, those dang racists!
This article is disingenuous at best. You’d expect the largest job categories to tend to have the lowest pay. It’s not ALWAYS going to be a hard and fast rule, but when you need 1 CEO, 3 directors, 8 division heads, 25 managers, and 400 cube/factory workers, which group do you think is going to be on the lower end of the pay scale? Pay the cube workers CEO pay, and the company is bankrupt. Extrapolate out to the general economy and you’ll see the same thing. If we need millions of people doing job X, it probably won’t pay that much. If we only need hundreds doing job Y, it’ll probably pay considerably more than Job X. (Street mimes are a great example of an exception.)
What they SHOULD be concerned with is just how ‘low paying’ these jobs are and the disparity between low paying and high paying jobs. Having large swathes of the country on subsistence wages is not ideal as it breeds crime and disease. With workers making 20k and CEOs making 20,000k you’ve got a serious compensation issue.
72 million people make less than $500 week. That’s almost HALF the workforce of 156 million.
100 million make less than 40K. That number does include the above.
Those people are not going to be buying new cars and houses.
That just leaves 56 million to base our consumer driven economy , and most of those do not make 100K.
The bottom line is our middle class is now smaller than the worker poor. The problem is, some think this is normal.
Talked to a gentleman this week who has been renting out a house in at $2k a month for over 2 years w/o paying the mortgage. I told him about my LL not paying the HOA and having a lien filed, he said “I haven`t paid my HOA fees either, in fact my property tax bill will be sold in a couple of weeks. I don`t care.” He has no intention of trying to keep this house, just drag it out as long as possible and collect as many $ as he can.
Palm Beach County faces more than $121 million in unpaid property taxes
By Kimberly Miller Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 11:15 p.m. Wednesday, May 18, 2011
The Palm Beach County Tax Collector is hoping to receive a whopping $121 million in delinquent taxes from homeowners by May 31 or recoup it in the annual tax certificate auction the next day.
This year, 32,146 homeowners have yet to pay their 2010 tax bill. If not paid by 5 p.m. May 31, the delinquency will go to bid during an online auction June 1.
Tax certificates are considered solid investments because once an investor pays the late bill, they get to file a first lien on the property that takes precedent over most other loans, including mortgages.
When the homeowner pays off the bill to the investor, the amount includes what was originally due, plus interest. Certificates are awarded to the bidder willing to accept the lowest rate of interest. State law sets a maximum interest rate of 18 percent.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/money/real-estate/palm-beach-county-faces-more-than-121-million-1484175.html - -
Don’t count on getting your damage deposit back.
Jim A
Don’t most states have rental deposit refund laws? Ca nails LL’s for not complying.
Oh, I’m sure that you would have a very good legal case. But having a good case, or even a judgement is NOT the same as having a check in your hand. And when it comes to these deadbeat landlords, there’s a long line of people that they’ve screwed. And many of those people in line have better access to lawyers than the average renter. Do we really think that somebody who is stiffing their lender, the HOA, and the local government actually put your Damage Deposit in an interest bearing account?
Jim A
Thanks for the polite nudge about how the real world works. Having been employed by REIT’s, we played by the rules. I had great mentors, and of course, the legal dept made us “Girl Scouts”, so to speak.
Our current LL is rumored not to return deposits regardless of the condition the unit is left in. We’re a minority couple, American. Should/Can we deduct it from our last month’s rent and take pictures of how we left the unit?
(your opinion, not legal advice)
My non legal advice is to show to him that you are familiar with and willing to go to court over violation of the local landlord/tenant laws. You should assume that you won’t get anything out of his deadbeat a$$ withoug a court date. Who knows, I may be wrong, but that is probably a useful working assumption when dealing with a known deadbeat.
You can not get in trouble by deducting your security from the last month’s rent. He can only get a judgement from you if you actually owe him money. I’ve done the same thing three times.
We sued our last landlord in small claims and were awarded double the deposit plus some other damages. We filed an abstract of judgement with the county recorders office and a year later when she tried to refinance I got a call from an escrow company asking where to send the check…
GH –Glorious! Love to hear success stories like this.
sell everything inside before you move
Jim A -Thanks for your opinion. I really appreciated the feedback. My EE Husband is running scared, and I am a petite bulldog when it comes to getting ripped- off. In the game of chicken, I’ll peck first. LOL
Big V - Thanks for your experience and feedback. It meant a lot to me. My Husband was afraid of getting locked out.
GH- You rock. Nobody, but nobody, screws with GH. You’re my kind of person.
Avocado
We put our furnishing in storage, so the only thing of value in this dump is our computers. The LL and the Manager are “human trash”, and that’s a compliment.
Play the LL game. Stop paying rent (or put into escrow). See if he can even evict you if he does not even own the house anymore. That could be good for 12 months of no rent payments.
Better yet. Pay some HOA and taxes with your escrow. You could be in the place for years with paying rent…
Contact a lawyer first…
I guess I wasn’t clear. 2 different LLs. My LL had the lien for unpaid HOA fees placed. The gentleman I talked to this week told me about his “rental” and that he had not paid the HOA fees either and was having his delinquent taxes sold in a couple of weeks.
Still birds of a feather. Thousands stealing millions of $ and millions stealing thousands of $.
Mr. Fox tell me exactly how did those chickens disappear?
Will the Banks Finally Have to Answer?
Published: May 17, 2011
At long last, there may be a serious investigation into the mortgage mess — the kind that results in clarity as well as big fines and maybe even accountability.
Gretchen Morgenson reported in The Times on Tuesday that Eric Schneiderman, the New York attorney general, wants to discuss mortgage operations during the housing bubble with executives of Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. He has also requested documents and information from the banks, examined material given to his predecessor, Andrew Cuomo, and studied issues raised in lawsuits against the banks.
Mr. Schneiderman would not comment on the investigation. What is needed is a broad inquiry into how banks inflated the housing bubble, profiting as it expanded and getting bailed out when it burst — leaving investors and homeowners devastated.
Any serious investigation must take a close look at “securitization” — the pooling of thousands of home loans into securities that were sold to investors the world over. Three years after it all imploded — and even after Congress vowed to get answers and names — Americans still don’t have answers to vitally important questions.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/18/opinion/18wed2.html - -
the New York attorney general, wants to discuss mortgage operations during the housing bubble with executives of Bank of America, Goldman Sachs,
andMorgan Stanley and Gallagher Inc..It slices, it dices,…it’s wonderful!:
http://www.gallaghersmash.com/pictures.shtml
exploding watermelons = today’s theme?
“Eric Schneiderman, the New York attorney general, wants to discuss mortgage operations during the housing bubble with executives of Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley”
Things are looking up!
And, as we all know, there’s nothing more tenacious than a New York State AG. This is gonna get interesting.
But Eric, please do us a favor. Stay away from those ladies of the evening. Don’t be like your predecessor, Elliott. Please.
And the gentlemen of the evening, if that’s your taste…
It doesn’t surprise me that an arrogant member of an arrogant organization such as the IMF would rape some muslim maid and think he could get away with it. Maybe this will get people to start looking in to who the IMF is and what’s wrong with them. Wishful thinking.
The IMeff.
I would share your indignation V, but the whole thing doesn’t pass the smell test.
He “sodomized” (never heard oral called that) her twice and she was still trying to clean his room.
He supposedly fled the scene but then casually had lunch with his daughter right afterwards.
In NYC he could have had a complimentary hooker with a $3,000 room. Call it a gratuity. Expense it as such.
He doesn’t have political immunity, but he is an international big shot. Really odd that none of our pols suggested that he be treated with some respect, as he was only accused, not tried. Really odd. Like the word was out on him.
Just sayin things don’t add up. Of course, the “news” rarely does.
I think it is odd just how many people try to defend him. Could it be because he is a leading socialist? The irony that a “socialist” is in a 3000 dollar a night hotel while running the IMF which preaches austerity to poor countries is amazing. He may be just accused but numerous other woman are coming out of the wood work saying that they had suffered similar behavior. Even his friends admit he is a womanizing. Nothing odd about fleeing the scene but then trying to act normal. Hell just seems like the run of the mill sociopath that has no conscience and believes they can get away with anything.
“Nothing odd about fleeing the scene but then trying to act normal.”
IF the accusation is true, I’d contend that he was genuinely “acting normal” as he thinks he is entitled to behave that way and would not feel that he had done anything wrong.
Sodomy is the legal term for “unnatural or abnormal” acts.
Hell just seems like the run of the mill sociopath that has no conscience and believes they can get away with anything.
I like the four-letter nickname for this guy. Even if it’s a Freudian slip, it’s a good one.
Now, for your reading list:
Without Conscience by Robert Hare - excellent intro to psychopaths and the difficulties in dealing with them.
The Sociopath Next Door by Martha Stout - more anecdotal than Hare’s research-oriented book, but a good read nonetheless.
With regards from your HBB Librarian…
I think it is odd just how many people try to defend him. Could it be because he is a leading socialist?
Current corporatist or socialist? You say potato, I say you’re wrong in the context of his IMF role which was his latest and biggest role. Would you care to explain your definition of the IMF being “socialist” in light of the following observation and truths? “Socialist” Ex-Brazilian president Lula told Portugal to have nothing to do with “socialist” IMF bailouts. Why would he do that if the IMF were socialist? Maybe because they are not?
And true socialists in the tradition of European social democracies would condone looting poor people as described below? I guess we’re all “socialists” now.
Confessions of an Economic Hitman
An insiders story of how the IMF and World Bank loot third world nations. — by Stanley Monteith, 2005-01 source: Radio Liberty
“Economic hit men (EHMs) are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. They funnel money from the World Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and other foreign “aid” organizations into the coffers of huge corporations and the pockets of a few wealthy families who control the planet’s natural resources. Their tools include fraudulent financial reports, rigged elections, payoffs, extortion, sex, and murder.”
– John Perkins, “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man”
Rio:
How many coporatists have paraded as socialists to date? Socialism is the EASIEST mask for a corporatist to don.
into the coffers of huge corporations and the pockets of a few wealthy families who control the planet’s natural resources
http://memegenerator.net/Foghorn-Leghorn/ImageMacro/887752/Foghorn-Leghorn-boy-i-say-boy-I-think-yer-on-to-something.jpg
Rio, the socialist label on him was due to the fact that he was considered the leading candidate to lead the French socialists in the next election.
http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/05/18/idINIndia-57116920110518
Rio, he was the Socialists star candidate.
Obviously, you have never had to spend thousands of dollars on attorney’s fees on setting the record straight, when a crazy woman accuses you of trumped up, Oprah-inspired, figment of her imagination bull$hit.
X-GS:
Thousands? This man does not need to scrounge for that money. She is the one at a HUGE financial disadvantage here.
Like I said below, what is your recommendation? Woman should be told that rapes will not be prosecuted because it’s too hard for men to defend themselves? Will we do that with all other crimes too, or just crimes against women? And then what happens when all of us chicks decide it’s easier to carry a gun than to rely on the hostile police and court system? Will men be better off then?
Seriously. You guys (again) are just being undeniably bigotted. Most people are, really.
Save the bigotry lecture. I don’t know what happened, and neither do you. All kinds of BS (substantiated or not) is going to hit the airwaves before this is over with. Fortunately, this happened in NYC, where the local system has some experience dealing with and getting to the bottom of high-profile cases.
You obviously believe her, and everyone that has come out of the woodwork since. Your life experiences may bias you that way. Fine. Mine are that a lot of people will tell all kind of lies and distortions of the facts, no matter how damaging to the accused, if they think they are doing it for some noble, greater good. Of course, “greater good” is usually left to their definition, and usually works to their benefit.
My oldest is already packing. Whether she has the stones to actually bust a cap in someone remains to be seen.
The good news, is as long as she can drag the body in the house/apartment, she can tell any kind of story she wants to; the default/when in doubt position of the cops is to believe the woman.
“… when a crazy woman accuses you of trumped up, Oprah-inspired, figment of her imagination bull$hit.”
Whose life experience is biasing whom? EVERY time a story like this comes out in the news, we have to tolerate comment after comment from ppl who ASSUME the man is innocent and the woman is lying. No matter what the evidence, no matter how believable her story is and how unbelievable his story is, the woman is always derided and called “crazy” or “a slut”. This is why most of these incidents go unreported, and why most of these guys totally get away with it. I’m glad there is going to be a trial. If he “can’t afford” an attorney, then one will be appointed for him.
We don’t know the facts, so we have to include the possibility of something other than the accusation happening.
But how often is the women at fault in cases like this? One in 100? One in 1000? It happens, but it doesn’t happen often.
And a second woman in France has now come forward to report the same behavior years earlier.
Where are you getting your information? That does not square with what’s been reported. And why do 80% of people always jump to defend the alleged rapist, while simultaneously attacking the alleged victim?
Has it ever crossed your mind that the whole reason why some men commit these crimes over and over again is that they know the women will be too afraid to say anything, all because of statements like the one in your post above? The more rich and powerful the man, the more he feels he is above the law, and you are contributing to that.
What you say is true V, and add that to my belief that you have to be a psychopath to get to these postions of power! Still, trial by media is unappealing.
OK. lawyer’s perspective time. Please note that I have never done criminal prosecution or defense work, but I’ve worked places that do and we talk to each other.
The most telling piece of information so far as I can tell is when his defense team threw out the idea that they were going to argue that the sex was consensual. There are two ways to interpret this. One is that they know that SVU has collected so much physical evidence that it is pretty much impossible to claim that they didn’t have sexual contact, no plausible way to mount a “she says he did, he says he didn’t” defense.
The other interpretation is that the lawyer is trying to taint the jury pool by essentially “admitting” to the contact and then when they try to say that he didn’t do it at all, they can claim that everyone on the jury thinks he did because they heard that there was consensual contact. This could set up an appealable issue. I consider this to be less likely as it is the classic “getting off on a technicallity” and would leave his life in permanent shambles - not that it is looking all that great now. Anyway, it is a dangerous game to play and judges are aware of it and don’t like it, so I think this is a bit less likely than the first interpretation.
That’s what all the rapists say. This defense is standard fare.
They don’t have to put up that as a defense unless there is physical evidence. This guy has the best lawyer money can buy. They wouldn’t be leaking it a strategy this early unless they were positive the physical evidence had been preserved.
Rape accusations worked very well in the Wiki Leaks case.
But Steve, no one believes the “rape” accusations about Mr.Leaks. And they aren’t really even “rape” the way most people would define it. This is totally different. It shows a level of arrogance and cruelty that, imo, reveals the nature of the IMF completely.
Who is this man? How was he chosen, and by whom? They are now proposing candidates from a “list” that somehow appeared. Who wrote this list? Can I campaign to be on the IMF? Can I vote for who’s on the IMF?
How do these people get this kind of power? They act like they are above the law because they ARE above the law. The IMF is “international” only because it supercedes governments. NOT COOL!
“How do these people get this kind of power? They act like they are above the law because they ARE above the law.”
Laws are only for the little people.
You do a great disservice to the woman who reported being attacked and the police who are putting together the case when you make assumptions about what happened based on the job of the person accused.
That is not the way the law works.
Polly:
You are not even trying to understand my point. You are being combative because it makes you feel smart. I am trying to say that the IMF would not even have a guy like this if the citizens of the world were given input into the way its members are chosen.
-He is a known womanizer
-Based on what is known so far, he is probably a serial rapist
During an actual election, where PEOPLE get to do the choosing, you don’t even end up on the ballot with that kind of demonstrated lack of moral backbone. That’s what makes these international organizations so dangerous.
Because womanizers never get elected to public office? Becaue people of bad moral character never get elected to public office? You are making assertions that are obviously false.
Womanizing is not looked down on so much by the French. They are in my experience pretty liberal in that regard, as is the law in our own country.
I wasn’t in the room and I won’t be on the jury, so I’ll neither know what went down or even have to decide. In general though, there’s a fair ammunt of space between yes and no. Powerful people tend to assume that anything other than a direct and forceful no is just a pending yes. “Getting to yes,” is pretty much the core competency of their jobs. I’d suspect that HE genuinly thinks that the sex WAS consensual. SHE certainly doesn’t. Now somtimes people think better of their actions after the fact, and what was persuastion becomes rape after the fact.
At it’s heart this appears to be something of a cultural divide between the US and France. Certainly a FAR higher level of harrasment is accepted as par for the course there than here in the land of “no means no.” I wouldn’t be surprised if the old rule of “no bruises” = “no conviction” is still pretty much the rule there.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the old rule of “no bruises” = “no conviction” is still pretty much the rule there.
“What bruises? we don’t see no bruises…”
You know why they currently use high technology ultra-violent lights on certain individuals?
http://www.insidethetape.com/newsletter-3.htm
Polly:
Don’t you know that there is such a thing as “less” and “more”? It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. A man the likes of Frenchie, whose past is undeniably off color, could never dream of being elected to anything. I doubt he ever would have made it to President, even in France. The whole point of elections is to let everyone have a part in the decision. The people on the IMF are not elected. Hence, their misbehavior will be MORE HIGHLY tolerated than otherwise.
I walked the halls of power and the sheer arrogance and number of successful and-without-a-doubt-did-it sexual harassment lawsuits would make your hair turn white.
It’s not an exception, it’s the norm.
Don’t you know it was all a setup? What is with bankers that they think they are a god’s gift to….(fill in the blank)?
The IMF’s mission statement of fighting poverty around the world while their per diem rates are enough to cover $3k/night hotel rooms should raise a few questions.
And he is a self professed socialist.
Dang, how did eyes miss that he’s Swedish!
“would rape some muslim maid and think he could get away with it”
So why throw the word MUSLIM into the mix? Rape is rape and it shouldn’t matter whether the race, religion or age.
The Wall Street corporate elite are equal opportunity sodomizers.
BA DUMP BA!
Because Muslim women are not supposed to tell. That was probably part of his alleged reasoning when he decided to do what he allegedly did. This a man from an organization that pretends to be all about “leveling out the playing field”.
He wants to level it out so that everyone else is running around in like this big old ditch thing, while he hovers above from his Go-Go-Gadget IMF helicopter, shooting at all of us with his paintball gun and making us peel him a grape.
There may be an interesting twist. I read on another blog but have not had time to confirm that the women was staying in apartments reserved for HIV positive people. Apparently, that is being reported in the New York Post. Unfortunate for the woman who now may have her status public knowledge. Of course, she has been unable to work since the attack. Yet, so many people wonder why a rapist might think the rape would go unreported.
Interesting how the law prevents US papers from printing the name of the accuser, but French papers are under no such restriction.
Steve:
The law does not prevent the papers from printing anything. Most respected papers just don’t do it because it makes people mad.
Interesting link: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/imf_accuser_in_apt_for_hiv_vics_oZmUkbtouJ14RHw1434HvJ
She’s a refugee from Somalia whose husband is dead, and who was granted asylum. Something tells me this is someone with a very dark chapter in her past. She comes here, and now this happens to her. Very sad.
Don’t pay attention to any of the “facts” generated in the first week of a major story.
Reporters would rather be “first” than “accurate”.
Add to this the hired spinmeisters, spreading half-truths and outright false data.
his Go-Go-Gadget IMF helicopter…and making us peel him a grape
Wow, right on V!
Battle begins to succeed IMF chief
By Howard Schneider, Thursday, May 19, 5:46 AM
The fight to succeed Dominique Strauss-Kahn as head of the International Monetary Fund will involve some of the world’s top economic minds in what is already shaping up as a bare-knuckle political fight over the future of the agency.
European officials were quick to close ranks on Thursday, insisting that one of their own be allowed to serve the remainder of Strauss-Kahn’s five-year term, which was to end next year. French finance minister Christine Lagarde is considered a top possibility.
Since World War II the head of the IMF has been a European male, a tradition that developing economic powers like China, India and Brazil feel it is time to end.
A host of European leaders, however, said Thursday they were hunting for a consensus candidate among themselves. As a bloc, the European nations hold about a third of the votes within the IMF.
“I think that in the current situation, in which we have significant problems with the euro and the IMF is strongly involved in this, there is something to be said for it being possible to put up a European candidate and to canvass for that in the international community,” German chancellor Angela Merkel said in Berlin.
She said the developing nations had a “legitimate claim” to hold the position, but in the “medium term.” Europe is involved in sensitive negotiations to resolve a series of government debt and other economic problems, and European officials argue that someone with strong political credentials within the European Union — like Strauss-Kahn had — should at least complete Strauss-Kahn’s term.
…
I am amazed how the fact he is rich makes him guilty. If I recall the Duke rape accuser lied through her teeth, but the press crucified the young men accused and she was never prosecuted (until killing someone).
I am not defending him, but a case like this is his word against hers and it would not be the first time some woman lied hoping to cash in on a rich and powerful person.
The idea of being locked up for life ONLY based on accusations is pretty scary to me I don’t know about the rest of you. Obviously if there is evidence of rape then convict the jerk and throw away the key, but let the facts and evidence speak and ignore anything either of them says.
GH:
Where did you read that he is going to be locked up for life because of her “word”? It was my understanding that there was probable cause for a trial, and that he is being held because he is a flight risk who belongs to a country that refuses to extradite. They housed a child rapist over there for decades, member?
What’s your recommendation? We should just tell her to shut up and put up and then let him go? Where does that leave the rest of us?
I heard she has AIDs! Uh oh.
Everyone do a shot of JD!
————————
Weekly Claims See Fall, (409k) But Jobs Picture Remains Weak
CNBC | 05-19-2011 | Staff
New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week, but a rise in the four-week moving average to a six-month high indicated the labor market recovery will remain painfully slow.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell 29,000 to a seasonally adjusted 409,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday, continuing to unwind the prior weeks spike.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims dropping to 420,000. The prior weeks figure was revised up to 438,000 from the previously reported 434,000.
The four-week moving average of unemployment claims, a better measure of underlying trends, rose 1,250 to 439,000 - the highest level since mid-November.
The recent jump in claims, blamed on auto layoffs because of supply chain disruptions from March’s Japanese earthquake and problems with adjusting data for seasonal variations, had raised fears of a pull back in the pace of job creation.
400K is the new normal.
Is anyone talking about the effect of the flooding on unemployment claims?
(400,000 x 52) + longest average period of unemployment since the depression = we’re effed
And yet… they don’t stop and realize what hope n’ change has done for them.
—————————-
Many With New College Degree Find the Job Market Humbling (Tough Job Market for New Grads)
New York Times | 05/19/2011 | Catherine Rampell
The individual stories are familiar. The chemistry major tending bar. The classics major answering phones. The Italian studies major sweeping aisles at Wal-Mart.
Now evidence is emerging that the damage wrought by the sour economy is more widespread than just a few careers led astray or postponed. Even for college graduates — the people who were most protected from the slings and arrows of recession — the outlook is rather bleak.
Employment rates for new college graduates have fallen sharply in the last two years, as have starting salaries for those who can find work. What’s more, only half of the jobs landed by these new graduates even require a college degree, reviving debates about whether higher education is “worth it” after all.
“I have friends with the same degree as me, from a worse school, but because of who they knew or when they happened to graduate, they’re in much better jobs,” said Kyle Bishop, 23, a 2009 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh who has spent the last two years waiting tables, delivering beer, working at a bookstore and entering data. “It’s more about luck than anything else.”
The median starting salary for students graduating from four-year colleges in 2009 and 2010 was $27,000, down from $30,000 for those who entered the work force in 2006 to 2008, according to a study released on Wednesday by the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University. That is a decline of 10 percent, even before taking inflation into account.
…
Meanwhile, college graduates are having trouble paying off student loan debt, which is at a median of $20,000 for graduates of classes 2006 to 2010.
Mr. Bishop, the Pittsburgh graduate, said he is “terrified” of the effects his starter jobs might have on his ultimate career, which he hopes to be in publishing or writing. “It looks bad to have all these short-term jobs on your résumé, but you do have to pay the bills,” he said, adding that right now his student loan debt was over $70,000.
Many graduates will probably take on more student debt. More than 60 percent of those who graduated in the last five years say they will need more formal education to be successful.
Its been this way for over a decade.
When completed my bachelors back in the stone age, we had plenty of quality recruiters come and do on campus interviews and many of us wound up with multiple job offers before commencement (at a non elite university(.
Fast foward to 2005, when I once again donned a mortarboard participated in commencement (this time for my masters). This time the recruiters were conspicuous by their absence. There were a few events where recruiters came to events, but there were no on campus interviews and students were told to apply at the company’s black hole website.
This is when I learned that most students graduating with a bachelors were sticking with the menial jobs they already had in retail and restaurant work (I recall a Paul Craig Roberts article article about this). And mind you, this was during the “go go” bubble when jobs were supposed to be plentiful. The thing is, there were a lot of jobs, they just weren’t good jobs. This wasn’t surpising as the offshoring machine was already firing on all cylinders.
During that period I saw row after row of cubicles at the HP site in Fort Collins suddenly become vacant and the parking lot reflected this. And it wasn’t just HP. All the “quality” employers in Fort Collins were laying off, even during the “boom” times.
Someone yesterday said that this current crop of grads is yet another “lost generation”. Many will go back to grad school, not that their investment will pay off. I was considering working on a masters in computer science at CSU , but at $600/unit plus the fact that they will only teach me stuff that I probably already know I doubt that the ROI is there. The last thing I want right now is 20K in student loan debt for a worthless degree.
“Its been this way for over a decade.”
Absolutely! Nothing new at all, only perhaps it’s more widespread at the moment.
I’ve a book on my shelf entitled “Boob Jubilee” (a must read for a lot of HBBers as it skewers the “new economy” through short stories - very entertaining) - it speaks of this in detail and IIRC, it was complied in the mid-late 90s.
How long until Indian Universities start programs for American students?
I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see the Indian Institute of Technology be a major game-changer in this area. Especially when it comes to distance learning via the Internet.
They already do. From what I heard many first and second generation Indians go to India/Nepal and attend those private medical schools and come back to US/Europe as doctors.
Come back home to the refinery
Hiring mans says “Son, if it was up to me….”
Went down to see my VA man
He said “Son, don’t you understand?”
Down in the shadow of the penitentiary
Out by the gas fires of the refinery.
I’m ten years burning down the road
Nowhere to run, ain’t got nowhere to go.
Change “ten years” to “27 years”……..Otherwise, nothing has changed much.
Try 4 decades. This headline could be from the 1970s.
Despite the bullcrap, a college degree is no guarantee of anything. Making connections at big name schools, now that means something.
Are you seriously this dense? To think that Obama or any president for that matter can pull out a magic wand and miraculously fix the labor market?
What the hell is a guy “hoping” to find work in publishing and writing doing with $70k in student loans?
That is the size of the student loan debt I had when I graduated from law school and had a job offer lined up at one of the best firms in the city making an absurdly large salary. Without lucking into a really cheap apartment (400 square foot studio for $725 a month including utilities), I would have had a hard time making ends meet at the beginning. Now, his interest rates are probably a heck of a lot lower than mine were, but that is one terrible financial situation.
The interest rates are so much lower, it’s hard to compare. I graduated just a few years ago with over $30k in debt. My bill is all of $200 a month. My electric bill is higher than that. I’d guess his bill is in the $500-$600 dollar range at most, which isn’t fun, but it isn’t a backbreaker either. His car payment is probaby comparable.
My question is why would someone who wants to be a writer care about having short term jobs? The majority of the writers I know are all freelance.
My question is why would someone who wants to be a writer care about having short term jobs? The majority of the writers I know are all freelance.
As mentioned elsewhere in today’s Bucket, most of my writing career has happened while I’ve worked outside of the publishing industry.
And I’m not the only one.
Remember William Carlos Williams, the poet? His day job was pediatrician. He wrote his poetry in between consultations with patients and their parents.
I think it depends on what his combination of government and private loans were. The private ones have higher interest rates. And there is no info on whether he consolidated or not. $500 to $600 a month is nothing to sneeze at whebn yo are just starting out. Mine was about $1000 a month, as near as I can recall. I still think it is a heck of an extra burden when you are stuck in a Mcjob or three.
$600/month student loan payment.
McJobs are paying $10/hour, if you are lucky……$400 a week, before taxes, paying for transportation, food, etc.
Do-able, if you don’t spend money on anything but getting back and forth to work, and live for free in your parent’s basement.
Work, go to the barracks ….Repeat for 6-7 years.
Functionally, no different than being in the Gulag. Except for paying the student loan.
The last thing the PTB should want is 20-30 million unemployed/underemployed 20-somethings.
While I don’t disagree in general, this particular guy wants to be a writer. They had the internet 5 years ago, it couldn’t be a big surprise to him to paying writing jobs are on the decline.
I think there’s value in going to college even if you only get a McJob afterwards, but you gotta do some work on your own to and make sure your college lifestyle supports your post-grad lifestyle. College doesn’t have to cost $70k.
Given that even state U tuitions are approaching 10K per year, graduating with a ton of student loan debt is not surprising, especially since its handed out like candy.
I suppose that English majors can find jobs in technical writing. Probably not what they expected to do when they started out. Some might get jobs in PR in big companies. But I suspect that the less talented will be out of luck and wind up selling insurance or houses or cars.
I suppose that English majors can find jobs in technical writing. Probably not what they expected to do when they started out. Some might get jobs in PR in big companies. But I suspect that the less talented will be out of luck and wind up selling insurance or houses or cars.
And ya know what? You can make some pretty serious money as a tech writer. I’ve known many people who’ve done just that.
Same goes for PR in big companies. That pays pretty well too.
Ditto for sales. If you’re good at it, you can do quite well. Especially in technical and industrial sales.
Oh, and ya know something else? Your life experience is the stuff of what you can write about during your off hours. Heck, look at that guy who has the “Dirty Jobs” show. Great material in those nasty jobs.
I was going to say the same thing. I am looking for at least two technical writers in my project. They are not easy to find I tell you.
I hear you, butters.
And, from a personal standpoint, I’ve found that getting pushed off my original career track has worked wonders for my writing career.
Originally, I wanted to pursue a career in publishing. Right after I graduated from the University of Michigan, I took an editorial position with a small organization located in Ann Arbor. My plan was to work there for a year so I could gain enough experience to head off to the Big Apple without being a complete rookie.
Well, the bicycling bug bit me pretty hard, and I’ve regaled everyone with plenty of stories about what happened next. In a nutshell, I was laid off from the small organization, and, instead of heading to NYC, I hopped on my bike and went exploring.
It to say that it was five and a half years before I found another publishing-related job, and I only lasted a year in it. Turned out that I’d been hired by the Boss from Hell, and she’s also run my predecessor out the door.
When that job went south, guess what? Back to the bike again! Woo-hoo!
All those bicycling miles have added up to a much more interesting life than the one I would have had while climbing the publishing ladder. Add this to my Cornish/Irish/Scottish/German ancestry — which throws a storytelling penchant and world-class stubborn-ness into the mix — and you have quite a lot of writing material.
How much is the pay?
How come everytime I ask someone on this blog how much a job that they can’t fill pays I always hear crickets chirping? Is it because you are paying below market wages?
I ask because whenever we have an opening where I work we get a ton of qualified applicants and we can cherry pick who we want.
Range is 50,000 - 70,000 for the mid level tech writers. 3 to 5 yrs of solid experience.
Your implication that this is somehow Obama’s doing only showcases your stubborn blindness toward the failures of the policies you support.
I’m thinkin’ x2banana has a split-personality.
Janus Mutual Funds hires new grads in Denver to do telephone customer service. Through a staffing agency, temp only, no benefits, at $11.50 per hour. I know undergrad econ and finance majors, MBA’s, and at least 1 law school graduate that worked there as it was their best and only offer at the time.
At a place I used to work at in Boulder we hired Computer Science grads from CU to do tech support work for $12/hr.
Where I am now we have a guy with a CU law degree doing software testing. He’s luck though, he makes about 45K. Still I suppose he thought he would be doing better than that when he enrolled in law school (he passed the bar too).
I’ve got an unemployed recent law school grad across the street from me. Moved back in with his parents after passing the bar exam. Just can’t find work.
Our law school grad software tester got into Q/A because of a friend (it also helped that he can write reports that are coherent).
““terrified” of the effects his starter jobs might have on his ultimate career, which he hopes to be in publishing or writing.”
Publishing or writing? Better get used to those starter jobs.
Isn’t this true for just about everything now?
How many kids majoring in Biz Admin land a real job instead of continuing their waitstaffing gig at some chain casual dining restaurant? (I knew a guy with a CS degree who stuck with his college bartending gig). How many teaching grads are finding jobs? (remember the stories of “impending teacher shortages”). Maybe EEs and Chem Es are finding jobs, but you have to be on the far right end of the bell curve to be good at those.
For a while everyone tried to jump onto the healthcare bandwagon, but now that’s saturated and employers can pick and choose. Gone are the days when RNs would get signing bonuses.
Yes. It’s true for just about everything. There simply aren’t enough jobs, let alone decent paying ones. Period.
This means that merit goes out the door and patronage become the norm.
Cheney-Shrub Legacy Effect #3: “We left y’all with the worst POS economy in 80 years…see ya!”
Hurry, hurry, slipperybanana,… re-assemble it! We need to get to grandma’s house before the Big Bad Wolf!
http://image.internetautoguide.com/f/auto-news/2010-hyundai-genesis-sedan-disassembled-on-its-new-interactive-website/27465436/2010-hyundai-genesis-sedan-disassembled.jpg
Well it’s good thing he finally caught bin Laden. Yesiree! How dare that Obama guy take credit!
Mr. Bishop, the Pittsburgh graduate, said he is “terrified” of the effects his starter jobs might have on his ultimate career, which he hopes to be in publishing or writing. “It looks bad to have all these short-term jobs on your résumé, but you do have to pay the bills,” he said, adding that right now his student loan debt was over $70,000.
I’ve been there, Mr. B. What you need to do is write. As in, be a freelance writer. You can start a blog on Blogger for free if you have to.
Then, carve out time to write. Every day. Even if you’re using your dead-end jobs as material, heck, it’s material.
And, while you’re writing, bang on the door of every publishing outlet you can. Eventually, someone will publish your stuff. And those clips will help you find your way back into a publishing job.
I did it. So can you, Mr. B.
I wouldn’t be so terrified; it’s not like there aren’t about 40 million people that are in the same boat. If anybody actually needed to hire anyone, a few holes in the resume won’t matter.
We’re short about 40 million jobs. Poof. Gone. Not coming back. No “new paradigm” or “technology breakthrough” anywhere on the horizon for new jobs to be created.
All kinds of social and financial ills would be fixed if these 40 million people were able to find work. Admitting that they fooked up by enabling and promoting outsourcing will mean the PTB join the breadlines too, and/or there will be a run on torches and pitchforks. So the plan is to muddy the waters, and hope the sheeple are too busy trying to scratch out an existence to start putting 2 + 2 together.
The economy is stuck at approx 60% of the 2006-2007 level. The only hiring being done is attrition replacements.
The trick for everyone is the transition to being able to pay the bills on 60% of your 2007 income.
Nailed it in one.
Broward chief judge joining foreclosure firm; Palm Beach chief judge says more judges may resign
By Kimberly Miller Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 4:19 p.m. Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Broward County Chief Judge Victor Tobin is resigning from the bench to work for the Law Offices of Marshall C. Watson, a South Florida firm that recently paid $2 million to settle a state investigation into its foreclosure practices.
Tobin, 64, announced late Tuesday in a four sentence e-mail to staff at the 17th Circuit Court that his last day will be June 30.
The news shocked foreclosure defense attorneys who said it is unusual for a judge with three years remaining in his term to leave the bench, and questioned the move to a so-called “foreclosure mill.”
The firm made no admission of wrongdoing in its March settlement with the Florida attorney general’s office, agreeing to provide proof in all of its open foreclosure cases that the loan is in default and the plaintiff is entitled to collect.
Still, Weston real estate attorney Roy Oppenheim said Tobin’s decision could exacerbate a perception of impropriety.
“He’s going to a firm that perpetuated perceived fraud on the court that he was in charge of,” Oppenheim said. “It’s bizarre. It’s a sad state of affairs.”
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/money/foreclosures/broward-chief-judge-joining-foreclosure-firm-palm-beach-1483478.html - -
Naw, it’s the new normal. Now get back to work, serf! I don’t if you don’t have job! Look busy! It’s your own fault!
Realtors Are Liars
Rich spend, others scrimp, retail reports show
Retail earnings reports show gas prices widening gap between wealthy and everyone else
Anne D’Innocenzio, AP Retail Writer, On Wednesday May 18, 2011, 7:33 pm EDT
NEW YORK (AP) — High gas prices are driving a wider wedge between the wealthy and everybody else.
The rich are back to pre-recession-style splurging: Saks Fifth Avenue and Nordstrom customers are treating themselves to luxury items like $5,000 Hermes handbags and $700 Jimmy Choo shoes, and they’re paying full price.
At Target and Walmart, shoppers are concentrating on groceries and skipping even little luxuries. BJ’s Wholesale Corp. said Wednesday that its customers are buying more hamburger and chicken and less steak and buying smaller packs to save money.
“The average shopper isn’t in the game, except for necessities,” said Faith Hope Consolo, chairman of retail leasing and marketing at Prudential Douglas Elliman. At the same time, among the rich, “Luxury products are selling like bread.”
J.C. Penney, Wal-Mart and home-improvement retailer Lowe’s Cos. all said they’re noticing their customers are consolidating shopping trips to save money on gas as the average price hovers near $4 a gallon.
More than a half-dozen corporate earnings reports this week show that, for the affluent, rising prices are merely a nuisance. For others, they can mean scrimping to put food on the table.
The wealthy were the first to start spending again after the recession. Middle-class Americans’ spending started picking up late last year.
But the retail earnings results show that rising prices for gas and food, particularly meat, dairy and produce, have started to erode spending power.
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/110518/us_consumer_divide.html - -
Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%
This kind of article shows how stupid the media thinks people are. Increases in the costs of basics always are severe on the hand to mouth crowd. Others less so. IMO the drum beating is to distract most of us from what has really changed, and who did it.
“For others, they can mean scrimping to put food on the table.”
Well, that’s what they get for not being born into a rich family! What were they thinking?
The idea of spending $700 on a pair of shoes boggles the mind. That’s more than the average family spends on groceries in a month.
There is a Jimmy Choo along the way when I walk to the Metro. I seriously don’t know how anyone can even walk in them. No idea at all.
Their hips and backs take the pouding, but they look good so who cares…….
Latest report says retail numbers are up, but due directly to inflation.
What you REALLY have to dig to find is that there is NO cause for the inflation except they just felt raising the prices. At least, that’s what the increased profit margins are telling me.
Keep your hands off of my stack…
Federal workers lash out at benefits cut
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Federal workers have a message for the White House: Keep your hands off my retirement benefits.
Already enduring a two-year pay freeze in the name of deficit reduction, federal employees are now facing cuts to their generous retirement packages — a possible outcome of bipartisan debt talks led by Vice president Joe Biden.
“Federal workers need to be part of the dialogue, but they can’t be on the receiving end of every proposal,” said Virginia Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly, who represents many government employees.
At least one union has held discussions in recent days with officials from the White House, the Office of Management and Budget and Office of Personnel Management about changes to pensions.
Federal workers have faced a whirlwind of change — and not much of it good — in just a few months. President Obama requested, and Congress approved, a two-year pay freeze late last year.
“Frankly, I was chagrined to see, that of all the [deficit reduction] proposals, the only one President Obama chose to single out last year was the one to freeze pay for federal employees,” Connolly said.
I recall asking an acquaintance who works for the Fed Gov’t if he was worried about the deficits and if they might have an impact on him. He laughed and said no. This was two years ago. I haven’t seen him since. I wonder if he’s still laughing. He was also a double dipper, retired from the military (non combat) and now has a six figure fedgov job.
I guess if I really think about it, he’s still laughing.
We are not laughing.
And yet, here’s Obie-wan at the State Department pledging aid to the Middle Eastern nations pursuing “democracy”. Just hit the Washington Post. A stirring speech on how our fate is tied to theirs. Feh. Patooie.
If I were a Federal/State employee, I wouldn’t voluntarily give back a dime, as long as the PTB insist on giving that money to the MNCs and banksters for bailouts and tax cuts.
Sorry guys, but FDR did the same thing.
MARKETS
MAY 17, 2011, 2:43 P.M. ET
At J.P. Morgan Meeting: Protests Outside, Peace Inside
By DAVID BENOIT
COLUMBUS, Ohio—J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive James Dimon faced a relatively calm annual meeting with shareholders here. Outside the meeting, however, it was a different story.
While Mr. Dimon faced persistent questions about mortgage issues plaguing the industry, the meeting itself provided few other instances of shareholder angst. The meeting ended in less than three hours, and shareholders voted in line with the board’s recommendations on every proposal and re-elected every board member.
Outside the meeting, held at a sprawling bank complex that houses the second-largest number of J.P. Morgan employees outside the New York headquarters, scores of protesters gathered. They were kept far at bay, both by the grounds’ moat-like ponds and a legion of police, including horse-mounted officers.
The Associated Press reported that police had each entrance blocked ahead of the meeting, as protesters gathered in the rain and cold chanting slogans such as “Make Banks Pay” and carried signs that said: “Chase gets rich, we lose homes, jobs, services.” At least 20 police cruisers circled the building.
Security members said some protesters attempted to use a homemade bridge and others tossed a raft into a pond. They left before the meeting ended.
According to the AP, at least one person was handcuffed after a group of about 400 protesters marched up Chase’s property and placed a sign on a raft floating in a pond. The sign read: “Foreclosed: Chase sinks our economy.”
…
“…including horse-mounted officers…”
They’re calling out the Cossaks in Columbus?! In Columbus?!
OPINION
MAY 19, 2011
Washington’s Robo-Signing Bank Heist
The administration wants a $20 billion slush fund to ‘help’ homeowners.
By KARL ROVE
At last Wednesday’s “CBS Town Hall,” President Obama said he was “trying to . . . figure out how we can get the banks to do more” on modifying mortgage loan payments. Perhaps, he said, people whose mortgages are underwater should get a “principal reduction, which will be good for the person who owns . . . the home.”
Mr. Obama has decided that taxpayers have no appetite for bailing out homeowners who don’t make their payments, or for rescuing those whose homes are worth less than their mortgages. Instead, he’s backing a proposal by his Department of Justice and state attorneys general to force major banks to cough up the dough.
The money would come from a settlement with JP Morgan Chase, Citibank, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and other banks accused of “robo-signing,” in which foreclosure documents were signed by bank employees or agents without properly certifying all the papers. The attorneys general admit that virtually no one was erroneously foreclosed upon because of robo-signing. The banks foreclosed on people who were on average 18 months delinquent, and after multiple attempts to modify the loan had been tried and failed.
But Justice and the state attorneys general are demanding $20 billion for sloppiness, which they will then be able to hand out to voters—and potential supporters. The money won’t come from the banks; it will come from their customers, millions of whom will pay more in fees and interest and will, in some cases, be denied credit.
This stinks. It’s not only corrupt, it’s bad policy.
…
Karl Rove -Please, the pot is calling the kettle black.
“demanding $20 billion for sloppiness,”
To someone like Rove, multiple acts of fraud is seen as ’sloppiness’. Isn’t that the mentality that brought us the bubble?
‘Let’s not worry about a little froth’, said Greenie.
To someone like Rove, multiple acts of fraud can incur a state of permanent priapism.
It was sloppy to get caught.
Rove should be added to the list of: “Morally/intellectually bankrupt people who should never be allowed to speak or write publicly ever again”.
Fraud/forgery = “sloppiness” These guys have created their own alternative universe, with it’s own language.
‘There is no genuine justice in any scheme of feeding and coddling the loafer whose only ponderable energies are devoted wholly to reproduction. Nine-tenths of the rights he bellows for are really privileges and he does nothing to deserve them.’ Despite the billions spent on an individual, ‘he can be lifted transiently but always slips back again.’ Thus the New Deal had been ‘the most stupendous digenetic* enterprise ever undertaken by man …. We not only acquired a vast population of morons, we have inculcated all morons, young or old, with the doctrine that the decent and industrious people of the country are bound to support them for all time. The effects of that doctrine are bound to be disastrous soon or late.”
~ H.L. Mencken
Mencken was particularly critical of anti-intellectualism, populism, bigotry and racism, Christian fundamentalism, creationism, the existence of god.
He must be some sort of hero in South Carolina!
Since he was opposed to welfare, he probably is.
How many synagogues in SC as opposed to other temples of faith?
As Hitler gradually conquered Europe, Mencken attacked President Franklin D. Roosevelt for refusing to admit Jewish refugees into the United States:
There is only one way to help the fugitives, and that is to find places for them in a country in which they can really live. Why shouldn’t the United States take in a couple hundred thousand of them, or even all of them?
“There is no genuine justice in any scheme of feeding and coddling the loafer ”
Hear, hear! Let’s raise the capital gains tax rates to the same as income tax rates!
Why coddle the loafers?!
Well, it might be a good idea to EQUALIZE CG and ordinary income tax rates, but why not lower ordinary income rates to match? Why do you always think in the direction of increasing taxes?
Because we have observed the maleffects of the tax decreases.
Someone has to pay for the military that defends the interests of super rich across the globe.
Hwy, do you agree or disagree with Mencken’s quote?
Hwy, do you agree or disagree with Mencken’s quote?
Colorado was nearer to the intellectual “unseen” point-of-sacrifice:
Someone has to pay for the military children (some numbers who are the sons & daughters of Mr. Mencken’s “Moron’s”) that defends the interests of super rich (& by “intellectual” extension: every single US citizen) across the globe.
So Bill, I guess I’d to say Mr. Mencken seems to discount the “hidden-value” of keeping a ready supply on “moron’s” at hand to keep the Nations fabric whole & fit to wear. I disagree wholeheartedly with
this “perspective”.However, I do agree with his approach on this subject matter:
Democracy
“Rather than dismissing democratic governance as a popular fallacy or treating it with open contempt, Mencken’s response to it was a publicized sense of amusement.”
Oh, sorry, I forgot we have to make sure the government has plenty of money for bailouts and wars.
Hwy, do you agree or disagree with Mencken’s quote?
There is no genuine justice in any scheme of feeding and coddling the loafer
Who would disagree with that? What I disagree with is someone posting that quote presuming it reflects the current reality of our economic and societal time. Like Americans are loafers or that we’re loafers because we might get subsistence level support to keep us from starving?
On the whole, this is a BS lie perpetuated by the rich to divide us and steal what we have left. And the proof that Americans are not loafers is in the fact that when jobs are available, Americans work as we have done in every economic upturn including the last one where the 4.6% unemployment level represented almost full employment.
It’s stupid. I’m surprised so many “smart” people fall for this Cato institute, Koch brothers, middle-class wealth stripping propaganda crap in light of our economic reality foisted upon us by the rich traitors to our own people. It’s like saying Americans are loafers because they have no available jobs.
excuse me Rio, I need to add a reminder just-about-here:
And the proof that Americans are not loafers is in the fact that
Sir Greensisspent most spoken words: “American’s productivity index is beyound the pale!”
I believe that’s how he “earned” the Queen’s “endearment” & medal of honor.
“It’s like saying Americans are loafers because they have no available jobs.”
Like? That’s EXACTLY what it’s saying.
The beatings will continue until moral improves.
“It’s like saying Americans are loafers because they have no available jobs.”
Like? That’s EXACTLY what it’s saying.
Like, I like saying like.
I notice that the usual libertarian/conservative crowd didn’t bother to do any critical thinking whatsoever. Let’s go to the videotape:
“There is no genuine justice in any scheme of feeding and coddling the loafer whose only ponderable energies are devoted wholly to reproduction.”
Last time I checked, those “loafers” had plenty of ponderable energy unrelated to producing children, BUT THEIR JOBS WERE OFFSHORED! Or taken over by illegals, or automated out of existance. Or now require a college degree which is either too hard (not everyone is a high IQ) or too expensive. Or those “loafers” are the elderly who already spent quite a bit of ponderable energy making this country great 30-40 years ago.
Bring those jobs back and you will see those armies of loafers disappear within months.
I notice that the usual libertarian/conservative crowd didn’t bother to do any critical thinking whatsoever
Dogmatics don’t think. They prefer to let others do it for them.
Alinsky’s Rules For Radicals, Rule 5: Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. It’s hard to counterattack ridicule, and it infuriates the opposition, which then reacts to your advantage.
It’s hard to counterattack ridicule,
Especially so when it’s easily understood, based on truth, a little funny and fully warranted.
Indeed. Facts are difficult to counter.
See above.
Dogmatics? Wasn’t that an 80s band? Wasn’t their one hit wonder song, “Nothing Bad Ever Happens To Me (so why should I care)?”
Why is there not one Goldman Sachs executive in jail…?
————————-
You Won’t Read This Story About Goldman
WSJ.com | 5/19/2011 | David Weidner
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is in trouble again.
Still reading? If you are, you must be a Goldman employee, regulator, class-action lawyer, financial journalist or trolling the Internet for news about Steve Jobs. (See how I dropped the name to make this column more Google-friendly?)
No one seems to care much about Goldman’s latest troubles, and many Americans seem numb to more allegations of wrongdoing related to the financial crisis.
Yet they keep coming, especially at Goldman. One of the biggest was last week’s disclosure that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s staff has “orally advised” the company that it “intends to recommend … aiding and abetting, civil fraud and supervision-related charges” against the trade-clearing unit at Goldman.
In addition, Goldman said the Justice Department is reviewing data related to credit-default swaps and fee arrangements for clearing of credit-default swaps, including potential anticompetitive practices. European regulators are also investigating.
And remember Abacus? That’s the collateralized debt obligation created by Goldman that morphed into a $550 million fraud settlement. There are more subpoenas on that gem, Goldman said last week.
Goldman declined to comment beyond the disclosures it made in its quarterly report and didn’t offer any additional comment Wednesday.
“Why is there not one Goldman Sachs executive in jail…?”
Because the justice defartment is more interested in prosecuting Arizona for trying to protect itself and seeking out non-existent hate and racial bias crimes.
That’s why.
Any objection to 50 million sons of aztlan coming here to reconquista is Racist. You are a Racist. Go directly to Diversity and Cultural Sensitivity training, do not pass GO, do not collect $200.
Dollars or Pesos?
Also, a curious tidbit:
In Mexico, there is a board game that closely resembles Monopoly called “Turista” (Tourist). I saw many flavors of the game during my years in Mexico: Nacional, Americano, Mundial and even a Disneyland version.
The layout on the board is similar to Monopoly. States/Countries/etc. are grouped into groups of 3 and categorized by color. If you collect all 3 you can build houses and hotels on them. You collect $200 when you pass “Salida” (Exit) or Mexico in the Mundial version. There are cars similar to Change and Community chest: “Carta” (letter) and Telegrama . The railroads are airlines. There are a few slight differences, such as the location of the jail. Otherwise its a blatant rip off.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_REYDONcRiq8/ShjcjhrIeoI/AAAAAAAAAnU/Jho6Gx7pgms/s400/Tablero+Turista.jpg
And that is your cultural tidbit of the day
Here’s some very interesting research from a University of Arizona sociologist:
Why Russians Think Americans Don’t Own Their Homes
Key points from the above article:
“Few Russians are willing to take out mortgages because the risk of foreclosure is unacceptable, and because they view interest payments – which they call overpayments – as unfair. As one Russian put it: ‘To enter into a mortgage is to become a slave for 30 years, with the bank as your master.’”
Maybe Lenin wasn’t full of crap after all. His children understand that debt == slavery.
The commies are the real conservatives!
‘To enter into a mortgage is to become a slave for 30 years, with the bank as your master.’”
Alot of truth in that statement.
And Russia has a flat tax to boot.
You can learn alot from ex-commies…
You can learn alot from ex-commies… 2banana
From what I see, your American, “free-market” heroes are learning fast from the ex-commies…..
Russia is a corrupt, autocratic kleptocracy… in which officials, oligarchs and organised crime are bound together to create a “virtual mafia state”, The guardian dot com
You have problem with Corporate Communist Capitalism©®™, comrade?
Fair argument. What do the Russians think about the property taxes? Even if you arefully paid, you still owe the government forever, no?
Property ownership makes no sense under communism. The government owns all property, and only allows you to use it as the government sees fit. If you think property taxes are an encroachment, then you haven’t been to Russia.
Russians don’t pay property taxes.
They do pay land taxes.
‘To enter into a mortgage is to become a slave for 30 years, with the bank as your master.’”
Paid a mortgage from 1984-2005 it didn’t feel that bad. Paying rent to 2 deadbeat LLs from 2005 -2011 has made me feel much more like a slave. A slave with a deadbeat master no less.
Islands in the stream: The extraordinary homemade dams holding back the Mississippi as desperate residents try to save their homes
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1388660/Mississippi-River-flooding-Residents-build-homemade-dams-saves-houses.html#ixzz1Mp3rsrLh
Good find.
Arnie “The Gropernator”, has inter-stellar sit-u-ational galactic company:
Lone Wanderers: No Warmth of the Sun for Some Planets:
By Rachelle Dragani / TechNewsWorld - 05/19/11
Floating throughout the Milky Way Galaxy, these planets — researchers identified about 10 of them — were probably formed when they were “ejected” from different planetary systems following a violent
spatialspousal encounter.The Rambling Planets:
The idea of planets kicked out of their solar systems isn’t new.
The “Gropernator” might want to pay attention to the data from this source:
Additional projects are even undergoing right now, like the Kepler Spacecraft, which its website calls a “Search for Habitable Planets.”
Same old BS and it will continue as we get closer to circling the drain. You can bet the same voting morons will pull the trigger for the same lowlifes next year, and so it goes…
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Not raising the U.S. debt ceiling would be bad for the economy and would force the government to default on either its bonds or domestic programs, the top White House economist said on Thursday.
“It would not be good for the economy,” said Austan Goolsbee, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. If the ceiling isn’t raised before early August, the government would have to default on its bonds, social security, Medicare or military pay, though he added it was impossible to say which one the United States would choose”
~~ What this White House spokesperson is saying is - we are committed to a debt treadmill that will lead to the huge economic correction which must come. We can’t stop now. The pain would be unbearable. We must keep borrowing and let somebody in the future take the hit. We’re just not up to it. We don’t have the backbone to apply the spending brakes.
The U.S. government is accustomed to spending money it does not have on things it does not need, and the White House is saying that reckless policy must continue. Don’t speak of balancing the budget and shutting off the currency printing presses. It would ruin Washington politicians’ chances for re-election in 2012.
It occurs to me that the media cheerleading for high house prices is like cheerleading for high food costs, high medical costs, or high energy costs.
Yes, it benefits certain players in the system, but ultimately, it’s bad for the economy. I guess if farmers had a lobby… well… we kind of see this with the continuing use of ethanol. Even Al Gore admitted ethanol was a mistake, yet the government refuses to back off. Crony capitalism at its finest.
Got a notice on my door in Tampa that my apartment has been sold but my lease will be honored to the end. That takes me through the end of September. Not sure if an individual or real estate firm owns it. But I am renting most of my stuff anyway.
If they want me to vacate for some reason, I will find another apartment in August/September. But I have an idea they want to be Donald Trumps.
Good luck to them!
I expect another 25% decline in housing prices nationwide, with larger declines in areas formerly referred to as “a bit frothy,” would be sufficient for the U.S. housing market to bottom out. After that happened, I believe there indeed would be signs of hope among the gloom.
The housing market
The darkest hour
Signs of hope among the gloom
May 19th 2011 | WASHINGTON, DC | from the print edition
AT THE ripe old age of five years, America’s housing bust is still very much alive and kicking. House prices dropped 3.3% in the year to February according to the S&P/Case-Shiller index, the fastest decline since November 2009. The Federal Reserve’s preferred measure, the CoreLogic house-price index, showed an even worse one-year decline of 7.5% in March. And Zillow, an online real-estate database, recently said that prices fell 8.2% in the year to March. Zillow has reported falling prices for 57 consecutive months.
The latest housing hiccup has Americans worried that a new phase of the crash is under way. Two years ago, housing appeared to hit bottom. Prices and sales levelled off thanks to low interest rates and a generous housing tax credit. But that respite ended last summer. The tax credit expired just as a broader economic chill descended, and price declines resumed. Some forecasters expect another 5% to 10% fall in prices before the market rights itself. <b?Robert Shiller, of Case-Shiller index and irrational exuberance fame, reckons a further 25% decline is not out of the question.
…
BUSINESS
MAY 20, 2011
Goldman Braces for Federal Subpoenas
Bank Expects a Demand for Mortgage Documents; Move Would Follow Senate Subcommittee’s Report
By LIZ RAPPAPORT And JEAN EAGLESHAM
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executives expect to receive subpoenas soon from U.S. prosecutors seeking more information about the securities firm’s mortgage-related business, according to people familiar with the situation.
Officials at the New York company believe the Justice Department will demand certain documents and other information, possibly within days, these people said. Spokesmen for Goldman and the Justice Department declined to comment Thursday.
Subpoenas don’t necessarily mean criminal charges against Goldman or individuals at the firm are inevitable or even likely. The company turned over hundreds of millions of pages of documents to the Federal Crisis Inquiry Commission, a 10-member panel that examined the causes of the financial crisis. Goldman also gave tens of millions of documents to the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
Last month, the Senate subcommittee referred its findings to the Justice Department, and Goldman officials anticipate any subpoenas would be issued in response to the information now being sifted through by prosecutors, said the people familiar with the situation.
The subcommittee’s 639-page report, completed after a two-year probe of the mortgage machine built by Wall Street firms before the crisis, accused Goldman of making a huge bet against the housing market, misleading investors, mismanaging conflicts of interests and putting its interests ahead of those of clients.
Sen. Carl Levin (D., Mich.), who leads the Senate subcommittee, has said Goldman should be investigated criminally for its actions during the financial crisis. He couldn’t be reached for comment Thursday.
Goldman has said repeatedly that it simultaneously took “long” and “short” positions on mortgages as part of its normal business. While those bets sometimes resulted in a net short position, meaning Goldman would benefit from turmoil in the housing market, the company usually had a bullish overall bet during the crisis, according to the firm. As a result, Goldman suffered losses when the real-estate bubble burst.
…