Bits Bucket for May 20, 2011
Post off-topic ideas, links, and Craigslist finds here.
The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
About Me
Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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Realtors bond over tough times
“WASHINGTON (CNN) — It’s no fun to be a realtor these days: home prices are sinking, delinquencies are up, and stricter regulations are coming.
So the mood at the convention for the National Association of Realtors last weekend in Washington, D.C., was understandably sober.
And yet, those in attendance were working hard to stay upbeat.
.
.
“In many markets, between 45% and 60% of the members have not done a transaction in the past year! There are not a lot of listings to go around. And the prices are down so the commission checks are smaller — it’s a very difficult market for everybody.”"
“There are not a lot of listings to go around.”
Huh? I thought that, in many markets, inventory was at record (or near) highs?
“And the prices are down so the commission checks are smaller — it’s a very difficult market for everybody.”
No, it’s a difficult market for people looking to SELL. It’s a great market for people looking to buy.
These idiots really don’t seem to understand that in every transaction there’s a “winner” and a “loser”. The winner (for a very long time) has been the sellers; now the worm has turned and the buyers are finally starting to do better in these transactions. However, the net end result is the same, one person leaves the table better off than they came to it.
Unless the buyer buys too soon that is.
“It’s a great market for people looking to buy.”
Except its not.
Sellers are still asking ridiculous prices, so even though there is a lot of inventory out there, most of it is unsellable at prices the market will bear. Short sale listings offer some hope at a reasonable/affordable price, but the banks take months to make a decision, and both sellers and buyers feel jerked around in the process. Supposedly loans are hard to get (I haven’t tried), even though they’re available with only 3% down. Then there is lack of wage growth and the almost certainty of increasing taxes to consider. The list goes on…
“….in every transaction there is a winner and a loser….”
Gotta disagree with you. It can be mutually beneficial, if the person selling is asking a “fair” price, and the buyer pays a “fair” price.
I’ve found that beating people up for the last dime on the table is usually counterproductive. Invariably, down the road, you need some info/cooperation from the seller for something, and if they feel like they got beat out of the last dime, they usually aren’t in any mood to help you.
Exactly.
“It’s no fun to be a realtor these days”
Could it be because now they have to actually work instead of simply shooting fish in a barrel?
Or that there are more of them than the market can support?
“It’s no fun to be a realtor these days”
To be completely (brutally?) honest, ours has been working with us for three years and has yet to see a payday for her efforts.
Karma for their (under recognized) involvement in the housing bubble. Nothing better than a little reality check for the National Association of Racketeers.
Update from the Sticks– 93518
An elderly neighbor recently died and his (unemployed,) heirs moved in for a quick killing. A few patches here, a coat of paint there, and his showplace ranch is now listed for a cool $700,000. During the boom it likely would have listed for twice that.
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/37845-Shanks-Rd-Caliente-CA-93518/19009711_zpid/#{scid=hdp-site-map-list-address}
But here’s the thing: Zillow, ( ZILLOW!) has it valued at $177K. And I doubt they’ll get any offers even at that. There are several equally well-kept properties up here on substantial acreage (this one is on 60 wooded and landscaped acres with private roads, an excellent private well,) that are listed at below land/water value alone, but because of the isolation, no one is even looking– let alone buying. Which just goes to show, a house is “worth” only what someone is willing to pay for it.
Well, if the rapture doesn’t occur tomorrow then they can always hope for some fringe group wanting 60 isolated acres.
Shoot, I forgot about the rapture being tomorrow. I need to go find a rich deeply religious family and see if I can negotiate rights to their stuff after they are all raptured tomorrow.
If it does happen, today will be the last day I’ll ever have to work. Then I’ll just be stuck on earth with all the atheists/agnostics after tomorrow.
Actually, come to think of it, if that’s really what happened, I have a feeling I’d be working a lot harder come Monday morning.
You and me both. But since it is a “rolling rapture” occuring at 6.00pm local, the only people that are in trouble are those living in UTC -0.00. Those of us behind Universal Time can just watch the news, see if the rapture is occuring, and get to church in time to acknowledge our sins.
Maybe if it does start, you could get on a plane, fly west until you cross the dateline and avoid the rapture altogether.
I’m sure there is something in the fine print that ensure you can run, but you can’t hide! I hope none of these goofs have a koolaid pact.
“get to church in time to acknowledge our sins”
FWIW, Protestant Fundamentalists do not believe in confessing their sins to a minister. All you have to do to get a free pass is say “I accept Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior”. This can be done anywhere and at anytime. No witnesses are required. Once you do that you won’t be held accountable for anything you do or say afterwards.
Unless you’re foolin!
Just in case, here is the CDC’s public health advisory on the Zombie Apocalypse. Seriously.
http://emergency.cdc.gov/socialmedia/zombies_blog.asp
“Shoot, I forgot about the rapture being tomorrow. I need to go find a rich deeply religious family and see if I can negotiate rights to their stuff after they are all raptured tomorrow.”
The phrase you’re looking for is: “Can I have their stereos?”
“Well, if the rapture doesn’t occur tomorrow”
I would have thought Hallmark would have come up with a ‘Judgment Day’ card by now.
May 21, 2011, and Other ‘Judgment Days’ That Have Come and Gone
http://abcnews.go.com/US/may-21-2011-end-world-judgment-day/story?id=13570426 - -
I know Zillow is something to be taken with a grain of salt, but if I were selling my house, I’d pay attention to what the “Zestimate” said. That information is readily available to everyone and, believe me, people look at it.
Friend of mine just put her house on the market for $399,900. “Zestimate” is $300,500 (range $258K - $316K). Peak “Zestimate” in 2006 was $351K. Yes, the kitchen was redone a few years ago. Yes, it’s well maintained and move in condition. But with these readily-available stats, listing at $400K is immediately pricing yourself out (imo).
And to boot, there’s a short sale across the street from her listed at $150K. Now, apparently short sales can be realtor scams? (So she said.) Meaning, not a chance in hell with the bank take $150K when the people owe something like $250K. So buyer’s will offer low and lose over and over until the realtor comes in on their white horse, gives the sellers $250K for it, sends their flipping crew in to ready the house, and re-lists for $300K (or similar).
In any event, my friend is kind of hosed if she wants to sell soon.
Sounds to me like an ideal place to live. A private water source, wooded land and land suitable for farming–what’s not to like?
No jobs nearby? But if you have a little windfall and truly want to homestead on low expenses, it’s not a bad idea.
Just pray you don’t get sick. I find it eternally amusing that one of the leaders of the homesteader movement, Dave Duffy of Backwoods Home Magazine, preached self-reliance for decades…until he needed a double bypass.
Self reliance is a blessing that includes reliance on one’s health. This is a factor as one ages in the motivation to do while still able. I doubt Dave’s need for surgery was hypocritical.
“…Just pray you don’t get sick….”
Let’s face it, oxie, I was as pleased as punch when the airlift showed up to take me down to UCLA.
I like to think of it as living in the best of both worlds. It can be done as long as one keeps one’s social options open (IE; keep your health insurance premiums up to date and prepare to fight for every cent of reimbursement.) Most of the folks living up here are either duel government pensioners living in reduced circumstances, (mobile homes on private acreage,) or subsistence ranchers living on family homesteads. Or “extended family” of same.
If you get snakebit, it’s an hour and a half into “town,” so self-sufficiency is a state of mind up here. But it is indeed, idyllic.
There’s a difference between “living in the country” and preaching self-reliance. I was just hit with the irony that if everybody homesteaded, there would be no one left over to develop technologies, like double bypasses.
Surprising number of theoretical physicists, mathematicians, writers, musicians, agronomists, artists living up here. Just far enough from the Big City to feel un-boxed.
It’s lovely, actually. And isolated and defensible. Yet only a 2.5 hour journey (by motorized vehicle,) to LA. (Provided the zombies haven’t taken over I-5.) Moreover, it’s outside the prevailing easterly and westerly winds– at altitude.
That said, there’s a reason I relocated here from Malibu. And it’s not because I miss the social life….
During the boom it likely would have listed for twice that.
But its peak value on Zillow was $450K. Does Zillow take land into account? It has 21 acres.
Any other place in CA., this home would be well-priced at 700K.
It has 60 oak-studded acres backing onto Forest Service land, a huge barn, several other outbuildings, and private roads and well. Mr. Shanks was a builder-developer, and this was his personal retirement home built for himself and his wife. I’d buy it myself for that much– if I needed another property up here. Which I don’t. Plus his kids need a couple of years of maintenance and property tax before they see the light and list it for a salable price. Which given the (non-existent,) market is probably around… 177K.
Zillow is usually beyond clueless here. They “guesstimate” based on what comparable mobile homes and 2.5 acre lots with community wells might fetch. Perhaps this is the minimum bid at auction?
Another nearby home, once listed for 258K, was recently posted on Zillow at 9K. That’s correct. $9,000 USD. Frankly, it’s not worth that much. I’d buy it and doze it just to get rid of the “types” who keep moving in there with their yapping dog collections.
PS.
My own property is listed on Zillow for land “value” alone. Custom and architectural homes are impossible to price up here because building quality and materials vary so greatly– and manufactured housing is rife.
The upside is that property taxes are minimal.
I loved the zillow rent est. of $1018/mo.. It would be interesting to know if the property was free and clear or if the heirs have a large mortgage to deal with.
Nope. It’s free and clear, and I know for a fact that he buried physical gold around the property. (A JohnBircher from the 50’s, he built a slew of fast-food franchises and detested the US government.) Many of the places up here are “survivalist” compounds, the heirs of which have no desire whatsoever to live the lifestyle. Some have been abandoned for decades.
Many of the places up here are “survivalist” compounds, the heirs of which have no desire whatsoever to live the lifestyle. Some have been abandoned for decades.
I have a relative who’s a bit of a survivalist. And, guess what: His paranoid, fearful tendencies made no impression on me. If anything, I rejected them rather soundly.
Slim, I prefer to think of them as “artistic.”
Incidentally, my niece, a senior, was just accepted into UA’s MFA photography program. She’s majorly stoked about it and spent the afternoon photographing animal eyeballs up here on the ranch. Very interesting approach, that child.
She showed me the portfolio that got her accepted, and I was genuinely moved by her integration of representational and poetic imagery. She’s really looking forward to learning the craft as opposed to simply taking pichers.
From Yahoo News
Recent college grads sour on Obama, surveys say
“A very large proportion of recent university graduates have soured on President Barack Obama, and many will vote GOP or stay at home in the 2012 election, according to two new surveys of younger voters
The bad news for Obama was underlined May 19 with a report by a job-firm Adecco that roughly 60 percent of recent college-grads have not been able to find a full-time job in their preferred area. One-in-five graduates have taken jobs far from their training, one-in-six are dependent on their parents, and one-in-four say they’re in debt, according to the firm’s data”
I will insert here to preempt the inevitable how’s that hope and change working out for you, the quip that never ceases to be funny.
Hope and change not working out too well.
But it was pretty kewl having the first black president!
Now back to my parent’s basement and job at Starbucks…
I wonder sometimes if McCain is glad he lost the election.
I wonder if he picked Sarah as a running mate just for insurance. It was obvious even then that the job was a Hoover.
Interesting. She’s the reason he didn’t get my vote. Think he knew it was a guarantee loss?
You are probably overestimating McCain’s intelligence…
He made the decision to shake up the campaign. It almost worked.
Have no doubt that McCain lost deliberately, even if the GOP forced him too.
They knew, as did anyone with an IQ over room temperature, that the following years were going to be bad due to the previous 8 years.
Only one in four in debt?
That caught my eye too. I wonder if it means credit card debt and they just assume all/most have student loan debt.
In 1999/2000, the percent of college graduates who borrowed to pay for college was 64%. I would assume the number is higher today.
That number must be credit card debt…due to credit card companies not giving credit cards to as many college students who don’t have mom and dad co-sign…
http://dailycaller.com/2011/05/20/recent-college-grads-sour-on-obama-surveys-say/
That survey came from The Daily Caller. In the article, the “poll” was an “informal survey of 500 post-grads by Joe Maddalone, founder of Maddalone Global Strategies.”
The Daily Caller was founded by Tucker Carlson.
Joe Maddalone’s “global strategies” is a one-month old pathetic blog where he says he likes Atlas Shrugged. What did he do, ask his drinking buddies?
I don’t think Obama needs to worry about this.
heheeeheeeheehaahaaahaaheeehaahaaa… (Hwy50™)
I think it is critical who votes. That is why each party tries to find one issue that will get their base out. Republicans have been very successful with abortion and gay rights.
A recycled story from the 1970s. Change the names and voila! the turnips realize they’ve just fallen off the truck.
Ben, is this still correct?
Ben Jones
PO Box 1764
Flagstaff, AZ 86002
I’d like to send you a check to avoid pay pal fees. It’s been a while since I have donated, but you deserve it. This blog has kept me sane (mostly!) for the past six years, and even though many of us disagree quite often, this is still one of the most productive dialogues going on the intertubes.
Allena, good to hear from you. I hope you are well.
Yeah, that’s still a good address. Thanks Muggy.
No problem.
Luff you, too, Mugster. We lurk. Life goes on….
..Housing Can Still Get Worse: Suttmeier
By Jeff Macke | Breakout – 22 hours ago
Housing bulls have been wanting to get bullish ever since the bubble popped in 2008. They better grab a chair because it’s going to be a while, according to Richard Suttmeier. The chief market strategist of ValuEngine.com says home prices simply aren’t going to bottom no matter what the government or banks may do to push them higher.
Suttmeier, whose firm uses a blend of technical and fundamental analysis to drive its investment recommendations, offers some discouraging data for contrarian housing bulls. Housing prices haven’t just been “correcting” in the context of a recovery, observes Suttmeier. Housing actually never recovered in the first place. The economic truth of supply and demand is in play; during the bubble years we simply built way too many houses, and the glut isn’t going to be worked off anytime soon.
None of which is particularly new information for those paying attention to Federal Housing Finance Agency data or watching the S&P/ Case-Shiller Home Price Index approach the 2009 lows. What is of note are the investment conclusions Suttmeier reaches based on this and other observations. He says the bad mortgage problem still exists for regional banks in particular and that foreclosure rates would be much higher were it not for the fact that it’s often less expensive to allow people to stay in a home than it is to evict. After the federal bailout the regional banks are, in many cases, left holding the housing bag, stuck with massive inventory of homes that need to be sold off to a market with no demand.
http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/breakout/housing-still-worse-suttmeier-131205078.html - -
The problem the Chile’s found with a housing purchase in 2011 was there is high demand for well priced, good condition houses.
One local seller’s agency consistently listed a single property well below comparables every Wednesday night, with no showings until the open house, and all offers due at noon on Tuesday. It forced potential buyers to make a judgement on one showing during an open house, and then make an offer quick. Counteroffers were made at noon on Wednesday to (we’re told) the three best offers, with responses due Thursday at noon.
A side effect of this practice is it enabled this one agency to get to know potential buyers and how they responded.
It is a brilliant tatic for today’s market, and what the HBB has been saying for years on how to sell a property today. We learned that the typical selling price was about 5% over asking.
The house we’re buying was not marketed by this firm. After two offers to two different houses marketed by this firm we realized that the tatic, while brilliant for sellers, caused buyers to massively overbid and not to waste our time.
Bad Chile
As cash buyers in So Ca we are seeing similar tactics, and like you, we will not overpay or play that game. Our cash came from sacrifice. We worked for it. The difference is there are few qualified buyers in So Ca left, and we’ve seen 7 week escrows with FHA buyers fall out of contract (extra money needed to close just wasn’t there). Paying over list is seldom achieved by the nefarious REIC cheerleaders around my parts.
Thanks for sharing that story. What I have noticed is the list price is the sold price online (delaying disclosure of the actual sale price for the general public) and they aren’t letting the settlement price show up for 60-90 days online. Talk about collusion and corruption. Amazing.
Awaiting -
Thanks for your input too. I’ve been here too long to trust anyone in the game, fortunately, the state we’re in is all public record and the recorders are pretty quick. Takes all of a minute to download all the documents to determine the previous sale price, the mortgage that was obtained, etc. Stinks for you, though, that all of your data is 90 days old before you even learn about it. Utterly impossible to make an assessment of the market.
Thanks for sharing your side too.
RE WILL get worse. At the end of the S&L disaster, you could literally move into/take control of a property for nothing if you were willing to maintain it and produce cash flow, from either your pocket or renters. I’m not talking ghetto properties either.
THAT’S what it took to restart RE.
Realtors Are Liars
So this is not the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
April existing homes sales up in Palm Beach county and state
By Kimberly Miller Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 5:26 a.m. Thursday, May 19, 2011
“Every agent I know is busy,” said Realtor Craig Fialkowski, of Realty Elite, The Palm Beaches. “Anything that hits the market in reasonably good condition, priced right and not requiring too many repairs is under contract quickly, at or above list price.”
Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, which also released its sales figures Thursday, blamed tighter lending standards and appraisals not coming in at agreed upon prices for April’s disappointing national turnout.
“Given the great affordability conditions, job creation and pent-up demand, home sales should be stronger,” Yun said. “Although existing home sales are expected to trend up unevenly through next year, unnecessarily tight credit is continuing to restrain the market, along with a steady level of low appraisals that result in contract cancellations.”
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/money/real-estate/april-existing-homes-sales-up-in-palm-beach-1484534.html - -
“Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, which also released its sales figures Thursday, blamed tighter lending standards…”
Why not say that there are too few credit worthy buyers?
“along with a steady level of low appraisals that result in contract cancellations.”
Is that another way of saying….
along with a steady level of overpriced houses that result in contract cancellations.
“Yes” to both.
Overpriced houses + underpaid workers = FAIL
But I ‘m American, damit, I’m willing to fight, cheap gas to me is a natural right.
Gas Price Trauma: The Taiwanese Explain It All
This rap-video explanation of the effects of rising oil prices is weirdly charming in several ways, starting with its portrayal of a typical American yokel (center, with mullet, in the two scenes below).
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/05/gas-price-trauma-the-taiwanese-explain-it-all/239189/
Funny… but wrong.
In case you have $4.3 million and have always wanted a 8″ wide house in Manhattan:
http://www.townrealestate.com/listing.html?webID=814743
I think that is 8′ not 8″, but great post.
Someone has never seend This is Spinal Tap.
Looking at the floor plan, it appears to be a grand total of 460 sq ft(do you include basements in NYC??).
That’s almost $10,000 per square foot.
Imagine being a guest there. If you need the loo at night, you have to tiptoe all the way to the basement. Then again, if the guest is on VERY friendly terms with the owner, maybe he’ll let you into the master bath…
LOL, it looks like someone filled in what used to be a narrow alleyway.
Wonder if future generations will tag this slavery to the current administration?
Debt that can not be discharged and that will follow you until the day you die.
———————-
Congratulations! You’re in Debt (America’s Total Student Debt Just Surpassed Credit Card Debt)
National Review | 05/20/2011 | Rich Lowry
Amid all the uplifting clichés at their commencement ceremonies, graduating college students won’t hear a line applicable to some of them — you got ripped off.
Student debt just surpassed the country’s credit-card debt for the first time. It is projected to top $1 trillion this year, according to the New York Times, when it was less than $200 billion in 2000. For the class of 2011, the mean student-debt burden is nearly $23,000, up 8 percent from a year ago.
There’s no doubt that graduating from college brings a significant economic advantage, but that doesn’t excuse the waste and self-satisfied lassitude of American higher education. Colleges appropriate tuition dollars from America’s students with an ever-accelerating voracity, yet don’t deliver any additional educational benefits — indeed, they do the opposite. Higher education is one of the sectors of American life that most desperately needs a thorough re-conception.
What are students going into hock for? In their book Academically Adrift, Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa sift through data that only Bluto could relish.
Miraculously, grades haven’t dropped, despite less study. Such are the wonders of grade inflation and students’ selecting the classes where they can most easily slide by. The two labor economists believe that students have mastered “the art of college management,” whereby they succeed at “controlling college by shaping schedules, taming professors and limiting workload.”
If increasingly students don’t study, teachers don’t teach, and college employees aren’t primarily concerned with either, it raises the question of what the hell happens on campus. Well, many students have a grand time during a years-long vacation from real life. They enjoy state-of-the-art facilities, socialize, and figure how to come away with the credential of a degree in exchange for minimal effort. (That is, if they graduate at all — four-year institutions only graduate about a third of their students in four years, and two-thirds of them in six.)
Reformers are brimming with ideas to renovate an expensive and inefficient system. Economist Richard Vedder suggests dismantling the current architecture of financial aid — which helps drive up costs in a never-ending cycle — and giving help only to truly needy students who are performing well academically. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R., Tenn.) asks why we can’t move toward three- rather than four-year degrees. Charles Murray of the American Enterprise Institute wants other ways to credential young people besides a BA. Gov. Rick Perry of Texas is embarking on a controversial push to get the state’s universities to devote themselves more to teaching than to obscure research.
Hey Kidz! How’s that Hope and Change working out for you now?
That is mean. Not nice left ohio
So your solution was voting for the status quo? (McCain)
Cheney-Shrub Legacy Effect #3: “We left y’all with the worst POS economy in 80 years…see ya!”
Hurry, hurry, leftyOhio,… 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
There’s no doubt that graduating from college brings a significant economic advantage.
Actually, there’s considerable doubt about that. Shall we repeat your link from yesterday?
Many With New College Degree Find the Job Market Humbling (Tough Job Market for New Grads)
New York Times 05/19/2011 Catherine Rampell
In a sense not much has really changed regarding education and job prospects - except perhaps that a college degree is no longer anything “special” despite its cost having exploded exponentially.
Put another way, in 1955 a HS diploma could get you a good job, but in 1955 HS students didn’t have to go into debt to get it. Going in debt for something that’s become expected doesn’t sound like a winning plan.
I’ve long felt college was about industry moving its training costs onto the individual.
+100 ding ding ding! We have a winner!
(says the graduate of several colleges)
You put that so much better than I did, but that opens a can of worms. There’s a lot of people with a vested interest in keeping people from thinking just that.
It is, CarrieAnn.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, now you need a certificate just to be a janitor.
It’s a racket. Offload training to the individual, creating debt and therefore a shaky credit score which is used against them in hiring and then send the jobs offshore anyway.
Perry is also slashing state funding to colleges.
Just 10 years ago 1 year’s tuition and fees at our local State U’s was about 2K.
Fast forward to today and it’s as high as $8000. Times four years and that’s $32K.
$32K is one year at any private college.
I’ve seen what engineers go through, so I give them some leeway if they need five years to complete the degree. However, no one should need more than four years (not including summers) for any other field of study.
But six years? And where are the parents in this debacle? If I were a parent, I would threaten to cut off the funding if I caught my kid taking only four classes or slacking off.
If I were a parent, I would threaten to cut off the funding if I caught my kid taking only four classes or slacking off.
That’s what MY parents would have done. Therefore, Slim was a very diligent little university student.
In some cases, parents are glad their children are pursuing any post HS education instead of living at home and partying all the time.
Same is true in California. The second-tier system, Cal State, just jacked up its fees to over $7k per year. That’s more than double what UC, the first-tier system, was charging ten years ago.
Currently, tuition runs $5k/semester at state schools in Texas. Out of state is higher.
Just 10 years ago 1 year’s tuition and fees at our local State U’s was about 2K.
You can’t even get an Accoiates at the local CC for that anymore.
..and apparently neither did I.
associates
What are students going into hock for? In their book Academically Adrift, Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa sift through data that only Bluto could relish.
Miraculously, grades haven’t dropped, despite less study. Such are the wonders of grade inflation and students’ selecting the classes where they can most easily slide by. The two labor economists believe that students have mastered “the art of college management,” whereby they succeed at “controlling college by shaping schedules, taming professors and limiting workload.”
If increasingly students don’t study, teachers don’t teach, and college employees aren’t primarily concerned with either, it raises the question of what the hell happens on campus. Well, many students have a grand time during a years-long vacation from real life. They enjoy state-of-the-art facilities, socialize, and figure how to come away with the credential of a degree in exchange for minimal effort. (That is, if they graduate at all — four-year institutions only graduate about a third of their students in four years, and two-thirds of them in six.)
The book Academically Adrift is right up there with Craig Brandon’s Five Year Party and John Merrow’s Declining by Degrees. Well worth the reading time.
With regards from your HBB Librarian…
FWIW, my daughter says that they don’t hand out the A’s like candy at her school, and that knows plenty of people with B and C averages.
Maybe its because of you have a 3.7+ GPA you automatically get a $2K per year scholarship at her school.
One of the things I learned at school was not to slouch through on easy classes. Instead, take the hard stuff.
Yes, you’ll have to sit with the material for a while, but then an amazing thing happens. You find that, yes, you can grasp chemistry. Or physics. Or advanced math.
The pride of accomplishment that results is like nothing else.
I signed up for one or two “easy” classes because they sounded interesting. What I discovered was that they were BS, loaded with busy work, and not very interesting.
Young Adults Can Keep It Simple: Start Saving
by NPR Staff
May 20, 2011
Morning Edition
Saving money doesn’t have to be complicated, says financial adviser Beth Kobliner. The main point is for young people to get started early, she says.
May 20, 2011
Part of a series on young people and financial literacy
For many 20-somethings, financial independence marks their arrival at adulthood. But it can be a hard place to get to if you’re also shouldering a lot of debt.
That’s a concern for Brandon Smith, who recently graduated with a degree in journalism — and $98,000 in student loans. NPR asked personal finance expert Beth Kobliner what advice she might give Smith and other young adults. And she started her answer with one practical point.
“There’s something called income-based repayment plans,” Kobliner tells Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep. “So, basically you pay back your loans as a percentage of income — and, after 20 years, if you’re going into a relatively low-income job, your loans disappear completely.”
…
I’d like to the author try saving anything on $11hr and multiple recessions with and almost automatic layoff every 6 years.
Debt that can not be discharged and that will follow you until the day you die.
Or until you pay it off.
To be honest, I can see the logic behind not discharging student loans in BK. You can repo houses and cars and furniture, but you can’t really repo a college degree.
Heck, there are even some people who should get a refund!
OMG - $500K loan @23% interest!!!!!
———————
Lance Briggs: Every player knew lockout was coming, should have prepared
NBC Sports | May 20, 2011, 7:49 AM EDT | Michael David Smith
At a time when NFL players don’t know how soon their next paycheck will come, there seem to be two groups of players: Those who were so irresponsible with their money that they’re now taking out loans just to get through the offseason, and those who managed their money responsibly and are doing just fine.
Bears linebacker Lance Briggs is in the latter camp. And he doesn’t have a lot of sympathy for those in the former camp.
“We knew that the lockout was coming for two years now. Everyone was instructed to prepare. Those guys that didn’t do that are going to get hurt, like they are. I have a good financial team and we’ve been preparing for this for a while. It’s not hitting me like it is a lot of other guys. I’m pretty comfortable in my living right now,” Briggs said on WSCR in Chicago.
Briggs is obviously right that every player should have prepared, but one of the biggest questions facing the players’ side in the ongoing labor battle is whether the players like Briggs who did prepare are in the majority. If they are, the players will be able to hold firm and drive a hard bargain with the owners. But if the majority of players are already struggling financially now, it’s going to be tough to keep them united when the threat of losing regular-season paychecks gets closer.
…
Our buddy Rich “Big Daddy” Salgado of Coastal Advisors, one of the leading insurance firms for pro athletes, has posted on Twitter that an unnamed player recently obtained a $500,000 loan, at a whopping 23-percent interest rate. For the non-math majors in the crowd, that’s $115,000 per year in interest.
Bears linebacker Lance Briggs is in the latter camp. And he doesn’t have a lot of sympathy for those in the former camp.
When he played for the University of Arizona, he was a no-mercy guy. A real good defender, that Lance.
“I have a good financial team and we’ve been preparing for this for a while.”
Sheesh, all you have to do is save half of that gigantic salary. Of course few do. I recall a few seasons ago the Broncos ran out of running backs due to injuries, so they called back a guy they cut the previous season. They found him working at a cell phone kiosk in a mall.
The guy played for a few seasons and was a starter. He had to be making at least low 7 figures each season. Yet he pissed it all away and was working a menial job hawking cell phones.
And you only have to save half of that gigantic salary once. Even if you blow the whole salary for years after that, that’s still 2-3 mil in the bank, which would easily last them for life.
Your forgetting the entourage.
Dang! The Ego! I knew there was something missing from that picture.
ISTR that Babe Laufenberg was tending bar when the Redskins called him up when Theisman was injured.
Pro$port$ = Cult$
NCAA = Cult$
Being really $mart = Boycott attendance / over-priced ChinaCrap novelty items / clothing w/”Official Logo”
Just remember, those guys wouldn’t be making those huge salaries if the fans weren’t paying for them.
I was told this week by a local RE that the Jumbo loan will disappear in Dec and that will greatly affect the high end market and ripple down into the middle market. He said to look but don’t buy unless sellers are willing to reduce pricing in this area by about $150K. I just might look some this weekend to flag anything of interest. I’ve only seen one house that I’ve liked so far.
Could I buy in this market, yes. Criteria: Price, location, flow, and at these prices (turn-key). I’ve seen plenty of houses that are now affordable and could be used as rentals, but I have no interest in buying. There are numerous houses that I could buy and the PITI would equal my rent but I’ll wait it out to buy what I want and where I want. My wife will be retiring next month so we will lose some income but not to worry. Someone in the system can move up the work ladder and enjoy the income boost.
Why will the jumbo loan disappear?
Wells Fargo makes them and keeps them on their books (no Fannie/Freddie support). They do their own underwriting and require 20%+ down.
First Republic makes them and either keeps them, or sells them to a private investor (no Fannie/Freddie support there either). They also do their own underwriting and require 20%+ down.
I’m sure there are other examples…these were the two that I’m aware of that lend Jumbo at pretty darn good rates (and without Fannie/Freddie as support).
Fortunately we don’t subscribe to HBO.
Television May 19, 2011, 5:00PM EST text size: TT
Movie Review: Too Big to Fail
At last, the HBO movie, directed by Curtis Hanson, lends the financial crisis some Hollywood street cred
Would Ben Bernanke (played by Paul Giamatti) throw a fit if he had to drink merlot?
By Bess Levin
BW Magazine
May 23, 2011
Too Big to Fail
Premiers May 23
9 p.m. EST
(HBO)
Early on in Too Big to Fail, Dick Fuld tells his chief financial officer, Erin Callan, “Screw Warren Buffett—we will stand strong and eat Goldman Sachs’s lunch!” It’s the first of several lines that reaffirm the old adage that tragedy plus time equals comedy gold. The HBO movie, adapted from Andrew Ross Sorkin’s tome of the same name, comes nearly three exhaustively forensic years after Lehman Brothers went bust. And as every HBO subscriber will know, Fuld ended up eating a lot of something else. Yet his mildly hysterical delusions, enhanced by age, are an amusing reminder of the heady months in 2008—at least for those who didn’t own Lehman stock.
…
Still getting the Armando Montelongo banner ads. They have a glam shot of him in that ad that made me thing he was a latino balladist at first.
Lol! I haven’t heard anything about him in a while.
They need to do a “where are they now” show on those “flip this house” stars.
$2M Michigan lottery winner defends use of food stamps
By Detroit News detroit News – Wed May 18, 1:27 pm ET
Ron French, Detroit News staff writer
A Michigan man who won $2 million in a state lottery game continues to collect food stamps 11 months after striking it rich.
And there’s nothing the state can do about it, at least for now.
Leroy Fick, 59, of Auburn won $2 million in the state lottery TV show “Make Me Rich!” last June. But the state’s Department of Human Services determined he was still eligible for food stamps, Fick’s attorney, John Wilson of Midland, said Tuesday.
Eligibility for food stamps is based on gross income and follows federal guidelines; lottery winnings are considered liquid assets and don’t count as income. As long as Fick’s gross income stays below the eligibility requirement for food stamps, he can receive them, even if he has a million dollars in the bank.
Food stamps are paid for through tax dollars and are meant to help support low-income families.
“If you’re going to try to make me feel bad, you’re not going to do it,” Fick told WNEM-TV in Saginaw on Monday.
Wilson said Fick told the DHS officials he’d won $2 million but was told he could keep using the Bridge Card issued to him to buy groceries.
Fick could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_localdtw/20110518/ts_yblog_localdtw/2m-michigan-lottery-winner-defends-use-of-food-stamps - 101k -
100:1 odds he voted for obama…
I voted for Obama too in 2008. But after hearing Newt Gingrich call him the “food stamp president” I won’t be again, cus food stamps are resposible for at least $10 trillion of the deficit.
How’s that Hope and Change working for you now, folks?
Food stamps are welfare for farmers and ranchers.
“Food stamps are welfare for farmers and ranchers.”
I have taken the other side of this argument many times, but there are many people who need food stamps. Unfortunately there are also many people who don`t and take it anyway.
Thousands stealing millions of $ and millions stealing thousands of $.
I see far too many poor people separating out beer & cigarettes from their food stamp purchases.
And all of them have cell phones.
I used to be against the food stamp program when unemployment was 3%. Now, because of falling wages and food costs going up, it’s a necessity.
How much of the defecit is attributable to Newt?
Geez, anyone want to dust of old twit’s new 1994 “TrueFiscalConservative’s™” “Contract-with-America”?
cus food stamps are resposible for at least $10 trillion of the deficit.
Did that math all by yourself did ya?
cus food stamps are resposible for at least $10 trillion of the deficit.
________________________________________________
I can think of at least FOUR things wrong with this sentence……
But the snark was exactly right.
Did they collect federal and state taxes on that $2 mil? If so, the dude paid for his food stamps. Let it go..
Some states exempt lottery winnings from state income tax. But I’m sure the feds took out enough (600k) to pay for 125 years worth of food stamps (@$400 a month).
You HAVE to pay federal taxes IMMEDIATELY upon receiving a lottery winning that large.
Pay? My wrong. They just take it from you right away. With no deductions either.
Good for him! If he’s eligible to keep collecting, collect! Use the laws to your advantage. That’s what they’re there for!
Yep. The state screwed up on this one.
“Yep. The state screwed up on this one.”
“Eligibility for food stamps is based on gross income and follows federal guidelines;”
I apologize for your literal interpretation of “state.”
This doesn’t make much sense. First of all it does not seem like a decent, Christian thing to do nor does it fit in with the tea party’s liberty and less government control theme. It’s like they are fake or something.
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker to Prevent Same-Sex Couples Hospital Visitation Rights
http://blogs.forbes.com/erikkain/2011/05/17/wisconsin-governor-scott-walker-to-prevent-same-sex-couples-hospital-visitation-rights/
Gov. Scott Walker believes a new law that gives gay couples hospital visitation rights violates the state constitution and has asked a judge to allow the state to stop defending it….
…..“Is the GOP hatred for gays so pervasive that they could really be this cold and heartless?” To which I can only answer: yes, apparently it is, at least when we’re talking about the GOP in Scott Walker’s Wisconsin.
Walker is literally going out of his way to prevent two people in a loving, committed relationship from visiting one another at the hospital. In other words, at what is quite likely a couple’s darkest hour, Scott Walker wants to impose legal restrictions barring two people from being with one another. Imagine that your wife or your husband was in the hospital and you were legally prohibited from visiting them. Is this the role we want our government to play in our lives?…
…And Republicans pretend they are the party of limited government. What terrific frauds. What a ludicrous illusion they have cast about themselves. Somehow the media and the American electorate keeps falling for the same trick. Liberty for me but not for thee. Low taxes and a government bent on preventing even this small shred of basic, human decency.
Not sure what your post has to do with housing, but I know I’ll be 100% supporting the 2012 Mark Foley / Larry Craig GOP family values ticket.
How’s that Hope and Change working out for you now?
Not sure what your post has to do with housing
The same as your Biden post below or food stamp post above.
How’s that Hope and Change working out for you now?
It actually wasn’t much of a change. Dilma Rousseff is a member of the Workers Party just like former President Lula. I’ve noticed nothing different. The economy is booming under the “commies” which is kind of funny.
That’s clever though. Did you make up that question about the hope and change working out?
“Hope and Change” is a cute, snarky tagline that is a great closer for any criticism of the Obama administration. It fits well with Drudge Report sensationalized headlines that turn into right-wing talking points. Almost as cute as the GWB waving “miss me yet?” bumper stickers I see around town.
That’s clever though. Did you make up that question about the hope and change working out?
I think it came from the same place of “Bush lied and people died” and “no war for oil”
My shrub favorite was: “He tried to kill my daddy!”
Actually no banana, I think it came from the same place as the Death Panels.
How’s that Hope and Change working out for you now?
Eyes was a Hopin’ to get rid of the “TrueEvangelicalBeliever’s™ & “TrueIraqWarDeceiver’s™” and see if maybe an Islamic-Muslim (non Hawaiian) might CHANGE the cocky attitudes of the “TrueHypocrite™” / “TrueFiscalConservative’s™”
So far, I’m quite pleased with the results of my vote.
Two things:
The constitutional ammendment in Wisconsin prohibiting gay marriage (or anything resembling it) was passed in 2006 under a Democrat Governor.
Others may have had different experiences, but mine has been that one may visit a friend in hospital quite easily if one is not obnoxious. Exception psych ward.
The constitutional ammendment in Wisconsin prohibiting gay marriage (or anything resembling it) was passed in 2006 under a Democrat Governor.
From article posted above:
Democrats who controlled the Legislature in 2009 changed the law so that same-sex couples could sign up for domestic partnership registries with county clerks to secure some (including hospital visits) of the rights afforded married couples.
I read that too. I think the governor was simply saying stop spending state money trying to work around state law. That does not imply a personal bias. Just my take.
That does not imply a personal bias.
Just like Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s personal bias had nothing to do with his busting unions after they proved it was not a fiscal issue after he claimed it was. Right.
Maybe he thought the public unions were gay.
BA DUMP BA!
I don’t think we’re really talking visits here. We’re talking legal decision making when the patient is incapacitated.
Having had to do that for my just divorced brother when he was on a morphine cocktail for months I can honestly say being blocked from untangling the financial mess that occurs when a person is long term incapacitated would be beyond the pale.
That is what health proxy and power af attourney are for. Seems like an easy personal workaround.
…if you can afford it and have someone you trust.
Many don’t.
Yes, there are easy workarounds. My gay neighbor couple in California simply adopted one another. Lots of gay couples have done that. (Adults can be adopted.) I don’t fault gays who want marriage but I think it’s more of a social acceptance than legal need.
I don’t fault gays who want marriage but I think it’s more of a social acceptance than legal need.
I think gays pushing for marriage at this time hurts their cause. It just riles up their opposition too much. There is a time and place.
I think same sex civil unions is much more realistic in America currently. Except for with hypocritical, lying bigots like WI Gov. Scott Walker.
Vice President Joe Biden will tour the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden today and deliver a speech on the Obama administration’s commitment to innovation and investments in research and development.
Before Biden’s visit to Golden, he’s set to attend a Democratic National Committee fundraising breakfast downtown at the Denver Athletic Club with senior Obama advisor David Plouffe. Attendees must pay a minimum $1,200 a ticket.
denverpost DOT com/politics/ci_18104156
I visited that place in 2008. Those renewable energy exhibits looked exactly like what we learned in our textbooks in high school. And I was in high school a long time ago. And the textbooks were old even then.
Biden was a Senator when Reagan took the solar panels off the roof of the White House, and say what you will, he’s no idiot. I suspect he will be massively p-o’d when he sees how little progress has been made. We should be beyond benchtop by now.
I visited in 2000. The exhibits were ho hum. But we arranged for a behind the scenes tour, which was much more interesting. Of course we were a bunch of engineers. I’m sure Harold, Martha and the kids would have been bored.
I don’t expect he will be p’d at all.
You should keep up with the news:
http://news.google.com/news/section?pz=1&cf=all&ned=us&hl=en&csid=14fefee90b07305e&ict=ln
Denver Athletic Club
Fond memories of a wedding reception there. Rented a 2007 V-8 Mustang, wow!, that was fun!
Vice President Joe Biden
Go Joe! …”All Aaaaboard! Amtrak!”
I work here. I just feel blessed that VP Joey “Plugs” Biden could fit us in to his busy fundraising schedule to grace us with a visit. One of my co-workers even baked cookies for the occasion.
Hope and change never tasted so delicious.
You work at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden? Really?
Mr. Cole loves the Golden Train Museum. They let him run his G scale Amtrak on their outdoor garden railroad. He had a blast! I Liked the Coors tour…
Yes, but only as a contractor, not as a Fed. And I don’t want to be a full-time permanent Fed. Putting aside the whole public-unions and unsustainable pensions and bennies “debate” for now, working for Uncle Sugar does not always build a skill-set that can be translated back to the private, for-profit sector. For many, once you go Fed, you are Fed for LIFE, and I can’t existentially overcome the idea of “this is where I will work until I retire/die”
For many, once you go Fed, you are Fed for LIFE, and I can’t existentially overcome the idea of “this is where I will work until I retire/die”
That same mindset was very much alive and well when I worked at the University of Pittsburgh. Which baffled me, because if there was one thing I wanted to do at the end of each workday, it was get the heck off campus and away from that place. Far away.
Twenty years of living like that just to have a job at Pitt? Uh-uh.
Then, after I moved to Tucson and started working on the University of Arizona campus, same mindset. I distinctly remember the day when one of the senior administrators in another office came in to see my boss and announced how many years, months, and days he had left until retirement.
Yeesh.
I left that campus job in 1994, but still live in the same city, and guess what? The aforementioned mindset is still alive and well.
Yeesh.
Left Ohio, your contract must still have money. Thank Obama for that — you wouldn’t have lasted long under Lady Drill-Baby-Drill.
Wait until sombody cuts funding somewhere and your contracting firm has to struggle writing proposals and threaten layoffs. Fed-4-Life won’t look so bad then.
We have moneys alright. There is a big hole in the Nevada desert, we gives the monies to Harry Reid’s cronies and the moneys all disappears down that hole. After hopey-changie times end in 2012 I will get laid off and the drillbabies will achieve their goal of taking us back to the 19th century.
The Bay Area housing market will be interesting this summer. With LinkedIn going public, there are now going to be a fair number of people who are going to be afraid that the new wealth in the area will have a real effect on the housing market (like in the dotcom boom).
They wouldn’t be correct. Most people who are making a lot of money on LinkedIn are already rich.
However, if the perception is there and strong enough, it will move a fair number of people off the sidelines.
Linkedin has what, 1,000 employees?
Sorry, replied to you down below–sorry for repost.
I don’t even know…I recall seeing that they were going to double headcount to 900 by the end of 2010, so they are probably about 1,000 today.
But the number with lots of cheap shares is probably significantly less than 200. About 500 were added in 2010, so that group is going to do just fine, but not be buying a plane anytime soon. The effect is more psychological than anything else.
Also on people’s minds will be the question about Facebook and the effect of another web-based stock market bubble. If LinkedIn has a value of $10B and has poured a lot of money into the Bay Area, what’s going to happen when Facebook goes public? Zynga? Twitter? When those companies with re-filled coffers begin to buy more startups to grab their engineers?
And, looking ahead a few years, what’s going to happen when the bubble bursts?
Pain for those holding the bag.
Champagne for those who sold the bag.
Jobs for those working for the survivors.
Resume drafting for those working for the failures.
Yep.
And what the heck is LinkedIn doing with all those employees? Speaking as a member, I can assure you that they’re not paying attention to our feedback. Especially feedback relating to problems with their site.
The Bay Area housing market will be interesting this summer. With LinkedIn going public,
It will be the battle of perception vs reality. In the Bay Area both are equally important. But I think for the next couple years I’d put my money on reality there.
A real estate tracking firm says home sales in the San Francisco Bay area fell to a three-year low in April.
San Diego-based DataQuick reports Monday that the region’s median sale price also dropped year-over-year for the seventh consecutive month.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/05/16/state/n103255D79.DTL#ixzz1MuRF86aN
On the ground here, mid-Peninsula, anecdotally, any quality house on the market has a lot of bidders.
We closed on our purchase about a week ago, but while we were still looking in April, there wasn’t much on the market. We found a home off-market and made a deal with the seller before the property was listed. Since we got into contract in early April, we’ve seen a lot more homes come onto the market (really starting in later April), and a lot more going from “Active” to “Pending” recently (last part of April, early May).
I’ll be interested to see whether this increase in activity stacks up to last year.
Speaking of overpaid union teachers …
My sister is a non union teacher in North Carolina. After 15 years on teh job she makes a princely 40K per year, with no pension and only gets a 401K.
Her district, as most around the country, is facing massive budget cuts. What is interesting is that in her district only teachers will be laid off. Administrators and other non teaching staff are safe.
Needless to say, she isn’t pleased.
I’m sorry to hear that. Union or non-union, its not fun to see someone dedicate their life to kids only to have the rug pulled under them.
…or dedicate their lives to any job and have the rug pulled out from under them.
But some people would say it was their own fault and let’s just kick grandma to the curb.
I don’t even know…I recall seeing that they were going to double headcount to 900 by the end of 2010, so they are probably about 1,000 today.
But the number with lots of cheap shares is probably significantly less than 200. About 500 were added in 2010, so that group is going to do just fine, but not be buying a plane anytime soon. The effect is more psychological than anything else.
Also on people’s minds will be the question about Facebook and the effect of another web-based stock market bubble. If LinkedIn has a value of $10B and has poured a lot of money into the Bay Area, what’s going to happen when Facebook goes public? Zynga? Twitter? When those companies with re-filled coffers begin to buy more startups to grab their engineers?
I’ve been on linkedIn for about a year.
Really don’t understand what good it is. Just a big Facebook for business types. The only links I have are for people I already have in my cellphone, and a bunch of guys in New Delhi who keep wanting me to get in on the ground floor of “business opportunities”.
I usually get invitations to join from colleagues who are in the midst of a job search.
When I was job searching and trying to “network” I found its usefulness to be limited. All I got from my not seen in many years ex colleagues was “We aren’t hiring, in fact we’re also laying off. Good luck!”
During my recent job hunt I found it useful for telling everybody I was looking, and then telling them I found something. Easier than trying to look up a bunch of people one at a time that I hadn’t talked to in years to let them know I was looking. It generated a few leads.
I only keep the basics on my account in case someone wants to google me.
In the past 4 months or so I have been receiving job solicitations from HR at various companies. Maybe 2 or 3 a week. I think they are trying to bypass headhunters to save money. These are Fortune 1000 type companies not commission only Craigslist type jobs.
My take on LinkedIn? It’s a web-based Rolodex.
Yes, there are discussion groups, but I have yet to find one that is a) active and b) useful over the long term. In addition to the groups, there are questions and answers, but, from what I’ve seen, a lot of the questions are thinly disguised sales pitches.
I’ve also noticed quite the bevy of invitations to Link In from people I’ve never heard of. Didn’t take long to realize that these people weren’t interested in getting to know me. All they were looking to do was add to their trophy case.
And, as for finding clients there? To be honest, I haven’t found any.
Same with Facebook.
Speaking of which, have you seen the new bubble frenzy hype of putting your business on Facebook? It’s gotten so big there are now “consultants” with wild promises of insane increases in business.
What crap.
Speaking of which, have you seen the new bubble frenzy hype of putting your business on Facebook? It’s gotten so big there are now “consultants” with wild promises of insane increases in business.
The reality is far different than what these consultants suggest. Here’s a recent study:
Small Businesses Change Social Media Expectations
Note the low percentages of sales leads obtained from the leading social networks.
Thanks Slim, I need this for a couple of clients!
Good find!
Thanks Slim, I need this for a couple of clients!
Good find!
Thank you!
And, while you’re at it, add this arrow to your quiver:
New book called Freelance Confidential. It highlights the results of an international survey of freelancers.
One key finding: Only 14% of those surveyed reported that they’d found work via social networks.
“Just a big Facebook for business types.”
PHEW! And I thought it was just me who thought this!
I’m on both Facebook and LinkedIn (probably not a typical user of either)
For Facebook, I use it mainly see how old friends are doing…I spend perhaps 30 minutes every couple of weeks (max) keeping in touch.
For LinkedIn, I mainly use it to keep abreast of what is going on in my industry via some various industry groups. However, over time, I’ve found that a large number of the people who purport to be in the industry are generally less sophisticated than the folks I speak to on a day-to-day basis–it takes time to wade through the noise. As such, I spend maybe 15 minutes a month with LinkedIn.
I don’t understand the income model for either enough to believe in anything like the valuations that are being tossed around…
Guess what today is folks????
U.S. operations in Libya hit the 60-day mark!
Time flies when your are having fun.
Gosh - even Bush remembered to do this in Afghanistan and Iraq…
———–
The 1973 War Powers Act (WPA) — the statute President Obama invoked when he launched forces in March — requires presidents to secure congressional approval for military operations within 60 days, or withdraw forces within the next 30.
Sounds good to me. Let’s get the h e double hockey sticks out of Libya while we still can!
I’ve forgotten, how many American soldiers are pouring Libya sand from the fighting boots tonight?
3? 19? …surely you know the answer, right?
Do they have to notify anyone when a military operation reaches ten years? God maybe? Certainly not the American people.
How many countries until it’s world war?
Hope and Change across the pond:
UK Guardian - government talk of economic recovery was undermined on Friday when the country’s largest steelmaker announced plans to cut 1,500 jobs in Lincolnshire and Teesside.
Tata steel, which bought the Corus business in 2007, blamed a continued slump in demand from the construction sector but also new climate change legislation for its decision.
Tata steel, which bought the Corus business in 2007, blamed a continued slump in demand from the construction sector but also new climate change legislation for its decision.
Isn’t there a global glut of steel?
This is interesting:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/43111762
And link to the underlying survey press release:
http://campbellsurveys.com/housingreport/press_051911.htm
I note…”45% of foreclosed properties were damaged and not inhabitable without renovation.”
It’s the first time I saw any attempt at quantifying the quality of foreclosures. I wonder if this number has been going up, or down during the mess…
I note…”45% of foreclosed properties were damaged and not inhabitable without renovation.”
It emphasizes what I keep harping on, that empty houses do not improve with age. If anything, they deteriorate faster than occupied houses.
It’s shocking how many houses are never maintained no matter what the economic climate.
Many years ago, my parents took me on a house-hunting expedition. The folks’ real estate agent took us on a tour of properties for sale in Swarthmore, which is a pretty well-off suburb of Philadelphia.
Well, let’s put it this way: Most of the houses we went through looked like they were last cleaned during the Roosevelt Administration. I’m referring to Teddy’s, not Franklin’s.
My mother was appalled.
Needless to say, the folks didn’t buy any of those houses.
Surprising, isn’t it? I’ve seen it personally in any income level neighborhoods.
The 7 Deadly Sins are alive and well.
Stay-and-not-pay helps the banks:
1. The house keeps within it an occupant who helps keep up maintenence of the house. Keeping up the maintenence of a house keeps up the house’s market value.
2. The neighborhood is better off with and occupied house that is kept up than an unoccupied one that is not, so banks that hold mortgages for the houses in these neighborhoods benifit.
And stay-and-not-pay may end up helping the taxpayer. Consider this:
If the banks (or any other businesses) were to give you money would you be required to pay income tax on that money?
If the banks were letting you slide on making your house payments without initiating foreclosure proceedings wouldn’t the banks in effect be making your house payments for you? If the answer is “yes” then isn’t the bank giving you money?
Rental Watch….. what’s your motivation my friend?
Glow in the dark free market.
MUD = Municipal Utility District
Texas politicians knew agency hid the amount of radiation in drinking water
http://www.khou.com/home/-Texas-politicians-knew-agency-hid-the-amount-of-radiation-in-drinking-water-122205439.html
…However, the TCEQ would consistently subtract off each test’s margin of error from those results, making the actual testing results appear lower than they actually were. In MUD 105’s case, the utility was able to avoid violations for nearly 20 years, thanks to the TCEQ subtractions.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Lifeguards-high-pay-riles-apf-3067894082.html?x=0
Almost as good as firemen scenery is better too