Bits Bucket for June 8, 2011
Post off-topic ideas, links, and Craigslist finds here.
The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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Bernanke Says Accommodative Policy Needed for ‘Uneven’ Economic Recovery. (Bloomberg)
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said record monetary stimulus is still needed to boost a “frustratingly slow” recovery and repeated that a rise in inflation is likely to prove temporary.
“The economy is still producing at levels well below its potential; consequently, accommodative monetary policies are still needed,” Bernanke said today in a speech to a conference in Atlanta. At the same time, the Fed “will take whatever actions are necessary to keep inflation well controlled,” he said.
Recent data showing weakness in the economy, including a rise in the unemployment rate to 9.1 percent in May, have increased the odds the Fed will hold the benchmark interest rate near zero into next year. Bernanke said growth is likely to pick up in the second half of the year as fuel prices recede and disruptions of parts supplies dissipate as factories in Japan recover from an earthquake and tsunami.
“Overall, the economic recovery appears to be continuing at a moderate pace, albeit at a rate that is both uneven across sectors and frustratingly slow from the perspective of millions of unemployed and underemployed workers.”
“accommodative monetary policies ”
So THAT’s the new euphamism for QE III. I wonder if they focus-grouped it.
Focus-grouped it? What for? In the 2008 elections, 95% of the electorate - all those who voted for Obama and McCain - told the Wall Street kleptocrats and their Republicrat accomplices “We will bend over for you on demand.” Thus the swindles have become more huge and more brazen.
American voters prefer bending over to “throwing away” their votes on a truly suitable candidate. Welcome to idiocracy.
“Uneven” economy? Yes, I guess you could call the edge of a cliff “uneven” ground.
+1
It is ironic that I am getting used to this relentless grind downward being called a frustratingly slow recovery.
Productive capacity will continue to be underutilized Mr. Bernanke until you stop making our food too expensive with your policy of inflation.
Disruption of part supplies, lol. We can’t afford new cars! Not very long ago $100 meant a full shopping cart at the corner grocery store. Now that does not even cover the bottom of the cart at the discount store. We still have the same salary. “Temporary” passed a long while ago.
the fact that anyone takes this guy seriously anymore is mindboggling.
absolutely…mindboggling.
“….$100 meant a full shopping cart……”
I can remember when $100 was a 1965 Impala station wagon full of groceries.
I’m really talking about just a few years ago, when my kids were still home. Back when I had a 1960 chevy station wagon, I never filled it with food. Beer once, but never groceries.
Back when I had a 1960 chevy station wagon, I never filled it with food. Beer once, but never groceries.
A whole 1960 Chevy wagon full of beer? Must’ve been one heckuva party!
Yes. Summer 1968. $17.50/week plus room and board waiting tables at a mountain hotel in Maine. And we partied.
In the early 1970s, $100 could feed a family of 7… for a month.
Now? Same food, a week at best.
Ireland Seeks to Entice Home-buyers Deterred by Market
~ Bloomberg
As Europe’s debt crisis deepens, Ireland is considering desperate measures to revive what remains of the country’s real estate industry.
The National Asset Management Agency, set up by the government 18 months ago to acquire risky assets, is trying to lure buyers back into one of the region’s worst-performing property markets. NAMA may sell homes at a discount, providing the value of the property falls further in the years after the deal, said Ray Gordon, a spokesman for the agency.
“The market needs a kick-start,” said Tom Dunne, a lecturer at the School of Real Estate and Construction Economics at the Dublin Institute of Technology. “NAMA might be able to provide that.”
Ireland’s boom and bust, which led to an 85 billion-euro ($125 billion) international bailout last year, was driven by the real estate market. Property prices quadrupled in the 10 years through 2007. Since then, home values have fallen 40 percent, figures released yesterday showed. Mortgage lending has dropped about 95 percent from the market’s peak.
The government, through NAMA, is on the hook for 31 billion euros of loans tied to the property market, equivalent to 20 percent of the Irish economy and part of the more than 100 billion-euro cost for taxpayers to rescue Irish banks.
It would be reasonable to see another 40% off peak then, or 60% off where it is now, to get back to something like the normal of 10 years ago. Can that “normal” now be sustained by an economy that is undergoing radical amputation?
The cliff seeks to attrack more lemmings, in other words.
Here’s a thought. Maybe the REIC shouldn’t have brainwashed people into believing that houses are only worth buying if they appreciate 10% per year.
Maybe people shouldn’t be so stupid and gullible. Caveat Emptor and all that.
No property taxes in Ireland.
I would say unbelievable, but it’s not.
Dimon Asks Bernanke Whether U.S. Has Gone Too Far in Regulating Banks (Bloomberg)
Dimon asked whether the central banker has measured the cumulative effects of new capital requirements, mortgage standards and other rules imposed on the system in the wake of the U.S. financial crisis. Dimon, 55, spoke yesterday in a question-and-answer session after Bernanke addressed a conference of bankers in Atlanta.
Dimon asked Bernanke if he “has a fear like I do” that overzealous regulation “will be the reason it took so long that our banks, our credit, our businesses and most importantly job creation to start going again. Is this holding us back at this point?”
Yes, actually, regulation IS holding them back, in a twisted sense. It’s like getting rid of bugs — you need stronger and stronger pesticides until you’ve used your last chemical and you’re finally overrun. Banks and corporations and used all the tricks they had to keep up the profit, and taxes/regulations is the last trick they have to keep their profit levels.
It took us 30 years to get here. And they think Obama can solve it in a year? No, it will take 50 years to solve.
“Is this holding us back at this point?”
It depends on how you define “holding back”…
Holding back things like another round of insanity where you fleece the sheeple, pocket incredible profits and pass the risk off to others?
Yeah, like those pesky laws against “armed robbery” keep another class of people back.
“used your last chemical and you’re finally overrun”
Always keep a can of gasoline around for the decisive battle.
Solve in a year? No. But after two years he should at least be moving in the right direction. He is not. He is at least as pro bankster as shrub.
You’ve got to be kidding.
Will someone send this idiot (I’m being charitable in not calling him a thief, which I would with the rest of them) that total credit market debt as a percentage of GDP chart?
In the face of THAT, he’s claiming that the mean old regulators are hurting the economy? As if things were just great when the regulators were ordered by those at the top not to regulate?
I’ve got a fear, alright. I fear Generation Greed has sold this country out from under those coming after, and the banksters grabbed dynastic wealth for themselves by arranging the deal.
Things WERE just great for the rich when there was no regulation. Nightly Business Report 2006 was full of smiley faces
reporting that there was yet another merger which was clearly monopolisitc, but “they expect SEC approval shortly!” 
Or yet another firm was to be bought out by an anonymous “private equity group.” They expect layoffs, 
but the stock price rose 22% on the news! 
Meanwhile, good careers were being offshored, but hey, you could always get a seasonal job in construction management..with overtime the income could last the year… take out a HELOC for a new truck…
That’s quite a gig going with the age group hate thing WT. Methinks you are part of this generation too, so it all seems twisted. Like the wise old Indian said, you’ve got to correctly identify the problem before you can figure out how to fix it.
“I fear Generation Greed has sold this country out from under those coming after”
Please define Generation Greed. How old are they now? What are their circumstances - rich, healthy, powerful?
Dimon doesn’t “ask” this Administration anything. He dictates, and they scurry to do his bidding.
+1 Dimon is a neo-con swindler.
You either work with (for) Jamie, or you’re out.
“farmer asks fox if he should add more chickens.”
NOT FAR ENOUGH! Not EVEN far enough.
I would have liked to see a bold interruption of the whole exchange by armed forces who removed both Bernanke and Dimon at gunpoint, hauling both of their a$$es to prison on charges of treason.
V, what else do you know about the Brazilian Pepper tree? Would this thing be why I am all wheezy? We moved in a year ago and I have had a lot of respiratory/sinus issues.
I have Cuban tree frogs all over the place, invasive plants all of the place, and I live on dredge and fill and it floods because the muck doesn’t drain quickly. Florida… lol…
At least I don’t have Chinese drywall (I think).
Check the level of indoor mold ASAP.
After checking for mold, you might have someone come clean out your ducts if you are in an older house.
“At least I don’t have Chinese drywall (I think).”
Look at any exposed copper lines (AC plumbing) if they are not black you are probably OK. The smell is also unmistakable (rotten eggs). But if you want to be sure about the ceiling anyway, go up in the attic and pull back the insulation and look at the stamp on the back of the drywall. That will tell you who made it.
There must be a reason that human beings did not choose to live there for all these thousands of years.
Ditto on the mold suggestion.
I googled Brazilian pepper tree. It is related to poison ivy, poison oak and poison sumac and can cause respiratory irritation when it blooms. Some people who react to poison ivy, etc. will also react to Brazilian pepper tree.
And it is invasive. Florida may require that it be removed.
http://plants.ifas.ufl.edu/node/405
I live on dredge and fill and it floods because the muck doesn’t drain quickly. Florida… lol
You have mold. I would check humidity level, visible molds, smell like earthy, moldy, musty, dank etc. You are describing symptoms of mold infestation in my opinion. Take your own air samples, swab samples or bulk samples and send it to the labs. They will charge you $25.00 per sample. Take a few on the inside and a comparison one on the outside. Then establish clearance criteria such as indoor count should be less than 2000 spores/m3. The asperigillius, pennacilium count should be less than 200 spores/m3, Statchybotrys, Memoniella, Chaetomium, Fuarium and Trichoderma should be zero. No tolerance for these types of mold. If you find higher levels of the target zero tolerance molds prevent exposing your family until the property is remediated. If you decide to move clean the contents of your house prior to moving so as not to contaminate the next place. Your landlord might be liable for at least content cleaning part of the expense.
EPAdotGov/mold is what guidelines you want to follow when remediating mold in a home or commercial building.
As per EPA Guidelines.
Do not touch, breath or get mold spore in your eyes.
Do not paint or caulk over a moldy surface as it is likely to peel.
Do not use bleach, biocides or a fungicide to remediate mold
It is not simply enough to kill mold IT MUST BE REMOVED.
Nearly 50 percent of Palm Beach County mortgages underwater or almost there
by Kim Miller
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
CoreLogic’s first quarter report on negative equity shows 43 percent of Palm Beach County mortgages are underwater while another 4 percent are nearing negative equity.
Both numbers are down slightly from the end of 2010 when 44 percent of Palm Beach County mortgages were in negative equity with another 3.9 percent nearing negative equity.
See how Florida compares here.
Negative equity, which means the home is worth less than the outstanding balance on the mortgage is often referred to as being underwater or upside down.
Statewide, 46 percent of Florida home loans are underwater and another 4 percent close to being underwater.
That ranks Florida third nationally, with Nevada taking the top spot and Arizona coming in second.
“Many borrowers in negative equity are still able and willing to make their mortgage payments. Those in negative equity and impacted by an income shock of some kind, such as a job loss, divorce, or death, are much more likely to be at risk of foreclosure or a short sale. The current economic indicators point to slow yet positive economic growth, which will slowly reduce the risk of borrowers experiencing income shocks,” said Mark Fleming, chief economist with CoreLogic. “Yet the existence of negative equity for the foreseeable future will weigh on the housing market recovery by holding back sale and refinance activity.”
47 Responses to “Nearly 50 percent of Palm Beach County mortgages underwater or almost there”
1.Nearly 50 percent of Palm Beach County mortgages underwater or almost there | Foreclosure News Online Says:
June 7th, 2011 at 10:14 am
[...] Source: Real Time real-estate blog | The Palm Beach Post [...]
2. Uneasy Says:
June 7th, 2011 at 10:14 am
Wow, 47% are at or near negative equity? And where will many of these houses end up if their owners lose their jobs? Or choose a “strategic default”? Back on an already-glutted market?
I was hoping to buy soon, but this article scares me…
3. just saying Says:
June 7th, 2011 at 10:20 am
Just the beginning of the down fall of Florida real estate market. More and more foreclosures ahead with high unemployment, layoffs and taxes going up. If a major hurricane hits South Florida, most people will move out afterwards, instead to rebuild. Insurance could not cover the costs of new construction. There is no hope for new high paying jobs to come into the area. It will take several decades to see any type of recovery to happen. By that time, most of you will be dead or living somewhere else. How many county employees will put their homes up for sale when they get their pink slips? Prices will drop even more.
4. just saying Says:
June 7th, 2011 at 10:24 am
There will be many cheap buys, if you don’t care the house(s) next to you is in foreclosure, grass is high, the pool is a mesquito basin, paint peeling off, etc. Many neighborhoods becoming like this. With home prices dropping even more. Signs all over the place. But where are the jobs to pay the mortgage? And the taxes? And the insurance?
Palm Beach County is a major economic disaster area.
40. diver4life Says:
June 7th, 2011 at 9:20 pm
To all the sheep that feel they have good legal advice for people who default on their mortgage. YOU ARE MORONS. We do not need your advice or opinion. Just to make you aware, have not paid my mortgage for 35 months, just bought a new car. Well, there goes your bad credit theory. I won’t be broke and destitute when it is time for me to move out of this house, however, I am smart enough to research the rules of bankruptcy and will plan accordingly.
In closing, I think you should worry about yourself and I will worry about me.
of my, the realtors assn will not be pleased.
check all underwater mortgages for mold.
It might be easier to check all mold for underwater mortgages.
BA DUMP BA!
Good one.
40. diver4life Says:
June 7th, 2011 at 9:20 pm
To all the sheep that feel they have good legal advice for people who default on their mortgage. YOU ARE MORONS. We do not need your advice or opinion. Just to make you aware, have not paid my mortgage for 35 months, just bought a new car. Well, there goes your bad credit theory. I won’t be broke and destitute when it is time for me to move out of this house, however, I am smart enough to research the rules of bankruptcy and will plan accordingly.
In closing, I think you should worry about yourself and I will worry about me.
Did that comment surprise anyone? Just yesterday someone was telling me a friend of hers that I know too owes her money. She planned to cosign with this girl who found out her identity had been stolen (supposedly) somewhere along the way but even w/the co-signer the dealership said no thank you, we don’t want anything to do with you. They told her she’d have to get someone else to buy her the car. The storyteller of course “sold” her one of the family’s personal cars but of course has seen none of the money yet.
I was really surprised someone who hasn’t paid a mortgage in 35 mos could get a new car. Is this because the banks have not started proceedings against him?
No telling.
A steady job will get you into almost any car these if you have the down payment and don’t mind 23% interest.
I dont have a job and got 4.9% for $5k on a car loan. $4k down on a 2006. Just asked the bank for it and got it. USAA.
Or no mort payment 35 months means 35-90 thou spare cash lyng about to buy new car
Realtors Are Liars
The bold is a nice touch! You’re keeping it fresh.
Home-Owners?
Robo-signed documents rejected following 60 Minutes show featuring Palm Beach County homeowner
by Kim Miller
Massachusetts Register of Deeds John O’Brien is rejecting foreclosure documents signed by known robo-signers.
O’Brien is one of a handful of officials nationwide who began pulling court documents following a 60 Minutes story on foreclosure fraud that featured a Palm Beach County homeowner.
On Tuesday, Obrien said he rejected two robo-signed documents submitted to his registry for recording and plans to continue doing so.
“My registry will not be a knowing participant in this fraud against homeowners,” O’Brien said in a statement. “From today forward, lenders be on notice, the Southern Essex District Registry of Deeds will not record robo-signed documents.”
O’Brien said he has found 22 different variations of Green’s signature on documents filed with his office.
“Knowing what I now know, it would be a dereliction of my duties as the keeper of the records to record these documents and any other documents that contain questionable signatures,” O’Brien said. “To do so, would make me a willing participant in a continuing scheme whch has corrupted the chain of title of thousands of Essex County property owners.”
http://blogs.palmbeachpost.com/realtime/2011/06/07/robo-signed-documents-rejected-following-60-minutes-show-featuring-palm-beach-county-homeowner/ - 43k -
Real turns are lighter.
It is amazing that fish and company stink after three days, yet it takes 570 days in NYC and 450 days in Fl. for deadbeats to stink.
Lawyers get more time to finish foreclosures
By Kimberly Miller Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 9:22 p.m. Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Federal mortgage giant Fannie Mae more than doubled the amount of time Florida attorneys have to complete a foreclosure, acknowledging the reality of the state’s overwhelmed court system and problems with foreclosure paperwork.
Law firms now have 450 days (about 15 months), up from 185 (six months), to move a foreclosure from the first referral to an attorney to a foreclosure auction before fines can be levied.
As of the end of 2010, Fannie Mae had $184 billion in unpaid home loan principal in Florida with a seriously delinquent rate of 12 percent.
According to the new deadlines announced Monday, New York City has the longest time frame to complete a foreclosure at 570 days. Florida and New Jersey are tied for the second-longest.
Monday’s change is the second time in less than a year that Fannie Mae has adjusted Florida’s foreclosure deadline. It was last increased in August, jumping from 150 days to 185.
“We review them periodically and come up with a time frame that best reflects the existing conditions in that state,” Fannie Mae spokeswoman Amy Bonitatibus said.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/money/foreclosures/lawyers-get-more-time-to-finish-foreclosures-1525067.html - -
The robo-signing problem didn’t help.
Japanese earthquake causing soaring electricity and natural gas bills in Great Britain:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/8562207/Millions-of-households-face-record-high-energy-bills.html
Soon you will see the green british call for more nuclear power. The environment in Albuquerque is getting real bad right now. The smoke from the forest fires gets worse and worse. Red sun and thick haze is the “new normal”. On Monday, it was fairly clear here in the morning but by evening was hazy.
In another topic, my greatest fear is coming true. In November of 2008, I thought that the election of Obama might lead to the election of Romney. Now, We are all being conditioned to believe that our own hope is to elect a bankster to the presidency. All we need is a president, who will follow middle class friendly policies. Ron Paul looks to be our only hope but he does not appear to be able to get his message to America due to lack of coverage. Maybe he could send a naughty text to Lohan.
Ron Paul is “middle class friendly?????”
Compared to the rest without a doubt. He does not support QE or even the Federal Reserve. The Fed is a tool to concentrate wealth which is not good for the middle class. QE creates inflation that destroys the middle class but enriches the billionaires.
Paul supports strong borders preventing illegal immigration and does not support amnesty. Cheap labor and one world fascist government is the goal of the billionaires. Cheap illegal labor is destroying the middle class, who pay for the costs of education, health care and jailing of these illegals through taxes while the rich get the benefit. The final objective, I believe is the one world government. The EU hangs on to Greece only because the PTB wants world government. To achieve that, first you consolidate by region and then consolidate the regions. Of course, to have world government you need to have world taxes and carbon taxes with income transfers are the plan for that. We had real world warming for about 20 years, for the last twelve they have been closing rural monitoring stations, putting them in heat islands and closing the most northern stations all in an effort to keep claiming warming to justify the taxes. Significant man made warming is a myth, thus I am not at all surprised that the biggest corporate candidate believes in it.
“Paul supports strong borders preventing illegal immigration and does not support amnesty.”
He DOES support amnesty. Recently published stand on the matter. He has lost my support, period.
That is a recent development since a checked his website about a month ago and he was a strong border advocate. If he has changed his mind he has lost my support too.
It’s been my understanding that Libertarians (in general) support open borders.
a=I in my previous post. Here is wikipedia’s view of Ron Paul’s position do not know if he has changed:
Borders and immigrationPaul considers it a “boondoggle” for the U.S. to spend much money policing other countries’ borders (such as the Iraq–Syria border) while leaving its own borders porous and unpatrolled;[34] he argues the U.S.–Mexico border can be crossed by anyone, including potential terrorists.[52] During the Cold War, he supported Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative,[53] intended to replace the “strategic offense” doctrine of mutual assured destruction with strategic defense.
Paul’s positions on legal and illegal immigration sometimes differ with libertarian think tanks and the official platform of the U.S. Libertarian Party.[54] He believes illegal aliens take a toll on welfare and Social Security and would end such benefits, concerned that uncontrolled immigration makes the U.S. a magnet for illegal aliens, increases welfare payments, and exacerbates the strain on an already highly unbalanced federal budget.[55]
Paul believes that illegal immigrants should not be given an “unfair advantage” under law.[56] He has advocated a “coherent immigration policy,” and has spoken strongly against amnesty for illegal aliens because he believes it undermines the rule of law, grants pardons to lawbreakers,[57] and subsidizes more illegal immigration.[58] Paul voted for the Secure Fence Act of 2006, authorizing an additional 700 miles (1100 kilometers) of double-layered fencing between the U.S. and Mexico mainly because he wanted enforcement of the law and opposed amnesty not because he supported the construction of a border fence.[59]
Paul believes that mandated hospital emergency treatment for illegal aliens should be ceased and that assistance from charities should instead be sought because there should be no federal mandates on providing health care for illegal aliens.[59]
Paul also believes children born in the U.S. to illegal aliens should not be granted automatic birthright citizenship.[60] He has called for a new Constitutional amendment to revise fourteenth amendment principles and “end automatic birthright citizenship,”[61] and believes that welfare issues are directly tied to the illegal immigration problem.[62]
Paul supports legal immigration.
Of course, if you make immigration easy enough and remove quotas, there will be no illegal immigration.
True. However, you do not want to keep the most intelligent people out of a country since they tend to create more jobs than they take. I think if a person has an IQ above 130 and is not a criminal and wants to migrate to this country, I would have essentially have an open door policy. No country has ever destroyed itself by allowing that type of person into the country. However, there are billions of uneducated and not very smart people that would move to this country and they would destroy it, if we let them into the country. Sorry, I do not accept the premise that we need second class citizens to pick our crops and that does seem to be the direction that Ron Paul is moving. People that are not citizens and cannot vote should not be in the country for long periods of time. That is the Roman Empire not a republic. This country use to mechanize and automate not use serfs. If big business cannot find farm help, it either needs to raise the wages or develop new technology. Using cheap labor destroys a country, the middle class is created by brains creating technology to increase productivity. Truly sad that only Palin, now,seems to oppose both illegal immigration and QE.
Tsar Nicholas II might just disagree with you Albuquerque.
Lenin was a very smart guy.
Germany put him on a train to Russia In 1917 for a reason.
80% of the farm labor in CA is illegal. If they paid high enough wages that would support Joe6pk and benefits and comp, food costs would triple. Either way, we pay.
80% of the farm labor in CA is illegal. If they paid high enough wages that would support Joe6pk and benefits and comp, food costs would triple. Either way, we pay.
Take heart, people. It looks like technology is solving this problem.
Key quote:
A new imaging machine might not look like a robot to those acquainted with cyborgs or cylons, but a patent-pending technology made its Salinas debut last week with a demonstration that promises to cut the labor costs of thinning and weeding lettuce.
“80% of the farm labor in CA is illegal. If they paid high enough wages that would support Joe6pk and benefits and comp, food costs would triple.”
I’m not sure I believe that. I’ll bet farmers spend way more on fertilizers, weed killers and pesticides than on labor costs at harvest.
Never mind about the amnesty. Even if we closed the borders today and kicked out all the illegals, Ron Paul’s support of yanking regulation alone would be enough to decimate the middle class internally.
I wouldn’t worry about Romney. Always a bridesmaid, never a bride. Don’t give any credence to polls, either. They’re manipulated at best. Besides, the fix is in for Herman Cain. Believe it. They can’t run a white guy against Obama and have him win, that would result in widespread riots and social upheaval. So, it’s Herman Cain vs. Obama. Wait and see.
I can’t see riots in South Central over Barry losing to a white guy. He has slavishly served the interests of the whitest of white guys, the Wall Street predators, at the expense of the forgotten 95% of the population.
Rioters don’t think logically, Sammy. There were a bunch of mini-riots over the Memorial Day weekend. Flash mobs, shootings and that sort of thing. Miami, Charlotte, Chicago and more. The MSM really went into suppression mode on reporting these incidents.
The MSM doesn’t go into suppression mode. Anything that conflicts with its PC, corporatist, statist meme automatically goes into the memory hole. Time to reread Orwell’s “1984″ before it’s banned.
From Jim Goad’s column at Takimag:
“A recap of this year’s Memorial Day weekend mob violence, starting with the least intense and getting worse from there:
A series of “fights…between teenagers” led to the shutdown of a water park in Decatur, AL. An “unruly crowd” that included “people jumping the fence to get into the park, creating chaos inside the park” and leading to “several fights” prematurely closed down Nashville’s Wave Country water park for the first time in 30 years.
In Milwaukee, police “mistakenly” closed a city beach after overestimating traffic and pedestrian “congestion.” At least that’s what they said. However, eyewitness Shaylen McCaskill—who is black and therefore cannot be racist—told TV reporters, “They was jumping on cars and jumping around and throwing up gang signs.”
In Long Beach, NY, a “melee involving hundreds of people…spilled out onto the streets and a nearby bus depot…and continued for several hours” until police finally regained the upper hand.
Police in Rochester, NY, shut down a beach park near the city’s annual Rib Festival “when fights broke out among at least 100 youth.” A female witness said “There was a group of young gentleman [sic] running through the parking lot, saying something like someone’s getting beat up, and next thing you know there are 20 cops, ambulances, fire trucks….”
Chicago cops said they shut down North Avenue Beach because tiny-fingered Mayor Rahm Emanuel claimed they’d received a “tremendous amount” of calls regarding heat exhaustion. But the high temperature in Chicago on Memorial Day was only 88 degrees and only four people were taken from North Avenue Beach to local hospitals for heat-exhaustion relief. And none of Chicago’s numerous other beaches were closed that day. The mayor’s “heat exhaustion” alibi has lost so much credibility, even CBS News is beginning to question it. Before the beach was shut down, callers to local radio station WLS said they saw “dozens of gang bangers pushing people off their bikes.” Reputed eyewitness descriptions on the Chicago crime blog Second City Cop were more graphic (comments reprinted as they were typed):
I was at the lake front today and here is what I saw; A completely out of controll group of “teens” at the Oak St. Beach and at the Olive Park Beach. They were knocking people from their bikes at the Oak St. beach and then laughing and high-fiving each other. The nice northsiders were completly taken aback when the “teens” would push them from their bikes.
There were over 2,000 teenagers (being PC) who flocked to the beaches and proceeded to fight, attack others, rob, and destroy anything they could get their hands on.
In one eight-hour span in Myrtle Beach, SC, during Black Bike Week, police were called to respond to reports of a stabbing, a shotgun being pointed at a security guard, a shooting, and a quintet of armed robberies.
Three times over four days, Boston police were called to quash large-scale disturbances on the south side’s Carson Beach to break up gang fights among “1,000 youths who have used social media sites like Facebook to plan unruly gatherings….”
In Charlotte, NC, early Sunday morning after the Speed Street festival, “things got chaotic” amid a crowd estimated at 30,000, leading to “many fights” that culminated in the shooting death of 22-year-old Antwan Smith. Another 22-year-old, Durante Kavon James, was shot in the leg. Police made over 70 arrests.
Also early on Sunday morning, shots rang out during Miami’s Urban Beach Weekend, which draws an estimated 300,000 visitors who are “almost exclusively African American” and whose presence nearly doubles the city’s population. Gunplay ensued after one overeager reveler allegedly tried running over a group of police and pedestrians with his car. At least seven people were injured, including three policemen, and the accused vehicular assailant was shot dead. Around the same time, a black Miami poet was murdered outside his café in what was thought to be a deliberate hit. When local gay activist Herb Sosa complained that he saw “six cars parked on my block with their mirrors ripped off, their antennas ripped off” and called for an end to all future Urban Beach Weekends, he was called a racist.”
How’s that Hope and Change working out for you now, kidz?
BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
Harlem from the 1930-1960 was nearly all black and very safe.
What changed?
LOL, Jim Goad, there’s a name I haven’t heard in years. I still have an old issue of “Answer Me” kicking around somewhere.
It’s gonna be a long, hot summer.
“A recap of this year’s Memorial Day weekend mob violence, starting with the least intense and getting worse from there:
It seems that most of the violence was on the eastern seaboard. I guess flyover country has its benefits.
My apartment complex just published its pool rules for the summer:
========
The hours of operation will be Tuesday - Sunday from 11:00AM - 8:00PM, closed Monday.
· Residents will gain entry to the pool by showing their pool pass and photo I.D. to the lifeguard on duty. The lifeguard will be supplied with a list of all residents listed in our community.
· Residents under 16 years old must be accompanied by a parent/guardian who is also a resident.
· Guest passes will be provided by our office for $5 per day per guest, or $50 per season per guest. All guests must be accompanied by a resident over the age of 16. GUEST PASSES are temporarily suspended until July 1st.
Children were not given passes, as they must be accompanied by and adult(16 years old or older), with a pass to enter the swimming pool area.
· Only 2 children are permitted per resident . There must be an adult for every 2 children under the age of 16 at the pool.
· These rules must be followed, otherwise the pool is at risk for being shut down for the day. Individual violators are subject to be banned from the pool indefinitely.
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The bolded parts are particularly telling. It tells us what was going on at the pool to bring about these rules. In short, gangs of kids (invited or uninvited) taking over. And the pool has only been open for a week.
“Jim Goad, there’s a name I haven’t heard in years.”
He’s on Takimag these days.
well thesse youths are obviously making poor decisions.
The “wildings” are continuing here in the Windy City, there was at least one more last evening. We’re gripped in a heat wave until tomorrow so tonight’s a shoe-in for more.
Our new Mayor Potty Mouth is largely AWOL on this and the local papers only begrudgingly give any coverage at all. Local message boards, however, are humming with stories of far more “wildings” than are being reported.
The “wildings” are targeting the city’s lakefront and neighborhoods frequented by tourists and some of the victims have been foreign and out of state tourists. Their accounts relate that they were mobbed by 10 to 20 youths at a time.
Stay safe this summer, HBBers. Stay close to home with your families and stay away from our little mistake by the lake. Besides, I’ve been fortunate to travel a bit myself and there’s nothing we have here worth the trip - there’s a lake, a beer soaked baseball park, and overpriced hotels and restaurants - and that’s about it.
The “wildings” are targeting the city’s lakefront and neighborhoods frequented by tourists and some of the victims have been foreign and out of state tourists. Their accounts relate that they were mobbed by 10 to 20 youths at a time.
I hope this gets under control before it becomes tragic. I’m reminded of that Central Park jogger case in NYC.
what, no west coast riots?
http://www.amazon.com/Redneck-Manifesto-Hillbillies-Americas-Scapegoats/dp/0684838648
Is this the same Jim Goad (appropriately named) who wrote the REDNECK MANIFESTO? One of the funniest yet most brilliant books I’ve read in years.
” They can’t run a white guy against Obama and have him win, that would result in widespread riots and social upheaval. So, it’s Herman Cain vs. Obama. Wait and see.”
i thought republicans were supposed to have the enlarged “fear” part of their brain.
Which is why they’re not going to run a white guy against Obama and have him win.
They cannot run a non-Christian and win the support of the religious right.
This means Gingrich is also out.
You mean a non Protestant Fundamentalist, right? Last I heard Gingrich was a Catholic, perhaps a non observant Catholic, but a Catholic nonetheless,
Catholics aren’t baptized, so the religious right doesn’t consider them Christian.
And Romney must obey the orders of the President of the Morman church, so it will be interesting to see if he has a JFK moment.
“Catholics aren’t baptized”
Say what?
“Catholics aren’t baptized, so the religious right doesn’t consider them Christian.”
You have no idea what you’re talking about. Catholics are baptized as infants.
Fear the Godfather.
So, it’s Herman Cain vs. Obama. Wait and see.
Which will turn out to be a repeat of Obama’s 2004 Senate race vs. Alan Keyes. ISTR that Obama won that one in a walk.
Good point, Palmy.
That $10M Romney “raised” was by selling his family corp. (Staples,) to his Vulture Capitol corp., (Bain.) We already had one Mormon-controlled president (Nixon,) and that worked out kinda police stately for us, IIRC.
I tend to believe you on Pizza boy as well. Was talking to a party bigwig yesterday and he says it’s Cain/Bachmann.
(Oh please, oh please, oh please….)
We already had one Mormon-controlled president (Nixon,)
OK, I’ll bite. How did the Mormons control Nixon? This is the first I’ve heard of that one. I did a quick Google search that said he was Quaker and had a problem with some Mormons. Nothing else popped up on the first page that I saw.
Here ya go:
For starters, look up:
HUGHES, NIXON AND THE CIA: THE WATERGATE CONSPIRACY WOODWARD AND BERNSTEIN MISSED
an investigative report
By Larry DuBois and Laurence Gonzales
“This award winning landmark article … was the cover story of Playboy Magazine’s September 1976 issue, and was used as evidence in the United States Government’s Hughes / Rebozo investigation.”
OK, I’ll look it up when I have time. I’ll bring up what I find on a future day, no way I’ll have time to look at it today.
I had forgotten all about this. Good find.
OK, read over the article with some eye-glazing, and then searched for the word “Mormon” and read those parts more carefully. I’ll take their word that a bunch of Howard Hughes’ inner circle was Mormon, but it seems like a stretch to say they “controlled Nixon”. And even if I go ahead and suspend all disbelief and accept that those people somehow controlled Nixon it also seems like a stretch to treat their religion as anything more than a coincidence due to like-minded people tending to hire each other. So why did they (and you) make such a big deal out of the religion angle?
Money?
You’re going to have to be more specific if you want me to understand what you’re trying to say.
I believe it’ll be Cain/Bachmann as well. The financial elites are perfectly happy with Obama and his abject servility to the banksters, so why would they risk “change Goldman Sachs can believe in”? Bachmann will do whatever her neo-con handlers and bankrollers tell her to do, but all that churn over picking a new, fawning Republicrat Administration - it just isn’t worth it. So the elites might install Cain and Bachmann as the GOP “opposition,” confident that the American public, while morons, will vote for the incumbent Tweedle Dee over the GOP Tweedle Dum. The wild card, of course, are the thinking 5% of the population who will reject out of hand any Hollow Man Republicrat candidate, and that could make the outcome a lot more unpredictable.
I’d like to see Condoleezza Rice in there just to mix things up a bit.
I’ve listened to some of Ron Paul’s rants and came away with an impression of incoherance.
Four years ago I was sure that our next President would preside over the biggest financial collapse in our history. Well, things have dragged out a lot longer than I imagined. Our next one will likely be a patsy corporatist clown just like the one we’ve got now. Things won’t change until we put a different kind of person in Congress.
Things won’t change until the only people allowed to vote are those who actually pay the bills, i.e. put more into the system in taxes than they take out in benefits. Trust me, we’d soon see a better political class.
Outside of old folks, most of whom have been on the plus side for most of their lives, I would expect that most voters do pay in more than they take out.
Would you also require a citizenship-type knowledge test? It would be interesting to see how many of our elected representatives could actually pass it.
My point (in case I have been unclear) is that a lot of folks on welfare disenfranchise themselves. They simply don’t vote.
Many of the young also disenfranchise themselves. Older folks, who lived through WWII, consider it their patriotic duty to vote. It seems as if many of Gen X and Y have given up on the system and opt out.
I’d suggest a literacy test as well, and an essay quiz on each issue or candidate a citizen intends to vote on–just to show a minimal competence.
Then we could eliminate those who consistently vote the party line “because they’re told to” by their union or corporate masters. And then non-landholders. And the aforementioned non-taxpayers. Which includes the retired.
And single mothers.
And …
Gee, I wonder why the Founding Fathers didn’t think of that Sammy?*
Maybe because slaves always tend to vote for emancipation and poor people for equal protection under the law while the wealthy stack the deck for million dollar welfare for themselves?
*actually they came very close to having only land owners be eligible to vote.
I’d like to see Condoleezza Rice in there just to mix things up a bit.
Please be joking. After her role in selling the invasion of Iraq - the greatest strategic blunder in US history - and dissembling non-stop durng the eight years of epic incompetence that was the Bush Administration, the best thing “Condi” and her neo-con coterie can do is remain in a well-deserved oblivion out of the public eye.
I still remember when she got booed during Hurricane Katrina as she was in some ritzy New York department store buying expensive shoes. That was classic.
OK, I’ll admit to joking. On the shoe booing thing though, what were those self righteous people doing in the ritzy store themselves?
Heck of a job Brownie.
I still remember when she got booed during Hurricane Katrina as she was in some ritzy New York department store buying expensive shoes. That was classic.
And to think that during my third and final post-Katrina reconstruction trip to MS, my work shoes were falling apart. I threw them away at the end of the trip.
I would have liked to have seen Condi sweating and working in those hot, humid little towns while people were still waiting to get back into their houses several years after Katrina.
Last place I worked, one of the homeowners kept telling my volunteer group what a blessing we were. Imagine that. Being a blessing for hanging new drywall.
Condi Rice? You mean the person in charge of NSA when they received a little memo “Bin Laden determined to attack United States”?
Sarah Palin!
Looking at the Republican candidates it looks like a clown parade. I am sure commedians are loving it. Palin, Bachman, Pawlenty, Gingrich, Santorum, the freaks are out of the closet. If you take a close look at the history books, Germany had a similar lineup of talent in the early 1930s.
Hopefully cooler heads will prevail.
Yes, and it’s done on purpose. Either Obama gets a second turn, or they run Herman Cain.
And obama/hillary wasn’t a clown parade?
Germany had a similar lineup of talent in the early 1930s.
nice godwin move there.
Who died and made Godwin Elvis? Who cares about his stupid rule?
Ok screw the rule. Who is von Hindenberg this time around?
SCOTUS.
The Republican line-up reflects the imbecility of the GOP base, which in turn mirrors our societal decline into IDIOCRACY.
Ask any Main Street Republican, and they say they want “X” to be president because he/she is “just like us”.
There you go……..the problem, in a nutshell
The Republicans I know are pretty disgusted w/what’s out there. Just having one of those conversations this morning. He was mourning the dropping out of Mike Huckaby. Thinks Palin is an idiot. Wants nothing to do w/Romney. Can’t remember why on Romney.
Wants nothing to do w/Romney. Can’t remember why on Romney.
If he’s mourning the loss of Huckabee I bet I know why.
Speaking of closets, how about a Mark Foley / Larry Craig ticket? They could even announce their candidacy to coincide with Pride Week? With spiritual blessings from Ted (I only bought the meth to tempt myself) Haggard.
Good ‘ol fashioned down-home (downlow?) GOP family values is what this country needs in 2012.
Wiener could run the Internet portion of their campaign.
“the freaks are out of the closet”
Santorum is still firmly in the closet.
Visualize a Bachman/Palin or Palin/Bachman ticket.
I’d rather not, but now that image may be stuck in my head for days…
At least our national disintegration would have its comedic moments.
If there was a lot of kissing and mud wrestling, they would have my vote. It doesn’t seem to matter who is president, might as well be entertained while Wall St calls the shots./
The Rolling Stone magazine. Most all other arms of the media are losing subscribers, Wikipedia says the Rolling Stone is gaining:
“In recent years, the magazine has resumed it traditional mix of content, including in-depth political stories, and has seen its circulation increase.”
The Rolling Stone is a new addition to my read list and it looks as if it is a new addition to a lot of people’s read list. I like it because they don’t seem to be among the many bought-and-paid-for big government/big business MSM propaganda outlets.
Not yet at least.
Discussion, anyone?
The Cover Of The Rolling Stone
Hey Ray, hey sugar, tell them who we are
Well, we’re big house debtors, we got cashmere sweaters and we’re loved everywhere we go (That sounds like us)
We love to refi our houses at fifty thousand dollars a blow
We take all kinds of pills, that give us all kind of thrills but the thrill we’ve never known
Is the thrill that’ll get you when you get your picture on the cover of Delinquent Loans
Delinquent Loans, wanna see my picture on the cover
Wanna send five copies to my lawyer (Yeah!)
Wanna see my smilin’ face, on the cover of Delinquent Loans
(That’s a very very good idea)
I got a freaky old lady name o’ Cocaine Kitty who drives a Mercedes Benz
I got five flat sreens and granite, we love to show to all our friends
Now it’s all designed to blow our minds but our minds won’t really be blown
Like the blow that’ll getcha when you get your picture on the cover of Delinquent Loans
Delinquent Loans, wanna see my picture on the cover
Wanna send five copies to my lawyer (Yeah!)
Wanna see my smilin’ face, on the cover of Delinquent Loans
(Move out? No man we got three years)
(Hey, I know how…)
(Robo signers man)
(ROCK N` ROLL)
(Aww, dats beautiful)
Jeff, your parody songs keep getting better and better.
BRAVO!
It also seems there is a slight trend that conservative news sources are gaining subscribers (NYPost, Wall Street Journal, etc.) while liberal news sources (NYT, Philly Inquirer, ABC/NBC/MSNBC/CBS/CNN) are losing subscribers and/or going bankrupt…
Please don’t call publications you named “conservative.” They are neo-con propaganda outlets that have nothing to do with true conservatism, and advance the same statist, corporatist agenda of the liberal “news” sources you cite.
Agreed.
Neo-con is not conservative. It’s because of the Neo-con takeover in the GOP that I reregistered as an independent.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog
Matt Taibbi is the rarest of the rare: an investigative journalist who dares to speak truth to power, and does so in his own memorable style. The talentless corporate-owned hacks of the MSM have no more soul or journalistic integrity than the Pravda “writers” of the Soviet era who gushed over how swell things were in the USSR and relentlessly smeared the few dissidents who would not be silenced.
Here’s a FUGLY house:
“Los Angeles (CNN) — Zsa Zsa Gabor’s Bel Air mansion, which offers an expansive — and expensive — view of Los Angeles, officially hits the real estate market for sale Tuesday, according to the realtor who is listing the property.
The Hollywood Regency-style mansion, built in 1955, carries a listing price of $15 million, Beverly Hills real estate agent Christophe Choo said Monday. It will be officially posted on the multiple listing service Tuesday, Choo said.”
http://www.cnn.com/2011/SHOWBIZ/celebrity.news.gossip/06/06/gabor.home.sale/index.html?hpt=hp_bn5
(Aww, dats beautiful)
I’ve always found the “Hollywood Regency” style to be sort of amusing.
It’s like a vision of a nouveau riche Versailles done by an interior designer on some serious consciousness altering substances.
Put a match to that repulsive architectural blight.
“Zsa Zsa Gabor’s Bel Air mansion…”
The interior decor reminds me of the last ten minutes of Space Odyssey, Dave’s last meal.
While Colorado’s economy has grown, jobs are still below 2008 level
Colorado’s economy is bigger than it was before the downturn, but it is recovering slowly and has a long way to go to regain the jobs lost since 2008.
Colorado’s GDP rose 1.4 percent last year, adjusted for inflation. That’s the 38th-slowest growth rate in the U.S. and behind the 2.6 percent average, according to a report Tuesday from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
“Those aren’t the kind of numbers we need to undo the damage,” said Martin Shields, director of the Regional Economics Institute at Colorado State University in Fort Collins.
The total value of goods and services produced in the state increased from $231.85 billion in 2009 to $235.15 billion in 2010, surpassing the $233 billion peak hit in 2008.
denverpost DOT com/business/ci_18227194
The “common” wisdom out here is that we are affected later by recessions and thus recover later.
My “on the street” observation is that Colorado’s economy has been in the tank since 2000. Case in point: there hasn’t been a TABOR tax credit (one year it was over $1000) since the late 90’s as state tax receipts have not exceeded the TABOR imposed limits (like they did pretty much every year in the late 90’s). I also recall reading an article that pointed out that median HH income in Larimer County (Fort Collins and Loveland) declined 10% from 2000 to 2010.
An image I found humorous and astute:
http://i.imgur.com/D1xG5.jpg
I still marvel at the debt scam (i.e. making risky loans that the public sector guarantees, and then selling derivatives of those loans to the world) that politicians and the financial sectors have built up. These allow the financial sector to hold the economy at large hostage, and strip mine wealth from it. Regardless of the health of the economy.
Really diabolically brilliant stuff. Requires an absolutely elite understanding of both mathematics and people.
Wow, that’s brilliant!
Nice, except for this little fact:
Republicans block ending offshore jobs tax breaks | Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE68R40I20100928
http://www.cnbc.com/id/43321461
To the mental defectives who voted for hope ‘n change: how does putting US taxpayers on the hook for more Eurozone bailouts constitute “change we can believe in”? Goldman Sachs and the other financial sharks are calling in the markers this Administration owes them for their campaign contributions, while taxpayers and future generations are betting shafted, yet again.
we have been bailing out europe for years, we are the biggest contributor to the imf and where did the tarp money go.
now we will do it openly
Thanks Charlie. I was also going to point out as you did that much of TARP (Bush admin plan) went to foreign banks.
My point is, Obama wasn’t “change” at all. He is a continuation of the same policies Bush followed, with his one redeeming virtue being that he wasn’t the crazed neo-con John McSame or the empty-headed slogan-spouter Sarah Palin. He pursues the same slavish adherence to corporatist, statist policies as Bush, which is to be expected by a candidate groomed by mega-speculator George Soros and bankrolled heavily by Goldman Sachs. Anybody who saw the corporate-owned MSM’s fellatio-thon of Obama should’ve realized whose boy he was: the corporatists. “Change we can believe in,” my a$$.
Becuase the already US $14 trillion debt is just not BIG ENOUGH????
Hope and change…
Yes we can…
Four more years…
GITMO still open for business…
US Troops still in Iraq…
Almost doubled the US troops in Afghanistan…
New war in Libya…
Extended the patriot act…
Hmmm - where are all the protestors GO? WHERE?
——————–
President Barack Obama on Tuesday urged European countries and bondholders to prevent a “disastrous” default by Greece and pledged U.S. support to help tackle the country’s debt crisis.
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
Shhhh! We can’t point out those kind of hypocrisies because it upsets the whole two-party fantasy thing that keeps so many little noses to so many little grindstones.
Where are all the protesters? That’s easy. They’re all sitting at home, afraid of being labeled racists.
Yes, the bankster have moved on to greener pastures in Euroland. I hope it comes to a revolution there. Greece should follow the Icelandic example and flat out refuse to pay one more cent. That might bring down the house. The banksters will continue with this game until somebody grows some balls. Finland is the first Euro country that is waking up to the fact that they’re being raped by the banksters, but they’re too small to make much of a difference. We need France or Germany to wake up. The Little Napoleon is a friend of the banksters; Merkel might eventually figure out what and who’s being played.
Ron Paul is the only hope we got in the US, all others will cater to the interests of the banking cartel.
“Finland is the first Euro country that is waking up to the fact that they’re being raped by the banksters, but they’re too small to make much of a difference.”
Can you clarify what you are referring to there? What did I miss? Thanks…
Greek bailout to come before Parliament possibly in July
The Finnish Parliament might have to vote on the package already in early July.
The vote will also be a test of the sustainability of Finland’s “stricter EU policy”. The Social Democratic Party and the National Coalition Party agreed in May on policies according to which Finland is not ready “to even consider” granting credit through the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) if the recipient country does not offer collateral.
http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Greek+bailout+to+come+before+Parliament+possibly+in+July/1135266720659
Maudlin’s piece this week does a great job of explaining the Euro crisis.
Bottom line is that Iceland is the model that Greece/Ireland should follow.
Greece looks to be on its way to be under the boot of bankers just as formerly free small Southern farmers were turned into “debtcroppers” after the US Civil War. Deflationary policies had left many with mortgage payments that were increasingly difficult to service. Many fell into “crop lien” peonage. Farmers were cash starved and pledged their crops to merchants who then acted in an abusive parental role, being given lists of goods needed to operate the farm and maintain the farmer’s family and doling out as they saw fit. The merchants not only applied interest to the loans, but further sold the goods to farmers at 30% or higher markups over cash prices. The system was operated, by design, so that the farmer’s crop would never pay him out of his debts (the merchant as the contracted buyer could pay whatever he felt like for the crop; the farmer could not market it to third parties). This debt servitude eventually led to rebellion in the form of the populist movement.
Obama is going to spend money we do not have to keep that Greece default from happening: http://www.cnbc.com/id/43321461
The default would be a disaster for whom? World government advocates (see earlier comment) and banksters (one in the same) would be hurt but we would suffer how? The Greeks could go back to their own currency which they could print to pay their workers. Not good economics but makes more sense that having German and U.S. workers pay to keep a default from happening.
Why do we have to buy allegiance?
OMG - this is insane. SWAT for someone who has defaulted on their student loans but every banker in TBTF banks walks free with huge bonuses…
——————
Dept. of Education breaks down Stockton man’s door (with SWAT)
Jun 8, 2011
STOCKTON, CA - Kenneth Wright does not have a criminal record and he had no reason to believe a S.W.A.T team would be breaking down his door at 6 a.m. on Tuesday.
“I look out of my window and I see 15 police officers,” Wright said.
Wright came downstairs in his boxer shorts as a S.W.A.T team barged through his front door. Wright said an officer grabbed him by the neck and led him outside on his front lawn.
“He had his knee on my back and I had no idea why they were there,” Wright said.
According to Wright, officers also woke his three young children ages 3, 7, and 11 and put them in a Stockton police patrol car with him. Officers then searched his house.
As it turned out, the person law enforcement was looking for was not there - Wright’s estranged wife.
“They put me in handcuffs in that hot patrol car for six hours, traumatizing my kids,” Wright said.
Wright said he later went to the mayor and Stockton Police Department, but the City of Stockton had nothing to do with Wright’s search warrant.
The U.S. Department of Education issued the search and called in the S.W.A.T for his wife’s defaulted student loans.
www dot news10.net/news/article/141072/2/Dept-of-Education-breaks-down-Stockton-mans-door
we are not willing to pay higher taxes to fund education. what do you expect the dept of education to do? :^)
our govt is too powerful and our liberties are eroding.
“They put me in handcuffs in that hot patrol car for six hours, traumatizing my kids,” Wright said.
his crime? none what so ever, they weren’t even looking for him.
Kneel before Zod!
Yet any poltical candidate will proudly proclaim to be “pro law enforcement”.
More change we can believe in? Kenneth Wright might start taking a more active interest in our disappearing civil liberties after this encounter.
Somethings not right about this story.
Several things not even close to right with the story.
I didn`t think that could possibly be true,but….
Dept. of Education breaks down Stockton mans door
Submitted by Leigh Paynter, News10 San Joaquin Valley Reporter
Wednesday, June 8th, 12:16 am
http://centralstockton.news10.net/ - 138k -
At the end of the article:
According to the Department of Education’s Office of the Inspector General, the case can’t be discussed publicly until it is closed, but a spokesperson did confirm that the department did issue the search warrant at Wright’s home.
“The Office of the Inspector General [of the education department] has a law enforcement branch of federal agents that carry out search warrants and investigations.
Stockton Police Department said it was asked by federal agents to provide one officer and one patrol car just for a police presence when carrying out the search warrant.
Stockton police did not participate in breaking Wright’s door, handcuffing him, or searching his home.
“All I want is an apology for me and my kids and for them to get me a new door,” Wright said.
So the ed department went to the last known address for the person who was behind on payments and asked for minimal police backup, probably because they thought it was a bad neighborhood, or possibly because it is standard procedure.
Somehow that turned into a SWAT team being dispatched.
I strongly suspect a screw up on the part of the police, not the ed department.
Polly…. Ed Dept issues a warrant??????! WTF!!!
Afraid I have no idea why the ed department would issue a search warrant in relation to not paying student loans. Maybe the estranged wife claimed that she didn’t receive any notices from them and so they went to search the place to show that she did receive them? The idea that they issued a search warrant to search for HER is a little far fetched. Sending someone legal papers that have to be delivered by hand to the actual person (so the server can testify that the person had a actual notice of the contents of the papers) is not called a warrant, so I’m kind of at a loss on that one. I think that the article needs a lot of clarification.
The U.S. Department of Education Gestapo. Are you hiding anyone with defaulted student loans in your basement?
Can debtors’ prisons be far behind? I really wouldn’t put it past the Dept of Education Gestapo to shake down family members for the debts of the imprisoned. Perhaps there will be “settlements” in those cases where they can’t squeeze blood from a stone.
This is rather interesting. It tops even the IRS tactics.
The solution, of course, is even more government and more government programs.
Solution is more regulation, cops should not have the power to do this.
Debtor’s prison already exists. All they have to do is say you intentionally defrauded and that’s all she wrote. Off you go.
Whose SWAT team, the U.S. Department of Education?
A little historical perspective. The first half of the baby boom got grants to go to college, not loans. Eventually the idea came around that since the college educated would earn more, there was a limit to how much it was fair for the working class (which was being sent to Vietnam) to pay taxes to subsidize their education.
By the time I came around there were loans, but loans on favorable terms. When those my age exited college sans job, many decided it was a legitimate thing to default on their student loans, even though it was possible back then to defer payment on favorable terms based on hardship and pay back later (as I did).
In reaction to those kinds of abuses, and to pay for the soaring cost of college, today’s young people are expected to sell themselves in to indentured servitude.
A sophisticated borrower would have paid off the student loan debt with a home equity loan. Then she would have been showered with government aid instead of being jackbooted by a SWAT team.
A sophisticated borrower would have moved to another country.
I’ve been on the receiving end of an erroneous visit from the local constabulary. It is very unnerving, to say the least. They were looking for the prior tenant, and implied I might be an associate of his. Demanded to look around the apartment. Threatened to get sh*tty with me if I didn’t allow it. Laughed when I mentioned constitutional rights, said I didn’t have any. The two deppities (one male, one female larger than the male) started to quiver like attack dogs about to pounce.
I want to warn you of this phenomena: when you see the eyes of a law enforcement officer go wide or develop a thousand yard stare, when the edges of the nostrils go white and you sense a vibration in the air or notice a subtle quivering in the body of the officer, get very polite and conciliatory. Discretion is the better part of valor.
I had been awakened by pounding on the door and was a tad cranky. This started the tense exchange.
Laughed when I mentioned constitutional rights, said I didn’t have any.
….
The two deppities (one male, one female larger than the male) started to quiver like attack dogs about to pounce.
This is why I have zero sympathy for them when they get blown away (which is very rare).
Colorado, I don’t know how the media reacts when a cop in your area gets killed in the line of duty, but it is truly a three ring circus in these parts. It’s non-stop, wall to wall coverage with the media hyperventilating, getting down on all fours and baring their butts in complete and utter submission. The dick-suckery is unbelievable. I mean, the anchors and reporters might as well go down to the police station and start fellating all the officers right and left and spare the viewers and listeners all the propitiation.
And the coverage goes on. and on. and on. and on. for days. weeks. even months later. Every relative, every childhood friend, old classmates, every co-worker, etc. gets trotted out for an interview. Bikers form convoy tributes. Benefit barbeques and bake sales are endless. The funerals are covered. Interviews with the police chief who vows “We will not rest until…”
I have yet to see that sort of thing for any of our troops and their families.
But the media reaction is really bizarre, it’s like propitiating the gods by offering up tribute. Way over the top.
Colorado, I don’t know how the media reacts when a cop in your area gets killed in the line of duty, but it is truly a three ring circus in these parts.
Same thing here in the Tucson area.
Meanwhile, when a Border Patrol agent gets shot and killed, hardly any fanfare. Look to the Kris Eggle case as a prime example of this.
“Colorado, I don’t know how the media reacts when a cop in your area gets killed in the line of duty, but it is truly a three ring circus in these parts.”
Oh yes. You’d think Superman had taken a kryptonite bullet to save the world or something.
Well, I find the whole reaction rather odd, Slimmie. Around here, the media acts as if the police will target THEM for the crime if they don’t hop to, right away. It’s like there’s someone behind the scenes dicktating how much coverage and when, like someone’s saying “I don’t think you’ve sucked us off quite enough, give us some more.” Very, very strange. I mean, I get that a tragic thing happened, but tragic stuff happens to lots of people every day, unexpectedly, and you don’t see that sort of reaction.
I have yet to see that sort of thing for any of our troops and their families.
Or any of the commoners killed unjustifiably by police officers.
The media in Dallas became down right schizophrenic when the son of the current Dallas PD Chief murdered an officer of a nearby town.
david koresh could have been picked up and cuffed during one of his routine visits to the local post office.
so could this woman…post office…grocery store…work.
but no…the jack booted pricks have to kick the door down at 6:00 AM.
i have no respect for cops…i never donate to any of their “causes”. i am sure it is that just a few bad apples spoil the barrel…but until they weed out the assholes.
eff’em.
but until they weed out the assholes.
which is difficult if the hiring process selectively chooses them…
Looks like Palmy didn’t have his smoothie this morning.
How did he get THAT post through the filter?
No doubt! Palmy was beautifully poetic today. I’m thriving on venom these days.
I’m waiting to see what the rest of the story is, but considering the recent rash of excessive force across the country, I won’t be giving the cops the benefit of the doubt on this one.
Saw an update that says the loan thing wasn’t true and a SWAT team was called for a criminal investigation. What kind of investigation isn’t stated. And it was the Department of Education that did it.
Gotta go to the bottom of the story for the update.
http://www.rawstory.com/rawreplay/2011/06/swat-team-busts-into-house-over-student-loan-default/
Kaiser Permanente nurses in the Bay Area make $54 an hour, more than Kaiser pediatricians with MDs on an hourly basis. The pediatrician has 7 more years of intense schooling (plus debt) and residency training than an RN.
You know why our health care costs are skyrocketing? It’s not physician salaries, but all the skyrocketing unionized salaries of the support and administrative staff.
“The pediatrician has 7 more years of intense schooling (plus debt)”
Better pay that debt or watch out for the U.S. Department of Education Gestapo.
And how much of that salary is overtime?
Great game the shysters have going here. First they refuse to hire staff, and run your existing staff into the ground with overtime.
Then, you bitch about the overtime.
Back in the late 90s, most of my lead mechs were clearing $100K/year, whether they wanted to or not. Amazing what working 700-800 hours of o/t a year will do for your gross. Didn’t want to pay for extra help, or training, so the guys that knew what they were doing got to work 56-60 hour weeks, 50 weeks a year.
They didn’t want to pay o/t either. so they started loading up the salaried-exempts up with bargaining unit work.
Thank you, fixer.
Contract nurses earn less money(per hour) when working OT. The more hours you work, the less you make per hour.
OT is not paid at time and half.
How do you know that these are contract nurses, not employees?
Huh. And here I thought it was the middleman insurance companies with their 25%+ administrative overhead.
Just because of increasing co-pays and premiums and denial of claims, why would you think a thing like that?
Is that $54 based on a 40 hour work week, four weeks a month?
You have to look at the entire salary per year, NOT just the hourly wage.
I make $81.13 an hour, however that is based off of a 75 hour per month schedule, NOT 40 hours per week. Instead of pulling one minute detail out of the story, you’ve gotta get the whole story. I know this because a union teacher taught me advanced mathematics and helped me develop cognitive thinking.
Are you saying that you work 17.44186 hours per week (4.3 weeks a month) and gross $73,017 per year?
Maybe he is a public school administrator?
Some nurses are paid 40 hours for working the hours that no one wants to work. In other words if they work say two 10 hour graveyard shifts over the weekend they get paid 40 hours.
Thats about right. I’m an airline pilot, and I only get paid when the door is shut. All of the prep work, commuting back and forth, hotel layovers…none of that is paid.
When people ask how much we are paid, some dumbasses will say “I make 120 an hour”, which automatically has the person multiplying $120 x 40 x 52 in their head, when in reality it is $120 x 75 (roughly, give or take depending on a number of factors) x 12.
Some airlines have a lower guarantee, others have different work rules for pay (Picking up extra trips, holiday pay, minimum pay per day). Bottom line is that an hourly figure (Such as these nurses making $54 an hour) means nothing to me, it is the salary per year.
Gross pay/hours worked.
Sean
But at $73,000 a year gross it suggests you are at the beginning of your pilot carreer with hope for a much larger gross in the future.
Most Americans cannot dream for a circumstance like that right now.
Good luck with your carreer.
Really? My wife, a new RN, will make about $22 hr when she starts her job. That doesn’t seem outrageous.
Obey your master of puppets!
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Republican lawmakers are “playing with fire” by contemplating even a brief debt default as a means to force deeper government spending cuts, an adviser to China’s central bank said on Wednesday.
The idea of a technical default — essentially delaying interest payments for a few days — has gained backing from a growing number of mainstream Republicans who see it as a price worth paying if it forces the White House to slash spending, Reuters reported on Tuesday.
But any form of default could destabilize the global economy and sour already tense relations with big U.S. creditors such as China, government officials and investors warn.
Li Daokui, an adviser to the People’s Bank of China, said a default could undermine the U.S. dollar, and Beijing needed to dissuade Washington from pursuing this course of action.
“I think there is a risk that the U.S. debt default may happen,” Li told reporters on the sidelines of a forum in Beijing. “The result will be very serious and I really hope that they would stop playing with fire.”
Obey your master of puppets!
Where ARE the democrat lawmakers on this?
Oh - Nearly 100% of them are for rasing the debt limit - over and over again - FOREVER.
But - they get a pass.
Don’t they have better things to do? Like populating all those vacant houses/malls/cities they built?
That’s exactly why the Republicans want to to do it. They can break the system and then blame it on the President. That’s all they care about.
“They want to break the system…” What system? Forever spending more than we take in?
BTW, what’s the status of the 2012 federal budget?
It starts October 1st, 2011. I don’t think that anyone expects a deal on that to be finalized as part of the debt ceiling thing, so we will start the whole thing over again almost as soon as the debt ceiling stuff is over. However, the consequences of not dealing with the budget is just a government shut down, which doesn’t have the same level of impact as the money simply not being there. And there could be a few continuing resolutions to put off any shut down, but since the republicans are gearing up for their primaries starting in the winter, I expect that they won’t want to put off the confrontation to be much later than November.
“blame it on the President. That’s all they care about.”
I would like to think that is not true. If it is true, then I would be inclined to think that all those clowns on both sides of the aisle have the same pervasive mentality. If so, then one side accusing the other of it is childish in the extreme.
Is there any other possible explanation for otherwise spendthrift politicians resisting (or seeming to) the relentless spending in DC?
Isn’t Globalization great?
Now everybody gets a say in our policies. Especially anyone holding US Debt.
All those who have been saying the “freeloaders” shouldn’t get to vote are behind the power curve. Turns out actual voters don’t have a vote either.
That’s why I always supprted foreigners voting in our elections. If we gonna f*ck their life savings up with our QE to infinity, and not to mention invading their counties willy nilly, they might as well have a voice in it. Not that it will matter…..
“Li Daokui, an adviser to the People’s Bank of China, said a default could undermine the U.S. dollar, and Beijing needed to dissuade Washington from pursuing this course of action.
“I think there is a risk that the U.S. debt default may happen,” Li told reporters on the sidelines of a forum in Beijing. “The result will be very serious and I really hope that they would stop playing with fire.”
Default on the debt. NOW!!!!!!!!! Give ‘em back all their crappy stuff.
This is really funny. Deciding not to pay when there is no longer an advantage to pay your debts is ingrained in the Chinese mentality.
Question. Congress has apppropriated (ie. ordered the President to spend) a certain amount of money. And it has authorized (ie. allowed the President to collect) a certain amount in taxes.
There is a big gap between the two. And it may now order the President to stop borrrowing.
So Congress would be demanding the impossible. Does that mean the President doesn’t have to follow the appropriations of Congress anymore? Does Obama really have to default?
If I were him…I would pay the debt. And I’d pay the troops as commander-in-chief. And I’d continue to fund the payment of programs that provide a minimum survival benefit to the poorest, though with a haircut, on the grounds that as President he wasn’t going to allow Congress to allow people to starve at a moment of great need.
And then I’d just cut spending on everything else by the percent necessary. Including Social Security and Medicare for seniors, and payments to businesses for all kinds of things. Not with a promise it will be made up later, but with an assertion that it won’t. If businesses and doctors and hospitals didn’t want to accept half price, they could forget about federal contracts period.
Tired of the seniors being against taxes while getting the first dollar. Now they’re against debt too? Prove it.
Somehow I think that this turn of events would be far more salutory in the long run than a technical default.
If I were him…I would pay the debt. And I’d pay the troops as commander-in-chief. And I’d continue to fund the payment of programs that provide a minimum survival benefit to the poorest, though with a haircut, on the grounds that as President he wasn’t going to allow Congress to allow people to starve at a moment of great need.
So you would become a dictator…???
If you’re going to blame Obama as if he’s in charge of everything… why not put him in charge of everything.
LOL.
Fine then cast your vote for dictatorship.
” Not with a promise it will be made up later, but with an assertion that it won’t. If businesses and doctors and hospitals didn’t want to accept half price, they could forget about federal contracts period.”
But he can’t do that. The money is already appropriated. Once he gets it he has to pay it. Or, in the case of Social Security and Medicare, it is an established obligation that doesn’t have to be appropriated. They have to cut the payments (to match revenue) if the money simply isn’t there and they don’t have the authority to borrow more, but AFAIK he has no legal right to say he won’t pay it when he gets it. I’ve posted choices for cuts in the past - put all executive branch employees on minimum wage, cut SS payments by 20% or maybe cut all amounts over $1000 a month, pay docs and hospitals 50% of what they are owed under the schedule of payments, pay contractors only 50% of their contract amounts, etc. It is illegal, but the laws contradict each other, and it is about all they would have left. And they could pay the rest after the limit is raised.
That is all I think they really can do. But don’t expect an announcement. The official line is the debt ceiling has to be raised and there is no back up plan. They aren’t going to play that card. At least not yet.
The Drifters
Up on the roof
Oh the sun beats down and melts the tar up on the roof
And the 20% you put down, well it just went poof
Back On The Market
Down by the sea
With a house that I bought in 05 … is where I’ll be
From a park you hear the happy sounds from a carousel
I`ve lowered the price fifty grand, but it sill won`t sell
Back On The Market
Down by the sea
With a house that I bought in 05 … is where I’ll be
Hey Barry, you DA! “We” are the largest contributor to the IMF by far, we’ve been bailing them out! How’s it working so far?
Obama Presses Europe, Pledges Help for Greek Crisis
Wednesday, 8 Jun 2011 | By: Reuters
President Barack Obama on Tuesday urged European countries and bondholders to prevent a “disastrous” default by Greece and pledged U.S. support to help tackle the country’s debt crisis.
After a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, he stressed the importance of German “leadership” on the issue - a hint that he expects Berlin to help - while expressing sympathy for the political difficulties European Union countries face in helping a struggling member state.
Rolling Euro zone bailouts = Whack-a-Mole
Go China! They’re #1…
Developing countries lead surge in energy demand
Report: developing world powers biggest jump in global energy demand since 1973
LONDON (AP) — Global energy consumption rose in 2010 at the fastest pace since 1973, as fast-growing developing nations led a strong rebound from recession, according to a survey released Wednesday.
The overall 5.6 percent rise in consumption saw gains in all regions and all categories of energy, BP PLC said in its 60th annual Statistical Review of World Energy.
Consumption in the world’s richest countries grew by 3.5 percent, the most since 1984, bringing it back to the level of a decade ago, BP said. Consumption in developing countries — particularly resource-hungry ones in Asia and South America — logged a 7.5 percent increase.
“By year-end, economic activity for the world as a whole exceeded pre-crisis levels driven by the so-called developing world,” said Christof Ruehl, chief economist for BP.
Last year’s surge was led by China, which increased its energy consumption by 11.2 percent, according to BP.
That moved China ahead of the United States as the world’s biggest consumer of energy, accounting for 20.3 percent of global demand compared with 19 percent for the U.S., the report said.
Obama Announces Job Training Program Amid Poor Economic Numbers
by Kelly Chernenkoff | June 08, 2011 `Fox News
As public dismay over his handling of the economy is on the rise, President Obama will announce a new job training program Wednesday at a Washington, D.C.-area community college.
White House officials say that Mr. Obama will be joined at the Alexandria campus of Northern Virginia Community College by various business leaders to discuss a manufacturing sector job credentialing program. “[T]his is the type of mobilization and all-hands-on-deck effort that is so needed in this economy,” National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling told reporters Tuesday, adding, “particularly at this moment and particularly as we hope to see the continued strength that we’ve seen over the last year in the manufacturing sector and manufacturing jobs.”
By asking employers what skill sets they seek from applicants and working with community colleges to offer credentialing in those courses, officials say it’s possible they can fill the void.
But while the manufacturing sector holds its own, the perpetually high overall jobless rate is weighing on the minds of Americans who, as campaign 2012 comes into focus, are better known as “voters”.
Right now, the numbers are not on Mr. Obama’s side. A new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows that 57% of Americans think that the economic recovery has not begun and that about six in ten have a negative view of the president’s performance on the economy.
As public dismay over his handling of the economy is on the rise, President Obama will announce a new job training program Wednesday at a Washington, D.C.-area community college.
Having spent more than a few hours in community college programs of the job training variety, I think this is a good idea. Unlike universities, community colleges are staffed by instructors who actually know a thing or two about the workaday world.
So, two thumbs up from Arizona Slim.
But what do they train to do?
The so-called “skills mismatch” is actually a “compensation mismatch”.
Business can’t find “Doctors of Rocket Science” that will work for $12 an hour. The “free market” that people so loudly brag about should tell businesses that maybe you need to offer a little/lot more than $12/hour.
Instead, it turns into either “We have a shortage of Rocket Scientists” , or “We need Rocket Scientists on H1Bs, to do the job American Scientists don’t want to do”.
Every other piece of hokum generated by the MSM is crap. Why does everyone believe this “skills mismatch” propaganda?
But what do they train to do?
Here in Tucson, Pima Community College has a program to train people to do the sort of work that you do. And the graduates of that program are in demand. I’ve known several people who’ve walked right out of it and into jobs.
However, the above being said, getting entry-level jobs in your field is one thing. From your numerous posts, I’ve learned that keeping a job that pays well *and* comes with respect from management is very difficult.
And I agree with your take on the situation — it’s grossly unfair to the worker.
Unfortunately, that’s one of the reasons that no one in my business has a “pricing power” for their labor.
Local governments subsidize A&P training thru the local Votechs, because there’s a “shortage of aircraft mechanics”. Or they get their A&Ps thru the military (another training subsidy).
“They” have kept the “shortage” propaganda rolling since the 60s.
The truth is that a majority of the “heavy” airline work is going overseas. Ever wonder why only American and Southwest get dinged for maintenance violations by the FAA? It’s because they are about the only guys who still do heavy maintenance in-house.
For the jobs that can’t leave, a oversupply of trained labor is needed to keep the market oversupplied, and the hourly rates low.
When I started, the airlines were by far the best paying job. I started in corporate jets mainly because I got to work the whole airplane, and not build up wheels in the brake shop for five years before I could bid out.
Fortunately, there’s a bunch of “airliner mechs” and not nearly as many “Corporate mechanics”. And even fewer who have the resume that I do. (it ain’t bragging if you can back it up).
My main problem is that I’m “overqualified” for the $15/20 hour jobs that are out there. Why move cross country for that kind of job, when I can make the same money working $75/hour, 10-15 hours a week locally?
I agree with you 100% X-GS. Whenever I hear someone complain that they “can’t find people for the job” I always ask how much it pays, and its almost always a pittance (I’m talking skilled and semi skilled).
For instance, the retail shop where my college daughter works P/T needs assistant managers, but the position pays about 70 cents an hour more than what the clerks get. So the job comes with headaches but for all practical purposes doesn’t really pay any better than the much easier clerk job. Oh, and they want “experienced assistant managers” so forget about promoting any of the clerks (who are easy to hire).
Sheesh, I remember when being a supervisor came with a bigger differential than that. But I guess its all part of our new “under $500 a week” USA.
The reason I left my salaried-exempt/foreman job at one of the Wichita OEMs was that I was making less money than my new hires, when the overtime differential was added to their check.
And don’t get me started about that oh-so-awesome 25 cent/hour “shift differential” for working on second shift.
It’s been the way of US business management for 30 years.
Load more and more crap on the serfs, double the billable hours/productivity, but nobody gets over 3% a year…….take a promotion with double the responsibility/headaches, and get a 5% raise. When nobody is stupid enough to buy into that deal, start putting out stories about not being able to find “qualified candidates”.
I never have a problem with “kids that don’t want to work”. Mainly because I pay them a little more than I really need to.
We should be happy that our kids are learning how to be such mercenaries. Maybe they’ve learned something watching their parents get jacked around for 20 years.
Load more and more crap on the serfs, double the billable hours/productivity, but nobody gets over 3% a year
I agree. If you want a higher salary, quit the current company and come back with a higher salary. The companies would rather pay a higher salary for a new comer than reward the existing employees more than 3%.
That’s what the fast growing middle management has done to the worker bees.
Not my experience in the industry that I am in. We just hired a technical writer (3-5 yrs experience). She was a theatre major in College and had been a techincal writer/project coordinator at her previous company last 3 yrs. Not sure how much she’s getting as I am not the hiring manager but a project manager. The salary range was 50000-70000. We are also looking for few good programmers and a couple j2ee systems architects; salaries are good but we can’t find people. But I do agree that some of the job postings are ridiculous wanting people with yrs of experience in everything.
We are also looking for few good programmers and a couple j2ee systems architects; salaries are good but we can’t find people.
I guess they aren’t high enough. It migh also be geographic location. I know that when we have an opening for a programmer there’s no shortage of applicants.
“But I do agree that some of the job postings are ridiculous wanting people with yrs of experience in everything.”
When I do see jobs listed on Monster this is exactly what I’m seeing: They want a senior level person, but are offereing a junior level salary.
I found Monster to be pretty useless earlier this year.
You left out multiple abilities as well.
They want a jack-of-all-trades with years of experience in all the requirements and the pay of just slightly over entry level.
My current favorite is desktop support jobs, but you also have to support the server as well along with the routers and switches.
Eff, you, I don’t think SO! You want a server network admin, PAY for a server admin!
There’s your damn jobs “mis-match.”
Tax cuts: One reason why national debt will top GDP
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — What a difference a year — and a big tax cut — makes.
A recent Treasury report noted that national debt will exceed the size of the economy this year — a first since World War II. A year ago, the Treasury had estimated that notorious record wouldn’t be hit until 2014.
Now the expectation is that total debt to GDP will top 102% this year, up from the earlier estimate of 96.4%.
Why the change?
Two factors are likely the biggest cause.
First, the White House’s 2011 GDP estimate is $219 billion lower today than it was a year ago. So debt as percentage of a lower number will always look higher.
Second, the debt grew larger because of a tax cut deal brokered by President Obama and Republicans last December. That deal will add an estimated $858 billion to the deficits over a decade — $410 billion of it in 2011 alone, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Spending cuts alone won’t work
The tax cut package extended all the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts for another two years, enacted a one-year Social Security tax holiday and reduced the estate tax.
tax cuts do not create debt. borrowing creates debt.
Tax cuts without corresponding spending cuts creates debt. And let us never that the feds, regardless of who’s behind the steering wheel (R or D), do not cut spending. They might reduce its growth and call that a “cut”, but net spending always grows.
It used to be that Dems were “tax and spend” while the GOP was “borrow and spend”. Now they’re both borrow and spend.
Tax cuts without corresponding spending cuts creates debt.
doesn’t that equate to borrowing to make up the difference?
And of course this all assumes that tax receipts did not exceed the amount of spending by more or an equivalent amount as the tax cut. Otherwise there would be no gap to have to borrow to make ends meet.
Not even a year after Clinton left office with a balanced budget, the Republicans shoved tax cuts down our throats.* And those tax cuts made the budget go from a small surplus to a deficit in a hurry. Which added to the national debt in a hurry. Ergo, because of the tax cuts, we had to start borrowing again. And we went further into debt.
———
*Tax cuts were shoved down our throats using the exact same senate rule which shoved Obamacare down our throats.
Spending cuts alone won’t work
Let’s try some and see how it goes.
So far - the government has cut nothing.
You’ll get a lot more folks to agree that spending cuts are in order if taxes are raised at the same time. Anyone serious about the debt will not propose a one sided solution.
Maybe if we hadn’t sent our taxable jobs overseas and given tax breaks to so?
But apparently, I’m just crazy that way.
Republicans block ending offshore jobs tax breaks | Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE68R40I20100928
South Florida home prices worst since crash
Palm Beach Post
South Florida home prices in March hit their lowest level since the real estate crash, a crushing drop that reflected the nationwide trend and one that had economists declaring recent market gains artificial.
Prices for Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties were down 6 percent from the previous year and a staggering 51 percent from their peak in December 2006, according to the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller price index, which was released Tuesday.
Of 20 areas the index surveyed, only Washington, D.C., had an annual gain in prices, while 12 regions, including South Florida, posted new lows since the housing bubble burst.
Nationally, housing prices in the first quarter of 2011 hit a record low since the recession began, dropping 5.1 percent compared with last year. The nationwide index’s dip in March was the eighth consecutive monthly drop.
“The rebound in prices seen in 2009 and 2010 was largely due to the first-time home buyers tax credit,” said David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P Indeces. “Excluding the results of that policy, there has been no recovery or even stabilization in home prices during or after the recent recession.”
In South Florida, prices increased in 2009 between July and November. They ticked up again in 2010 between May and August. Both time periods coincided with deadlines to earn the tax credit.
Prices have consistently fallen since then, which to Case-Shiller economists signals a double-dip in the market.
“It’s not good news,” said Maureen Maitland, vice president for S&P Indices. “It’s basically confirming what a lot of people were worried about last year and that is that the tax incentive was a temporary stimulus.”
Sounds like we are being primed for QE3
Lack of buyers may force Treasury to boost rates
~ The Washington Times
The U.S. Treasury next month will go back to relying on the kindness of strangers like never before to purchase the nation’s burgeoning debts — and taxpayers may have to pay higher interest rates to attract enough foreign investors, analysts say.
Though a significant rise in interest rates could be toxic for a softening U.S. economy, the Federal Reserve has said it will end its program of purchasing $600 billion in U.S. Treasury bonds as planned on June 30. The Fed is estimated to have bought about 85 percent of Treasury’s securities offerings in the past eight months.
That leaves the Treasury, which is slated to sell near-record amounts of new debt of about $1.4 trillion this year, without its main suitor and recent source of support, and forces it back into the vagaries of global markets. Among the countries that will have to step forward to prevent a debilitating rise in interest rates are China, Japan and Saudi Arabia — and even hostile nations such as Iran and Venezuela with petrodollars to invest, according to one analysis.
The central bank launched the unusual bond-buying campaign last fall in an effort to lower interest rates and boost the sagging economy — and it was successful at drawing down long-term interest rates to record lows last winter. In particular, 30-year fixed mortgage rates fell to unprecedented lows near 4 percent and spawned a refinancing wave that helped consumers to discharge debts, purchase homes and increase spending.
You do know that in Washington, nobody takes The Washington Times seriously, don’t you? Not that Washington is a one paper town. It isn’t. We read The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and even The Financial Times. Just not The Washington Times.
Oh, same thing for Boston. The Boston Globe is the local paper. The Boston Herald is not taken seriously.
Yeah, a long time ago I would post articles from the Boston Herald, and commenters would say the same thing. But the Herald had great reporting on the housing situation and the Globe was cheerleading people off the cliff. Still are for that matter like the Washington Post. Hmm, I wonder what is better?
Then again, not many people take Washington DC seriously, so what the heck.
I remember reading the Brockton Enterprise as a kid. Hadn’t thought of that in years. Thanks, polly!
Well, depending on how old you are, the Herald might have been a real paper back then. My family got the Herald until the reporting got so bad that my father just couldn’t take it and we switched to the Globe. He was missing MA business news items that he just couldn’t afford to miss.
That being said, when I took a class in college that required keeping a news diary on stories about events in Asia, the prof said no more than one story a week could be from the Globe. Wasn’t good enough on international reporting.
My hometown newspaper was a nickel. It was so sad when it was purchased by a conglomerate. The police blotter was a great read.
We read The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and even The Financial Times. Just not The Washington Times.
That’s one of the things I admire about DC. People there take reading seriously. As in, you only read ONE newspaper today? You slacker!
And that’s just newspapers. You think I read a lot? Well, compared to the hardcore readers of the Washington area, I don’t even show up for the party.
“You do know that in Washington, nobody takes The Washington Times seriously”
~ Who cares what the cesspool takes seriously?
Does your comment mean you think there are inaccuracies in this partial article posted by WMBZ?
I don’t take the post seriously either.
I am ready for higher interest rates.
Fed: U.S. default a huge risk; Fitch may slash rating
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The Fitch Ratings building is seen in New York May 7, 2010.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. default is the biggest risk facing the global economy, a top Federal Reserve official said just hours after Fitch Ratings warned it could slash U.S. credit ratings if the government delays bond payments.
St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard told Reuters on Wednesday “the U.S. fiscal situation, if not handled correctly, could turn into a global macro shock.”
“The idea that the U.S. could threaten to default is a dangerous one,” he said in an interview.
“The reverberations in those global markets would be very severe. That’s where the real risk comes in,” Bullard warned.
Some Republican lawmakers have said a brief default, which would be inevitable in August if lawmakers fail to raise the nation’s $14.3 trillion debt ceiling, might be acceptable if it forces the White House to deal with large budget deficits.
Senate votes to let Fed curb debit card swipe fees; merchants win lobbying fight with banks.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate voted Wednesday to let the Federal Reserve slice the fees that stores must pay banks each time a customer swipes a debit card, handing merchants a victory over banks in a lobbying battle over billions in revenue.
Senators supporting the financial institutions’ efforts to head off the proposal fell six voters short of the 60 needed to prevail. The vote was 54-45.
The tally also was a triumph Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democratic leader who had muscled a provision into last year’s financial overhaul law requiring the Fed to offer a plan for limiting the fees.
Those charges now average 44 cents per transaction and mean $16 billion annually for banks and credit card companies, according to Federal Reserve data.
The Fed has proposed holding those fees to a maximum of 12 cents per swipe. By law a final rule must take effect on July 21. While it might still be changed, few expect it to differ dramatically from the current proposal.
why does such legislation even need to be considered?
If there’s competition in the space, the fees will naturally fall. If there’s a monopoly at play or collusion taking place, there are already laws on the books to address that…
And of course the merchants could simply terminate their agreements and stop taking the cards.
Just another instance where folks look to the government to solve all problems when there are plenty of “free market” solutions available.
Perhaps it is easier to pass a law than establish a case for collusion.
There is NO competition in that space. There is, IIRC, only 3 major players.
Everyone else subs from them.
That’s why.
Yep! Collusion is easy with 3.
As for collusion being prosecuted, keep dreaming Pollyanna. The same with price fixing, predatory pricing, hidden fees, market gaming, insider trading, false advertising, bait-n-switch, etc.
Nice to see the banksters lose one for a change…
The Senate just failed to pass the Corker-Tester provision on credit card swipe fees.
The amendment was aimed at delaying regulation to cap the amount that banks can charge merchants each time a customer makes a credit or debit card transaction.
According to the Huffington Post, Tester faced “division among his colleagues and opposition from his home state, where voters overwhelmingly support swipe fee reform… Tester took the banks’ side in the lobbyist-driven battle with merchants, against fellow Democratic Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.). Populist voters in Montana are not pleased.”
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/credit-card-swipe-fee-vote-2011-6#ixzz1OijFIU3T
I doubt the hose will go with it….
I’ve gotten to the point where I only use my debit card to withdraw cash from the ATM at my favorite financial institution. Other than that, the thing slumbers in a locked cabinet.
Take that, banksters!
There`s a little Weiner on the way.
Wife of Congressman Weiner pregnant: report
52 minutes ago
Xfinity
NEW YORK — The wife of Representative Anthony Weiner, ensnared in a sex scandal for sending lewd pictures of himself over the Internet, is pregnant, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.
Huma Abedin, an aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who married the congressman a year ago, is expecting the couple’s first child, the Times reported, citing three unnamed people with knowledge of the situation.
http://gothamist.com/2011/06/07/weiner_messaged_vegas_sext_partner.php
In his arrogance, sleaziness, and hubris, he is sadly the epitome of our morally bankrupt Republicrat lawmakers.
This is how corporations REALLY support the troops:
Delta charges returning soldiers $2800 for checked bags
Soldiers allowed 4 bags, Delta says only 3. (Delta lied)
http://news.google.com/news/story?pz=1&cf=all&ned=us&hl=en&ncl=d-cHhZHd00km9GMa5uPNg7w2gUw2M
Let the summer of “Wilding” begin. I was too young to really remember when “wilding” became an action verb as a result of some yuppie in Central Park getting knocked over by enthusiastic “youths”, I can only hope that 2011 brings hundreds, thousands, of these inter-cultural exchanges. If there is any message in this, it is that Y T Gonna PAY!
How’s that Hope and Change working out for you now, kidz?
Rogers: Only a Crisis Can Fix U.S. Debt Problem
June 8, 2011
In an interview with WSJ’s Simon Constable, famed investor Jim Rogers weighs in on what it will take to solve the U.S. debt crisis, why he’s shorting U.S. tech companies, why the stimulus package was a bad idea, and the looming energy crisis.
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