Bits Bucket for June 20, 2011
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The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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No wonder NYC housing prices haven’t come down. They tend to do what London does.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-19/london-asking-prices-reach-record-as-homebuyers-move-to-suburbs.html
“London home sellers raised asking prices to a record in June as demand from overseas buyers for luxury properties in the capital’s center began to “spill over” into some suburbs, Rightmove Plc said.”
“While Britain’s property market is struggling to build momentum as banks limit lending and budget cuts undermine confidence, the exception is London where foreign buyers are seeking homes in areas such as Kensington and Chelsea…“With the best areas ‘going international’ and moving out of many Londoners’ reach, the next rung down starts to look compelling in terms of value.”
Who are these buyers and where are they from? This sounds eerily similar to what we were hearing out of Florida before the Big Kaboom(tm).
FWIW, Kensington and Chelsea are small places. Florida is huge and has no shortage of land.
I kinda agree with this (flame suit on!).
In Florida, you can have the “Florida lifestyle” pretty much anywhere. If you want Beacon Hill, or Santa Monica, or the West Village…
What to you mean lifestyle? These $billionarie’s seem to be buying places they plan to live in a few weeks a year.
They’ll turn London and Manhattan into dead museum cities like Venice.
I mean, if you want “hot, beach, sun…” that’s easy to find in Florida.
I agree WT….At some point they will own it all because the cost of these places are a non-issue for this ever growing group…”Dead Museum Cities” ? Good analogy…
That was frustrating to me even back in 2000 in NYC. That place is full of “absentee owners.”
Don’t even get me started about coastal Florida. I visited my realtor at an open house in an amazing condo building. 7/8 units sold and only 1 year-round resident.
Population London: 8 million
Population Florida: 18 million
That was frustrating to me even back in 2000 in NYC. That place is full of “absentee owners.”
The desirable places will be for the rich and everyone else will have to move to flyover country or pay some exhorbitant amount to rent a tiny studio apartment.
”Dead Museum Cities”
That’s a good one. It seems these aging cities eventually becomes this after a period of gentrification.
“Dead Museum Cities” is a great phrase.
Italy has entire regions (e.g. Tuscany) that are in danger of becoming part-time vacation playgrounds for rich foreigners. All those beautiful little hill towns have a notable lack of (native Italian) young people. They are populated by ancient black-clad grandmas and old men.
Foreigners are buying prestige.
“Come stay in my apartment on the 18th floor in Chelsea” sounds much more sophisticated than “I have a 3/1.5 in Piniellas Park with great schools.”
“Foreigners are buying prestige.”
Bingo. Plus I’m guessing that thos middle east types feel much more comfortable in London than in Tampa or OTown.
I didn’t mean to compare Florida to London. What I meant was only that these types of stories come out towards the end of a boom.
I have no doubt that many foreigners are buying property in London.. some with real money and some not. I just don’t think the average London property that used to house the middle class would appeal all that much to Russian millionaires. Just as I don’t think the average Florida property would appeal to them. It wouldn’t explain a “permanently high plateau,” as they say.
I’ve often wondered why these “rich foreigners” buy up rather ordinary houses around the world, and doubted that it was true.
That being said, I’ve seen enough of these empty homes to know that it is true to some extent. I’ve even met some of these “rich foreigner” buyers, and as nice as they are (and they are nice), I can’t help but feel a bit upset about the fact that they are pricing locals out of their own neighborhoods.
I guess this is how all the natives in “third world” areas have felt about “rich Americans” buying up all the prime real estate in their countries or islands. It sucks!
There has been a huge influx of Russian oligarchs, filthy rich from buying up state properties for a song after the collapse of the USSR, into London where they will be beyond the reach of Russian justice.
Backlog of Cases Gives a Reprieve on Foreclosures
By DAVID STREITFELD
Published: June 19, 2011
In New York State, it would take lenders 62 years at their current pace, the longest time frame in the nation,
Clearing the pipeline in New Jersey, which like New York handles foreclosures through the courts, would take 49 years. In Florida, Massachusetts and Illinois, it would take a decade.
“If you were in foreclosure four years ago, you were biting your nails, asking yourself, ‘When is the sheriff going to show up and put me on the street?’ ” said Herb Blecher, an LPS senior vice president. “Now you’re probably not losing any sleep.”
Mark Stopa, a St. Petersburg, Fla., specialist in foreclosure defense, has 1,275 clients, up from 350 a year ago. About 75 clients have won modifications, dismissals or sold their properties for less than they owed. All the other cases are pending.
“Banks aren’t even trying to win,” said Mr. Stopa, who charges his clients an annual fee of $1,500.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/19/business/19foreclosure.html - -
“Banks aren’t even trying to win.”
Oh, the banks are winning all right.
The FBs think they somehow still own the house they are living in and the banks benifit from this thinking because the FBs will put their own time, energy and money into maintaining the house.
When it is time for the bank to toss out the FBs and take physical possession of the house then the bank will be getting a sound structure and not one that has been stripped.
Plus, the value of the other houses in the neighborhood that the bank holds mortgages on will tend to hold their value more so that if the house was left vacant.
The houses are depreciating even if they do have some magical maintenance deadbeats in them. The banks, or whoever really holds the notes, are losing money by waiting to take posession. Either they can’t yet afford to take the writedowns, in which case the Fed has years of injecting to do at our expense, or they can’t sort out the paperwork or legal issues. I’d like a better understanding of what’s blocking up this process.
You could almost get the impression the banks are calling the shots.
“You could almost get the impression the banks are calling the shots.”
I don’t almost get that impression, that IS my impression.
Ask yourself: Do banks EVER willingly allow a single dollar to escape from their grasps? Ever?
If the answer is “no” then why should one think that they will now allow billons of dollars to escape from their grasp?
So let’s pretend the banks take possession, then what? Sell them? Sell them to whom? And for how much money?
If the banks take possession and sell them for a loss then they are forced to take a hit against their balance sheets. But if they are allowed to Pretend & Extend then the balance sheet hit gets to be delayed.
In the meantime the FBs take care of and maintain the house on teh bank’s behalf.
And meanwhile, the bank gets to keep playing with TARP money, or borrow at the discount window at 2% and lend to Treasury at 5%, and hoard the cash. That’s how they are going to cushion the blow when the hammer finally falls.
“I’d like a better understanding of what’s blocking up this process.”
from the article:
“And many foreclosure lawyers seem unable to meet a requirement, made last October by the New York Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman, to affirm the accuracy of their documentation.
“The affirmation has had a pretty chilling effect,” said Ann Pfau, New York’s chief administrative judge. “The attorneys for the banks tell us they can’t get through to the right people at their clients who can verify the information.” ”
O-oh, MERSy, MERSy me…
My schadenfreude meter is PEGGED!
To my understanding this is a judicial vs. non-judicial issue primarily. In addition to needing to get the banker’s to do the paperwork (which takes time since banks haven’t all staffed up), they need to get on court dockets to get the foreclosures through. And you know that states haven’t hired more judges simply for foreclosures…
States that are non-judicial in nature don’t have the same kind of backup.
“The FBs think they somehow still own the house they are living in and the banks benifit from this thinking because the FBs will put their own time, energy and money into maintaining the house.”
The news that so many home owners have voluntarily gone into default and are now enjoying rent-free living encourages many others to strategically default. When the lenders finally get around to it, they will have many financially healthy households which they will be able to sue for deficiency judgments. I predict many of these rent-free home owners will be quite surprised to later learn they owe their lender substantial sums of money for their period of forbearance.
Depending on the state. Deficiency judgements are not allowed in Oregon in the case of non-judicial foreclosures; which is how most are processed
Yeah, but the backlogs aren’t in the non-judicial states. It is the judicial process that’s holding things up.
I’ll call BS. I reported a week or so ago about someone I know personally in Seattle, who made the (smart) decision to walk away. It took 18 months just to get a NOD.
Banks used to file those very quickly in the past. Why would they wait so long?
Washington state is a non-judicial (generally) state, with a judicial option. I believe almost all go the non-judicial route, unless the borrower has assets.
Perhaps it is BS.
banks benifit from this thinking because the FBs will put their own time, energy and money into maintaining the house.
To a substantial extent however there are different levels of maintaining. I doubt things like new roofs will be put on a FB’s house.
When it is time for the bank to toss out the FBs and take physical possession of the house then the bank will be getting a sound structure and not one that has been stripped.
Some (but probably not as many) will still be stripped later.
About 30 years ago I knew some people who went through a BK (chapter 11 I believe). After the BK, they stopped paying their mortgage and didn’t get kicked out for 7 years I believe. They did NOTHING to keep up the house, beyond the utterly necessary (I believe they replaced the water heater)
FBs Thank Vampire Squid Every Month: - would be a better headline.
+1 LOL!
Squatters are Winning.
Squatters are babysitting the house for the banks free of charge.
And because the quatters don’t pay doesn’t necessairly mean they don’t owe. Somewhere down the line the banks may be allowed to go after the squatters for some very big bucks.
And then there is the position of the IRS to think about.
All available blood from stones is currently being utilized as basis for consumer-driven “recovery”.
combo:
here we have a use and occupancy law…..sure the bank/LL can charge you for use and occupancy of the property in lieu or “rent”.
But if the landlord doesn’t make any attempt to get the money owed then the landlord can only ask for 3 months back rent in court.
I think something similar will happen in FL, the bank will be penalized for not foreclosing quickly, and the FB would be limited to paying back say 6 months of payments and the deficiency judgement would be classified as Paid in FULL. So no worries from the IRS
Rewarding bad behavior…
think something similar will happen in FL, the bank will be penalized for not foreclosing quickly, and the FB would be limited to paying back say 6 months of payments and the deficiency judgement would be classified as Paid in FULL. So no worries from the IRS
Rewarding bad behavior…
”
I think you’re right in other countries like Mexico Squatters just build were they can. the US is changing private property rights will fade as the US gets poorer. The government will just try and keep power and appease the masses.
My understanding (which could be wrong), at least on the commercial side of things, is that the longer a property is in default, but not resolved, the more the bank is required to write down the loan balance.
So, they have to take continued hits on each loan that is in default, but not yet foreclosed upon.
Any banking experts care to opine? I could be completely full of it, but I recall such a process when speaking with a banking expert about 2 years ago…
“Squatters are babysitting the house for the banks free of charge.”
Sounds like a win for the squatters to me. As Rio said above, I really doubt they’ll do big maintenance like painting the exterior or replacing the roof or the carpeting.
Ok seriously, does anyone see any eventual downside for these squatters? Will they ever be required to pay back rent, 1099 on loan foregiveness, anything? Especially in recourse states. What about those who re-fied? Do they get to keep the Escalade?
If the squatter FB’s only punishment is a FICO hit, then I will be mighty p-o’d. By the time these yokels are kicked out, they could save enough cash for a down payment on another house, just as though it were a normal move. Meanwhile, the responsible people take it in the shorts, as usual.
It’s not the downside to the squatters I’m thinking of - at least not at this time - it’s the upside for the banks.
Overall the banks benifit if the squaters stay and squat, the banks do not benifit if the squaters leave.
By benefit, I take it to mean bleed less. The value of the asset is going down despite the lawn being mowed, and no interest is being paid.
Ok seriously, does anyone see any eventual downside for these squatters? Will they ever be required to pay back rent, 1099 on loan foregiveness, anything? Especially in recourse states. What about those who re-fied? Do they get to keep the Escalade?
No….
No….
No….
Yes…
So we are just beginning to see where this is going. Good.
“Ok seriously, does anyone see any eventual downside for these squatters?”
Read the Florida thread.
“No…. No…. No…. Yes…”
+1.
Do they get to keep the Escalade?
A lot of those Escalades are going on 5-6 years now. A few more years and they will be high mileage (100K+), gas guzzling clunkers.
Great. So I’m sure there will be a govt program to get cash for them at that time.
It won’t matter, as those people will be broke and have no credit, so they won’t be able to buy a new one.
And besides, with used cars prices at an all time high why would you trade it in for a 4K credit when the trade in value will be much higher. The cheapest Escalade I found on cars dot com is a 1999 with 163K miles: $6000 and that was much lower than similar ones which seem to go for as musch as 10K (I’m guessing something is wrong with it).
It won’t matter, as those people will be broke and have no credit, so they won’t be able to buy a new one.’
A work associate in Phoenix gave his house back to the bank , went bankrupt and is now buying a new house cash seems he stashed some cash away
and that’s the way it goes, Moral hazard is how Bernake called it and he’s right
Escalades are in high demand from the rap music crowd.
A work associate in Phoenix gave his house back to the bank , went bankrupt and is now buying a new house cash seems he stashed some cash away
If he hid that money (assuming it wasn’t 401K or IRA) during the BK he could get into a LOT of trouble.
Escalades are in high demand from the rap music crowd.
Whenever I see an Escalade in this nabe, I make note of the color and the license plate. Because, in most cases, the driver and passengers of said vehicle are up to no good.
And we residents have a very effective relationship with the local police department. It’s amazing how fast those cars stop coming around after they get identified in this area.
Whenever I see an Escalade in this nabe, I make note of the color and the license plate. Because, in most cases, the driver and passengers of said vehicle are up to no good.
Sometimes I thank my lucky stars that I live where I live. This isn’t an issue in my white bread town. You rarely see an Escalade here at all. Most locals are content to drive the Chevy or GMC equivalent.
Steve J, Arizona Slim, In Colorado, you are all racists.
Cus everybody knows the Sons of Aztlan driving those Escalades are all only hard-working, family-oriented, do-the-jobs-amerikans-wont-do, who came to US and A to make better life and work hard and try to put food on their families, you haterz.
Just thinking of the words “Cadillac”, “luxury” and “Sport Utitly Vehicle” (on my bike commute, I can switch “Cadillac” with “BMW”) in the same sentence are all the proof I need that there is something very, very wrong with our society and that we are nowhere near the end of this trip (but perhaps near the end of the road).
How many Range Rovers have ever roved the range?
Comment by cactus
2011-06-20 10:51:34
It won’t matter, as those people will be broke and have no credit, so they won’t be able to buy a new one.’
A work associate in Phoenix gave his house back to the bank , went bankrupt and is now buying a new house cash seems he stashed some cash away
and that’s the way it goes, Moral hazard is how Bernake called it and he’s right
—————
I’ve heard too many stories like this.
It sucks.
Problem is; with the part time low paying jobs on offer; no money being saved here even though we ain’t paying the wife’s mortgage. They call it strategic; but if not enough $$ is there; how is this so?? We are defaulting cuz were quickly running out of money. Should we have let wife take out a 2,200/month mortgage? Heck no! Should the bank have doled out that kind of cash without income verification or work history? It was a NINJ loan(assets were shown; since liquidated to help pay mortgage for awhile) not a problem for the originator as it was packaged and sold down the river. Something we did not understand was happening until much later.
We are inviting the bank to take the house back; but they keep postponing the date, so here we stay. We are hoping they actually follow thru with the next date in August.
OR is a non-recourse state; and we never took any HELOC money. So unless the bank goes judicial; deficiency judgements are not allowed in OR. But the bank just won’t follow thru with its dates. We have been ready to, and will, leave when ownership changes; until then we will do whatever we want with it cuz my wife is still the owner thru no fault of her own; rent it out even. The biggest wrong (after underwriter gave my wife 300k even though she is a $10/hr worker) is the fact that the bank takes 1.5 yrs to do anything about the fact that my wife is a “deadbeat” (but I love her anyway) We still thought that underwriters only gave money to those who did not need it; we did not even know that the entity making the loan would not be keeping it in house. We did not know what securitization was; and we believed our appraisor who set us up with 60k in instant equity. And the UHS who told us that the pad would be worth .5mil in 1 year. But we are not complaining. We are slowly recouping some of the 80k we put down and the three years of mortgage payments we made by staying so we are not mad at the banks or think we are victims.
HBB educated me, albeit too late to do that much good; enlightening me to the fact that we are indeed; a year late and 30k short, and running. Worse than day late and dollar short.
Something is going to have to give. They can not allow this case load to drag out for 60 years. That’s ridiculous.
There were similar prognostications in the SF Bay Area after the .com boom. Namely that there was 10+ years of commercial building supply, and that the commercial real estate market would be dead for that long.
This was at the depth of the depths, when people were most pessimistic. Ultimately, it took less than half that time.
I suspect something similar will happen in NYC. More banks modify loans, more short sales, more demand as jobs recover will shrink the number of homes that actually go through the process. At the same time, courts will be encouraged to speed things along.
It will take several years to work through the issues, but not 60.
Hey Lying Realtor,
Why are you here lying?
” jobs recover “
There’s the rub.
As others have posted, I also believe this is just a delaying tactic.
Eventually, the banks WILL repo the houses AND send the FBs a bill AND have the law changed to allow them to do so with force.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Europe-debt-crisis-shadows-apf-687982769.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=8&asset=&ccode=
‘If the U.S. economic slowdown weren’t enough to deal with, the Federal Reserve this week must consider a new threat: a resurgent European debt crisis that could imperil the global economy. Financial markets have been gripped by fears that Greece will default on its debt and infect other economies. Those worries eased over the weekend as prospects for a rescue appeared to brighten. Still, the crisis has renewed fears that a Greek default could derail a still fragile economy in the United States and elsewhere.’
Or more briefly, ‘a new threat…a resurgent…crisis… that could imperil the global economy…markets…gripped by fears…infect other economies’
Oh Save Us Ben Bernanke, Save Us!!!
It’s all such colossal BS.
Abolish the FED.
“It’s all such colossal BS.”
It truly is. Listening to these lying bastards and their tripe is beyond painful now.
Colossal Bull$hit. Served any way you want by the PTB. Where’s the next stimulus? How about another tire kicker tax credit to sent empty pockets over the financial cliff? All weekend I heard from our masters and their media goons and henchmen say “we must inflate”. Aren’t prices high enough for these nutjobs? Hey @assholes…… if you want to stimulate demand, lower the prices.
“if you want to stimulate demand, lower the prices.”
It hasn’t worked for housing…as long as prices are falling, people are content to wait…despite nearly every measure showing that housing is among the cheapest that it has ever been.
despite nearly every measure showing that housing is among the cheapest that it has ever been.
Whaaaaa…? Not around here.
“despite nearly every measure showing that housing is among the cheapest that it has ever been.”
Hey Lying Realtor,
Show us ONE “measure” proving housing is the cheapest it’s ever been.
Ya scumbag.
Yeah, not cheap around here.
Sure, with rates as low as they are, **payments** might seem low, but our financial prospects are worse now than at any time in my lifetime, IMHO.
Housing prices SHOULD be lower than they’ve been in decades…our economy (specifically, workers prospects for better wages and benefits) hasn’t been this bad in decades!
“Oh Save Us Ben Bernanke, Save Us!!!”
Watched Too Big to Fail on HBO this weekend. There was one line that said (and I paraphrase) Greenspan says there is too much inventory, he thinks we should buy it and burn it.
“he thinks we should buy it and burn it.”
Yes, let’s buy it with good money, burn it down, now we have nothing for our money and then let’s go back to building affordable housing ($350K - $700K) for $30K a year strawberry pickers.
Yes, let’s buy it with good money, burn it down, now we have nothing for our money ??
Sounds like our military ventures…
Mr. Dennis DeYoung, of Styx and Mr. Roboto fame, was playing a concert in the park by us yesterday. We sat in for a few songs, they were pretty good - until he stopped to pontificate about the need to keep U.S. troops in Eurasia infinitely - “in case they get out of line again” (his words).
Evidently this concert in the park was part of a veterans event. Mr. DeYoung’s seemed to resonate with the crowd fairly well, but we just took it as a cue to continue our Sunday stroll.
until he stopped to pontificate about the need to keep U.S. troops in Eurasia infinitely
Did he propose how to pay for it? After all, a pair of boots on the ground costs almost 1 million per year IIRC.
Seems a lot of Vietnam era non-veterans are very much in favor of war in Eurasia. As long as they won’t be there fighting it that it is.
McCain seems to be the exception.
“Seems a lot of Vietnam era non-vetertans are very much in favor of war in Eurasia. As long as they won’t be there fighting it that it is. …..McCain seems to be the exception”.
Did you forget J McCain was a Viet Nam POW?
The ramp up to Operation Desert Shield/Sword (late 1990) was a historic epsiode I remember particuarly well. Being of prime draft age and just getting out of tech school I pored over ever related article about the impending war I could find.
In one article, source long since forgotten, the author tried to explore why so many Vietnam era folks were so gung ho about dealing with Iraq - despite the obvious pitfalls. There were a few interviews with quotes - which all seemed to suggest a strange guilt factor amongst that cohort - one woman even went as far to say that she felt a duty to be pro-war because her generation was anti-war in their formative years.
For those that remember, in 1990-1 there was lots of talk about a draft - whereas this time there was hardly a murmur.
For those that remember, in 1990-1 there was lots of talk about a draft - whereas this time there was hardly a murmur.
That’s the power of economic conscription for you. A bunch of potential Joe Lunchpails decided to become GI Joes as the few factory jobs left pay very little these days.
Sword=Storm. We’re probably similar in age. I had the odd experience of sending my wife and all my friends over while I stayed home. I had just gotten out and didn’t want to put off college any longer just to go. In hindsight it was an easy deployment compared to what people have gone through the last 10 years, but it was stressful because they did it WWII style. Nobody comes home until it’s over. So when we put them on the plane we had no idea how long it would be.
Oh, the irony….
Mind you these are the same people who vehemently opposed FDR’s burning of crops and slaughtering of hogs………
Aren’t they getting kind of long in the tooth these days? They must be getting close to 100 years old. I wouldn’t worry about them too much.
Mmmmm….bacon…
must consider a new threat: a resurgent European debt crisis
This has been going on for three years now.
Kicking the can down the road as long as they can. Except each time the can gets heavier…
How’s that Hope and Change working out for you now, cheese-eating surrender-monkeys?
Hey buddy? Got some spare hope and change I can believe in?
Basically, the banks are insolvent if anything happens, so the serfs have to bail them out or else. That’s the message, true or not.
Yes, that’s the message.
QE our way to prosperity.
Contemporary man is just about vain enough to think he can actually do it too.
Exactly ej.
Marie Antoinette didn’t get it either.
“Federal Reserve this week must consider a new threat…”
What’s new about it? It has lingered in the background, never resolved, for over a year already. Just because the MSM would rather talk about baseball and Brittany doesn’t mean the Greek debt crisis ended.
Every few months now it’s this or that country is going to default. The fear is built up and then…someone comes to the rescue. Every time. This is, what, the second time for Greece now? And it’s going to happen here before August. The fear will build for much of July, and then a deal will be reached right before the U.S. default deadline and everything will be fine again…until the next crisis, which will likely only be months away.
Create the fear! Sell the solution!
Couldn’t have seen this coming…
Banks tap fund to repay TARP
US program has fewer restrictions; critics call switch another bailout
Hundreds of small banks that received US aid after the financial crisis appear to have found a creative way to repay the funds: obtain money from a different government program.
Most of the 627 banks that still hold money from the controversial Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, have filed applications to roll the obligations into the government’s new Small Business Lending Fund, according to Treasury officials and the banks.
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2011/06/20/small_banks_turn_to_us_fund_to_repay_tarp_aid/
Just like when J6P transfers his credit card debt from one card to another.
I admit that in my younger days, I did that myself a few times. I had the cash to pay some of the balance, but I did it to get the increase in credit limit. And it was nice to not have to pay for a month.
Check kiting?
Wouldn’t it be better for actual small businesses to get those loans?
We’ll have none of that socialeest/commie talk here, by god!
If those businesses were meant to have that money, they would have FOUND a way to get that money and earned it! That’s how the free market works! *hrumph!*
Get yo aesthetically challenged @zz outa here!
Dating website that ‘accepts only beautiful people’ to dump 30K ugly members!
Mon, Jun 20, 2011
Melbourne, June 20 (ANI): A dating website, which promotes itself as the largest most exclusively beautiful community in the world, seems to be in trouble.
The website is being forced to dump 30,000 ugly members after a computer virus allowed them to join.
Last month Beautifulpeople.com was hit the Shrek virus - named after the ugly animated character - which hacked the software used to screen potential members.
But aesthetically challenged members are so outraged at the move that the website’s operators have been forced to set up a counselling line to help them deal with the rejection
http://in.news.yahoo.com/dating-website-accepts-only-beautiful-people-dump-30k-072917450.html - -
“the website’s operators have been forced to set up a counselling line to help them deal with the rejection”
Maybe Ben could do something like that for Eddie.
It sucks EddieTard is gone. His blatant stupidity was hilarious.
They should have used my picture to get on.
Oh?
“They should have used my picture to get on.”
What I don`t get is if these people are so damn beautiful, what do they need a dating site for? Unless they are like some “beautiful” people I have known who after you get to know them, are down right ugly. There have also been some OK I`ll say it, girls or women that I thought were not very attractive when I met them, and after I got to know them were down right beautiful.
There have also been some OK I`ll say it, girls or women that I thought were not very attractive when I met them, and after I got to know them were down right beautiful.
There’s even been songs written about this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1975AYEC2s&feature=related
That’s some photo of Republican Senator Olympia J. Snowe of Maine; not a gray hair on her head. Fake, just like the economy.
They ought to be required to publish BOTH hairstyles.
Earth to RMS. Earth to RMS. Come in please…
Nearly ALL American women dye their hair.
Pick any one - either Republican or Democrat. Heck - start with Democrat Nancy Pelosi, then Democrat Hillary Clinton, then Democrat…
The party has really nothing to do with it.
Don’t forget all the Republican trophy wives.
I refer to everyone from Newt’s current arm candy down to Victoria Osteen (wife of Joel “Megachurch” Osteen). They can’t possibly ALL be perfectly blonde… to the credit of Sarah and Michele, they aren’t denying their brunettitude.
That said, let’s face it, graying hair looks terrible on a woman.
Gray makes us turning into “wallpaper” gals, look like the paste. It’s bad enough becoming wallpaper.
“…graying hair looks terrible on a woman.”
Not sure about “graying” but I get stopped on the street by people who compliment me on my grey-blonde country-woman hair.
Seems we all have our own aesthetic….
Just sayin’.
Your hair is just fine by me gal..
That said, let’s face it, graying hair looks terrible on a woman.
Depends on the woman. Some are lucky and can make almost anything look good.
Allena,
I saw a post surgery bear attack picture of you on the internet, and I must say, your docs did a fabulous job.
I literally carry Kimberly Lee’s business cards in my purse — along with an ER “before” photo. She not only put me back together, she’s put me back together in recognizable form.
After three years and a half-dozen surgeries, few people can believe what happened unless I show them the pic as evidence. That’s the sort of plastic surgery that gives plastic surgery a GOOD name….
(I’ll let her know you approve of her work!)
After three years and a half-dozen surgeries, few people can believe what happened unless I show them the pic as evidence. That’s the sort of plastic surgery that gives plastic surgery a GOOD name….
Glad to hear such wonderful news! Thanks for sharing it, ahansen.
Awesome!! Very glad to hear it, Allena!
Ahansen,
Only you can be attacked by a bear, and still look better than most of us, after the fact.
“That said, let’s face it, graying hair looks terrible on a woman.”
I prefer to see a woman age gracefully, rather than pretend.
Exactly!
If you are good looking, anything will good on you, even Bald head.
My bad. My response was to C Morris.
Still, pretty always looks prettier with hair. As we age, our features fade. Unless of course you are Joan Rivers, and start looking like a characture of your former self from too much cosmetic surgery. LOL
I’m a cosmetic surgery kind of gal, just not over the top.
I’m just saying…it’s the facing of the features that’s the problem, not the gray in the hair :-).
“graying hair looks terrible on a woman.”
Disagree. Emmylou Harris?
Nah, gray hair looks OK on a chick, as long as she’s pretty. My grandma had gray hair, and I thought it was nice.
Hmmmmmmm. I have been letting my highlighted locks grow out for about 6 months now because I found the current natural mix of colors intriguing (and because after 20+ years of sitting in a stylist’s chair for hours at a stretch, I was looking for a way out, LOL). I haven’t had anyone compliment my gray-blonde hair like Allena has…but there is still a good 10 inches of contrasting, highlighted hair that I’m gonna have chopped off someday soon. If I think it looks terrible then, I’ll likely go back to the tedious ritual of hair color. I may resort to the time-honored lemon juice and sun method of highlighting over the summer. Everything old is new again!
“That said, let’s face it, graying hair looks terrible on a woman.”
I tend to see grey as a sign of experience, confidence - don’t need to do that color thing.
Count me among the disagree-ers. I’ve always held a “thing” for older women, and now that I’M older I find gray hair on a fit, good-looking woman to be attractive.
And a good number of the men.
Nearly ALL American women dye their hair.
I sure don’t!
Matter of fact, I’m rather amazed at my head’s striking inability to grow gray hair. I mean, come on head, I’m 53 years old and that’s the best you can do?
Diet??
Heredity. My father didn’t go gray until he was in his seventies. Neither did his sister, my Aunt Jean.
Dye it?
Grecian-formula hair bailout.
Biden`s helmet? Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia!
I was reading the cycling boards last evening, and happened on a shot of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. She has great taste in bicycles; looked like a rigid 29′r with a Rohloff internal geared hub, a Schmidt generator front hub, disc brakes, etc., no cheap setup there.
Some lobbyist probably traded that bike for tax breaks. (disc brakes for misc breaks).
According to recent photos, Gabby has let her hair grow back its naturally dark color.
“Some lobbyist probably traded that bike for tax breaks.”
Geez, that’s harsh for a junior Congresswoman particularly one who took a gunshot to the head. She hasn’t been on the hill long enough to become corrupted, IMHO. And her other half is an astronaut, not career you can buy your way into either. More likely hard working, high achievers.
Here’s everything you could ever want to know about Gabby Giffords and bicycling.
The above article was posted on Tucson Velo last October. In more recent news, and to riff on President Obama during his January speech, “Gabby rode a bike!”
This news has put the Tucson cycling community into a high state of, well, joy. She was in town for a visit this past weekend, but she didn’t come out and ride with us.
But that’s okay. The time will come when she will ride with us.
Realtors are full of Sh.t
I hear your mother calling.
Can’t be. My mom’s a Realtor and she is too busy lying to to call for me.
LOL.
I think I just hurt myself laughing!
Prices in the DC area are dropping FAST, it seems.
This isn’t quite the neighborhood I’m looking for, but this is the roughly the type of home I’d want:
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/9301-Adelphi-Rd-Adelphi-MD-20783/37567791_zpid/#{scid=hdp-site-map-list-address}
The 10-year Zestimate chart looks like Mt. Denali. There are a lot more properties of this caliber on Zillow, and that’s after I filtered the listing that zillow gets from fore closure DOT c o m. I don’t know what is listed on r e a l t o r d o t c o m.
For the non-DC people, Silver Spring is a huge unincorporated close-in shady suburb which borders the tip of the DC/MD line. This particular house is right on New Hampshire Avenue. You could drive to the Kennedy Center in deep downtown in about 35 minutes.
I keep thinking with the massive deficits - eventually there will be alot of layoffs in the DC area. Especially contractors.
Which will hit the housing in the area hard.
Yes. My section of the government is fairly cheap to the taxpayer and is probably one of the last ones people think of when they demand cuts. And yet, even we are in a hiring freeze, no COLA, and are considering buyouts for early retirees. I can’t imagine what it’s like for agencies with real cuts.
Z’estimates are still priced like early 2004, but the ones that go on serious sale, like this one, are down to early 2002 prices. People who bought 10 years ago will probably be fine. They are still above water as long as they didn’t HELOC, and can sell and relocate if they have to.
Especially contractors ??
Exactly…Because that’s easy…
wonder what it would rent for.
Zillow has a For Rent function. I couldn’t find an exact match, but here’s something in the same ballpark. 4/2 1113 sq ft (4th bedroom is probably in the basement so not included in the sq ft.)
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1805-Florin-St-Silver-Spring-MD-20902/37287067_zpid/#{scid=hdp-site-map-list-address}
Sale Z’estimate: $269K
Z’estimate monthly nut* at $269K price: $1299
Z’estimate monthly nut* at $140K price: $606
Rent Z’estimate: $1985
Rent listed: $2095
Look at the rent z’estimate chart! Rents are going up in 2011 like house prices did in 2005.
———-
*Monthly nut is calculated from Bankrate’s mortgage calculator. For both prices I assumed 5% interest and ~27K down. I used $140K because that is the list price for the first house, likely comparable.
Interesting play on numbers. However, what neighborhood are you buying into. I rent and could buy a much bigger house in the area with monthly costs equal or less if I bought. However, what will the neighborhood look like five years down the road? What will I be able to sell for? Who will be qualified to buy? Etc? I’ll pay the rent, watch what unfolds, and buy what I want, where I want. Location, location and location and design flow are prime to me.
“Look at the rent z’estimate chart! Rents are going up in 2011 like house prices did in 2005.”
I’m hearing more wacky rent (and housing) stories here in the heart of Silicon Valley. A colleague had a friend who tried to rent a house, only to have someone offer 20%+ more just to get the house….to rent.
Apparently similar bidding wars are happening on the for-sale side as well…at least in Palo Alto. A friend of my wife’s is trying to buy there, and experiencing people getting into bidding wars where homes are going for 20-30% over ask…
All anecdotal at this point, but two independent sources for the two data points above…
You’re a lying realtor.
No, he’s not.
In the Bay Area, things have gotten really hot because of the second dot.com bubble.
DC area guy here. I just can’t seem to look at Silver Spring when looking at houses. Go to one neighborhood and it looks great, but turn the corner and it looks like a scene from “The Stand”.
Nice to see the prices come down. Olney (The main area we are looking in) seems to have some stale houses with some deep price drops. New to the market homes are getting priced lower right off the bat.
It’s a great time to buy!
Right on New Hampshire Ave. No wonder it’s cheap.
oxide
Really cute style house. If that’s along the lines of your wish house, I will love your final pick. And the trees are tree-licious.
We’re in So Ca, and I want a rancher circa 1960’s. Simple, functional, in a tree-licious area. I’m with you.
Exactly what we want, Awaiting!
Interesting contrast to the repeated news from the Case-Shiller/S&P index releases that DC prices always go up.
Is there any reason that explains why Adelphi, MD 20783 is sliding so much more steeply than Silver Spring?
Silver Spring is a strange beast. It’s unincorporated, ie not a real city, so “Silver Spring” is another way of saying “whatever is leftover after you take you take out the defined townships. So SS is a huge area with the FULL gamut of housing.
The Adelphi section is heavily oriented toward fast food jbos and construction paid in cash, if you catch my drift. This property may have housed two families at least. $140K is probably a fire sale. Similar properties in better shape cost $50K-$60K more.
Because you are more likely to be stabbed in Adelphi.
See? Told ya DC was on the chopping block. Look out beloooooowwwww.
With 0.43 acres you could grow a lot of your own food.
That house in my nabe would be asking $200K - $230K (not that any are selling). It would rent for probably $1,400-$1,600/mo.
Comment by oxide
2011-06-20 05:35:03
Prices in the DC area are dropping FAST, it seems.
This isn’t quite the neighborhood I’m looking for, but this is the roughly the type of home I’d want:
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/9301-Adelphi-Rd-Adelphi-MD-20783/37567791_zpid/#{scid=hdp-site-map-list-address}
——————–
Awesome, awesome news!!!
Maybe there is hope, after all!
Good morning, everyone…
My thought this morning upon looking at CR’s comments regarding the FOMC’s GDP forecasts:
If GDP goes up by 3.5%, but that is measured in dollars that the Fed has devalued by 3.5% in the year in question, has there really been any growth?
The BEA differentiates between nominal and real GDP. Taken at face value, you can use their numbers to answer the question you posed.
But the growth figures thrown around by the MSM typically are representative of real (inflation-adjusted) GDP.
“has there really been any growth?”
Yes! The national debt has grown. That is how we hit our GDP number these days.
When digging for a pool, this guy found out his house was built over a dump:
http://www.wtsp.com/news/article/197265/250/Instead-of-pool-Lakeland-man-gets-a-dump
A new spin on “housing is in the dumps”
One of the kids I went to HS with’s family house was built on an ancient pile of stumps, probably from the original land clearing a century earlier. They had some pretty entertaining sink holes in the back yard. Very risky mowing with a riding lawnmower.
New Iberia, LA has its Snob Hill. The only area with about 10 ft elevation from the flat. You can guess why.
Seems like all the good economics articles got played out in yesterday’s bits bucket i.e. Ruth Mantell Marketwatch article and related discussion to “New Normal” et cetera. The nugget I saw was worker median wage of about $32K per year. A bit more than the $500/week number that gets frequent mention here, but it’s worth repeating for the non-flyover, let-them-eat-cake posters on HBB. Marie Antionette didn’t get it either…
According to wikipedia the $32K number is only for those who are 25 or older:
That’s the really scary part, Left Ohio.
You have 72 million workers who make $500 a week or less, leaving approx. 84 million who make more, yet the median is still only 34k, which, IIRC, is DOWN from previous years.
My belated weekend observations are…LOTS of “sale pendings.” The switch has flipped finally from winter to spring and, at least this year, the RE bounce seems to have come with it. It continues to be maddening to watch people part with their money to overspend on housing. When I ask how/why these people are able/willing to do it, I keep telling myself it’s the monthly payment, stupid, (4% interest rates) but it’s not much comfort.
On the other hand, my GF and I are looking to rent a 2BR house and just about every one we’ve seen is an FB case. Divorce, have to move for work, laid off. Every one knows they can’t sell right now. Translation: “I COULD sell now, but I’d have to cough up money I don’t have. And we all know housing only goes up longer term, so I’d look like an idiot for selling. The market will be back in 2 years. I’ll sell then.”
Out of the 8 places we’ve seen, 6 were bought between 2005-2008 and all were bought in the 2000s. As such, THOSE asking prices are insane as well for what you get. And other couples are lining right up to rent them! Everyone I know thinks I’m strange, since “now is the time to buy.” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard “Why do want to rent?” My response? I don’t! But thanks to you buying a house for twice the price, I can’t! It’s as if they’re saying, “He’s financially knowledgeable, he should know better.” Sure, just like they did.
My last thought on this is how I never would have guessed the lengths our bankster led government would take extend and pretend and how those measures would trickle down (hey, it does work!) to not only delay my eventual purchase of a home, but also to complicate renting one. And everyone else still seems willing to play the game.
Well, not Everyone!
Sure, every rant contains some amount of embellishing.
But it’s clear that those folks I know that had been smart enough to wait to buy think “this is the bottom!” after a 15-20% drop off a 125% gain.
And those that were burned seem to think they just had a slight problem in timing of a natural cycle.
No acknowledgement of the fundamentals in play. And as long as rates are 4%, why should they care what prices are?
Thank you sleepless. I’ve been watching the same thing. It makes me want to cry. I’m a stubborn chick…some say strong but I still say they’re mislabeling the Irish streak. I don’t know how much more I can sit and watch.
The Fed Reserve/Treasury is undermining the value of our savings everyday while propping up the housing many of us are saving it for. Meanwhile too many of those that have outbid me past and present default because they went into this w less info than I but they”ll continue to live in the home free of charge. Then my local gov looks to us to make up the differene for the property taxes they’re not collecting on those non-paying homes either. Ugh!!!!!
One day I will snap. Some realtor’s gonna get ripped a new one soon but it won’t really be their fault. My anger needs to be pointed downstate.
Don’t snap. Sit this one out. Our game hasn’t started yet.
Boy, can I relate to you, sleepless and CarrieAnn.
I’ve seen a ton, and I mean A TON, of a short sales in my area that are “active contingent”. In fact, most of the homes for sale in my area of Fla. are this way.
With my wife mere weeks away from starting her new job, she is already on the “must find a house” nesting kick. It’s probably inevitable at this point that we will buy something in the next year.
Not closely related to house.
We are forbidding Gold again. Starting from this July 15, you can not buy gold and silver in USA, what is going on? Is there anybody preparing something big? What is the good way to park your saving?
Who said so? I cant find anything online - do you have a link?
Huh? Where did you hear this? I strongly suspect that this is mis-information/rumor-mongering.
I just verified this with FOREX through live chat. I wished this were not true, but I was wrong.
Making highly leveraged currency/commodity bets on Forex is not the same thing as “buying” gold and silver. If you have the means and the will to take delivery then there is no problem.
Futures market only. No OTC unless you have a net worth of over $1mil not counting your primary residence or an income of over $200k per annum. So you have to be able to take delivery in (i believe) 28 days.
Looking for link…..
How, exactly, did U.S. taxpayers get stuck with the tab for the housing collapse, given that private investors are the ones who provided the loanable funds on the assumption that real estate always goes up? As I recall, until Fall 2008, the GSEs, and their profit streams, were private.
AM Report: Housing, Greece, A New Tiger?
June 20, 2011
WSJ’s Mitra Kalita reports the nation’s weak housing market will likely keep the government in the mortgage business for a long time to come. U.S. taxpayers are currently on the hook for $138 billion. AP photo.
How?
“IT’S WHAT PLANTS CRAVE!”
That’s how.
Don’t you guys think Britney Spears is looking much better these days?
I don’t know…care to point to an example? I thought the only time she looked *bad* was while in the depths of her unmedicated bipolar meltdown. I saw a clip from a recent live performance of some type (I have no idea what it was) and she looked totally bored…like she totally didn’t care any more and just thought she ought to make whatever money she could while it’s still possible. Which kinda makes sense.
Yeah, she probably does want to just make more money. I would too.
But she went through this phase where she had a really big neck. I hated that. Looks like she finally stopped lifting heavy weights. She is starting to seem natural and healthy again.
It makes me feel better somehow.
Who?
Cares?
About people who don’t like my comments?
What comments?
Companies Push for Tax Break on Foreign Cash
Some of the nation’s largest corporations have amassed vast profits outside the country and are pressing Congress and the Obama administration for a tax break to bring the money home.
Apple has $12 billion waiting offshore, Google has $17 billion and Microsoft, $29 billion.
Under the proposal, known as a repatriation holiday, the federal income tax owed on such profits returned to the United States would fall to 5.25 percent for one year, from 35 percent.
Corporations and their lobbyists say the tax break could resuscitate the gasping recovery by inducing multinational corporations to inject $1 trillion or more into the economy, and they promoted the proposal as “the next stimulus” at a conference last Wednesday in Washington.
“For every billion dollars that we invest, that creates 15,000 to 20,000 jobs either directly or indirectly,” Jim Rogers, the chief of Duke Energy, said at the conference. Duke has $1.3 billion in profits overseas.
But that’s not how it worked last time. Congress and the Bush administration offered companies a similar tax incentive, in 2005, in hopes of spurring domestic hiring and investment, and 800 took advantage.
Though the tax break lured them into bringing $312 billion back to the United States, 92 percent of that money was returned to shareholders in the form of dividends and stock buybacks, according to a study by the nonpartisan National Bureau of Economic Research.
This money comes from overseas operations and in some cases accounting maneuvers that shift domestic profits to low-tax countries. The study concluded that the program “did not increase domestic investment, employment or research and development.”
Indeed, 60 percent of the benefits went to just 15 of the largest United States multinational companies — many of which laid off domestic workers, closed plants and shifted even more of their profits and resources abroad in hopes of cashing in on the next repatriation holiday.
Some of the nation’s largest corporations have amassed vast profits outside the country and are pressing Congress and the Obama administration for a tax break to bring the money home.
Apple has $12 billion waiting offshore, Google has $17 billion and Microsoft, $29 billion.
Awwww, the poor things. Can’t Congress and Obama feel their pain?
“For every billion dollars that we invest, that creates 15,000 to 20,000 jobs either directly or indirectly,”
Here’s a suggestion, you b**ta*d corporations. Instead of bloviating about creating jobs, getting your tax break, and then conveniently failing to create jobs, why don’t you create the jobs FIRST, and then submit the W-2’s and get your tax break afterwards? Put your money where your mouth is.
And why can’t the little guy get in on these sweet deals? Like, I want an MID tax deduction. Then I can buy a house….maaaybe. (or maaaaybe I’ll just use the cash for an Escalade.)
Instead of bloviating about creating jobs, getting your tax break, and then conveniently failing to create jobs, why don’t you create the jobs FIRST, and then submit the W-2’s and get your tax break afterwards? Put your money where your mouth is.
__________________________________________________
I thought about this during the Republican Debate last week. Just a parade of “We need tax breaks!”, which may be a good idea but does not create jobs itself. A nice jobs bill of “If you can hire another X amount of employees we’ll give you a tax break”.
Every segment of my company is short staffed. Vacations have been cancelled, getting your day off rolled (Meaning you have to work the next day) is beuoming the norm.
Why should they? Half the country applauds what they’re doing, suggesting that corporations shouldn’t be taxed at ALL. Meanwhile, you and I pay 28-35% tax rates while they pay what, 15% or less?
In fact, I know someone who works for one of above mentioned companies making nearly $200k for finding ways like this to hide money. She (and her husband) finds it perfectly acceptable.
If they are utilizing the loopholes that the politicians know are in place (and they do, since what these corporations do is public knowledge), what they are doing is legal, and, in many people’s eyes, therefore acceptable.
One may not think that a mortgage interest deduction is appropriate/fair, etc., but you’ll find very few of those people NOT take the deduction if they can.
I blame the politicians.
Getting angry at Google for not hiring probably doesn’t make sense. Google is hiring as fast as they can find good people. I don’t think getting them their money back for overseas is going to make them hire any faster.
A short while ago, I was having a major computer problem. Trojan infestation that was very hard to wipe out. It’s gone now.
Guy who was slaying this pesky beast is the former roommate of another guy who has done computer work for me. That guy is up in Redmond, WA, doing an internship at Microsoft.
He’s also done an internship at Google, and ya know what? He likes the Evil Empire of Redmond better.
Why? Because Microsoft understands that its employees have lives outside of work. OTOH, Google provides everything from laundry service to free gourmet meals to ensure that you’ll seldom leave and (gasp!) go home.
Google is hiring as fast as they can find good people.
Define “good people”. They have a reputation for being ridiculously over-picky in Boulder. Yet at the same time advertising continuously. It gets annoying after a while.
Here’s a suggestion, you b**ta*d corporations. Instead of bloviating about creating jobs, getting your tax break, and then conveniently failing to create jobs, why don’t you create the jobs FIRST, and then submit the W-2’s and get your tax break afterwards? Put your money where your mouth is.
+1000
Of course we know that they have NO intention of hiring in the USA.
Whenever I drive by one of Corporate America’s campuses or office buildings I get the shivers just thinking about the poor souls that work there, putting in tons of unpaid overtime and who will eventually be laid off if they aren’t some manager’s pet employee (and sometimes even then they can’t protect you). As I drive by these pits of despair I repeat my simple mantra: “Never again”. Never again will I work for dysfunctional, greedy and layoff/offshore loving corporate America. Not that they would hire my 51 year old butt. I am told that I look like I’m 40, not that that’s any help these days.
I would say the same thing but I haven’t found anything better yet. I’m not a build-a-company-from-the-ground-up type. Can’t complain much about my current situation.
Comment by oxide
2011-06-20 11:19:36
“For every billion dollars that we invest, that creates 15,000 to 20,000 jobs either directly or indirectly,”
Here’s a suggestion, you b**ta*d corporations. Instead of bloviating about creating jobs, getting your tax break, and then conveniently failing to create jobs, why don’t you create the jobs FIRST, and then submit the W-2’s and get your tax break afterwards? Put your money where your mouth is.
———————–
[applause]
Right on, oxide!
Why do these companies want to repatriate the money? Whey don’t they all just move themselves over to India and China, CEO and all?
I’m with you. They all should get the hell out of here. They aren’t creating any damn jobs. They aren’t innovating. They are actively crushing and blocking/suing anyone who tries to innovate. They control our government. They pay almost no taxes. They have more rights than we do.
I’D LOVE TO HELP THEM OUT. WHICH WAY DID THEY COME IN?
Whey don’t they all just move themselves over to India and China, CEO and all?
I know that question is rhetorical, but we all know that the 1%ers love living in America, as much as they threaten to leave over “high taxation”. Like they would really move to live in smoggy, unhealthy Beijing or Shanghai, or to some 3rd world cesspool where they would need a private army to keep them safe. That job is for junior and midlevel execs who are still climbing the ladder, and many of those guys are foreingers anyway.
At the end of my job hunt a few months ago one of the places I was really interested in got back to me and wanted to talk about my dream job. Except it was managing people in India. Couldn’t get excited enough to pursue it any further since I’d already started this one anyway and was liking what I was learning.
“Corporations and their lobbyists say the tax break could resuscitate the gasping recovery by inducing multinational corporations to inject $1 trillion or more into the economy, and they promoted the proposal as “the next stimulus” at a conference Wednesday in Washington.”
They mean into THEIR personal economy.
Lying %$*&&^$!*&^”:@#!!!!
“…and their lobbyists…”
There’s the source of, and solution to, the problem.
The era of cheap Chinese labor is over:
On May 25, U.S. businessman Charles Hubbs made the short trek to Hong Kong from his office just outside Guangzhou, a city in Guangdong province in southeastern China that is known for good reason as the manufacturing workshop of the world. For the 64-year-old native of Louisiana, it was a trip that may have marked the beginning of the end of his successful 22-year run as a China-based exporter of medical supplies.
Hubbs was going to listen to a pitch from the American ambassador in Cambodia, Carol Rodley, and the president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Phnom Penh. Their aim was simple: to get foreign investors, particularly those already with operations in China, to consider setting up shop in Cambodia. Hubbs was all ears.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2078121,00.html
The race to the bottom continues.
The globalists will not stop using slave labor unless we force them to stop.
Yep. This is NOT going to end well.
The globalists will not stop using slave labor unless we force them to stop.
I wonder how history will judge this age of neo-slavery?
I guess its like they said in the remake of Battlestar Galactica (about the creation of robotic slaves that rebelled against their masters): It has happened before and it will happen again.
Hubbs was going to listen to a pitch from the American ambassador in Cambodia, Carol Rodley, and the president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Phnom Penh. Their aim was simple: to get foreign investors, particularly those already with operations in China, to consider setting up shop in Cambodia.
So why exactly is the US Ambassador pitching to move the factories to Cambodia? I mean, I would expect Cambodian officials to make that pitch, while I would expect American officials to try to bring those jobs back to high unemployment USA.
Sigh, another day in Bizarroworld.
Some Americans would work for 25 cents an hour……Is this because Americans have so much wage “bargaining clout”?
Some Americans are willing to work for much less than people from other countries
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110620/us_yblog_thelookout/some-americans-will-work-for-25-cents-an-hour-experiment-shows
…The results? No one in Italy, the Netherlands, or Egypt would accept less than $5 for an hour of work. In Germany it was $3, in Australia and Britain $2, and in Canada $1.25. Americans accepted by far the lowest figure: just 25 cents.
….the minimum wage in the U.S. is $7.25 per hour, and some argue it should be higher. But the reality is that, especially given the current downturn, many Americans will work for a whole lot less–and sometimes do.
I love our plantation economy Massah! Toby be good slave!
If you feel you are a slave, you probably volunteered for it.
Er, I don’t think SO.
The results? No one in Italy, the Netherlands, or Egypt would accept less than $5 for an hour of work.
In Egypt - the average wage per DAY is $5…
This is a bogus conclusion (read the article). It only looks at the subset of population with access to a computer, which obviously is a larger fraction in the US than it is in Egypt for instance. Then there’s the knowledge of what the Mechanical Turk is, and the cost of the computer connection (probably close to free in the US, and bit more pricey in Egypt).
The average guy on the street who might not have used a computer will certainly work for less than $5/hour in Egypt.
This is a bogus conclusion (read the article).
Not if you’re a real capitalist. (and not just a poser)
“In Soviet Russia, the government controls the commerce.” - anon
“In Soviet America, Wall St. controls the commerce.” - anon
You have problem with Corporate Communist Capitalism©®™, comrade?
The Grecian Formula looks useless.
The currency guru, Chuck Butler, sums it up: “…all the euphoria on Friday that a Greek bailout deal had been struck, has fizzled out this morning. It seems as though, to get the money/ bailout, Greece has to jump through some hoops, and do some back-flips… The Eurozone finance chiefs want Greece to deliver a budget that has seen a ton of red lined items (spending cuts)… And now, there’s going to be a “confidence vote” in Greece, which means the current PM, Papandreou, is probably out, and a new person will step in, and deliver the budget…
“You see… the thing that’s in question right now, is the next tranche of payment on the original 110 Billion euro package that was done last year… That next tranche of 12 Billion euros is due next month, without it, Greece defaults… So… you see it’s not that different from what we have going on in this country…”
Clipped from-The Daily Pfennig
~ Where is Greece going to get €12 billion with which to pay an installment on its debt next month? And even it scrapes it together and wins another bailout from the European Union how long will the people of Greece put up with the strict austerity such a debt structure demands? Utility workers have already caused power outages in Athens by going on strike to protest austerity. That’s quite like shooting oneself in the foot to protest ill-fitting shoes.
Is this how the European Union finally disintengrates? And we used to think we could usher in world peace through strengthened economic ties. Guess not.
“Is this how the European Union finally disintengrates?”
Probably so, which is why Greece will get propped up. Once a bigger pig squeals then it won’t be so easy and the EU will probably change, if not flat out dissolve.
Sounds like Greece is the first domino that will fall in the Eurozone.
“Where is Greece going to get €12 billion with which to pay an installment on its debt next month?”
I guess they’ll be getting a bail out. Anything to keep the first domino from toppling over. Greece’s domino is relatively small compared to the remainder of the PIIGS, so Its easier to prop it up. Once Spain or Italy starts talking about insolvency then it’s ‘game over’.
I’d be curious to read a good writeup about what exactly would be expected to happen should Greece default.. beyond what normally happens in that situation.. due to its membership in the EU.
Good question, bink.
My guess is that things would be tough for the Greeks for a year or two, then, after they brought back (and inflated) their own currency, things would get back to “normal.”
Trying to “save Greece” is simply dragging out the eventual default. Best to get it over with quickly, IMHO.
In other words, they should do what every American FB should do…DEFAULT!
African-American unemployment at 16 percent
(CBS News)
The economy and jobs will be big issues in Washington again this coming week.
While unemployment among the general population is about 9.1 percent, it’s at 16.2 percent African Americans, and a bit higher still for African American males.
CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller reports that, historically, the unemployment rate for African Americans has always been higher than the national average. However, now it’s at Depression-era levels. The most recent figures show African American joblessness at 16.2 percent. For black males, it’s at 17.5 percent; And for black teens, it’s nearly 41 percent.
For some, it’s crunch time at STRIVE, a job training program in East Harlem, where instructors use drill sergeant-like techniques. They teach job-seekers to correct their mistakes by fining them a quarter each time they make them.
For young men of color, especially black males in New York City, things are especially bad. According to the think tank, the Community Service Society, 34 percent of New York’s young black men age 19 to 24 are not working.
“If you haven’t connected with the world of work by the age of 25, it’s a permanent problem for the rest of your career,” says David Johns with the Community Service Society.
Christopher Scott, 20 and a high school drop-out, got a GED last year, but he hasn’t been able to find a job ever since.
“It makes me feel degraded in a way cause at 20, I should be more independent,” Scott says.
For those with less than a college education, finding a job alone isn’t the answer. Even if they secure employment, it’s often below minimum wage, and in places like New York City, it’s barely enough to survive.
While unemployment among the general population is about 9.1 percent, it’s at 16.2 percent African Americans, and a bit higher still for African American males.
And that’s the U3 number. I wonder what the U6 number is for them? 30%?
34% in NY
You saying hope and change didn’t work out too well for the black community?
But we have a black president. Things were supposed to be great. That is why blacks voted about 95% for obama and the democrat ticket.
They like the plantation…
You have a black first lady, that’s all.
Your president is as black as he is white. Why does this minor detail escape you?
I am guessing that not all the blacks who voted for Obama were racist like you. Hopeful, yes of course. The system is to play on our hopes and then smash them later. Rinse and repeat. I wonder what blunderbust you will pin your hopes on this go around. Good luck with that.
I didn’t want to vote for Obama either and it was because of his race. OK I admit it. Sorry.
It’s because he’s half white. I mean, the white man has messed things up good.
Our Debt Binge Is Ending — And The Middle Class Will Get Clobbered
By Henry Blodget | Daily Ticker
The world is coming to the end of a 50-year debt super-cycle, John Mauldin says, and the austerity required to put us back on solid financial footing will hammer ordinary Americans.
Mauldin, a financial analyst and the author of ENDGAME: The End Of The Debt Super-cycle And How It Changes Everything, thinks that the the US will soon be forced to confront the fact that it has borrowed way too much in the past few decades and must severely cut back.
The US’s $1.6 trillion-a-year deficit, Mauldin believes, must quickly be cut to about $300 billion a year, or the US will face a debt crisis. And given that our current government can barely find ways to chop $30 billion of spending from the 2011 budget, these cuts are going to be painful.
What will the forced austerity mean for ordinary Americans?
Higher taxes and significantly reduced Medicare and Medicaid spending, for starters, Mauldin says. And then cuts to almost everything else in the budget, including military spending and education.
In other words, as has so often been the case in the past couple of decades, the middle class will bear the brunt of the impact.
For the coastal elite pigmen the financial “crisis” of 2007-2009 was an annoyance as significant as a gnat.
The middle class will be enduring the resulting stagflationary depression for decades.
Only if we let them inflate.
Deflation would help workers, at the expense of the capitalists (those whose incomes are derived from capital, not labor).
I’m all for deflation, as it would reverse the wealth divide that has been growing for far too long.
On top of that, we need to increase taxes on capital, and lower taxes on labor.
Time to fix what’s wrong with our country…and it isn’t the middle-class that’s caused our problems.
the austerity required to put us back on solid financial footing will hammer ordinary Americans…(as) been the case in the past couple of decades, the middle class will bear the brunt
For awhile. But it will only hasten the point where the rich’s overreach overreaches.
Henry Blodget should not judge the cycle of history by only the “past couple decades”.
History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme. by Mark Twain
911 what`s your emergency?
There’s a zombie note eating our bank account! We thought it was dead and gone but it came back to life!
Met up with an old friend yesterday for lunch. He used to work for the commerce department in the textile division. He was lamenting the loss of so many of his industry’s jobs “on his watch”. Then he was laid off himself and unemployed for 18 months, which he should have seen coming as the textile industry chases ever-cheaper labor around the globe. He brought up the adage “when your neighbor loses his job, it’s a recession. when you do, it’s a depression” and spoke of a very lean Xmas this past year. Then he admited that he had a McMansion in North Carolina and I wanted to strike him.
But we looked around at the ritzy Sausalito crowd at the semi-pricy bistro and had to keep reminding ourselves that we live in a bubble here in the SF Bay and that most of the US (and the world) doesn’t have it’s head in the clouds (or up its derriere) and that we are in serious trouble.
Sausalito sounds like a pasta dish, don’t you think?
It would taste better than Stockton for sure.
This is a sick ass system we have…
$1 Billion in Homeowner Aid Offered
MortgageLoan.com
Homeowners facing foreclosure can now tap into a $1 billion program of emergency loans to help tide them over a temporary financial crisis, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has announced.
Beginning today, homeowners in 27 states can file preliminary applications for the Emergency Homeowner’s Loan Program (EHLP). Eligible homeowners can obtain interest-free loans of up to $50,000 to help cover mortgage expenses for up to two years.
The program is available to homeowners who have seen their incomes fall and who could lose their homes to foreclosure due to circumstances beyond their control, including involuntary unemployment, underemployment, economic conditions or an illness.
The program is a counterpart to the $7.6 billion Hardest Hit Fund and is available only to homeowners in states not covered by that program. The Hardest Hit Fund provides foreclosure avoidance assistance to homeowners in states that have been most seriously affected by the declining housing market and economic downturn.
The new initiative is expected to provide assistance to up to 30,000 homeowners, with loans averaging $35,000 each. Loans may be used to pay a portion of monthly mortgage bills, including missed mortgage payments or past due charges including principal, interest, taxes, insurances, and attorney fees.
Read more: http://community.nasdaq.com/News/2011-06/1-billion-in-homeowner-aid-offered.aspx?storyid=81588#ixzz1PrMv109X
The solution to reduced ability to repay loans is of course more loans.
Looks like another around-the-back bank bailout to me.
Real estate
Interest-free federal loans offered to unemployed homeowners
By Jenifer B. McKim, Globe Staff
A long-delayed federal program aimed at helping hundreds of unemployed Massachusetts homeowners pay their mortgages is finally being launched today, with $61 million earmarked for the state.
The US Department of Housing and Urban Development and the nonprofit NeighborWorks America said the program will provide hundreds of local borrowers with interest-free loans of up to $50,000 over a two-year period. In some cases, the money will not have to be paid back.
The $1 billion national program is expected to benefit 30,000 unemployed homeowners in 27 states and Puerto Rico with financial assistance.
Homeowners must file loan applications by July 22, said Eileen M. Fitzgerald, chief executive of NeighborWorks America, a Washington, DC-based nonprofit housing advocacy group. “NeighborWorks America knows all too well that in these tough economic times, homeowners facing foreclosure are seeking help wherever they can find it.”
The loan program, approved by Congress last summer, was supposed to be up and running by the end of 2010, but various complications slowed its start date.
Interested homeowners must submit a pre-application, which could go into a lottery if there is excessive demand, officials said. To qualify, homeowners must have suffered a drop in income of at least 15 percent due to job loss, wage cuts or a health emergency.
Interested homeowners can visit http://www.FindEHLP.org, to get an application and more information, or call 855-346-3345.
Local agencies, including Urban Edge Housing Corp. and Nuestra Comunidad Development Corp. in Roxbury, also will be working with homeowners to help them through the process.
Nuestra Comunidad?
Dudes, if these people don’t even speak English, then why are we paying for their houses?
Hola Nuestra Comunidad, yo tengo poquito dinero para mi casa. Trabajo muy malo. Cheese por favor.
I think I said…
Hello Nuestra Comunidad, I have little money for my house. Work is very bad. Cheese please.
To which Nuestra Comunidad would reply…..
Yo La Tengo grasias Big V. Which means….
You can have it all thanks to taxpayers like Big V.
Hasta luego mi amigos
Teachers union sues state over new pension law
By John Kennedy Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 7:30 p.m. Monday, June 20, 2011
TALLAHASSEE — The state’s largest teachers union joined with other labor organizations Monday in suing Gov. Rick Scott to overturn a new 3 percent payroll contribution demanded of 655,000 government workers who belong to the Florida Retirement System.
The Florida Education Association said the suit was the first of several it intends to file to block policies enacted by the Republican-ruled legislature. Union attorney Ron Meyer said a challenge is coming soon to the merit-pay plan that became the first bill Scott signed into law.
Scott and other state officials are named as defendants in the class-action suit filed Monday on behalf of 11 public employees who are members of the retirement system.
Well, it is up to the government to provide jobs for voters , isn’t it?
And , in my opinion, little of the money will go to homeowners but will go to the agencies set up to handle the transactions.
A corner, no doubt on all of the moneys will be little nuts that grow into big Oaks.
Well, it is up to the government to provide jobs for voters , isn’t it?
Yes it is. It’s even in our mission statement for the government to provide an economy that provides jobs and opportunities for all its people. If not…. why would our founding fathers even have bothered?
…to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, …promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.