Bits Bucket for June 26, 2011
Post off-topic ideas, links, and Craigslist finds here.
The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
About Me
Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
To donate by mail, or to otherwise contact this blogger, please send emails to: thehousingbubble@gmail.com
PayPal is a secure online payment method which accepts ALL major credit cards.
Links
-
December 2024 M T W T F S S « Sep 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
Photo Submission: hbbphotos@gmail.com
View the HBB Photo Gallery *updated 4/13/2008
“Obama: We Can’t Just Cut Way to Prosperity”
http://www.cnbc.com/id/43534698
Yeah, but we can’t print our way to prosperity either. This has been mentioned on this board before, but it would be nice if people could learn to temper the “animal spirits.” Why do we always having to growing/cutting, booming/busting, expanding/contracting, etc.
BTW, my wife and I watched “Company Men” last night. I recommend it if you’re a Red Box/Netflix type. Not a groundbreaking movie, but contains many of the topics we discuss daily (living within your means, decline of manufacturing, CEO irrational behavior, etc.).
pelosi is demanding a seat at the high level talks. she knows boener doesn’t have the votes to raise the debt ceiling without making a deal with the democrats.
take your pick boener, behind door number left, is nancy and more taxes and spending, behind door number right is jim demint and holding the debt ceiling or getting big cuts and a balanced budget amendment.
my humble thinking is that if the target is non new debt then why raise the ceiling? if i was a foreign banker i would have more confidence in the dollar if the unitied states refused to go deeper in debt. is that just too logical to make sense?
Frankly I’m floored that there is even one deluded individual left who believes the GOP honestly gives a hoot about deficit spending.
You’re him. Congratulations.
PS- Taxcuts=deficit spending. *THINK*
I’m not him, its the tea party that gives a hoot and the question here is who has the power?
Will the GOP “compromise” with the DEMs or will they follow Demint ? Do they believe Demint’s threat that they will not be re-elected if they compromise?
BTW thanks for the personal insult, if you want to debate I point fine, otherwise ef off.
Tax cutting isn’t even on the table at the moment but your equation is in error. taxcuts deficit spending. spending > revenue = deficit spending.
maybe you need to think?
debate I point = debate a point
Ben, I need to be able to edit my posts
Repeating the lie that taxcuts=increase revenue merely makes it a worn out lie.
Nice try though.
taxcuts deficit spending
my not equals didn’t show
taxcuts are not equal to deficit spending
Charlie you are wasting your time, there can be no debate with Ex. He is of the perma-pissed crowd. It’s his way or no way, one of the smart set, they know what’s best for everyone else.
You confusing me with the TeaParty Hate crowd.
“You confusing me with the TeaParty Hate crowd”.
There is no confusing, you are crystal clear, an easy read.
Any read is easy with a narrow ideological scope of vision.
“taxcuts are not equal to deficit spending”
They are if you don’t cut spending. And for all the GOP’s bluster, there is no way in Hades that they will “balance the budget” as their military spending is sacrosanct. They are just fine with the printing press running to fund the deficit. They aren’t concerned about the associated price inflation as their assets will rise in price. J6P will get clobbered as his wages won’t even come close to pacing inflation, but that’s OK with the 1%ers as it means they will own an even greater percentage of the total wealth. That and the Chinese/Japanese/etc. will get stuck holding our heavily devalued paper.
Despite ample evidence to the contrary, American multinational corporations are claiming that a so-called “tax holiday” could prove to be an economic stimulus that would cost taxpayers nothing.
Under the name “Win America,” many of those corporations have banded together to lobby for a tax holiday that would allow them to repatriate their overseas profits at a discounted rate. Under their proposal, companies would pay just a 5.25 percent tax rate on overseas profits instead of the normal rate of 35 percent.
“For every $1 billion that we invest, that creates 15,000 to 20,000 jobs either directly or indirectly,” Jim Rogers, chief executive of Duke Energy, told The Seattle Times.
The coalition of companies says that a tax holiday would allow them to bring home approximately $1 trillion, most of which would be reinvested in the U.S. economy.
But the fact of the matter is that the experiment has been tried before, and failed miserably.
In 2004, the Bush administration instituted a tax holiday. Companies brought back billions of dollars from overseas. But few jobs were created.
Ninety-two percent of the money that was repatriated was used for stock buybacks and dividend payments.
In fact, some research has shown that companies actually used some of their cash to move even more operations overseas. Some critics believe that it also led to more companies hoarding cash overseas in anticipation of another tax holiday.
“For every dollar that was brought back, there were zero cents used for additional capital expenditures, research and development, or hiring and employees’ wages,” Kristin Forbes, a professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management, told The Seattle Times.
Sixty percent of the benefits went to the 15 largest multinational corporations, most of whom are only nominally American companies nowadays.
The plan would also end up costing the American taxpayer in the long run. The Joint Committee on Taxation says that a tax holiday would cost the U.S. Treasury $79 billion over a 10 year period.
Despite the ample evidence that a tax holiday is a bad idea, Republicans are fighting alongside multinational corporations to push the idea. They claim to care about the deficit, yet they are willing to reward companies with billions of dollars in tax breaks for shipping American jobs overseas.
“It’s a good idea. We ought to have it every day,” Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) said. “Instead of having repatriation every seven years, let’s have it every single day by going to a different system.”
Republicans are fighting alongside multinational corporations to push the idea.
Fighting alongside? The Establishment GOP has become the political arm of the corporate cartels, Wall Street banks, and neo-cons. Ditto for their Democrat “opposition.”
I agree tax increases on the biggest corporations is a very good idea, but since they have both current parties in the bag, this will not happen.
What will happen is the “rich” you know those dastardly underpaying “small businesses” will get hit with massive tax increases and the fortune 500 will get its “tax holiday” harming the economy and getting nothing back in return.
The REAL loot is in the top 500 corporations. Looking anywhere else is a duck hunt in Antarctica…
The multinational corporations have more cash than they know what to do with stockpiled in the US as they borrowed it at historically low rates. They aren’t using to expand capacity now - there aren’t any customers to buy new stuff that they make. Why would they invest a bunch more money that they were allowed to repatriate at a reduced tax rate?
Long and vigorous refutation of their claim can be found here:
http://jaredbernsteinblog.com/tax-repatriation-you-can%e2%80%99t-turn-this-into-a-good-idea/
Lots of great analysis about how doing these holidays actually creates an incentive to offshore more jobs so that you can use the next repatriation holiday to get the money home with almost no taxes. This is a MUST read for anyone interested in corporate offshoring incentives. And it is very easy to understand.
Tax holidays for repatriating overseas corporate profits create a huge incentive for more offshoring. I have a longer post on this topic, but it has a link so it will show up later.
“…is that just too logical to make sense?”
Yes. If you were a foreign banker who saw the U.S. refusal to raise the debt ceiling, you would have to start worrying about outright default on the debt, rather than partial (de facto) default through the printing press technology. Your worry would be compounded by the deflationary pressure created if the printing press were stopped cold in its tracks.
“We Can’t Just Cut Way to Prosperity”
This is the money quote of the century. The attitude of an age, now closing.
This man and his kind cannot lead us out of debt slavery, but they are true spokesmen for the country. I keep reading articles raging against the transfer of wealth to the wealthy. Some of them are pretty well developed, all full of anger, suggesting that the common man has been enslaved and that the acquisitors must be somehow eradicated.
I see it simply the other way around. We have wanted something for nothing for so long, something from someone else, something that we will pay for later, something to own that will make us rich without sweat and tears, that we have sold ourselves into slavery willingly. What we got in exchange was false, and now we are prisoners. Only greedy fools can be trapped this way, and we are many. Not permanent, but it is ugly. It is not Ponzi’s fault entirely, he is just an accomodator.
I went through this cycle of greed/debt/bust/frugality/prosperity in my life and have won my freedom. I see current events in a different light because of that probably. The borrowing is going to end, and then we get to try some other way.
“I went through this cycle of greed/debt/bust/frugality/prosperity in my life and have won my freedom.”
“Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.” - Charles McKay.
When the numbers of those who have recovered their senses outnumber the ones who are still mad then we in the U.S. will be well on our way to reclaiming the freedom we so willingly sold off to strangers.
“I went through this cycle of greed/debt/bust/frugality/prosperity in my life and have won my freedom.”
I did that in NYC - full circle.
Perhaps experience cannot be taught, only learned.
Quote of the Century:
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.
He told the House Small Business Committee this week that the Obama administration believes taxes on small business must increase so the administration does not have to “shrink the overall size of government programs.”
I’m still searching for a quote to top this one:
“It was my equity I cashed out. I don’t see why I should have to give it back.”
“It was my equity I cashed out. I don’t see why I should have to give it back.”
Live And Let Die lyrics
Songwriters: Mccartney, Linda; Mccartney, Paul;
saturday, jeff;
When you were young
And your heart was an open book
You used to say, “Live and let live”
(You know you did, you know you did, you know you did)
But if this ever-changing world in which we live in
Makes you give in and cry
Say live and re-fi
Live and re-fi
Live and re-fi
Live and re-fi
What does it matter to ya, when there is a loan to get, you`ll pay it when you sell
If not you tell the bank to go to Helllllllll
So live and re-fi
Live and re-fi
Live and re-fi
Live and re-fi
“taxes on small business must increase”
Proof that Corporate America owns our government at every level. They like to bitch that Obama is a Marxist, but he kept their loopholes in place so that half of Corporate America could continue paying no income tax even though they are very profitable.
It reminds me of series of Dilbert cartoons. The Pointy Haired Boss is cutting a deal with a supplier, which is a small business. He tells the small businessman that he will give the big company interest free loans in the form of invoices that won’t be paid for months. The small businessman protests, saying that he can’t stay in business if he isn’t paid in a timely manner. The PHB replies:
“That’s what you get for being a tiny business.”
He then pulls out a fly swatter.
It doesn’t matter who we elect, they will be coopted by Corporate America.
The Republic is doomed.
Of course small business owners have been demonized in the press for years as tax evading money hoarders… “The Rich” is an interchangeable term for small business owner…
I put it on this blog previously, but to emphasize the real money that is not getting taxed is in the top 500 corporations.
Every small business owner I know is suffering losses or lack of customers.
“Every small business owner I know is suffering losses or lack of customers.”
true dat, and add to it we are busy spending our time complying with new govt requirements and fees.
here’s an example from my contracting business. my workers comp experience mod went from 80% to 139% due to fraud. as a result CAL-OSHA now fines me on a regular basis, my crime you ask? my experience mod is too high.
we were expecting relief this year but the local hospital charged my workers comp carrier a new $58,000 to treat a spider bite. this same hospital quoted an employee of mine $75,000 for rotator cuff surgery. at the same time a local surgeon offered to do it for $8,000 if my employee would drive to los angeles.
the health care system and industry is corrupt and more and more the burden is falling on the small businessman.
You guys are talking about actual small businesses. People who do stuff. Most of the money in “small businesses” is people who are partners in various investment partnerships. The amount of money in hedge funds, private equity, etc. is so much bigger that that of people who make stuff or move stuff or consult on stuff. He is talking about taxes on 1%ers. If your personal profits from an actual small business are less than $1 million a year, you really aren’t the focus of that quote.
And seriously, if your business is making a million bucks a year in pure profit, convert to a C-corp. It is cleaner for liability issues.
The problem I see is tax increases on “small businesses” tend to flow to ALL small businesses, even those barely making it.
I don’t know the exact background of the remarks, so I can’t say for sure, but if he is talking about increasing marginal rates on people making over $1 million or even $250K that is not going to hit a small business that is “barely making it.” That amount is only the amount left over after ALL expenses are deducted or the appropriate amount of capital expenditures are amortized and deducted.
Yeah, if you wanted to pay cash for a million dollar piece of equipment that has a 20 year life and can only be amortized on a 10 year schedule, you might have to finance part of it because of not being able to keep 100% of your profits, but that is not unreasonable. There is a reason businesses that want to expand usually either borrow money or raise additional equity capital.
The MSM doesn’t grasp that class warfare is already here: corporations and the 2% against the other 98%, including small businesses in the US. If small business owners stopped seeing their best interests as being aligned with corporations, simply because they are both businesses, but instead saw them as aligned with their customers, things might change rather quickly.
Some area residents learning the hard way: Pay homeowner’s association or else
By Kimberly Miller Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 8:18 p.m. Saturday, June 25, 2011
Tom and Patrice Sherhag’s foreclosure began with a missed quarterly HOA payment of $75 in October.
The assessment due to the Palmetto Pines Homeowners Association in unincorporated Boca Raton grew to $318 by the end of November, a charge that by then included a $25 late fee, a $35 “processing fee,” 18 percent interest and $175 in attorneys’ fees.
In January, the association filed a lien for the original $75 on the Sherhags’ home and despite subsequent checks written for hundreds of dollars, snowballing court and attorneys costs have since upped the final bill to an estimated $4,605.
The actual debt owed the association: $80.25.
While homeowners associations are wielding foreclosures more often as a way to collect from delinquent owners, South Florida attorneys said it’s still unusual for that kind of court action to be initiated on a minor debt.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/money/foreclosures/some-area-residents-learning-the-hard-way-pay-1562391.html - -
Check this article out:
Haught’s group is among a new breed of investors who have found an unusual niche: buying properties foreclosed on by homeowners associations because the residents didn’t pay their dues. Given so many struggling homeowners and the abundance of HOAs in Florida, the potential for profit is great.
The opportunity has attracted some unlikely buyers, among them Haught, who spent 4 1/2 years in prison for Medicare fraud and whose own home is in foreclosure.
Haught and his associates have landed some amazing deals:
• A $1.2 million bayfront home in Apollo Beach for $10,010.
• A 3,700-square-foot home in north Tampa for $8,090.
• Dozens of single-family homes in Brandon and Riverview for less than $4,000 each.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/real-estate-investors-beat-the-banks-to-profit-on-foreclosures/1177196
A HOA is just one more way to keep the “F” firmly attached to the “B” in the term “FB”.
I do not believe foreclosure makes the first mortgage go away. They just bought it in the foreclosure.
One month late and they jack up a quarterly payment of $75 to $318! It looks like the HOA almost prays for people to be late. The “late” and “processing” fees plus interest would almost equal the amount owed before lathering on attorneys’ fees. Attorneys’ fees, really, for a bill that’s only one month late?
What I get from all this is that a property is worth more if it is not attached to a HOA than if it is.
IMO there should be a HOA discount offered by the seller if a HOA goes with the sale.
Some people probably like to join an HOA just for the opportunity to be in control of others.
“IMO there should be a HOA discount offered by the seller if a HOA goes with the sale.”
Down here in many cases there is. I have seen many houses that I would have purchased if it were not for obscene HOA dues.
I just got a letter on Friday from a law office, sent to this address for my DBLL (I opened it by accident, Oooops) the HOA had agreed to accept their $311.00 payment for the year`s unpaid dues (that is what it is for a year) and they accepted their payment schedule of $50.00 a month for the next 14 months to pay the attorney fees and penalty. County records showed the HOA had filed a lien on the property 2 months ago.
There seems to be some sort of universal constant attached to FBs, something akin to a Kick Me sign.
The FB mentality seems to be running rampant throught the country and signs of this mentality display themselves in the form of HOAs, payday loan stores, lotteries - numerious and various methods of seperating cash from those who have little to spare.
And the FBs never seem to catch on, they never seem to “get it”.
What you call the FB mentality is really our national descent into IDIOCRACY.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXRjmyJFzrU
What good will it do an HOA to forclose on an underwater FB? The mortgage company(ies) get first dibs.
I don’t think that’s true in FL, or at least that’s what I got from the article I linked to above.
Anyone know?
Sensationalism by reporters. First mortgage remains just that; first mortgage. My partner foreclosed (in Fla) on a lot that he held a 250k second mortgage and succeeded in driving it to judicial judgment. Then he was faced with a $600k bank held first mortgage on the lot. He originally sold for $1M, receved $750k plus the $250k second mortgage. The catch was that the lot now is worth $300k on it’s best day! He offered $300k for bank interest at foreclosure, got a nix. The bank got the lot back for their $600k interest; my partner walked away with zilch.
He was still happy though because he still had the $750k from the original 2007 sale.
I have no sympathy for these deadbeats. Pay up or get out. This is what you signed up for.
So MegaBank Inc.$ can laugh even more? Surely you jest Sammy.
Get ‘em you micro blood $ucking mosquitoes, suck away I say!
No, I don’t jest. I happen to believe in the quaint, outmoded notion that if you sign a contract, you honor your obligations.
Otis Redding
Rentin’ in the mornin’ sun
I’ll be rentin’ when the evenin’ come
Watching the ships roll in
And then I watch ‘em roll away again, yeah
I’m rentin’ while the deadbeats don`t pay
Watching the tide roll away
Ooo, I’m just rentin’ while the deadbeats don`t pay
Wastin’ time
I left my home in Gardens
Headed for Tequesta bay
‘Cause I needed two more bedrooms
Looked like that was gonna come my way
So I’m just gonna rent while the deadbeats don`t pay
Watching the time roll away
Ooo, I’m rentin’ while the deadbeats don`t pay
Wastin’ time
Look like nothing’s gonna change
Everything still remains the same
I can’t do what Realtors tell me to
So I guess I’ll remain the same, yes
Sittin’ here renting these homes
Cause the government won’t leave it alone
It’s been six long years I’ve moaned
Just to make some house my home
Now, I’m just gonna rent while the deadbeats don`t pay
Watching the tide roll away
Oooo-wee, rentin’ while the deadbeats don`t pay
Wastin’ time
(whistle)
Beautiful…….
Nice!
Jeff, you have some talent there! Thanks for sharing it with the HBB… and keep up the good work!
Agreed — awesome creativity!
P.S. In case you have some real songs under development in addition to the HBB sort, I have it on good information that song writing is where the money is in the popular music biz (as opposed to performing / recording)…
Bravo
Well done
Realtors Are Liars
Real Estate Downfall
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNmcf4Y3lGM
Phoney’s and Fraudie’s inventory hiding games never stop. I’m seeing stuff listed as “new listing” they said was “in contract” well over 2 years ago.
It could have been sold, gone through foreclosure, and listed for sale again within 3 years. That hypothesis explains the data without it being a conspiracy to hide inventory.
Those in NY I checked against county records. They never sold.
Writing in Saturday’s Wall Street Journal, Holman Jenkins says “The Greeks will not escape sweeping structural reform of their economy - one of the most corrupt, crony-ridden, patronage-ridden, inefficient, silly economies in Christendom.”
← Imagine a country that lets a variety of workers retire with full pension at 45! That operates a railroad with a payroll four times its ticket sales! Whose government workers erupt into job strikes at the very mention of the word “austerity.”
Greece is the classic example of a nation living beyond its means. Since the U.S. is doing the same thing, but on a grander scale, it will pay to watch the Grecian outcome unfold.
This may all come to a head at mid-week. Lenders have said Greece must pass a set of serious austerity measures if it wishes to get another €12 loan, which it desperately needs in order to avoid default. The ruling Socialist Party says it will oppose the austerity measures in crucial votes Wednesday and Thursday.
Greek government workers are particularly opposed to more austerity, but if the measures aren’t adopted Greece’s treasury will run out of cash in a matter of days. This is a real cliff-hanger!
“This may all come to a head at mid-week.”
Don’t hold your breath.
Writing in Saturday’s Wall Street Journal, Holman Jenkins says “The Greeks will not escape sweeping structural reform of their economy - one of the most corrupt, crony-ridden, patronage-ridden, inefficient, silly economies in Christendom.”
Keep believing that hopium, WSJ. The real street gets a vote as well.
“The ruling Socialist Party says it will oppose the austerity measures in crucial votes Wednesday and Thursday.”
It looks like they prefer national bankruptcy. It seems as though they want to hold a gun to the other European countries. If you don’t give us what we want, we’ll bring down the whole system, with our default.
The Greeks just have to look north to Iceland, which committed international financial suicide but now seems to be doing nicely. I’d lay even money that some states have left the Euro by the end of 2012…
“The Greeks will not escape sweeping structural reform of their economy - one of the most corrupt, crony-ridden, patronage-ridden, inefficient, silly economies in Christendom.”
The natural culmination of socialism is the destruction of public and private morality and the creation of a nation of deadbeats and swindlers. The Greek unions and parasitic classes created by socialist patronage and graft will not go gently into that good night just because the smug neo-con/bankster shills at the WSJ wish it to be so. They’ll burn the country to the ground before letting their entitlements be taken away. Since the Republicrats are leading us down the same road, it will be instructive to watch how this is going to play out.
If this is the best the republicants can do, then they are toast.
Romney, Bachmann on Top in Iowa (AP)
While Mitt Romney still leads the GOP pack with 23 percent in a new Iowa poll, Michele Bachmann closes in on the Republican front-runner with 22 percent.
Success will be elusive for them until they abandon their failed economic ideology of borrowing to finance tax gifting.
money is fungible borrowing covers deficits you can blame tax gifting, wars, entitlements take your pick.
to level the playing field and eliminate subsidies would be a great move, one on which bi-partisan could be obtained. if success is elusive this time it will likely be because of holding the line on taxes, spending, and debt limit.
doing the right thing might make success elusive.
People keeping their own money is not gift, despite what the spendthrift left believes.
“…until they abandon their failed economic ideology of borrowing… (from the many$) to finance tax gifting (for the few).
Success will be elusive for them until they abandon their failed economic ideology of borrowing to finance tax gifting.
I thought that said “grifting”.
what is demonstrated here is that Romney is democrat lite and likely will not do well once the field becomes well defined.
Bachmann will likely loose to Christie or other more electable candidate, but don’t fool yourself wmbz, its Obama that’s toast.
You’re in for disappointment. This I know.
“its Obama that’s toast”.
Not fooling myself, Barry should go down, hope to see it happen, he’s a clown. I just don’t like any of the GOP prospects. R.Paul is NEVER going to get nominated and he is the only one folks like me would vote for. The good news for the party line voting morons is that people like me will never get a constitutionalist elected.
Wash,rinse and repeat. Stupid is as stupid does.
i hope your suprised, paul / paul is a ticket that i like a lot
I’ll get a lot of flack for this but it needs to be said.
I’m retired, comfortable, and have worked for every
thing that we have. We’ve watched the Carter’s,
Reagan, Nixon, JFK and all the other players for
decades. I detest with the strongest antipathy
any and all political types, which is why I love that
Lady from Alaska. I truly believe we need a REAL
change and the she’s the one to do it.
We know a lot of people with all kinds of political
inclinations, but one thing my wife is seeing in
her lib friends, is a growing respect for Sarah.
My gut feeling is if and when she announces,
she’ll raise more money in the first 24 hours than
anyone else in history. We travel, we have friends
across the country and we sense a ground swell
of disgust and anger among our friends.
I’m of an age and position in life where I just don’t
give a damn what people think of me ( I’ve always been this way, it’s just easier now). I do what I
think is right, so I’ll vote for Palin. She’ll win.
What ever floats your Alaskan Crab boat rancher. I loves America also, here’s Hwy’s citizen 1st amendment right of free $peech:
$arah the “TrueBarracuda™”
$arah the “TrueMaverick™”
$arah the “TrueRogue™”
$arah the “TruePurity™”
$arah the “TruePathtoProsperity™”
ChaChing$!…ChaChing$!…ChaChing$!
“Money for the nothin’ and her word$ for fee$!”
That ain’t workin’, that’s the way you do it
Money for nothin’ and her word$ for fee$
Now that ain’t workin’, that’s the way you do it
Lemme tell ya, guys $he ain’t dumb
Maybe get a blister on her little lip
Maybe get a blister on her little tongue
“I’m of an age and position in life where I just don’t give a damn what people think of me…”
And this is what total freedom looks like.
“I detest with the strongest antipathy any and all political types, which is why I love that Lady from Alaska. I truly believe we need a REAL change and the she’s the one to do it…. I’m of an age and position in life where I just don’t give a damn what people think of me ( I’ve always been this way, it’s just easier now). I do what I think is right, so I’ll vote for Palin. She’ll win.”
There’s a reason old people are the easiest to swindle.
IMO the needs of one’s ego needs to be attended to, but how one goes about attending to these needs is what makes all the difference in one’s peace of mind.
If one chooses to tend to the needs of his ego by searching for things from outside of himself then he will always be at the whim of what is offered to him by others from the outside.
But if he can learn to satisify his ego needs from things that are found within himself then he is free from the manipulations of those things offered to him by others who are on the outside.
I’d like to see Zell Miller heading the Demo ticket, and the Frat boy put out to pasture.
“But if he can learn to satisify his ego needs from things that are found within himself then he is free from the manipulations of those things offered to him by others who are on the outside.”
Wise, wise words, combo!
I dunno CT. I’ve thought Obama was a bankerman’s puppet ever since he chose his cabinet but I don’t think he’ll be losing against what the Republicans are presently putting up. The Republicans keep forgetting their different factions have been pulling against each other since the last election. A lot of disgusted Republicans left the party last time.
I get the idea the party still doesn’t know what it wants to be.
(I’m a moderate Republican voter making that call)
Obama might scrape by. But I would bet my botton dollar we get a Republican senate and house.
Poll shows most people short on emergency savings
Few consumers set aside 6 months of living expenses
Associated Press Sunday, June 26, 2011
CHICAGO — Even after the jolt of the Great Recession, a new study finds that most Americans are not financially prepared for an emergency.
A survey released last week by financial data publisher Bankrate.com found that only 24 percent of consumers have the recommended cushion of at least six months’ expenses set aside. The vast majority aren’t ready for contingencies; another 24 percent don’t have any emergency savings at all.
With 6.2 million people out of work for half a year or longer, the results underscore just how unprepared many are at a time when both job security and the economy pose concerns.
“The majority of Americans still have much work to do in building an adequate emergency savings cushion,” said Greg McBride, senior financial analyst for Bankrate.
The survey results are somewhat surprising, he said, in that the high rates of both joblessness and under-employment dating to the 2007-09 recession have driven home the need for emergency savings. Yet the challenges of the economy and job market also have limited the ability to sock money away for unexpected expenses.
Respondents under age 30 and those with annual incomes under $30,000 were the most likely to report having no emergency savings whatsoever. Those likeliest to have six months’ expenses in an emergency fund were higher-income households and people in their 50s and 60s.
Fewer than half of those who participated in the poll had at least three months’ expenses in emergency savings, unchanged from 2007 results.
Those likeliest to have six months’ expenses in an emergency fund were dead, or expected to die within the next five months.
“Respondents under age 30 and those with annual incomes under $30,000 were the most likely to report having no emergency savings whatsoever. Those likeliest to have six months’ expenses in an emergency fund were higher-income households and people in their 50s and 60s.”
Gee, what a shock. You mean people making $10 per hour are having a hard time saving 6 months worth of salary on top of paying bills? You don’t say!
Those likeliest to have six months’ expenses in an emergency fund were higher-income households and people in their 50s and 60s.”
Extend Shrubs tax gift$ to the “TrueWealthie$™” now! They’re $uffering $o!
“Gee, what a shock. You mean people making $10 per hour are having a hard time saving 6 months worth of salary on top of paying bills? You don’t say!”
Seems like the current program of 2 yrs unemployment bennies with food stamps would cover them. They could then mow and blow for cash (tax free).
Is it two years still? One of my kids is looking at a layoff, and he was thinking it was one year at this point.
Hate to ruin anyone’s illusions, but how much unemployment pay do you get after being laid off from a $8-10/hr job? $100-150 bucks a month?
That will barely cover the cellphone bill.
Unemployment is in the general vicinity of 50% of your last take home pay with a cap. On the lower end, the fact that there is no payroll tax on it (and that you can opt out of having income tax withheld) makes it not quite as hopeless to try to live on it as it otherwise could be. Still not a walk in the park.
UI payments amounts vary from state to state.
UI is also good for ONLY ONE YEAR max and this is ONLY TEMPORARY and can be rescinded at both the state and federal level without notice.
Normal UI is 6 months.
6 months is not enough to weather the current storm.
“Poll shows most people short on emergency savings”
I’m thinking this may put the stock market wealth effects, favored by the Fed as a means of increasing American household wealth, out of reach of a substantial majority.
“The substantial majority” - at least the non-parasite element of that majority - has never been a concern for this administration or its predecessors. Bernanke’s policies are intended to benefit the top one percent and enable their financial warfare and asset stripping against the bottom 90%.
Kinda tough to set aside ANYTHING when you make $500 or less a week.
My bad. Make that “impossible.”
A lot of people already used their emergency savings when they or their spouse got laid off. I know we did when my wife was sent packing almost 4 years ago.
Good idea…
Georgia introduces probation farm-work program
Associated Press
LESLIE, Ga. — It’s 3:25 p.m. in a dusty cucumber field in south Georgia. A knot of criminal offenders who spent seven hours in the sun harvesting buckets of vegetables by hand have decided they’re calling it quits — exactly as crew leader Benito Mendez predicted in the morning.
Unless the cucumbers come off the vine soon, they will become engorged with seeds, making them unsellable. Mendez’s crew of Mexican and Guatemalan workers will keep harvesting until 6 p.m., maybe longer. Not so for the men participating in a new state-run program aimed at replacing the Latino migrants Georgia farmers say they’ve lost to a new immigration crackdown with unemployed probationers.
“Tired. The heat,” said 33-year-old Tavares Jones, who left early and was walking down a dirt road toward a ride home. He promised Mendez he’d return the next morning. “It’s hard work out here.”
Mendez urged another man to stay. “I need you today,” he said. “These cucumbers not going to wait until tomorrow.”
Republican Gov. Nathan Deal started the experiment after farmers publicly complained they couldn’t find enough workers to harvest labor-intensive crops such as cucumbers and berries because Latino workers — including many illegal immigrants — refused to show up, even when offered one-time or weekly bonuses. One crew who previously worked for Mendez told him they wouldn’t come to Georgia for fear of risking deportation.
Farmers told state authorities in an unscientific survey that they had more than 11,000 unfilled agriculture jobs, although it’s not clear how that compares to prior years or whether the shortage can be blamed on the new law.
For more than a week, the state’s probation officers have encouraged their unemployed offenders to consider taking field jobs. While most offenders are required to work while on probation, statistics show they have a hard time finding jobs. Georgia’s unemployment rate is nearly 10%, but corrections officials say among the state’s 103,000 probationers, it’s about 15%. Still, offenders can turn down jobs they consider unsuitable, and harvesting is physically demanding.
The first batch of probationers started work last week at a farm owned by Dick Minor, president of the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association. In the coming days, more farmers could join the program.
Free labor. Sounds like a southern state utopia.
How is it “free”? Can you be this stupid?
Now now…personal insults…
Now that’s funny! You obviously have read Ex’s post’s he/she is the king/queen of insults. Sticks and stones brother.
Stop digging this morning. You’re deep enough already.
Yeah, I know. Just trying to point it out on both sides…
Any labor in which there is advantage of the weakness of another has a free component. Perhaps 20% perhaps 80% in the case of slaves which still require food and shelter… Never free, but always discounted.
America is addicted to this cheap labor. Not proud, but I reckon at the peak I may have had a “team” of Chinese people working full time to fill my house with garbage!
“America” = Corporate America
Pack up and ship off every job to $5/day countries that you can. For those jobs that can’t be shipped off, hire illegals to fill in the low tech /labor intensive jobs, and sponsor H-1Bs to put downward pressure on labor scales, using the “we can’t find any qualified Americans” excuse.
The illegal and H1B plan worked for a while. Until the social costs (monetary and otherwise) became to big for J6P to ignore, and forced the DC crowd into doing something to save their jobs.
So now, Corporate America is trading one kind of slave labor (illegals) for another (prisoners, preferably ones that they can coerce into working for $1-2/hour). Expect a sharp increase in arrests of non-violent criminals in states that run these type of programs.
It’s a win-win……the police/law enforcement establishment can crow about “doing their job”, and Corporate America gets another subsidy/handout from the government.
If the government gets to count prison labor as “created jobs” it’s even better.
For those jobs that can’t be outsourced, make them “debt slaves”. You don’t need to sign up everyone, 5-10% will do. Enough so that there is constantly downward pressure on pay scales.
Everyone will be affected, even those that manage to avoid the “debt slave” title. Their challenge will be to cut costs faster than their defacto take home pay decreases.
This works until all the “cheap” labor is absorbed. At some point, you hit bottom, where all the cheap labor left lives in countries with no law and no infrastructure, and the costs of building it up from scratch exceeds the value of the cheapo labor.
Unless, of course, you convince somebody in government to go in and impose law and order, and build infrastructure, preferably at little or no cost to you………
Free labor. Sounds like a southern state utopia.
It’s a work$ in progr$$, they started anew post April 15th 1865
I wi11 h@ve t0 1e@rn t0 u$e $ub$titute ch@r@cters in my p0$t$ @$ we11 @$ hwy d0e$. It’$ n0t @$ e@$y @$ it 100k$.
Drumminj might be able to make your posts do that automatically [roll eyes] if you use his plugin.
“It’s hard work out there.”
There’s a lesson here: The harder it is to earn a dollar the more the earned dollar is valued.
No. Not really.
Republican Gov. Nathan Deal started the experiment …after farmers publicly complained they couldn’t find enough workers to harvest labor-intensive crops such as cucumbers and berries because Latino workers — including many illegal immigrants — refused to show up, even when offered one-time or weekly bonuses. One crew who previously worked for Mendez told him they wouldn’t come to Georgia for fear of risking deportation.
E-Verify your citizen-workers, fine$ & jail the non-complying “Bidne$$man”
Go US Gov’t Federal prosecutors & immigration employees!
heheeeheeeheehaahaaahaaheeehaahaaa… (Hwy50™)
Get the he!! out of our state!,…wait, wait, come back…get the he!! out of our state after harvest $ea$on.
WMBZ….NO NO NO you don’t demean prisoners by hard labor…
I have a worse punishment for them
sit them in classes 4-5 hours a day and teach them to read, write and speak English…..
They will gladly work at hard labor instead of giving up their ghetto Ebonics language.
I’m already hearing the “lazy azz prisoners” sniping.
I don’t care what kind of worker you are, expecting anyone to go out and work 8 hours/day in 100 degree heat without any kind of acclimation is just asking for trouble.
I’m sure the guys complaining about it out on the farm are doing so, as they sit in the cabs of their air-conditioned F-250s.
“……one time or weekly bonuses…..”
Basically blowing holes in the argument that illegal labor doesn’t affect local payscales. And the fact that they have no takers tells you how much of their labor was illegals.
Kinda sucks when all those direct/indirect government subsidies get pulled, cold turkey. Pretty soon, a lot of people are going to discover the same, if present trends continue.
If I was a farmer I wouldn’t want a bunch of “ex” felons scoping my place out.
“Probationers” are “usually” misdemeanor offenders.
“Parolees” are “usually” felon’s and ex cons.
They aren’t working for free. All conditions of probation or parole are that you MUST have job.
8 hours a day in summer heat is not for the un-initiated. Most outdoor labor is under terrible working conditions, i.e no access to water, let alone the real lifesaver, Gatorade. (not joke. Gatorade is mandatory)
Heatstroke is real and deadly and water alone is not enough, let alone the few breaks when the bossman doesn’t forget or is being a butthead.
I was doing some trail work on a hot summer day many years ago. It was NH hot, not south hot, and we were in the woods so there was quite a bit of shade available, but it was still hard, hot work. We had water and stopped for lunch at some point, but it wasn’t an easy day. Around 3:30 or so we got to a road and someone brought out a bunch of Gatorade in a bucket of ice. I drank some and hated the taste. Really hated it. But I could not stop drinking it. Just couldn’t. Didn’t want it. Wanted to stop. But couldn’t.
I think it took about two cans before I could even slow down.
I only like the classic green Gatorade. It’s not the greatest taste in the world and if you aren’t all that dehydrated, it’s almost impossible to drink.
But if you are dehydrated, it’s a miracle drink and WILL save your life.
“Shakin’ the bush here Boss”
Ted Turner: Climate Change ‘Most Serious … Problem Humanity Has Ever Faced’
(CNSNews.com) – Media mogul Ted Turner says climate change is “probably the most serious–and, in all fairness, the most complex–problem that humanity has ever faced.”
He added: “It is really easy to understand how some people don’t get it, because it’s so complex and complicated.”
Turner took part in a telephone news conference on Thursday, held by his United Nations Foundation on the island of Svalbard, one of the northernmost regions of Norway.
His comments came in response to a question posed by reporter Sunny Lewis of the Environment News Service about how to change the minds of climate change skeptics.
“A few climate skeptics and deniers seem to be holding up action to curb climate change,” Lewis said. “What can be done to convince and persuade these holdouts as to actually realize what so many scientists know and are telling us in urgent terms?”
Turner applauded the question.
“That’s a very good question,” he said, “and if we knew the answer to it, we’d already have an energy policy in the United States. You know, my good friend Boone Piockens points out, and absolutely correctly, that the United States, in its history, has never had an energy policy including during the Arab oil shocks of the ‘70s, and we still don’t have (one), and we need to.
“The only thing I can think of, is we just have to keep working, just like we are doing now, and get as much publicity as we possible can for the issue, and increase the amount of the debate, and persuade people with both the evidence, which is overwhelmingly in favor of climate change being a serious problem, probably the most serious–and in all fairness–the most complex problem that humanity has ever faced,” Turner said.
Referring to climate change skeptics, Turner added: “It’s really easy to understand how some people don’t get it because it’s so complex and complicated. But that doesn’t mean we have to do, all of us, do what we can to try to convince people to do the right thing and then motivate them to take the action.”
I was reading an article the other day. The topic was environmental extremists. Groups like the Earth Liberation Front. People that are domestic terrorists IMO.
This story took place in Montana.
The reason for the protest was because a timber harvest was in progress at a Montana ranch. Well it just so happened a harvest was under way at Teddy’s place too (Flying D Ranch). The money quote happened when one of the young wing nuts looked at another WN and queried “Why aren’t we protesting at the “Flying D”? “We can’t go there, that’s where daddy ‘greenbacks’ lives”.
According to this article, ol’ Teddy is a very large contributor to the wacko movement.
“The most complex problem humanity has ever faced”.
……as he boards his Canadair Challenger, to fly back to the ranch in Montana.
No, Ted, the most serious problem we have is our business, political and cultural elites telling everyone they should be doing things one way, while doing the exact opposite in their personal lives.
“Greens” jetting to Climate Summits on G-5s.
“Family Values” types banging the hired help. Or playing “Juggle the Nads” in various, sundry airport restrooms.
General Electric moving production and profits overseas, then lobbying for a “Tax Holiday” to bring the profits home, mainly to buy back stock.
I do like this quote. We are there.
The author, Ayn Rand, warned that, “When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion—when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing—when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors—when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you—when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice—you may know that your society is doomed.”
“when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice—you may know that your society is doomed.”
If this is true, we are doomed.
I like this quote, too, aznurse. Thanks for posting it. Yes, the society is doomed, but I have hope that something better will rise from the ashes of it.
when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing
Geez, in the city of Dana Point, CA the local mary-jane stores are being shuttered & their owners $ued for million$ by the Gov’t.The local “Free-Market” “TrueAnger™” citizens are cheering the city on!
Hwy,
I could care less if a person smokes dope or not. As long as it’s not at work and it endangers no one else (High while driving, etc). I am for the legalization of it (more from a personal freedom standpoint).
I think the backlash comes when people who are ambivalent about it are suddenly surrounded by dread-locked street urchins with not a stick of deodorant in sight, if you are getting my drift (pun intended).
I saw this happen in Missoula as did many others. The legalization there (MT) is in the process of being tightened or maybe even being reversed.
While I really could give two $hits about pot smoking I DO CARE about being amongst the under motivated group mentioned above.
Well, mary-jane is just x1 a$pect of the “weed” right? There are some American folks who would like to make rope & sandals & clothing out of the “weed”,… you know American Micro-farmer “Bidne$$peoples”
Lookie here, I followed your quote via google search, “Shazam!” said Gomer “geez whiz!” down the rabbit hole we go……:
Copyright (c) 2004 Ayn Rand(r) Institute. All rights reserved.
Faith-Based Initiatives violate the right to free speech of the many taxpayers who are now forced to support the spread of ideas they oppose.:
Bush’s Faith-Based Initiative Is an Assault on the Wall Between Church and State:
by Alex Epstein
Clearly, Bush believes there are higher priorities than upholding the Constitution and protecting individual rights: namely, using his Presidency to promote religion. “For too long,” he declares, “some in government believed there was no room for faith in the public square.”
This is exactly wrong. The truth is that for too long (and in too many places) people in government have believed that there is “room for faith in the public square”–i.e., that it is proper to use the government in the service of religion; this view has been held by everyone from the kings of the Dark Ages to the Ayatollahs of today. The Founding Fathers were the first to repudiate this view by establishing a government devoted solely to the protection of individual freedom, in which religion is constitutionally relegated to a private matter. The value of keeping religion out of government is not simply that it leaves people of various religions free to say the prayers and practice the rituals of their choice; more fundamentally, by prohibiting the government from forcing people to support or obey the dictates of religion, it protects freedom as such.
Of course, the President denies any church-state impropriety in doling billions of tax dollars to religious organizations for charitable activities; he says he is just ending the welfare state’s “history of discrimination against faith-based groups.” But Bush’s justification for Faith-Based Initiatives reveals their actual purpose: “Welfare policy,” he explains, “will not solve the deepest problems of the spirit. . .. No government policy can put hope in people’s hearts or a sense of purpose in people’s lives. That is done when someone, some good soul, puts an arm around a neighbor and says, ‘God loves you, and I love you, and you can count on us both.’” In other words, the government is bankrolling religious organizations because they “help the needy” not only materially but also spiritually–by exposing them to religion. Thus, we can expect that Bush’s taxpayer-funded “armies of compassion” will not only supervise Midnight Basketball games for “at risk youth,” but also exhort the youngsters to save their souls by adopting the teachings of Jesus, Yahweh, Allah, or (depending on the government’s commitment to “inclusiveness”) David Koresh.
For years the separation of church and state has been under attack by the Religious Right, which has called for bans on pornography, oral sex between consenting adults, and abortions–in opposition to the right to free speech, the right to liberty, and a woman’s right to her body. Such attempts to legislate religion have not had much success–until now.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of Capitalism Magazine. Capitalism Magazine often presents views that we do not entirely agree with, because they may still contain information of value to our readers. Excerpts are limited to 250 words, so long as the source and link are provided to the original article. Otherwise, reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
“…and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you—when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice—you may know that your society is doomed.”
There you have it, folks! Ayn Rand believed regulation was necessary to avoid societal doom!!
heheeeheeeheehaahaaahaaheeehaahaaa… (Hwy50™)
The first time I read Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” I was stunned at how prescient it was.
Ayn Rand was total whacko, but that quote is still valid.
China Housing Boom Spreads to Smaller Cities - Bloomberg News
China’s property boom is shifting from Beijing and Shanghai as government measures to curb the market haven’t kept prices from rising in secondary cities.
New home prices rose in 67 of 70 cities in May led by smaller centers as developers hold off price cuts, even as existing home prices cool following higher interest rates and down-payment requirements. Standard & Poor’s on June 15 cut its outlook on Chinese developers, echoing concerns of a property bubble aired by bears such as hedge fund manager Jim Chanos.
Efforts to rein in property prices have been focused on the nation’s largest urban areas, leaving less affluent cities such as Urumqi in the northwest and northeastern Dandong with surging home values as developers increased building there. That raises challenges for a government that last week escalated its fight against inflation by raising bank reserve requirements for the ninth time since October.
“Purchase restrictions in the major cities drove speculators to second- and third-tier cities,” said Liu Li-Gang, who formerly worked for the World Bank and is chief China economist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. in Hong Kong. “China should raise interest rates and basically use monetary policies to curb demand, otherwise negative interest rates and few appealing options will send more speculation into the property market.”
Debate that’s been raging for more than a year is now intensifying over what the shifting boom signals. To bears, it is a sign one of the world’s most toxic asset bubbles is still inflating, fueled by speculative buying and cheap credit. To economist Stephen Roach and hedge fund manager Chris Ruffle, the bubble fears are overblown as incomes rise and the largest urbanization in history continues.
and the largest urbanization in history continues.
= …more places for the 1.34 Billions of serfs to hide things from their Gov’ts eye$.
China reminds me of Vegas.
Vegas first made is money from gambling, then, because of lots of competition, the revenues from gambling money slowed. But Vegas was able to keep itself going because of construction.
China made its money from producing stuff that was shipped over to the U.S. and sold in Walmart and other places. Then the money tree in the U.S. died so now China, like Vegas, turned to construction to keep things going.
Things didn’t turn out all that well for Vegas and I don’t think they will turn out all that well for China either.
I don’t think China is borrowing from us to finance the construction. They have plenty of cash. They may end up with unused buildings, but as a country they won’t be hopelessly in debt borrowed to make those buildings/rail lines/etc.
First off, the US is NOT China’s only trading partners. Nor the largest.
Do you know who is the biggest market region in the world? Hint, it begins with an “E” and ends in a “U”.
True, but they’re also broke.
Not true either. Less than half the member states are having problems.
Even then, they are still the largest market on the planet.
Then there is South America…
We are playing a very dangerous game in thinking we can lure them into economic MAD or drive them into bankruptcy like we did with Russia.
“China Housing Boom Spreads to Smaller Cities”
Didn’t that also happen in ‘Merika at some point over the past decade?
Regulators Agree to Slap Extra Capital Charge on Big Banks
By: Reuters
Global banking regulators have agreed on a proposal to slap an extra capital charge on the world’s biggest banks to make them safer by 2019.
The surcharge is part of a series of regulatory reforms launched in response to the financial crisis, which forced countries worldwide into costly bailouts of their banking sectors to prevent systemic collapses.
The Group of Governors and Heads of Supervision (GHOS) said after a meeting in Basel on Saturday the proposal would be put out to public consultation next month.
“The additional loss absorbency requirements are to be met with progressive common equity tier 1 capital requirement ranging from 1 percent to 2.5 percent, depending on a bank’s systemic importance,” the group said in a statement.
An additional 1 percent surcharge would also be imposed if a bank becomes significantly bigger, pushing the total to 3.5 percent.
The plans, which need approval from world leaders (G20) in November, would be phased in between Jan. 1 2016 and end of 2018.
The capital surcharge will come on top of the new 7 percent minimum core capital all banks across the world will have to hold under new Basel III rules being phased in over six years from 2013.
However, many of the world’s biggest banks already hold core tier 1 capital ratios of 10 percent or more and therefore easily meet or exceed the top end of the surcharge band.
The central bankers have opted for a smaller surcharge than forseen but, in return, the surcharge will have to be in the form of top quality capital — retained earnings or common equity.
This marks a victory for hardline countries such as Britain and the United States but will disappoint some banks that have been hoping to use hybrid debt such as contingent capital (CoCos) to pad out the surcharge band.
to make them safer by 2019.
8 years in the future?!?
Right?
It’s GOOD to be the Banksta!
EconoMeter: Why aren’t foreclosures in San Diego higher?
By Roger Showley
2:06 p.m., June 24, 2011
Q: Are you surprised that San Diego County has not seen a big upsurge in defaults and foreclosures so far in 2011?
…
Norm Miller, University of San Diego
No
Defaults are down significantly in the past year, but foreclosures and REO [real estate owned by banks] sales have been held up by the robo-signing fiasco, and now lenders must be extra careful about due process. It can take up to three years to foreclose, which is ridiculously long and hurts the market. When people vacate their homes and simply walk away, they accelerate deterioration and hurt the local neighborhood. Lenders should have the right to accelerate foreclosure whenever a home has been vacated. This would help us get through the huge pent-up inventory that will hold average prices down for several more quarters.
…
Economist panelist vote:
Yes 25%
No 75%
Reader vote
Yes 60%
No 39%
Notice a slight disconnect there?
i suggest everyone go to itulip dot com and check out eric janszen’s latest essay “the next ten years: there will be blood part I”.
great read and points out exactly where we are right now, where we came from, and where we are going.
points out exactly where we are right now, where we came from, and where we are going.
Have a friend that is depressed lately. He had a warehouse building in Long Beach, he was collecting rent$ of $50,000 per month. His spending money. Renters gone BK. No new renter for the last 13 months. Hwy suggested he contact Goldenman$ucks Inc. to see what commoditie$ they could store in his facility. Hwy also suggested that Goldenman$ucks “TrueSerialLiquiditist™” will be around America for sometimes yet to come.
50k in “spending” money? A MONTH?!
Poor baby. Cry me an effing river.
check out eric janszen’s latest essay
yeah, if you want to be depressed
I agree, though - very good article.
He was one of my favorites early on.
One stunning chart: The worst post-WWII average duration of unemployment before the current episode was 21 weeks, during the early-1980s double-dip recession.
Current level is almost twice that: 40 weeks.
Well…back then we were producers. Now we’re consumers. Kinda makes sense.
I remember, well, the early 80s. It was effing brutal. I didn’t recover until the 90s. Only to get smacked down again in the 00s.
“Forgotten Lessons and the Repetition of Fatal Errors
The private credit crisis that gave rise to our current economic crisis is a product of the second large scale credit bubble in 100 years. Were he alive today, Charles E. Persons, quoted above, will be disappointed to find that no lessons were learned respecting the evils of credit inflation, and that the dear bought wisdom of the 1930s was not placed beside our knowledge of the evils of monetary inflation, that in fact the wrong lesson was learned. The lesson, to avoid credit bubbles, was lost of the Greenspan Fed. Instead he believed that the flow of payments from the debtors to creditors is sacrosanct. His successor, Ben Bernanke, believes that credit bubbles can, once collapsed, be reflated with taxpayer money, to keep the payments flowing. In fact, that’s why he got the job, because he’d been advertising himself for it in papers he was writing at Princeton as early as 1984.
The final lesson we shall re-learn is that there is no escape from the consequences of a credit bubble.
Sooner or later, accounts are settled. Someone has to take a loss.”
Gulp…
Here is news of yet another federal government program which gives homeowners the incentive to fall at least three months behind on their payments to qualify.
And here’s the rub: They also have to have received a notice of intent to foreclose from the lender.
Why is the federal government in the business of encouraging households to qualify for receipt of foreclosure notices?
TIP OF THE WEEK
JUNE 26, 2011
Apply for Help With Loans
By EMILY GLAZER
In danger of foreclosure? You have until July 22 to apply for the federal government’s Emergency Homeowners’ Loan Program.
Eligible homeowners can qualify for an interest-free loan to pay a portion of their monthly mortgage for up to two years, or up to $50,000, whichever comes first. The money also can be used to pay missed mortgage payments and past-due charges including principal, interest, taxes, insurance and attorney’s fees.
Requirements include household income no greater than $75,000 or 120% of the area median income. Homeowners also must be at least three months delinquent on mortgage payments and have received notification of their lender/servicer’s intention to foreclose.
Loans will be given out to as many as 30,000 borrowers, with an average loan amount of about $35,000, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
…
Why is the federal government in the business of encouraging households to qualify for receipt of foreclosure notices?
Bungee-cord Theory = 1
Rope-around-the-Throat = 0
That’s still just the way it’s gonna be Mr. Bear…
The chihuahua is having difficulty mating with the hyena, suggestions welcome.
OMG, check out this comment: worst.longest.REFI.excuse.EVER.
http://www.npr.org/2011/06/24/137366866/foreclosed-homes-wait-in-shadows-to-go-on-sale
Mark Seibold (MarkArtistAstronomer) wrote:
I would like all of you to indicate whether or not you designed and built your own homes for your families, including thousands of dollars in landscaping that you installed solely on your own, maintained it all to perfection for 20 years setting a grand standard to the neighborhood, alas only to suffer job losses leading to falling short on timely payments, so then the banks foreclosed on their predatory loan that they planned and deceived you to take with them and thus you then became virtually homeless when they worked the eviction in court to make further fast money for their attorneys in fast exorbitant fees, thanks to some court judges actually allowing this… and that’s not the house that jack built!
I want anyone here to tell me that this is fiscally and morally correct for banks to be allowed to destroy The great American Dream and image of a respectable neighborhood and no less many peoples lives, health and well-being for the sake of ‘Wall Street Greed and their strange Bedfellows’; (The New York Times ran a story about a year ago that stated that “Foreclosure Is Making Some People Ill”. Well it’s actually worse than ill- it is causing some to commit suicide.) Then they compensate you with a paltry equity payback that cannot duplicate the same place ever again- but the attorneys in surmounting fees have their hay-day with this now, don’t they? Over-inflated prices you say?! My home was not over-inflated- It was a unique design that I made, a unique ‘location-location-location’ that cannot be duplicated again.
Aside from the thousands of comments in reports like this, about how someone bought at the wrong time and the wrong price and their neurosis over their falsified nightmares about being ‘under water’ because they cannot foresee their investment coming back overnight, therefore they should walk away on their ignorant and failed purchase?; we’ll those are the ones that deserve to lose it all; there are an equal amount of situations or possibly more now that [the banks should not have foreclosed on us;] the ‘better than average and good homeowners’ but they did it anyway! Can you imagine why? Kid bank processors as the new useless and mindless-rubber-stamper-jobs for Americans. This is the ultimate corruption of our very ignorant corporate nation drugged on greed for the sake of nothing gained but to further our stupidity. What ever happened to ‘We the People’? I think we deserve better than this sad situation we speak of here today and we should stand up and say so! If I were elected to be a part of managing this great plan, I would immediately put people back to work to build beautiful new homes in neighborhoods and all Americans would be allowed to help design their own homes to claim ownership through some meaningful ‘participated work to own’- aka jobs- ask not what your construction builder can do for you- ask what you can do for your own home and neighborhoods design- get busy designing your own home and this would increase incentives for all in our nation to rebuild a sense of pride about America. This is the America I once knew as late as 1988 when my wife and I designed to help build our own on only my mere $10.89 per hour job with a little exerted overtime now and then. Yes there was only $1,000 down required payment, but at a total of $54,000 for a 1,200 sq ft 3-bdrm single level ranch with beautiful vaulted ceilings and skylights, a real masonry brick fireplace, large double garage attached, a full city lot sized yard at 88’ X 100’, and much more. Something funny went wrong on the way to the banks advice for us to “refinance now as we are giving you a new equity line of credit on your home”. Take all the equity you like at a low rate!” 9yet they tried to hide the fact that it was an Adjustable Rate Mortgage at the no-docs signing. Well, I took very little of the equity while in my home, until they took it away. Then the attorneys got their share in fees to process the procedure.
You see, you can all talk about your apparent knowledge here of what you claim to know about experiencing all this economic disaster through dated conservative fiscal policies of the past, but until you actually live through the entire experience and process; why give us all your hot air advice about something you have not actually experienced? Think about this- is your opinion here really useful to anyone? We are supposed to fix this mess for all the ‘Monday morning quarterbacks’ comments here now? Do you think Washington is listening? What about properly compensating those who contributed an artfully designed home that raised the standards of the neighborhood with inspiring landscaping, only to see the banks give it away for a very good price to younger people that have no appreciation for what they have, to now only see the landscaping destroyed and the home dilapidating- easy come, easy go? Is this the process that was actually planned by Greenspan and Ayn Rand’s ‘Virtues of Selfishness’? A home life and a place of solace we call our own, is also a form of Natural Health Insurance.” A personally owned home should be a large part of our great American claim to “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”
Something has gone terribly wrong in our nation and I can tell you that it is not about monetary figures. It is more so about blind-sighted dogma of arguing instead about political parties and ferry tale religious beliefs and our material images wallowing in their usual inconsistencies- the true favorite American past time. It is more so following the famous line by Noam Chomsky- ‘Manufactured Consent’. Or what I call the banks carefully planned use of ‘confusion and corruption through coercion’. It seems to be working very well for those in control, doesn’t it? What about ‘We the People’ that contributed to the neighborhood in our homes for over 20 years?
Please RSVP when convenient. Thank you,
Mark Seibold, Retired IT Technician, Artist-Astronomy Educator, Portland Oregon
“Yes there was only $1,000 down required payment, but at a total of $54,000″
Wow, if only this fellow had put as much energy into paying off his house over the past 20-yrs as he is now pouring into venting and rationalizing how his efforts to design/build/landscape mean that he is owed something.
Mark, if you had initially gotten a 15-yr mortgage (or paid your 30-yr mortgage on a 15-yr schedule by adding extra principal payments), you would have been living in a paid-off house the past five years.
Instead, you are where you are due to choices that you made, and perhaps the “very little of the equity” that you took out.
Hey Mark, how come none of this $hasta happened in the American Amish Society?
(To name x1 “Something has gone terribly wrong in our nation” example of Free-Style Life Choice$)
$incerely, Hwy50
“It is more so following the famous line by Noam Chomsky - ‘Manufactured consent’. Or what I call the banks carefully planned use of ‘confusion and corruption through coercion’.”
Lol.
The banks set up a Big Game and the game is played using the bank’s rules. If you choose to play this game then don’t be surprised when the game goes against you.
What a dummy.
This guy talks knowingly of Noam Chomsky’s “manufactured consent” concept and then goes right along with the concept by jumping into an ARM loan.
He was doing research for his Ph.D. in, uh…
If Mark banked his income or invested it instead of “setting the neighborhood standard” w/improvements everything would have been fine. Mark’s story I think exemplifies perfectly what’s wrong w/America. They never planned for any bumps in the road. They didn’t have a certain number of months savings set aside. He thinks because he put all that work into the place, it’s his. But he needs to realize the place was never really his until the mortgage was paid off and even then he still had to keep up w/taxes. Where was his plan for that reality?
That is part of it, but I think it is essentially easier than that.
When he took the new loan, he sold the house to the bank for the entire amount he borrowed. At that point, paying back the amount he sold it for (with the new terms the bank handed him and he signed) was the only way to keep it.
This idea seems to be very hard to grasp.
Many people think only bad things happen to other people. Other lazy and stupid people. Not to themselves.
And then, UH OH…
We used to call it, “a reality smack down.”
The sheer verbosity is a dead giveaway to his sense of guilt? stupidity? so his mouth is in overdrive trying to deny it. Reminds me of a certain commenter here from OR.
Mark is confused about his lender, which he believes was a bank when in reality it was an investment group. The first thing we did upon securing our mortgage was to make six months of advance payments, and then keep it there in order to smooth-out the long winters when my income drops. The main issue was that I stuck to a conforming 30-yr mortgage, not the sharp toothed investors.
“Mark Seibold, Retired IT Technician, Artist-Astronomy Educator, Portland Oregon”
Just to be sure: Mark, please do not stare at the sun for too long, o.k. buddy?
Hey Mark….
It’s a house….. a friggin’ house. Get over it. Admit it…… so long as prices were ever escalating, you were absolutely ok with the graft, corruption and fraud in the housing market. Even though millions of others were shut out of the market or had to commit financial suicide to buy a damn house, this was a good thing as far as you were concerned. Remember that smug attitude Mark? We do. We remember so lucidly as if we heard the arrogant comments just yesterday.
Now it’s different isn’t it my friend Mark? But you haven’t learned a God damn thing have you? Now you’re pandering, begging and wishing for a return to the heady, halcyon days of grossly inflated housing prices. Well they’re gone…. and they’re never coming back….. ever.
And you dumped every last dime you had and countless ours into “improvements”(I can only imagine what they look like… heh). Why did you do that Mark? Did you really believe someone would pay you retail price plus 50% for some amateur dirt work? The Housing Crime Syndicate goons had you believing that a house will somehow finance your retirement. Why don’t you come here and tell us just how that works?
Regards,
~Realtors Are Liars
Filed under: “We’re getting the he!! outta Dodge City before Wyatt & his Brothers return.”
LulzSec calls it quits after 50 days of hacks:
Andrew Couts – Sat Jun 25
“For the past 50 days we’ve been disrupting and exposing corporations, governments, often the general population itself, and quite possibly everything in between, just because we could,” writes LulzSec. “All to selflessly entertain others – vanity, fame, recognition, all of these things are shadowed by our desire for that which we all love. The raw, uninterrupted, chaotic thrill of entertainment and anarchy.”
During its 50-day reign of digital terror, LulzSec hacked PBS.org, a variety of websites owned by Sony, Nintendo, FBI affiliate Infragard Atlanta, 50+ porn sites, Bethesda software, 4Chan.org, CIA.gov, Senate.gov and a variety of law enforcement agencies in Arizona.
While we are responsible for everything that The Lulz Boat is, we are not tied to this identity permanently. Behind this jolly visage of rainbows and top hats, we are people. People with a preference for music, a preference for food; we have varying taste in clothes and television, we are just like you. Even Hitler and Osama Bin Laden had these unique variations and style, and isn’t that interesting to know? The mediocre painter turned supervillain liked cats more than we did.
Again, behind the mask, behind the insanity and mayhem, we truly believe in the AntiSec movement. We believe in it so strongly that we brought it back, much to the dismay of those looking for more anarchic lulz. We hope, wish, even beg, that the movement manifests itself into a revolution that can continue on without us. The support we’ve gathered for it in such a short space of time is truly overwhelming, and not to mention humbling. Please don’t stop. Together, united, we can stomp down our common oppressors and imbue ourselves with the power and freedom we deserve.
So with those last thoughts, it’s time to say bon voyage. Our planned 50 day cruise has expired, and we must now sail into the distance, leaving behind – we hope – inspiration, fear, denial, happiness, approval, disapproval, mockery, embarrassment, thoughtfulness, jealousy, hate, even love. If anything, we hope we had a microscopic impact on someone, somewhere. Anywhere.
Thank you for sailing with us. The breeze is fresh and the sun is setting, so now we head for the horizon.
Let it flow…
I have a minute this morning and just wanted to say thanks to all the posters. I have been reading this blog for years, but rarely comment. I continue to learn daily from all of you. I will try to keep it short. Been in AZ 35 years, couple of degrees, licensed medical professional Work in hospice. Independent/libertarian. Support Ron Paul. Back in the bubble days I would attend family gatherings and hear about all the properties/land being purchased. Even the guys who sprayed bugs for a living. I would hear on the radio adds to use your equity to buy condos in San Diego and Phx. The developer would even pay the first year(s) P&I. Could not figure out what I was missing. My thought was that equity is not free money. Read this blog and quickly figured it out. Tulip mania! Fast forward. The family(s) that bought all those properties either walked/foreclosed or went bankrupt. Now, my thoughts. I am disgusted with congress and my own state government. The state is broke like the federal government. I see no real reforms or leadership. So, I am focused on my family and taking care of ourselves. Debt free.
I am a firm believer that economics trumps politics and we should watch what is happening in Greece as we are headed down that road. Again thanks to all!
uh huh. lol
Howdy AZ nurse! Thanks for your story and congrats for staying debt free. Feels nice doesn’t it?
So, I am focused on my family and taking care of ourselves. Debt free.
See, there are Non-Religious / Non-Political solution$!
American’s re-discovering $elf-reliance,…mind-boggling.
“…licensed medical professional Work in hospice.”
Great career choice! Serve mankind in an area where future demand for the services can only possibly increase.
My oldest sister is among your ranks.
P.S. My sister is also debt-free.
Hospice is wonderful. (mostly anyway)
“TruePath$toProsperity!™”
The poor, poor wealthie$, they’re $uffering…$uffering, if you can’t give ‘em per$onal tax cut$, at least America should reduce their companie$ Inc.$ corpoorate taxe$…hurry, hury,…they’re $uffering $o!
Bachmann Says She Would Eliminate Minimum Wage to Spur Growth
Bloomberg June 25, 2011
Corporate tax rates should be significantly reduced from a maximum 35 percent and capital gains taxes should be eliminated, Bachmann said in an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation” today. Congress should also reevaluate the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, she said.
Ho ho, hah hah, hehehehehehe, BwaHaHaAhHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! (Cantankerous Intellectual Bomb-thrower™)
“TruePurity™” + “TrueReducetheDeficitNow!!!!Today™” + “TruePaththProsperity™” + “TrueFiscalConservative™” = “TrueKeepyourhandsoffMY$tackanddon’tdraftMYkidsforMYgov’tpolicyidea$$$$$$$$$$™”
Wow! I don’t think that was the brightest move on Michelle’s part. Those minimum wage workers that don’t vote much might just find a way to get out and fight against her.
So what’s her plan? Ghetto sprawl? Riots? Make sure the people who have nothing but are actually working decide robbing those nice houses up the hill might be their only answer left? What a buffoon. (Again I was a Republican before I realized it didn’t matter)
It’s the backs of the American “working-poor” that’ll need a titanium spine with all the “TrueAnger™” + “TrueReducetheDeficitNow!!!!Today™” + “TruePaththProsperity™” brick$ that they will surely pile one-by-one upon the peon-mule citizens.
Bachmann boasts of having a “titanium spine”:
Bachmann, a deficit hawk who backs deep spending cuts to balance the federal budget, adopted a defensive posture when asked about a Los Angeles Times report Sunday on federal money that benefited her family — including nearly $30,000 for a counseling clinic operated by her husband and almost $260,000 for a family farm.
The money didn’t directly benefit her family, she explained, saying the $30,000 was for training employees and the farm that got the $260,000 was owned by her father-in-law, so she and her husband didn’t get any of it.
“…….she and her husband didn’t get any of it.”
They will, if they are in the FIL’s will, and stand to inherit some/all of the farm.
Imagine the value of the “family farm”, if all of the various direct/indirect subsidies were removed.
‘Direct” = cash payouts.
“Indirect” = lower property taxes on farmland, permits to use underage workers, etc.
Bachmann said her experience founding and running a pair of mental health clinics qualifies her for the presidency.
Hwy gives her x1 credit for humor!
heheeeheeeheehaahaaahaaheeehaahaaa… (Hwy50™)
Her experience with mental health clinics might help her in dealing with Congress.
Michelle: 2 great solutions
#1 Force Americans to read, write and speak English and we would have plenty of 16-18 year olds worth minimum wage and a lot more!
#2 Allow corporations to repatriate all overseas profits tax free IF they spend the money in America and on Americans, no H1B’s or people with visas or green cards only Legal Americans…. why can’t call centers be brought back to Minot? that should be easy enough and those peeps are going to need lots of paying jobs asap.
WMBZ….. SC Black people charged with Lynching…..
Four members of a teenage gang have been charged under a state’s lynching law after allegedly beating an 18-year-old student so badly he required facial reconstruction surgery.
South Carolina prosecutors have charged the boys with second-degree assault and battery by mob, a crime which until last year was known as lynching.
The eight members of the gang, the youngest of whom is just 13, allegedly set upon Carter Strange in a parking lot as he jogged back to his home in Columbia.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2008252/Teenage-gang-charged-lynching-law-savage-attack-18-year-old-student.html#ixzz1QPWKRMtD
“Why’d you do it?”
“Oh, it was just a silly fun thing.”
Four… At least he is consistent, he’s a crappy president and golfer.
Obama Golfs Twice This Weekend – 75th Time as President
by Keith Koffler on June 26, 2011, 2:01 pm
With the first lady still on travel, President Obama today went golfing for the second time this weekend, an outing that also puts him at the three quarter century mark for total trips to the golf course as president.
Obama’s 75 times golfing since Inauguration Day includes 17 outings just this year. He made it thirteen weekends in a row Saturday with a trip out to the Andrews Air Force Base course.
The president today is at the Fort Belvoir couse, taking along a couple of his usual crew of younger staffers but also White House Chief of Staff William Daley.
Mrs. Obama is headed home today from a weeklong trip to southern Africa – but not in time to keep her husband off the golf course.
Illinois Stiffs Vendors From Mortuary to IBM as $4 Billion Debt Piles Up
www bloomberg com/news/2011-06-24/illinois-stiffs-vendors-from-mortuary-to-ibm-as-4-billion-debt-piles-up.html?cmpid=yhoo
Good article. This is worth the read, HBBers.
Kim:
The only way out of this mess is to pay state workers and state pensions say at 80% and an IOU for the rest….
Vendors will require cash up front for all purchases.
Wow! Thanks Kim.
In Illinois, you’re never too big or too small to get stiffed by the state, which is $4 billion behind in its bills.
International Business Machines Inc. is owed $1.1 million. Office Depot Inc. (ODP) is waiting for a $660,955 check. And the 17th Street Bar & Grill in Sparta is due $340.52. They are among at least 8,000 vendors including businesses, charities and government agencies waiting months for the state to pay up. At least 114 companies are due more than $1 million, according to documents from Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka.
Years Behind
Illinois, which borrowed to make its two most recent annual pension payments, is tied with California as the lowest-rated state in the estimation of Moody’s Investors Service, at A1.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-24/illinois-stiffs-vendors-from-mortuary-to-ibm-as-4-billion-debt-piles-up.html - 73k -
Adventures in Homeownership
After two years, we can finally see the end of the tunnel in regards to the downed tree in our backyard. The key was figuring out how to remove the climbing bush that had been using the tree as a perfect lattice. Now we’re almost down to the huge limb that is at the center of the mess. We’ve unearthed the mow strip and in a very short period of time have realized how big our backyard really is. We knew how big it was, but regaining that critical 300-500 square feet of lawn is disproportionately amazing to the amount of effort it took.
I’m going to try to lay down plastic and solarize the mint that one prior owner planted and which encroached three feet into the lawn.
All in all, it’s taken a while, but we’ve got a nice backyard that still has a lot of *cough* potential. And a lot of stuff to still be taken out, including the brush pile from that downed tree…
http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/06/26/florida.tsa.incident/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
How long will you put up with this, America?
Amazing what we’ll endure so Jesus has a place to return to.
http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/greece-finance-debt.aw9/
Just as the Republicrats claimed the end of the world as we know it if TARP wasn’t passed, so too are the Greek plutocrats warning of cataclysmic societal chaos if the banksters aren’t bailed out.