Bits Bucket for July 2, 2011
Post off-topic ideas, links, and Craigslist finds here.
The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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What’s the problem? SOP for nonprofits….
Official in fraud case takes leave
Accused of misspending $10m from Merrimack special education group
The education official accused of siphoning more than $10 million in public funds from a Merrimack Valley agency dedicated to special needs students is taking an unpaid leave from a related nonprofit organization, where he has received more than $500,000 in annual salary and benefits, according to the nonprofit board of directors.
John B. Barranco, the former director of the Merrimack Special Education Collaborative, the public agency that provides direct services to special needs children, was recently accused of paying himself, a former girlfriend, and a handful of top staff inflated salaries and bonuses through his control of the nonprofit Merrimack Education Center. He was also accused of racking up more than $50,000 in personal expenses on a credit card issued by the nonprofit, including improvements to two vacations homes and a trip to the 2005 Kentucky Derby.
http://articles.boston.com/2011-06-30/news/29722445_1_nonprofit-board-school-districts-education-official
“…He was also accused of racking up more than $50,000 in personal expenses on a credit card issued by the nonprofit, including improvements to two vacations homes and a trip to the 2005 Kentucky Derby.”
“…accused of paying himself, a former girlfriend, and a handful of top staff inflated salaries and bonuses through his control of the nonprofit Merrimack Education Center”
Well that’s x1 of x3.
America’s rather latge, but Hwy has “faith” they find the “others” 
education official + nonprofit organization = a cornucopia of truepurity
Stealing from children? Stealing from handicapped children?
There’s a special place in hell for people like that and I would like to see them get there as quickly as possible.
Realtors Are Liars
Dude, with all the blinding flashes of the obvious, you gotta wear shades!!!
Don’t stumble.
Won’t stop until we start jailing these folks….
Modesto nonprofit agency starts to unravel
SCAP future murky as members of board quit amid funds inquiry
SCAP is being investigated by Modesto auditors and federal officials regarding how it spent government money that was intended to help disadvantaged community members.
At least six members of SCAP’s board of directors reportedly have resigned, including its four top officers. That may legally prohibit the agency from operating.
“I resigned this weekend,” SCAP’s former board president Darryl Fair said Wednesday afternoon. “I don’t know who’s on the board now.
Modesto auditors are looking into whether SCAP spent taxpayer funds the way it was supposed to, including more than $8.3 million the city gave it to buy, renovate and rent out formerly foreclosed homes and apartments.
Some of those government-subsidized homes — which were intended to help disadvantaged families — instead were rented at below-market rates to members of SCAP’s staff and their relatives.
Gibbs, for example, moved her parents into a lavishly remodeled north Modesto home that cost taxpayers nearly $340,000. Her parents, meanwhile, own two other homes outright, including one that SCAP paid them to rent to other people through a different government-subsidized program.
“Some of their actions may have been legal, but they were not right,” Marsh said. “I am not sure that somebody that rents to their parents, when they already own a home or two, can maintain the public trust.”
SCAP compensation to Denise Gibbs’ husband, Joe Gibbs, also has caused controversy. The nonprofit agency had agreed to pay Joe Gibbs $627,331 for his grant-writing efforts during 2009-10. But after The Bee revealed how much he was earning, Joe Gibbs this month agreed to forgo $426,471 of what he said he was owed.
Read more: http://www.modbee.com/2011/06/29/1755316_p2/nonprofit-agencystarts-to-unravelscap.html#ixzz1QwvI4ShQ
I doubt I’m the only one, but every time I hear “non profit” I think “fraud” before “doing good.”
We live in opposite land.
I think, “they’re gonna spam the livin’ daylights out of me with irrelevant paper, and murder a small rain forest in the process.”
Sad, really.
And they’ll put your name and address on the bleeding heart sucker list which they sell to other fraudulant non-profits.
PBS, by the way, is one of the worst with the spam mail.
That’s the reason I preferto give to individuals or through my SIL’s church. They vet anyone they give charity to and do not give out cash. It’s a fairly small church with a nice pastor so I don’t mind contributing to the program.
My mantra is never give ‘em money, always give ‘em stuff. Kinda pointless for a foor bank director to embezzle canned beans.
If you really want to give them money, I guess you could offer to pay their electric bills for a year (up to a limit, so the don’t waste).
Look at that photo of Denise Gibbs, a hostess Holstein.
See my post above regarding the other embezzler.
My mom works for a non-profit which used to be great until they “merged” with another non-profit run by an ex HP lady. She’s an evil c-word who cut salaries, eliminated the 401k program, and treated my poor mother (who had 25 years at the company) like a piece of trash, while giving herself and her henchwoman large raises- a page right out of the pigman’s playbook no doubt.
The butcher’s son’s lending debauchery continues to haunt BofA.
BUSINESS
JUNE 30, 2011
BofA Haunted by Countrywide Deal
By DAN FITZPATRICK
Just before Bank of America Corp. swooped in to buy Countrywide Financial Corp. in 2008, the bank’s then-chief executive, Kenneth D. Lewis, told analysts why he had dropped his resistance to owning a mortgage lender.
“Arithmetic overcomes all your issues,” he told analysts. “If I ever did anything in the mortgage business, I would have to eat about seven years of my words, so it would have to be pretty compelling.”
The nation’s largest bank by assets has been haunted by Countrywide’s numbers ever since the $2.5 billion deal was completed.
View Full Image
BOFA_0630
BOFA_0630
BOFA_0630
On Wednesday, Bank of America announced, as expected, an $8.5 billion settlement with investors who took a beating on mortgage bonds issued by Countrywide before the housing market collapsed.
The Charlotte, N.C., bank also will swallow an additional $5.5 billion to buy back other defective mortgages in the future. And it took a $6.6 billion hit for lawsuits, foreclosure snarls, a write-off in the value of its mortgage business and loan-servicing adjustments. Because of the many mortgage-related costs, the company expects to show a net loss of $8.6 billion to $9.1 billion in the second quarter, or a loss of 88 cents to 93 cents a share.
…
Would you like some fries with that, Kenneth?
I guess if the banking sector weren’t so concentrated in the hands of a few Megabanks, then stories like this could be relegated to the innards of the local paper’s business section, or perhaps not even appear in the paper at all. Less concentration of financial and political fire power would make it much harder to support the legal apparatus which apparently leads some banks to operate as though they are above any rule of law.
As things currently stand, the decision to break the law or not can easily be incorporated in a bank’s business model. With the minuscule wrist slap fines in millions of dollars to redress billions of dollars worth of financial malfeasance, breaking the rules often seems to pencil out. If any sense of common decency or service to country enters the banksters’ decision process, I’m missing it.
BUSINESS
JULY 2, 2011
New York Attorney General Steps Up Probe Into BofA-Merrill Disclosures
By DAN FITZPATRICK
Another headache from the financial crisis is flaring back up for Bank of America Corp.
New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has issued subpoenas seeking new depositions from the Charlotte, N.C., bank’s chief executive and other current and former executives, according to people familiar with the situation.
Eric Schneiderman intends to pursue charges against the bank.
The subpoenas are a sign that Mr. Schneiderman, who became New York’s top law-enforcement official this year, doesn’t intend to drop the civil-fraud investigation of Bank of America begun more than a year ago under predecessor Andrew Cuomo.
Mr. Cuomo, now the governor of New York, accused Bank of America, former Chief Executive Kenneth D. Lewis and former Chief Financial Officer Joseph Price of deliberately misleading shareholders about ballooning losses at Merrill Lynch & Co. before the securities firm was acquired by Bank of America in 2008.
The Securities and Exchange Commission accused Bank of America of similar disclosure failings, which the company settled by paying $150 million without admitting or denying the allegations.
It isn’t clear what Mr. Schneiderman wants to know from Brian Moynihan, who took over as CEO when Mr. Lewis retired at the end of 2009. A spokeswoman for the New York attorney general said the office “remains committed to this case and is in the process of routine discovery.”
Bank of America declined to comment.
…
BofA is really catching it now, isn’t it?
Compare stories of BofA today with stories of BofA, say, a year ago and pay close attention to the shift.
Events are moving along just fine, IMO.
You are far more patient than I am. I tend to concur with Sammy (see next post…).
When I see criminal convictions I’ll start believing that there’s hope we haven’t turned into a total kleptocracy. I fully expect this to be resolved with the usual slap-on-the-write fines with no admission of wrongdoing and immunity from future prosecution.
“As things currently stand, the decision to break the law or not can easily be incorporated in a bank’s business model.”
Ford’s example was the 1972 Pinto gasd tank$. MegaBanker Inc has had 39 years to perfect that example. Oh, look at the shine from that polishing!
Ford did not break the law in the case of the Pinto.
Car are inherently unsafe. 25,000+ people die each year in accidents.
Pintos were a safety disaster. Crash tests and actual traffic experience demonstrated that when hit from behind, they had a tendency to explode in a fire ball.
But I am sure that was not the auto manufacturer’s fault; it was the consumers’ fault for purchasing them and driving them.
There were only 27 cases of that happening. It’s not like Model T’s were any safer but there is still no recall out in them.
There wasn’t even one case if Firestone tires being the cause for SUV roll overs and in the end Firestone recalled 10-20 million tires.
Its all about the ability to manufacture out rage.
Ralph Nader is a master at that.
Where do you guys come from????!!!
“An example of a Pinto rear-end accident that led to a lawsuit was the 1972 accident that killed Lilly Gray and severely burned 13-year old Richard Grimshaw. The accident resulted in the court case Grimshaw v. Ford Motor Co.,[18] in which the California Court of Appeal for the Fourth Appellate District upheld compensatory damages of $2.5 million and punitive damages of $3.5 million against Ford, partially because Ford had been aware of the design defects before production but had decided against changing the design.”
“manufacture out” rage, indeed.
I still remember when that respected MSM news show actually put a remote explosive in the gas tank to prove some car was unsafe.
A turd after any amount of polishing would smell as foul.
The IMF leadership story certainly has taken a bizarre twist. You’d think the authorities would have checked out the maid’s story a bit more carefully before jumping to the conclusion that she was telling the truth.
Crime & Courts
Hotel Maid Accusing Strauss-Kahn of Rape Reportedly Worked as Prostitute
Published July 02, 2011
The New York City hotel maid who accused former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique-Strauss Kahn of sexual assault has allegedly worked as a prostitute, the New York Post reports.
A source close to the defense investigation told the Post that the Sofitel Hotel housekeeper would have sex with male guests at the hotel for money.
“There is information… of her getting extraordinary tips,” the source told the Post.
…
Is that what they mean by turning down the sheets?
Someone tell me again why America continues to serve as a dumping ground for criminal aliens, when our own unemployment rate remains so high and social safety nets are so badly frayed. Wait; I’ll answer myself: the plutocrats will always take cheap Third World labor over employing the native born.
The fish rots from the head.
That’s who WANTS to come here. The Japanese, Germans, Scandinavians, et al don’t see the attraction.
I said at the start this story didn’t pass the smell test. But hey, this is NY. We strongly favor a woman accuser, so much so that the state immediately takes over as the victim and prosecution is kind of unstoppable.
The French won’t love us any less. It wouldn’t be possible.
‘Don’t worry, this guy has a lot of money. I know what I’m doing,’
Sounds like a Realtor doesn’t it?
Yeah you’d think, on account$ Mr. International Monetary Fund chief Dominique-Strauss Kahn is now a victim of his truepurity behavior$
Here’s a concept for discussion:
Are heads and tails of a coin opposites or are they just different aspects of the same thing, different aspects of the same coin?
Are the Democrats and Republicans opposites or are they just different aspects of the same thing, different aspects of the same power structure?
An opposition is one of many aspects.
Depends on the quality of the tail and how much head.
No good can come of this discussion.
The Republicans vs. Democrats is a side bar designed to keep the masses distracted.
Heads = “We “Nation Build$” in Islamic countries”
Tails = “We put Nato to work part-time”
I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday weekend.
Dorothy
Well, I - I think that it - that it wasn’t enough just to want a big house with granite counter tops and a big pool in a gated community with astronomical HOA dues . And that it’s
that - if I ever go looking for my heart’s desire again, I won’t look any further than a house I can afford and comfortably pay for, because if I can`t afford the house payment with taxes and insurance, Then I never really lost the big house in the gated community to begin with. Is that right?
Glinda
That’s all it is!
Scarecrow
But that’s so easy! I should have thought of it for you.
Tin Man
I should have felt it in my heart.
Glinda
No. She had to find it out for herself. Now that rented U-Haul will take you home in two seconds!
Dorothy
Oh! Toto, too?
Glinda
Toto, too.
Dorothy
Oh, now?
Glinda
Whenever you wish.
Dorothy
Oh, dear, that’s too wonderful to be true! Oh, it’s - it’s going to be so hard to say goodbye. I love you all, too.
Goodbye Tin Man. Oh, don’t cry. You rust so dreadfully. Here, here’s your oil can. Goodbye.
Tin Man
Now I know I’ve got a heart, ’cause it’s breaking.
Dorothy
Oh. Goodbye, Lion. You know, I know it isn’t right, but I’m gonna miss the way you used to holler for help
when you couldn’t pay your mortgage.
Lion
Well, I would never’ve stopped paying it if it hadn’t been for you.
Dorothy (looking at granite counter-top kitchen with stainless appliances)
I think I’ll miss you most of all.
Glinda
Are you ready now?
Dorothy
Yes. Say goodbye, Toto. Yes, I’m ready now.
Glinda
Then take these keys, start that U-Haul. And think to yourself.
I can`t pay that loan, I can`t pay that loan
LOL! +100
14.3 % on food stamps. Sorry, it’s called SNAP now.
One in seven!!!
Nothing to see here, folks, move along. It’s not a depression.
SNAP!!!
This number seems far more accurate and easy to track than ambiguous “unemployment” numbers. Why is more attention not paid to the SNAP number and efforts being made to reduce it?
Seems like the most accurate pain indicator we have access to.
U-6 is quite accurate, in my opinion.
The BLS website has the data. If you are persistent enough, you can put togther a long-term monthly time-series that gives you a very accurate picture of the US economy.
how many people total eat food from the SNAP program? when someone gets benefits are the number of mouths in the household all considered as SNAP recipients? With 45 million recipients; does that count all the eaters or is this the number of peeps who have gone to the foodstamps office to get benefits for their families? The number of people surviving on SNAP bennies may be higher than 1 in 7 if one recipient is feeding some number of children that may or may not be counted. So if my wife signs up; and feeds her kids with the benefits; is that one SNAP recipient statistically or 3 SNAP recipients(her and the kids)? I guess I am wondering how the number of recipients is reached.
On a related subject regarding food subsidies for the poorer among us. My wife is a lunchlady and the # of kids on free and reduced is almost half at her school. Some schools have over half the students on free and reduced lunches in our district. These schools are given an afterschool babysitting(ok tutoring) program by the feds; tutoring and a USDA snack.
“Some schools have over half the students on free and reduced lunches in our district”
No worries, MegaBank Inc. CEO’s are gonna donate the cafeteria banners:
“Let them eat high-fructose corn syrup”
If SNAP was cut, food prices would crash and farmers would be in some serious trouble.
<”If SNAP was cut, food prices would crash and farmers would be in some serious trouble.
…after the riots.
Mike:
I’ll bet NONE of the money is for tutoring these kids to read,write and speak English…
———————-
These schools are given an afterschool babysitting(ok tutoring) program by the feds; tutoring and a USDA snack.
If SNAP was cut, a lot of drug dealers would see their profits wither. Junkies hang outside of grocery stores, and sell their stamps for half price in cash in order to feed their addictions, from what I’ve read.
14.3 % on food stamps. Sorry, it’s called SNAP now.
One in seven!!!
When I lived in Mexico in the 70’s the gov’t subsidized the price of certain foods. Tortillas were about 10 US cents for a kg IIRC.
The number of people on this program would drop dramatically if it went back to the way it once was whereby the “client” signed up in person and when approved they went to a distribution center to pick up an allotment of foodstuffs. Food and nothing else.
Do savvy investors stay abreast of stories suggesting 6 million or more homes in shadow inventory are likely to hit the market over the next few years? I suppose as long as you are bottom feeding in the $100K and under market, there isn’t too much downside risk.
FEATURE-Investors revel as U.S. housing looks for bottom
By Leah Schnurr
NEW YORK, July 1 | Fri Jul 1, 2011 12:19pm EDT
…
Often blamed for helping to create the U.S. housing boom and crash by driving up prices, investors are now being welcomed as a key support for the battered property market.
Traditional buyers — who plan on living in the home they buy — are being hampered by tight loan standards by banks stung by the financial crisis.
Those able to qualify for mortgages often cannot overcome fears that prices might fall further after 2010’s short-lived recovery.
That leaves the market wide open for investors with plenty of cash.
In May, all-cash purchases made up 30 percent of sales of existing U.S. homes, the bulk of which were acquired by investors. That was double the rate of October 2008, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Speculative investors are no strangers to the housing market. But the upswing in all-cash purchases is a recent trend, the NAR says. It found 59 percent of property investors in 2010 used only cash.
To be sure, Alvarez and others often finance deals with a mix of cash and loans or partner with other investors.
By contrast, many ordinary Americans are too worried about losing their jobs or their level of other debt to consider taking advantage of low housing prices. Demand for loans to buy homes, as measured by the Mortgage Bankers Association, has dragged at low levels since a government tax incentive ended spring of last year.
Even so, investors are more cautious than at the height of the boom in the 2000s. Last year, they accounted for 17 percent of the market, compared with 28 percent in 2005 when loans were plentiful and “flipping” houses for quick profit was a craze.
This time around, many investors are focusing on the deeply discounted low end of the market, buying homes for about $100,000, fixing them up and selling them or renting them out.
Cheap prices are expected to entice more buyers into the market and experts hope they will help stabilize prices.
…
As a general rule, “savvy” investors don’t talk about either their research or their data unless it is both:
(a) glaringly obvious to all involved, and
(b) irrelevant to the investment decision.
I would think “savvy” investors might want to brag about what a great time to invest in real estate it is at the moment, in order to unload sh!tty real estate assets on unsuspecting greater fools with buckets of money and boxes of stupid.
But this is just a conjecture…
“Cheap prices are expected to entice more buyers into the market and experts hope they will help stabilize prices.”
Then you better reduce your expectations because housing prices are still grossly inflated irrespective of area.
What I want to know is, who are all these “more buyers”? Didn’t we just hit Peak Homeownership a few years back?
Farkas!
Tell her “Farkas is willin’”
Second-Mortgage Misery
Nearly 40% Who Borrowed Against Homes Are Underwater.
By ROBBIE WHELAN
U.S. NEWS
JUNE 7, 2011.
Almost 40% of homeowners who took out second mortgages—extracting cash from their residences to cover everything from vacations to medical bills—are underwater on their loans, more than twice the rate of owners who didn’t take out such loans.
It’s not clear how much cash withdrawn from homes during the boom was used to acquire luxuries such as expensive automobiles, and how much went to basic necessities, including tuition expenses, or renovations intended to raise a property’s value.
According to Federal Reserve Board data, homeowners took out a total of $2.69 trillion from their homes at the height of the housing boom between 2004 and 2006. That tally includes cash-out refinancings.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304906004576369844062260756.html - 204k -
These are victims. We must bail them out. Well, not them. The bailouts will go to the banks who recklessly loaned them money. The tab will go to the responsible and productive, as always.
What about the silicone implants called Bubbly and Jiggly?!?
Damn, academics have no fun at all.
Mrs. RAL takes offense to that.
Welcome to the bits bucket.
” … homeowners took out a total of $2.69 trillion from their homes at the height of the housing boom between 2004 and 2006.”
That’s a lot of fluff money that went flowing through the economy that enabled the opening up pirate stores and candlemaking shops and such.
A lot of jobs that depended on this money were puffed into exisitence and have now these jobs have been poofed out of existence.
And these jobs ain’t coming back because the puff money ain’t coming back.
“According to Federal Reserve Board data, homeowners took out a total of $2.69 trillion from their homes at the height of the housing boom between 2004 and 2006.”
How is MegaBank Inc. gonna replicate this bonu$ mechani$m? How?
“and how much went to basic necessities, including tuition expenses,”
That’s a “necessity” now?? Seems like more of a luxury. Get student loans, kids, or figure out some other way to finance school.
That was actually a great idea use the equity to pay your college bills then default on the house……but how many were smart enough to figure this out…
—————-
including tuition expenses
I call BS on this 40% figure. That must only count people who took out seconds AND are presently still current on their mortgages.
The Jobless Summer
Why only one in four teens is employed.
Opinion »WSJ
Perhaps you’ve already noticed around the neighborhood, but this is a rotten summer for young Americans to find a job. The Department of Labor reported last week that a smaller share of 16-19 year-olds are working than at anytime since records began to be kept in 1948.
Only 24% of teens, one in four, have jobs, compared to 42% as recently as the summer of 2001. The nearby chart chronicles the teen employment percentage over time, including the notable plunge in the last decade. So instead of learning valuable job skills—getting out of bed before noon, showing up on time, being courteous to customers, operating a cash register or fork lift—millions of kids will spend the summer playing computer games or hanging out.
The lousy economic recovery explains much of this decline in teens working, and some is due to increases in teen summer school enrollment. Some is also cultural: Many parents don’t put the same demands on teens as they once did to get out and work.
But Congress has also contributed by passing one of the most ill-timed minimum wage increases in history. One of the first acts of the gone-but-not-forgotten Nancy Pelosi ascendancy was to raise the minimum wage in stages to $7.25 an hour in 2009 from $5.15 in 2007. Even liberals ought to understand that raising the cost of hiring the young and unskilled while employers are slashing payrolls is loopy economics.
Or maybe not. The Center for American Progress, often called the think tank for the Obama White House, recently recommended another increase to $8.25 an hour. Though the U.S. unemployment rate is 9.1%, the thinkers assert that a rising wage would “stimulate economic growth to the tune of 50,000 new jobs.” So if the government orders employers to pay more to hire workers when they’re already not hiring, they’ll somehow hire more workers. By this logic, if we raised the minimum wage to $25 an hour we’d have full employment.
Back on planet Earth, the minimum wage increase has coincided with the plunge in the percentage of working teens. Before the most recent wage hikes, roughly seven million teens were working. Now there are closer to five million with a job and paycheck.
Black teens have had the worst of it, with their unemployment rate rising to 41.6% in April from 29% in 2007, faster than almost any other group. A 2010 study by economists William Even of Miami University of Ohio and David Macpherson of Trinity University found that as a result of the $2.10 increase in minimum wage, “teen employment dropped by 6.9 percent. . . . For the teen population with less than 12 years of education completed, teen employment dropped by 12.4 percent.” For teens priced out of the labor market, their wage fell to zero.
Black teens have had the worst of it, with their unemployment rate rising to 41.6% in April from 29% in 2007, faster than almost any other group.
Obama got more than 90% of the black vote, which is ironic, considering his #1 constituency is the lilly-white Wall Street plutocrats. Still, this is a predictable and deserved outcome for voting for The One and America’s continued socioeconomic demise.
I don’t buy the “lower minumum” wage thing creates jobs claim. Mexico’s minimum wage is a fraction of ours, and they have an unemployment problem too.
Yeah, but how big would their unemployment problem be if their wages were the same as ours?
It would be less.
Increases in min wage always lead to increases in consumption, i.e. increases in sales, creating demand for more hiring.
Marie Antoinette didn’t get it either.
I don’t get it either. I’ve never been particularly interested in the MINIMUM wage, but rather focused on the MEDIAN wage.
WRAPUP 1-Mexico jobless, price data points to low rates
* Annual inflation falls to 3.19 pct through early June
* Mexico’s adjusted jobless rate rises to 5.54 pct in May
* Data bolsters case for interest rates staying on hold
MEXICO CITY, June 23 (Reuters) - Mexico’s unemployment rate
climbed to a 13-month high in May while consumer prices through
early June were lower than forecast, giving the central bank
breathing room to keep rates low.
Prices fell 0.05 percent in the first two months of June,
pushing the annual inflation rate down to 3.19 percent from the
3.29 percent recorded in early May, the central bank said on
Thursday. It was the lowest annual rate in three months.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/23/mexico-economy-idUSN1E75M0B220110623
Back on planet Earth, the minimum wage increase has coincided with the plunge in the percentage of working teens.
Yes, and the global rise in temperature has conincided with the plunge in the number of pirates. So if we only brought back piracy we could solve global warming.
Teens aren’t working because the menial jobs are now done by Chinese wage slaves, Indian sweatshops, and illegal immigrants. The semi-skilled summer jobs are done for free by interns. And you know it, WALL STREET JOURNAL.
absolutely. end offshoring and bingo, a lot of kids AND adults would have jobs.
Back on planet Earth, the minimum wage increase has coincided with the plunge in the percentage of working teens.
The min wage has nothing to do with lack of jobs.
It may not have everything, but it certainly has something to do with it.
Looks like old Mo is a tuff nut to crack…
Qaddafi Warns of Carrying Out Attacks in Europe
July 01, 2011| Associated Press
TRIPOLI, Libya — A defiant Muammar al-Qaddafi threatened Friday to carry out attacks in Europe against “homes, offices, families,” unless NATO halts its campaign of airstrikes against his regime in Libya.
The Libyan leader, sought by the International Criminal Court for a brutal crackdown on anti-government protesters, delivered the warning in a telephone message played to thousands of supporters gathered in the main square of the capital Tripoli.
Qaddafi spoke from an unknown location in a likely sign of concern over his safety. Addressing the West, Qaddafi warned that Libyans might take revenge for NATO bombings.
“These people (the Libyans) are able to one day take this battle … to Europe, to target your homes, offices, families, which would become legitimate military targets, like you have targeted our homes,” he said.
Who frontman Roger Daltrey blasts the UK government for “screwing the working man” with massive immigration. Would be nice to see US rockers of working-class backgrounds similarly call out the Republicrats for their part in killing off the American Dream (and no, it was never about buying an unaffordable McMansion).
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2009982/The-Whos-Roger-Daltrey-Labour-left-British-working-man-screwed-cheap-Labour.html
He was a Sixties rebel, renowned for voicing working class angst.
And now legendary Who frontman Roger Daltrey has waded into the debate on immigration.
Daltrey, now 67, has told how the influx of thousands of immigrant workers from the rest of Europe during Labour’s 13-year reign left the indigenous working-classes unemployed.
The star told how the last government left ‘the British working man screwed like he’d never been screwed before by cheap labour coming in from Europe.’
He went on: ‘We do need immigration, but surely it should be a level playing field where they can’t undercut every working–class bloke in England for their jobs.’
However the current Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government were not spared his ire either, with Daltrey adding: ‘The quality of our politicians is tragic.’
He continued: ‘I don’t care what people say about me. I tell it like it is, and, if I’m wrong, I’ll just say, ‘OK, I’m wrong.’ I’m not always the most diplomatic person. I know my faults, but I’m comfortable with me.’
Depressions always bring out the worst in human beings specifically in terms of immigration.
Why doesn’t he just work as “cheaply” as the cheap labor? I’m sure his father and grandfather did.
Feh, it brought out the worst in me long before the Depression. I well remember the day back in 2006, watching footage of the invasion on TV, completely stunned at what I was seeing.
Daltrey’s right, IMO, and he doesn’t forget where he came from or who his fans were/are that put him where he is. He’s speaking for them (softballing a bit, but nonetheless) where their own voices have been cut off.
Now, here in the US, we got Springsteen and such, who get a veneer of prissy sanctimony about such things.
The trouble is, there is so much cradle-to-grave welfare in Europe that the natives know they don’t really have to work the menial jobs..then the immigrants go on welfare themselves, or their family members do. It’s kind of a chicken-and-egg thing.
I browse the British newspapers regularly (and have for years), and let me tell you, GB is FAR different than the rest of Europe when it comes to social safety nets.
It’s very, VERY HARD to get “on the dole” there and the benefits are very, very weak and it’s very very easy to get kicked off.
Guys like Springstein, Mellancamp, and Bon Jovi talk the talk, or sing it rather, but they all backed “Change Goldman Sachs can believe in.” A bunch of posers, all of them. Crazy old Ted Nugent is the only aging American rocker that has any cojones at all, in my book.
The immigrants have the ability to work for British Pound Sterling, but have families that pay mortgages and live on Hungarian Forints.
British citizens must pay for everything in Sterling.
Sucks to be British, no?!? Why not try being Hungarian?
This Bud$ for you!… Neil Young
Melloncamp and Willie Nelson have been working on this for decades.
Imagine having to pay into ones own pension fund! It’s just not fair.
Florida state workers get pink slips, more cuts ahead
TALLAHASSEE, Fla, July 1 | Fri Jul 1, 2011
(Reuters) - To patch a $4 billion budget hole, more than 1,600 Florida state government employees were laid off as of Friday, and another 562,000 began paying into their pension plans for the first time in 37 years.
The 1,600 are a very small fraction of the state’s overall government workforce, but additional layoffs and cuts are expected as state agencies and local governments respond to a series of belt-tightening measures approved by lawmakers at the request of Republican Governor Rick Scott.
State agency cuts have been well-publicized. But austerity measures, combined with agency realignments and Scott’s campaign promises to reduce corporate income and property taxes, will translate into pink slips for some local government employees as well.
The South Florida Water Management District, which oversees flood control and Everglades restoration, has offered 123 employees severance packages as part of an effort to trim $252 million from the agency’s $1.1 billion annual budget.
The agency is expected to lay off 100 more in the next several weeks in response to a legislative decision to cut tax levels for all water management agencies, whose budgets have already been depleted by falling property values.
“The (buyout) was the first step toward streamlining operations and achieving staffing levels that correspond with agency core functions,” spokesman Gabe Margasak said in an email. “The new staffing levels for the agency have not yet been finalized but will be in place effective August 17.”
“and another 562,000 began paying into their pension plans for the first time in 37 years.”
Historical Events In 1974
Jan 08 On this day in history gold hits record $126.50 an ounce in London
Jan 04
On this day in history president Nixon refuses to hand over documents and tape recordings subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee.
Feb 27
The first issue of People magazine makes its appearance on newsstands on this day in history.
Feb 20
Cher files for separation from husband Sonny Bono on this day in history.
Apr 09
Hammerin’ Hank Aaron hits 715th HR, breaks Babe Ruth’s record on this day in history.
Apr 24
On this day in history NFL grants franchise to Tampa Bay Bucaneers
Aug 13
The last United States troops leave Vietnam on this day in history.
Feb 04
Patricia Hearst (19), daughter of publisher Randolph Hearst kidnapped by Symbionese Liberation Army on this day in history.
Apr 03
148 tornadoes are reported over an area covering a dozen states on this day in history.
Jun 30
Petty thief Peter Leonard sets fire to cover burglary that torches “Gulliver’s” nightclub. 24 die (Port Chester NY) on this day in history. (AT LEAST 1 PERSON HERE WILL REMEMBER THIS)
Aug 14
On this day in history congress authorizes US citizens to own gold
Aug 08
Richard Nixon resigns as US President, the first to do so on this day in history.
Mar 09
Last Japanese soldier, a guerrilla operating in Philippines, surrenders, 29 years after World War II ended on this day in history.
July 2 2011
Last MegaBank$ Inc. CEO, a guerrilla operating in Manhattan, surrenders, 29 days after “Mega-compensation for profit$” ended on this day in history.
Do private company pensions require employees to put in money?
I worked at two compNies that provided pensions and contributions were not required.
Dang, if this was in Hwy’s backyard all they’d have to do is throw in a Mongolian Ger and I be the first in the hiring line!
Help Wanted: Local Field Organizer for Campaign to Save Maryland Organic Farm:
July 1st, 2011
LOCAL FIELD ORGANIZER / WASHINGTON DC METRO AREA
Duration: 6-12 months
Application deadline: August 5, 2011
The Executive of Montgomery County, Maryland is proposing to replace a 31-year-old organic farm, operating on public land, allowing a private soccer organization to build non-public fields in Potomac, MD.
The community is in an uproar—Nick’s Organic Farm is Montgomery County’s only organic seed farm (one of a few in the entire Chesapeake region). It’s also strategically isolated and protected from cross-pollination by GMO crops grown on nearby conventional farms. This seed operation and its soil, under continuous organic management for last three decades, cannot be easily moved elsewhere.
A countywide campaign has begun to Save Nick’s Organic Farm and expand the scope of the working farm to include hands-on educational experiences for school children to learn about local food and agriculture.. For more information about the campaign, go to: www Change org; http://www savenicksorganicfarm org; article; video
Job description: Launched in March 2011, the campaign now needs a local field organizer to manage ongoing activities, coordinate volunteers, and develop new strategies to win this campaign. Activities to manage/coordinate include: attending political meetings, giving presentations and building new contacts and allies, coalition building, grassroots organizing, press outreach, managing Web and social media presence, manage databases, and raise funds. Volunteer team currently includes many highly skilled and experienced professionals in the areas of political action and organizing, political strategy, grassroots organizing, media relations, social media and legal action.
Montgomery County borders on Washington DC, has approximately 1 million residents and a $4 billion budget.
Qualifications and experience: Minimum of two years organizing or working on political and/or advocacy campaigns. Experience with local food and agriculture, environmental or political campaigns is highly desirable. Seeking a well-organized, energetic self-starter with good communication skills. Candidate should be able to work from home (ideally in the DC or Baltimore metro area) and attend occasional meetings and events, as needed, in Montgomery County.
To apply: Send letter of interest, resume, and salary requirements to farmemployment@comcast.net
Nick’s Organic Farm LLC (www nicksorganicfarm com) has certified organic operations in Potomac and Buckeystown, MD, producing row crops, grass-based livestock, vegetables, seed, and animal feeds. Farming organically since 1979, Nick Maravell, its owner, is nationally recognized and has been called on to testify at federal and state levels. He has been active in national and state development of organic legislation and standards, organic research priorities, and organic marketing issues. Late last year, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack appointed Maravell to serve on the National Organic Standards Board, a panel of unpaid experts set up by Congress to set organic industry policy.
It’s also strategically isolated and protected from cross-pollination by GMO crops grown on nearby conventional farms.
This alone is reason to save the land.
I doubt it will work, though. The rich kiddies must have them their soccer fields. Potomac is where the mansions are — the REAL ones, not the cookie-cutter variety.
To give you an idea, the DC-area governments once thought about possibly conducting a study to determine if maybe it would be viable to build another bridge over the Potomac river. Everybody’s manse values dropped overnight. They didn’t even do the study. That’s how rich these guys are.
Whitney Houston May Face Foreclosure on New Jersey Mansion
Whitney Houston is reportedly facing the mortgage foreclosure of her 10-acre New Jersey estate for more than $1 million in past due mortgage payments and taxes, according to the Daily Record of Parsippany, NJ. The Morris County Sheriff’s Office recently authorized the mortgage foreclosure sale of Houston’s New Jersey home in court proceedings, after Mortgage Electronic Service Systems, the service agent for Chevy Chase Bank, allegedly filed suit in June of this year against Houston for non-payment of her mortgage. Houston purchased the estate, estimated to be worth $6 million, in 2003.
According to her publicist, Houston is collaborating on a project with her cousin, singer Dionne Warwick.
http://www.totalbankruptcy.com/news/articles/foreclosure-mortgage/whitney-houston.aspx - 27k -
I’ll Never Fall In Love Again
What do you get when you buy a house?
A sub-prime loan to burst your bubble
That’s what you get for all your trouble
I’ll never buy a house again
I’ll never buy a house again
What do you get when you buy a house?
You get a spare room, for your third daughter
After you do, your underwater
I’ll never buy a house again
Dontcha know that I’ll never buy a house again?
Don’t tell me what it’s all about
’cause I’ve been there and I’m glad I’m out
Out of those chains, those chains that bind you
That is why I’m here to remind you
What do you get when you buy a house?
You only get lies and pain and sorrow
So far at least until tomorrow
I’ll never buy a house a- gain
No, no, I’ll never buy a house again
Ahh, out of those chains, those chains that bind you
That is why I’m here to remind you
What do you get when you buy a house?
You only get lies and pain and sorrow
So far at least until tomorrow
I’ll never buy a house a- gain
Dontcha know that I’ll never buy a house a- gain
I’ll never buy a house a- gain
ATF gunwalking scandal: Second agent speaks out
BySharyl Attkisson .
(CBS News) WASHINGTON - South of El Paso, Texas, on Mexico’s side of the border, lies Juarez - the most dangerous city in the world. CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports ATF Special Agent Rene Jaquez has been stationed there for the past year, trying to keep U.S. guns from being trafficked into Mexico.
“That’s what we do as an agency,” Jaquez said. “ATF’s primary mission is to make sure that we curtail gun trafficking.”
That’s why Jaquez tells CBS News he was so alarmed to hear his own agency may have done the opposite: encouraged U.S. gun dealers to sell to suspected traffickers for Mexico’s drug cartels. Apparently, ATF hoped that letting weapons “walk” onto the street - to see where they’d end up would help them take down a cartel.
Jaquez said, “I think this incidence is probably one of the darkest days in ATF’s history.”
But ATF wasn’t working alone on the case known as “Fast and Furious.” Documents show ATF had conference calls with “DHS” (Homeland Security). “USMS” (U.S. Marshals) and DEA. An “ICE,” or Customs agent, was on ATF’s Fast and Furious team. They were advised by an “AUSA,” or Assistant U.S. Attorney under the Justice Department.
Justice Department head Eric Holder said the inspector general is investigating. “The aim of the ATF is to try to stop the flow of guns. I think they do a good job in that regard. Questions have been raised by ATF agents about the way in which some of these operations have been conducted. I think those questions have to be taken seriously, and on that basis, I’ve asked the inspector general to look at it.”
Holder: Gunwalking is wrong
Jaquez is second sitting ATF agent to come forward and speak out to CBS News on the controversy.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/03/21/eveningnews/main20045609.shtml - 105k -
Wasn’t there a time not long ago when “they” were trying to blame all the weapons in Mexico on rednecks and gunshows in the US?
Oh, absolutely. I saw that coming with Obomba’s “clinging to their guns and religion”.
Lax enforcement and refusal to prosecute straw buyers for the cartels is a huge part of the problem.
The ATF never uses entrapment?
Bullcrap.
http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2011/07/threat-to-dea-agents-in-chihuahua.html
Now the cartels are threatening the DEA.
Retaliation: ATF Agent Fired for Exposing Corruption
Katie Pavlich
6/28/2011
According to Vince Cefalu, now a former ATF agent, he was fired after coming forward with information about the lethal Obama Justice Department Operation Fast and Furious and for cooperating with the House Oversight Committee in Issa’s investigation of the operation and DOJ. Cefalu came forward with information about the government allowing high powered weapons flow into the hands of Mexican drug cartels and across the border into Mexico in December before the story about Fast and Furious broke.
“Aside from Jay Dobyns, I don’t know of anyone that’s been more vocal about ATF mismanagement than me,” said Cefalu, a senior special agent based in Dublin, Calif. “That’s why this is happening.” Dobyns, an ATF special agent based in Tucson, has appeared several times on Fox News to discuss the scandal.
Cefalu first told FoxNews.com about the ATF’s embattled anti-gun smuggling operation in December, before the first reports on the story appeared in February. “Simply put, we knowingly let hundreds of guns and dozens of identified bad guys go across the border,” Cefalu said at the time.
Since then, Cefalu’s claims have been vindicated, as a number of agents with first-hand knowledge of the case came forward. The scandal over Project Gunrunner led to congressional hearings, a presidential reprimand – Obama called the operation “a serious mistake” – and speculation that ATF chief Ken Melson will resign.
http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2011/06/28/retaliation_atf_agent_fired_for_exposing_corruption - 152k -
He’s lucky they didn’t put him jail like those 2 Border Patrol officers.
You get to Rocky Point from Arizona crossing at Lukeville. Used to be, maybe you were stopped on the Mexican side for a cursory vehicle check. Roughly a year ago, an informal check point was set up on the US side. Stopped and questioned regarding bringing in $10,000 or greater and if bringing guns into Mexico. I wondered about the gun question as it is legal in the US, but you do not dare get caught in Mexico with a gun;very bad! Now there is a formal check point on the US side and no stop on the Mexican side. Two agents look into vehicle compartment. Coming back, used to be questioned on citizenship and anything to declare. Now, checking for anything that might be on the agricultural ban list and of course the usual declaration questions. Have to take off your sunglasses when questioned. After the border check, you are stopped 2 more times heading into AJO.
interstate 8 from San diego to AZ has a bunch of checkpoints
Almost like a war zone , seen agents crossing the highway in Anza Borrego with M16 rifles and dogs.
I grew up near this place. Loved it!
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20110702/LIVING/107020303/Mushroom-House-goes-market
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/folder/american_who_risked_everything_1.guest.html
Regardless of what you may think about Rush Limbaugh the Third, his father wrote one of the most poignant 4th of July tributes I’ve ever seen. Contrast the principles and courage of the Founding Fathers with the venality and fecklessness of the crowd on Capital Hill today.
http://www.gjfreepress.com/article/20110701/COLUMNISTS/110639985/1021&parentprofile=1062
In the 1920s, President Calvin Coolidge famously said, “The business of America is business.”
Current trends forecaster Gerald Celente offers a new twist to fit the times: “The business of America is war… The forty-year War on Drugs; The ten-year War on Terror; the Afghan War (longest in American history); the eight-years-and-no-end-in-sight Iraq War; the covert wars in Pakistan and Yemen; and most recently, the ‘time-limited, scope-limited kinetic military action’ in Libya.”
Whether they are paying off or not in terms of national security or the domestic good, certain vested interests work to prolong these wars. When California failed to pass Proposition 19 in the last election (full legalization of marijuana), two platoons of lobbyists were mobilized to defeat the issue: the liquor lobby and the prison employees’ unions.
A third interest group was the army of prosecutors and defense attorneys who process this flood of humanity through the largest prison system in the world. With 5% of global population, the U.S. houses 25% of the world’s prisoners — 2.3 million. Drug offenders compose about half of this total. At an annual average cost of $22,000 per prisoner, many states near bankruptcy are now wholesale paroling some of the most violent and dangerous prisoners. Scaling back the war on drugs, or at least decriminalization of marijuana, would be a far better solution.
But the War on Drugs is peanuts compared to the foreign wars and entanglements we’re mired in: the Iraq and Afghan wars now cost $12 billion per month, compounding the $1.2 trillion total so far. Rather than reversing George Bush’s “shoot first, ask questions later” foreign policy as promised, Obama has expanded the war into Libya, Yemen and maybe Pakistan eventually.
Just so y’all know, this wasn’t me. Not sure what it is about the desert that brings out people’s inner lunatic.
http://www.emirates247.com/news/region/alleged-prophet-held-in-saudi-2011-07-02-1.405418
A Saudi man mounted a prayers platform at the Grand Mosque in Islam’s holiest shrine in the Gulf kingdom and told thousands of worshippers that he was a prophet and their saviour before he was seized by police.
The 36-year-old man, identified as Sami, waited until the Muslims finished their evening prayers at the Grand Mosque in the western town of Makkah, mounted the podium and delivered his brief, fiery speech. “I am Al-Mehdi Al-Montathar…I am a prophet sent (by God) to save and guide you,” he told the packed hall before was overpowered by police.
‘Okaz’ newspaper said the incident took place on Friday night and that Sami insisted during police interrogation that he was a prophet. It said police would subject him to medical examination to check if he is suffering from mental illness.It was the latest in a series of incidents involving persons claiming to be Al-Mehdi Al-Montathar (the Chosen Imam Al-Mehdi) at Islamic holy sites in Makkah over the past few months.
All of them had been arrested and medically examined. Muslims believe Imam Al-Mehdi, dubbed “the ultimate saviour of mankind’ will eventually reappear as a great reformer who will destroy the beliefs of injustice and ignorance and fill this earth with fairness after it has been filled with injustice and oppression.
..before or after he is arrested?
Feds to force shelter upgrades
By Eliot Kleinberg Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 5:36 p.m. Saturday, July 2, 2011
WEST PALM BEACH — Every hurricane shelter should be open to anyone, including those who need help getting to it or staying in it, the feds say.
But Florida emergency managers say that would cost a lot of money. Money they don’t have.
In Palm Beach County, it could be $54 million. In Florida, the figure could start with a ‘b’.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency says its guidelines for ensuring shelters comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, which it issued in November 2010, are just that.
But for counties that the feds might conclude aren’t in compliance, the ADA has an enforcer: the U.S. Department of Justice. Broward County already felt its hammer several years ago.
Each of Florida’s counties already has at least one special needs shelter. Palm Beach County has two; at the South Florida Fairgrounds and Palm Beach Central High School in Wellington.
The county has a plan to transport anyone to one of those, whether the person lives in Boca Raton, Jupiter or Pahokee.
The federal government says that’s not enough; if a person has to travel to a central point, rights are being hampered.
That means counties would have to place a paramedic and a nurse, and generators and air conditioners, in each of their general population shelters. The cost could be as much as $1 million per shelter, emergency managers say.
Palm Beach County has 15 shelters; Martin, St. Lucie and Okeechobee counties a total of 33. Statewide, there are hundreds.
“The word from FEMA is there will be no more special needs shelters,” Chip Wilson, statewide disability coordinator for Emergency Management, said in May at a workshop at the Florida Governor’s Hurricane Conference in Fort Lauderdale. “You cannot force somebody, just because they have a disability, into a particular shelter.”
But, said Wilson - who himself uses a wheelchair - “It’s going to cost about a billion dollars if we do all this stuff for the state. There’s no way we can do that.”
Unrealistic requirements
Palm Beach County Emergency Manager Bill Johnson said his $54 million figure for shelters would be for personnel, medical equipment, supplies and permanent generators that could run an entire school that’s being used as a shelter.
“To be honest,” Palm Beach County Public Safety Director Vince Bonvento said, “to comply with these guidelines at every one of our shelters is unrealistic and unreasonable.”
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/storm/feds-to-force-shelter-upgrades-1577491.html?cxtype=rss_news - -
Gotta love those unfunded Federal mandates.
Yep, because saving money is far more important than saving lives.
Each of Florida’s counties already has at least one special needs shelter. Palm Beach County has two; at the South Florida Fairgrounds and Palm Beach Central High School in Wellington.
The county has a plan to transport anyone to one of those, whether the person lives in Boca Raton, Jupiter or Pahokee.
Jane,
Thanks for the heads up reply in yesterday’s bit bucket. Didn’t see it until today. Interesting suggestion. Will look into it.
Thanks again.
Supply? Demand?
SUCKERS!
http://www.oilslick.com/commentary/?id=2851&type=1
The American Petroleum Institute (API) said last week that U.S. oil supplies rose to the highest levels in 31 years for the month of May. In the EIA report for May 27th crude oil in inventory rose to 373.8 million barrels and a level not seen since mid 2009.
Before 2009 you have to go back to 1990 for a higher inventory number.