Bits Bucket for July 11, 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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I’ve just run across this list of Bubble companies arising from the South Sea Bubble, even in the year 1711, candle shops, share dealing, insurance, transport and real estate figure; the more things change the more they stay the same I fear.
LIST OF BUBBLES.
The following Bubble Companies were by the same order declared to be illegal, and abolished accordingly :–
1. For the importation of Swedish iron.
2. For supplying London with sea-coal. Capital, three millions.
3. For building and rebuilding houses throughout all England. Capital, three millions.
4. For making of muslin.
5. For carrying on and improving the British alum works.
6. For effectually settling the island of Blanco and Sal Tartagus.
7. For supplying the town of Deal with fresh water.
8. For the importation of Flanders lace.
9. For improvement of lands in Great Britain. Capital, four millions.
10. For encouraging the breed of horses in England, and improving of glebe and church lands, and for repairing and rebuilding parsonage and vicarage houses.
11. For making of iron and steel in Great Britain.
12. For improving the land in the county of Flint. Capital, one million.
13. For purchasing lands to build on. Capital, two millions.
14. For trading in hair.
15. For erecting salt-works in Holy Island. Capital, two millions.
16. For buying and selling estates, and lending money on mortgage.
17. For carrying on an undertaking of great advantage, but nobody to know what it is.
18. For paving the streets of London. Capital, two millions.
19. For furnishing funerals to any part of Great Britain.
20. For buying and selling lands and lending money at interest. Capital, five millions.
21. For carrying on the Royal Fishery of Great Britain. Capital, ten millions.
22. For assuring of seamen’s wages.
23. For erecting loan-offices for the assistance and encouragement of the industrious. Capital, two millions.
24. For purchasing and improving leasable lands. Capital, four millions.
25. For importing pitch and tar, and other naval stores, from North Britain and America.
26. For the clothing, felt, and pantile trade.
27. For purchasing and improving a manor and royalty in Essex.
28. For insuring of horses. Capital, two millions.
29. For exporting the woollen manufacture, and importing copper, brass, and iron. Capital, four millions.
30. For a grand dispensary. Capital, three millions.
31. For erecting mills and purchasing lead mines. Capital, two millions.
32. For improving the art of making soap.
33. For a settlement on the island of Santa Cruz.
34. For sinking pits and smelting lead ore in Derbyshire.
35. For making glass bottles and other glass.
36. For a wheel for perpetual motion. Capital, one million.
37. For improving of gardens.
38. For insuring and increasing children’s fortunes.
39. For entering and loading goods at the custom-house, and for negotiating business for merchants.
40. For carrying on a woollen manufacture in the north of England.
41. For importing walnut-trees from Virginia. Capital, two millions.
42. For making Manchester stuffs of thread and cotton.
43. For making Joppa and Castile soap.
44. For improving the wrought-iron and steel manufactures of this kingdom. Capital, four millions.
45. For dealing in lace, Hollands, cambrics, lawns, &c. Capital, two millions.
46. For trading in and improving certain commodities of the produce of this kingdom, &c. Capital, three millions.
47. For supplying the London markets with cattle.
48. For making looking-glasses, coach glasses, &c. Capital, two millions.
49. For working the tin and lead mines in Cornwall and Derbyshire.
50. For making rape-oil.
51. For importing beaver fur. Capital, two millions.
52. For making pasteboard and packing-paper.
53. For importing of oils and other materials used in the woollen manufacture.
54. For improving and increasing the silk manufactures.
55. For lending money on stock, annuities, tallies, &c.
56. For paying pensions to widows and others, at a small discount. Capital, two millions.
57. For improving malt liquors. Capital, four millions.
58. For a grand American fishery.
59. For purchasing and improving the fenny lands in Lincolnshire. Capital, two millions.
60. For improving the paper manufacture of Great Britain.
61. The Bottomry Company.
62. For drying malt by hot air.
63. For carrying on a trade in the river Oronooko.
64. For the more effectual making of baize, in Colchester and other parts of Great Britain.
65. For buying of naval stores, supplying the victualling, and paying the wages of the workmen.
66. For employing poor artificers, and furnishing merchants and others with watches.
67. For improvement of tillage and the breed of cattle.
68. Another for the improvement of our breed of horses.
69. Another for a horse-insurance.
70. For carrying on the corn trade of Great Britain.
71. For insuring to all masters and mistresses the losses they may sustain by servants. Capital, three millions.
72. For erecting houses or hospitals, for taking in and maintaining illegitimate children. Capital, two millions.
73. For bleaching coarse sugars, without the use of fire or loss of substance.
74. For building turnpikes and wharfs in Great Britain.
75. For insuring from thefts and robberies.
76. For extracting silver from lead.
77. For making China and Delft ware. Capital, one million.
78. For importing tobacco, and exporting it again to Sweden and the north of Europe. Capital, four millions.
79. For making iron with pit coal.
80. For furnishing the cities of London and Westminster with hay and straw. Capital, three millions.
81. For a sail and packing cloth manufactory in Ireland.
82. For taking up ballast.
83. For buying and fitting out ships to suppress pirates.
84. For the importation of timber from Wales. Capital, two millions.
85. For rock-salt.
86. For the transmutation of quicksilver into a malleable fine metal.
http://www.thesouthseabubble.com/thesouthseabubble.html
“For taking up ballast.”
We’ve plenty of that this time around.
“The following Bubble Companies were by the same order declared to be illegal, and abolished accordingly”
What, precisely, is a ‘Bubble company’?
Bubble Act
Main article: Royal Exchange and London Assurance Corporation Act 1719
A large number of other joint-stock companies were then floated on the stock market, making extravagant claims (sometimes fraudulent) about foreign or other ventures or bizarre schemes. These were nicknamed “Bubbles”.
In June, 1720, an Act of Parliament was passed to control the Bubbles, requiring all new joint-stock companies to be incorporated by Act of Parliament or Royal Charter. This was commonly known as the “Bubble Act”. It authorised incorporation of Royal Exchange Assurance and the London Assurance Corporation, so that the short title given to the act was the Royal Exchange and London Assurance Corporation Act 1719. The prohibition on unauthorised joint stock ventures was not repealed until 1825.
Interesting to see that piece of government regulation took over a 100 years to repeal, we seem to be much more advanced now; we can do it in just over half the time.
Basically, any company back then that did not give Parliment/King a cut of the business.
there is a store in the tyson’s corner mall (close to DC) called “the art of shaving”.
They have one in Manhattan pass by it on the way to work…all types of mugs whiskers shavers blades….some people take this to be a relaxing art form.
But then i don’t read newspapers in the bathroom either.
The ART of shaving? Sheesh, I put a razor to myself and try, ever so carefully, not to cut myself.
I don’t consider that to be art.
We used to have a store around here that made and sold “Gourmet Dog Treats”
And to think that our family’s dogs would have eaten any old thing. You should have seen them chowing down on chocolate. They never got the memo that it was poisonous for dogs.
One of my cats went ballistic when we brought home KFC she would jump on the table and stick her head in the bucket
Then we she started to get sick it was the only food that kept her alive for months..we had to buy her a drumstick and breast every few days.
My cat likes Entemenn’s doughnuts. Also goes CRAZY over Wieght Watchers blueberry muffins.
To all the CAT lovers….
we had a fat cat 16 lbs, and one day a friend bought over some bonito flakes to make soup, and the cat again went ballistic…wouldn’t stop eating them…..she begged on her hind legs for them and over a year she lost over 1/3 her weight.
The other 2 loved them as well….There is a Japanese store in Astoria which sells them for $7.99
Or they sell really small jars as kitty kaviar at an inflated price.
http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Bonito-Flakes-3-52-Ounces/dp/B000UWE0AO
My ex-wife’s kitty, and mine at the time, was kukoo for cantaloupe. Still is.
They do indeed stay the same.
Another example of that era is the Marine Insurance ACT which ended the practice of insuring AGAINST ships arriving at their destination.
Basically one of the first hedges. Unfortunately, it became more lucrative to “lose” the ship and thus had to be ended.
Sound familiar?
They still have their heads in the sand. But,” real estate only goes up”.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/8629905/Chinese-motorway-collapses-after-just-two-days.html
Chinese highway collapses after just two days.
The 57-mile-long Xinsan motorway, through the mountains of Yunnan, was supposed to be a perfect example of how the Communist party has rolled out pristine infrastructure to even the most remote areas of China, creating economic prosperity.
Despite warnings from the construction team in charge of the project, it was included in the list of “glory projects” to be unveiled for the party’s 90th anniversary on July 1.
Huge banners were slung on the cliffs above the road, reminding its builders: “Work hard, work quickly, we have 60 days left”.
According to the Chinese media, party chiefs in Beijing warned the local government that if the motorway was not finished on time, its 2 billion yuan (£194 million) cost would have to come out of local, rather than central, coffers.
However, two days after the road opened for trials, heavy storms crumbled the red earth underneath it and washed a section into the valley below, killing two and injuring two more.
That was fast. I guess the “don’t raise the debt ceiling” Republitard crowd won’t mind that happening here in America, if we can no longer afford to maintain our federal freeway system after they rein in spending next month.
i hate your tard names.
do you really believe that raising the debt ceiling will allow us to afford more? as in more debt=more prosperity?
I suspect that failing to raise the debt ceiling would help Obama get re-elected, as the inevitable Lehmanesque financial meltdown and ensuing spike in unemployment would be readily blamed on the Republicans.
I fail to see how defaulting on our national debt would fix our unsustainable fiscal trajectory. Although defaulting does seem to be working out just fine so far for many U.S. households which stopped paying their mortgages a while ago but have yet to be foreclosed.
pb,
how do you get from failing to raise the debt limit all the way to default?
couldn’t we default with or without raising the limit?
I’m no expert on the subject of the federal debt ceiling, but what little I have read on this is that failing to raise the debt ceiling is tantamount to near-term default.
Your point is taken — we could end up eventually defaulting anyway, regardless of current action on the debt ceiling.
Our government now pays $1-billion/day in interest, IIRC, so someone would be upset.
the numbers are easy to personalize with a little rounding and moving a couple decimal points.
if your household income was $200k and your debt payments were $30k would you be limited to these 2 options?
1) borrow more
2) default on your debt payments
the answer is clearly no, a reasonable person would make the debt payments and live on the $170k that is left.
borrowing more would be stupid.
My understanding is that we could go on paying interest on all our debt, but most other things would go on hold (no Medicare, no Soc Sec, no other government services, etc.).
I’ve seen some say that failing to raise the debt ceiling would be the best thing for US Credit, because it would FORCE the legislature to address the deficit–simply raising the debt ceiling without doing anything to address the deficit would be a punt, and make long-term bond holders more nervous.
It would be political suicide for both parties to not raise the debt ceiling.
It is beyond the imagination of an entire nation to stop buying what you cannot afford. The conclusion of default only applies if the relentless spending above our means must continue. Sure, stop borrowing and the entire country, roads and all, will suddenly fall into oblivion. Moron Nation.
“if your household income was $200k and your debt payments were $30k would you be limited to these 2 options?
1) borrow more
2) default on your debt payments
the answer is clearly no, a reasonable person would make the debt payments and live on the $170k that is left.”
You would have to borrow if $160K of that $170K had to be spent to provide health care for your elderly relatives, child support and a few other mandatory expenses that did not include you being able to pay for your own food, transportation, rent, etc.
That is the situation we are in now.
are you cereal?
if there were a list of dependents that required more than 94% of my earnings the last thing i would do is get deeper in debt.
wouldn’t that increase the costs of my debt service? so i would either have to cut those entitled to my earnings or what? oh yeah borrow even more next year.
truth is, with that expense/income ratio i would be unable to borrow it wouldn’t eve be up to me.
if we had any collective sense we would realize that this is the situation we are now in. stop on our own it will be stopped for us.
health care for your elderly relatives, child support
Since when did R’s see that as “mandatory?”
They were the ones who voted for the Ryan budget that privitized Medicare and junked WIC, remember? (and yes, it was a real vote in the House.)
For those of you who think it would be suicidal not to raise the debt ceiling:
What exactly is the purpose of a “ceiling” which is raised almost automatically every year?
Which creditors are supposed to be reassured by this? “Yes, they’re running in the red an additional trillion this year. But it’s OK, honey, they’ve raised the debt ceiling.”
Why not eliminate this annual exercise and just pass this bill. “Resolved, the debt ceiling of the United States shall be one googolplex dollars”??
Answer: Political theater.
Where the American Government spends its money:
Entitilements - 55%
Military - 20%
Roads - less than 1%
Do you really think adding more and more debt will somehow filter down to better roads?
There are way to many people ahead of better roads in line.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:U.S._Federal_Spending_-_FY_2007.png
“Entitilements - 55%
Military - 20%
Roads - less than 1%”
No wonder I nearly break an axle every time I commute to work.
But I fail to see how an attack on the symptoms of fiscal imbalance (e.g. defaulting on U.S. obligations) offers the best remedy to the causes of fiscal imbalances, primarily entitlement obligations which have far exceeded the means to pay for them, but also military actions with no open acknowledgment of what they are costing the U.S.
Why are roads a Federal problem?
Shouldn’t states/towns build thier own?
Interstate commerce.
Same reason that the Feds are the regulators/air traffic control providers.
Believe me, the last thing we need is 50 little state-run FAAs, staffed with whatever political hacks/dimwitted Governor’s nephew types.
So that interstate highway in Hawaii was built for interstate commerce?
And the “big dig” in Boston too?
What about the “bridge to no where” in Alaska?
I haven’t heard of a new interstate highway being built in forever.
The interstate highway system was originally intended as a network of highways connecting cities, replacing the two lanes that existed before 1957.
Of course, the intent got hijacked by the “Bridge to Nowhere” crowd, and Interstates were built to give Congress some pork to brag about. See I-180 in northern Illinois for an example.
The interstate highway system was originally intended as a network of highways connecting cities, replacing the two lanes that existed before 1957.
Fun facts about the Interstates: After the Allies invaded Normandy, then fought (and perished) their way through back roads and hedgrerows of France, they made an amazing discovery. And that was that Germany’s road system was quite different. It had four-lane divided highways. Which Allied Forces took advantage of.
General Eisenhower was so impressed with the German Autobahn that he based the U.S. Interstate system on it. BTW, this network of highways was designed to facilitate the rapid deployment of military hardware during wartime.
What good is a Winnebago with no road safe enough on which to drive it?
Underfunded, crumbling Michigan roadways continue to decline
Lack of funding hurts economic recovery
By Sam Inglot | 07.11.11 | 8:18 am
An annual report from a Michigan transportation council shows that Michigan’s crumbling roadways are likely to worsen in the coming years due to lack of funding from the state, with the state’s economy suffering as a result.
The Transportation Asset Management Council releases yearly reports on road conditions and their 2010 update showed Michigan has an underfunded and rapidly deteriorating road system.
According to the Council’s website:
The report showed that out of all Michigan roads — highway, county and city — 35 percent were classified in the “poor” category, 46.9 percent in the “fair” category and only 18.1 percent of Michigan roads were classified as “good.” According to the Council’s projections for 2015, over 50 percent of all Michigan roads will fall under the “poor” category.
…
crumbling roadways are likely to worsen in the coming years due to lack of funding from the state ??
Partly due to the cost…Its expensive particularly when the state engineers get involved with all their specifications…Give me a 16 year old boy and in a couple of days I could teach him what it takes to repair asphalt…Instead, because of government bureaucracy, it cost 5-X what it should…
I imagine the labor costs for building a road are dwarfed by material and fuel costs.
Yes we should do away with engineers that’s sure to give us safe highways and bridges. UFB
According to my uncle who worked in road building, we haven’t built decent raods in 35 years. I don’t know exactly what he did and can’t ask since he’s been dead 23 years. I wish I knew though.
Engineers? Labor cost? Mandated safety regulations?
More like backroom deals and political favors for the final construction companies.
Civil engineering projects are dirty as the day is long.
:According to my uncle who worked in road building, we haven’t built decent raods in 35 years.”
Not sure if this is an example of what he’s talking about, but we’ve just spent a couple of years repaving I-80 from SF to east of Sacramento. The old pavement (20-30 years old) was a form of cement. Prone to long-term cracking, but much stronger and longer-lasting than the cheaper asphalt, which we now use exclusively, at least in these parts. I’ve heard that states like Arizona (Slim?) use an asphalt that contains the recycled shards of used tires, which has a double benefit of putting used tires to use, and making the road last longer and be more flexible to extreme weather conditions. Heard about that 10 years ago though, don’t know how it worked out.
False
Federal gov spending increases revenue to states that also goes into road construction. Unemployed poor people don’t burn much gas, they don’t purchase much that requires transportation.
Moody’s reported today that 2 of every 10 dollars flowing into consumpers pockets is from the fed gov.
Instead of bailing out wall street we should have spent that money on infrastructure.
“Instead of bailing out wall street we should have spent that money on infrastructure.”
Bingo! Giving bail to Wall Street was like casting money into the sea.
In looking at some of the other projects mentioned, it looks like lots of corner cutting to meet arbitrary deadlines with some predictably suboptimal outcomes. I hope someone’s inspecting the work on the new bay bridge closely.
“Work hard, work quickly, we have 60 days left”.
When I used to work for a subcontractor, we always used the old saying in negotiation:
“Done fast, done cheap, done well. Pick any two.”
Palmy, we have a similar saying in the world of laboratory testing: “You can have your test results fast, cheap, or accurate. Pick two”.
For cars: fast, cheap, reliable (pick 2)
“Done fast, done cheap, done well. Pick any two.”
Done cheap and done well? Sometimes, but not often. Done well and done fast? Again, sometimes, but not as often as we’d like.
Point I’m getting at: Done well doesn’t usually make sweet music with cheap and fast.
Beware the infrastructure project that is largely aimed at the ribbon cutting ceremony (or Chinese equivalent).
“Despite warnings from the construction team in charge…”
Reminds me of the space shuttle explosion.
Reminds me of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last year.
Reminds me of Greenspan pushing Adjustable rate loans.
I can’t wait to see what a fine job the Chinese contractors will do on the Oakland Bay Bridge replacement. I’m sure the steel will be of the finest quality and whoever they import to assemble it will be the finest craftsmen.
yes but it’s us they’re working for, not their own people.
/s
That does NOT inspire my confidence.
Sure is a good think we’re having them build the San Francisco Bay Bridge. Hope it comes with a warranty.
Ever tried to exercise a business level service contract? You practically have to threaten to sue to get anyone to honor it these days.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/43701863
Now we have the IMF, mouthpiece of the international banksters, dictating to the US how to run its economy.
one more example of those that receive our money demanding that we keep it flowing. guess our money isn’t really ours?
The US is in a stagflationary depression
As a result of the prior run up in debt. However, a deflationary depression is still a possibility.
“However, a deflationary depression is still a possibility.”
Possibility?
From what I see all around me it is occuring at this very moment.
I have been in the stagflation camp for some time…
Yes, of course, everybody has too much money.
I guess rising food, medical, fuel, education, etc. costs are a figment of our imagination.
Don’t even get me started on medical. That’s a bubble. IMO, bubbles are not signs of inflation. They eventually pop and that just pisces everyone off.
Bubble are not, that’s still YOUR money you have to pay out.
It’s like the 1970s all over again!
Bad music. Bad fashion. Scandals left and right.
Maybe I ought to break out my platform shoes, polyester shirt and bell bottoms.
Duuuude!
ecofeco,
Why such an angry young pup? No CSNY or Beatles or Cream or Zeppelin or Hendrix or Poco or Jackson Browne or Steppenwolf or Beach Boys or John Prine or John Denver or Three Dog Night or David Bowie or AC/DC or Seals and Crofts or James Taylor or Linda Rondstadt or Buffalo Springfield or Queen or The Grateful Dead or The Eagles or Janis Joplin or Charlie Pride or… should I go on??
I worked in a record store in the ’70s, and to have you trash that era of amazing diversity and talent only shows your ignorance. I spent most of my career as a teacher. Ignorance can be fixed… stupidity not so easily -
As a sound engineer, I oft lamented the dearth of innovation and talent that followed the ’60s and ’70s. Also as an employee and co-owner in mid-to-high end audio shops and a night club manager. Go back and explore. You may be amazed or disappointed. Most of my musician friends think, like me, we were blessed to be in the best time in musical history.
http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=189733
Obama speaks, markets take fright.
I can remember Bush making a speech about corporate responsibility. This was back in, oh, 2002 and 2003.
I’ll never forget that one because I was in a client’s office. He was an investment portfolio manager for some of Tucson’s wealthiest people. I was there to talk with him about constructing a website for his business.
Any-hoo, as Bush spoke on the telly, the market went down, down, and down some more. The client and I found this to be hysterically funny.
Wall St can eff off. They ARE the problem.
The solution is so simple, everyone knows that all “we” need to do is print more irredeemable fiat bucks and send them out. Why not just send every house hold a $10,000.00 check, increase unemployment payouts to 5 years and things should get back on track.Stop all foreclosures, period. Of course most consumers would think this was a grand idea!
ITEM: Economy Faces a Jolt as Benefit Checks Run Out
By MOTOKO RICH ~ The New York Times
An extraordinary amount of personal income is coming directly from the government.
Close to $2 of every $10 that went into Americans’ wallets last year were payments like jobless benefits, food stamps, Social Security and disability, according to an analysis by Moody’s Analytics. In states hit hard by the downturn, like Arizona, Florida, Michigan and Ohio, residents derived even more of their income from the government.
By the end of this year, however, many of those dollars are going to disappear, with the expiration of extended benefits intended to help people cope with the lingering effects of the recession. Moody’s Analytics estimates $37 billion will be drained from the nation’s pocketbooks this year.
In terms of economic impact, that is slightly less than the spending cuts Congress enacted to keep the government financed through September, averting a shutdown.
Unless hiring picks up sharply to compensate, economists fear that the lost income will further crimp consumer spending and act as a drag on a recovery that is still quite fragile. Among the other supports that are slipping away are federal aid to the states, the Federal Reserve’s program to pump money into the economy and the payroll tax cut, scheduled to expire at the end of the year.
Why not just send every house hold a $10,000.00 check, increase unemployment payouts to 5 years and things should get back on track
They can’t because they’re giving it all QE money to the banksters. QE3 is a done deal , the only question that remains is how much will they print this time and how high will gasoline go as a result.
It’s OK to prop up Wall St’s balance sheets. Everyone else can just tighten their belt and suck it up.
Ding Ding Ding we have a winner.
All of hte printing is going to the top
It will not stimulate demand, it will not stimulate small business, it will not improve our infrastructure, it will not improve services, it will not keep state assets from being sold for penies on teh dollar, it will not improve security etc etc etc
Ya, but in a few months WallStreet will get hold of that money anyway. Dave Chapel(?) had a segment about blacks getting reparations and they go on spending money like crazy on expensive items and making the whites even richer……
That was funny.
Pathetic. Get a life.
Looks like the heat is getting very severe today up in the midwest . Everyone needs to have a small 5ooo BTU AC in reserve or available . The Frididare or samsung brands are the best and cost about $100 at Kmart or such . That particular size will make at least 1 cool room in any house.The new ones cost very little to run , and may save a life .
Gosh, how did our ancestors who lived south of the 35th parallel survive before Mr. Carrier’s invention?
A fan, a wet towel and a fridge full of cold, non-alcoholic drink is a lot cheaper than a backup a/c unit.
Make sure to clean the cooling fins on the refrigerator, ours failed in the heat but had a blanket of dust bunnies under there. I expect to see my electricity bill drop next month.
Gosh, how did our ancestors who lived south of the 35th parallel survive before Mr. Carrier’s invention?
Long midday naps? That was the whole purpose for the siesta. It would get too hot to work during midday so everyone went home and took a nap. Hmmm … maybe that’s why the birthrate was higher back then …and why people came back to work late and in an unexplicably good mood.
Remember not all of them did. Maybe some of us inherited more hear tolerantt genes from those who did.
“Gosh, how did our ancestors who lived south of the 35th parallel survive before Mr. Carrier’s invention?”
They didn’t. They died just the same way we do.
Our electric bill for last month was under $150. We runn 3 window ac units, half a dozen computer, and wash and dry clothes for 4 people. Not bad at all considering that we are in an 80 year old house.
We remained under $100 last month with a Central air, 3000 sq ft house. The worst it’s ever been was $170 or so during a really hot August.
Compared to places like SoCal electricty is cheap here in flyover country. Also, our house is pretty well insulated.
Oh for the good old days here in Texas before they deregulated the power grid. A kilowatt used to be about 6 cents back in 2001. Now it’s .12 and up. Thank you Rick Perry
PS: I think in Oklahoma it’s still regulated and the price is .08 cents.
That’s about what it is here too. (8 cents)
The invisble hand fails again.
Viva regulation!
Actually, you should blame Enron for that one, Bluestar. They were the biggest lobbyists for state dereg.
How do I know? Guess where I was working at the time.
The invisble hand fails again.
who is it that gave the utility the monopoly in the first place?
That’s right, the government. What invisible hand????
Realtors Are Liars
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=GBTPGR2:IND
Italy bonds soaring. This is completely untenable. The Eurozone contagion may have reached the tipping point. Will the Fed print up another couple of trillion to hold the crisis at bay until after the 2012 elections?
Will the Fed print up another couple of trillion to hold the crisis at bay until after the 2012 elections?
Woo-hoo! $6 gas is on its way!
Woo-hoo! $6 gas is on its way ??
That would be closely followed 12% unemployment…
We already have 12% unemployment here in California.
Just sayin’ ….
Still not comfortable with the notion that they actually have that much power/control.
It’s July 2011 - 97 years ago this month German generals were feverishly calculating how many railcar axle loads would pass over every bridge on their rail lines during the mobilization to WW I. A lot good that did them. Our technocrats are equally haughty - maybe even more so.
Actually I think the bonds are plunging, not soaring.
Eh, this is where I get confused. The typical bond fund goes up, though, right? Because the old bonds they hold are worth more?
From the chart it looks like the interest rates paid on the Italian Bonds is soaring so any older Bonds that pay less interest are going down in price
so old bonds are worth less
Looks like Warren Buffett supports Elizabeth Warren
Buffett praised Elizabeth Warren, 62, the Harvard University law professor, assigned by President Barack Obama to set up the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Senate Republicans have sought changes to the new agency’s structure before confirming anyone as its director.
Representative Patrick McHenry, a North Carolina Republican, in a May hearing, questioned the “veracity” of Warren’s previous statements. The two also clashed about whether the committee pledged to a time limit on her appearance.
‘Lot of Enemies’
“She’s made a lot of enemies,” Buffett said. “But we needed a lot of correction. I mean, when you see what happened in the mortgage issuance market of five years ago, a lot of things took place that shouldn’t have taken place.
“It’s up to both the industry and the government to correct it,” Buffett said. “It’s great if the industry does it by itself, but it’s clear you need a policeman. And she’s a pretty good policeman,” he said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-08/buffett-says-banks-are-plenty-profitable-after-rules-limiting-leverage.html
‘Representative Patrick McHenry, a North Carolina Republican, in a May hearing, questioned the “veracity” of Warren’s previous statements.’
I question how much FIRE money McHenry takes as campaign contributions. And ditto for the rest of the anti-consumer protection Republitards…
McHenry is a tool
of the FIRE sector.
His contribution breakdown is utterly unsurprising:
http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00026627&cycle=2010
I’d really like to see the government get back to being representatives of the people, instead of representatives of the highest bidder.
all the big four are representin’ yall!
Navy to Cut Jobs Amid Recession-Driven Sailor Surplus
~ Foxnews
U.S. sailors of the USS Monterey stand next to their vessel in the Black Sea port of Constanta, Romania, Tuesday, June 7, 2011.
With more sailors staying in the military amid a slumping economic recovery, the U.S. Navy is taking the unprecedented step of firing low-ranking petty officers to help rein in spending.
The Navy plans to let go of 3,000 young sailors after economic uncertainty put the service in the unusual position of having a manpower surplus.
The move comes as a new government report shows that the unemployment rate ticked up to 9.2 percent — marking 29 straight months that number has been over 8 percent and a record streak since the Great Depression.
In August, the Navy will convene a board to review the cases of 16,000 sailors and eliminate 3,000 positions, about 1 percent of the force. Navy officials say the jobs cuts will be based on experience and individual performance records.
I’ve seen this happen before in the armed forces and it’s not pretty:
Get an eighteen year old to enlist, give him an identity as a soldier/marine/…whatever. Promise him a pension at twenty years and then kick him out just short of twenty years.
You not only strip him of his pension you strip him of his identity. It’s tragic.
I’ve seen grown men cry like babies.
“Promise him a pension at twenty years and then kick him out just short of twenty years.”
Are Navy pensions exempt from ERISA?
I believe that they aren’t vested until the 20 year mark is reached.
Being a former San Diegan I heard plenyt of horror stories about sailors getting the boot before their pensions were vested.
One of the primary purposes of ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974) was to provide for faster vesting of pension benefits, thereby eliminating the employer’s ability to take them away from employees with long service.
But I am not sure whether the Navy’s pension plan is subject to ERISA…
thereby eliminating the employer’s ability to take them away from employees with long service.
The “TrueBeliever’s™ / “TrueDeceiver’s™” “MegaBidne$$men” in America, would never do $uch a thing, on account$ of they’s “Profe$$ional’s” saturated with century’$ of peon-worker concern$! Oh, and they per$onify the very concept of behavior$ derived from “Ethic’$”
“MegaBidne$$ can Self-regulate!” … is a “TrueBeliever’s™ / “TrueDeceiver’s™”
mottomantra#2 leg of a 3 legged rabbie$ infe$ted dog.Insightful quote, but really, how does this #2 wealthie$t know such a thing? How? This from a man who shows up to hi$ shareholder meetings carrying a chicken leg & diet cherry coke & great big $mile.
Buffett said. “It’s great if the industry does it by itself, but it’s clear you need a policeman.”
Cinder$ & Ashe$!, Schemer$ & Scammer$!, Agonie$ & Pain$!
You talking about the best educated people in America, yet they & their “MegaCorporation Inc.’$” …alway$… seem to end up in x1 place: “Financially Indemnified!”
x1 Example : “Lehman Bro$” death = “Free-Market$ Financial Competition” right? The glorious “Invi$ible-hand” made a financial genetic “$urvival-of-the-fittest” “Bidene$$” decision, right?
So, for the Bidne$$folk$ & Gov’t Rep’$ driving & navigating sitting in the people’s back-seat yapping “are we there yet? are we there yet?
Seventy-five (Tao Te Ching)
Why are the people starving?
Because the rulers eat up the money in taxes.
Therefore the people are starving.
Why are the people rebellious?
Because the rulers interfere too much.
Therefore they are rebellious.
Why do the people think so little of death?
Because the rulers demand too much of life.
Therefore the people take death lightly.
Having little to live on, one knows better than to value life too much.
To think the $olution is so $imple:
Straighten up and fly right
Straighten up and stay right
Straighten up and fly right
Military pensions are exempt.
The Military is exempt from a LOT of civilian rules.
When I was in college I was approached by the Navy regarding an ROTC scholarship (full ride). In exchange for the full ride I would have to serve as an officer of course.
An older friend, who served a single tour of duty, told me to run for my life. In his words: you give up all your rights when you sign up. They tell you what you can do and when you can do it, and you can’t quit. In his opinion, it wasn’t worth the pension.
An older friend, who served a single tour of duty, told me to run for my life. In his words: you give up all your rights when you sign up. They tell you what you can do and when you can do it, and you can’t quit. In his opinion, it wasn’t worth the pension.
That’s what eventually drove my father out of the Naval Reserve. And he was an officer. From what my mom said, the Navy didn’t want to lose him.
So explain to me why someone who voluntarily signs up to go kill people he’s never known and knows nothing about deserves a lifelong pension from those of us who oppose violence as a civil response to corporate entanglements?
So sorry. Not going for it…
Reminds me of Corporate Amerika. Fire the guys who do the work for peanuts and keep all the overpaid “officers” who pretend they are busy.
“Fire the guys who do the work for peanuts …”
These guys are considered dispensible cannon fodder by the guys in charge, both in military terms and corporate terms, and hence are easily replaced.
Unfortunately.
There goes the last available “blue collar job” that paid OK.
At my kids’ highschool half of the boys try to enlist upon graduation as they have no other prospects. I guess they’ll be in their parent’s basement playing with their XBox when they aren’t stocking shelves at their part time, minimum wage job.
“At my kids’ highschool half of the boys try to enlist upon graduation as they have no other prospects. I guess they’ll be in their parent’s basement playing with their XBox when they aren’t stocking shelves at their part time, minimum wage job.”
And because of this basic fact, I LMAO every time I hear someone celebrate the idea we have a voluntary armed forces. There is nothing voluntary about it and there hasn’t been since the draft was rescinded.
I guess they’ll be in their parent’s basement playing with their XBox when they aren’t stocking shelves at their part time, minimum wage job.
My guess is eventually they will be breaking into their neighbors homes, holding them up at gun point, kidnapping their family members and selling drugs.
My guess is eventually they will be breaking into their neighbors homes, holding them up at gun point, kidnapping their family members and selling drugs.
YMMV. I have heard of people my kids know who have been busted for dealing drugs.
“….breaking into neighbors homes……..selling drugs”
My plan for what I’ll do the next time I’m thrown under the bus.
Damn. Someone beat me to it.
No “eventually” to it.
Are. Already are.
It’s amazing how many people think that you can stay in the military as long as you want.
Sheila Bair’s exit interview
“I think the president’s heart is in the right place,” Bair told me. “I absolutely do. But the dichotomy between who he selected to run his economic team and what he personally would like them to be doing — I think those are two very different things.” What particularly galls her is that Treasury under both Paulson and Geithner has been willing to take all sorts of criticism to help the banks. But it has been utterly unwilling to take any political heat to help homeowners.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/10/magazine/sheila-bairs-exit-interview.html?_r=2&pagewanted=8
“But it has been utterly unwilling to take any political heat to help homeowners.”
This seems a little off target, given the HAMP and other programs put in place by the Obamanomics team to help homeowners, plus announcement of a policy to prop up the value of homes in a State of the Union address (I believe this was in 2010, but the housing collapse is so drawn out at this point that I have lost track).
The big problem with helping homeowners seems to be the challenge of collectively improving the well being of a very heterogeneous potential beneficiary group. For instance, propping up housing prices helps present homeowners at the cost of increasing prices for potential future homeowners. And trying to use federal tax dollars to fill the underwater gap on homes that are now worth less than what is owed on the mortgages helps the lenders and borrowers on the underwater houses at the expense of the taxpayers whose money is used to fill the gap, many of whom most likely are homeowners.
Private markets offer mechanisms for allocating private goods to private households (such as housing and loanable funds) which government subsidy programs have a hard time matching in terms of fairness or efficiency.
The top level leaders believe they can centrally plan the economy. The big idea of the free market and Adam Smith was that SOMEHOW, the market would itself allocate resources more efficiently than a central planner. History shows us that the free market is the most efficient resource allocation mechanism, but it does need regulation to keep it performing optimally for the benefit of all of society.
The Soviet experience showed us the problems of unapologetic central planning.
Regarding the wanna-be central planners: “Access to power must be confined to those who are not in love with it.” — Plato
“but it does need regulation to keep it performing optimally for the benefit of all of society.”
Hayek thought the government’s role was to implement policy that improved competition.
Our government’s role often times seems to be implementing policy which robs Peter to pay Paul — not exactly what Doctor Hayek ordered to improve competition (in the desirable, collective wealth-increasing sense of the term).
I can’t speak for everyone else, but when the game is rigged to take the product of my efforts and to hand it over to others as entitlements, my efforts flag.
It’s funny how some top U.S. politicians and economic policy makers seem to have missed the lessons about the folly of too much central planning which the collapsed Soviet Union taught so well.
They didn’t miss it they profited from it.
NYT had a piece the other day about the investment returns of congress. It turns out they do much better than most hedgefunds, I think the figure was 10% annual returns.
Capitalism provides no benefit when you get unregulated monopolies and oligopolies controlling markets and probably causes harm when these power players take control of gov. More and more consolidation in every industry has brought us here.
But central planning is working great in China.
So far.
Ah, Mr. Plato:
“The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.”
The thoughts that come from olives, wine & contemplations…
“Unapologetic central planning”
We had our whole economy run by “central planning” during World War II.
All in all, that seemed to turn out okay. Of course, the central planners at the time were more interested in winning a war as quickly as possible.
Our central planners now only seem interested in winning the war for the Wall Street/Bankster crowd.
Our central planners now only seem interested in winning the war for the Wall Street/Bankster crowd.
Quick soldier! Keep firing! Money is no problem, we won’t let Wall St. go down!
All in all, that seemed to turn out okay. Of course, the central planners at the time were more interested in winning a war as quickly as possible.
Indeed we did win it as quickly as possible. Recall that we didn’t get into the thing until after Pearl Harbor in 1941. And the war was over in August 1945.
That’s less than four years of U.S. involvement. Which compares pretty favorably to our open-ended quagmire in Afghanistan.
Eventually, people in the military are going to start asking themselves if they are fighting for “our country”, or for the bottom lines of the banksters and Multi Nationals.
Fifty years from now, we’ll be talking about how we fought an undeclared World War, to secure cheap resources (oil, raw materials, labor) for the 1%ers and MNCs.
“Which compares pretty favorably to our open-ended quagmire in Afghanistan.”
I recall when we first waded into this mess, that some pundits were saying that we were wading into a “quagmire”. They were shouted down by the Neo-Cons who kept saying that we would be in and out of there in no time.
Sometmes those pinko lib’ruls are right.
i thought the libs were all for going into afhganistan…it was iraq they objected to.
i’m one of those wingnuts that objected to both…but we got osama!
<i.”The top level leaders believe they can centrally plan the economy. The big idea of the free market and Adam Smith was that SOMEHOW, the market would itself allocate resources more efficiently than a central planner. History shows us that the free market is the most efficient resource allocation mechanism, but it does need regulation to keep it performing optimally for the benefit of all of society.
The Soviet experience showed us the problems of unapologetic central planning.
History shows us that there is no such thing and never will be, as a “free market.” Markets will always be gamed, rigged and cheated and regulation and enforcement are the only counter.
Even Adam Smith knew this and said so.
As for central planning, I agree. Wall St. must go.
“…propping up housing prices helps present homeowners at the cost of increasing prices for potential future homeowners…”
Others who lose due to artificially inflated housing prices:
1) Lenders
2) Used home sellers
3) Builders
4) Home improvement retailers (Loew’s, Home Depot, etc)
5) Furniture sellers
All of these groups lose because when home prices are unaffordable, fewer homes sell, and related service industries have less business.
The National Association of Realtards seems to perpetually miss the link between affordability and the rate of home sales.
they are addicted to RE Inflation
their business model fails absent RE inflation
Saw some new homes for Sale in Moorpark from the 600K ( these are the cheap ones ) reminded me of the area between Poway and the Sea off the 56 Hwy Carmel Mountain ? West of Black Mountain. Anyway the sales guy tells me inventory is 3 months
he failed to mention all the Forclosures. These new homes got bought up by infestores in late 2005 2006 just as I fled the area for Phoenix. I remember groups of young investors( house wives of Orange co. ) , using the furniture to eat fast food and make deals buying all they could get financing for.
It falls slow here on the coast.
ummm…why is it always an either/or.
why not just neither?
” But it has been utterly unwilling to take any political heat to help homeowners.”
Free government workshop for troubled homeowners Monday in Hollywood
By Jeff Ostrowski Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 11:50 a.m. Thursday, July 7, 2011
A free Help for Homeowners workshop is scheduled for 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday at the Westin Diplomat Resort in Hollywood, 3555 S. Ocean Drive.
The event is sponsored by the Obama Administration’s Making Home Affordable Program, HOPE NOW Alliance and NeighborWorks America. Troubled borrowers can meet with mortgage companies and federally approved counseling agents to work on a solution to help them stay in their home.
For more information, go to http://www.MakingHomeAffordable.gov.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/money/foreclosures/free-government-workshop-for-troubled-homeowners-monday-in-1589073.html - 72k -
“…utterly unwilling to take heat…”
I simply don’t know where she is coming from on this, as the evidence contradicts her.
Federal program to aid homeowners behind on mortgages
July 10, 2011 6:23 PM
Jared Janes
The Monitor
McALLEN – A federal housing program will help homeowners in danger of foreclosure by providing them with a zero-interest, forgivable loan to catch up on missed mortgage payments.
The Emergency Homeowners Loan Program, created under the federal financial regulatory reform bill passed last year, will aid up to about 30,000 distressed borrowers across the country who are behind on payments due to unemployment or underemployment.
The EHLP, which began accepting payments in mid-June, will help relieve foreclosure concerns caused by rising unemployment rates in the Rio Grande Valley, said Salomon Torres, the district director for U.S. Rep. Rubén Hinojosa, D-Mercedes. Although the national unemployment rate has dropped from 9.3 percent to 8.7 percent since May 2010, unemployment rates in Hidalgo and Cameron counties have risen to nearly 12 percent in the same time frame.
Torres said unemployment has caused many Valley homeowners to get behind on their payments.
“This distress translates into lost income for households across the Valley. When that happens, a homeowner has no choice (but) to skip a payment,” Torres said. “You pick and choose between gasoline, grocery bills or your mortgage payments.”
…
“You pick and choose between gasoline, grocery bills or your mortgage payments.”
Homeloaner
1. grocery bills
2. gasoline
3. mortgage payments
Renter
1. rent payment
2. grocery bills
3. gasoline
“Torres said unemployment has caused many Valley homeowners to get behind on their payments.”
Thank God unemployment has not caused any Valley renters to get behind on their payments.
Battery company pulling plug on plant
Company to fire 120 people, turn unit into ‘development hub’
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
ICCNexergy Inc., a maker of rechargeable battery packs, is closing its plant on the Northwest Side, the company has told the state.
The Chicago-based company, known as Nexergy before a merger last year, plans to lay off 86 full-time employees and 34 temporary employees by the end of October, according to a letter sent to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
Workers have known about the move since April, when the company said it was converting the Columbus plant, 1909 Arlingate Lane, into a “business development hub.” A spokesman declined to say how many people will work there under this new setup.
The plant produces battery packs for industrial uses, serving telecommunication, medical and military customers.
In October, Nexergy merged with International Components Corp. That led to the decision in April to restructure the combined company’s manufacturing, with 75percent of the work to be done in China, 15percent in Mexico and 10 percent in Colorado.
It’s not even a “development hub” which would be a place for engineers and designers to work on the product line. It’s a “business development hub”, i.e. a place for the sales guys to file their reports. Pathetic.
Who are they supposed to sell stuff to if all the customers (factories) are in Asia? A lot of companies are moving their supply chain operations over there already.
Isn’t it basically an empty shell of offices which you *hope* to get companies to lease?
We have one of those in Loveland. Agilent dumped its million square foot campus (The site once employed 3000 people when HP owned it and they actually made stuff there as recently as 10 years ago) for $5,000,000. Some NASA related group called “ACE” is buying it and after fixing it up they plan on drawing tenants who will be offered access to use NASA patents for “clean energy” and aerospace applications.
ACE has promised as many as 7,000 jobs and our city leadership is salivating like a hungry dog.
We’ll see how this boondoggle turns out. I’m guessing that it will attract a bunch of underfunded and low pay start ups and we’ll be lucky if 1000 jobs are created (better than nothing I guess)
Wow.
Here it is for free.
http://www.nasa.gov/offices/ipp/centers/jsc/index.html
I would have never thought to set up a scam like that.
How many courses are there left, if they cut 9000? I had no idea there could be that many.
UNC expects to cut 9,000 courses
The Associated Press
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — The University of North Carolina system is sharing the pain of a $414 million budget cut lawmakers told them to divide, deciding Thursday that the state’s flagship campus should take the biggest hit.
University leaders warned three months ago that a budget cut of this magnitude would result in about 9,000 fewer course offerings and the loss of 1,500 faculty jobs statewide.
For months, campuses have been carrying out layoffs, leaving other positions vacant and otherwise preparing for the day their cuts will be known, university system spokeswoman Joni Worthington said. Where and how the cuts allocated Thursday will effect each campus will be decided locally, she said.
“We’re going to see those play out over the course of the next several months. But there is absolutely no doubt that there will be fewer course sections. The course sections that we have will be larger. There will be reductions in student services and other programs on every campus and there will certainly be additional job losses and the elimination of lots of filled positions,” Worthington said.
Cut higher education for the young now. Promise now that today’s young won’t get Social Security and Medicare later.
But whatever you do, no cuts to senior benefits now. That would be dealth panels. Pay for them with debt. Promise future cuts will pay it off.
That seems to be the Republican program. It is the Democratic program for it to happen by accident instead of on purpose.
I’d rather have the whole thing collapse right now.
“I’d rather have the whole thing collapse right now”.
That’s what would have & should have already happen, if not for the bubble gum and scotch tape fix attempts. The vast majority believe the world would have ended and we would all be back to sleeping in caves had the natural course of events occurred. That would not have been the case, but D.C. does a wonderful job of scaring the pants off of the population, and they know it.
So instead we postpone the inevitable, so that in the future someone else and their offspring will have to suffer even more severely. Great group we have turned out to be.
Yup, both parties love to play kick the can. The politicos know they’ll be dead or retired when the poop hits the fan and that it will be someone else’s problem.
One thing that crosses my mind was the growing sympathy in this country for communism when everything did crash and how the New Deal was quickly cobbled together tp stave that off.
“The vast majority believe the world would have ended and we would all be back to sleeping in caves had the natural course of events occurred.”
Maybe only for those dependent on Social Security.
“…no cuts to senior benefits now…”
They earned their rights to social security benefits to help purchase Winnebagos, fair and square.
Years ago I actually saw a Winnebago or similar large motor home with a bumper sticker on the back that said, “Your Social Security Taxes At Work.”
The current maximum SS benefit is $2,366 a month and only a fraction of recipients get that amount.
If that’s all you get (no other pensions) then I don’t see any Winnebagos being purchased. Bottom line, those people have other sources of income.
Unless they sold the house to buy the Winnebago.
“Bottom line, those people have other sources of income.”
My comments were aimed towards well-heeled retirees with plenty of investments, private pension benefits plus social security to boot.
In full disclosure, my dad is in this group. I don’t begrudge him or anyone else their due in retirement. But if there is going to be shared sacrifice in the form of cuts in federal expenditures, I don’t think entitlements should automatically qualify for an exemption, just because numbnutz politicians consider them a ‘third rail.’
Yes and let’s not tax the wealthy who have been bailed out and have seen their wealth and political power grow rapidly. Let’s not change our trade policy which helps the elite make money and drives the middle class into the ground. Let’s not cut our war spending.
WT, benefits and payments to seniors have been frozen or cut. SS gas been frozen for the last 3 years with no future plans to un-freeze it and Medicare rates changed, became more restrictive and rates more than doubled for many situations.
Where have you been?
9,000 courses?
It did say statewide. I don’t know how many campuses UNC has nor what their total enrollment is. Assuming that the average student takes 6 classes pe semester that would the equivalent of 1500 students dropping out.
Teachers only average 2 classes per semester.
That is definitely true at the larger “research” universities where its “publish or perish”. I have seen schools where profs teach more than 2 classes and they teach to actual classes of 20-30 studnets and not in auditoriums to 200-300 students.
There is a lot of prestige associated with studying at a big name school, but my experience at those places was that your were actually taught by foreign TA’s who could barely speak English.
That was my take too. When one accounts all courses offered by all UNC campuses, it probably represents a cut of well under 10 percent and probably no more than 5 percent of total course offerings.
If those 1500 students represent 1500 students that would have eventually dropped out and not completed their degrees, they are arguably better off than incurring debt for classes and not getting a degree.
The catalog at my U was full of fanciful but rarely taught classes.
yeah but isn’t there anywhere from 20 to 200 students in each course/class? or am i not thinking through this the right way?
(i had 200+ students in my college chemistry class)
That’s the cut to public employees actually providing services. What do you think the cut will be for retired UNC workers? Zero perhaps?
There are 17 campuses in the UNC system, though some of them are pretty small. UNC-CH is the largest followed by NC State, then East Carolina, IIRC.
I expect that the larger schools are going to see proportionally larger cuts than the smaller schools. UNC-CH, NCSU and ECU have all grown in recent years to be ‘all that they can be’.
How much are they cutting from the football and basketball programs?
Yeah. I thought so.
One of my clients has developed an entire suite of online courses for the University of Arizona. He’s a big believer in the notion that the future of education is online, rather than in classrooms with someone droning on up front.
And I can’t help but agree.
After all, we already have such successful online models as Lynda.com, which is sort of a mecca for people in fields like mine. Then there’s the Khan Academy, the place to go if you need help in understanding just about any subject under the sun.
D-3 for the big hearing on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on July 14th: http://www.consumerfinance.gov/
The CFPB is slated to open for business on July 21st. Without a director, its powers are significantly hobbled.
FYI, July 14th is also Bastille Day: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bastille_Day
It commemorates the 1790 Fête de la Fédération, held on the first anniversary of the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789
My hopeful guess: Obama will grow a spine and nominate Elizabeth Warren to head this agency. It will prove to be a very popular decision, and will aid greatly in his re-election campaign.
Pre-markets are a little gloomy this A.M. Will need to perk (PPT) things up a bit today. The DOW can not be allowed to reflect what is really going on in our economy. 13,000 or bust!
The futures aren’t looking so bright. But then again, the DJIA is up over 600 points in just a few weeks’ time, so why worry? Just buy the dip!
Before the Bell
Countdown to the open: 0:42:29
Index Futures:
S&P 500 1,323.70 -18.10 -1.35%
DOW 12,485 -196.00 -1.55%
NASDAQ 2,380 -29.00 -1.20%
the dow does reflect what is really going on.
the fed has been printing non stop, this makes the dow go up.
it is only an indication that your dollars are worth less.
“the fed has been printing non stop”
I thought QE2 just ended; does this have implications for the rate at which the printing press technology operates, or doesn’t it?
to me all 3 evils produce the same result
1) taxation
2) printing
3) lending money into existance ( fractional reserve lending )
when you call it the end of QE2 it sounds as though there were 2 events not an ongoing debasement of your currency.
You’re going to have a rough life on this planet, then.
Have most Americans caught on by now that a house is not a home, but rather a financial scam designed to suck your personal wealth into the banking system’s black hole?
When your house is not a home
By Bennett Hall | Posted: Sunday, July 10, 2011 12:21 am
As the foreclosure crisis grinds on, hundreds of mid-valley residents fight to keep the bank at bay
Sandy Jenne has spent the last two and a half years fighting to save her Albany house. Twice she started to make trial payments under a mortgage modification plan, and twice her lender changed course and decided to foreclose on the property instead.
Last month, just when she thought she was about to lose the battle, the mortgage company reversed itself again and converted her foreclosure into a loan modification.
This time she thinks the decision may stick. But even if it does, it could still turn out to be a hollow victory.
Jenne, 59, lost her livelihood when health issues forced her to stop running her successful home-based day care service and apply for disability benefits. Now, although her mortgage payments have been reduced, they still gobble up two-thirds of her monthly income, leaving her with too little left for food, utilities and other expenses.
“Right now,” she said, “I’m just treading water.”
Millions of other Americans are in similar straits. When the foreclosure crisis hit in 2008, the federal government responded with assistance programs aimed at helping struggling homeowners keep up on their mortgage payments.
But many of those who qualify still have a hard time getting their lenders to agree to a mortgage modification, despite both pressure and financial incentives from the government. And the approval process is so complex and time-consuming that some people just give up.
“In terms of working with the mortgage servicers, it’s gridlock,” said Jon Polansky, a foreclosure counselor with the Community Services Consortium. “The horror stories we hear about are true.”
Currently almost 23,000 housing units in Oregon are in some stage of the foreclosure process, with more than 700 of those in Linn and Benton counties, according to the real estate data service RealtyTrac.
…
I bought nine years ago and paid 2.5 times my gross income, and I now have roughly $5k to pay it off, and I feel like it cost too much. I couldn’t imagine paying 12 times my income…even for good weather!
rms
Where are you?
Our first home (1984) in So Ca was 3.5 times income. In 1998 it was the same 3.5, but our incomes had soared. Our “comfort zone” was to be able to bank 1/2 our net. We sold at a profit, and have been in limbo (renters) ever since. We’re actively looking to buy now.
I head a radio ad (don’t remember the sponsor) that said the formula is now the annual rent X 15. If it’s in that ballpark, you’ll be there 7 years,then buy it as a primary. That’s insane.
rms
$5K, wow, good for you. I hope you’ll have a mortgage burning party, and set an example for others on the block. That’s quite an accomplishment these days. And in 9 years! I’m proud of you.
Awaiting, I’m in eastern Washington’s Columbia Basin between Ephrata and Moses Lake. FWIW, I’m also supporting a stay at home wife and two kids. I was shooting for the title this September, but my son needed braces, so another $4,200 on the credit card. Current plan is for December, braces and title; fingers crossed!
rms
Even more impressive. You guys have fiscal responsibility down to a science. I’m really happy to read your success story.
Your area sounds lovely. Maybe we should buy elsewhere! So Ca is a 3rd world cesspool.
Time for yourgage……
Just when Jenne was going to be able to start making mortgage payments again for the first time in almost 3 years….
Cue the violins
“Jenne, 59, lost her livelihood when health issues forced her to stop running her successful home-based day care service and apply for disability benefits. Now, although her mortgage payments have been reduced, they still gobble up two-thirds of her monthly income, leaving her with too little left for food, utilities and other expenses.”
I have to go get a towel to mop up the tears that have soaked my keyboard.
Jeff, please, she had *health issues* you know.
I sincerely hope you both get your turn.
U.S. Shopping Center Vacancies Rise After Year of Holding Steady
(Bloomberg) — Vacancies at U.S. shopping centers rose for the first time in a year in the second quarter as retail properties lagged behind the rebound by offices and apartments, according to Reis Inc. Regional mall vacancies climbed to the highest level on record.
The vacancy rate at neighborhood and community shopping centers rose to 11 percent from 10.9 percent, where it had stood since the second quarter of last year, the New York-based real estate research firm said today in a report. The rate for regional and superregional malls increased to 9.3 percent, the highest since Reis began collecting the data in 2000.
Retailers are cutting back on space and closing stores as unemployment remains above 9 percent and online competition grows. More than a dozen national retailers have declared bankruptcy since the recession in 2008 and 2009.
“This remains consistent with our view over the last couple of years that the retail sector will be the last to recover from the effects of the recession,” Ryan Severino, a senior economist at Reis, said in an e-mail.
Apartment vacancies fell to 6 percent in the second quarter, the lowest since the end of 2007, from 7.8 percent a year earlier, according to a Reis report yesterday. Downtown office vacancies dropped to 13.9 percent, the lowest since mid- 2009, from 14.8 percent a year earlier, Cushman & Wakefield Inc. said today.
Mr. Pin I’d like you to meet Mr. Bubble
Nice to meet you, MrPin. This is gonna hurt though, isn’t it?
MrBubble
And some retailers have clauses in their contracts that can entitle them to lower rents if there are losses of anchor stores or substantial vacancies, further lowering the shopping center income.
It seems like some politicians are just now waking up to the robo-signing scandal, a story which broke last fall.
Conn. senator seeks review of foreclosure practices; event planned to raise awareness
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First Posted: July 11, 2011 - 3:01 am
Last Updated: July 11, 2011 - 3:04 am
…
HARTFORD, Conn. — Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal is calling on federal and state officials to look into lapses in how home foreclosures are being conducted.
Blumenthal and several other lawmakers recently wrote to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, urging them to work with state attorneys general to investigate various foreclosure-related issues, such as alleged improper home seizures, lapses in tracking paperwork, questionable signing of legal documents and the use of inexperienced workers.
Blumenthal and some mortgage foreclosure advocates have scheduled a news conference Monday at the Legislative Office Building. They plan to discuss the questionable practices affecting homeowners at risk of foreclosure.
…
Back room deals and campaigning take up a lot of time, you know.
Does this sound to others besides me like a description of felonious financial fraud, which should be punishable by prison time?
“Robo-signing is when a bank, mortgage company or foreclosure company has multiple people sign documents with the name of the person who is supposed to sign those documents and then has them notarized as having been signed by that person.”
Why are those responsible for systemic financial fraud immune from prosecution?
Michigan foreclosure firm implicated in robo-signing
Thousands of foreclosures may be invalidated
By Todd A. Heywood | 07.08.11 | 8:29 am
A Massachusetts county clerk says a forensic examination of documents filed by Troy-based Orlans Associates, one of the largest foreclosure firms in Michigan, shows that the company has engaged in illegal robo-signing.
Robo-signing is when a bank, mortgage company or foreclosure company has multiple people sign documents with the name of the person who is supposed to sign those documents and then has them notarized as having been signed by that person. In the case of Orlans, the signer was supposed to be attorney Marshall Isaacs, but he has now been implicated in two states for having had others sign his name and notarize that he did so.
…
You have problem with Corporate Communist Capitalism©®™, comrade?
http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=189753
Italy: The Lesson for America
Debt ceiling and sovereign debt.
We can raise the debt ceiling to keep the spending and borrowing economy alive for now. Europe can create another bailout to save Italy or any of the other PIIGS. Yes we can!
But let’s quit kidding ourselves. The longer we delay the inevitable the larger and more disruptive the resulting default will be. The longer we delay, the more time the banksters have to steal money from taxpayers and convert it into hard assets. That’s what’s happening in Greece right now. Government property at fire sale prices to the benefit of banks.
Those that think we can just keep on raising the debt ceiling and project a balanced budget in the year 2355 will be in for a very rude awakening sooner rather than later.
What needs to happen might as well happen now. The current generational debt cycle is near its end. Debts and promises that can not be paid back will be defaulted on. Yes, that includes YOUR social security payments, grandma’s savings account and my 401K. But such is life, not the first time a monetary system went belly up.
“The longer we delay, the more time the banksters have to steal money from taxpayers and convert it into hard assets.”
Spot on Mike. This is all it is imo. When the dollar collapses where will you be? Sitting on a pile of presidential portraits?
Not I. I’d rather take the sure thing now as being wrong with the other bet could leave you penniless.
Testify, my brothahs!
What is this sure thing you refer to?
Meanwhile, across the pond …
Renters scramble for rooms as mortgage lenders remain reluctant
Lenders’ continued reluctance to grant mortgages to first-time buyers is putting pressure on the rental market and leading to a scramble for rooms, according to research from flatsharing website EasyRoomate.
It said four tenants were competing for each room available to rent in the UK, with the number soaring to more than 13 in some areas of the country.
www DOT guardian.co.uk/money/2011/jul/11/renters-scramble-rooms-mortgage-lenders-reluctant
How’s that Hope and Change working out for you now, limey wankers?
OK, I’m puzzled. Why the Hope and Change taunt? Obama isn’t the president of the UK. Furthermore, they elected their equivalent of the GOP to power.
Left in Ohio is being facetious and jabbing at the neocons.
Sign of the times:
My MIL, a long-time died-in-the-wool Utah Republican, thinks the Tea Party people are crazies.
I have a feeling Obama is going to get re-elected for the simple reason that the right wing fringe of the Republican Party has jumped off the deep end.
BwaHaHaHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAHAHAHHAHAAA!!!
That reminds of my republican MIL when watching footage of teabaggers protesting….. she shook her head and mumbled, “nutjobs”.
Typical Republicans are usually too repressed to demonstrate. It goes against the grain.
He’s repressing me!
can see Joe Voter on election day, working his way through the ballot, scrutinizing the candidates, voting for the one who is the least crazy.
But isn’t that the way it usually is?
The “evangelical” “TrueBeliever’s™ / “TrueDeceiver’s™” + The “TruePathtoProsperity!” are pregnant with Ra$h Limpbaugh$ & Glenbeckinstan’$ “who’s-your-daddy?” idea$. They’ve even pick out a name: “TruePurity!”
Obma’s been good the to elites and TPTB, so he will get reelected not because of the tea crazies.
“…right wing fringe of the Republican Party…”
Isn’t this redundant?
Fat-fingering the Dow down. Way ta go!
Here’s an interesting article about how the DOW has far outpaced housing, even in California, since 1980.
If a disciplined investor who might have considered purchasing that median-price house in 1980 had opted instead to invest the 20% down payment of $19,910 and the normal homeownership expenses (above the cost of renting) over the years in the Dow Jones Industrial Index, the value of his portfolio in 2010 would have been $1,800,016. The stocks would have been worth more than the house by $1,503,196. If the analysis is based on 2007, the stock portfolio would have been worth $2,186,120, exceeding the house value by $1,625,850.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304259304576375323652341888.html
It’s not clear if the author took into consideration that housing is generally leveraged 5 to 1.
I really like this quip: “The sanctity of mortgage obligations has become the rough moral equivalent of the 55-mile-per-hour speed limit.”
“The sanctity of mortgage obligations has become the rough moral equivalent of the 55-mile-per-hour speed limit.”
heheeeheeeheehaahaaahaaheeehaahaaa… (Hwy50™)
No worries, it just a matter of “enforcement & compliance”… x millions.
Good. The sooner people view housing as a place to live, the better. Housing is consumption.
1980 the start of the great bull run in stocks
If the news was….
Food prices keep dropping.
Gas prices keep dropping.
College tuition prices keep dropping.
Cost of medical care keeps dropping.
But the news is….
House prices keep dropping.
Why is that?
Stagflation?
Because the NAR and the MBA have successfully hoodwinked loan-owners into believing that one’s home is one’s best and biggest nest egg and that one should buy the BIGGEST, most expensive house one can afford?
ATHENS (Reuters) - A deeper-than-expected recession caused Greece’s central government deficit to widen by almost one third in the first half of the year, widely missing an interim budget target under the country’s bailout plan, the finance ministry said on Monday.
One third? Just remember, close only counts in horseshoes and hand gernades.
Probably has more to do with realizing the hidden debt that GS helped Greece hide. From Curb your enthusiasm it’s the double transgression theory.
Here’s a fact that should give economists—and maybe President Obama’s political team—heartburn: Two years after the Great Recession officially ended, job prospects for young Americans remain historically grim. More than 17 percent of 16-to-24-year-olds who are looking for work can’t find a job, a rate that is close to a 30-year high. The employment-to-population ratio for that demographic—the percentage of young people who are working—has plunged to 45 percent. That’s the lowest level since the Labor Department began tracking the data in 1948.
www DOT nationaljournal.com/magazine/recent-grads-economic-struggles-could-hurt-obama-20110707
How’s that Hope and Change working out for you now?
The “new” play-safe playground equipment seems to exclude the old school teaching tool, the teeter-totter!
“How’s that Hope and Change working out for
youeveryone now?”Cheney-Shrub Legacy Effect #3: “We left y’all with the worst POS economy in 80 years…see ya!”
Hurry, hurry,
slipperybananaLeft Ohio,… re-assemble it! We need to get to grandma’s house before the Big Bad Wolf!http://image.internetautoguide.com/f/auto-news/2010-hyundai-genesis-sedan-disassembled-on-its-new-interactive-website/27465436/2010-hyundai-genesis-sedan-disassembled.jpg
Well, that’s what happens when you offshore eveything in sight. Adults wind up doing “kid jobs” like delivering newspapers, working part time in retail and fast food and mowing lawns.
Where are the young college grads supposed to work when just about any mid to large size company is doing all its hiring in the 3rd world? Even the call center jobs are going to places like Costa Rica and Mexico.
That’s exactly what my 65-ish (not very educated) uncle does: Landscaping and a paper route. It would only be more “uniquely American” if he also had a 3rd gig, working part-time at Burger Thing.
It’s supposed to free them up to invent safe fussion reactors
If we level the world then America becomes the Silicon valley to the rest of the world
and we americans all have to be much more creative to afford to live here, not working too good huh ?
’cause we all know McCain had a solid economic plan to end the recession.
ziiiiiiiiiiiiinggggggggggggggggggggg….. (exeter™)
’cause we all know McCain had a solid economic plan to end the recession.
No ObamaCare
No Obama war in Libya
No $1 Trillion Stimulus
No $400 Million HAMP
Hey - it is at least a start…
I wouldn’t bet on Libya or HAMP. If anyting we would have acted unilaterally with Libya.
As for Obamacare, wasn’t Bob Dole proposing something similar at one time? And the Obamacare complaint gets old. It’s not like we got a National Health system like in Canada or the UK. And compared to my crappy High Deductible plan the Canadian system looks pretty good.
And compared to my crappy High Deductible plan the Canadian system looks pretty good.
Count me as another high deductible policyholder who’d love to have some of that Canadian-style healthcare.
I’ll take Libya over bom bom bom, bom bom Ir@n.
Goodyear speeds up plant closure
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. GT -3.26% said Monday it will close its tire plant in Union City, Tenn., more quickly than its earlier target for the end of the year. Goodyear will book $20 million in one-time expenses related to the action. Most of those costs will be reflected in its second-quarter results. The Akron, Ohio, company said it will make payments to about 1,800 associates. Goodyear said it sped up the plant closure because product transfers to other plants were completed more quickly than expected.
How about that? They closed the plant in “right to work” Tennessee. I wonder how much of that production went to China?
Damn unions!
Oh, wait, you said right to work state…
They’ll move back once states become “right to slavery” states
Its probably cheaper to hire 3rd worlders than to clothe, feed and house slaves in the USA.
Slaves are assets that must be fed and housed to retain value.
Worker bees are expendable.
Yup. And as a slaveowner, you’re expected to provide for them when they become old and infirm, you couldn’t put them down like an old dog.
Worker bees can be laid off and they are no longer your problem when they get old.
For America’s “99ers,” jobs crisis is hard to escape
SEWELL, New Jersey (Reuters) - Mary Kay Coyne has just filed what she says is her 1,862nd job application since being thrown out of work three years ago.
She is one of millions of Americans whose unemployment benefits have expired — after 99 weeks in many states — as the United States suffers its highest level of long-term unemployment since 1948.
Coyne had to move in with a friend after benefit payments ran out last year. Now she gets by on Medicaid — U.S. health insurance for the poor — and food stamps, contributing what little she can to her friend’s household costs.
“You’re 56-years old and you feel like you are sitting on a big pile of nothing,” said Coyne, who spends about four hours a day sending out resumes.
“For the better part of a year, I have something sitting on my chest. It’s not a medical condition. It is that pressure of ‘Is this going to end, when is this going to end?’”
Unlike in much of Europe, the safety net of the U.S. welfare system times out for the long-term unemployed. The federal government and many states have provided extra help for those caught up in the worst labor market in decades but the U.S. debt crisis rules out further extension of the programs.
Coyne is typical of many middle-class Americans now struggling to get by.
She used to earn $70,000 a year as an administrative assistant until her firm began to downsize and left Coyne among the growing number of Americans struggling to live on unemployment benefits, and eventually on minimal food aid.
Now Washington is considering cuts to social welfare programs to shrink a swelling budget deficit.
She used to earn $70,000 a year as an administrative assistant
I’m sorry to hear of her plight, but 70K for an admin? I know engineers who make less than that.
“I’m sorry to hear of her plight, but 70K for an admin?”
Hush money? Who see’s more of what the boss is doing than the admin assistant, especially financially. And if that job was in Manhattan, would that salary be excessive depending on the work being done?
Sewell is a suburb of Philladelphia, not NYC.
A high-end admin is an “office spouse” dealing with a lot of things beyond what we think of as what should be the regular duties of an office place. Lots of “personal” chores that I don’t think stock holders realize they are paying for: fetching dry cleaning, scheduling doctors appointments for the whole family, ordering in (company paid) lunches and serving them, etc.
Knew one SVP who when interviewing had the candidates interact with her lap dog,, since she brought it to work every day and the admin had to walk it several times a day.
Not unusual, Colorado.
The real problem is the 1000+ applications.
We’re screwed.
Ive been trying another tactic……
If you weren’t so scared to death of talking to me, you’d hire me in 5 minutes!
OVERQUALIFIED really means you want to hire a Moron….and I’m NOT a Moron!
America is SOS.. Stuck on Stupid and I’m NOT STUPID!
Been getting a lot better responses…some decent p/t gigs over the last few months.
When it takes 1000 job applications find a job, it’s no longer damn “recession.”
GA! My eyes are burning again. Ozone pollution is out of control.
U.S. Offers $105 Million Guarantee for Cellulosic Ethanol Plant
The U.S. Energy Department offered a $105 million conditional loan guarantee to Poet LLC to develop a cellulosic ethanol plant in Iowa.
Poet plans to build a facility in Emmetsburg that will be able to convert corncobs, leaves and husks into 25 million gallons (95 million liters) of ethanol a year, the agency said today in a statement. The project will be the first commercial- scale cellulosic ethanol plant in the U.S., according to the statement.
A least its only a loan guarantee and not a flat out subsidy, plus they be using throw away materials and not actual kernels to make the ethanol.
Of course the $64,000 questions is: will it be profitable or will it require a long term subsidy?
I’m fine with long term subsidy as long as it creates more engery than it uses and creates jobs thus reducing unemployment and the flow of dollars to the Middle East.
Even if it costs money it’s probably less than unemployment, prison food stamps etc.
“Now he’s been hit three times - twice by cars, once by bear”
July 10, 2011 6:26 PM
PANAMA CITY — Like he has been doing three times a week for the past four years, John Hearn got on his bicycle Thursday at 6:10 a.m. to ride12 miles to work at Tyndall Air Force Base. But as he rode along U.S. 98 at 23 miles per hour, his routine was interrupted at 6:40 by something very unexpected.
“I saw something big and black out of the corner of my eye,” Hearn said. “Then it hit me and I felt bear all over my leg.”
Hearn was broadsided by a black bear that was about 250 to 300 pounds. The collision knocked him, his bike and the bear over. Drivers stopped at the red light on the highway near Tyndall watched in utter shock.
“At first I didn’t know what happened,” witness Debbie McLeod said. “The bear was flying across the road from the left side to the right. I thought he was going to miss the rider, but then I saw the florescent colored vest fly up in the air, and knew the bear hit him.”
The black bear appeared to be shaken, but got up and scurried off into the woods. Hearn, on the other hand, had to examine the damage the bear had done.
“As soon as I got hit I knew it was a bear so when I hit the ground I was ready to run,” Hearn said. “Then I looked and the bear was already running away.”
“This is by far the worst damage done to my body and my bike,” Hearn said. “We must’ve been going almost the same speed. But sadly, the bear didn’t have insurance so I can’t do anything about it.”
http://www.nwfdailynews.com/news/bear-41683-collides-felt.html - -
Damn uninsured bears!
Colorado
I answered your Dare I ask question yesterday.
I saw that.
I’ll share my own story: My dad was a tool and die maker and a workaholic. He eventually owned his own shop and that’s where he was all of the time. I worked with him over summers during my high school years and after observing him I came to the conclusion that he was there around the clock because he liked it, not because he was some heroic figure. He was never at home and we never did anything with him.
To this day we seldom talk because … there’s nothing to talk about. He’s a stranger to my siblings and myself.
The saddest thing of all was that due to health issues he lost his shop and he now lives off of Social Security.
Anyway, what I was trying to say is: he worked around the clock for his own satisfaction. It was sad that he preferred to be around lathes, drill presses and milling machines than around his own family.
OTOH, we don’t know your family…….
But seriously, I know several guys who can’t stand being around their wives, but won’t file for divorce. They’d volunteer for overtime, or for “road trips” that would get them out of town for 2-3-4 weeks at a time.
Another guy I know retired, and stayed at home puttering around the house. Three weeks later, his wife is going to all the shops on the airport, dropping off his resume.
Colorado
He couldn’t have been all bad. Seems like he turned out a pretty decent kid.
I later learned that he serially cheated on my mother. Like I said above, there isn’t much to talk about with him these days.
If he had one redeeming feature, it was that he understood the value of an education.
In the end I had to put myself through school, as he had already lost the shop by that time. But at least I understood that I had to get an education.
Now I have to watch out for *%&^# bears?? What more will the cosmos throw at us cyclists? We already have to deal with salmon…
True story from the Arizona Slim Travel File: In June 1987, I was enjoying one of the biggest treats available to a cyclist. I was pedaling south from Jasper toward Banff, Alberta on the Icefields Parkway. What a glorious stretch of road.
Near Sunwapta Pass, I saw a bear by the side of the road. It was an adult bear, and no I didn’t slow down or stop. I wanted to get myself outta there as quickly and quietly as possible.
Well, wouldn’t ya know it. Pickup truck with a California plate pulls over and parks on the shoulder. And some idiot gets out and starts walking toward the bear. Wanting to take a picture, I guess.
I was tempted to yell something, but I didn’t want to irritate the bear.
Give him another Moon Pie, Martha, while I take pictures.
Two campers are walking through the forest when they suddenly encounter a grizzly bear.
The bear rears up on his hind legs and lets out a terrifying roar.
Both campers are frozen in their tracks.
The first camper whispers, “I’m sure glad I wore my running shoes today.”
“It doesn’t matter what kind of shoes you’re wearing, you’re not gonna outrun that bear,” replies the second.
“I don’t have to outrun the bear, I just have to outrun YOU.”
Black bears are Southern bears that tend to be more laid-back than grizzlies or brown bears. Generally, they will run away from you if they hear you coming (in the Appalachians, they sell bear bells and bear spray) UNLESS it’s a mama with her cubs. In that case you want to back off fast the minute you see the bear. They say you can tell if she’s got cubs, because she stands her ground and she’s ready for you. But as a general rule, the black bear won’t stalk you like the one that stalked ahansen.
Up in Western North Carolina the bear encounters are, for some reason, more numerous this year. People are seeing them in back yards and downtown areas, even.
for some reason, more numerous this year. People are seeing them in back yards and downtown areas, even.
”
its a Bear Market
sorry couldn’t help it
The British Columbia fish and wildlife people advise everyone to “wear noisy bells to alert bears of your approach” and to carry pepper spray.
They also advise you to look for signs of bear activity, and to check bear feces to determine what species of bears are in the vicinity.
Black bear feces is small, and contains lots of berries and squirrel fur.
Grizzly bear feces is larger, smells like pepper, and has little bells in it.
Grizzly bear feces is larger, smells like pepper, and has little bells in it.
Thanks for the laugh!
Classic.
“Here, hold my beer…”
Speaking the unspeakable in California politics
L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa may push for Prop. 13 reform. It would be an uphill fight. But there has to be a way to protect longtime homeowners and make corporate property owners pay more.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0710-lopez-mayoronprop13-20110710,0,3252606.column
It’s simple. Prop 13 should only apply to primary residences.
Done.
Investors will pay more in property taxes.
Rich people in CA with more than one home in CA will pay more in property taxes.
Rich people who live outside of CA, but have a vacation home in CA (and pay no CA income tax), will pay more in property taxes.
Individuals who are paying plenty in CA state income tax will not.
Individuals are retired won’t have their home taxed out from under them.
“It’s simple. Prop 13 should only apply to primary residences.”
Amen, and long overdue should it ever happen.
I agree on Prop 13 and primary residences.
I remember Pre-Prop 13. You work all your life to retire in a paid off home, and then the rising property taxes make owning that home cost prohibited. That just isn’t right.
California could do worse than just to adopt the existing Idaho law. All property is assessed each year, and the assessments appear to accurately reflect market prices. You pay about 1.25% property tax on your assessed value. BUT homeowners get a roughly $100,000 exemption right off the top of the assessed value for an owner-occupied primary residence. Since the median price of houses here is under $200K, that’s a huge exemption.
Additional safeguards exist for truly-poor seniors. You have to be 65 and older and let them audit your finances to qualify for the additional property tax breaks.
IIRC, Hawaii also has a special discount &/or exempt program for the 65 and up crowd on property taxes?
The problem is the baby boomers are 78M strong. Not an issue for me, but the govt might see it as one.
Gen X & Y outnumber the boomers.
It’s simple. Prop 13 should only apply to primary residences.
Done.
Investors will pay more in property taxes.
I agree with you, but a side effect is that rents will likely rise.
Coming from a real estate perspective, rents will only rise if landlords can find a tenant to pay them. Don’t think landlords are nice–the correct answer for “how much do you charge in rents?” is “as much as I can”.
Some landlords are going to have property taxes not move at all (if they bought more recently), other landlords are going to have a shock if they have owned the asset for a long time. The “other” landlords will only be able to raise rents if there is a tight market for the newer property owners.
I would say that the likely impact in many cases will be lower income for landlords, and in the specific case of NNN leases (for commercial properties), higher charged expenses to the tenants.
New building taxes wouldn’t be any higher, so there would be no more impediment to building new buildings than before, so landlords would be faced with the same kind of competition from new construction.
A potential effect would be a further push to sprawl, as CBD landlords would be faced with potentially significant increases in taxes if land/building values rise quickly in central locations, which could force them to sell or upgrade their properties in order to get the higher rents that they need. In the meantime, it would make building a new building on cheaper land farther out easier to compete with the CBD locations.
All of these things though are long term trends, nothing immediate except for landlords paying more in taxes and tenants on NNN leases paying higher expenses.
Other states with more traditional property tax rules have perfectly functional markets, I don’t see how it couldn’t also work in CA.
+10!
BUSINESS: Cigna threatens Delaware layoffs
Written by The News Journal
Health insurance giant Cigna Corp. is using the threat of 500 Delaware layoffs to press a demand that federal policymakers exempt their Claymont-based international insurance business from new rules in last year’s federal health care law.
The demand from Cigna, a $21.3 billion Philadelphia-based company, comes just months after Gov. Jack Markell’s administration awarded the company $2.4 million in grants to keep those employees in Delaware — and add to the staff here.
Markell, economic development director Alan Levin, and members of Delaware’s congressional delegation are now working on a fix for Cigna and other insurance companies who offer similar “expatriate” health insurance plans.
Behind the scenes, congressional sources close to the discussions say the situation is pressing, but not dire for Delaware’s jobs picture. Many say they are confident a deal will get done and that the Delaware jobs are not at risk.
Levin agreed on Friday.
“We feel that they’re going to be able to get this resolved,” said Levin, whose staff offered Cigna the $2.4 million in grants last September.
Cigna’s expatriate business sells insurance policies to multinational corporations to cover their employees who are based overseas, sometimes in remote locations.
Cigna’s international business, which includes its expatriate unit, reported $2.4 billion in revenue last year, according to regulatory statements.
The company — and some of its domestic competitors, such as Aetna — argue it’s unfair for those international businesses to be subject to new “medical loss ratio” rules that require insurance companies to spend at least 80 cents of every premium dollar on actual health care, rather than marketing expenses, commissions or profits.
“The company — and some of its domestic competitors, such as Aetna — argue it’s unfair for those international businesses to be subject to new “medical loss ratio” rules that require insurance companies to spend at least 80 cents of every premium dollar on actual health care, rather than marketing expenses, commissions or profits.”
It’s a ratio, not a fixed amount. Why shouldn’t it apply? Oh wait, if medical costs are lower overseas, they won’t be able to tack on as much overhead.
The demand from Cigna, a $21.3 billion Philadelphia-based company, comes just months after Gov. Jack Markell’s administration awarded the company $2.4 million in grants to keep those employees in Delaware — and add to the staff here.
Isn’t this standard mode of operation for corporations? Demand gov’t cheese bribe to create jobs. Then demand more cheese to retain the jobs. Then close the office/plant and offshore the jobs.
Then bang the drum of “free market” and “damn government interference/regulations.”
Effing g*dman hypocrite TRAITORS!
Of course we are all millionaires and billionaires in Zimbabwean dollars…….
Proposals under consideration include raising taxes on small business owners and potentially low- and middle-income families. You won’t hear about that from Obama. Instead the president focuses on the very rich, and speaks euphemistically. Here are a few of the phrases the president has used of late to talk about what amounts to raising taxes for some:
Right? I mean, what kind of an idiot would tax people who have 90% of the money?
I recommend a read of Wendell Potter’s blog. He used to be CIGNA’s VP of communications.
Now he’s turned against the health insurance industry in a big way. Sample Wendell-thought: If you think having health insurance does anything to improve your health, think again.
Tanks!
Everybody wants an exemption from feeling the pain.
Here in Illinois, AFSCME is suing the governor over his plan to cancel their pay raises. Yeah, it’s in their contract but our state is broke and in debt. No one has any sympathy for these crybabies.
We need some unexpected good news!
WW3 hasn’t started yet?
SHAWN bought for $75,000 in 1997 and then took out a little “equity”, that + the $75k purchase price leave somebody a little short with a reduced asking price of $64k today.
MLS#:R3200204
$ 64,000
3813 Gull Rd
SOLD AS-IS, BANK OWNED
DOM: 49
—————————————————————-
Location Address: 3813 GULL RD
Municipality: UNINCORPORATED
May-2011 24533/1487 $65,100 CERT OF TITLE DEUTSCHE BANK NATL TRUST CO TR
Sep-1997 09993/1801 $75,000 WARRANTY DEED MINCEY SHAWN L
—————————————————————-
Type: MTG
Date/Time: 12/30/1997 08:57:03
CFN: 19970463868
Book Type: O
Book/Page: 10157/1478
Pages: 6
Consideration: $10,400.00
Party 1: MINCEY SHAWN L
Party 2: US MTG DEPOT CORP
Legal: PB CABANA COL 2 B30 L7 BL
Type: MTG
Date/Time: 6/14/2005 10:21:09
CFN: 20050364139
Book Type: O
Book/Page: 18740/707
Pages: 16
Consideration: $160,000.00
Party 1: MINCEY SHAWN L
Party 2: CHAMPION MORTGAGE
Legal: PB CABANA COL 2 B30 L7 BL
Type: MTG
Date/Time: 12/29/2006 08:21:42
CFN: 20060714841
Book Type: O
Book/Page: 21248/652
Pages: 19
Consideration: $193,250.00
Party 1: MINCEY SHAWN L
Party 2: METROPOLITAN HOME LOANS INC
Legal: PB CABANA COL 2 B30 L7 BL
Type: JUD
Date/Time: 9/20/2010 16:14:23
CFN: 20100353358
Book Type: O
Book/Page: 24089/717
Pages: 5
Consideration: $0.00
Party 1: DEUTSCHE BANK NATIONAL TRUST COMPANY TRUSTEE
NOVASTAR MORTGAGE FUNDING TRUST
Party 2: MINCEY SHAWN L
FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE
Legal: PB CABANA COL 2 B30 L7 BL
Obama On Deficit Talks: Time To “Pull Off The Band-Aid, Eat Our Peas”
“I will not sign a 30-day or a 60-day or a 90-day extension. That is just not an acceptable approach. And if we think it’s hard now, imagine how these guys are going to be thinking six months from now in the middle of election season when they are all up. It’s not going to get easier, it’s going to get harder. So, we might as well do it now. Pull off the band-aid. Eat our peas. Now is the time to do it. If not now, when? We keep on talking about this stuff, and we have these high-minded pronouncements about how we’ve got to get control of the deficit, how we owe it to our children and our grandchildren. Well, let’s step up. Let’s do it,” President Obama said at his press conference today.
Bush-the-elder:
As Ronald Reagan’s vice president in the 1980s, Bush endorsed Reagan’s policy that tax increases were undesirable but sometimes necessary. Over the course of his time in office, Reagan approved a total of thirteen tax increases, …including one of the largest in history in 1982
And I’m the one who will not raise taxes. My opponent now says he’ll raise them as a last resort, or a third resort. But when a politician talks like that, you know that’s one resort he’ll be checking into. My opponent, my opponent won’t rule out raising taxes. But I will. And the Congress will push me to raise taxes and I’ll say no. And they’ll push, and I’ll say no, and they’ll push again, and I’ll say, to them, ‘Read my lips: no new taxes.’
fa$t-forward 11 years:
“…including an expiration of Shrub Jr. II-era tax
cutsgift on wealthier Americans.”“Here peons, have a $300.00 rebate party coupon…”
The MegaInc.$ & Wealthie$,…they’re $uffering $o!…hurry! reduce/eliminate their taxe$, hurry,… Cinder$ & Ashe$…Schemer$ & Scammmer$…Agonie$ & Pain$, help ‘em.
“TruePatriotCEO’$™” plead, plead, plead: “give u$ a tax repatriation holiday and we’ll bring the money back and start creating Job$! Job$! Job$!…”
lil Opie (the non-Hawaiian): “The wealthie$ still get to fly in the private jet$, it’ll just co$t ‘em more.”
Pull off the band-aid. Eat our peas.
Aw, come on, Barack. I love to eat peas. Especially in a stir-fry with my super-duper curry sauce.
Think of another vegetable, Mr. President.
Eat our peas. WTF is that supposed to mean? Take our licks? He could at least have gone all Popeye about it and said “eat our spinach” or something like that.
Besides, we’ve been getting plenty of pees from Washington and Wall Street.
Eat spinach? Hey, if you lightly steam it and then drizzle vinaigrette over it, spinach is downright yummy!
Sorry, but I’m really enjoying improving my cooking skills. A special shout-out to MrBubble for the encouragement.
Anytime, Slim! We added to the blog recently and I’ll be posting an update to out version of the Cat Cora Halibut with Arugula, Cherry Tomatoes, Fava Beans and a Sweet Corn Sabayon because my wife solved our sabayon “problem”!
In more biking news, I did a 53 miler Saturday, the longest since my heart surgeries), part of which called for a sea-level to 1940 ft. climb in not a lot of miles. My 20 miles to work this morning was not so fun. Legs… so tired…
MrBubble
How about lima beans? I hate ‘em.
+1. And cauliflower.
Hmmmm, I’m thinking of trying to marinate some cauliflower in a vinaigrette. I’ll bet that would be yummy.
Broccoli — just to spite elder Bush (or was it Reagan?)
Same old dog&pony show in D.C. there will be an 11th hour compromise, on the debt ceiling. It will be raised like it has been for decade after decade. So we run it up to 16 trillion, then 18 then 20. No problem.
What If? “Huge Interest Rate Risk” If No Deal on Debt Ceiling, David Walker Says. By Aaron Task | Daily Ticker –
U.S. stocks fell Monday morning as the dollar rallied sharply vs. the euro amid renewed concern the sovereign debt crisis will spread to Italy. Treasury prices rallied in concert with the dollar as U.S. bonds are still seen as a safe haven in times of financial stress.
But that status could be in jeopardy after negotiations to raise the debt ceiling as part of a “grand bargain” to cut the long-term deficit broke down this weekend.
Like most observers, David Walker, founder of the Comeback America Initiative, believes a deal to raise the debt ceiling — at least temporarily — will be made before the Aug. 2 deadline set by Tim Geithner. But with about three weeks to go and a lot of political obstacles to overcome, it’s time to ask what happens if no deal is reached before Aug. 2.
First and foremost, Walker says the U.S. will continue to make interest payments on Treasuries as mandated by Sec. 4 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.
The real question, he says, is “who’s going to get laid off and who is not going to get paid on time?”
While many conservatives cheer the idea of federal workers being laid off, Walker notes such workers are historically rehired after a crisis, with retroactive pay. Taxpayers will pay for that, he notes; similarly, taxpayers would have to pay interest and penalties on any missed payments to federal contractors, thanks to the Prompt Payment Act. And if 55 million Social Security recipients don’t get their checks on time — a possibility in September if no deal is reached — there will be major political repercussions, Walker says.
Meanwhile, “nobody knows” how the financial markets will react to Uncle Sam missing payments “and we would be stupid to figure that out,” Walker says. “We’re the largest economy on earth, temporarily the sole super power with over 60% of global reserve currency and we’re trying to figure out what bills we’re going to pay and not pay?”
Although Treasury yields remain low by historic standards, “we have huge interest rate risk” if there’s no deal by Aug. 2, says Walker, a former U.S. Comptroller General and longtime deficit hawk. “There’s all kind of warning lights going off — these people need to get to work and get a deal done.”
Walker doesn’t believe the Treasury market will collapse if there’s no deal on the debt ceiling, but “I do think we’ll pay an interest rate price.”
Well, well, well. It’s Mr. Walker again. We gave him a special Tucson welcome a couple of weeks ago.
I was there. And, yes, I was heckling too. You can hear me holler “Let her talk!” toward the end of this video.
And if 55 million Social Security recipients don’t get their checks on time — a possibility in September if no deal is reached — there will be major political repercussions,
“I’ve seen the “I-can’t-get-elected” enemy, and he votes with “TrueAnger™” sometimes.” Karl “Disco-moves” Rove
“…legally acting to lift the debt level is the job responsibility of…?”
(Reuters) - China will link local officials’ performance appraisals to the level of debt held by local governments, state media reported Monday, an apparent move to cap borrowing and address worries that possible defaults could damage China’s economy.
The China Daily cited Yuan Shuhong, deputy head of the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council, China’s cabinet, as saying that the political outlooks of local leaders would dim if governments borrowed excessively during their terms of office.
Yuan did not mention any caps on government borrowing or go into details of how local officials would be penalized.
China has intensified its efforts to clean up local government debts, including holding a cabinet meeting chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao last week, after the nation’s state audit office put the total amount of debt at 10.7 trillion yuan ($1.65 trillion) as of the end of 2010, including 8.5 trillion yuan of loans from banks.
That bank lending number may have been underestimated by 3.5 trillion yuan, ratings agency Moody’s said last week, potentially putting banks on the hook for deeper losses that could threaten their credit rating.
Massive debts would probably increase forced land seizures by local governments looking to raise money, Yuan warned. China’s local governments are heavily reliant on land sales to finance their debt payments.
It’s an old-fashioned land grab. That’s the way empires are built (or get unhinged).
That bank lending number may have been underestimated by 3.5 trillion yuan, ratings agency Moody’s said last week,
Hey, what’s half a trillion dollars between friends?
As long as the average Chinese person saves more than he/she spends, this ride can continue. But the day the economy matures and folks take out as much as they put in collectively, well something’s going to seize.
I think a 3.5 trillion yuan estimate for the size of China’s shadow banking system may turn out to be far too low a number.
“People don’t want liberty…they want to be taken care of”.
~ H.L. Mencken
If by that you mean they want a steady job they can go to that pays a living wage, as opposed to being an unshaven revolutionary, then yeah, I suppose so.
HBB quizz:
“Who in America de$ires endle$$ly/relentle$$ly for “privatized”,”unregulated” liberty to keep taking care of them$elve$, who?
(Hint: aka, a Scotu$ “person”)
Tough times are forcing people to sell family heirlooms, other sentimental items, but they aren’t getting much for them
The Post and Courier July 11, 2011
Sylvia Webb used to visit her great-Aunt Vera and sometimes sit on the pretty burgundy Victorian sofa and chairs in her parlor. Her great-aunt lived in a very old house in Columbia that was surrounded by magnolia trees.
The older woman had a radio on a table, and would sit on the sofa beside it listening to the BBN (Bible Broadcasting Network). Webb can still see her sitting on the sofa, holding her hand up to implore her grands to be quiet so she could hear the radio.
Webb’s late mother, Minnie Duncan Kanapaux, inherited the furniture from her aunt, then Webb inherited it from her mother.
“I have it in a separate room and sometimes I just go in there, put my feet up and think about the times we used to go there as children,” Webb said. She had expected to pass it on to her adult daughter.
“It was Aunt Vera’s and you’d just take care of it,” she said. But things have changed.
Selling a flat-screen TV or a stereo to a pawn shop when times are tight is difficult, but parting with family heirlooms or items with sentimental value can be devastating. And the money in return doesn’t come close to matching the value of a personal item’s memories.
The beautiful set the Webb family treasures is being sold because of current economic difficulties. Sylvia Webb and her husband are moving in with their adult daughter and granddaughter, she said. Combining households will make things more manageable for both.
In addition, selling the parlor set and other antiques will enable them to make some repairs to the daughter’s home.
“Aunt Vera was very practical,” Webb said. “She came up in hard times and there were things that she had to do.
“I honestly think she would say ‘Honey, if you need the money, go ahead and sell it.’”
One auctioneer knows the heartache people face when selling items with memories.
“Unfortunately, a lot of that is going on, selling family pieces,” said Linda Page, auctioneer and owner of Page’s Thieves Market in Mount Pleasant. “Most of what they are trying to sell, they are selling at the worse possible time.”
Some of them are things they would never have considered selling before the economic downturn because they have sentimental value, Page said. “That is the highest value you could have.”
“They are parting with all of these things they have valued for years, and they are not really worth anything,” she said. “It’s such an embarrassing position to be in.”
When Elizabeth Cramer grew up in Ohio, there was a big, ornate mirror in the barn on her family’s farm. One of her earliest memories is looking into the mirror and thinking that she could walk right into it.
“It is extremely old and has been in my family for at least five generations,” said Cramer, who is selling the mirror. “I will be needing to move because of the economy,” Cramer said.
The mantel mirror, about 4 feet wide and 5 feet tall, is visible behind Cramer’s parents in their wedding picture, she said.
“I have sold silver. I have sold jewelry and other antiques. I am selling many, many items and getting about half of what I thought they were worth.”
Making ends meet
For many years, Sue Balanger acquired antiques and collectibles. These days, Balanger, once a bank manager in Rhode Island, is selling them. Not at a profit, but at a loss.
“I’m just trying to make ends meet in this economy,” said Balanger, who has multiple sclerosis and a husband with muscular dystrophy. When she and her husband moved to Summerville six years ago, they bought a new house in a subdivision. Today, they live in an older, much smaller home, in a not-so-nice part of town.
She’s been selling her possessions, including a tiger oak book case and her son’s guitar to supplement their Social Security income, Balanger said. The co-pays for their medical bills have eaten up a lot of their income.
So far, her efforts to raise money have been disappointing. She expected a couple of items to sell for hundreds of dollars, but they didn’t. A watercolor dating from the 1600s sold at an auction for $40. And a white porcelain compote from the late 1700s went for $30. She asked to put the items up with a reserve (minimum) price, but the auction house would not accept it under those terms, she said. After she paid sales commissions on the items (percentage), she made next to nothing.
To make matters worse, Balanger said, someone called claiming to be from Nigeria, posing as a buyer, and tried to scam her. She had learned to spot such games when working in a bank, however, and did not fall for the scheme.
But she’s probably not done selling personal items.
“It’s hard to give up what you have,” Balanger said. “I will give up whatever I have to give up.”
She said, though, she’ll hold back on parting with pieces inherited from her mother and mother-in-law “until the last shot is fired,” until they’re about to be out of a home.
To make matters worse, Balanger said, someone called claiming to be from Nigeria, posing as a buyer, and tried to scam her. She had learned to spot such games when working in a bank, however, and did not fall for the scheme.
What was her first clue…???
People always seem to think thier stuff is worth a fortune.
Indeed, most people could care less that it was her Aunt Vera’s couch.
I wonder what the ratio of treasures vs. dog biscuits is on the antiques roadshow? 1 for 100? 1 for 1000?
Roughly 1000 to 1.
You have more luck winning the scratch off lottery than finding an undiscovered valuable antique.
Take it from an ebayer….you almost always get more there….you only sell the common stuff on CL and locally….
I would have kept it…just to have something really old to show people…if that’s all it would fetch.
A watercolor dating from the 1600s sold at an auction for $40. And a white porcelain compote from the late 1700s went for $30.
To me it sounds like a pretty good indication of how desperate things are getting for some people. Unfortunately for me, apparently it’s nowhere near that desperate for people actually selling things I might want.
Just had acquaintance have to do this so they could hire a lawyer to beat a traffic arrest that was nothing but fund raising for the city.
The co-pays for their medical bills have eaten up a lot of their income.
There it is.
But don’t worry, Sue. Paul Ryan and the private insurers are going to rescue you from the government scourge of Medicare!
“Most of what they are trying to sell, they are selling at the worse possible time.”
Somehow I think times could get worse.
As we plunge into unknown economic territory (DOW down 150+) at least there is one thing making me smile today is that News Corp. is being exposed as a totally corrupt media empire. However I would note that it will not change Fox News #1 standing in the minds of Americans and I predict that it will actually go up!
Hwy’s not seen evidence to change per$pectives:
Our Corporate $ponsor: MUrDoch’$ “TruePaidProvoker’$ ™” Faux News Inc.
Faux News Inc. & W$Jaundice = MUrDoch’s$ “True Chupacabra™”
(Actually the “Qua$iTrueNews™” evidence issuing forth daily is reinforcing Hwy’s POV)
“However I would note that it will not change Fox News #1 standing in the minds of Americans and I predict that it will actually go up!”
I don’t think so. Something’s different about this News Corp kerfluffle. Murdoch has built up a lot of fear and resentment in many quarters, politically and business-wise, and I think there are a LOT of long knives out for the guy. I look for the pile-on to escalate. The shareholders are suing, fer chrissakes. 9/11 families are now involved. There is no honor among media outlets, so the pack of braying hounds will get bigger. It’s gonna get better.
And by the way, you can add to the demise, if you wish. Contact FoxNews advertisers with your displeasure and also contact your local media outlets, which would most likely LOVE to add their voice to the mix.
“And by the way, you can add to the demise, if you wish. Contact FoxNews advertisers with your displeasure and also contact your local media outlets, which would most likely LOVE to add their voice to the mix”.
Makes no difference, if Fox were to go by the way side, which they won’t. People by nature align themselves with media that feeds them what they want to hear, the way they think. Same with politics, it’s not complicated. People love to bicker and get the “inside” story/gossip. A few weeks from now something else will trump this story. Next!
Makes no difference
So, this is your explanation why you stick with MUrDoch’$ “TruePaidProvoker’$ ™” Faux News Inc.?
“I look for the pile-on to escalate…It’s gonna get better.”
The allegations about the former prime minister mean that the scandal that brought down the News of the World is now spreading across Rupert Murdoch’s British newspaper group.
The revelations will also shift attention away from accusations of “hacking” mobile phone voicemail accounts and on to other, potentially illegal, practices known as “blagging”, getting information by trickery or deception.
News International: my son’s medical records were hacked, says Gordon Brown:
Medical records disclosing that Gordon Brown’s infant son had cystic fibrosis were illegally obtained by The Sun newspaper as part of a News International campaign against him and his family, friends of the former prime minister claims.
By Andrew Porter, and James Kirkup / 11 Jul 2011
Shocked I tell. Shocked.
Not.
Why am I even typing today?
You can bet more doctors will stop treating patients that have Medicaid coverage.
Medicaid cuts start today: Payment to be reduced up to 7% in 2nd round
By Renee Dudley postandcourier.com July 11, 2011
The latest round of South Carolina Medicaid cuts, which include reductions in payments to doctors and hospitals, takes effect today.
Physician payments for Medicaid, the state- and federally funded health insurance program for the poor and disabled, will be reduced by up to 7 percent and patient co-payments for some doctor visits will increase by $1.
The S.C. Department of Health and Human Services expects the reductions, which first were announced in early June, will cut an estimated $125 million in state costs for the fiscal year that began July 1.
It is the second round of Medicaid cuts in three months. The state’s 3 percent across-the-board cuts from April also remain in effect.
Associations representing doctors and hospitals have opposed the cuts, saying doctors could lose money treating Medicaid patients and might be forced to stop accepting Medicaid altogether. Patients then would have trouble finding doctors, they said.
Previous coverage
More Medicaid cuts on way: Payments to doctors will be reduced; some visits to cost patients $1 more, published 06/07/11
Cuts to be felt at hospitals: State Medicaid reductions to cost Charleston-area facilities millions of dollars, published 06/10/11
Today’s reductions vary by profession. Most primary care and pediatric specialists will see a 2 percent cut while anesthesiologists will see a 3 percent cut.
Dentists, originally slated to receive a 3 percent cut, now will have a 2 percent reduction, the Medicaid agency said Friday.
Payments to oncologists, endocrinologists, gastroenterologists, gynecologists and cardiologists will be reduced by 5 percent.
Payments will be cut by 7 percent to personal care attendants, podiatrists, audiologists, psychologists, chiropractors and some other health professionals.
Beginning July 1, patient co-pays increased from $2.30 to $3.30 — the maximum amount allowed by federal law — for doctor, clinic, home health and optometrist visits. And for the first time, people enrolled in some programs for the elderly and disabled will be required to make co-pays for some medical services.
You can bet more doctors will stop treating patients that have Medicaid coverage.
You mean the invisble hand of the free market, a market where fewer and fewer customers can afford the Cadillac pricing the heathcare industry expects us to pay, won’t adjust its cost structures to match the new reality?
Say it ain’t so Adam Smith!
Basically, everybody (J6P, small business owners, government) are going to take a 50% hit on income and assets.
Everybody except the banksters, that is. They get to keep theirs, and buy up assets, labor, services at 25 cents on the dollar.
Nah they will just go to the emergency room and wait hours ….heck they aren’t working so what else is so important?
Hey WT? Do you see this?
Hello?
I believe Barry is far better equipped mentally to talk about the NFL issue over our economic problems.
“We are not out here trying to use this as a means of doing all these really tough political things. I would rather be talking about stuff that everybody welcomes like new programs or the NFL season getting resolved. Unfortunately, this is what’s on our plate. It’s before us right now and we’ve got to deal with it. What you are right about, I think, is that the leaders in the room here, at a certain point, have to step up and do the right thing regardless of the voices in our respective parties that are trying to undermine that effort.” ~ President Obama
Things that come out of my mouth when I forget to pack a teleprompter…….
“Mission accomplished!”
Oh wait, wrong president.
President Obama wants to let you know that no one is getting off the hook. Be it CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, corporate jet owners, hedge fund managers, or …. best-selling authors?
” We weren’t balancing the budget off of middle-class families and working-class families. And we weren’t letting hedge fund managers or authors of best-selling books off the hook. That is a reasonable proposition”.
Obama concluded, “we’re not looking to raise taxes right now” — just in 2013 and 2014.
Source: Real Clear Politics
shut up and eat your peas.
Obama concluded, “we’re not looking to raise taxes right now” — just in 2013 and 2014.
If raising tax is so great, why wait? Better yet, why not do it retroactively?
You know why…The 2012 election.
Oh nos! The rich may has to pay more taxes! Communism! Run for the tax havens!
The federal government notched its 33rd straight month in the red in June, extending its record deficit streak to three times the previous low-water mark, according to preliminary estimates Friday from the Congressional Budget Office. ~The Washington Times
But lower spending, thanks in large part to less money going to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, shrank the deficit to just $45 billion in June — down from $68 billion last year.
And with three months to go still in fiscal year 2011, the government has racked up $973 billion in total deficits, a pace which is slightly better than 2010, when the government had just crossed the $1 trillion mark at this point.
The figures come as lawmakers are trying to hash out a deal on long-term reduction to the country’s skyrocketing debt.
MERS and Fannie Mae sue Short Sale Seller and Buyer
By Duane DeSalvo - Licensed Real Estate Agent - Camarillo, CA
OMG! Just when you think you’ve seen it all, along comes a new horror story that makes the thought of doing short sales even more disgusting than before!!
Because of our intense hatred of all banks (BofA and Chase head the top of the list) we decided to stop doing short sales, and most conventional real estate transaction last summer and have been buying and flipping properties instead!
The last short sale we did was one we were referred to in October of 2009 (no good deed goes unpunished!!). The client (Tom) had recently lost his job due to downsizing and, to make matters worse, his mother had been diagnosed with a life threatening disease. There was no way we could turn this opportunity down to assist him so we took the listing on his one bedroom condo in southern California. He had purchase it in 2007 for $224K and we figured the current value was about $125K. We put it on the market and got an offer for $130K within a couple of weeks! Tom moved out of state to assist his mother in her remaining days on earth and we were happy to have an offer. After 5 months of negotiating with BofA (loan servicer) with 2 different negotiators, we finally got approval for a sale price of $123k!! (First negotiator said it was worth $180K!!!- Surprise)!
We closed the deal in April, 2010 and both the Seller and Buyer were ecstatic! All was right with the world!
Fast forward to July 2011! Last week, we received a document from our Seller that he had received. Are you sitting down? It was a LAW SUIT on behalf of MERS and Fannie Mae (Plaintiffs) against the Seller and Buyer (Defendants) and a possible 23 other defendants, (Does) who are at this point unnamed!
The Law Suit maintains that: ————”The Substitution of Trustee and Full Reconveyance on the County records which purports to reconvey MERS’s interest in the property is a mistake and was not properly prepared or recorded by ReconTrust. An actual controversy has arisen and now exists between Plaintiffs and Defendants concerning their respective rights and duties in that Plaintiffs contend that the Substitution of Trustee and Full Reconveyance is a mistake and, therefore, of no force or effect which should be stricken from the public records and that Fannie Mae’s Deed of Trust is valid and enforceable.!”
WTF!!!! I thought that the movie Too Big To Fail was unbelievable but this is ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE!!! Here is MERS (those bastards who were identified on 60 minutes as putting phony signatures on thousands of mortgage documents) maintaining that Recon Trust (not a party to the suit) MADE A FRIGGIN MISTAKE? They did not properly prepare or record the reconveyance of the loan!!!
To top it off, the scum sucking lawyers (and I apologize to any scum out there that may be offended by the comparison) have filed a LIS PENDENS on the property such that the new buyer could not sell the property if she wanted to!!!!!
This lawsuit FAILS to mention that monetary consideration of $123K was ACCEPTED by BofA for the purchase of the property!!
wmbz
Great find.Thank you. We won’t entertain a SS or Foreclosure, and this confirms our suspicions. All our previews have been overpriced SS’s lately, and other buyers snapped them up. They are getting loans, we’re hard earned cold cash. This was good information, wmbz. The thread was really interesting, too.
Can you imagine closing escrow, moving in, remodeling the ba’s and kitchen, and then a cloud on title shows up.
NEW YORK (AP) — July doesn’t look so promising anymore.
By midday Monday the Dow Jones industrial average had its biggest percentage drop since June 15. The Dow is down 170 points, or 1.3 percent, to 12,483.
The European debt crisis appears to be widening with concerns about government debt defaults spreading beyond Greece, Ireland and Portugal. Italy and Spain, Europe’s third and fourth largest economies, have seen bond yields rise sharply. It’s just one sign that investors are less willing to hold the debt of those countries. Italy’s largest banks, UniCredit SpA and Intesa, fell sharply on European exchanges. Some investors believe several of Italy and Spain’s financial institutions might not pass an upcoming stress-test for European banks.
“Some investors believe several of Italy and Spain’s financial institutions might not pass an upcoming stress-test for European banks”.
No problem, just rearrange the stress-test so they pass.
Analyst: Even Dollar Stores Struggling In ‘Obama Depression’
LOS ANGELES (CBS) — More stores across the U.S. that offer deeply-discounted products are seeing their sales decline after years of growth amid America’s “Great Recession” — and one analyst said on Monday it’s another sign of even deeper downturn.
While the demand at stores like the 99-Cent Store or Dollar Tree is still relatively high, the biggest chains in the nation have fallen short of Wall Street’s expectations for several months, a trend that may prove even more ominous for the economy at large.
“I think what’s going on in those stores is that we are in a depression for 80 percent of Americans,” top retail analyst Howard Davidowitz told KNX 1070.
America’s three largest discount chains — Dollar General Corp., Family Dollar Stores Inc. and Dollar Tree Inc. — all recently missed their quarterly earnings targets.
Davidowitz pointed to the weakness of the dollar and a gloomy consumer outlook as some of the factors behind the stores’ slump.
“In those stores, somebody comes in with $12 to do all their shopping,” said Davidowitz. “The person who used to come in with $12 now comes in with $8.”
“In other words, the economy is continuing to be worse, the Obama depression continues to explode,” he added.
There’s a Dollar Tree within easy walking distance of the Arizona Slim Ranch. I’ve been known to shop there on occasion.
You can get some good deals in there, but the fact that everything’s a dollar shouldn’t mislead you. Matter of fact, you might be able to find some things cheaper at the Frys supermarket, which is just a few steps away.
Not to mention that Frys keeps a much neater store. Most of the time, the Dollar Tree looks like a tornado went through it.
“Even Dollar Stores Struggling In ‘Obama Depression’”
Uh, your slant is showing.
Wow! You nailed it, That was Howard Davidowitz “slant” but stay on your track, it suits you.
Not really. The “news organization” chose to use a slanted, non-factual comment as the title of the story. Their obvious slant was reinforced by your posting of it, a slant/bias in itself. I think that calling this “Obama’s Depression” is patently absurd, just as calling it “Bush’s Depression” or “Clinton’s Depression.
MrBubble
But, but, didn’t we just read that retail was up?
How much you wanna bet had McCain won they’d be calling it the Pelosi Depression?
Cisco May Eliminate About 5,000 Jobs in August - Bloomberg
Cisco Systems Inc. the world’s largest networking-equipment company, may cut at least 5,000 jobs to revive profit growth as rivals erode market share, analysts at Gleacher & Co. and Miller Tabak & Co. said.
Cisco Chief Executive Officer John Chambers said he planned to cut more jobs and drop less-profitable businesses after closing the Flip video-camera unit and firing 550 workers in May. The company will give an update “on the cost reductions, including layoffs, on our next earnings call,” Karen Tillman, a spokeswoman, said in an e-mailed statement today.
Chambers is under pressure to cut costs because competitors such as Juniper Networks Inc. (JNPR) and Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) are making lower-priced, simpler products. Sales of Cisco’s switches and routers, which made up more than half of revenue last year, will continue to slip, said Brian Marshall, an analyst at Gleacher.
“The revenue trajectory hasn’t been where it should be,” Marshall, who has a “neutral” rating on the stock with a target price of $17, said in an interview. “The company is not staffed on an appropriate level. They simply have too many employees.”
I guess those will be 5,000 people who won’t be designing Cisco’s next generation of products. My guess: Cisco will simply OEM the design and manufacture of these products to China Inc. Cisco’s “value add” will be slapping their logo on the junky, buggy Chinese routers.
Hey, it’s what HP does.
Pssst, they already do.
Cicso has several lines of rack gear that are made by HP. I know, I built them.
And HP? Foxxconn all the way, baby! So that means…
Hon Hai!
Should Everyone Get Bonus For Paying Mortgage On Time?
11 Jul 2011 | By: Diana Olick - CNBC Real Estate Reporter
At what point is moral hazard trumped by corporate survival and the cold hard need to get people to pay their mortgages? The answer is: Now.
As home values continue to fall and more borrowers fall into a negative equity position on their home loans, those who stand to lose, banks and investors, are working to keep borrowers current.
To date, they have focused on delinquent borrowers, offering loan modifications and foreclosure alternatives, like short sales and deeds in lieu of foreclosure.
Last fall, New Jersey-based Loan Value Group launched a new business model, offering lenders and mortgage investors a way to keep their current, but underwater, borrowers current through cash incentives.
It’s called Responsible Homeowner Reward, and today, one of the nation’s largest mortgage insurers, PMI Mortgage Insurance, joined in.
Here’s how it works. Borrowers pay nothing. They sign up with the program, promising to keep current on their mortgages for a certain period, generally 36 to 60 months (LVG has worked out the contract with the participating lender/investor).
After that period, the borrower will be paid anywhere from 10 to 30 percent of the loan principal, depending on the contract, in cash. The lenders/investors pay LVG, which receives a servicing fee, and LVG pays the borrowers. Again, the borrowers pay nothing for this bonus.
Here’s how it works. Borrowers pay nothing. They sign up with the program, promising to keep current on their mortgages for a certain period, generally 36 to 60 months (LVG has worked out the contract with the participating lender/investor).
After that period, the borrower will be paid anywhere from 10 to 30 percent of the loan principal, depending on the contract, in cash. The lenders/investors pay LVG, which receives a servicing fee, and LVG pays the borrowers. Again, the borrowers pay nothing for this bonus.
Just remember, kids, 36 to 60 months is three to five years. And zat’s a long time to be tied to a house that you’re already underwatet on.
Oops! Monday Typing Fingers strike again. I meant to say “underwater.”
It used to be the bonus of paying your mortgage (or rent) on time and every time…
You got to stay in your house.
Obama asks agencies to end outdated regulation - cnnmoney
In a nod to Big Business, President Obama on Monday issued an executive order asking independent agencies to rid their books of old and outdated regulations.
The White House made a similar request earlier this year to agencies it oversees. The new order asks agencies that don’t answer to the White House to join in this call to cut red tape.
“We are taking immediate steps to eliminate millions of hours in annual paperwork burdens for large and small business and save more than a $1 billion in annual regulatory costs,” said Obama in a memo accompanying the order.
The order, which was delivered to independent agencies on Monday, signals the White House’s sensitivity to complaints lobbed by big business groups and Republicans — that bureaucratic red tape and new rules are putting a crunch on job creation.
These groups are especially complaining about rules implementing expanded health care coverage, Wall Street reform and improved air quality standards.
“The combined weight of all these new regulatory activities is something we’ve never seen before in this country,” said U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue at a jobs summit on Monday. “It’s unjustified.”
But some wonder how effective the new order will be, since it is nonbinding. There’s no incentive nor teeth enforcing the order, said Ted Gayer, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
“This order has all the right language, but ultimately it needs more teeth and more direction,” Gayer said.
The January order has gotten tepid response at regulatory agencies overwhelmed with putting out myriad new rules and regulations, Gayer said.
A spokeswoman for the Office of Management and Budget pointed to 30 examples of agencies reviewing and in some cases updating outdated rules. For example, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is removing 1.9 million hours of redundant reporting on employers that will save employers $40 million, according to the White House.
She also said that many independent agencies have said they intend to honor the White House’s new request.
Gayer said he likes the executive order, because the White House is asking regulators to review the cost-effectiveness of older rules. Generally, regulators review the cost of a rule before it goes into effect, trying to predict its impact.
“The real innovation is the retrospective analysis — let’s go back and try to figure out what the benefits and costs are going to be,” said Gayer, an economist who did stints at the Treasury Department and at the Council of Economic Advisers during the George W. Bush administration.
Small business hiring outlook weak
But carrying out the rules is left to the regulatory agencies to figure out, he said.
In a Chamber of Commerce survey of executives running small businesses that make $25 million or less, 79% of those who responded said they believed federal regulations are unreasonable, and 85% of responders said they were worried about the impact of regulations on their businesses.
ObamaCare - 2300 pages of new law = 200,000 pages of regulations
Where to start…
How about on your homework?
I have ambivalent feelings about this.
I work in the medical devices industry, and we have to follow certain Standard Operating Procedures to get things released.
On the one hand these regulations are a burden. It’s a lot of work the way we certify that a debrillator or a treadmill ECG work correctly. And it certainly adds to the cost of these products.
But the public expects these devices to work flawlessly. Hiccups that would be tolerable in a non medical environment are not tolerable in a medical setting. A malfunction could render an incorrect diagnosis or event inflict death.
It is of course impossible to make any device foolproof. There will be failures at all levels, materials, manufactiuring, design, you name it. And with the ever increasing complexity found in these devices where do you draw the line? At what level are failures “acceptable”: 1 in 100? 1 in 1000? 1 in 1,000,000?
FWIW, I have not seen increases in how we are regulated when designing and manufacturing these devices. We are always updating our SOPs, but they are not any more onerous than before. If anything, they now address ambiguities that existed before.
Anyway, some food for thought.
Dang regulations!
Oh wait…
“These groups are especially complaining about rules implementing expanded health care coverage, Wall Street reform and improved air quality standards.”
Right - we wouldn’t want to have any rules on these items.
Earnings Season Kicks Off as Alcoa Q2 Profit Jumps - TheStreet
Alcoa is set to kick off earnings season once again on Monday, and there’s a good chance the aluminum giant will deliver a fifth straight above-consensus quarter.
How many times was it revised? Sick and tired of this shell game……
Recession’s Cost is $7,300 Per Person: Fed
By Vivien Lou Chen - Jul 11, 2011 - Bloomberg
The 18-month U.S. recession that ended in June 2009 has so far cut spending by more than $7,300 per person, or about $175 a month, from the pace that prevailed during the housing boom, said a Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco researcher.
The $7,300 figure reflects the period from December 2007 to May 2011, and was calculated by comparing the inflation-adjusted path of consumer purchases to pre-crisis levels, senior economist Kevin Lansing wrote in a paper released today. Per- capita consumption is still 1.6 percent below its pre-recession peak, 42 months after the recession started, he said.
“The purpose of the paper was to give an idea of how much stimulus was coming from the housing bubble,” Lansing said in a phone interview. “People are wondering why consumer spending is so slow these days. What they should be asking is: Why was it so strong in previous years? You’re comparing it to an artificial economy that was driven by debt.”
“We’re not going back to that kind of spending growth unless we have a big run-up in housing prices again, or a change in labor markets that makes people’s income go up,” Lansing said in the interview.
Fed officials are attempting to avert a repeat of the crisis that began with the collapse of the subprime-mortgage market. Their efforts to stimulate the world’s largest economy have yet to help lower an unemployment rate that’s remained around 9 percent for more than two years.
Home Prices
Home prices in the U.S. climbed 63 percent from the last three months of 2001 until reaching a record in the second quarter of 2006, according to figures from S&P/Case-Shiller. Since then, values have dropped 34 percent through the first quarter of this year.
“The purpose of the paper was to give an idea of how much stimulus was coming from the housing bubble,” Lansing said in a phone interview. “People are wondering why consumer spending is so slow these days. What they should be asking is: Why was it so strong in previous years? You’re comparing it to an artificial economy that was driven by debt.”
Uh-oh. There’s a truth-teller at the Fed.
“We’re not going back to that kind of spending growth unless we have a big run-up in housing prices again, or a change in labor markets that makes people’s income go up,” Lansing said in the interview.
And heaven knows we’re not going to pay them more. It’s nice to see more of this analysis getting reported.
“reflects the period from December 2007…
You’re comparing it to
an artificialthe 8 year Cheney-Shrub economy that was driven by debt.”heheeeheeeheehaahaaahaaheeehaahaaa… (Hwy50™)
Cheney-Shrub Legacy Effect #3: “We left y’all with the worst POS economy in 80 years…see ya!”
“Deficit$ don’t matter$!”
Porsche Supercar Seen Reviving Sales - Bloomberg
Porsche AG may develop a supercar positioned higher than the 911 GT2 RS to broaden its line-up and sustain growth as orders cool from record deliveries last year.
The car could be combined with additional variants of the Cayman and Boxster as well as extended-wheelbase and convertible versions of the Panamera four-door coupe, Bernhard Maier, Porsche’s sales chief, said in an interview. It would aim to fill the gap between the 237,600-euro ($338,500) GT2 RS, the top end of the 911 line, and the 768,000-euro 918 Spyder hybrid.
“We’re currently examining what options can be derived from this” hole in the product range, Maier said at the manufacturer’s headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany. “There already are initial ideas that look very promising on paper.”
Porsche SE, which jointly owns the sports-car maker with Volkswagen AG (VOW), plans to merge with the Wolfsburg, Germany-based manufacturer. The combination will bolster VW’s luxury line that already includes Audi, Lamborghini, Bentley and Bugatti as it aims to topple Toyota Motor Corp. and General Motors Co. to be the world’s largest carmaker by 2018. VW’s stock has more than doubled since agreeing to the deal in August 2009.
Backed by VW, Porsche aims to double sales to about 200,000 vehicles by 2018 with the introduction of new models and expansion in emerging markets. Porsche should boost deliveries to more than 100,000 this year from 97,000 in 2010, Maier said.
How is H-D sales going?
Their stock (HOG) is up anout 100% from a year ago.
People still like buying their toys.
Porsche SE, which jointly owns the sports-car maker with Volkswagen AG (VOW), plans to merge with the Wolfsburg, Germany-based manufacturer.
Haven’t we already been through this once before? I don’t recall the 924 being particularly popular. I suppose if it got them through a recession, though, maybe I can see the logic.
IIRC, The 924 was originally the replacement for the Karman-Ghia, until VW realized they aimed too high and talked Porsche into selling it.
No, it was the 914 that was the replacement for the Ghia. The 914-4 was sold as a VW and the 914-6 as a Porsche IIRC.
I justed wikipedia, and it confirmed my recollection. Porsche designed the 924 for VW, who then sold the design back to Porsche. VW instead released the Scirocco as their sporty car.
“It would aim to fill the gap between the 237,600-euro ($338,500) GT2 RS, the top end of the 911 line, and the 768,000-euro 918 Spyder hybrid.”
Love it. I’ve got about $700k I’m looking to spend on a fast car and I was just expressing my frustration that Porsche just doesn’t have a product for me. So I’ll either get this new thing they come up with or I’ll go buy 30 Corollas.
Obama Puts Medicare Age in Play ( AP)
Amid calls from Democrats to exclude entitlement programs from deficit-reduction talks, Obama offered to raise the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67 in a weekend meeting, sources say.
Thanks for nothing, Obama. Just stay off the Medicare eligibility age bandwagon, okay? If anything, Medicare is the solution, not the problem.
Yours Truly supports HR 676 - Medicare for All.
sources say.
Keep ‘em wmbz, keep ‘em coming…
Obama calls the GOP’s bluff:
Our view: The president has taken charge of debt limit talks with a bold deal that gives Republicans what they say they want; they need to take it
The Baltimore Sun / News > Our View
With time running out for Congress to raise the federal debt limit or see the nation face fiscal calamity and an almost certain end to the tenuous economic recovery, President Barack Obama has taken the lead on the issue with a proposal that accomplishes far more to reduce the nation’s budget deficit than the Republicans have been demanding. It is tilted heavily toward spending cuts rather than tax increases, perhaps too much so. But it would both solve the immediate problem of the nation’s debt limit and substantially address a long-term threat to American prosperity.
House Speaker John Boehner appears sincere in his desire to strike such a deal. But the division in the Republican caucus among those who recognize the importance of the opportunity they have been offered and those who can’t see past the anti-tax dogma of the conservative base is scuttling the whole effort. Republicans are giving ample evidence that concern about the size of the federal debt that they have stoked over the last few years was empty rhetoric and that they put ideological purity over the good of the country. There is still time to salvage the situation and accomplish something meaningful, but Republicans will have to show that they are willing to compromise.
But their contention that including tax increases in such a package would be the death knell of any recovery is belied by recent history. After cutting taxes, President Ronald Reagan increased them to help cope with the budget deficit, and prosperity followed. President George H.W. Bush and President Bill Clinton raised taxes, and we got the longest sustained economic expansion of the postwar period. President George W. Bush cut taxes, and we got years of anemic growth and stagnant wages, a decade in which what gains we had proved to be the product of a housing bubble whose lingering effects are still holding us back. Tax rates are a factor in economic growth, but they’re not the only one and probably not the most important one.
“…Obama offered to raise the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67…”
We are surrounded by people in their fifties that are already on disability likely due to drinking, smoking, obesity and sloth.
Or bad luck.
Fannie Mae is offering up to a 3.5% incentive for buyers
who purchase and close on a HomePath property
by October 31, 2011.*
Search For Properties at
Up to 3.5% in Closing
Cost Assistance
*Lenders may impose their own limitations on the use of the up to 3.5% incentive, so buyers should consult their lenders for guidance.
To be eligible for this incentive:
• Buyers or their agents must request closing cost assistance at initial offer
• Initial offers must be submitted on or after June 14, 2011
• Property sales must close on or before October 31, 2011
• Buyers must reside in the home as their primary residence — auction, pool, and investor sales are excluded
If they’re anything like the HomePath properties I see around here, you’d better be pretty handy.
There’s one down the street and ’round the corner that has a huge chunk knocked out of the drywall. Looks like someone heaved a television against the wall.
You can clearly see this damage from the street. And it makes me wonder what else is wrong with the house.
Smashed drywall always looks really bad but is so easy to fix…
Indeed it is.
But to me, smashed drywall is a warning flag that says “This house has problems. Some of which might cost serious money to fix.”
But if you’re handy, it also says “DEAL!”
There is of course TPODR, but when I say handy, I guess I mean “very experienced” so you can avoid that problem.
The clown theater continues…OBAMA PRESENTS HIMSELF AS CENTRIST
ROTHFLMAO!
WRAPUP 9-Obama, lawmakers fall short on US debt deal
WASHINGTON, July 11 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama and top U.S. lawmakers fell short on Monday of finding enough spending cuts for a deal to avoid an Aug. 2 debt default and Republicans came under fresh pressure to agree to tax hikes.
The two sides achieved no breakthrough in a roughly 90-minute meeting and scheduled a third straight day of talks for Tuesday. This came after Obama, at a news conference, declared it is time for both Republicans and Democrats to “pull off the Band-aid, eat our peas” and make sacrifices.
“If not now, when?” Obama said.
Democrats familiar with the White House talks said that in the meeting, Democratic lawmakers indicated there would not be votes from their side for a deficit-reduction bill that only had spending cuts, as Republicans want.
They said Obama’s view was that without tax increases, the package would at best be little more than $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction, far short of the estimated $2 trillion needed to extend the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling through the end of 2012.
“It’s just the math,” one Democratic official told reporters. “You can’t get something through the United States House (of Representatives) without a significant number of Democrats.”
The Treasury Department has warned it will run out of money to cover the country’s bills if Congress does not increase its borrowing authority by Aug. 2. Failure to act could push the United States back into recession, send shock waves through global markets and threaten the dollar’s reserve status.
U.S. stocks suffered their worst day in nearly a month on Monday mainly over investor concerns about the stalemate in Washington and growing debt problems in the euro zone.
While investors still consider it unlikely there will be no deal on the debt, the lack of resolution at a time of growing international concerns weighed on sentiment.
Obama discussed with the lawmakers a deficit-reduction plan negotiated by a group led by Vice President Joe Biden. The plan had included up to $2 trillion in spending cuts but fell apart over Democratic demands that it include an end to $400 billion in tax loopholes.
Democrats have fretted over proposed cuts to popular but expensive benefits programs for the poor and elderly, but House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, the top U.S. Republican, made clear in the talks that Republicans are not thrilled either at taking such a vote.
The comment prompted Obama to remind Republicans they had voted for a plan proposed by House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan that would restructure Medicare and lead to deep cuts.
“Excuse us for trying to lead,” Boehner told Obama, according to a Republican congressional aide.
Boehner also took issue with Democrats’ suggestion that most of the spending cuts should be concentrated out into future years, rather than beginning right away.
Cantor proposed $250 billion in Medicare cuts without offering to close any tax loopholes for the rich, Democratic officials and aides said. Obama noted in response that his bottom line is the need for “shared sacrifice,” they said.
A Cantor aide said the proposed Medicare cuts were among possible reductions earlier cited by the Biden group. Democrats disagreed, saying their negotiators never agreed to the package outlined by Cantor.
At his news conference, Obama said he has “bent over backwards” to work with the Republicans to try to come up with a formulation that does not require them to vote sometime in the next month to increase taxes.
Obama said he has been trying to negotiate a proposal in which taxes would not go up immediately, but in later years.
“Nobody is looking to raise taxes right now. We’re talking about potentially 2013 and the out-years,” Obama said.
Obama used the latest in a series of White House news conferences to urge lawmakers on both sides to stop putting off the inevitable and agree to tax increases and cuts in popular entitlement programs, trying to persuade Americans he is the grownup in a bitter summer battle over spending and taxes.
Obama kept the pressure on for a deal by ruling out a short-term increase in the debt ceiling that some Republicans have proposed in order to buy more time to negotiate tougher issues.
“This is the United States of America, and we don’t manage our affairs in three-month increments,” he said.
OBAMA PRESENTS HIMSELF AS CENTRIST
Obama is seeking to cast himself as a centrist in the bitter debate. His 2012 re-election hopes hinge not only on reducing America’s 9.2 percent unemployment but on his appeal to independent voters who are increasingly turned off by partisan rancor in Washington and want tougher action to get the country’s fiscal house in order.
Republicans are adamantly opposed to raising taxes while Obama’s Democrats are equally determined to guard against cuts in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, the sacred cow pension and healthcare programs for the poor and elderly.
Obama said he is willing to accept some pain on his side but expects Republicans to move in his direction.
He wants a $4 trillion, 10-year deficit-reduction deal that Boehner walked away from on Saturday out of concern it would raise taxes.
“I’m prepared to take on significant heat from my party to get something done. And I expect the other side should be willing to do the same thing,” Obama said.
Republicans are adamantly opposed to raising taxes while Obama’s Democrats are equally determined to guard against cuts in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, the sacred cow pension and healthcare programs for the poor and elderly.
Then let the deficit limit be reached.
Spending cuts will automatically be trigger. Except now congress won’t be able to control how much gets cut or where…
Interesting that you would favor the Republican-dominated House abdicating its constitutional responsibility to make spending decisions and pass it to the Democratic executive branch.
This country now thinks a centrist/moderate is some kind of socialeest/commie.
We’re effed.
“OBAMA PRESENTS HIMSELF AS CENTRIST
ROTHFLMAO!”
I guess your point is that deep down, Obama is a lefist. OK, I won’t argue that assertion either way. But even leftists realize the need to get our fiscal house in order. What is your objection to/amusement with Obama taking a centrist route in order to get a necessary thing done?
“This is the United States of America, and we don’t manage our affairs in three-month increments,”
Looks like lil’ Opie did a predator rip out of wingnut’s titanium spine.
I wonder when German “investors” are going to sue rating agencies like Moodys and S&P for putting AAA ratings on the toxic-waste MBS bundles sold by the TBTF US banks. I wonder when investers worldwide are going to sue the SEC for turning a blind eye to blatant, systemic Wall Street fraud.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-11/deutsche-bank-mortgageit-ask-court-to-throw-out-u-s-lawsuit.html
July 11 (Bloomberg) — Deutsche Bank AG, Germany’s biggest bank, and its MortgageIT unit asked a U.S. judge to dismiss a $1 billion federal government suit claiming they lied to qualify thousands of risky mortgages for a government insurance program.
The U.S. claims Deutsche Bank and MortgageIT falsely certified that they properly assessed the default risk of borrowers, qualifying loans for insurance by the Housing and Urban Development Department’s Federal Housing Administration, according to a complaint filed May 3 in Manhattan federal court.
Bahahaha!!!
VIDEO: Obama 2009: “The last thing you want to do is raise taxes in the middle of a recession”
MRCTV (Media Research Center TV) | 7/11/2011 | Joe S.
In an interview with NBC News’s Chuck Todd on August 5, 2009, when asked how raising taxes on anyone helps the economy, President Obama said: “The last thing you want to do is raise taxes in the middle of a recession because that would suck up… take more demand out of the economy and put businesses in a further hole.”
Central Falls, R.I., struggles to step back from financial abyss
- Boston.com
CENTRAL FALLS, R.I. - At the community center, the subsidized lunch for seniors is no longer being served. The pool has been drained. Health screenings have been cancelled. The locks to the building were changed last week, and not even the acting director is allowed inside.
The public library has gone dark too, a sign on the door at the top of the stone steps telling patrons to return books elsewhere - indefinitely.
Central Falls, one of New England’s most distressed cities, is on the cusp of filing for bankruptcy protection - a relatively rare step for municipalities even in tough financial times. Since 1980, only about 46 cities or towns in the United States have sought such protection, according to James Spiotto, an attorney in Chicago who is an expert in municipal bankruptcies.
Last year, the state took over Central Falls - a city of 19,000 residents with an unadjusted unemployment rate of 15 percent - stripping the mayor of his keys to City Hall and the rest of his authority. That move came after every teacher was fired at the underperforming high school, with most of them rehired later.
As state officials try to dig Central Fall out of its financial hole, negotiations are ongoing with labor unions and retirees and cuts are being sought from every corner of the budget. Without major concessions, bankruptcy is a very real possibility. Bankruptcy can take a toll on a city’s reputation and put stress on neighboring communities, which might have to step in to provide services.
“It’s a difficult, painful, and wrenching process,’’ said Richard Levin, an attorney who has been advising the city council in Harrisburg, Pa., which has been flirting with bankruptcy because of more than $280 million in debt on its trash incinerator, several times the size of the city’s annual budget. “Some people think bankruptcy is like a bath or a free pass. That’s not it at all.’’
Orange County, Calif., a wealthy community south of Los Angeles, became the largest municipality in US history to declare bankruptcy in 1994 in large part because of risky investments.
Vallejo, near San Francisco, went the same route in 2008. The city is poised to emerge from bankruptcy protection after renegotiating costly union contracts and restructuring its debt.
As state officials try to dig Central Fall out of its financial hole, negotiations are ongoing with labor unions and retirees and cuts are being sought from every corner of the budget. Without major concessions, bankruptcy is a very real possibility. Bankruptcy can take a toll on a city’s reputation and put stress on neighboring communities, which might have to step in to provide services.
Either they give the public unions what they want or cut every service that a city used to provide.
Gee - tough decision. Declare bankruptcy, null the public union contracts and outsource everyone of their jobs to a non-union contractor.
As for “take a toll on a city’s reputation” - just think of their reputation when they have a balanced budget and can actually live within their means…
So what did people do before conditioned air? I grew up in the deep south without A/C we survived the hot summers. No A/C but a great attic fan.
- Record temperatures seen as heat wave plagues 23 states
(CNN) — A heat wave is building and could reach dangerous levels in parts of the Midwest, the Plains and the Southeast this week.
Twenty-three states were under heat advisories Monday, according to the National Weather Service.
Kansas City, Missouri, and St. Louis are under an excessive heat warning, along with Tulsa, Oklahoma; Memphis, Tennessee; and Evansville, Indiana. In these areas, the heat index, or how hot the body feels due to the combined effects of heat and humidity, will reach between 110 and 115 degrees this week.
A 51-year-old man in Granite City, Illinois, died Sunday due to the excessive heat, the Madison County coroner said. Mitsunari Uechi was found unresponsive in his mobile home, where the air conditioning was not working. Police described the residence as “extremely hot,” Coroner Stephen Nonn said in a statement.
Uechi was transported to Gateway Regional Medical Center with a body temperature of 104 degrees. He was later pronounced dead, according to the coroner.
Nonn noted that Uechi “suffered from chronic medical problems that placed him in a higher risk for heat-stress related illness.”
The advisories and warnings will remain in effect until at least Tuesday.
Several high-temperature records have been broken recently.
Wichita, Kansas, hit 111 degrees Sunday. The National Weather Service says temperatures of 111 degrees have occurred there only 10 times since July 1888.
Also on Sunday, the temperature in tornado-ravaged Joplin, Missouri, hit 106 degrees, and in Springfield, Missouri, it topped 102 degrees. Both these temperatures bested high-temperature records set in the 1980s.
Wmbz
When we lived in My Pleasant on Pitt st I worked for WCIV tv we had no ac on the 2nd floor but a big industrial fan in the hall way, and with all the trees around the house it wasn’t bad at all xcept for a few times when you took 3 showers a day. Or go out to Sullivan’s island on a Wednesday and have the beach to yourself. IOP was busy even during the week…
So what did people do before conditioned air? I grew up in the deep south without A/C we survived the hot summers. No A/C but a great attic fan.
“The median price of a single-family home in the Tampa Bay area has risen or remained flat every month since January, the longest stretch without a monthly decline since 2006.”
Wait for it…
“The drop in foreclosure sales is attributable to lenders putting fewer bank-owned homes on the market…”
http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/realestate/prices-for-tampa-bay-homes-continue-to-rise/1179944
Glad to see the shadow market is being manipulated to help out the banks.
Muggy - Thanks for the one up.
Same thing is happening here in So Ca. Not only is the summer selling season pumping prices by $20K-$40K, there are no foreclosures on the market, and the SS’s are in dreadful condition, and are overpriced as well.
Gotta pay those $150k 2 day on 3 day off fire fighters and we wouldn’t want that Sheriff`s Dept. who have doubled their budget since 2005 to cut much, for gods sake they might have to drive their own cars to and from work and pay for the gas.
Split Palm Beach County commission raises property tax rate by 2.6 percent; will try to cut it before budget adopted
By Jennifer Sorentrue
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 4:59 p.m. Monday, July 11, 2011
A majority of Palm Beach County commissioners today agreed to raise the countywide property tax rate by 2.6 percent, but said they would spend the next two months looking for ways to cut it.
The commission voted 4-3 to set the maximum property tax rate at $4.88 for every $1,000 of taxable value, up from this year’s rate of $4.75. Commissioners Karen Marcus, Steven Abrams and Paulette Burdick voted against the increase.
The $4.88 rate is generally the maximum the county can charge when tax bills arrive in the mail later this year. Local officials can lower the proposed rates with a simple vote before finalizing their budgets in September, but can raise the rate only if they first notify all county taxpayers by first-class mail.
At the $4.88 rate, the county would generate $607 million in property taxes next year, roughly as much as it collected this year.
It “is a starting point,” Commissioner Burt Aaronson said. “We now know where we are. We have much information. We can go back and pare it down. Everything is on the table.”
Today’s decision was a turning point for commissioners, who have said since January they planned to hold the tax rate flat at this year’s level.
Commissioners gave no indication of what items they might cut to reduce the tentative rate. They also did not say whether they planned to ask Sheriff Ric Bradshaw to cut more from his $482.6 million budget proposal.
County Administrator Bob Weisman had been bracing for a $40 million shortfall if commissioners keep the tax rate flat at $4.75.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/split-palm-beach-county-commission-raises-property-tax-1600301.html?printArticle=y - -
Denial runs strong in the Obama administration about the impossibility of turning the clock back on the Housing Bubble collapse.
Hence more futile efforts to turn back the clock are in the works.
POLITICS
JULY 12, 2011
U.S. Tackles Housing Slump
By NICK TIMIRAOS
The Obama administration is ramping up talks on how to revive the housing market, which is weighing on the economic recovery—and possibly the president’s re-election in 2012.
Last year, advisers considered several housing-policy prescriptions but rejected them in favor of letting the market sort things out. Since then, weak demand and a stream of foreclosed properties have put renewed pressure on home prices, prompting concern within the White House.
Housing “hasn’t bottomed out as quickly as we expected,” President Barack Obama said at a White House town hall last week. Mr. Obama said housing remained the “most stubborn” problem facing the country and conceded that a raft of federal mortgage-aid programs were “not enough, and so we’re going back to the drawing board.”
Policy ideas include having taxpayer-owned mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac relax their rules for loans to investors, allowing those buyers to vacuum up excess housing inventory. In certain markets, Fannie and Freddie could hold some foreclosed homes off the market and rent them out to ease the property glut.
Officials also could sweeten incentives for banks to reduce loan balances for borrowers who are underwater, or owe more than their homes are worth.
The White House is weighing ideas to strengthen the feeble housing market. Pictured, emptying a foreclosed home in Lawrenceville, Ga., this year.
Discussions are in early stages, and there isn’t consensus around particular ideas. A spokeswoman said the president and his advisers “are always looking at new ways” to strengthen the housing market but wouldn’t disclose details. “While we continue to consider the options available to us, it would be inaccurate to say we are proposing any of these particular ideas at this time,” White House spokeswoman Amy Brundage said.
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