The Housing Bubble

Apartments seem to be the hot ticket for the REIC. A constipated foreclosure market artificially holds back housing rental, both house and condo. MERS aka Robo-signing appears to not be a friend of aspiring renters.

WTF is the opportunity or attraction for home buyers? A new wave of repartments or actual building, which was 20% of the economy. I think the momentum trends toward more concentration of family units, yet I see them trending more toward combining resources to command control of a 4 or 5 bedroom house.

How many families? How related? How many offspring per couple?

Would you like to be my neighbor? (Please, GOD, NO!)

Realtors Are Liars

So how will the moocher class get it’s “free” stuff in the future…

Number of children in U.S. hits record low, census says
By The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Children now make up less of America’s population than ever before, even with a boost from immigrant families, according to census figures.

And when this generation grows up, it will become a shrinking work force that will have to support the nation’s expanding elderly population — even as the government strains to cut spending for health care, pensions and much else.

The latest 2010 census data show that children of immigrants make up one in four people younger than 18, and are now the fastest-growing segment of the nation’s youth, an indication that both legal and illegal immigrants as well as minority births are lifting the nation’s population.

Currently, the share of children in the U.S. is 24 percent, falling below the previous low of 26 percent of 1990. The share is projected to slip further, to 23 percent by 2050, even as the percentage of people 65 and older is expected to jump from 13 percent to 19 percent because of the aging of baby boomers and beyond.

In 1900, the share of children reached as high as 40 percent, compared to a much smaller 4 percent share for seniors 65 and older. The percentage of children in subsequent decades held above 30 percent until 1980, when it fell to 28 percent amid declining birth rates, mostly among white people.

“There are important implications for the future of the U.S. because the increasing costs of providing for an older population may reduce the public resources that go to children,” said William P. O’Hare, a senior consultant with the Annie E. Casey Foundation, a children’s advocacy group.

There was a report on NPR yesterday that Arizona borrowed money in 2007 to basically build a space port for Richard Branson. The report said that there is supposed to be other commercial space activity, but that Virgin Gallactic seems to be the only business with any sort of commitment to use it and their plans are minimal.

Is this actually what happened? What the heck?

Report was all about how lots of jobs were promised for Arizona, but pretty much all the good jobs went to out of state contractors and they think there might be a few maintenance jobs for Arizonans (janitors, etc.) but not much else.

Have fun paying off those bonds, boys and girls.

Way OT. How does one bind their hands and feet before they hang themselves?

Son, Girlfriend of CEO Die After Incidents at Same Mansion
July 18, 2011 | Associated Press

San Diego – The 6-year-old son of a pharmaceutical company executive died Sunday, almost a week after falling down the stairs at his father’s historic mansion — the same house where his father’s girlfriend was found dead hanging nude from a balcony two days later, the boy’s parents said.

Max Shacknai died at Rady’s Children’s Hospital in San Diego, Medicis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. chairman and chief executive Jonah Shacknai said in a statement along with ex-wife Dina Romano, the boy’s mother.

“With great sadness, Dina and I convey the tragic passing of our beloved son, Max (affectionately known as Maxie),” the statement issued through Medicis Pharmaceuticals said. “Despite heroic efforts on the part of paramedics and hospital staff, he was unable to recover from the injuries suffered early last week. His loving, kind and vibrant spirit will be forever in our hearts and those whom he touched every day.”

On Monday, Max fell down the stairs at the historic Spreckels mansion in Coronado in what police called a tragic accident. He was not breathing and did not have a pulse when paramedics found him.

On Wednesday, officials said Shacknai’s 32-year-old girlfriend, Rebecca Nalepa, was found dead hanging nude from a balcony at the mansion, her hands and feet bound. Shacknai’s brother, Adam, who was staying in the mansion guesthouse, called to report Nalepa appeared to be dead, police said. Jonah Shacknai was not at home.

Sheriff’s Capt. Tim Curran has called the death “very bizarre.”

Sheriff’s investigators have not established any connection between the two deaths, and have not determined if Nalepa was a crime victim and have made no arrests. They said they have not ruled out suicide.

The 27-room Spreckels mansion was built in 1908 in the wealthy seaside suburb of about 24,000 people on San Diego Bay. It is named for its original owner John D. Spreckels, who also owned the majestic Hotel del Coronado and two local newspapers, the San Diego Union and San Diego Tribune.

Coronado had just one homicide last year, and the police department asked the sheriff’s department to help with the investigation.

Jonah Shacknai, 54, founded Medicis, based in Scottsdale, Arizona, and has been chairman and CEO since 1988. The company’s products include acne treatments Solodyn and Ziana and facial wrinkle treatment Restylane.

Au&Ag must be a bubble! LOL!

A respectful moment (rare these days)

The fallen Betty Ford was returning to Grand Rapids for the last time. Her remains were abord a beautiful United States Presidential airplane painted blue and white. The airport was closed to all other traffic for 30 minutes. Airliners waited patientally on the ground and some in a hold over the GRR VOR. As Ms. Ford’s plane, SAM 324, landed, they were cleared to taxi all the way to the end, in front of a thousand people. The tower frequency was absolutely silent.

One unknown airline pilot, in a low, respectful voice, said, “Rest in peace, Mrs. Ford.”

After a short pause and in a slow, measured response, the Presidential plane’s pilot identified himself:

“SAM 324.”

Why the Drop in Foreclosures is Not Good News

By JENNIFER DEPAUL, The Fiscal Times
July 14, 2011

Prices won’t bottom out until the first quarter of 2012, says Celia Chen, an economist with Moody’s Analytics. She estimates the market still needs to work through 1.9 million distressed properties.

“We are still searching for the bottom in housing,” says Anika Kahn, an economist at Wells Fargo. “We’re in the middle of home buying season and for it to be limping along is definitely not the most encouraging progress.”

The decline in foreclosures comes as the Obama administration is ramping up efforts to resuscitate the battered housing market. In a Twitter town hall event last week, president Obama said housing remained the “most stubborn” problem facing the country. There hasn’t been a clear list of policy ideas, but the administration has floated a proposal to require taxpayer-owned mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to relax their rules for loans to investors, among other measures

http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2011/07/14/Why-the-Drop-in-Foreclosures-is-Not-Good-News.aspx - 122k -

“There hasn’t been a clear list of policy ideas, but the administration has floated a proposal to require taxpayer-owned mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to relax their rules for loans to investors, among other measures”

One Hit Wonders Lyrics

Fannie Goes To Hollywood

Relax Lyrics

Oh oh
Wee-ell-Now!

Relax don’t do it
When you want to go to it
Relax don’t do it
Who you gonna loan
Relax don’t do it
Why we gotta go through it
Relax don’t do it
Who you gonna loan
LOAN

Bom-Bom-Bom

But shoot it in the right direction
Make making it your intention-ooh yeah
Live those dreams
Scheme those schemes
Got to hit me
Hit me
Hit me with those sub-prime loans

Bom-Bom-Bom

I’m loaning
I’m loaning-yeah

Relax don’t do it
Why we gotta go through it
Relax don’t do it
(Drums)
Who you gonna loan
Who you gonna loan
Who you gonna loan

580?

Loan-huh

Get it up
The scene of loan
Oh feel it

Relax
Higher higher

Hey-
Pray

Get Ready for a 70% Marginal Tax Rate
WSJ | 7/18/11 | MICHAEL J. BOSKIN

President Obama has been using the debt-ceiling debate and bipartisan calls for deficit reduction to demand higher taxes. With unemployment stuck at 9.2% and a vigorous economic “recovery” appearing more and more elusive, his timing couldn’t be worse.

Two problems arise when marginal tax rates are raised. First, as college students learn in Econ 101, higher marginal rates cause real economic harm. The combined marginal rate from all taxes is a vital metric, since it heavily influences incentives in the economy—workers and employers, savers and investors base decisions on after-tax returns. Thus tax rates need to be kept as low as possible, on the broadest possible base, consistent with financing necessary government spending.

Second, as tax rates rise, the tax base shrinks and ultimately, as Art Laffer has long argued, tax rates can become so prohibitive that raising them further reduces revenue—not to mention damaging the economy. That is where U.S. tax rates are headed if we do not control spending soon.

The current top federal rate of 35% is scheduled to rise to 39.6% in 2013 (plus one-to-two points from the phase-out of itemized deductions for singles making above $200,000 and couples earning above $250,000). The payroll tax is 12.4% for Social Security (capped at $106,000), and 2.9% for Medicare (no income cap). While the payroll tax is theoretically split between employers and employees, the employers’ share is ultimately shifted to workers in the form of lower wages.

But there are also state income taxes that need to be kept in mind. They contribute to the burden. The top state personal rate in California, for example, is now about 10.5%. Thus the marginal tax rate paid on wages combining all these taxes is 44.1%. (This is a net figure because state income taxes paid are deducted from federal income.)

Older generations (e.g., retired) these days are clueless. They complain that they don’t know whether or not they’ll even get a raise this year. A raise in their PENSION.

Most households these days have two full-time working adults (no, mom doesn’t get time off for pregnancies/breast feeding/child rearing), plus all teenage kids working part time. They don’t earn enough money among the four of them to pay the rent, and they are not going to ever get a raise. Yet the retirees are complaining that their pensions don’t come with guaranteed raises!

I love the way older people try to identify as Republicans, voting for no regulations, no tariffs, and as much foreign labor as humanly possible, but then they complain that the universe has not contrived to somehow give them a raise in their PENSION. Who will pay for this raise? China?

“They” have had Cramer on CNBC every morning for the last week during the “Debt Ceiling Crisis”. “They” only trot him out as a commentator when they are scared. (”They” are scared.)

A view of the debt ceiling negotiations from across the pond:

The federal debt
Countdown
The row over the debt ceiling is going down to the wire

Jul 7th 2011 | WASHINGTON, DC | from the print edition

THE stand-off over America’s debt ceiling has entered strange territory: pretty much everyone agrees the limit will be raised, but it is becoming ever harder to see just how. The Treasury reckons it will run out of cash on around August 2nd. But with time running short, the parties seem as far apart as ever.

Taxes are the sticky wicket.
…
Republican intransigence is difficult to fathom. Government revenues as a share of output are low by international standards and have fallen in recent years (see chart). A report produced in March by congressional Republicans noted an 85% to 15% spending-to-revenue split was the average for a successful fiscal consolidation. They have essentially achieved that; the $400 billion in revenue rises on offer is just 17% of the total proposal. And the president has since sweetened the deal. He backed away from an effort to lift marginal tax rates on the rich, offering instead to raise money by closing loopholes. Republicans have still demurred; they consider eliminating loopholes tantamount to raising taxes, though it could equally be argued that it is the same as cutting spending.

On July 6th, Mr Cantor reiterated that position; he is open to closing loopholes, he said, but only if they are offset by tax cuts elsewhere. Secret talks have taken place between Mr Obama and the House speaker, John Boehner, and the Democrats are said to be offering cuts of as much as $4 trillion, including to spending on Medicare and Medicaid and even on Social Security (pensions)—a key Republican goal. Yet there is great unease at all this on both sides. Some Republicans are clamouring to include still more in any agreement, including a cap on spending at 18% of GDP and backing for a balanced-budget amendment to the constitution. Both are anathema to Democratic leaders.
…

Builder confidence up 2 points — only 35 points more to return to the neutral level of 50…

July 18, 2011, 10:00 a.m. EDT
July builder confidence rises 2 points to 15
By Steve Goldstein

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes rose two points to 15 in July on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index. The gain offsets much of June’s three-point dip, but still is the ninth time out of 10 the index has held to the same three-point range.
…
The seasonally adjusted index is designed so that any number over 50 is considered “good” — which hasn’t been the case since April 2006.

Simple solution, have no debt ceiling, no budget, print like a SOB and there will be no worries…

Moody’s Suggests US Eliminates Debt Ceiling
By: Reuters

Ratings agency Moody’s on Monday suggested the United States should eliminate its statutory limit on government debt to reduce uncertainty among bond holders.

The United States is one of the few countries where Congress sets a ceiling on government debt, which creates “periodic uncertainty” over the government’s ability to meet its obligations, Moody’s ] said in a report.

“We would reduce our assessment of event risk if the government changed its framework for managing government debt to lessen or eliminate that uncertainty,” Moody’s analyst Steven Hess wrote in the report.

The agency last week warned it would cut the United States’ AAA credit rating if the government misses debt payments, increasing pressure on Republicans and the White House to come up with a budget agreement.

Moody’s said it had always considered the risk of a U.S. debt default very low because Congress has regularly raised the debt ceiling during many decades, usually without controversy.

Inconvenient Truth

“The left believes it can get the money from the wealthy. But the top 1 percent of Americans in income already carry 40 percent of the federal income tax load, while the bottom 50 percent of wage-earners ride free. This will have to end.

“We are either going to man up and radically reduce government at all levels in the United States, or the bond markets are going to do it for us, as they are doing it today for Greece, Ireland and Portugal.”

We’re Greeks, Now.

- Pat Buchanan

If voters persist in sending politicians to Washington for the purpose of “bringing home lots of bacon” they will deliver. And eventually a huge bill must be paid.

Big Mortgages are Back (just in time for the next leg down):

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Big-Mortgages-Are-wallstreet-1344265843.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=8&asset=&ccode=

“Koches also notes that the homeowner was given a loan modification, which she never paid on. He said she is past due on payments dating to September 2008.”

POST COVERAGE Foreclosure crisis

By Kimberly Miller Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 6:35 p.m. Saturday, July 16, 2011

New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Schack in his July 1 ruling against HSBC Bank questions variations in signatures of Ocwen employees, who serviced the home loan for HSBC. He also ruled that HSBC had no standing to file the foreclosure because of a faulty assignment of mortgage.

Schack read about the report by Edwards and Clarkson titled “Unfair, Deceptive and Unconscionable Acts in Foreclosure Cases” in a Palm Beach Post article published in January. The article included information in the report on signatures of alleged Ocwen robo-signer Scott Anderson.

“While I have never personally met Mr. Anderson, his signatures have appeared in many foreclosure documents in this court,” Schack wrote. “His claims of wearing different corporate hats and the variations in the scrawls of initials used for his signature on mortgage documents has earned Mr. Anderson notoriety as a robo-signer.”

Schack meticulously describes four different styles of Anderson’s, saying in one signature variation “the letter ‘S’ is a cursive bell-shaped curve overlapping with the cursive letter ‘A’.”

In another variation “one cursive letter looks almost like the letter ‘O.’ It is a circle sitting in a valley created by something that looks like the cursive letter ‘M.’ ”

Ocwen says there has been no wrongdoing.

“The foreclosure documents were factually accurate and properly executed by persons who were legally authorized to sign them,” said Ocwen Executive Vice President Paul Koches. “To our knowledge, there was nothing submitted by our legal counsel to the court that was in any way misleading as to who is the owner of this mortgage and note, nor was there any conduct of any kind that would justify sanctions.”

Koches also notes that the homeowner was given a loan modification, which she never paid on. He said she is past due on payments dating to September 2008.

Schack’s ruling was made with prejudice, which means the case cannot be refiled as is. He also demanded HSBC Bank officials appear in court to explain why they should not be sanctioned

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/money/foreclosures/florida-fraud-report-key-to-new-york-foreclosure-1615262.html - 85k -

Evidently, Supply-Side Economics has been around since the 1920’s:

The Treasury Secretary had come up with his Mellon Plan, a simple enough concept: He wanted to slash the tax rates on the wealthiest Americans to just 25 percent, but he also planned to cut the rates on anyone earning less than $3,000 annually to zero. For that Mellon had the public on his side. After all, when he had taken office in 1921, the national debt was $24 billion, but he had cut that to $19.6 billion by the time he started pushing his newest tax reduction idea. The problem Couzens had was that Mellon was telling the public that if tax rates on the rich were slashed, the government would actually end up with more revenue coming in.

The rich would be richer, Mellon argued; therefore, they would invest more in business and that would create jobs. Humorist Will Rogers laughed about the government plan to make the richest Americans richer - “and somehow that will trickle down to everyone else?” It was Mellon, not Arthur Laffer, Milton Friedman or Ronald Reagan, who created supply-side economics; Will Rogers gave it the name we know, “trickle-down” economics.

http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/07/15/3224212/clash-of-the-titans-conclusion.html

New Doll That Teaches How To Breast Feed Causing Controversy

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – A new doll hitting stores in the U.S. is causing some controversy with parents. It’s called The Breast Milk Baby and it claims it teaches young girls how to breast feed.

The doll is made by Berjuan Toys, a company out of Spain. It comes with a special halter top that has two flowers where nipples would be. When a little girl puts on the top and holds the baby doll up the flowers, it makes suckling sounds.

The company says the doll is a top-selling toy in Europe and on its website, says the toy ”lets young girls express their love and affection in the most natural way possible, just like mommy!”

But the toy has many parents asking if it’s going too far.

“I think that it’s totally bizarre to teach a prepubescent child how to breastfeed,” said Nicole from Manhattan. “Quite strange.”

“I think it’s very creepy,” said one woman. “I don’t think little kids should be breastfeeding.”

“I don’t approve of it at all. I think it’s ridiculous for a child. Let her learn it when she’s older,” said another woman.

Scott from Manhattan says he wouldn’t buy the doll, but gives credit to the company for coming up with the idea. “Make a product, if it sells, it sells,” he said.

Underwater Co-op

“I am truly shocked you are allowed to have debt on a unit at 740 Park,” wrote one commenter on the website of the trade paper The Real Deal. Everywhere, it seemed, the biggest question was not how much Swig and his soon-to-be ex-wife, Elizabeth, owed—they reportedly stopped making payments on a $12.8 million short-term loan from 2009—but how this happened at 740 Park, home to David Koch and Steven Schwartzman and a building whose board is said to require buyers to have $100 million in liquid cash.”

http://nymag(DOT)com/realestate/realestatecolumn/740-park-2011-7/

The story of this building was told in a book: “740 Park: The Story of the World’s Richest Apartment Building”

I wish one of the enlighten could splain to me what happened? The True-Buffoons voted for Barry, he was going to stick it to the man/rich, and spread the wealth around.They were giddy at the thought,some even expecting reparations. No more worries, finally we gets ours. No light bills, mortgages, gas bills or health Ins. to worry about (Peggy Joesph) at long last the score would be settled, hope&change had arrived.

Poor things got nothing they were promised, yet they will vote the same way again, still thinking they are getting even with the ones they hate. Sorry true-buffoons, it didn’t work out the way you knew it would, and it won’t but don’t give up hope&change.

Robbers hold up guests at luxury Rio hotel
RIO DE JANEIRO | Mon Jul 18, 2011

(Reuters) - Armed men invaded one of Rio de Janeiro’s most exclusive hotels and robbed guests including foreign tourists early on Monday, police and hotel officials said.

The incident is a reminder of the lingering security problems that the beachside Brazilian city faces as it prepares to host the soccer World Cup in 2014 and the Olympic Games two years later.

An official with the city’s tourist police confirmed media reports that there had been an invasion of the hotel in Rio’s hilly Santa Teresa district but said no further details were available. A spokeswoman for the luxurious Hotel Santa Teresa told Reuters that four armed men had held up guests, including about 10 foreign tourists.

The Globo news website cited police as saying the gunmen had entered the hotel before dawn on Monday and had all escaped. There were no reports of injuries to the guests.

Violent crime in Rio has fallen in recent years as authorities have taken a tougher stance on public order and police have occupied more than a dozen slums that were long dominated by gun-toting drug traffickers.

But hundreds of slums in Rio are still controlled by armed gangs. Gunmen took 35 guests hostage at another five-star hotel last August as they fled a shoot-out with police.

The Hotel Santa Teresa has become a favorite destination for well-to-do foreign visitors since it opened in 2008, with guests including celebrities paying up to about $2,000 per night for the best rooms.

Why is it BAC loan servicing has been changed to Bank of America, N.A.? And that BAC and Bank of America, N.A. have also performed some kind of quiet merger as well. It must cost money to make such a servicing change? Of what possible significance are they worried about to enact such a trivial, innocuous seeming change?

Considering BAC and BofA are the same company anyway! One possible answer is that they are worried about the legitimacy of the loans they service, because they sent wife one letter informing her of the change of servicers, then another that included a bit regarding debts not disputed will from here-on be considered valid debts.

They seem to be trying to validate many debts by assuming their customers will be complacent. It seems so fishy. Wife is going to dispute it. Maybe the loan is somehow flawed and to not dispute it would be to roll over and give a pass to all the shenanigans and circumventions around the law that were done by various entities with the loan since its inception. Updates to follow!

New York Has Highest Mortgage Closing Costs for Second Straight Year, According to Bankrate, Inc.
Texas, Utah and California Also Rank Among Most Expensive States

NEW YORK, July 18, 2011 /PRNewswire– Nationwide, the average origination and title fees on a $200,000 mortgage total $4,070, which is 8.8 percent higher than a year ago, according to Bankrate, Inc.’s RATE -2.68% 2011 Closing Costs Survey.

New York leads the nation with an average fee of $6,183. Texas, Utah, San Francisco and Idaho round out the five most expensive areas. Arkansas is the least expensive area, with an average fee of $3,378.

Most of the rise in closing costs is tied to fees charged directly by lenders. On average, lenders charge about $1,614 in origination fees this year, up 10.3 percent from last year. Origination fees include lender charges for services such as underwriting and processing.

“Interest rates get a lot of attention, and rightfully so, but it’s also important for consumers to compare lender fees when shopping for a loan,” said Greg McBride, CFA, senior financial analyst for Bankrate, Inc.

Bankrate surveyed up to 10 lenders in each state in June 2011 and obtained online good faith estimates for a $200,000 mortgage to buy a single-family home with a 20 percent down payment. Costs include fees charged by lenders, as well as third-party fees for services such as appraisals and title insurance. The survey excludes taxes, property insurance, association fees, interest and other prepaid items.

Ga. test scandal teachers told quit or be fired
(CBS News)

The Atlanta school system has been rocked by scandal. Cheating was allegedly rampant, and now those believed to be responsible are being held accountable.

Almost 200 Atlanta educators, teachers and principals, all implicated in the most far-reaching school cheating scandal in American history, have been given an ultimatum: Quit by Wednesday, or be fired.

But Armstead Salters says he’s no cheat.

Salters told CBS News, “I always work hard for the children.”

CBS News Correspondent Mark Strassmann report, however, that at Atlanta’s Gideon Elementary, state investigators say they found plenty wrong; Cheating in almost every classroom, teachers erasing wrong answers on standardized tests and filling in the right ones, all allegedly on orders from their former principal, Armstead Salters.

Salters told CBS News, “I think in time you’ll find out I didn’t do anything wrong.”

State investigators say in Atlanta’s public schools, 178 principals and teachers - almost half of whom confessed - changed student answers to spike scores.

Students showed such dramatic progress that former superintendant Beverly Hall and other staffers were given awards, and big bonuses.

Now anyone implicated faces termination and, possibly, criminal charges, according to Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal.

“When educators have failed to uphold their trust and students are harmed in the process, there will be consequences,” Deal said.

Many of the affected students live in Atlanta’s poorest neighborhoods. Year after year, Strassmann reports, some of them were promoted to the next grade based on phony test scores - even though they had mastered none of the basics.

“It is just so devastating that so many children have been affected by educators who just didn’t do their jobs,” said parent Joleen Neel.

Does anyone have thoughts on why gold now appears to respond to debt-default fears, but did not respond all that significantly to the massive volatility back in 2008?

Frankly, I was shocked how little it benefited back in 2008; now it rallies to new highs on every little bit of news on European debt negotiations.

Thoughts?

Global Demand for U.S. Assets Increases $23.6 Billion, Less Than (Bloomberg)

Global demand for U.S. stocks, bonds and other financial assets rose in May from a month earlier as China and Japan added to their holdings of government securities, the Treasury Department reported.

Net buying of long-term equities, notes and bonds totaled $23.6 billion during the month, compared with net buying of $30.6 billion in April, according to statistics issued today in Washington. Including short-term securities such as stock swaps, foreigners sold a net $67.5 billion compared with net buying of $66.6 billion the previous month.

The reporting on long-term securities is a gauge of confidence in U.S. economic policy, and today’s data suggest the country offers safety from the economic crisis in Europe even with the White House and Congress at odds over raising the Treasury’s borrowing authority.

“The U.S. failure to lift the debt ceiling limit has not led America’s creditors to lose confidence yet,” said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. in New York. “Foreigners continue to buy now, but they may yet get cold feet.”

Here’s the latest news from Tucson:

Local gals make good! They’re going to be on “House Hunters” teevee!

The scoop from our leading fishwrap:

A local real estate agent and a single mom will appear on cable television tonight as they scour the Tucson area for a new house.

The “House Hunters” show on HGTV, or Home and Garden Television, will tell the story of Tucsonan Jennifer Elton, a single mom with a son, who recently divorced and needs to move into a smaller home that’s easier to maintain.

Much comment merriment follows…

Terrafugia Flying Car Cleared for Landing in US
July 18, 2011 | News Corp Australian Papers

As many as 100 people have put down a $10,000 deposit for their Terrafugia Transition.

A flying car retailing for $227,000 could be on roads in a matter of months — and customers are already lining up to be the first to get their hands on one, its maker claims.

Just over a week ago, the Terrafugia Transition passed a significant milestone when it was cleared for takeoff by the U.S. National Highway Safety Administration. It’s taken Terrafugia founder Carl Dietrich just five years to realize his dream, with some media outlets reporting that the Transition could now be on U.S. roads by the end of next year.

Last year, the project was headed for trouble after authorities demanded design changes costing Terrafugia somewhere in the order of $18 million.

Fortunately, Dietrich’s company then won a $60 million contract with the Defense Department to develop a flying Humvee.

Despite the fact the price of a single vehicle has been pushed to about $230,000 from the starting order price of $170,000, up to 100 customers have already paid a $10,000 deposit for a Transition.

The next stage for Terrafugia is global domination, with the first stop outside the U.S. being Europe.

The Civil Aviation Authority told the UK’s Daily Mail that the U.S. clearance meant it would be “relatively easy” for the Transition to get clearance from the European Safety Agency, based in Cologne.

“The bulk of the work has already been done in the U.S.,” said Jonathan Nicholson, of Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority. “Safety standards are very similar between there and Europe.”

Terrafugia says more than 20 Britons have already expressed interest in owning a Transition.

The two-seat plane is made of carbon-fiber and aimed primarily at the U.S.’s 600-strong “fly-in” communities. It can lift off from almost any long straight road and, once in the air, has a top speed of 115 mph.

On landing, its wings fold up in 15 seconds, with power then routed to the rear wheels, giving it a top land speed of 62 mph and size dimensions equivalent to a large sedan.

“It’s like a little Transformer,” Mr Dietrich said.

The Transition will be available to those with a light-aircraft license and requires as little as 20 hours of training to fly.

Has anyone been keeping upthe MERS legal challenges?

I met one of the MERS “victims” over the weekend. Her embellishments had more holes than swiss cheese.

Looks like we’re hanging around the Eddie line (1,300) on the S&P while remaining well above it (12,000) on the DOW.

This implies relative outperformance for firms large enough to be deemed too big to fail. Or perhaps those with actual dividends.

News of the World phone-hacking whistleblower found dead. UK

Sean Hoare, the former News of the World showbiz reporter who was the first named journalist to allege Andy Coulson was aware of phone hacking by his staff, has been found dead, the Guardian has learned.

Hoare, who worked on the Sun and the News of the World with Coulson before being dismissed for drink and drugs problems, is said to have been found dead at his Watford home.

Hertfordshire police would not confirm his identity, but the force said in a statement: “At 10.40am today [Monday 18 July] police were called to Langley Road, Watford, following the concerns for the welfare of a man who lives at an address on the street. Upon police and ambulance arrival at a property, the body of a man was found. The man was pronounced dead at the scene shortly after.

“The death is currently being treated as unexplained, but not thought to be suspicious. Police investigations into this incident are ongoing.”

Hoare first made his claims in a New York Times investigation into the phone-hacking allegations at the News of the World.

Report: Whistleblower in phone-hacking scandal found dead at home.

“”The death is currently being treated as unexplained, but not thought to be suspicious,” the police said.”

Yeah. Not suspicious. Okay.

Obama officially threatens to veto ‘cut, cap and balance’
By Sam Youngman - The Hill

The White House on Monday warned President Obama will veto GOP legislation to “cut, cap and balance” spending and the budget.

In a statement of administration policy, the White House Office of Management and Budget labeled the GOP bill as an “empty political statement.”

The House Rules Committee is expected to take up the measure on Monday, and it is likely to receive a floor vote on Tuesday. The measure would cut spending in fiscal 2012 by $111 billion, cap future spending at 19.9 percent of gross domestic product and allow for the debt ceiling to be increased if a balanced-budget amendment is approved by Congress and sent to the states.

The administration said the measure, which is not expected to move through the Senate, is unnecessary and unrealistic.

The Washington Times Online Edition

Tax breaks for whaling ship captains, feeding stray cats and holding office parties for low-wage employees all have been ruled legal under tax law, according to a new report that comes just as the debate over so-called “tax expenditures,” estimated to be worth as much as $1 trillion a year, is heating up.

While much of the focus has been on corporate breaks to the likes of oil companies, the individual income tax code has its share — and Sen. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican, wants those to be part of the conversation as well.

On Monday he released a 600-plus-page report designed to show how to reduce deficits by $9 trillion over the next 10 years, including trillions of dollars in lower tax breaks. And alongside it, he obtained a report he requested from the Congressional Research Service, Congress’s nonpartisan analytical branch, laying out some of the crazier-sounding write-offs:

— Eskimo whaling ship captains, who can deduct up to $10,000 a year. Even though commercial whaling is illegal in U.S. waters, Native Alaskan captains are still allowed to hunt, and since 2005 are also allowed to claim the annual charitable deduction to offset their fuel and weapons costs.

— Businesses can deduct the full cost of “recreational, social or similar activities” for low-paid employees — which means the costs of office holiday parties can be written off.

— A couple who owned a junkyard got tax court approval to deduct the $300 they paid to feed stray cats. The court said since the cats kept away snakes and rats, it boosted business. CRS said it’s “not clear from the ruling how widely applicable it is to cases involving the feeding of feral cats.”

“We need to cut spending inside the code as well as spending outside the code,” Mr. Coburn told reporters as he introduced his $9 trillion plan.

The CRS report found some other particularly questionable business deductions, including one tax court’s ruling that a bodybuilder could deduct the cost of the oils he used, and another court’s decision that an exotic dancer’s large silicone breast implants be a deductible expense.

That second court ruled that the implants bought by the dancer, whose professional name was Chesty Love, were so large — about 10 pounds each — that they could have no purpose other than for her professional work. The implants were assigned a five-year depreciation life.

CRS said those tax rulings don’t necessarily create a precedent, so it’s not clear whether another exotic dancer could make the same claim.

Also deductible on tax forms as medical expenses: costs of a legal abortion and costs of a sex change operation when someone has been diagnosed with gender identity disorder — but, unlike in the case of the exotic dancer, not breast implants. The U.S. Tax Court ruled that the augmentation surgery was mainly for appearances, not actual treatment for the disorder.

Many of the breaks are small. The whaling deduction totals $4 million over the next 10 years, for example.

But Mr. Coburn argues they are emblematic of a gap in government responsibility, since the tax code doesn’t receive the same sort of annual congressional oversight that spending does.

Calif. Pension Funds Gain Most in Decade
(Bloomberg)

The nation’s two largest public pension systems reported returns topping 20 percent for the year ended June 30, their best in more than a decade as the California funds profited from stocks and private equity.

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System, or Calpers, the U.S.’s biggest pension, earned 20.7 percent in the 12 months ended June 30. It was the best result in 14 years, led by gains in stocks and private equity. The California State Teachers’ Retirement System, the second-largest, earned 23.1 percent, it said in a press release.

Stocks held by the first plan, which has $237.5 billion of assets, returned 30.2 percent, fund administrators said today. Fixed-income investments rose 7 percent. Real estate and private equity, earned 10.2 percent and 25.3 percent through March, respectively.

“Obviously the results are pleasing,” the Chief Investment Officer Joe Dear told the governing board today at a meeting in Petaluma, north of San Francisco. “We are in the 20 percent club. It was a good year. We are back.”

You never know where he will turn up these days…

Couple says image of Jesus appears in Walmart receipt
KDVR Denver July 18, 2011

ANDERSON COUNTY, S.C. — An image of Jesus has shown up in another unlikely place, at least in the eyes of an engaged couple from Anderson County, S.C.

Jacob Simmons and his fiancée, Gentry Lee Sutherland, say they bought some pictures at Walmart.

A few days later, the receipt was on the kitchen floor of Sutherland’s apartment when Simmons says he saw that it had changed.

The couple says it’s an image of Jesus in their Walmart receipt. They called the store to ask them how the receipt paper could’ve become discolored like that, and someone told them the only thing that could do that is heat.

The couple says nothing was done to make the image appear on the receipt. “We just feel like it’s a blessing that God showed it to us and opened our eyes. And we just feel like we should share the blessing God gave to us to everybody else,” Sutherland told WYFF-TV.

What is wrong with these cranks across the pond, just follow our lead, keep printing!

UK banks dragged into eurozone crisis as global markets take fright

Lloyds, RBS and Barclays take £5bn hit as stock and commodity prices plummet, while US urges Europe to be more decisive
guardian.co.uk, Monday 18 July 2011

More than £5bn was wiped off the value of three of Britain’s biggest banks on Monday as global financial markets took fright at the deepening crisis in the eurozone.

Stocks fell heavily in Europe and North America while gold rose to a new record of more than $1,600 (£995) an ounce amid concerns that Thursday’s emergency summit of EU leaders would once again fail to resolve the debt problems of the single currency’s weak members.

Officials from eurozone countries were on Monday trying to resolve the row between Angela Merkel and the European Central Bank (ECB) over a possible Greek debt default after a day of turbulence that saw bank shares tumble in late trading.

Jean-Claude Trichet, the president of the ECB, is resisting pressure from the German chancellor for Greece’s private sector creditors to bear some of the losses of a default, but senior policymakers admitted that it was now vital Thursday’s talks in Brussels come up with a credible plan that will restore market confidence after shares, government bonds and commodities all suffered sharp losses. Sources said one option was to convert much of Greece’s debts into longer-term bonds, an approach used during the Latin American debt crisis of the 1980s.

Lloyds, Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays were the biggest fallers on the FTSE 100, all losing at least 6% of their value as jittery investors digested the results of Friday’s stress tests on European banks, mulled the prospect of the US losing its triple A credit rating and began to worry about the political ramifications of the News International phone hacking scandal for David Cameron.

Michael Derks, chief strategist at FxPro, said: “Thus far, the pound has not factored in any real risk premium for political uncertainty. Given the rapidity with which key figures in the scandal are falling on their swords, it could be argued that the pound is being complacent regarding the potential of the hacking issue to ensnare the prime minister and his party.”

Electric Car Maker Folds, Salinas Loses $500,000
KSBW> The Central Coast News

A Salinas car manufacturing company that was expected to build environmentally friendly electric cars and create new jobs folded before any cars could run off the assembly line.

The city of Salinas had invested more than half a million dollars in Green Vehicles, an electric car start-up company.

All of that money is now gone, according to Green Vehicles President and Co-Founder Mike Ryan.

The start-up company set up shop in Salinas in the summer of 2009 after the city gave Ryan a $300,000 community development grant.

When the company still ran into financial trouble last year, the city of Salinas handed to Ryan an additional $240,000 in investment money.

Salinas Mayor Dennis Donohue said he was “surprised and disappointed” by the news. City officials were equally irked that Ryan notified them through an email that his company had crashed and burned.

Salinas Redevelopment Director Jeff Weir said Green Vehicles folded because of a “lack of investors,” and a $2.7 million grant from California Energy Commission that never materialized.

Donohue said he will work with the state to try to get at least $240,000 back from the now-defunct company.

Drought cripples southern US farms
By Gregory Meyer in New York - FT

Half of Dahlen Hancock’s cotton fields are dead. The other half are clinging to life.

The Lone Star state is at the epicenter of a once-in-a-generation drought stretching from Arizona to Florida. The US’s southern underbelly is scorched like meat on a grill.

The drought has spawned wildfires, turning grasslands to ash. In Texas, the leading cotton producer in the US, 59 per cent of the cotton crop is in poor condition or worse. Harvests of hard winter wheat, prized for yeasted breads, have plummeted in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas as yields and acreage contracted. Ranchers cannot feed their cattle on parched pastures.

Mr Hancock, a fourth-generation farmer, says the cotton seeds he planted on his 3,000 dryland acres never germinated. “All I see is dry, barren farmland. The weeds really haven’t even grown,” he says.

His irrigated crop is also “right on the edge”, as temperatures in Lubbock have hovered near 38C all month. Last month was the hottest June in Texas on record, breaking the previous peak in 1953.

The pain is spreading to businesses that serve the farms. West of Mr Hancock, the Meadow Farmers Co-op Gin – the machine that strips cotton fibres from the seeds – will hire only one 16-person crew at autumn harvest time, rather than the two round-the-clock crews that handled last year’s bumper crop.

“I am hoping for a third of what we ginned last year,” says Dan Jackson, general manager. “But with each day that we don’t get measurable moisture, that kind of dims.”

Texas grew 43 per cent of last year’s 18m-bale cotton crop in the US, the world’s top exporter of the fibre, with the main cotton lands in the high plains encircling Lubbock. The US Department of Agriculture last week cut its forecast for this year’s domestic cotton crop by 1m bales to 16m, as farmers abandoned a record 30 per cent of their fields.

In May, the drought had already caused $1.5bn in agricultural losses, a number that is sure to rise as the drought persists, according to the Texas Agrilife Extension Service. The USDA has declared most of Texas a primary disaster area, making farmers eligible for emergency benefits.

The state has more than 13m cattle, more than any other. But the size of the herd, dwindling for years, may shrink faster as ranchers are forced to sell calves and breeding cows they cannot feed.

“There’s no green,” says George Enloe, a cattle broker in Amarillo, Texas. “It looks like the dead of winter, except when you roll the window down it’s 100 degrees (38C).”

The drought began about a year ago. Rain stopped falling last autumn, and has remained scarce partly because La Niña, the Pacific weather phenomenon, steered moisture away during the winter. Now an inert dome of broiling air appears clamped over much of the south. With little evaporation from dry soils, thunderstorms do not form, says Texas state climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon.

http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2011/07/18/massive-home-under-construction-in-mo/

Did you know that the average ballpark field (Major League only) contains ninety-thousand (90,000) square feet between the foul lines?

What amazes me about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau fight is that the Republicans are so unapologetically opposing its mission. Which is simply trying to de-obfuscate loan terms and limit predatory lending.

I appreciate they are trying to curry Wall Street favor, trying to siphon off cash from the Democrats, but there is a price in actual votes to be paid for that. And it’s the actual votes that get people elected. I know that purchased advertising and MSM sympathy go far in influencing those votes, but seriously, do they think that opposition to the CFPB will lead to a net gain in votes?

For those who think it’s just money that wins elections, I have five words: “Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman.”

And, now a moment of silence.

Borders seeks to close all remaining stores, including Tucson’s

IMHO, if Borders had concentrated on making its original store in Ann Arbor a great destination, well, it could have been one of the major draws of southeast Michigan. If not northern Ohio.

Here’s something government worshipers will enjoy… Mo fee’s, Mo fines, what ever it takes to keep the people in check.

~ Clipped from The 5Min. Forecast

We begin today’s 5 with an ill omen for small business owners: the story of Anthony Fasolino, a third-generation proprietor of a pizzeria in the Bronx.

Fasolino was recently fined $600 for the head-slapping offense of… allowing rainwater from his parking lot to flow into the storm sewers.

No kidding.

Ummm… should he have collected and disposed of the rainwater instead?

Fasolino figures such bogus fines — $200 for a missing cover on a ceiling light was another recent one — eat up as much as 20% of his revenue.

“New York City is unleashing its latest financial hell on cash-strapped business owners,” reports the New York Post, “desperately stepping up fines and announcing a flurry of new fees to raise funds.” The city is counting on such fees and fines for $900 million in revenue.

The health inspectors are the worst, Fasolino says. “They have to find something wrong with the place. If they don’t, their supervisor will come out and then give you a ticket of some kind.”

As for the rainwater, the Department of Environmental Protection is supposed to be sending someone to meet with Fasolino to discuss his problem.

LOL

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/(undisclosed-Address)-Atherton-CA-94027/2126476588_zpid/#{scid=hdp-site-map-bubble-address}

Not being critical of Zillow, just cruising around the mid-Peninsula and saw a big asking price. Zillow’s “zestimate” is $44 million below the ask.

Their algorithm must not do well with markets with few transactions. I’d be shocked if the seller gets anywhere close to $45 million (maybe no that shocked), but this is a neighborhood where a flat acre and no house goes for $3 million+, and this house is new and built on 1.5 acres.

If you look the the neighboring city (Menlo Park), you’ll see old homes with no architecture on 6,000 square foot lots on a busy street that have a “zestimate” of more than the home listed above.

I always had a hunch diamonds were way over valued. Stick with gold I sez.

Macquarie University Photonics Research Centre discovered that diamonds evaporate under exposure to light.

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-07-scientific-reveals-diamonds-arent.html