The Housing Bubble

Bubble related - Oil City Update!

http://tinyurl.com/3snwyx2

This is on West Third Street, which is on the Southside - the nicer half of town, South of the Allegheny River. I drove all up and down this street and Second Street, looking for Muggy’s house that he posted from Realtor dot com.

THIS one is listed at $79K with .57 ac (I think). But I don’t see the taxes.

“Get more for your house buying dollar with this 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath home on a large lot with detached garage. A walk up third floor area offers additional living space. Featuring newer kitchen cabinetry, remodeled bathrooms, main level laundry, newer roof & furnace. The perfect place for a large or extended family”.

As a place to ride out the coming storm, it has its advantages. Big enough yard in the back for a garden. Don’t know about chicken ordinances, though. Getting to the grocery store will be a bey**ch in the winter without a car.

There’s actually a local brick and mortar campus of one of the state schools, Clarion University, there (Venango Campus). This looks to be a college with actual applied (practical) majors. Speech pathology. Nursing. Radiology. Marcellus Shale technology kind of thing. About $18K per year without books, a relative bargain assuming the degrees are marketable.

I’m tellin’ ya, I used to be a big devotee of the classic liberal arts education from an Ivy or a Seven Sisters. After having been knocked around a bit, I realize that those are the ONLY schools worth getting lib arts degrees from. Every freshly minted (or worn at the edges) alumnus (?sp) would like to think they, themselves, are exceptional, and that is why doors are opened. It has nothing to do with them, and everything to do with the school brand that conveys with the grads.

Today? Maybe the school names still open doors. But I would be very hesitant to go through a liberal arts curriculum at ALL. I’m glad there are places like Clarion for the New Economy.

Little known fact. The schools with the big endowments are cheaper to attend than state schools. Because of their larger component of outright grants distributed through the aid package.

Recently completed GAO audit of the fed shows 16 TRILLION dollars were loaned :

“An amendment by Sen. Bernie Sanders to the Wall Street reform law passed one year ago this week directed the Government Accountability Office to conduct the study. “As a result of this audit, we now know that the Federal Reserve provided more than $16 trillion in total financial assistance to some of the largest financial institutions and corporations in the United States and throughout the world,” said Sanders. “This is a clear case of socialism for the rich and rugged, you’re-on-your-own individualism for everyone else.”
”

“The investigation also revealed that the Fed outsourced most of its emergency lending programs to private contractors, many of which also were recipients of extremely low-interest and then-secret loans.”

“The Fed outsourced virtually all of the operations of their emergency lending programs to private contractors like JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo. The same firms also received trillions of dollars in Fed loans at near-zero interest rates. Altogether some two-thirds of the contracts that the Fed awarded to manage its emergency lending programs were no-bid contracts. Morgan Stanley was given the largest no-bid contract worth $108.4 million to help manage the Fed bailout of AIG.”

sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=9e2a4ea8-6e73-4be2-a753-62060dcbb3c3

Hamptons Home Prices Climb as Luxury Beachside Properties Attract Buyers (Bloomberg)

Home prices in New York’s Hamptons, the Long Island resort towns favored by summering Manhattanites, increased 4.2 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier as buyers opted for more expensive beach properties.

The median price of homes that sold in the quarter rose to $937,500 from $900,000 a year earlier, according to a report today by New York appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. and broker Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate. Thirty-nine percent of all sales completed in the Hamptons and Long Island’s North Fork were for houses priced at $1 million or more, the second-highest market share for such properties in three years.

“I’d look at the market as stabilized but punctuated with very visible trophy property sales,” Jonathan Miller, president of Miller Samuel, said in a telephone interview. “This is a phenomenon we saw in Long Island, Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and Westchester. Across the region, the top end of the market outperformed the overall market.”

Luxury homes are attracting buyers as Wall Street executives spend bonuses and employment improves, said Judi Desiderio, president of Town & Country Real Estate in the Hamptons. New York City’s financial industry showed a net gain of 10,400 jobs in the 12 months through May. The city’s overall jobless rate was 8.6 percent that month, unchanged from a 25- month low in April and down 1 percentage point from a year earlier, the state Department of Labor said on June 16.
Above $5 Million

Twenty-four homes in the Hamptons and North Fork, which constitute Long Island’s East End, sold for $5 million or more in the second quarter, compared with 22 a year ago, according to Miller. The median price for luxury properties, defined as the top 10 percent by price, climbed 7.9 percent to $4.4 million.

“They get their bonus and they think, ‘hard asset — let’s go buy some East End dirt,’” said Desiderio, referring to the Wall Street payouts that drive the Hamptons real estate market. “They’re finally spending the money.”

Economy’s slump likely to extend into summer as job market, manufacturing remain weak.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The economy’s spring slump appears to be extending into the summer, according to a slew of mixed data released Thursday.

Layoffs are rising. Manufacturing activity in the Northeast expanded only slightly in July after contracting in June. Economic growth is projected to pick up this fall, but not enough to give businesses confidence to hire and speed the recovery.

The economy could lapse even further if Congress and the Obama administration fail to reach an agreement on raising the nation’s borrowing limit in the coming week.

But for the moment, traders on Wall Street don’t seem worried. Stocks soared Thursday on news that European governments were moving toward agreement on an aid package for Greece. The Dow Jones industrial average closed 152 points up for the day.

Economists are less optimistic. They are forecasting a third straight month of feeble hiring in July, based on the latest round of data. Expectations are the economy added somewhere in the range of 50,000 to 100,000 net new jobs this month.

That’s not enough to keep up with population growth and far below what is needed to lower the unemployment rate, which was 9.2 percent last month.

“We’re going to see improvement, but right now nothing’s improved yet,” said Joshua Dennerlein, an economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

States cut programs to help poor cool their homes

SOUTH BEND, Ind.(AP) — Many states hit hardest by this week’s searing heat wave have drastically cut or entirely eliminated programs that help poor people pay their electric bills, forcing thousands to go without air conditioning when they need it most.

Oklahoma ran out of money in just three days. Illinois cut its program to focus on offering heating money for the winter ahead. And Indiana isn’t taking any new applicants. When weighed against education and other budget needs, cooling assistance has been among the first items cut, and advocates for the poor say that could make this heat wave even more dangerous.

“I’ve never seen it this bad,” said Timothy Bruer, executive of Energy Services Inc., which administers the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program in 14 Wisconsin counties. The group has turned away about 80 percent of applicants seeking cooling assistance.

The sizzling summer heat comes after a bitterly cold, snowy winter in many places and at a time when unemployment remains stubbornly high.

The cuts began after Congress eliminated millions of dollars in potential aid, forcing state lawmakers to scale back energy assistance programs. The agencies that distribute the money are worried that the situation could get even worse next year because the White House is considering cutting the program in half.

Joyce Agee, a retired secretary from South Beloit, Ill., said she typically receives about $300 in utility assistance each summer and up to $600 for the winter to supplement her Social Security income. After running her air conditioner constantly, she’s worried about her next electric bill.

“I’ve cut back on what I eat so that I can pay my light bills and everything else,” she said.

I don’t know how I survived the inhumanity, I never went to a school with A/C for cooling. From kindergarten through high school.

ITEM:Many Summer School Students Going Without A/C

CHICAGO (CBS) – It’s hard to imagine, but some children are going to school without air conditioning during this heat wave.

As CBS 2′s Susanna Song reports, parents with children in summer school at William Penn Elementary School were gathering Thursday morning to speak out against what they’re calling “unbearable conditions” in the classrooms.

Their protest fell on the same day that dozens of students have to take a very important test.

“It’s inhuman for them to continue doing what they’re doing,” one local school council member said.

MBA Won’t Protect You From Layoffs: Broker CEO
CNBC

The chief executive of a top ten U.S. retail brokerage firm is predicting another round of layoffs in the financial industry over the next quarter—and not even an MBA from a top tier school may offer protection.

John Taft, the Chairman of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) and the CEO of RBC U.S. Wealth Management, said he’s hearing firms are planning to cut back due to the skittish market and softening economy. Just yesterday, Goldman Sachs 2.83 announced it is cutting three percent of its workforce.

He said staff reductions will likely affect all levels—even those with years of experience and expensive MBA degrees.

“I think the paper value of an MBA might be overstated,” said Taft. “For it to be useful, it needs to form part of a wider package of skills and attributes, and more than a mere credential next to your name.”

Realtors Are Liars®

How’s that Chrysler bailout working out?

Gold-plated “affordable” housing:

http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/public_safety/pavement/article_5ca97da6-b3d1-11e0-83b9-001cc4c03286.html

“The $44 million apartment project will cost an average of $477,743 per unit, 90 percent of which will be paid by taxpayers. That’s twice what private developers say they’re spending to develop high-end apartments in the city today. The Estrella del Mercado apartments will cost $542 a square foot.”

“Taxpayers have poured almost $600 million into two dozen housing projects in the city of San Diego since 2007. A three-month voiceofsandiego.org investigation showed that, again and again, these projects are wildly more expensive than private developments.”

“The cheapest one-bedroom apartment in the Estrella del Mercado, for example, will rent for $460 a month, compared to a citywide average of $1,162, according to the latest study by the San Diego County Apartment Association. To qualify for that one-bedroom apartment, tenants must be able to prove they earn less than 30 percent of the area median income, which currently equals $17,310 a year for an individual or $24,720 for a family of four.”

“The City Council approved construction of 24 apartment units on El Cajon Boulevard in October 2007. The North Park project, known as the Boulevard Apartments, was budgeted to cost $11.6 million, or $506,609 per unit.”

“It’s just absurd to pay $400,000 for a studio. You could be buying every family a 5,000 square-foot house in Eastlake for that,” said Steve Huffman, a real estate broker who regularly sells local apartment buildings.

From a discussion late yesterday.

A model for Social Security reform
By Ray Holbrook with Alcestis “Cooky” Oberg
USAToday - 3/15/2005

The current debate about reforming Social Security reminds me of the discussions that occurred in Galveston County, Texas, in 1980, when our county workers were offered a different, and better, retirement alternative to Social Security: They reacted with keen interest and some knee-jerk fear of the unknown. But after 24 years, folks here can say unequivocally that when Galveston County pulled out of the Social Security system in 1981, we were on the road to providing our workers with a better deal than Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal.

When I was county judge in 1979, many county workers were concerned about the soundness of Social Security, as many people are today. We could either stay with it — and its inevitable tax increases and higher retirement ages — or find a better way. We sought an “alternative plan” that provided the same or better benefits, required no tax increases and was risk-free. Furthermore, we wanted the benefits to be like a savings account that could be passed on to family members upon death.

Our plan, put together by financial experts, was a “banking model” rather than an “investment model.” To eliminate the risks of the up-and-down stock market, workers’ contributions were put into conservative fixed-rate guaranteed annuities, rather than fluctuating stocks, bonds or mutual funds. Our results have been impressive: We’ve averaged about 6.5% annual rate of return over 24 years. And we’ve provided substantially better benefits in all three Social Security categories: retirement, survivorship, disability.

Our plan vs. Social Security

Upon retirement after 30 years, and assuming a more conservative 5% rate of return, all workers would do better for the same contribution as Social Security:

• Workers making $17,000 a year are expected to receive about 50% more per month on our alternative plan than on Social Security — $1,036 instead of $683.

• Workers making $26,000 a year will make almost double Social Security, $1,500 instead of $853.

• Workers making $51,000 a year will get $3,103 instead of $1,368.

• Workers making $75,000 or more will nearly triple Social Security, $4,540 instead of $1,645.

• Our survivorship benefits pay four times a worker’s annual salary — a minimum of $75,000 to a maximum $215,000 — rather than Social Security’s customary onetime $255 survivorship to a spouse (with no minor children). If the worker dies before retirement, the survivors receive not only the full survivorship but get generous accidental death benefits, too.

• Our disability benefit pays 60% of an individual’s salary, better than Social Security’s.

Businesses use more automation, fewer workers
By Kelly Cobiella (CBS News)

More Americans are applying for unemployment benefits. First time claims jumped by 10,000 last week to more than 418,000, as layoffs continue to mount.

One thing is clear: A lot of companies are doing just fine, with fewer workers. They’re going automated. CBS News correspondent Kelly Cobiella saw this for herself at a plant in Georgia.

Ron Baysden’s Georgia plant is the picture of high-tech manufacturing. Robots do much of the welding, lasers cut through sheets of steel, and computers track productivity.

What you don’t see is a lot of workers.

“You really have to be very conservative in your expenditures and in your hiring practices,” said Bayden, “because if it turns south on you, you’ve got to be in a position to roll with it.”

Baysden’s family-run Impulse Manufacturing makes customized steel parts for everything from tractors to industrial refrigeration systems. When the recession hit, orders dried up and the company laid off nearly half of its 170 workers.

Now, business is booming. The workforce is back up to 177 and profits are up too by 60 percent. Baysden plans to spend $1.5 million of that profit on new technology and none on new jobs.

“How critical is technology to your survival?” asked Cobiella.

“Absolute,” said Baysden. “Period. Absolutely critical. If you are not constantly taking advantage of the latest in programs, latest in equipment designs and the latest in processes, then you’re costing advantage goes away.”

The technology is proving its worth for Baysden. For example, a laser can churn out one part in 30 seconds — work that used to take 18 men and 30 minutes to complete.

“A lot of my competitors did not survive 2009,” Baysden said. “We survived because we spent a lot of money and investments in technology.”

According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, over the past two years, company spending on employees has only grown by four percent — a sharp contrast to the 25 percent increase being spent on new technology.

“I don’t think the workers really understood what was happening — this whole evolvement of technology,” said union rep Mark Wilkerson. He has watched the number of manufacturing jobs in southern states dwindle away, as jobs keep moving overseas and companies here increasingly rely on technology.

“What happens to all those people who don’t have jobs now?” he asked. “That’s the question that people aren’t asking. What happens to those small towns, those main manufacturing jobs being there? They depended on those jobs and they’re gone now.”

QualPak closing - The Laurinburg Exchange

QualPak has again announced that it will close its manufacturing facility in Laurinburg. N.C.

Production at the Scotland plant will cease on Aug. 12, after which operations will be phased out, company officials said. The plant is projected to shut down completely by the end of the year.

The closing is expected to affect approximately 70 employees, who, according to QualPak human resources director Rena Parker, will receive benefits packages.

QualPak, makers of Purell hand sanitizer, purchased the facility after Abbott Laboratories vacated it in 2002.

The closure is a result of waning demand after the H1N1 pandemic.

“In January of 2009 they announced that they were going to close in July of 09. When H1N1 picked up they needed more product than they could produce. That really only prolonged their stay,” said Scotland County economic development director Greg Icard.

Icard said that QualPak’s corporate office is in Ohio, and the company has facilities there where they can shift production with less overhead.

The community has benefitted from QualPak’s presence in the community, Icard said.

“They were paying people to work when there would have been an empty building sitting there. There’s a tremendous amount of equipment in the building that they’ve been paying taxes on.”

“It’s unfortunate that they’re leaving, and we’re concerned about the employees and their families. That’s really our biggest concern right now.”

“If you give a dog 40 pounds of dog food the dog will eat itself to death and that’s what we’re doing to Wall Street – we’re giving them unlimited credit, no risk on that credit and we bail them out every time they make a multi-billion dollar mistake. They are destroying themselves and they are destroying the economy because they are psychotic suicide bankers; they need to be terminated or we’re all going to be blown out of the water with all this incredible debt”.

~ Clipped from an interview with Max Keiser

Paul Craig Roberts hits it out of the park again. Washington IS the enemy. And for the first time, I’ve read the word “presstitutes”, which fits the MSM to a T.

http://vdare.com/roberts/110721_enemy.htm

Some people on this board complain about globalization but is it really that bad? To get ahead financially you have to work for yourself. Rarely can you get rich or even achieve some security without being business owner. The stock maket is the perfect solution. It has made many many people rich. My stocks are my largest asset. (There are risks. But I am well diversified and even including the large drops in 2008 still doing well. I have been saving & investing about 30 years.) THe question is what are my responsibilities as a good citizen? The far left complains about CEOs making 100 (or more it could now be several hundred) times what a worker makes. Is it any less immoral for a US worker on a autoline tightenting a bolt for 8 hrs and day and sometimes overtime and earning an income that allows a nice single family home, vacations, and savings (this was my grandfather) when the same wages would allow 10 workers in a developing country to move from tar paper shacks into decent housing with pumbling, electricity, etc.. Especially since there are 1000s and 1000s of hourly workers vs. CEO types. So as an owner should I have greater loyalyt to my country or the human race?

P.S. Preemptive comment who will say the CEOs should not be making all that money. I recently read that for Exxon Mobile the top excutives collective make $200 million (including stock options.) Yes a lot but there still is plenty of profit left - billions - to share with pension funds and other owners like me.

~ Clipped From Thomas Sowell’s article: Good Things

One of the things that have ruined our economy is the notion that both Democrats and Republicans in Washington pushed for years, that a higher rate of home ownership is a Good Thing.

There is no question that there are benefits to home ownership. And there should be no question that there are costs as well. But costs get lost in the shuffle.

Among the things that Washington politicians of both parties did for years was come up with more and more laws, rules and pressures on private lenders to lower the qualifications standards required for people to get a mortgage to buy a home.

It was a full-court press from Congressional legislation to regulations and policies created by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Federal Reserve, not to mention the buying of the resulting risky mortgages by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from the original lenders – and even threats of prosecution by the Department of Justice if the racial mixture of people who were approved for mortgages didn’t match their expectations.

The media chimed in with expressions of outrage when data showed that black applicants for mortgage loans were turned down more often than white applicants. Seldom was it even mentioned that white applicants were turned down more often than Asian American applicants.

Nor was it mentioned that white applicants averaged higher credit ratings than black applicants, and Asian American applicants averaged higher credit ratings than white applicants – or that black applicants were turned down at least as often by black-owned banks as by white-owned banks.

Such distracting details would have spoiled the story that racial discrimination was the reason why some people did not get the Good Thing of home ownership as often as others.

Even after the risky mortgages that were made under government pressure led to huge bankruptcies and bailouts, as well as disasters for home owners in general and black home owners in particular, home ownership remains a Good Thing. The Justice Department is again threatening lenders who don’t lower their standards to let more minority applicants get mortgage loans.

Fitch to Declare Interim Greek Default
Friday, 22 Jul 2011 |By: Reuters

Fitch Ratings will declare Greece in restricted default on its debt due to the steps taken in a new euro zone rescue package but will likely assign new ratings of a low speculative grade once a bond exchange is completed, the agency said on Friday.

The agency said that the reduction in interest rates Greece is paying on its debts and extension of maturities gave it a chance of regaining solvency and would support its rating.

“Fitch will assign new post-default ratings to Greece and to the new debt instruments once the default event is cured with the issue of new securities to participating bondholders,” the agency said.

“The new ratings will likely be low speculative-grade,” it said.

This house has been sitting on the market for over 3 years. The house on the back of the pond went for $ 475,000 4 years ago and was 5000 square feet. At the time we had bird flu concern and I did not want to take a chance. This is a decent neighborhood.

http://www.cnyhomes.com/Listing/Search/info.cgi?mlnum=S244352

This one has been sitting for over 4 years.

http://www.cnyhomes.com/Listing/Search/info.cgi?mlnum=S257132

Someone should ask Sir Alan Greasepan what should Americans eat when they can’t afford hamburger? I guess they just go back to hunting for their meat, at least they’ll be outdoors exercising working off some fat. If they can afford the ammo.

ITEM: Shrinking Cattle Herd Signals Beef Rising to Record, Higher Wendy’s Costs (Bloomberg)

The U.S. cattle herd as of July 1 probably shrunk to the smallest on record, signaling tightening beef supplies and higher costs for shoppers and companies from Tyson Foods Inc. (TSN) to Wendy’s Co.

Ranchers held 99.39 million head of cattle as of July 1, down 1.4 percent from a year earlier, according to the average estimate of nine analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News. That would be the smallest July herd since at least 1973, when the U.S. Department of Agriculture data begins. The government plans to release its semiannual report on the herd at 3 p.m. today in Washington.

“If you’ve got fewer cattle, ultimately you’re going to have less beef,” Ron Plain, a livestock economist at the University of Missouri in Columbia, said yesterday in a telephone interview. “We’re going to have new record cattle and beef prices in 2012.”

Debt-Limit Showdown Threatening Retirement Unsettles Seniors at Bagel Time (Bloomberg)

When President Barack Obama says he’s willing to take “significant heat” from Democrats who don’t want Social Security and Medicare cuts to be part of a debt deal, he doesn’t mean Harry Reid or Nancy Pelosi. He’s talking about guys like Mel Safra, 70, owner of Bagel Time in Miami Beach.

“It’s very sad,” says Safra, who wanted to retire by now but puts in 12-hour days at his kosher bakery, “this idea that you can take away money from the elderly who’ve worked for 40 or 50 years.” Safra thinks Obama has mismanaged the budget in a way that has jeopardized retirement benefits — so much so that he’s thinking of voting Republican in 2012, Bloomberg Businessweek reports in its July 25 issue.

Everything is up for grabs in traditionally Democratic Miami Beach these days, as well as in other Sun Belt precincts where retirees and would-be retirees are nervously watching the debt-ceiling negotiations in Washington. Party lines and entrenched positions are being crossed and dug up left and right.

While Democrats such as Safra are considering pulling the other lever, some older Americans are asking whether it’s time to rethink Social Security and Medicare. Joan Schlossberg, a new retiree who lives just north of Boca Raton, isn’t happy about proposed reductions to the programs, but she says her bigger worry is what will be left of the entitlements for her progeny.

“This affects our children and their children. Older parents — how can they plan on retiring?” she asks. The former public university staffer, a staunch Democrat, says she is willing to sacrifice to ensure future generations don’t lose out.

SC unemployment jumps to 10.5 percent in June

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina’s jobless rate jumped half a percentage point in June to 10.5 percent.

The state Department of Employment and Workforce said Friday that more than 3,000 people started looking for work last month.

Public employees have taken the biggest hit in job losses over the past year, as the number of teachers and government workers plunged by more than 16,500 jobs since June 2010.

I have the day off, so I am going to Borders to beak through the “going out of business” carrion!

Samurai sword tax.

Or would that fall under the machete tax? I don`t think the hammer tax would cover it.

Police: Hollywood man used samurai sword on girlfriend

By Ihosvani Rodriguez, Sun Sentinel

7:16 p.m. EDT, July 21, 2011
HOLLYWOOD —

A man attacked his girlfriend with a samurai sword when she refused to stay in her bedroom, police said.

The attack on Sunday was the second reported this week by a man using a large blade as a weapon.

Gil Camacho, 49, is facing an attempted first-degree murder charge for the samurai sword attack that took place in the couple’s home in the 6100 block of Wiley Street in Hollywood.

Then Camacho took the samurai sword from a nearby stand, removed the sheath and began striking Berrios, she told police, adding that she raised her arms to protect her face and neck, and felt the sword strike her bones several times.

On Tuesday, a suburban Boca Raton man charged with striking his wife repeatedly with a machete was ordered held without bond.

Video: Port St. Lucie teen accused of killing parents with hammer

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/hollywood/fl-samurai-sword-attack-20110721,0,4066741.story - -

Wall Street to Washington: Some Clarity, Please- Breakout

Nervousness on Wall St., masked by a recent rally in stocks, stems from the realization that logical clarity from Washington may be a pipe dream. But anything taking a U.S. debt downgrade out of play would be close enough for now.

There will be a deal, sooner or later, I do hope to see our credit rating reduced, should be done a long time ago.

Boehner: ‘No deal’ on ending debt limit stalemate
House Speaker denies any deal on way to avert default, increase gov’t borrowing authority

WASHINGTON (AP) — Speaker John Boehner declared Friday that the House has “done its job” toward resolving the impasse over raising the government’s debt limit and said it was time for the Senate to act.

“There is no deal. There is no agreement in private” with Democrats, Boehner told reporters at the Capitol as the Senate was voting on a bill pushed through the House by majority Republicans which is called “cap, cut and balance” in pursuit of an accommodation on raising the government’s debt limit. The legislation was killed in the Democratic-dominated Senate on a procedural vote by a 51-46 margin.

Treasury’s borrowing authority expires Aug. 2, and the government will be facing default at that time in the absence of legislation to raise the debt limit.

BAX Global to close hub at Toledo Express; 700 jobs lost
BY LARRY P. VELLEQUETTE
BLADE BUSINESS WRITER

BAX Global Inc., a division of German transportation giant DB Schenker, announced Friday that it will close its U.S. air hub at Toledo Express Airport and sell its fleet of planes as part of what it is calling a “strategic realignment” of its North American business model.

About 700 jobs, mostly part-time, will be affected, the company said. Some employees will be given an opportunity to “redeploy to other parts of our business,” the company said.

“We deeply regret that there will be some layoffs as part of this realignment. However, we are working to redeploy as many employees as possible to other parts of our business,” Heiner Murmann, chief executive officer of Schenker, said in a written statement. “Our employees represent the cornerstone of our company and we will treat all affected personnel in an open, transparent and respectful manner throughout this transition.”

The Toledo Express operation has been a key U.S. hub for the air-freight shipping company.

In the observant mind of currency guru Chuck Butler The U.S. has already defaulted. “…you see, when an auction of Treasuries fails, the U.S. basically has defaulted, because they haven’t financed their debt… Well, when the Fed has to account for more than 70% of auctions in the past 7 months, that to me, is a default…” Daily Pfennig

Is Chuck some kind of nut? No. Think about it. The Treasury Department went into the market over the past several months offering to swap its new IOUs (bonds) for cash. There were few takers so the Federal Reserve had to come in and scoop them up! That was what a lot of Quantitative Easing 2 was all about. When Congress raises the debt ceiling and Treasury goes into its borrowing mode once more the bonds are not going to be all that appealing and the Fed will have to launch QE3.

“Few men desire liberty; most men wish only for a just master.”
~Sallust, ca. 40 BC

- I believe this to be true, the general public votes in their same masters over and over again. So they should not complain when it doesn’t work out the way they had hoped, they got what they voted for.

Now they are saying it might have been a bomb:

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/police-cite-bomb-as-cause-of-oslo-blast-report-2011-07-22?link=MW_home_latest_news

…Really?

Everyone got their Zillow?

I’m in @ $60/share and won’t ever sell.

Apparently the UAW did give up something in exchange for the bailouts at GM and Chrysler.

Ford Motor Co., the most profitable U.S. carmaker, heads into contract talks with the United Auto Workers next week in the worst position among the companies.

As part of U.S.-backed bankruptcies in 2009, workers at General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC agreed not to strike over wages and benefits during these contract talks and to take unsettled disputes from the bargaining table to arbitration. Workers at Ford went against the wishes of union leaders and rejected the strike ban and arbitration, so Ford is the only U.S. automaker that faces the threat of a strike.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-07-22/ford-is-most-vulnerable-without-strike-ban-as-union-talks-open.html

Unemployment rates rose in more than half of US states; 26 added jobs in June.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Unemployment rates rose in more than half of U.S. states in June, evidence that slower hiring is affecting many parts of the country.

The Labor Department said Friday that unemployment rates in 28 states and Washington, D.C., increased last month. Rates declined in eight states and were flat in 14. That’s a change from May, when 24 states reported falling unemployment rates.

Twenty-six states reported a net gain in jobs in June, while 24 states lost jobs.

The changing trend in state unemployment rates reflects a weaker economy hampered by high gas prices and lower factory output. Nationally, employers added only 18,000 net jobs in June, the second straight month of feeble hiring. The U.S. unemployment rate ticked up to 9.2 percent.

Hudson River, Harlem River, part of East River not fit for recreational activity after sewage spill - NY DAILY NEWS

Don’t expect to beat the heat this weekend in a canoe, a kayak or a windsurfing board off Manhattan.

City officials declared the Hudson River, the East River south of the RFK Bridge and the Harlem River unfit for recreational activity due to raw sewage spilled by a treatment plant fire.

“Right now, there’s no impact on public beaches,” Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Cas Holloway said. “However, you should not be doing contact recreation on the Hudson River.”

People splashing in the tainted water risk vomiting, diarrhea and fever. The warning to avoid the waterways is in effect through at least Sunday, officials said.

The popular Riverbank State Park, located atop the plant, was shut down until further notice.

The Wednesday night four-alarm fire at the North River Wastewater Treatment Plant forced the city to pump raw sewage into the Hudson.

Fewer Las Vegas weddings is most likely symptomatic of a national trend.

Fewer U.S. weddings =>
lower rate of U.S. household formation =>
lower U.S. housing demand =>
increased probability former Toll Brothers employees will have to live in their parents’ basements.

Economy Blamed For Fewer Las Vegas Weddings
Morning Edition
July 22, 2011

The clerk of Clark County, Nevada, says she issued only about 90,000 marriage licenses last year. That’s down from 128,000 in 2004. To make up for the lost income, Vegas chapels are targeting husbands and wives who want to renew their vows.

Record fall in loans to cash-strapped businesses sparking fears for economy. Daily Mail UK - 22nd July 2011

Lending to cash-strapped small businesses is falling at the fastest rate since records began, according to a Bank of England report released yesterday.

Experts warned it is further evidence that Project Merlin, the Government’s attempt to stimulate banks to increase credit for businesses, is just ‘dangerous window dressing’.

Figures released by the Bank showed lending to firms of all sizes fell by around £4billion between March and May.
Decline: Lending to cash-strapped small businesses is falling at the fastest rate since records began, according to a Bank of England report

Decline: Lending to cash-strapped small businesses is falling at the fastest rate since records began, according to a Bank of England report

It compares with a year-on-year increase in lending of 15.89 per cent in the 12 months to May 2008, shortly before the banking crisis struck.

And those small firms which do manage to secure money from their bank are being charged soaring rates of interest, the Trends in Lending report found.

The average rate paid by a small firm – one with sales of less than £1million a year – is 4.66 per cent, compared with an average of 4.29 per cent in March 2009, when the Bank cut the base rate to an historic low of 0.5 per cent.

The current average is the highest since then.

In July last year, the Daily Mail began its Make the Banks Lend campaign to expose the poor treatment of small firms.
Falling: The figures released by the Bank Of England showed lending to firms of all sizes fell by around £4billion between March and May

Falling: The figures released by the Bank Of England showed lending to firms of all sizes fell by around £4billion between March and May

Under the terms of the Project Merlin deal struck with the Government – which was announced in February – the country’s biggest banks pledged to lend £190billion to firms this year, up from £179billion in 2010.

This must include at least £76billion to small and medium-sized firms.

Lord Oakeshott, the former Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman who resigned over the deal, said: ‘What more proof does the Government need that Project Merlin is dangerous window dressing for the banks’ failure to lend?

‘This is like a horror film where you can’t believe that each reel is worse than the last one.

‘No wonder Britain’s economic recovery is juddering to a halt when the banks won’t lend to businesses who want to grow output and jobs.’

John Walker, national chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses, said his organisation was concerned that ‘no amount of lending targets will improve the situation’.

“Gentlemen, I have had men watching you for a long time and I am convinced that you have used the funds of the bank to speculate in the breadstuffs of the country. When you won, you divided the profits amongst you, and when you lost, you charged it to the bank. You tell me that if I take the deposits from the bank and annul its charter, I shall ruin ten thousand families. That may be true, gentlemen, but that is your sin! Should I let you go on, you will ruin fifty thousand families, and that would be my sin! You are a den of vipers and thieves. I intend to rout you out, and by the Eternal God, I will rout you out.”

— Andrew Jackson

Police: Men Use Tin Foil, Ladder To Scam Gas Station
3 Arrested, Charged With Theft

CINCINNATI(WLWT) — Three men from Detroit were arrested after they attempted to scam a gas station using a piece of tin foil and a ladder, police said.

Investigators said the men drove to Cincinnati and stopped at a UDF.

“They said the fellow just scaled the roof like a squirrel going up there,” Springdale Police Assistant Chief Thomas Wells said.

Police said Mario White climbed to the roof of the UDF and covered the satellite dish with tin foil.

“They learned that the foil that was placed over the satellite dish of the business prevented the credit card number from being forwarded out to the credit card companies,” Wells said.

Wells said Tyrone Montgomery was inside the store buying gift cards. The clerk inside had no idea that the credit card machine was not working properly, Wells said.

Police said the information partially transmits, but that the purchases would then be declined when the foil is removed.

Investigators said the three learned the process from the Internet.

“They acknowledged that they’d been involved in these types of offenses on many occasions, so it would probably be in the tens of thousands of dollars,” Wells said.

Pardon me while I find something to smash.

BY NICK TIMIRAOS

The Obama administration is examining ways to pull foreclosed properties off the market and rent them to help stabilize the housing market, according to people familiar with the matter.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904233404576458300001332210.html

Bank Foreclosure Deal Held Up Over Liability (Bloomberg)

A push by U.S. banks to win broad liability releases has become one of the main obstacles in talks to resolve a nationwide probe of mortgage-servicing and foreclosure practices, two people briefed on the matter said.

The mortgage servicers want protection from additional state and federal claims over their mortgage practices as part of reaching a settlement that may exceed $20 billion, according to the people, who declined to be named because the talks are private. The banks are seeking releases that go beyond servicing of mortgages to include lending and securitization of loans, one of the people said.

That effort has encountered resistance from at least two states. Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who are investigating the bundling of mortgage loans into securities, don’t want their probes blocked by a broad settlement of liability.

Biden said he has “strong reservations” about a deal that provides releases of claims related to practices such as securitization and lending, because servicing is the focus of the nationwide settlement talks.

“We have an investigation going on. It would hinder our ability to do that, so that’s why I have real reservations,” Biden said in an interview.
Nationwide Agreement

State attorneys general and officials from federal agencies, including the Justice Department, are negotiating a nationwide agreement on foreclosure practices with the five largest mortgage servicers: Bank of America Corp. (BAC), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Citigroup Inc. (C), Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) and Ally Financial Inc.

Officials are seeking a settlement that sets standards for how the banks service loans, interact with borrowers and conduct foreclosures, according to terms proposed in March. They are also seeking monetary payments. Attorneys general from all 50 states announced their investigation last year after reports that banks were using faulty foreclosure documents.

“Attorney General Schneiderman remains concerned by any settlement agreement that would preclude state attorneys general from conducting comprehensive investigations of the mortgage crisis,” Danny Kanner, a spokesman for the attorney general, said in an e-mailed statement.

Jamie Dimon, chief executive officer of New York-based JPMorgan Chase, said the bank was prepared to go to court if necessary.
‘Do Anything’

“I would do anything to get it done today,” Dimon said July 14 about a settlement, according to a transcript of the company’s second-quarter earnings call. “But we’ve got to get it right. We’re not going to do it and be subject to double and triple jeopardy. We’d rather litigate it.”

Hmm, I wonder what’s going on here!?

I am selling everything from the inside of my house. This includes:

Kitchen Cabinets
Kitchen Island
Gas Stove
Dishwasher
Interior Doors (9 total)
Sinks
Toliets
Mirrors
Light Fixtures
Water Heater
Furnace
Garage Door Opener with chain and shaft (not the actual garage door)
And more!!!

http://indianapolis.craigslist.org/mat/2488605882.html

Crews Need Police Escort To Shut Off Fire Hydrants
July 22, 2011

CHICAGO (CBS) — City crews scrambling to turn off nearly 2,000 fire hydrants opened by residents seeking relief from the heat required a police escort to protect them from gang members and others upset with the shutdowns.

CBS 2 found one city crew being followed by a police sport-utility vehicle as they crisscrossed neighborhoods, turning off a total of 1,921 hydrants.

“It’s a waste of water, and I have to do my job,” said 20-year Water Management Department veteran Richard Quarles.

Quarles was surrounded by a group of people who dumped water on him as he shut down a hydrant that was spewing hundreds of gallons of water into the street.

“The gangbangers and the neighborhood tough guys, they could crack you over the head with something. Anything can happen,” he said.

City officials warned residents that turning on hydrants is a safety problem. Cars have a hard time seeing kids playing under the water in the street.

The open hydrants call also flood basements, parked cars and significantly lower water pressure, which could hamper firefighters.

“Don’t open a fire hydrant to stay cool,” said Gary Schenkel, executive director of the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications.

But that message is lost on many children who play in the spray of water from open hydrants to keep cool and to some adults who defend the practice.

“Actually I feel it’s great for the kids stop, man, to some of the killing; stop all the negative behavior that’s going on out here,” South Side resident Patrick Strange said.

Of course Romney’s in disadvantage. You have to play hard to get like democrats. No one appreciates an easy date.

Wall Street still gives big cash to Obama

One-third of the funds hauled in by Obama’s big-money backers came from executives and others linked to the financial world, according to a report from the Center for Responsive Politics released on Friday.

Although Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney has not named most of his so-called bundlers — well connected individuals committed to raising big cash — the former private equity executive has traditionally lured major backing from the financial sector.

Executives and others linked to Goldman Sachs and the Bank of America have been big Romney backers. Romney raised total $18.4 million in the second quarter.

“From 30,000 feet, Wall Street is where a lot of candidates turn for money,” Beckel said.

Among the big names aggregating funds for Obama are Orin Kramer of Boston Provident and Blair Effron of Centerview Partners.

Romney is at a disadvantage in that Obama can raise money through the national committee, which can accept donations of up to nearly $31,000. Individuals can only give up to $2,500 to personal campaigns.

From today’s Chicago Sun Times:

“The Illinois Association of Realtors said today it has identified a computer problem that led it to overstate the median sales prices of Chicago homes in monthly reports.

The error affected results from November 2010 to May 2011, the association said. It published recalculated median sales prices for those months and said it has verified the numbers from prior months.

The corrected numbers indicated that the association overstated the city’s median prices by 13 percent to 25 percent, depending on the month. For example, the May 2011 median price was revised downward from $238,450 to $190,000.”

Whoa! That’s quite the revision. Hope no one bought a house using that information as motivation.

Ron Paul Appeals To America: “Default Now, Or Suffer A More Expensive Crisis Later”

Boehner Ends Deficit Talks With Obama, Says Deal Was ‘Never Really Close’

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-22/boehner-ends-debt-talks-with-obama-says-we-couldn-t-connect-.html

Between this and the NFL contract talks, people are going to go out of their mind.

http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=190500

B…b…but I thought we were recovering!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/8654710/Chinese-property-developers-scare-out-residents-with-scorpions.html

Chinese property developers using scorpions to frighten house residents into selling. Wells Fargo, take note - Cottonmouths would have the same impact on Florida FBs.

Buy when there’s methane in the air!

“Paleoecologists suggest mass extinction due to huge methane release”

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-07-paleoecologists-mass-extinction-due-huge.html

Regulators shut 2 banks in Florida

The Associated Press
15 mins ago

WASHINGTON — Regulators on Friday closed two small banks in Florida, bringing to 57 the number of U.S. bank failures this year.

The move comes even as the pace of bank failures has slowed this year as lenders work their way through piles of bad debt. A slow, but improving U.S. economy also has helped stem the number of bank casualties. By July 23 of last year, regulators had closed 103 banks.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. seized Southshore Community Bank in Apollo Beach and LandMark Bank of Florida in Sarasota. That lifts to nine the number of lenders to collapse this year in Florida.

A boom in corporate profits, a bust in jobs, wages

By PAUL WISEMAN
AP Economics Writer
Posted on Friday, 07.22.11

WASHINGTON — Strong second-quarter earnings from McDonald’s, General Electric and Caterpillar on Friday are just the latest proof that booming profits have allowed Corporate America to leave the Great Recession far behind.

But millions of ordinary Americans are stranded in a labor market that looks like it’s still in recession. Unemployment is stuck at 9.2 percent, two years into what economists call a recovery. Job growth has been slow and wages stagnant.

“I’ve never seen labor markets this weak in 35 years of research,” says Andrew Sum, director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/07/22/2326649/a-boom-in-corporate-profits-a.html - -

This is a fact. I researched it.

2059 N Suzanne Cir
North Palm Beach, FL 33408

$104,000
Estimate My Monthly Payment

Beds:2 Bed
Baths:2 Bath
House Size:1,698 Sq Ft
Status: New
MLS ID R3212267
Days on site 2 days
————————————————————–

Location Address: 2059 N SUZANNE CIR
Official Records Book: 24626 Page: 802 Sale Date: Apr-2011

Apr-2011 24626/0802 $0 QUIT CLAIM SECY HOUSING & URBAN DEV

Jan-2011 24338/1793 $98,500 CERT OF TITLE US BANK NA

Jun-2008 22737/0813 $215,000 WARRANTY DEED PIZZI RICARDO

A Thank You to all that posted such nice well wishes on Wednesday regarding my sister finding my mother on the floor of her home. She had fallen and broken her hip and suffered alone for 2 days laying the floor in immense pain. She has had hip surgery and is going into a rehab center post hospital release. Thank God Kaiser and Medicare will pay for it. Oh, and if your parents get one of those alert systems, have them wear the necklace. Many counties have discounted alert programs for seniors (still).Chit happens in life. Thank you to all.

Are conforming loan limits way out of line with the FHA and GSE objectives of helping low income families? For instance, how many low-income families can afford a $729,750 loan?

Loaning this amount in the name of providing affordable housing is patently absurd.

Jumbo Mortgage: Big Changes for Jumbo Loans
By Ilyce Glink | Jul 22, 2011

If you’re buying an expensive home, get ready for some big changes for that jumbo loan you’ll need to close on that purchase.

Late last week, George Washington University’s Center for Real Estate and Urban Analysis (CREUA) released a study, co-authored by Dr. Robert Van Order and Anthony Yezer, professor of economics.

The report, entitled The Role of the Federal Housing Administration in a Recovering U.S. Housing Market, makes the argument that current FHA loan guarantees are bloated, obsolete, and in effect no longer useful in serving the FHA’s traditional target audience of first time, minority and low income homebuyers.

To provide some context: Prior to the economic collapse in late 2008, the Federal Housing Administration could insure loans of up to $362,790 in higher cost markets, like San Francisco, California for example. But in response to the 2008 housing crisis, FHA loan limits were revised to insure mortgages of up to $729,750 in these high-end locales.

Lower cost markets, like say, Niagara Falls, New York, could take advantage of loan guarantees of up to $271,050. In a time before home values began to plummet precipitously and the foreclosure crisis reared its ugly head, the increases seemed prudent.

“FHA’s expansion played a major role in keeping the housing market afloat during the economic collapse of 2008 and 2009,” Van Order said. “However, we now are left with large loan limits that were set when home prices were at the top of the bubble. They don’t reflect current market conditions and are unlikely to assist the FHA in reaching its historical constituencies – first time, minority and low income homebuyers.”
…

Is mediation merely a ruse to buy scheming, scamming banksters more time to foreclose while struggling borrowers keep making payments?

Mediation efforts fail to stem foreclosure tide
Program finds few takers in hard-hit Maryland county
Naima Ramos-Chapman / Investigative Reporting Workshop

Ron Tucker’s problems began after his wife died of cancer. Despite the loss of her income, his lender wouldn’t consider a loan modification because he was current on his payments.
By Kat Aaron and Mary Kane
Investigative Reporting Workshop, American University
updated 7/21/2011 11:55:56 AM ET

PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY, Md. — On a hot summer evening, two second-year law students are trudging through the leafy neighborhoods of suburban Prince George’s County, knocking on doors. Toting stacks of fliers, the young women are going house to house, making sure that delinquent homeowners know about the state’s mortgage mediation program.

Tonight, only two people answer the door. One, like 11 others the students have contacted during previous outings, insists she already has gotten her loan modified and doesn’t need mediation, despite a foreclosure notice on record. Another homeowner, in default after taking off work to care for a sick relative, takes the mediation information and says she’ll consider it. The students leave fliers at a house with a “for sale” sign in Hyattsville and an empty condo in a nearby neighborhood.

They will try again another day.

Mediation has been touted as a key strategy to stop foreclosures, both in Maryland and nationwide. Maryland passed a law last July giving homeowners in foreclosure the right to mediation, if they ask for it. The Justice Department reported in a November study that there were 25 mediation programs in 14 states.

But if Maryland is any indication, the programs are not working. As of May 31, just 56 homeowners have gotten a modification of their loan. Borrowers complain that lenders are more interested in foreclosing than negotiating. One borrower was horrified to discover that the bank had sold her home during the mediation process.
…

Nice to see the producers get their due….

BJ’s hands out golden parachutes

BJ’s Wholesale Club Inc. chief executive Laura Sen will receive nearly $15 million in compensation in a golden parachute arrangement if she is terminated by the private equity firms that are acquiring the Westborough chain, according to a securities filing today.

Other top executives stand to earn more than $4 million in their own golden parachute agreements as part of the proposed takeover deal with Leonard Green & Partners LP and funds advised by CVC Capital Partners. If Sen continues to lead the company, she will earn roughly $9.2 million, according to the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Shareholders will have a chance to vote on these compensation arrangements, but it is a nonbinding resolution. That means, “regardless of whether stockholders approve this proposal, if the merger is approved by the stockholders and completed, the ‘golden parachute’ compensation will still be paid to the Company’s named executive officers to the extent payable in accordance with the terms of such compensation contracts and arrangements,” according to the filing.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/8657016/Barack-Obama-warns-of-market-meltdown-if-US-debt-talks-fail.html

How telling that this Adminisration’s fiscal policy is driven more by a need to avoid rattling financial markets than by a desire to put the nation on a sound and sustainable economic footing.