The Housing Bubble

Number of short sales on the rise
By Julie Schmit, USA TODAY
Updated 15h 12m ago

Short sales — when lenders allow financially strapped borrowers to sell homes for less than their unpaid mortgage — accounted for 12% of home sales nationwide in the second quarter. That’s up from 10% in the same period last year, says researcher RealtyTrac.

The increases were sharper in some states, including California, Nevada, Michigan, Georgia and Colorado, the data show.

In Colorado, short sales were 17% of all sales in the second quarter, up from 10% a year earlier. In California, they made up 25% of sales, vs. 18%.

Bank of America, the largest home mortgage servicer, expects to complete more than 100,000 short sales this year — more than double what it did in 2009, the bank says.
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In the second quarter, short-sale homes sold at a 21% discount to non-foreclosure homes, while bank-owned homes went at a 40% discount, RealtyTrac says. Short sales may also reduce losses for loan owners because they avoid full foreclosure costs. Borrowers may qualify for new mortgages sooner after a short sale than after a foreclosure.

“Short sales are a very positive solution,” says BofA Vice President Dave Sunlin.

Short sales peaked at 16% of the market in early 2009, RealtyTrac says. Realtors say there should be more short sales and that they should get done faster.

“We lose buyers constantly because short sales take too long,” says Beth Peerce, president of the California Association of Realtors. Short sales completed in the second quarter took 245 days, on average, RealtyTrac says. In a June survey, 77% of California Realtors called short sales difficult or extremely difficult; 15% said clients were foreclosed on while pursuing short sales.
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Viewpoint
Ben Bernanke Embraces Obama’s Reality-Based Presidency
By Michael Grunwald Monday, August 29, 2011

Texas governor and GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry still knows about as much about monetary policy as Sarah Palin knows about American history—or, for that matter, about monetary policy—but maybe there was a glimmer of insight in Perry’s dopey rant about Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke’s treasonous plot to re-elect President Obama. Because if you cut through the mealy-mouthed Fedspeak, Bernanke’s speech on Friday at Jackson Hole reads a bit like a defense of Obama’s policies. And not just his economic policies. Bernanke, a Republican first appointed by George W. Bush, subtly hat-tipped almost all of Obama’s major domestic policies.
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Reading about how low home mortgage applications have fallen makes one curious about how the soon-to-end red hot summer sales season is going this year.

Originally published Friday, August 26, 2011 at 5:37 PM
Home mortgage applications fall to 15-year low
By DEREK KRAVITZ
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Mortgage applications to purchase a home fell to a 15-year low, despite the lowest mortgage rates in decades.

Many potential buyers are holding off because they are worried about job security and fear the economy could slip back into another recession.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said this past week that an index measuring mortgage applications, which are adjusted for seasonal factors, fell 2.4 percent the week of Aug. 14 from the previous week. Home mortgage applications plunged 5.7 percent to its lowest level since December 1996.

“Another week of volatile markets and rampant uncertainty regarding the economy kept prospective homebuyers on the sidelines,” said Mike Fratantoni, the trade group’s vice president of research and economics.
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Wasn’t offering lower mortgage rates to borrowers with bad credit called “subprime lending” just five or so years ago?

Fannie, Freddie Takeover Could Be Key to Obama Jobs Plan
By Chris Stirewalt
Published August 25, 2011

Obama Jobs Plan May Be Aimed at High Risk Mortgage Borrowers

It almost seems to me you want to have some type of announcement or policy, program or something from the federal government that provides that clear signal that we are here supporting the housing market and this is indeed a good time to really consider buying,…

– Frank E. Nothaft, the chief economist at Freddie Mac, talking to the New York Times about a reported administration plan to offer lower mortgage rates to borrowers with bad credit.

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Editorial
A Lifeline for Homeowners
Published: August 25, 2011

Help may finally be on the way for borrowers stuck in high-interest-rate mortgages. Shaila Dewan and Louise Story reported in The Times that the White House is considering a proposal that would ease refinancings for millions of underwater homeowners whose loans are owned or backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-controlled mortgage companies.

It’s a good idea, and, properly executed, the benefits would exceed any risks. The biggest question is President Obama’s willingness to battle the inevitable opposition.

Fannie, Freddie and investors in the agencies’ securities don’t want to see their interest income fall. Republican leaders are determined to block anything that Mr. Obama proposes — even if millions of Americans, and the overall economy, would benefit. It is not even clear if the president’s entire economic team is on board; when the idea was floated last year, the administration balked.
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America’s Unique, Unsuccessful And Dangerous Housing And Mortgage Policies
By Mark Perry on August 24, 2011

The Richmond Fed has an interesting cover story in its second quarter publication titled “Foreign Housing Finance,” with some interesting comparisons of U.S. housing finance, mortgage markets, and housing policy to other countries. Here’s an excerpt:

“It is common for developed-country governments to intervene in the provision of housing services. Many have state-owned rental properties for example, and most have housing programs targeted to lower-income families. Nearly every industrialized country also encourages the direct ownership of homes through tax breaks and other policies — but none does so to the extent of the United States.

“Compared to other developed countries, only a couple come even close,” says economist John Kiff, who in April 2011 published a comparative analysis with colleagues at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). “You’ve got interest payment deductibility, nonrecourse [mortgages] in some states, special protections in bankruptcy courts,” among other things, he says. Then there’s the support of mortgage finance by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the creatures of statute known as government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs). “Everything you could possibly name for supporting homeownership for everybody regardless of whether they can afford it, it’s all in place in the U.S.”
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AUGUST 25, 2011, 3:51 P.M. ET

Mortgage Bond Market On Edge, Guessing On US Refinance Plans

–Administration officials study ways to increase number of homeowners who can refinance, haven’t settled on a plan

–Former White House adviser says administration goal is to “return private funding to the housing market, not to cut it off”

By Al Yoon and Alan Zibel
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–The U.S. market for mortgage-backed securities is increasingly on edge this week as a dour economic outlook fans speculation that the government will come to the aid of homeowners who have been unable to take advantage of record low interest rates.

Traders reported the most volatile trading this year in some MBS amid speculation that the Obama administration would remove at least some hurdles to refinancing for borrowers with weaker credit and whose loans are underwater. The administration has been weighing numerous options to stabilize the battered housing market–a key source of weakness in the economy.

Administration officials have been studying ways to increase the number of homeowners who can refinance, but haven’t settled on a definite plan.

Just chatter about such changes is upending a profitable trade on MBS backed by loans with rates at 6% and higher. Investors, who are hurt when a loan is refinanced, had flocked to those bonds for stable refinancing levels because any borrowers that could have refinanced would have likely already done so. Investors swapped into lower rate MBS.

“It’s a very tenuous time,” said Kevin Jackson, a trader at Wells Fargo Securities in Charlotte, N.C. “The government has historically surprised the market with statements, and so you’re seeing a lot of people getting stopped out and saying ‘I can’t take this risk.’”
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by Rob Chrisman
New Refinance Program Unlikely. What About a 21st Century Homestead Act?
August 25, 2011

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, who owns about 10% of Wells Fargo, announced that it is investing $5 billion in Bank of America. $100,000 per share for 50,000 shares…as one would expect, BofA’s stock is up over 20%. Buffett stated that BofA is a “strong and well-led company.” That is a big chunk of change, and already at a profit given this morning’s stock move. He now owns big chunks of the two largest mortgage lenders.

The mortgage herd is spooked again, as it was last year (or maybe the year before) with a story making the rounds about a government-sponsored major refinancing program. Brian Collins with National Mortgage News seems to be the source of this, although “industry officials” are quoted. But “at this point in time there are few specifics on the table regarding the plan.” The story goes on to say, “Mortgage executives say the White House is finally realizing they cannot get the economy rolling again until they provide some payment relief for the estimated 11 million under water borrowers…’My best guess is the administration will offer incentives to lenders to allow borrowers who are current, but under water, refinance,’ one source said. This source also added the refinancing program will focus on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guaranteed loans as well as mortgages in private-label securities. The GSEs already have a special refinancing program for borrowers with loan-to-value ratios above 105% — but the effort has not reached many underwater borrowers.”

Tom Harmon, a mortgage trader with Cantor-Fitzgerald, quickly wrote, “The National Mortgage News ran a headline, ‘White House Contemplating Major Refinancing Program?’ Prior to today, I have not heard of the National Mortgage News. Their ’sources’ offered no details. There is nothing new here. The administration and some in congress will continue to make headlines of home issues. As the administration has run out of economic bullets, this is likely to be a talking point ahead of the elections. Don’t be distracted. Focus on handicapping any major enhanced streamline refinancing program rolled out by Fannie or Freddie or one mandated by congress without substantial GSE reform/changes. Congress has had a few years to tackle the tough housing issues we face. None may be tougher than the ultimate fate of the GSE’s and guidelines under which they operate. A national refinance program makes a nice headline; however, the implementation is not a simple flip of the switch. This is not a ‘no cost’ fiscal stimulus as many claim. Presuming the government is willing to let the private investment community take the hit on the trillions of 30-year Fannie & Freddie-issued MBS’s currently trading over a 109 dollar price, don’t forget the $542 billion agency MBS at the GSE’s. While one could argue that the GSE credit book would be in a better position, the GSE itself may not be. For the above reasons, we are unlikely to see an endemic large scale enhanced refinance program. Thus, we return to a congressional solution. The budget debate renews in the fall and will take the front and center position. While it is likely we will see continued focus and execution on HAMP/HARP type programs, do you think congress will introduce and pass a major GSE bill ahead of next year’s elections?” Well said.
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Refinance a big mortgage before it’s too late…

Time is ticking on the conforming loan limits clock. On October 1st, the maximum on jumbo-conforming loans for single family residences, which are between $417,000 and $729,750 will drop by over $100,000 to $625,500 in the Bay Area. As the Bay Area has a pricey housing market, plenty of homeowners and would be homeowners are likely to have a mortgage in this territory. While October 1 seems like a few weeks away, for a mortgage to meet the current jumbo-conforming standards, it must close by September 30th. Mortgages in this area typically take around 30 days or so to close, so the the time is really now or never.

Post September 30th, borrowers wanting to take out a mortgage in excess $625,500 for a single family residence will have to look at the pure jumbo rates and requirements. When the credit crisis first started, it was difficult to find lenders willing to do jumbo lending, as the loans cant be sold to Fannie or Freddie. Those that were offering jumbo mortgages were getting a significant premium over conforming rates.
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Orange County California Republican recognizes “need” for government role in housing… who’d've thunk?

Aug. 29, 2011, 7:00 a.m. EDT
Republican on need for government role in housing
Rep. Campbell’s bipartisan bill would create reserve fund to limit taxpayer losses
By Ronald D. Orol, MarketWatch

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — To maintain the 30-year fixed rate mortgage and to allow the housing finance system, and economy, to recover, the government needs to provide a guarantee for mortgages, according to Republican Representative John Campbell.

That premise is a key component of bipartisan legislation Campbell, an Orange County Republican, has co-authored. The bill has been lauded by some analysts as the legislation that Republicans and Democrats will agree to as the model for overhauling the troubled government-seized housing giants Fannie Mae (FNMA +1.49%) and Freddie Mac (FMCC +5.19%) that have already cost taxpayers some $130 billion.

Campbell told MarketWatch in a phone interview that his bill will spark private capital formation and at the same time reassure the faltering markets and put the economy on a positive footing.

This philosophy puts the 56-year-old representative on a collision course with some in his party -—including key Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee of which he is a member — who are seeking a completely privatized mortgage market with no government backing.
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It looks like only North Dakota’s and Oklahoma’s housing markets are “showing improvements” these days.

Aug. 26, 2011, 9:00 a.m. EDT
Charting home-price slump and new-house inventory
Also in charts: Jobless claims, machinery orders, European sentiment

House prices down in most states

Nationally, prices of homes using Fannie Mae- and Freddie Mac-acquired mortgages dropped 5.9% in the second quarter compared to the same period of 2010, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said this week. Put another way, home prices on an inflation-adjusted basis tumbled 10%. Of the major metropolitan areas, the biggest price decline was 14.1% in Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta in Georgia. By contrast, prices rose 3.7% in Pittsburgh.

Friends of ours moved to L A and are paying 2k per month to rent a slider of a house , in a fairly ‘’safe” area . Out there it is not so much about the shape of the house as to how many dangerous 2 legged animals are close about . Somewhat like the old west , we guess, gun & all.

Service cuts in St. Lucie County aren’t painful to most residents

Posted: 10:10 PM
Eric Pfahler, TC Palm

ST. LUCIE COUNTY — Port St. Lucie, Fort Pierce and the county altogether have cut about half a billion dollars from their budgets in the last five years since the economy tanked, but officials have worked to make the cuts invisible to most residents.

Internal memos might take longer to receive attention than they once did.

It takes longer for builders to get permits, and some services are no longer available on holidays. Since 2007, St. Lucie County residents have had services trimmed as local governments recalibrate their budgets to coincide with massive reductions in property values.

“I honestly think the county’s done a marvelous job with the cuts,” said Craig Mundt, a member of the county’s Citizens Budget Committee. “I’ve seen very little impact on services.”

Port St. Lucie and Fort Pierce have made cuts, but the largest service impact has come from the county. All three entities, however, have eliminated more than 20 percent of their workforce as governments search for efficiency amidst declining revenues.

“Obviously, it’s never good when you’re laying off employees, and having reduced our workforce by more than one third is rather painful,” County Commission Chairman Chris Craft said. “But the reality is we’re part of the stewards of the property tax dollars that the people of St. Lucie County pay, and we need to make sure we’re running as efficiently as possible. I think (the decline in tax dollars has) helped us re-gauge that.”

Mundt said the biggest impact has been on employees. With staff reductions, current employees often have multiple tasks.

“What I do see, is I see a burden on the county employees,” he said. “They are really stretched and working hard.”

Still, not all service cuts in services have gone unnoticed.

Diminished library hours, decreases in lifeguards protecting beaches and longer times between mowing of public land are among service cuts that have generated complaints.

In Fort Pierce, employees have been furloughed.

In Port St. Lucie, 24 police officers were laid off.

Fort Pierce Mayor Bob Benton said city officials plan to end the furloughs after this budget year, but he hasn’t gotten many complaints from residents about City Hall being closed one day per month.

“When I explained the big picture, they were very understanding,” he said

http://www.wptv.com/dpp/news/region_st_lucie_county/service-cuts-in-st.-lucie-county-aren‘t-painful-to-most-residents- -
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If they can cut half a billion in that county with the cuts invisible to most residents, kinda makes me wonder what the federal govt. could do if they really wanted or needed to.

Daily Invective~

Realtors Are Liars®

Hardest Hit mortgage modification program gets 1,140 Treasure Coast applications, 61 approved
By Nadia Vanderhoof
TCPalm
Posted August 25, 2011

The Florida Hardest Hit Fund was created to assist those struggling to pay their mortgage because of a financial hardship, but Treasure Coast real estate experts say numbers show the program isn’t doing enough to keep homeowners from foreclosure.

About 1,140 homeowners on the Treasure Coast and in Okeechobee County have applied for the program designed to aid families in states hit hard by the economic and housing market downturn.

But of those, just 61 local applications have been approved. Treasure Coast homeowners received only $49,207 so far out of the $1.098 million that was allocated to them collectively out of the program’s budget.

Statewide, 24,624 homeowners have submitted applications for program. Of that number, 5,559 were ineligible.

Green said the state has five years to spend the $1 billion allocated to Florida homeowners. So far, about $36.8 million has been used from that budget. Green said all the money must be spent by 2017.

“The Martin County (application) numbers speak volumes for the effectiveness of the program. The eligibility requirements for the program, the requirements of the homeowner and current mortgage are almost insurmountable and definitely disappointing,” said Linda Prange, president of the Realtors Association of Martin County. “It’s an attempt that falls incredibly short of serving any useful purpose for the many who need help. In reality, (the) Florida Hardest Hit Fund isn’t even a good Band-Aid.”

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2011/aug/25/hardest-hit-mortgage-modification-program-gets/?partner=RSS - 111k -

Forget natural disasters!
The #1 corn beetle has developed resistance to Monsanto GM corn. I wonder what would happen if we have a corn crop failure for several years in a row? What if this goes worldwide? Nature knows the human race is out of balance with the available resources. This is the cure.

http://www.bizjournals.com/wichita/morning_call/2011/08/monsanto-corn-plant-losing-resistance.html

Boating survival lessons learned:

Windex + spiders = poof!

WD40 + wasps = poof!

Small business hiring slows in August, wages dip.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hiring by small businesses slowed in August and employers reduced hours, an independent survey showed on Sunday, suggesting the recent stock market turmoil may have dampened job creation.

Intuit, a payrolls processing company, said small businesses added 35,000 jobs after increasing employment by 40,000 in July.

The survey is based on responses from about 66,000 employers at businesses with fewer than 20 employees that use the Intuit Online Payroll system and covered the period from July 24 to August 23.

“There was plenty of bad news this month and the Intuit small business employment figures show this,” said Susan Woodward, the economist who helped to develop the survey. “From this month’s numbers, we don’t see a new recession, but we don’t see a robust recovery either.”

A sharp drop in share prices after Standard & Poor’s stripping the nation of its top AAA credit rating knocked down consumer and business confidence. Sentiment also soured as the sovereign debt crisis in Europe spread.

There are fears the month’s stock market rout could make businesses hesitant to hire new workers.

The government will release its employment report for August on Friday, which will be gleaned for clues on whether the economy is sliding back into recession.

According to a Reuters survey, nonfarm payrolls probably increased 80,000 this month after July’s 117,000 gain.

Three of the 62 economists polled predicted a contraction in nonfarm employment this month, citing the erosion of business confidence and a strike by 45,000 Verizon Communications workers during the payrolls survey period.

They cautioned, however, that a drop in August employment should not be interpreted as a sign the economy was back in recession. The economy grew at a 1 percent annual rate in the second quarter after expanding only 0.4 percent in the January to March period.

The average work week for small business employees fell 0.3 percent to 24.9 hours, according to the Intuit survey, while the average monthly salary eased 0.08 percent to $2,649.

More good news! The great American consumer is out doing what they were trained to do!

Consumer spending rebounds, rose 0.8 pct. in July.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Consumer spending grew in July by 0.8 percent, the largest amount in five months. That followed a decline in June and helped ease fears that the U.S. economy is on the verge of another recession.

Personal incomes increased 0.3 percent last month, the Commerce Department said. That’s slightly higher than the modest 0.2 percent in June, the weakest growth in seven months.

The first look at spending in the second half of the year gave Wall Street an early lift. Stock futures rose after its release. It added to positive reports that Hurricane Irene didn’t do as much damage as feared.

Consumer spending is important because it accounts for 70 percent of economic activity.

Economists said the report was a strong sign that the economy rebounded in July after anemic growth in the first half of the year.

July’s spending and income figures “significantly alter the outlook for third-quarter GDP growth,” said Paul Dales, a senior U.S. economist for Capital Economics. Dales said growth for the July-September quarter is on track for an annual rate of 2.5 percent, up from his previous estimate of 1.5 percent.

The government on Friday lowered its growth estimate for the April-June quarter to an annual rate of just 1 percent. Through the first six months of the year, the economy grew just 0.7 percent — the weakest in the two years since the recession official ended.

A number of reports show the economy improved last month. The economy added 117,000 net jobs in July, twice the number added in each of the previous two months. Spending on retail goods rose faster last month than in any month since March. U.S. automakers rebounded last month to boost factory production by the most since the Japan crisis.

In July, consumer spending rose at a faster pace than income. That means Americans saved less. The savings rate fell to a four-month low of 5 percent, down from 5.5 percent in June.

I just LUV public unions…

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Postal Service paying fewer workers to do nothing
Washington Post ^ | August 29, 2011 | Ed O’Keefe

The U.S. Postal Service, expecting $7 billion in losses this year amid slumping mail volume, is still paying thousands of its workers millions of dollars each year to do nothing.

But it’s paying tens of millions of dollars less for “standby time” than it did just two years ago, according to a new report.

Long-standing labor agreements with two major postal unions prohibit the Postal Service from laying off or reassigning workers because of broken equipment or periods of low mail volume. Instead, idled employees show up for work, sit in a break room or cafeteria and do nothing.

Standby time totaled 170,666 hours in the first six months of 2011, costing the Postal Service $4.3 million, according to an audit by the Postal Service inspector general’s office. In 2009, 1.2 million hours were billed at a cost of $30.9 million.

“At a time when the Postal Service is challenged to operate more efficiently, monitoring standby time is critical to ensuring their ability to effectively manage the workforce,” the report said.

Members of the American Postal Workers Union and the National Association of Letter Carriers have been eligible for standby time payments and rarely used the option until 2009, when mail volume began to plummet and the Postal Service started to consolidate processing plants in the Northeast and the Midwest.

Audits of operations in Dallas and Detroit found that many workers incorrectly billed the Postal Service amid lax oversight of such payments.

School superintendent gives up $800k in pay

By TRACIE CONE - Associated Press
AP – 2 hrs 14 mins ago..

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — Some people give back to their community. Then there’s Fresno County School Superintendent Larry Powell, who’s really giving back. As in $800,000 — what would have been his compensation for the next three years.

Until his term expires in 2015, Powell will run 325 schools and 35 school districts with 195,000 students, all for less than a starting California teacher earns.

“How much do we need to keep accumulating?” asks Powell, 63. “There’s no reason for me to keep stockpiling money.”

Powell will still earn a six-figure retirement, especially hefty by the standards of California’s farming heartland. But because his salary comes out of the district’s discretionary budget, for the next three years he’ll be able to steer the money he is giving up where he wants: to programs for kindergarten and preschool, the arts and a pet project that steers B and C students into college by teaching them how to take notes and develop strategy skills.

“Our goal has never been to have things,” Powell said of himself and his wife, Dot. “We want to give back.”

http://news.yahoo.com/school-superintendent-gives-800k-pay-150206667.html - -

‘Land Bank’ Knocks Out Some Foreclosure Problems
by Mhari Saito
Morning Edition

LaMont Rump of Fez Enterprises guides an excavator during the demolition of a house in Cleveland.
August 29, 2011 from WCPN

Cities have been tearing down crumbling, vacant houses for decades. The money for municipal demolition bills usually comes out of city budgets, but in Cleveland the housing crisis has started to change that equation.

Bill Beavers has lived on Cleveland’s Dove Street since 1967. But on a recent sunny morning, Beavers is sitting on a neighbor’s front porch, watching something he has never seen on his block before.

Across the street, a huge excavator is tearing through the front facade of a two-story wooden house. The top half of the house, windows and exterior wall fold as easily as cut weeds and tumble to the ground.

“Oh, it’s good to see them tear these old structures down because nobody wants to move in them,” Beavers says. “It costs too much to fix them up, you know?”

The house went into foreclosure two years ago, and when the family moved out, vandals stole the circuit panel and pipes. Other houses on the block are nicely kept up, but the street is in the 44105 zip code — which in 2007 had the dubious distinction of garnering the highest foreclosure rate in the nation.

Saturated with foreclosures, the lender that took back the house couldn’t unload it for even $5,000.

“A property like that, on a street that’s otherwise relatively stable but [in a] depressed market, probably needs to come down because it has way too much need on the inside,” says Gus Frangos, head of the Cuyahoga County Land Bank, which oversees these demolitions. “If you take these pockmarks out, all of a sudden you stabilize the street a little bit.”

Let’s Make A Deal

When the land bank started two years ago, Frangos thought the group would have to pay its demolition bill from its own budget. But then the economy worsened and the foreclosures piled up. Lenders stuck with crumbling houses found themselves on the hook in the Cleveland Housing Court for hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of code violations.

The Cuyahoga County Land Bank, a quasi-government corporation, offered lenders a deal: We’ll take your worst houses, if you pay to knock them down. This year, Fannie Mae and some of the country’s biggest lenders — including Bank of America, Citibank and Wells Fargo — will help pay for half of the land bank’s 700 scheduled demolitions.

Lenders pay $3,500 to $7,500 per house. Wells Fargo’s Russ Cross says it’s a sensible and responsible business plan.

“We want to make loans on an ongoing basis, and to do so, we need stable to rising home values,” he says. “We’ve got to do whatever we can to protect home values in neighborhoods.”

Some lenders are looking at starting similar programs in Detroit, Chicago and Milwaukee. Fannie Mae’s P.J. McCarthy says the government-controlled mortgage giant has been donating properties and demolition funds to the Cuyahoga County Land Bank since 2009 because keeping the houses just doesn’t make sense.
A newly erected community garden in the Cleveland suburb of South Euclid grows where there was once a dilapidated, foreclosed house.
Enlarge Mhari Saito for NPR

A newly erected community garden in the Cleveland suburb of South Euclid grows where there was once a dilapidated, foreclosed house.

‘Not A Cure-All’

“They are not going to sell on the market for much more than a few thousand dollars, and our costs in marketing those properties and preserving them generally exceed the costs,” he says. “So the economics of the transaction make sense as well as the intent of the land bank to reduce supply and stabilize the neighborhood.”
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Barack Obama’s uncle has been arrested and held as illegal immigrant
James Bone and Catherine Philp
From: The Australian.com

BARACK Obama’s long-lost “Uncle Omar” has been arrested for alleged drink-driving outside Boston and detained as an illegal immigrant, The Times can reveal.

The arrest ends a mystery over the fate of a relative that the US President wrote in his memoir had moved to America from Kenya in the 1960s, although the circumstances of his discovery may now prove to be an embarrassment for the White House.

Official records say Onyango Obama, 67, was picked up outside the Chicken Bone Saloon in Framingham, Massachusetts, at 7.10pm on August 24. Police say he nearly crashed his Mitsubishi 4×4 into a patrol car, and then insisted that the officer should have given way to him. A report filed with the Framingham District Court said that a breathalyser at the police station registered his blood alcohol at 0.14mg/100ml of blood, above the state limit of 0.08mg.

According to a local newspaper, Mr Obama was charged with driving under the influence and driving to endanger, as well as failing to use a turn signal. He was detained as an illegal immigrant because the US Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement has an outstanding warrant for him because he was previously ordered to be deported to Kenya.

The Times has established from his birthdate that Mr Obama is the Uncle Omar mentioned in President Obama’s best-selling memoir Dreams from My Father. In the 1995 book, President Obama writes of “the uncle who had left for America 25 years ago and had never come back”.

In 2008, The Times mounted a search for Uncle Omar. Instead of finding him, we discovered his sister, President Obama’s Auntie Zeituni, who was living as an illegal immigrant on a Boston housing estate. Uncle Omar and Auntie Zeituni are the children of President Obama’s grandfather Hussein Onyango Obama, by his third wife Sarah, the woman President Obama calls “Granny”, because she raised his father, Barack Sr, who was Hussein Obama’s son by Hussein’s second wife, Akumu.

The 2008 investigation unearthed public records naming an O. Onyango Obama, born on June 3, 1944, living at a house in the Boston suburbs, where he was known as Obama Onyango. Framingham police records list the man arrested last week as Onyango Obama, with the same birth date, June 3, 1944.

According to local reports, Officer Val Krishtal and another driver had to slam on their brakes to avoid hitting Mr Obama’s car, which rolled through a stop sign and took a quick left turn. Mr Obama allegedly told the officer he had right of way and said he doubted the officer was forced to brake hard as he did not hear his brakes squeal.

Mr Obama pleaded not guilty at his remand hearing, but was held in custody because of the immigration warrant. He now faces a legal battle. His sister Zeituni eventually won the right to live in America despite an earlier deportation order. Margaret Wong, the Cleveland lawyer who successfully represented Zeituni, confirmed through a representative last night that she has also been retained to defend Mr Obama.

“Before he went to America, we all knew him as Omar. But he dropped that bit, changing it to Obama Onyango, because he said he preferred his African name,” said Nelson Ochieng, a cousin in the Kenyan city of Kisumu.

Mr Obama’s landlady in Boston went to court to evict him in 2000 for non-payment of his dollars 500-a-month rent. He was also a partner in a convenience store that was set up in 1992, and was attacked in a robbery at the shop in 1994 by two men armed with a sawn-off rifle.

Gotta love gubmint at work…

Tab on ramp for SF supervisors’ chamber adding up. $700,000.00
Phillip Matier,Andrew Ross, Chronicle Columnists

What costs more: a home in San Francisco’s Sunset District, or a wheelchair ramp in the Board of Supervisors’ chambers?

If you picked the house, you’re wrong.

By the time the final tab comes in, the cost of designing and installing a ramp to the president’s chair at the Board of Supervisors - a project now under way - is expected to top out at $699,413.

That is about $50,000 more than the median cost of a home in the Sunset.

Why so much for a 10-foot ramp?

First, it took two companies, at a total cost of $132,205, to come up with a design that passed architectural muster for a designated historic landmark. The cost in city staff time to oversee the planning hit $38,434. That’s $170,639.

Then came the job itself.

To install the ramp, the board’s majestic podium is being taken apart, raised five steps above the chamber’s floor, then put back together.

Costs include $25,200 for materials, $201,678 for labor and $49,000 for a set of historically accurate brass handrails. Outside historic experts to keep an eye on the work are getting $48,824.

Miscellaneous costs bring the construction job’s total to $477,000 and change.

Also, because the job could take 10 weeks, the supervisors have set aside $51,042 to pay for relocating board meetings.

Supervisor John Avalos - the lone “no” vote on the project when the board approved it in February- said the political math just doesn’t add up.

“This is a tremendous amount of money being spent on something in City Hall that rarely or may never even get used,” Avalos said.

“Meanwhile, there are so many other needs for handicapped access that are really needed that are going unfunded,” Avalos said.

Plant closing in Boone to cost 100-plus jobs
The Associated Press

BOONE, N.C. — An electronic parts manufacturer that has been a long-time employer the Boone for more than 50 years says it will relocate jobs to Mexico.

The Watauga Democrat reports that TT Electronics told workers it will close its Boone plant next year. The plant employs 143 workers.

Human resources vice president Michelle Coleman says the company is trying to compete with lower-cost producers. Coleman says a few administrative positions will remain in Watauga County.

Affected employees will be offered severance packages and job-transition counseling. Coleman says some workers may be transferred to TT Electronics plants in other U.S. locations.

The layoffs are expected to take place over the next 12 to 16 months.

The plant makes wire wound and metal film components.

The days of the Harmon Hotel tower in Las Vegas may be numbered — even before the hotel welcomes a single guest. Begun during the Las Vegas high-rise condo boom, the hotel tower — first proposed as a 49-story mixed-use condo and hotel project — is an empty, if flashy, shell that its owner, MGM Resorts International, seeks to demolish.

The building’s downfall has been blamed on massive construction defects and the market downturn. MGM and the building’s general contractor, Perini Building Co., are embroiled in litigation over the building’s problems — and the outcome may ultimately decide its fate.

When MGM put the planned condo units on the market in early 2008, buyers — mostly owner-occupants — put down 20 percent deposits on nearly half of the units

Perini accused MGM of “buyer’s remorse”

realestate.yahoo.com/promo/demolishing-a-vegas-hotel-before-its-grand-opening.html

Contracts to buy homes fell 1.3 percent in July

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans who signed contracts to buy homes fell in July, further evidence that the depressed housing market remains a drag on the economy.

The National Association of Realtors said Monday that its index of sales agreements fell 1.3 percent in July to a reading of 89.7.

A reading of 100 is considered healthy by economists. The last time the index reached that level was in April 2010, the final month that buyers could qualify for a federal tax credit.

Contract signings are usually a reliable indicator of where the housing market is headed. There’s typically a one- to two-month lag between a sales contract and a completed deal.

But the Realtors group says a growing number of buyers have cancelled contracts after appraisals showed the homes were worth less than they bid. A sale isn’t final until a mortgage is closed.

Michael Gapen, director of U.S. economic research at Barclays Capital Research, said the high number of cancellations suggest “heightened uncertainty on the part of purchasers and tighter credit standards in mortgage finance.”

Home loans are harder to come by. Many lenders are requiring 20 percent down payments and strong FICO credit scores to qualify.

Signings are still roughly 18 percent above the June 2010 reading of 75.9, the lowest figure since the housing market went bust more than four years ago.

Even though pending home sales rose in two of the past three months, that hasn’t translated into increased sales.

The pace of sales for previously occupied homes is trailing last year’s 4.91 million sold, the fewest since 1997. In a healthy economy, people buy roughly 6 million homes each year.

Sales of new homes fell in July for third straight month. This year is shaping up to be the worst for sales of new homes on records dating back to 1963.

Central bankers gathered at an annual retreat in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, this weekend had a message for political leaders: monetary policy alone can’t keep the global expansion going.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke urged adoption of “good, proactive housing policies” to reverse the depressed U.S. real estate market and warned lawmakers to avoid steps that may hurt short-term growth. Ewald Nowotny of the European Central Bank Governing Council said euro-area governments should expand the powers of their regional bailout fund.

“Most of the economic policies that support robust economic growth in the long run are outside the province of the central bank,” Bernanke said at the annual conference of policy makers and economists, sponsored by the Kansas City Fed.

August 27, 2011
SAT Question of the Day

A dictatorship ——- its citizens to be docile and finds it expedient to make outcasts of those who do not ——- .

A. forces . . rebel
B. expects . . disobey
C. requires . . conform
D. allows . . withdraw
E. forbids . . agree

The Captain of the Titanic asks for ideas.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-26/u-s-government-struggles-as-the-biggest-seller-of-homes.html

“They’re stuck,” said Petrou. “All sorts of people are demanding they do something. They don’t know what to do but they have to do something.”

How about this: give them away to those age 18 to 35. They’ll be inheriting the debt, so give them an asset to go with it.

Obama says will unveil jobs plan next week
WASHINGTON | Mon Aug 29, 2011

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama said Monday he would unveil proposals next week aimed at spurring job growth in part through infrastructure improvements.

Obama made the comment as he announced he had picked Princeton economist Alan Krueger as the new chief of the Council of Economic Advisers.

He said next week he would lay out a series of steps that the U.S. Congress can take immediately to put more money in the pockets of middle class families and put construction crews to work.

I want lack of leadership I can believe in, dammit.

Thinking the ecnomy grew DESPITE our growing public and private sector debt is like thinking the ugly chick got pretty DESPITE you getting drunk.

Thinking we can use ever increasing debt to run the economy is like thinking you can keep the ugly chick pretty by staying drunk by constantly increasing your alcohol intake as you build tolerance.

Trade imbalances make for an ugly economy… Sure, the debt feels good as profits roll in, money is everywhere, customers are freely spending… Even ugly chicks start looking hot.

But, it is no way to run an economy long-term.

Searcy-based Yarnell’s Ice Cream files bankruptcy
The Associated Press

SEARCY, Ark. — Searcy-based Yarnell’s Ice Cream Company Inc. has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy less than two months after shutting down its operations.

The filing Monday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Eastern District of Arkansas in Little Rock lists $8 million in assets and $15.7 million in total liabilities.

The company said in a news release that it has received offers to purchase its assets - including property, the Yarnell’s name, recipes and inventory. The company said the offers prohibit further comment.

Yarnell’s ceased operations June 30 after nearly 80 years in business and laid off about 200 workers in Searcy and in Tennessee and Mississippi.

The company at the time cited a decline in ice cream sales and rising prices that it says has hit the industry hard.

Real People Say “Screw You” To The Markets
The Market Ticker ® - Commentary on The Capital Markets
by Karl Denninger

Liquidity? None. This is the bid/offer stack in the S&P futures a few minutes into the trading day.

Nobody is talking about this. That’s 27 - twenty-seven contracts - on the bid at 1146.75. During the trading day. There’s less than a thousand up and down the stack through the entire visible portion.

This is a tiny fraction of normal liquidity and those sub-100 numbers are more-akin to what you expect in the middle of the night when everyone’s sleeping!

All that’s left is the computers. The humans have gone home. True liquidity and participation has ended. The people have given up. This is not an isolated incident - as I write this I’m seeing it literally minute-by-minute, and it’s been very common all month. A few minutes ago I saw seven contracts on the bid at the money. Seven - at 9:57 (ET) in the morning.

The fraud, the phony bids and offers and the high-frequency ripoffs have driven everyone away.

Go ahead politicians, tell us how important “Wall Street” is to the economy and to you. Let the thieves and liars continue to pollute the markets and screw everyone. Volatility is as high as it is precisely because people are tired of getting buttraped and after a few instances of it they simply say “screw this”, take their money and go home.

They don’t need the markets, the markets need them, and they’re gone.

With no depth in the market huge moves become commonplace and are essentially impossible to trade.

I’ve never seen the market this illiquid during the day as it has been the last few weeks. It’s ridiculously bad and getting worse. When you see two-digit bids and offers during the trading day in the stack you may as well be playing with a loaded six-shooter pointed at your own head - you can’t possibly trade ahead of these jackasses and they can and will steal your money,******your stops and then reverse the market right out from under you before you can react. All you do is churn your account and waste your capital.

Don’t even try to “invest” in this market folks, and if you decide to trade, realize that you’re playing in a rigged casino and the entire force of the government is not only behind rigging the casino but explicitly endorses and permits the rigging to go on and continue, despite being fully-aware of it.

Remember, “Wall Street is Main Street” to them - and if that means your retirement and investments get destroyed that’s just fine provided that big buildings in downtown Manhatten continue to be infested by the thieves guild that pumps tithes into campaign coffers.

Oh, if you think that liquidity was bad, you should have seen it on the release of the speech. There were double-digit bid and offers up and down the stack, and the collapse of about 1% you saw was a direct consequence of an illiquid market. So was the subsequent ramp job, roughly 2% in minutes. This chainsaw is more than happy to cut your arms and legs off with both sides of the bar.

Make sure you thank Congress and our wonderful “President”, all of whom are far more interested in making sure that the banksters simply rob you blind than anything else when it comes to the economy.

In fact, by their actions it’s clear that’s all they care about.

BECAUSE GOLDMAN SACHS NEEDS A HAND!
Congress Giving Millions of Foreclosed Homes To Wall Street Slumlords
by Ken Layne

Great news, everybody: After deliberately failing to help millions of American families stuck in vulture mortgages, the U.S. government is now giving those foreclosed homes to Wall Street for pennies on the dollar so that Wall Street can then rent the now-vacant foreclosures back to the same people pushed out during the Wall Street-caused housing bubble collapse. Wall Street stands to make an immense profit by becoming, overnight, the “largest improved real-estate owners in the world.” Who says capitalism doesn’t work, with a little help from the government by taking away the property of the working class and giving it to billionaires who pay no taxes? Who says that?

The Street/RealMoney.com reports on this innovative solution to the problem of millions of foreclosed homes currently not providing income for Goldman Sachs:

The largest transfer of wealth from the public to private sector is about to begin. The federal government will be bulk-selling the massive portfolio of foreclosed homes now owned by HUD, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to private investors — vulture funds.

These homes, which are now the property of the U.S. government, the U.S. taxpayer, and U.S. citizens collectively, are going to be sold to private investor conglomerates at extraordinarily large discounts to real value. You and I will not be allowed to participate. These investors will come from the private-equity and hedge-fund community, Goldman Sachs and its derivatives, as well as foreign sovereign wealth funds that can bring a billion dollars or more to each transaction.

In the process, these investors will instantaneously become the largest improved real estate owners and landlords in the world. The U.S. taxpayer will get pennies on the dollar for these homes and then be allowed to rent them back at market rates.

Reason numero uno: The list price exceeds the current market value of the home.

P.S. In what sense are foreclosure home sale prices “artificially low”? I have heard this stated again and again, with no explanation given to back up the claim.

The Eleven Reasons Americans Still Can’t Sell Their Homes
Posted: August 28, 2011 at 6:08 pm

The environment for home sales becomes more difficult with each passing month. Some estimates put 11.1 million mortgages, about 23% of the US total, underwater, meaning that homeowners owe their banks more than the underlying properties are worth. Home foreclosures reached 212,764 in July. The number for the year could rise above three million according to research firm RealtyTrac. Foreclosed homes are usually sold at a discount to market so that banks can rid themselves of inventory. These artificially low prices pull down the value of homes in adjacent neighborhoods.

The federal government let its tax benefit for homeowners expire in April 2010 and has not renewed it since then. The program did boost sales in 2009 and early last year. Shoppers must now face a market without the credit in which many home prices continue to fall.

The clamor over flawed foreclosure paperwork and robo-signers could further chill the housing market. People who might buy have bought a home in foreclosure will now worry about obtaining proper documentation and effective transfer of title.

24/7 Wall St. spoke with experts at real estate research firms, Zillow.com and RealtyTrac to find the best way to sell a home. We also interviewed management from the National Association of Realtors, a number of real estate brokers, banks managers and elected officials in affluent communities. What emerged from these conversations and our research is the following: successful home sellers often do the same small number of things correctly. Often, these tactics are often the difference between finding a buyer and not.
…

Bin Laden’s key deputy seen as very hard to replace for al Qaeda:
The death of al Qaeda’s No. 2, Atiyah Abdul Rahman in Pakistan, is a hammer blow to the terrorist organization.
By CNN Terrorism Analyst Paul Cruickshank

Rahman appears to have been killed by a drone strike in the tribal areas of Pakistan, a fate he may have been expecting. According to reports, he sent a message to bin Laden a year before the latter’s death complaining of the danger to the organization’s operatives by the strikes.

The Libyan will be very hard to replace.

In recent months, Rahman had made several statements in response to the Arab Spring. Such messages have been very different in tone to previous al Qaeda statements, Benotman said.

“They are much less judgmental in tone - he realized that aggressive messages were putting people off,” Benotman told CNN. “Along with Zawahiri, he appears to recently have deliberately downplayed the group’s hardline takfiri ideology for tactical purposes.”

lil’ Opie (non-Hawaiian) Kenyan-Muslim Destroyer of America!

Nobel monie$
Bin Laden
NATO
Qaddafi
Rahman
NeXt:

$hrub speak: “heheheeheeeheee”

Today’s family hurricane update:

Still can’t get a hold of my parents in eastern PA. Been trying to phone since Saturday. Keep getting a “temporarily disconnected” message from Verizon.

Called the local police and spoke to a (very slammed) dispatcher yesterday. During the New York minute that we were connected, I told her about the Verizon message. She noted heavy power and phone outages in the area. So, I rang off.

I’ll keep trying to reach my folks.

Up in Vermont, the town where my aunt and one of my cousins live is heavily damaged by flooding. However, both my aunt and cousin (plus the cousin’s wife and son) live high in the hills.

Cousin’s a general contractor. Methinks he’s going to be very busy for a while.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/44316173

“GOP to Target Regulations in Fall Push to Spur Hiring”

“We can’t make this country great again until we’ve turned the USA into a toxic ceaspool and lowered American wages to those of a 3rd world slum”, says House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va.

Oh.. wait… That was my truth translator version… What he actually said was:

“The House Republican agenda this fall will focus on repealing environmental and labor regulations that GOP lawmakers say are driving up the cost of doing business and discouraging employers from hiring new workers.”

“By pursuing a steady repeal of job-destroying regulations, we can help lift the cloud of uncertainty hanging over small and large employers alike, empowering them to hire more workers,” Cantor said in his memo.

Right… becasue the problem is environmental and labor regualtion, and not a lack of demand for goods and services caused by low wages and already maxxed out credit cards…

I spoke with a fellow in the cash-for-car-titles bidness today. Said it had been sort of slow over the summer, but picking up now. Says the closer it gets to Christmas it really picks up. I guess X-Mas shopping will always be priority one for most people.

I forgot to ask what the interest rate is on loans like that are, but I’m thinking as high as the law will allow.

Anyway he ends up with a good many cars to sell at the auctions.

The new economics advisor to Obama Alan Krueger

Krueger wrote a well reviewed book called “What Makes a Terrorist?” which examined the societal, economic and political conditions that breed terrorism and their psychological and economic consequences.

Well this may be a good sign. Terrosim and social decay is exactly what this nation will face if the middle class continues to be crushed by the elites.

Unfortunately they elite have gained so much power and wealth that I see this more as a Paul Volker appointment. The man will likely be sidelined and brought out periodicallly to make the case that we are fighting for new jobs for America.

I hope I’m proven wrong.

Busy this morning/afternoon, but just wanted to give a quick thanks to all those who commented and contributed to the discussion yesterday, re: “What to recommend to an 18 year old”.

It helps getting additional perspective on this, especially since many of you seemed to have been like I was…….not sure what you wanted to do, until you turned 20-21.

The area I’m moving to has 2-3 excellent community colleges, so I’ve been pushing the “Live @ home, go to JuCo two years” plan. She has resisted because “I’d have to move away from all my friends”, but she’s finding out that her friends don’t seem to have a problem moving away from her, so her outlook may change.

I’ve been telling her that nothing is as temporary as “High School friends”……..unless it’s “High School Soul mates”.

Seattle Green Jobs Program Gets $20M, Creates 14 Posts
By Dan Springer August 29, 2011| FoxNews.com

A green jobs program in one of America’s greenest cities is being called a bust 16 months after a $20 million federal grant to weatherize homes in Seattle ended up putting just 14 people to work in mostly administrative jobs and upgrading only three homes in the area.

“The jobs are not there,” Todd Myers, who wrote the book “Eco Fads,” told Fox News. “So we’re training people for jobs that don’t exist.”

Seattle is not alone. The Department of Energy has allocated $508 million to 41 states for its Better Buildings Neighborhood Program and 600 jobs have been created or retained.

“While communities are advancing their programs at different rates, we are pleased with the progress,” the agency wrote in a recent statement.

One year into the three-year program, 9,000 homes have had energy audits and received some kind of upgrade. The goal is to weatherize 150,000 homes by 2013 and save consumers $65 million annually on energy bills.

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn says it’s too early to declare the program a failure.

“We may have to adjust how we market it and the incentives we provide,” McGinn said. “Nobody has really cracked the green jobs code.”

Contractors who do the energy audits and home retrofits blame government for getting in the way. To be a participating business in Seattle, the contractor is required to pay workers $21 an hour with full benefits, including retirement pay. But according to several small business owners in the area, the prevailing wage for new workers who lay insulation is $12. per hour.

McGinn, however, insisted that allowing contractors to pay anything less than what the city has declared a ‘living wage’, amounts to a ‘race to the bottom’ for jobs.

“The workforce agreements that were negotiated with contractors at the table made sure that some benefits of this work is going to local workers, and we’re going to pay fair wages for it,” he said.

But Myers and others say the biggest problem with the program is government is trying to create a market that consumers don’t want. The average homeowner in the U.S. pays about $2,000 a year for energy.

The weatherization upgrades are aimed at saving 15 percent on energy consumption. If the retrofit costs $10,000 even with all the government incentives, it will take over 30 years to pay off through lower energy bills.

“The problem is the policies the politicians choose, whether green jobs or retrofits, are based on appearance,” Myers said. “They choose things that look good, rather than what’s best for the environment.”

Among the other cities having trouble fulfilling the green jobs promise are Toledo, Kansas City and Phoenix. So far, those cities have created a combined 72 jobs with $65 million in grants.

The difficulty is magnified on the federal level. President Obama once said he wanted to create 5 million green jobs over 10 years. The 2009 stimulus package included $5 billion toward that goal.

A chunk of that money went for weatherization programs, but according to a Department of Energy inspector general report one year later, “only two of the 10 highest-funded recipients completed more than 2 percent of planned units.”

Enough.

I’m ready for Mad Max. I’m going to get some leather gloves and cut cut the sleeves off my jacket and start welding random metal all over my car.

Hey 1st try letin’ Preacher Perry the “TrueEvangelicalistia’s™” pray for non-Gov’t financial relief first.

“Yeah, that’s the ticket!” Joe Isuzu

BWAHAHAHicHAHAHicHAHAHAHAHicHAHAHic* (DennisN™)

Budget politics clouds hurricane aid:
By JAKE SHERMAN & ANNA PALMER | 8/29/11

Hurricane Irene is forcing Washington to contemplate two unpalatable options for disaster aid: Add to the deficit or slash other programs to pay for it.

Battle lines are already being drawn as Republicans insist that disaster money should be offset, Democrats contend that emergency money shouldn’t be held up by partisan politics and other lawmakers move to protect their turf when it comes to potentially billions in federal disaster aid.

These spending principles are certain to run into political reality, as Irene could test the political viability of Repubican orthodoxy as lawmakers try to weigh the emotional reaction to American communities in need while trying to stay true to their conservative fiscal ideals.

On top of that, the two senators from Missouri are moving to protect their turf, insisting that tornado ravaged Joplin — which is still awaiting federal aid — shouldn’t be bumped down the disaster list because of the urgency of Irene.

It’s bubble poppin’ time over in China…

China’s Central Bank Issues New Curbs on Lending
8/30/2011 12:03:05 AM

On Asia Today: The People’s Bank of China moves to further tighten credit, telling commercials banks to hold more money in central bank reserves, taking 900 billion yuan out of the system. WSJ’s Andy Browne and Tom Orlik discuss China’s latest bid to stifle inflation.