The Housing Bubble

So this smart guys solution is to keep pumping…No matter that “it” will not “fix” the core problems. Just do it!

We Are in ‘Worse Situation’ Than in 2008: Roubini
Friday, 2 Sep 2011 | CNBC.com

The world’s developed economies are trapped at the “stall speed” of low growth and need to have greater fiscal stimulus and less austerity to kick-start growth, leading economist Nouriel Roubini told CNBC Friday.

Speaking at the Ambrosetti Forum on the shores of Lake Como, near Milan, Roubini said in an interview: “We are in a worse situation than we were in 2008. This time around we have fiscal austerity and banks that are being cautious.”

Roubini, known for his bearish views on the world economy, thinks that there is a 60 percent chance of a second recession imminently. Economic data of recent weeks presents a mixed picture.

On Thursday, the US government announced that jobless claims dropped by 11,000 to 409,000 last week. Friday’s employment report in the US is expected to show a gain of only 75,000 nonfarm jobs during August, with the unemployment rate steady at 9.1 percent.

Recent surveys point to slumping business and consumer confidence across the developed world.

Asked if there was still a chance the developed economies could avoid recession, Roubini said: “That’s very optimistic if you look at the data.”

“The hard economic data (which has come out recently) is all relevant to July while the soft data which has come out is for the future and that’s all moving in the wrong direction,” he added.

He also believes that a third round of quantitative easing in the US may not have the desired long-term effects, and that further fiscal stimulus across Europe and the US will be needed.

“The market may rally but unless the real economic data moves with asset prices, then eventually asset prices are going to go,” he said. “Last year the economic data was already improving when QE2 was introduced.”

Stillwater Investment Group files for bankruptcy
Eddie Fitzgerald - New Bern News

Stillwater Investment Group, LLC, in New Bern filed Friday in Wilson for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Andy Bayliss, a majority owner of Stillwater Investment Group, and the owner and CEO of Tab Premium Built Homes, said the Chapter 11 was a restructuring and would not slow or stop the marketing of Sillwater Harbour, a single-family home community on Brice’s Creek of Marion Drive.

Tab Premium Built Homes is the preferred builder at Stillwater Harbour off of Marion Drive in New Bern but has no ownership interest in the property, according to Bayliss.

The Chapter 11 filing will not impact Tab, its customers or subcontractors, he said in a prepared statement. Bayliss issued his statements through Talk Inc., a public relations company in Wilimington.

“Tab Premium Built Homes is the market leader in luxury, custom home building in eastern North Carolina,” Bayliss said. “We are financially strong and poised for continued growth and success. As a businessman — and completely outside of my ownership interest in Tab Premium Built Homes — I have developed a number of successful residential developments over the years, such as The Vineyard, Gable’s Run and Long Leaf Pines.”

Stillwater Harbour was launched in 2007.

“ … Like so many other quality projects created during this time, it has been adversely affected by the recession,” Bayliss said. “I have always worked hard and fulfilled all of my financial commitments. But in the case of Stillwater Harbour, the lender recently changed the terms of our loan and I am left with little choice but to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring on behalf of Stillwater Investment Group LLC, of which I am majority owner.”

The lender in the Stillwater Harbour venture was BB&T.

The Stillwater development already has all infrastructure and amenities, including water and sewer, curbs and gutters, paved roadways, landscaping and 12 boat slips.

Stillwater Harbour has 64 lots on more than 63 acres. There are 36 waterfront lots and 28 interior home lots. All lots have access to a protected deep water harbor marina with capacity for 100 boat slips. There is nearly 5 acres of green space throughout the community, including sidewalks, natural areas and open meadows. Prices for a home and lot in Stillwater start in the $300,000 range.

There is one model home on the site and one uncompleted home.

Self-Employed Struggle as U.S. Recovery Offers Few Opportunities

Sept. 1 (Bloomberg) — More than 1 million self-employed Americans are no longer in business almost four years after the last recession began, as the economy constrains entrepreneurial activity and small-business job creation.

The 18-month contraction that started in December 2007 initially resulted in more would-be business owners, as the number of people who work for themselves grew to 16.3 million in July 2008 from 15.7 million at the end of 2007, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Since then, the total has fallen about 10 percent to 14.7 million in July, the data show.

Employer businesses — those that provide work for individuals including the founder — “have been starting in fewer numbers, with fewer workers and growing at a slower pace than in the past,” according to Robert Litan, a vice president at the Kansas City, Missouri-based Kauffman Foundation, which supports research on start-ups. “Therefore, these entrepreneurs are generating increasingly fewer new jobs for the U.S. labor market.”

The number of new employer businesses dropped 24 percent to 505,473 on an annual basis in 2010 from 667,341 in 2006, according to Litan, who co-wrote a report published in July on small-business job creation.

This has contributed to high unemployment as the economic recovery slows. The rate has remained above 9 percent for 25 of the past 27 months, falling to 9.1 percent in July from 9.2 percent in June, BLS statistics show. August data will be released September 2.

Obama’s Speech

President Barack Obama has said small companies can help spur expansion and will address a joint session of Congress on Sept. 8 to unveil plans to promote job growth. He told participants at a White House ceremony Aug. 29 that his proposals will include making it “easier” for entrepreneurs to hire people.

Small companies employ about half the private-sector labor force, so it’s “very difficult” for the jobless rate to improve when they’re “not doing well, because they are too big a part of the economy,” said Scott Shane, professor of entrepreneurial studies at Case Western Reserve University.

Their weakness is also “a very big problem” for office- supply retailers such as Staples Inc., Office Depot Inc. and OfficeMax Inc., which sell to small businesses, said Brad Thomas, an analyst with KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc. in New York. Same-store comparative sales for this industry have stagnated at an average zero percent in the past two years, while other retailers experienced some rebound following recessionary declines, he said.

Missing Links

“One of the missing links in this recovery has been stronger small-business growth, which is hurting the sales” of these companies, said Thomas, who is relatively cautious about the sector and maintains “hold” ratings on Staples and Office Depot.

During the economic slump, so-called “necessity entrepreneurs” started businesses because they couldn’t find a job and needed to keep food on the table, said Litan. While their work may be “laudable,” these mainly unincorporated sole proprietors are less likely to be major employers than firms that hire other workers in their first year, he said.

Another tropical storm headed towards land seems an apt metaphor to match the state of the U.S. employment picture this Labor Day weekend.

P.S. It’s not “Obama’s fault” or “Bush’s fault.” Not all bad stuff that happens is some U.S. president’s fault. Anyone who thinks along these lines, please get yourself a life.

Tropical Storm Lee’s outer bands pelt US Gulf Coast as it trudges toward land
JANET MCCONNAUGHEY Associated Press
4:44 a.m. CDT, September 3, 2011

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Heavy rains from Tropical Storm Lee were falling in southern Louisiana and pelting the Gulf Coast on Saturday as the storm’s center trudged slowly toward land, where businesses were already beginning to suffer on what would normally be a bustling holiday weekend. The storm could bring up to 20 inches (50 centimeters) of rain to some areas.

Tropical storm warnings were in effect from Mississippi to Texas, and flash flood warnings extended along the Alabama coast into the Florida Panhandle. The storm’s slow forward movement means that its rain clouds should have more time to disgorge themselves on any cities in their path.

Lee’s biggest impact, so far, has been in the Gulf of Mexico oil fields. About half the Gulf’s normal daily oil production has been cut as rigs were evacuated, though oil prices were down sharply Friday on sour economic news.

Federal authorities said 169 of the 617 staffed production platforms have been evacuated, along with 16 of the 62 drilling rigs. That’s reduced daily production by about 666,000 barrels of oil and 1.7 billion cubic feet of gas.

The storm was expected to make landfall on the central Louisiana coast late Saturday and turn east toward New Orleans, where it would provide the biggest test of rebuilt levees since Hurricane Gustav struck on Labor Day 2008.
…

Spaniards are trying to get accustomed to their version of Tea Party austerity measures.

Spain Caps Its Debt — Rest of the Euro Zone Be Warned
By Lisa Abend / Madrid Friday, Sept. 02, 2011
…
At their Aug. 16 summit, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy encouraged every member of the 17-state euro zone to work a debt ceiling into its constitution. Within a week, Zapatero had become the first leader to take their words to heart. He negotiated a pact with the lead opposition Popular Party (PP) that would reform the Spanish constitution to require every level of government — national, regional, and municipal — to limit its deficit. A separate law will allow the national government to accrue only 0.4% debt.
…
No one doubts the symbolic impact that the amendment will have, and Zapatero has already received support for the gesture from the OECD and ratings companies like Moody’s. But many analysts suggest that its real impact on the economy will be limited, not least because it allows governments to supersede the debt limits in times of crisis or other unusual circumstances. “There are a lot of ‘buts’,” says Soledad Pellón, market strategist for the Spanish branch of IG Markets, an international trading company. “It’s a very flexible piece of legislation, so I think it’s logical to expect that it will only be applied in years when the economy is doing okay.”

The pact, coming just three months before elections that Zapatero’s Socialist Party (PSOE) is widely expected to lose, took many by surprise. For one thing, the prime minister did not even consult members of his own party before agreeing to the reform. Even more surprising was the decision to rush the amendment — the first major change to the Spanish constitution since its creation in 1978 — through parliament.

“He really didn’t have a choice,” explains strategist Pellón. “In the past few weeks the Central European Bank has been buying up Spanish debt, which is a form of semi-rescue. And rescue packages always come with obligations.” (See if there’s a strategy behind Spain’s early elections.)

Perhaps so, but today several sectors of Spanish society are wondering if it was necessary to meet those obligations quite so quickly. On the floor of the congress and in the streets of Madrid, many of the smaller political parties, unions and members of the broad protest movement known as “The Indignant” are vociferously objecting to restrictions on regional autonomy and to the cuts in social welfare spending that will likely result from a stabilized budget. And more than anything they are rejecting the rapid imposition of the amendment without a referendum.
…

Originally published Friday, September 2, 2011 at 10:07 PM
Job push goes nowhere in bickering Congress
Congress’ two parties have radically different ideas about how to create the jobs they want, and they endlessly replay old arguments.
By David A. Fahrenthold
The Washington Post

WASHINGTON — This is the sound of a national conversation, going nowhere.

Members of Congress have said the words “create jobs” 1,236 times this year. Almost once for every hour Congress was in session, according to C-SPAN data. President Obama has said those same words at least 116 times. Almost every other day.

What they haven’t done is agree on a way to create them.

Instead, Republicans argued for less spending. Democrats argued for stimulating the economy. Congress agreed on almost nothing.

And Friday, that was what they got: almost nothing. New statistics showed zero net jobs created in August, which left the national unemployment rate at 9.1 percent.
…

Job growth stalls, fuels recession fears
By Lucia Mutikani
WASHINGTON | Sat Sep 3, 2011 5:37am EDT

(Reuters) - Employment growth ground to a halt in August, reviving recession fears and piling pressure on both President Barack Obama and the Federal Reserve to provide more stimulus to aid the frail economy.

For the first time in nearly a year the economy failed to create new jobs on a net basis according to the Labor Department’s monthly nonfarm payrolls survey on Friday.

Economists had expected nonfarm employment to rise 75,000 last month but they cautioned against viewing the data as a surefire sign of recession.

A worsening debt crisis in Europe and an acrimonious political fight over the government budget and debt, which led Standard & Poor’s to strip the country of its AAA credit rating, ignited a massive stock market sell-off last month and sent business and consumer confidence tumbling.

“The economy is struggling against stiff headwinds, which appear to have intensified in recent months,” said Millan Mulraine, senior macro strategist at TD Securities in New York. “While it has clearly not fallen off the cliff, there is little to suggest it is anywhere close to regaining its momentum.”
…

Prospect of more battles over budget unnerves economists
By Patrice Hill
The Washington Times
Thursday, September 1, 2011
…
ASSOCIATED PRESS Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said last week that “The country would be well-served by a better process for making fiscal decisions.”

“The single-biggest risk facing both the United States and Europe is a policy mistake” that would take away stimulus that is helping to hold up growth, he said, noting that the budget impasse is threatening to prevent the extension of payroll tax cuts and other stimulus measures enacted at the end of last year.

Those measures are adding about 1 percentage point to economic growth this year — no small contribution when growth is running at less than 1 percent, he said.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke also warned last week that political machinations that led to the downgrade last month hurt the economy.

“The negotiations that took place over the summer disrupted financial markets and probably the economy as well,” Mr. Bernanke said in a speech in Jackson Hole, Wyo. “The country would be well-served by a better process for making fiscal decisions.”

Many economists view Mr. Bernanke’s warning as understated, given the evidence of economic damage that is piling up by the day.

“The drama around the lifting of the U.S. debt ceiling has weighed down on financial markets and eroded business and consumer confidence,” said Joachim Fels, an economist at Morgan Stanley. Confidence in government in particular has collapsed to record lows, according to surveys.

“A negative feedback loop between weak growth and soggy asset markets now appears to be in the making” at a time when the economy is “dangerously close to recession,” Mr. Fels said. “This should be aggravated by the prospects of fiscal tightening” as the stimulus ends later this year and budget cuts take hold.

The precipitous fall in consumer confidence in the past month was widely attributed to the unsettling budget struggle and is particularly foreboding for the economy, since consumer spending normally fuels about 70 percent of economic activity and was already weak for much of the year.

Thursday’s preliminary reports on retail sales during August suggested that consumers did not pull back as much on spending as feared despite the massive loss of confidence, which was focused on the political system rather than personal finances.

The University of Michigan, which has been tracking consumer sentiment for decades, noted an unprecedented “sense of despair and pessimism about the role of government” in its survey for August, while the Conference Board also attributed a dramatic drop in its confidence measure to political factors and the stock market rather than the usual worries about jobs.

Lots of excellent, albeit depressing, commentary offered herein; and it seems like many agree with my assertion about a month ago that partisan wrangling over the debt ceiling was likely to derail the fledgling economic recovery. This will play into Republicans’ election prospects, unless the President successfully makes the case that the Tea Party deliberately tipped over the apple cart in order to sabotage the economy going into an election year.

September 2, 2011, 11:38 AM ET

Real Time Economics
Economic insight and analysis from The Wall Street Journal.
Economists React: ‘Disturbing’ Way to Start Labor Day Weekend
…
–Wrangling in Congress and the eventual deficit deal underscored the inability of government to jump-start the labor market. Employers and consumers have lost confidence in the economy, with employers increasingly hesitant to hire and consumers fearful about the future. Rising costs have not helped nor has vanishing household wealth. –Sophia Koropeckyj, Moody’s Analytics

–It’s often said when it rains, it pours. That is an apt description of the August employment report and the likely path in the labor market later this year. Given slowing growth in the real economy there is little in the employment report to indicate a pickup in job creating heading into the final 16 weeks of 2011. –Joseph Brusuelas, Bloomberg

I realize my posts are myopically focused on the jobs report, which may seem slightly out of place on a blog about the housing market. However, I reiterate what pundits keep telling us, a point on which I happen to agree:

WITH NO JOBS, THERE WILL BE NO HOUSING REBOUND.

America’s Jobs Crisis
With zero jobs, recession risk just got worse
By Chris Isidore @CNNMoney
September 2, 2011: 2:37 PM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — As if Friday’s report that showed job creation at a dead stall wasn’t bad enough, economists say the worst could be yet to come.

That’s because high unemployment could be a warning sign — and the cause — of the country falling into a double dip recession.

Most economists weren’t ready to call a new recession yet. But many were raising the odds of one.

They’re worried because weakness in the labor market can lead businesses and households to pullback on spending. And that is the worst thing possible for an economy where overall growth has slowed to nearly zero.

“When employment drops, incomes fall. When income falls, sales fall. When sales fall, production falls. When production falls, employment falls,” said Lakshman Achuthan, managing director of Economic Cycle Research Institute.

It’s a tough cycle to break.
…

While the Republicrats will ensure that their bankster patrons escape any consequences or accountability for their massive fraud and criminality, foreign investors and law enforcement may not be so forgiving.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financial-crime/8738651/SFO-joins-US-inquiry-into-bank-practices.html

The Daily Telegraph understands the crime-fighting agency is actively investigating billions of pounds of complex mortgage-backed securities, including Goldman Sachs’s notorious “Timberwolf” transaction.

The $1bn package of mortgages sold by Goldman in 2007 has already led to a number of lawsuits and investigations in the US.

The action by the SFO comes as details of potential lawsuits against major banks on both sides of the Atlantic emerged.

In the US, Bank of America, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank are all being targeted by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) over the sale of mortgage-backed securities.

In the UK, Barclays, HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland are expected to be named in US legal papers.

It seems the government has decided to go after the ABC’s of U.S. mortgage banking firms. This is a most interesting new development in the aftermath of the Housing Bubble collapse.

Government goes after financial firms over mortgage losses
By Tami Luhby @CNNMoney September 2, 2011: 8:21 PM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — The federal agency overseeing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac filed lawsuits Friday against 17 financial institutions in an attempt to recover billions of dollars in losses from risky mortgage investments.

The lawsuits were filed against many of the nation’s largest Wall Street and financial firms, including Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase. (See full list at end of story.)
…
In the most recent action, the complaints were filed against the following institutions:

Ally Financial;
Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500);
Barclays Bank (BCS);
Citigroup (C, Fortune 500);
Countrywide Financial;
Credit Suisse Holdings (CS);
Deutsche Bank (DB);
First Horizon National (FHN);
General Electric (GE, Fortune 500);
Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500);
HSBC North America;
JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500);
Merrill Lynch/First Franklin Financial;
Morgan Stanley (MS, Fortune 500);
Nomura Holding America;
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS);
Societe Generale.
First Published: September 2, 2011: 5:20 PM ET

Wasn’t the GSE mission supposedly to provide for affordable housing?

Regulator Suing Lenders Caught Between Competing U.S. Missions
By Lorraine Woellert and Clea Benson -
Sep 2, 2011 9:00 PM PT

Edward J. DeMarco, head of the U.S. watchdog overseeing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, says his job is protecting taxpayers. His critics think he’s undermining the government’s efforts to shore up the economy.

DeMarco’s Federal Housing Finance Agency today filed lawsuits seeking to recover billions of dollars from Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and 14 other lenders that sold bonds backed by flawed residential mortgages.

Financial stocks already shaken by a weak jobs report fell sharply on advance reports of the court action, as investors weighed the potential costs to the banks. That renewed the debate over the role of a regulator that has sometimes clashed with other housing agencies and with Treasury Department officials over what steps Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should take to improve the housing market.

“You see the consumer groups coming out saying, ‘Yay, yay, yay, let’s screw the banks,’” said Paul Miller, an analyst at FBR Capital Markets in Arlington, Virginia, in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “But when you do this, you’re extracting capital and liquidity from the housing market, which is a major negative.”

DeMarco, 51, has frequently reminded lawmakers that every move the agency makes is driven by its mission to “preserve and conserve” the assets of the two government-sponsored enterprises, or GSEs, which have drawn more than $171 billion in taxpayer aid since being seized by regulators in September 2008.
…

“When I bought mortgage securities…I always knew they were subject to refinancing,”…

Disclaimer: Though I am interested in this debate, I don’t have a dog in the fight, as so far as I am aware, I own no MBS nor houses.

ECONOMY
SEPTEMBER 2, 2011

Housing Initiatives Promoted
By NICK TIMIRAOS And ALAN ZIBEL

A top official at the Federal Reserve called for more aggressive action to help the housing market by allowing more homeowners to refinance and by converting some foreclosures into rental housing.

Home sales have been disappointing this year, with tight credit and weak demand making it harder for markets to absorb a steady stream of foreclosed properties.

“Clearly the market is not functioning as it should,” said Federal Reserve Governor Elizabeth Duke in a speech Thursday in Washington.

Though mortgage rates are hovering near the lowest levels in decades and the Fed pledged last month to keep interest rates close to zero for another two years, many Americans haven’t been able to refinance their home loans because they don’t have enough equity or they can’t qualify under rigid standards.

Ms. Duke said that policy makers should consider enhancing an existing White House program designed to facilitate more refinancing of loans guaranteed by government-supported mortgage firms Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Allowing more homeowners to take advantage of low interest rates to reduce their monthly payments could both lower the risk of future defaults and boost the weak U.S. economic recovery.

The White House is working on similar proposals, but they need either the cooperation of Congress or the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which regulates Fannie and Freddie and has been more skeptical of loan-assistance programs that have big upfront costs for the two.

Some bondholders have been critical of the idea of spurring a new round of refinancing, arguing it would be unfair to them because they stand to lose billions if performing loans are refinanced at lower rates. Critics also say that such intervention could also create uncertainty that would raise rates for future homeowners.

Ms. Duke dismissed those concerns by pointing to her previous banking career experience. “When I bought mortgage securities…I always knew they were subject to refinancing,” she said.
…

The answers are the first line except for one (js) and that is the last line.

Questions and answers about the August jobs report

By Christopher S. Rugaber
AP Economics Writer / September 3, 2011

Q. What happened to employment in August?

A. It was a dismal month.

Q. Are we in a recession?

A. It feels that way to many people.

Q. So if this isn’t a recession, then what is it?

A. Some call it a “growth recession”:

Q. When was the last time the economy was this bad two years after a major recession ended?

A. Not since the Great Depression.

Q. What will it take for the economy to regain its health?

A. (js Blah Blah Blah) But the economy desperately needs more jobs.

Q. What can President Barack Obama or the Federal Reserve do to boost growth?

A. Not much,

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2011/09/03/questions_and_answers_about_the_august_jobs_report/

I’ve been catching up on my retail reading this morning:

Coldwater Creek (Women’s Apparel) had a 2nd qtr loss. IIRC, it wasn’t their first. Closing under preforming stores. I predict they are not long for this world or a much smaller chain with strategic store placement.
Chico’s and White House Black Market (same firm, IIRC) are next on the chopping block, imo.
All 3 retailers are way overpriced, imo.

Dollar Store segment is growing and doing well.

Oh, and Caruso cut a deal with Caesar’s on the strip for “Project Ling”. 3,000 construction jobs, and 1,500 perm jobs, albeit low paying. Do they need another mega attraction? (hint: tourists needed) LV is not my flavor.

Having lost sight of our objectives we need to redouble our efforts.

- Anon

BEWARE THIS HEADLINE.
“Feds May Confiscate Privately Held Gold and Silver Coins”

With the best of intentions, I have no doubt, Mr. Kurt Nimmo posted a piece Wednesday concerning the case that was lodged against Bernard von NotHaus charging him with manufacturing counterfeit money. The U.S. Attorney won the case some weeks ago and now stands ready to confiscate Mr. von NotHaus’s considerable stash of silver Liberty “Dollars”.

Nimmo concludes that if the federal government is going to take Mr. NotHaus’s silver coins it’s not unlikely the government will act at some point to take YOUR gold and silver coins.

A ruthless totalitarian government could, of course, barge into your house and take ALL your possessions - but on a scale of 1 to 10 the probability of that happening anytime soon in the U.S. is about 0.5 or less.

Here’s why your gold/silver coins will not be snatched by the government. 1/ Krugerrands, Eagles, etc., are NOT counterfeit. They are legal tender. Picture the U.S. Mint selling you silver and gold Eagles one day and coming into your house to take them back the next.

2/ References to the “confiscation” of gold in 1934 are misleading. The government did call in the gold but paid $20.67 for every ounce. It is entirely unlikely the Treasury Department would pay today’s price…more than $1,880.00… for every ounce of gold held by the people.

3/ The government has no more legal right to your lawfully acquired gold and silver coins that it does your wrist watch.

Conclusion: There is plenty of mischief being inflicted upon us by various levels of government, but confiscating Krugerrands and Eagles is not one.

Realtors Are Liars®

Black unemployment: Highest in 27 years

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — The August jobs report was dismal for plenty of reasons, but perhaps most striking was the picture it painted of racial inequality in the job market.

Black unemployment surged to 16.7% in August, its highest level since 1984, while the unemployment rate for whites fell slightly to 8%, the Labor Department reported.

“This month’s numbers continue to bear out that longstanding pattern that minorities have a much more challenging time getting jobs,” said Bill Rodgers, chief economist with the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University.

Black unemployment has been roughly double that of whites since the government started tracking the figures in 1972.

Economists blame a variety of factors. The black workforce is younger than the white workforce, lower numbers of blacks get a college degree and many live in areas of the country that were harder hit by the recession — all things that could lead to a higher unemployment rate.

But even excluding those factors, blacks still are hit with higher joblessness.

“Even when you compare black and white workers, same age range, same education, you still see pretty significant gaps in unemployment rates,” said Algernon Austin, director of the Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy program at the Economic Policy Institute. “So I do think the fact of racial discrimination in the labor market continues to play a role.”

About 155,000 blacks got jobs in August, but the group’s unemployment rate still went up because those jobs weren’t enough to make up for all the people who started looking for work during the month.

However, the gain for whites of 211,000 jobs was enough to bring their unemployment rate down.

Base search on Realtor.com starting with 33458 shows 361 single family 3/2 Listings Found. Up until the last couple of months there have been at least 430 listings and usually more. For 33458 RealtyTrac shows 392 pre-foreclosure 55 auction and 201 bank owned which I know is low because my last rental never showed on RT and they didn`t pay the mortgage for at least 2 1/2 years. This massive winner picking life altering BS game that is being played is not making me feel too good about the $1,700 check I am writing for rent that brings my total rent payments since Oct. 2005 to about $120,000.00 to LLs who have for the most part not paid their mortgage and been bailed out by MY government.

There was an unexpected development in the nice, early 20th century neighborhood in Central Texas that is one of the two I watch. It has an unusual mix of 1920s cottages and mansions in a variety of styles. The people with 4000 sq. ft. exquisitely remodeled homes are still trying to get $100 per square foot. Meanwhile, there’s a 1950s home in foreclosure (2700 sq. ft, $150k right now) that has killed the market for similar homes. There are now a number of them for between $150k and $170k, but I still haven’t seen one I like in a location I like. That’s the background.

The news is that while a bunch of listings have gone off the market for the fall, a new one has just appeared. It’s early 1950s 3/2 for $135k, Zillow says it’s over 2400 sq. ft. and there are beautiful live oak trees on a large lot. It’s on a less busy street, more interior location than the houses going for $150k-170k. That’s the good news. The bad news is that it backs to a large apartment complex, they included no interior photos, and based on the euphemistic language in the ad (something about adding your personal touches), I take it that it has been virtually untouched since the Eisenhower administration. The people who want $100 per square foot (for their admittedly lovely homes) have got to be dying inside right now, because it’s getting to the point in that neighborhood that you could buy three so-so houses there (live in one, rent out the two others) for the same price as one 4000 sq. footer.

It will be interesting to see when the $100 a square foot people start cracking. Maybe this spring? We have to move out of our rental in spring 2012, so it’s a matter of some interest to me.

Under pure capitalism prices would be base on supply and demand and demand would be based on wages . From about 1995 onward wages started
falling more and more verses inflation . From about 2000 onward we got major price increases in a number of industries but debt was used to pay for it from the wealth effect of fake real estate prices .

So ,I’m saying that industry got the benefit of the price inflation that was based on debt and faulty lending and the wealth effect from inflated
real estate ,rather than wages rising .

So, how are people to pay for all this debt obligation they obtained or maintain any standard of living if the prices stay high in all areas ?
Industry feels they are entitled to their profit margins yet there shouldn’t be any assurance of a static profit margin or profit margins that reflect good times rather than a recession .

It seems like everything is done to reflect a good stock market price for all these Companies . Wall Street should be a reflection of the economy ,not the reason for pricing or wage decrease or outsourcing or
out-manufacturing .

The current situation is a low wage monopoly that was brought on by
Globalism .

I’m just a firm believer in closed economic systems .otherwise you get the situation like we have now in which Companies are forced into taking their jobs and manufacturing to other Countries .

Small business can’t compete with the Big Multi-National price fixing monopolies either anymore .

The average worker in American can’t afford 1500 a month health insurance and 30 k small cars and 3 thousand a month for a standard house and all the other costs that keep rising ,along with wage decrease .
Industry doesn’t want to decrease the prices ,they just want to decrease wages and benefits and do all the outsourcing and out-manufacturing
they can .

My cable company has increased the price 100percent in the past 5 years in spite of the USA being in a recession and people being able to afford less .

Costs are decoupled from wages and that gained a lot of steam with
the fake housing boom and the faulty live by debt BS . Keeping up with inflation was bad enough already before the debt bomb /housing mania
came upon us .

I don’t see how it’s going to work given the situation and all the decoupling from wages that is going on .

So Ariz, Slim ,if you have 1/2 the customers you had you simply charge the remaining customers 100% more .

Is this going to be the wave of the future in pricing ? It’s actually price fixing . What ever happened to just making a small profit on a volume business .

There was only a 10 dollar difference between the different cable companies for the same service I want on the choices I had . My neighbor got a 20% discount from what I had to pay because she is a new customer ,but they are going to raise the price to my price in a year .

Buyers and sellers are having a hard time seeing eye-to-eye on San Diego home values:

San Diego Real Estate Overview

Market View for San Diego
Avg. Listing Price $551,978
Wk ending Aug 24 +$567 +0.1% w-o-w

Median Sales Price $313,423
May ‘11 - Jul ‘11 -$11,577 -3.6% y-o-y

6,167 Homes For Sale
76 Open Homes
11,048 Recently Sold
5,174 Foreclosures

Real estate prices should not of risen from 2000 to 2007 because wages didn’t rise during that time period . You might give some leeway because interest rates were lower , but that would not account for the rise that
took place .

Nobody was talking about how what happened was even possible . Being
retired I assumed that wages went up during that time period .

That being said . the Power Brokers want to pick and choose who the winners and losers are .

OMFG. My wife ran the dryer with a bunch of crayons in it.

It is so easy to criticize a spouse who makes a small mistake, medium mistake, or large mistake.

But it does not solve the problems. Best to give the wife a hug, tell her is not a big problem, and working together you could get it fixed without the world coming to an end.

My wife let the water overflow from the bathroom above my radio room, and I just went upstairs , turned off the water , and she helped me clean up the water. So the downstair dropped ceiling has water stains and there might be something wrong that will come up later.

Heck, I should shout at the wife for a mistake?

“The average worker in American can’t afford 1500 a month health insurance and 30 k small cars and 3 thousand a month for a standard house and all the other costs that keep rising ,along with wage decrease .
Industry doesn’t want to decrease the prices ,they just want to decrease wages and benefits and do all the outsourcing and out-manufacturing they can . ”

One of the problems with this statement is that the industry must lower their production costs to offer a lower sale price. And that is difficult to do in many industrys as labor costs are such a large part of production costs.

If you are paying workers $30-50 an hour for line production work, your sale prices reflect that cost. You can not expect an company to lose money by retaining high labor cost line workers.

It really is, in my opinion, the importation of goods from low labor companies forcing the local companies to the wall on profit losses.

I remember the first time I saw a Volkswagen in 1954 and how impressed I was with the quality of the import car, and looking at equivilent American Cars the difference was significant.

I , for one, blame California’s Prop 13 for the property costs increasing.

My thoughts are as followed.

Prop 13 limited the taxs to 1.25( approximately) of the valuation of the property.
this lower the taxes of a $30,000 home to $375 per year or $30 a month from the previous $750 a year or $60 a month.

This made more buyers able to qualify for the $30,000 home, increasing the demand. Realtor immedialely saw that would allow them to sell the home for more than $30,000.

Atypical buyer for a $30,000 home would, before Prop 13 have an income of $10,000 and be able to pay $3.300 a year for pit+maintence.
Dropping the taxes the buyer would be able to pay about $31,500 for the same home. More, or less, folks

Now the brokers drove the home prices up as demand increased, and what followed was escalation as sellers sold their old houses bought new one, bigger better, nicer.

But. of course, this could be totally wrong.