Bits Bucket for September 28, 2011
Post off-topic ideas, links, and Craigslist finds here.
The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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Germany slams ’stupid’ US plans to boost EU rescue fund
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - UK Telegraph
Germany and America were on a collision course on Tuesday night over the handling of Europe’s debt crisis after Berlin savaged plans to boost the EU rescue fund as a “stupid idea” and told the White House to sort out its own mess before giving gratuitous advice to others.
German finance minister Wolfgang Schauble said it would be a folly to boost the EU’s bail-out machinery (EFSF) beyond its €440bn lending limit by deploying leverage to up to €2 trillion, perhaps by raising funds from the European Central Bank.
“I don’t understand how anyone in the European Commission can have such a stupid idea. The result would be to endanger the AAA sovereign debt ratings of other member states. It makes no sense,” he said.
Mr Schauble told Washington to mind its own businesss after President Barack Obama rebuked EU leaders for failing to recapitalise banks and allowing the debt crisis to escalate to the point where it is “scaring the world”.
“It’s always much easier to give advice to others than to decide for yourself. I am well prepared to give advice to the US government,” he said.
The comments risk irritating the White House. US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has been a key driver of plans to give the EFSF enough firepower to shore up Italy and Spain, fearing a drift into “cascading default, bank runs and catastrophic risk” without dramatic action.
It appears that the krauts understand that the PIIGS can’t be bailed out.
“The result would be to endanger the AAA sovereign debt ratings of other member states.”
I guess they must have also noticed the U.S. lost its AAA credit rating?
S&P got decapitated for that audacity.
But the US has every reason to want them to be. A break up of the Euro would make the dollar even stronger and cause a further decline in US exports. Cheaper gas is nice, but not all that exciting if you don’t have a job to go to.
…told the White House to sort out its own mess before giving gratuitous advice to others.
If you’re not of German descent, you’ll probably interpret those words as harsh. Well, Slim’s here to tell you that it’s just your German momma telling you to clean your room before you start criticizing what she’s cooking for breakfast.
And, if you are of German descent, you know that there’s clean. And there’s *German* clean. So, make sure that your room passes the white glove test. Nothing else will do.
to mind your own business = vor der eigenen tuere kehren (which literally means to sweep the dirt in front of your own door)
http://mobil.zeit.de/wirtschaft/2011-09/obama-kritik-eurostaaten
I wonder how many european leaders were laughing at turbo tax timmy when he visited.
Sweep the dirt in front of your door? When my parents lived in Germany, they used the soapy water left over from the breakfast dishes to wash the area in front of the door - with a hand held scrub brush. Every day. It was a bit of a contest as to which house had that large semicircular wet area first since you couldn’t do it until all your inside house cleaning was finished.
I blame the German hausfraus for my allergies. If mom’s cleaning standards had been established in a less strict country, maybe I would have encountered a little more dirt as a baby and not had such horrible over reactions to a little dust and mildew.
What a surprise. The rest of the world doesn’t really the idea of Pax Americana and is now in a positition to make it stick.
They’d do well to remember that the dollar is backed by plutonium.
I wonder if plutonium is following other heavy metals down?
Ahhhhh I get it they could always light one up over someone and show who is boss. Of course China and Russia have the capability of doing the same here if they chose to live with our wrath…
Germany is to the PIIGS what China is to the US. A parasite, running a state sponsored yearly budget surplus. They boost exports by supplying crackheads with the loans to buy their crack. When the trade imbalances hit the fan, the dealers will suffer the most. The crackheads just walk away as their credit rating sucked going into the game. Germany and France are toast.
“Germany is to the PIIGS what China is to the US. A parasite, running a state sponsored yearly budget surplus.”
Not really.
The Germans innovate and manufacture on their own. They make things that nobody else comes close to making as well as Germans, such as precision machinery and instrumentation. I don’t think that any of our jobs or anybody else’s are being outsourced to Germany. They don’t ignore all environmental regulations. They don’t treat their population as slave labor. Their budget surplus has nothing to do with state sponsorship and everything to do with the education and discipline of the people.
On the other hand, their financial sector seems to have the same bad habits and ethics as everyone else’s.
Have to agree. Germans continue to be an enterprising bunch. Not sure they have the same immigrant issues we are struggling with here though either…
The Germans are clearly an enterprising bunch, but they also recognize that without the PIIGS, their currency would be far stronger, and their exports would suffer in a big way.
The PIIGS drive down the value of the Euro, and essentially become financial serfs of the Germans, allowing the export powerhouse that is Germany to continue without Euro appreciation.
While prices and nominal wages rose in weaker European countries after the introduction of the euro, they barely increased in Germany. This was mainly due to the Schröder administration’s Agenda 2010, which created a huge low-wage sector and significantly depressed wages, and was introduced with the support of the unions.
Through the euro, Germany’s currency was artificially kept low. Had European countries maintained their national currencies, then the deutschmark would have risen sharply against inflationary currencies such as the Greek drachma, the Italian lira and the French franc. It probably would have also risen against the US dollar and the Japanese yen. With the introduction of the euro, however, currency relations remained stable.
Reading “House of Cards” about the “financial crisis”. It seems TTT is at the center of every market manipulating manouver concocted by the FED to “save” the system. The guy is a menace.
What would total economic collapse mean to you?
No job = for sure
No Social Security check = for sure
No Medicare = for sure
No money in the bank = for sure
No food = for sure
Ruthless gangs stealing what little you have left = for sure
I am liking letting this run its own course more and more!
Financially-strapped cities cut jobs, services
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Belt-tightening continued in cities across the United States in 2011, as fiscal crunches forced local governments to cut back.
City revenues are projected to decline 2.3% by the end of 2011, according to a new report from the National League of Cities released Tuesday, marking the fifth straight year of declines.
One of the main factors contributing to the decline in revenue is a drop in property tax collections, which are projected to fall by 3.7% in 2011, the second straight year of declines. Last year’s drop of 2.0% was the first year-over-year decline in city property tax revenues in 15 years.
To make up for the shortfalls, cities reported numerous job cuts, canceled infrastructure projects, cuts in services like libraries and parks and recreation programs, and modified health care benefits for employees.
Hiring freezes were the most common personnel-related cuts made in 2011. Half of cities reported salary reductions or freezes and nearly one in three cities reported laying off employees or reducing health care benefits. Other actions included early retirements and furloughs.
The staffing cutbacks are resulting in a significant reduction in the size of local government workforces. The August jobs report from the Labor Department revealed that local government employment in the U.S. had declined by 550,000 jobs from peak levels in 2008.
U.S. cities ended 2010 with the largest year-over-year reductions in general fund revenues and expenditures in the 26 year history of the survey, the NLC reports.
But, but, but I thought they were going to raise taxes to save the “union goons”?
Corporate taxes were lowered to save the corporate goons instead.
Corporate taxes were lowered to save the corporate goons instead.
America has the highest corporate tax rates in the industrialized world. And no, they have not been lowered.
And yes – many multinationals avoid this tax altogether by keeping all profits (legally) out of America.
The rate in India is 33.2175% and that is the country that a lot of US companies are outsourcing to…
America has the highest corporate tax rates in the industrialized world. And no, they have not been lowered.
America has the most corporate tax loopholes resulting in the lowest net corporate tax rate in on the planet. FACT
And yes – many multinationals avoid this tax altogether by keeping all profits (legally) out of America.
Pay me now pay me later but they’ll pay taxes on them. There will be no Treasury robbing tax holiday for the corporate crooks.
Now…. You’ve avoided a simple question for many months. Well ask it again.
Why would a wage earner like you champion for treasury robbing tax holidays for corporations knowing you’ll have to pay for it?
Answer the question.
America has the most corporate tax loopholes resulting in the lowest net corporate tax rate in on the planet. FACT
America’s poor, poor Corpooration$…$itting on $2 Trillion$ U$ Dollar$, Ca$H.
The MegaInc.$,…they’re $uffering $o! Hurry! reduce/eliminate their taxe$, hurry,… Cinder$ & Ashe$…Agonie$ & Pain$, help ‘em.
“Of the roughly $90 billion of profit$ repatriated in 2004, Pfizer was by far the biggest beneficiary, $aving $11 billion in taxes, Johnston recalls. “They started destroying jobs the day they brought it back” and have cut 40,000 U.S. jobs in the ensuing years.
You’re hero’$ $lipperybanana, you’re hero’$…keep pleadin’ fer ‘em, they love yer effort$!
“…if you tax them less, they can hire more people!”
I any given year, almost half of all large corporations in this country pay NO federal income tax.
“…if you tax them less, they can hire more people!”
In Chindia!
We’re waiting.
Why are you so afraid of answering the question Banana?
I’m looking for an answer to this one:
“The rate in India is 33.2175% and that is the country that a lot of US companies are outsourcing to…”
That was a REAL slam. Taxes in India are almost as much as evil US repratriation. +1 skroodle.
Imagine all the lucrative government jobs where we don’t need to actually produce or do anything and cannot be fired. Is there still time to move to Greece?
Trouble$, trouble$, everywhere trouble$…
Wall Street Pinches Pennies in Effort to Avoid Bonus Cuts
By Daniel Gross | Contrary Indicator
“At Goldman Sachs, employees now have to use debit cards to pay for sandwiches and salads. Cafeterias are going cashless. As Susanne Craig and Kevin Roose report in the New York Times, it’s all part of an effort to save on the cost of having armored cars come and haul the cash away. (Insert your own Goldman heist joke here).
Across the board cuts? Check. Bank of America said two weeks ago it will lay off 30,000 employees.
Going after the little people first? Check. Credit Suisse has laid off administrative assistants in its investment banking unit. Niggling cuts designed by bean counters? Check. Roose and Andrews report that Goldman is cutting the size of the drink cups in the cafeteria from 12 ounces to 10 ounces, that Morgan Stanley is now cutting back on watering the plants, and that Barclays is telling people not to use cell phones for non-business use.
Such small-bore efforts are even more ridiculous at Wall Street firms than they are at, say, a paper company like Dunder Mifflin. Why? Because the money saved by such efforts pales in comparison to the compensation of top executives. However much Goldman is saving by cutting the size of paper cups, it is almost certainly dwarfed by the $13.2 million CEO Lloyd Blankfein earned last year. If there are pennies lying around the coffee-break room, there are $500 bills lying around the C-Suite.
heheeeheeeheehaahaaahaaheeehaahaaa… (Hwy50™)
We are talking of cuts at Wall Street. How about with the Government contracting. I spoke to a friend who does some Jave stuff in IT and is a Govt. contractor. He is being paid $160 per hour. He said that he is happy that H-1 visas are declining as they used to work for $30 for the same thing. Such a big difference in H-1 and his hourly salary.
Anyway, I was shocked to hear it. I first thought he said 160K per year which I thought was too high but then he said 160 per hour and I had to go for a drink and smoke. I felt so stupid working in a stable job that pays 90K in the same field. I told him I get benefits, and he said they are not more than 25% of your salary.
I feel that this Govt. spending has to stop somewhere. Why is there no auditing of these kind of hourly rates when they can easily hire people @80-90K. He also said he never had issues getting projects. There is massive need on projects and he has been making close to 350K for the past 10 years. He lives in the MoCo area of DC suburbs.
“I felt so stupid working in a stable job that pays 90K in the same field. I told him I get benefits, and he said they are not more than 25% of your salary.”
What is stopping you from quitting your stable job and getting into the far more lucrative area of government contract work?
I might do that. Thanks for the suggestion.
Government work is blindingly lucrative. I’ve been in a room at a client’s behalf where there are 10 consultants there, all making 150-300/hr, and the client doesn’t even show up. So everyone sits around, goes out to lunch, and then send in our bills for the day at a combined 10K+ for the day’s work.
You’ve never seen waste until you’ve seen the government do it; they’ve got it down to an art form.
The very public attempt to vilify teachers and our HUGE salaries/pensions is a pretty good smoke screen for the folks in government who are really raking it in.
My company outsources a bunch of jobs to Verizon at $150/hr.
Looks like the Federal Government just cuts out the middle man. :–)
The previous administration was very aggressive in getting government agencies to outsource to the private sector to save money. It has been recently proven that in many circumstances, the salaries of the outsourced people is lower than that of a government worker, but the price the government actually pays is a lot more (because the contractors that hire the actual workers get a gigantic portion of the contract price as overhead and profit). Sounds like your friend is one of the ones where the the take home is also more. Believe me, unless he is a completely independent operator, the agency that got him on that contract is likely getting an additional huge amount for every hour he works (it could be equal to his take home rate).
This could be solved by having government hire a pool of people to do internal IT work and let them be an internal contractor pool. Government budgeting rules would have to be changed to allow this, and a few Congress critters would have to give up some personal power, but it could be done.
But, like I said, the last adminstration thought that the private sector magically turned $300 an hour contracts into higher efficiency than paying someone a GS-12 salary, so you get what your elected officials decide to give you.
Exactly, the previous administration tried to reduce Govt. and increase contractors who lobbied for Govt. cheese. In many places the contractors are running the show. Just a numbers game and much more wastage. More in the pockets of Lobbyists and big Govt. contractors.
$160/hr is the going rate for that kind of work from a smaller IT shop. The difference is that to get that, you have to be a direct contractor. To be a direct contractor, you almost always have to either have a very strong connection or be a minority or otherwise disadvantaged person to win the contract. A larger company would be charging over $200/hr for the same work. The reason the average contractor gets $50-70/hr for this kind of work is that it goes through two or three middlemen who each take their $20-30/hr.
I’m glad the H1-B program is winding down too. Not only for rates, but also because it’s demoralizing training Indian workers who will work for 1/3 of the wage. Don’t think the end-client is paying much less, typically a 1/3 discount to an American worker, and the middleman takes the cut.
H1-B is only temporarily winding down as there are just not enough jobs for them right now.
Not enough hiring period. They big companies that have typically hired H1-Bs are slimming down and laying off.
H1-Bs are in a bad spot when their contract ends. They have 30 days to find another contract or leave the country. That alone would make a person more willing to work for less money.
There is a workaround for this. The H1-B goes to work for an employer. The law says that the H1-B has to make equivalent American wages, but that’s a joke.
US Employee: 75k year
H1-B Employer: 100k year contract, Indian worker gets 40k the firm takes 60k.
By the law, the H1-B is getting paid the same. But the firm is paid the same, and if the contract is cancelled, it’s in the firm’s interest to keep the H1-B on the payroll and farm him/her out to another contract position.
Very few H1-B holders have to leave the country.
The H1-B program (like many govt programs) had good intentions - hire foreign labor to fill staffing shortages. Now it’s used to drive down the wages for American workers. Many tech people gave up and went to other industries, seeing the writing on the wall. I would never advise a college student to get into programming.
I feel that this Govt. spending has to stop somewhere.
“heheeheeeheee….”
No worrie$, the “TrueReducetheDeficitNow,Today!’$™” + the “TrueAngry’$™” are just days away from finishing their promi$e of “Audit-the-Fed-Inc.!” their next victim, (on accounts of their “TruePurity™” foundation$ goal$) will undoubtedly be:
“Audit-the-Pentagon!”
Martin, you’re looking at the real world effect of privatizing government that was supposed to SAVE us money because, well, private business was more “efficient.”
Now add that the fact that federal contractors outnumber regular employees and what is really happneing is not government spending, but private business overcharging, ergo, it is privtae business that is costing us.
At Goldman Sachs, employees now have to use debit cards to pay for sandwiches and salads. Cafeterias are going cashless.
If I worked at GS, I’d be buffing up my brown-baggin’ cooking skills. And, perhaps, I’d be starting a brown bag catering biz on the side. To keep my brown bag-impaired coworkers fed, of course.
Since GS almost certainly provides a huge subsidy to the cafeteria food, your business would have a very hard time making any money. They want people to stay in the building so they spend more time at their desks. They also don’t want to risk two employees disclosing confidential information while chatting over lunch outside the building.
My old law firm provided lunch for free to try to keep our billable hours up until the IRS said it didn’t qualify as for the convinience of the employer so they would have to keep track of the value of what we ate and include it in our salary.
I know a young man who’s had internships at Google and Microsoft. Google has quite the array of on-site services, and it’s pretty obvious that they’re offered to keep people at work.
OTOH, you have to fend for yourself at Microsoft. As in, figure out where the best local restaurants are. Or find your own darn dry cleaner. Because those things won’t be on campus.
Guess which company he preferred? If you guessed Microsoft, you’re right.
I have done work at both Google & Microsoft.
The Google experience is everything MS isn’t. MS runs some of the most half-assed operations I’ve seen in large high tech.
Mirrors their product line exactly imo.
Subway did a very smart thing when they opened for breakfast, but offered “full menu.” GS employees can buy a $5 foot-long at 7 am (cash) and stick it in the fridge for lunch.
550,000 less public union goons (up to)
550,000 less collected weekly public union goon dues (that go 99% to the democrat party)
550,000 more people who actually have to work in the private sector and pay ever increasing taxes to support their past union goon brothers (and who may NOW actually vote for smaller government)
The ironic things - if the public unions would agree to public union pension, benefit and salary reform - we would not have to lay off any of them.
But the senior public union goons always throw the junior public union goons under the bus.
Until they kill their host. Then they take their chances in bankruptcy court (and lose big time).
Seriously, dropping the G-word 5 times in a single post?
passes 2banana a thesaurus
Moreover, as McSame or the Chine$e Gov’t might say: “Gooks can’t be goons.”
See the above comments about $160 per hour contractors who replace the union folks.
Unless that $160 an hour contractor is being hired directly, the government is probably paying $300 an hour to his “shop.” Contractors are a boondoggle.
+25!!
Math is hard, isn’t it 2banana?
Outstanding detailed interview with greek economics professor at Athens University on Dutch tv news show.
Conclusion: Europe about to implode.
Interview in english, program is 40 minutes, interview starts at minute 19.
Watch here: http://nieuwsuur.nl/uitzending/2011-09-27
Are Greek economists and economic academics any more believable than the ones we have here?
Answer is NO….
Thanks for the link. That professor had to take a 42% cut in pay. In addition to that, increased property taxes. And if the property tax isn’t paid, electricity will be disconnected within a few weeks.
Even if people wanted to comply with these austerity measures, how could they?
The goal is to catch the people that do not pay any taxes at all.
Greek doctors and dentists who evaded tax are named and shamed
Greece has published details of scores of doctors, dentists and surgeons who, it says, evaded tax as it attempts to shame the nation into replenishing the State’s depleted coffers.
The Finance Ministry revealed the names of 57 of the worst offenders, including a self-employed dentist who reportedly declared a paltry income of €300 (£250) for the year. It is common practice for medical professionals across Greece, especially the more established, to accept money for treatment even when working for the State. This is often paid in the form of what Greeks refer to as fakelakia; envelopes stuffed with cash that are not declared as income by the recipients.
State of California published a list of celebrity tax cheats a few years back — 2007, IIRC. O.J. Simpson was on it, and look what happened to HIM….
I’m not holding my breath.
It’s quite a relief to know the Greek crisis is finally resolved now.
Oh wait…
UPDATE 2-Greece faces its inspectors, Merkel hints at bailout change
Wed Sep 28, 2011 5:23am EDT
* Troika visit imminent
* Merkel suggests new bailout deal may change
* Protests and strikes grip Greece (Adds report on Greek swap plan participation reaches 90 percent)
By Michael Winfrey and Ingrid Melander
ATHENS, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Greece’s lenders sent a team to Athens on Wednesday to inspect a government austerity plan they want implemented in exchange for aid, while Germany suggested a new bailout may be renegotiated as debate raged over the size of losses bondholders should face.
Facing a wave of strikes and protests, Greece’s Socialist government is accelerating its debt strategy to meet the terms of an International Monetary Fund and European Union rescue deal so it can receive a new loan next month and avoid bankruptcy.
The “troika” team of inspectors, which had threatened to cut off aid if Athens did not move faster, is expected to begin talks on Thursday on a plan demanded by lenders to deepen budget cuts and raise taxes, which has set off protests not seen since June when riot police fought running battles with activists.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel suggested that parts of a planned new 109-billion-euro ($148.6 billion) rescue for the debt-laden country could be reopened, depending on the outcome of the troika’s audit.
“We have to wait and see what the troika … finds and what it will tell us (whether) we will have to renegotiate or not,” she told Greek state television NET, without elaborating.
Several hundred activists affiliated with the Greek Communists converged on the finance ministry on Wednesday waving a banner saying “We won’t pay!”. They planned to burn bills for a new one-off income tax introduced this summer while Athens and other parts of the country were hit by transport strikes.
…
World stock markets stall as investors await concrete European moves to contain debt crisis
(no/Associated Press) - Man points at the electronic stock board of a securities firm in Tokyo, Japan, Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2011. Asian stocks rebounded Tuesday as pledges by European officials to resolve the region’s debt problems once and for all helped soothe market jitters. The benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average rose 235.82 points, to end Today’s session at 8609.95.
By Associated Press, Published: September 27 | Updated: Wednesday, September 28, 1:52 AM
BANGKOK — World stocks stalled Wednesday amid waning hopes that European leaders would quickly agree on a plan to contain a debt crisis that threatens to derail global economic growth.
Benchmark oil hovered above $83 per barrel while the dollar gained against the euro but fell against the yen.
In early European trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 index fell 0.6 percent to 5,262.11. Germany’s DAX dropped 1 percent to 5,572.36 and France’s CAC-40 was 0.8 percent lower at 3,000.72.
Wall Street also braced for a lower opening, with Dow Jones industrial futures down less than 0.1 percent at 11,110 and S&P 500 futures slipping 0.2 percent to 1,167.60.
Shares in Asia lost steam after spending the morning in positive territory.
…
“Asian stocks rebounded Tuesday as pledges by European officials to resolve the region’s debt problems once and for all helped soothe market jitters.”
It never ceases to amaze me just how short sighted the world’s stock markets are. Pretty much everyone on this board knows that Greece will eventually default on its debt, why don’t “investors” understand this?
It never ceases to amaze me just how short sighted the world’s stock markets are. Pretty much everyone on this board knows that Greece will eventually default on its debt, why don’t “investors” understand this?
It is NOT if/when Greece implodes.
It IS who will be holding the bag when it does.
If it becomes the Euro taxpayers (like TARP) then stocks will rally.
Good point. The banksters always get bailed out.
My question is then: Who will bail them out when this escalates to Spain and Italy? How many trillion will that require?
And who are the winner/losers when the credit default swaps come home to roost?
Pretty much everyone on this board knows that Greece will eventually default on its debt, why don’t “investors” understand this?
I bet they do. But there are at least 20 more nickels just laying there for the taking and the steamroller is hardly moving.
To quote a line from Blazing Saddles…
“…and coming and going and going and coming…”
European split dims hopes for Greek rescue
Tim Kiladze AND Brian Milner
From Wednesday’s Globe and Mail
Published Tuesday, Sep. 27, 2011 6:25AM EDT
Last updated Wednesday, Sep. 28, 2011 5:35AM EDT
A rift between European leaders threatens to derail a second Greek bailout and crush any appearance of unity on the eve of a crucial German vote.
At issue is another €109-billion ($148-billion) rescue for Greece, the poster child of Europe’s debt crisis. In July, private bond holders of Greek debt and European governments agreed on a plan to offer Greece more money, provided the debt holders took a haircut on their positions. Just as Germany prepares to vote on Thursday to ratify this deal, a report said at least seven countries in the 17-member euro zone could oppose the agreement.
…
Lord Keynes: “I’m not dead yet.”
European debt crisis: Cracks emerge in Greek rescue plan - Live
• Europe “faces the biggest challenge in its history”
• Divisions in the eurozone over the terms of Greece’s second bailout package hit bank shares
• EC backs Robin Hood tax
• See today’s upcoming events in the agenda
Posted by Graeme Wearden
Wednesday 28 September 2011 05.45 EDT
10.34am: The financial crisis is now escalating to a point that banks should be allowed to run down their capital reserves to keep the UK economy running.
That’s the view of the Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee. Minutes of the FPC’s last meeting, released this morning, show that it advised banks that they should consider not strengthening their balance sheets, and instead stimulate lending to ward off a second credit crunch.
…
Bloomberg
A Road Map to a Prepackaged, Orderly Greek Default: View
September 27, 2011, 8:22 PM EDT
By the Editors
Sept. 28 (Bloomberg) — European leaders swear a Greek default isn’t in the cards. Their parliaments debate whether to bolster an inadequate rescue facility. The International Monetary Fund sends delegates to Athens to make sure it deserves its next tiny tranche of bailout aid. German Chancellor Angela Merkel regularly declares fealty to the euro.
They’re all in denial. Almost no one believes Greece is solvent, not with an economy — and tax receipts — shrinking and debt ballooning to 180 percent of gross domestic product, a burden that no amount of belt-tightening will make bearable. The question now is whether Europe can arrange a controlled and orderly default, or will allow a Greek bankruptcy that is chaotic and destructive to the global economy.
…
I don’t see what difference it makes if they rescue Greece or not. Right after they borrow their last dollar to save Greece, Italy and Spain will need rescuing. They’re keeping this plane in the air by flapping their wings now. It won’t be long.
Agreed, that they continue with this charade is disturbing at best.
It’s the new domino theory.
The market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent
“Agreed, that they continue with this charade is disturbing at best.”
I’ll bet that’s exactly what the rest of the world is saying about us.
http://i690.photobucket.com/albums/vv262/onionsbabyonions/trollscience/1286069950291.jpg
Love it, Neuro.
I REALLY need to turn in those euros I have.
I had some Euros left in an account at Everbank that I recently sold at $1.42 or so. Very glad to have them gone.
On the bright side, travel to Europe in 2012 could be a relative bargain.
Assuming their are enough people still working for a visit to be plausible.
there
Bull’s eye, Bloomberg!
Bloomberg
Fed Should Pair Its New Openness With Governance Reform: View
September 27, 2011, 8:22 PM EDT
By the Editors
Sept. 28 (Bloomberg) — In a short time, the U.S. Federal Reserve, once remote and unassailable, has become one of the nation’s most politicized federal agencies.
Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry has denounced Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke. Some Democrats want to reduce the influence of Fed hawks who argue for tougher action against inflation. Last year, 30 senators voted against confirming Bernanke for a second term — the most “no” votes in history. And during the debate over the Dodd-Frank legislation, the Fed had to fight to retain its authority over state-chartered banks and fend off attempts to subject policy decisions to regular audits.
To safeguard its independence and protect its credibility, the Fed is becoming far more open, as shown by Caroline Salas Gage’s story in November’s issue of Bloomberg Markets. It now discloses its monetary-policy deliberations more swiftly. Top officials, including New York Fed President William C. Dudley, travel more, share perspectives in public speeches and hear out attendees’ concerns. Bernanke even holds news conferences.
So far, so good. But the Fed can do more. To this end, the central bank should re-examine its longtime governance structure with an eye to putting more distance between itself and the banks it oversees.
…
Not going to happen. You want to why?
Because it’s GOOD to be the Banksta!
Bloomberg
Five Prescriptions to Heal Economy’s Ills: Laurence Kotlikoff
September 27, 2011, 8:22 PM EDT
By Laurence Kotlikoff
Sept. 28 (Bloomberg) — Desperate times call for creative measures. We’re in desperate times, but we’ve had little creative thinking from the Obama administration on how to fix the economy.
According to Ron Suskind’s new book, “Confidence Men,” Lawrence Summers, formerly the president’s chief economist, was concerned more with controlling than developing policy. No surprise. Hiring Summers was a huge mistake. But he’s gone, and the current economics team is free to think outside of Summers’s narrow, politically calculated box.
The president’s new-yet-familiar jobs bill entails more spending and more tax cuts, neither of which is affordable absent new revenue. The president wants the rich to cover the bill’s cost. House Republicans are saying no, dooming the bill to political oblivion.
What about printing more money? The Fed has already printed $1.8 trillion since September 2007. This exceeds by a factor of two all the money the Fed had printed since its creation in 1913. Printing even more money can’t be the answer.
The situation isn’t hopeless. I see five things policy makers can do to get the economy going. All involve ways to overcome what we economists call “coordination failures.”
…
The only “jobs” in the Obama jobs bill is more money to labor unions
who then return it to the DNC in the form of campaign contributions.
He is proposing extending and amplyfying the SS tax holiday. Would that not stimulate non “union goon jobs”?
Also, are you saying that whatever monies the unions benefit from the bill come straight back to the DNC? All of it? I was under the impression that some of that money was going to be spent on saving jobs. I know that a lot teachers locally were spared pink slips because of the previous stimulous, so I know all that money didn’t just boomerang back to the DNC.
That said, I really doubt that Obama’s bill will get big biz to create jobs here. They will happily continue to offshore jobs to countries where workers are paid a fraction of what we are paid here.
unc, did you miss the above post about the $160hr PRIVATE federal contractor?
unc,
Are you this big a simpleton in real life? Maybe you should come back here when you get that GED.
The absolutely worst word in the English language is “get.” It has something like 20 different meanings, and is used as an grey-box umbrella word to “get” from Point A to Point B without suggesting how to “get” from Point A to Point B. (”Have” is a variation on “get.”
Remember the Underwear Gnomes?
1. Steal Underwear
2.
3. Make profit.
“Get” is the verbal equivalent of Step 2.
So, here are those vaunted policies:
————-
1. Stop paying interest on bank reserves. (”Have the Fed stop paying interest on reserves and start encouraging the banks to make loans.” )
2. Get workers to invest in jobs. (Take a 7.5% pay cut.)
3. Compel corporate America to invest.
(I “The president can help resolve this problem by assembling in one room the CEOs of the largest 1,000 U.S. companies and getting them to collectively pledge to double their U.S. investment over the next three years.” Really. So how is the President going to “get” them to pledge to anything? Those CEO’s have already said “no” and Obama’s got no teeth.)
4. Get prices and wages unstuck.
5. Achieve fiscal sustainability (the author then mentions that he has “purple plans” but doesn’t bother to even give us a hnt.)
—————
I went off on this linguistic tangent to show just how bad this editorial article is. Three Gets, one Have, and one non-point. Seriously, this article isn’t even worth the energy its electrons are using.
You got it.
Darn those facts.
git ‘er dun!!
“We’re in desperate times, but we’ve had little creative thinking from the Obama administration on how to fix the economy.”
I thought Larry Summers fixed the economy.
This guy must believe in candy crapping unicorns.
Pull CEO’s together and ask them to do something for the country. Please
Asking employees to accept overvalued stock in order to support more workers. I’d rather see job sharing if I was an employee.
His ideas are very stupid.
1) Stop paying interest on bank reserves.
If there were borrowers with good credit and stable income, then the banks would already be able to loan to them for rates MUCH higher than the fed is paying on excess reserves.
Stop paying the interest on reserves isn’t suddenly going to make borrowers more credit worthy, their collatoral more valuable or their wages more stable.
2) Lower wages 7.5% then hire 7.5% more people.
Hello idiot. Demand is set by total wage, not the number of people with jobs. So, the 7.5% people that just got hired will just be spending the money that the people that took a 7.5% pay cut are no longer spending.
We need to increase total wages, not redistribute lowered total wages more broadly.
3) Comple corp America to invest.
Definately a candy-crapping Unicorn suggestion here. Pretty please spend money with a presumed negative RoI, out of the good of your heart?
Shud up.
4) Get prices and wages unstuck.
Great, mass pay cuts for all. That will drive demand. I’m sure that will help people pay more taxes, make the massive payemnts on all their debt, and still have more money to buy more stuffs.
5) Fiscal sustainability.
Again, more candy-crapping unicorns are going to show up.
The number of people eligable for SS and MC is expected to increase 60-70% over the next 10 years. We’re currently spending $1.2T on SS, MCare and Mcaid to those MCare eligable. Increase that 60%, brings it to $2T. Total tax receipts this year are expected to be $2.1T.
Any proposed cuts in benefits are quickly consumed by the massive increase in the number of people eligable.
“Demand is set by total wage, not the number of people with jobs. So, the 7.5% people that just got hired will just be spending the money that the people that took a 7.5% pay cut are no longer spending.”
I’m going to disagree with this one. It depends on the salary level of the jobs. If I lost 7.5% of my wages, I wouldn’t reduce my spending by that amount. I would try to reduce my spending somewhat, but the rest would be absorbed by reducing the amount I save. Obviously this isn’t an issue if the people losing salary are already spending every cent, but it does depend.
Distribution matters.
Viewpoint September 27, 2011, 8:49 PM EDT
U.S. Investing: Are the Best Times Over?
An elevated risk premium for stocks may be a buy signal, but only if you think the U.S. will shake off its current economic difficulties
By Chris Farrell
The stock market isn’t for the faint of heart; the volatility is astonishing. But not everyone is a Wall Street plunger or home-based day trader. How should investors with a longer-term time horizon think about value?
There are many metrics for guesstimating stock market values, but the most intriguing is the equity risk premium. It captures the relative attractiveness of stocks vs. bonds over the long haul (typically a decade). The basic insight is that stocks are riskier than bonds since equities reflect the uncertain rewards to entrepreneurship while U.S. Treasury bonds are a contract that spells out when the federal government must pay creditors interest and principal. The premium is the additional return investors demand for owning stocks vs. the U.S. Treasury bond. “The reality is every time you invest in stocks you’re taking an implicit stance on the equity risk premium,” says Aswath Damodaran, a finance professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business.
…
“How should investors with a longer-term time horizon think about value?”
Buy when you get it. Ie. when the dividend yield on the S&P 500 is double what is is now.
Bloomberg
Best-in-World Bonds Spurred by Recession Risks: Australia Credit
September 25, 2011, 8:43 PM EDT
By Candice Zachariahs and Sarah McDonald
Sept. 26 (Bloomberg) — Australian government bond yields are dropping for a ninth month, the longest stretch since at least 1978, as the securities generate the biggest returns of any other major market amid concern the global economy will slide back into recession.
The benchmark 10-year note’s yield fell 32 basis points this month to 4.06 percent at 10:09 a.m. in Sydney, from 5.55 percent on Dec. 31. Ten-year Treasuries tumbled 38 this month to 1.84 percent while German bunds fell 47 to 1.75 percent.
Europe’s inability to cope with its debts has pushed the world to the brink of a financial crisis, Mohamed El-Erian, the chief executive officer of Pacific Investment Management Co., which runs the world’s biggest bond fund, said Sept. 22. Global stocks entered a bear market last week as the U.S. Federal Reserve warned of “downside risks” to growth. Investors betting Australia’s central bank will cut the developed world’s highest benchmark rate sent yields on its two-year debt toward the least relative to the U.S. this year.
“There’s almost a crisis of confidence in political leadership in the U.S. and Europe,” said Stephen Miller, a managing director in Sydney at BlackRock Inc., which oversees about $3.7 trillion. “There are knock-on effects for us and the thing about Australia is that the Reserve Bank here has the capacity to cut rates and cut them a long way should that be required.”
Australian bonds returned 10.6 percent over the past 12 months, the most of 26 markets tracked by Bloomberg/EFFAS Bond Indexes. Treasuries have gained 7 percent.
…
China Sovereign Bond Risk Jumps to Highest Since March 2009
September 28, 2011, 5:01 AM EDT
By Rachel Evans
Sept. 28 (Bloomberg) — The cost of protecting China’s sovereign debt from default jumped to the highest level since March 2009, according to data provider CMA.
Credit-default swap contracts on China surged 16 basis to 170, according to CMA, which is owned by CME Group Inc. and compiles prices quoted by dealers in privately negotiated markets.
…
But I thought that China was immune to weak demand for their wares in the west and that the mighty $1/hr Chinese consumer would pick up the slack.
Maybe the members of China’s managerial class should go out and buy another Buick.
The cost of protecting China’s sovereign debt from default jumped to the highest level since March 2009 ??
Yep…If they implode it could take everyone with it…
How does a doctor’s strike square with emergency room patients?
EUROPE NEWS
SEPTEMBER 28, 2011, 5:13 A.M. ET
Greek Strikes Maintain Momentum
By STELIOS BOURAS
ATHENS—Greece’s public-transport system was brought to a standstill Wednesday as thousands of drivers walked off the job in protest at government austerity measures needed to secure funding for the country, creating massive traffic problems in Athens for a third straight day.
Bus, train, metro, trolley-bus, tram and suburban railway workers called a 24-hour strike in opposition to government plans to place employees in a reserve labor pool at 60% of their salary for a year, after which they would be dismissed if no other suitable jobs were found for them in the public sector.
Adding to the capital’s traffic woes Wednesday was a 48-hour strike by taxi owners, who are against changes to the sector.
Cars could be seen backed up for kilometers on some of the capital’s main roads, as commuters were forced to drive into the city center in morning rush hour, while others dusted off their cycles to get to work.
Protest action in other parts of the public sector continued, with tax-office employees, customs officials and Finance Ministry employees on the second day of a 48-hour strike.
Doctors also have called a four-hour work stoppage for Thursday, while nursing staff will strike for 24 hours on Friday.
…
Sept. 28, 2011, 12:54 a.m. EDT
Australian house prices fall 2.4%: survey
By Sarah Turner, MarketWatch
SYDNEY (MarketWatch) — Australian house prices fell in the latest quarter and are likely to remain soft through the next year, a survey out Wednesday showed.
House prices fell 2.4% in the September quarter of 2011, accelerating from a drop of 2% in the June quarter, according to a survey by National Australia Bank, released Wednesday.
…
Any time I see a post on Australia I’m reminded of the link that an HBBer posted, to an Aussie flip-this-house type of show. One of the Aussie houses was some ridiculous price, but the toilet was in a dark musty shed (no door) out in the overgrown yard. All I can imagine is going to the loo in the middle of the night, in an overgrown yard, in a country which is famous for its poisonous snakes, spiders, and other assorted creepy crawlies.
Now I don’t even want to look at picture of Australia.
LOL - anyone remember the name of the show? I would like to see it.
Brace yourselves for more globally-distributed financial pain, folks.
Sept. 28, 2011, 12:00 a.m. EDT
Don’t count on Markozy to save you as Greece falls
Commentary: Europe’s leaders have done nothing to prepare for the end
By Matthew Lynn
LONDON (MarketWatch) — The imminent Greek default is now the only issue that matters to the financial markets. The country is running out of money to pay its bills. It can no longer borrow on the markets. It has missed the deficit-reduction targets in the bailout package, and unless the euro area’s political leaders can come up with a fresh rescue package it will soon have no choice but to renege on it debts.
The real question is what happens next. Will Portugal, Spain and then Italy face a run on their banks as people rush to get their money out? Will a series of European banks fail, starting a fresh credit crunch? No one really knows, but the signs are hardly encouraging. The pressure on other high-indebted nations once Greece goes down will be intense. So will the pressure on the banking system.
Investors must hope that Markozy — France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel — will find a painless solution to the debt crisis.
The only force that can avert catastrophe is that strange double-headed beast known to bond traders as Markozy — the French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Neither shows any signs of getting to grips with the scale of the challenge they face, nor have they done so at any point since this drama started 18 months ago. Anyone staying in the markets now is taking a massive gamble that they suddenly get their act together over the next few weeks. They are almost certainly going to be disappointed.
The Greek drama is hurtling towards a denouement — and probably not before time. Under the terms of the bailout package agreed with its European partners, it was due to receive another chunk of money next month. Whether it gets the cash or not depends on Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou coming up with a deal with the International Monetary Fund and the European Union that fudges the terms of the rescue package. If it can’t, it will default. Even if it does, the next round of cash, and the round after that, are just as delicately poised. The debate now is no longer about whether Greece defaults, but how and when.
That is a crisis, to be sure, but handled the right way it should be a manageable one. Greece’s entire outstanding government debt is 250 billion euros, according to High Frequency Economics. In the context of the global financial markets, that is a relatively trivial sum — slightly less than the market value of Apple. The European Central Bank could simply buy up all the debt, and put it on its own balance sheet, and gradually deal with the inevitable losses on the paper once the whole crisis had passed. No one thinks Apple going bust would cause the downfall of Western Civilization. There is no reason why Greece should either.
There’s a snag, however. Europe is stuck with two incompetent leaders. Markozy have neither the authority nor the imagination to cope with the scale of the challenge they face.
There are three key problems.
One, no one leveled with the electorates. The euro EURUSD +0.57% was not sold as a debt union, and it was never explained to the Germans and the French and the Dutch that they would end up having to pay the debts of Greece, Italy or Spain. In the 18 months since this crisis started, politicians have been in denial all along. If the euro was to be a fiscal union, the leaders of the continent should have started arguing for that two decades ago, when monetary union was first being planned. It is too late to start building the political support for a rescue package now. Anything they come up with this month is simply going to get thrown out at the ballot box, either now, or in a few month’s time. If they try and sneak a fiscal union in through the back door, they will simply face a worse backlash later on.
Two, the mechanisms haven’t been created. There have been nearly two years to come up with a plan for what happens if Greece goes down. All that has been put in place is the European Financial Stability Fund, and even that isn’t fully operational yet. Nor does it have anything like the funding in place to deal with the scale of the emergency it is likely to confront. In Washington last weekend, there were briefings the EFSF would be increased to 2 trillion euros. But the money isn’t there yet. All anyone actually agreed to was to go home and have a think about a rescue plan. There is a big — not to say alarming — difference between that and actually having one. When Lehman went bust, there were governments and institutions with the authority to act. Those simply don’t exist for this crisis.
Three, the solutions don’t work anyway. Bailing out Greece is only a short-term fix. So is a 50% default on its debts. It will get it through a few weeks or months but then it will have to come back for more money. In the medium term Greece will need to exit the euro, along with Portugal, and perhaps Spain and Italy as well. Again, it needn’t be a catastrophe for anyone. If you can create a monetary union, you can take it apart again. But there is no sign of anyone planning for that. The debate hasn’t even begun — and won’t until it is too late. All the politicians can suggest is throwing good money after bad — and not even very much good money at that. It is hardly surprising neither their electorates nor the bond markets are convinced.
In reality, the Greek default is going to be ugly. Every kind of asset you can think of is going to get hit. With the possible exception of cash buried in the back garden, there will be no safe havens (and even then, make sure it is the right kind of cash). Equities will take the worst pain, but corporate bonds will slump, so will commodity prices, and emerging markets which are already getting caught up in the storm. Even gold will weaken. Only the dollar may strengthen as money flees for safety.
Maybe Markozy can come up with something at the last moment to stave off disaster. But do you really want your portfolio to be at the mercy of that remote possibility? The answer is certainly no.
…
Markozy — France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel
—————–
Shouldn’t it be “MErkozy. Seems unfair the Merkel gets only one letter. Who knew there was a glass ceiling in silly combined names?
Sept. 28, 2011, 12:01 a.m. EDT
Geithner’s plus-sized euro bailout is stealth QE3
Commentary: Leveraged EFSF could aid the U.S. economy, at a price
By Jon Markman, MarketWatch
SEATTLE (MarketWatch) — Stocks have ripped higher in volatile trading this week as investors grow more comfortable with an emerging political plan to stabilize financial conditions in the euro zone, a plan filched straight from one of the Grimm’s fairy tales, “The Master Thief.”
In the tale, which is duly Germanic, a young man seeking the hand of a nobleman’s daughter is sent by her father on an increasingly audacious set of robberies — the last one of which, well, I don’t want to ruin it for you. Let’s just say it does not end well for the commoners, who are always fleeced.
Market volatility has been on the upswing, bringing increased scrutiny for algorithmic and high-frequency trading strategies. What part do these systems play in the market, and how should investors respond?
The big idea in Washington now seems to be that if Europe can be paid off to pipe down about its banking crisis for just a few weeks, then Wall Street can settle into a good old-fashioned earnings season in October with no distractions. This is sort of like packing your crazy old uncle off to the movies when your guests arrive for a dinner party, but hey, you do what you gotta do.
…
“The big idea in Washington now seems to be that if Europe can be paid off to pipe down…”
Buried in the fine print…no Palestinian state.
“Buried in the fine print…no Palestinian state.”
Thus the violence and murder of Palestinians of all faiths goes unabated. Outrageous.
And a green light for 1100 more West Bank homes. Hurry!!
They’re going to start World War III over suburban sprawl, of all things.
Maybe those mayans got it right.
“They’re going to start World War III…”
Already well underway, but, like the current depression, it hasn’t been acknowledged yet. In addition we’re not going to win this one because they have time on their side, and we are quickly exhausting our ability to fund it. Jesus better plan on another destination.
Gotta wonder what our forefathers would think.
what i dont get RAL is why Syria and Jordan just wont give up some of it’s land and call it Palestine?
Then have the UN carve off part of the west bank and give it to the new country?
Outstanding detailed interview with greek economics professor at Athens University on Dutch tv news show.
Conclusion: “You are watching a farce, Europe about to implode.”
Interview in english, program is 40 minutes, interview starts at minute 19.
Watch here: http://nieuwsuur.nl/uitzending/2011-09-27
normal for them to project their own dysfunction on all euros - I hope the more sensible nations survive this debacle.
I hope the more sensible nations survive this debacle.
Especially the one’s whose National family income is > $45,000 U$D
(By the way, what did y’all do with Rio?)
Thinking the same thing lately Hwy…
Wall Street Protest Continues This Week
by Arun Venugopal
All Things Considered
September 27, 2011 from WNYC
A protest on Wall Street is in its second week, with more people showing up every day. The group is still working on its message, and it doesn’t really have any demands. But the protesters say they are tired of struggling to make a living while the big banks get help from the government.
They should take it to where the pigmen live too, Greenwich CT, the Hamptons (a bit late in the season for there), every pigmen co-op from Park Avenue through the Upper East Side.
+1, goon squad. But, before anyone organizes a protest about anything, the first thing that must be handled is the police. Because they are the entity that will be used to stop the protest. So a police liason is needed (protesters rarely do this). You’ve got to have flyers for the police informing them why you are doing the protest, a little refreshment stand for them, someone to coordinate with them, etc.
And it can be done. After all, remember in 2006 when illegals demonstrated in the streets of all the major cities for amnesty? The police stepped back and more or less guarded them while they did it.
Good point. The police need to be reassured that a protest is not a riot.
The police must be assured that their pensions are not in jeopardy.
The police need to join the protests. Oh wait, I forgot, they are in cahoots with the firefighters and the teachers to bankrupt the nation.
Breakfast at Tiffany’s!!
What do the pigmen do? They buy off our “representatives” in CONgress. The recipients of the payoffs are far more evil, yet strangely no one is protesting in D.C. or at each of their home district offices.
Unless you apply extreme pressure on CONgress, they will have no motivation to end their own gravy train.
Hear, hear! Let’s go protest at the houses and offices of all congressman who oppose campaign finance reform -because supposedly money equals speech- and who support supreme court justices who think likewise. That’s one of the roots of this evil tree.
But let’s keep up the protests at Wall Street, too. No need to let those uber-crooks off just because others are guilty too. Nice try, though.
The Wall Street pigmen are the Masters of the Universe. The political class, regardless of party*, are their fluffers.
*except Dennis Kucinich
“The Wall Street pigmen are the Masters of the Universe. ”
I’m sure that in their minds that we proles are their property.
The future belongs to Foxconn City
I’m sure that in their minds that we proles are their property.
Nah, that would imply they actually had some responsibility for us. More like a natural resource to be harvested as needed. Just something that grows wild on their estate but has to be cut back once in a while.
Naivete on display here. If I buy off the judge in order to get my case dismissed, you would give him/her a pass and just picket my house.
The pigmen love your attitude. You can picket all day. Even get violent and get yourselves thrown in jail. At the end of it all nothing will have changed. CONgress will still be in their pockets.
“At the end of it all nothing will have changed.”
Just like there’s no reason to tax the rich more, because they’ll just move away or somehow avoid it. It must be nice to be rich, and have a bunch of peons defending your interests at every turn. (But I bet they laugh at those same peons.)
“The group is still working on its message, and it doesn’t really have any demands.”
ask every protestor…how much debt they have. anyone above zero debt.
go the eff home.
Yes! Leave the poor pigmen alone, youngsters. They’re busy looting your country.
And they expect you to repay your student loans while they offshored any jobs you hoped to get after graduation.
“anyone above zero debt. go the eff home.”
What in the h*ll is that supposed to mean?
michael doesn’t think young people who went to college should be allowed to peacefully assemble?
They need to go rent every jet-ski in the Hamptons so there are none left for the evil banksters to enjoy. That would surely hit ‘em where it hurts.
I hope this story finally starts to get some legs. Celebrities are taking notice, maybe the American public will, also.
http://www.rawstory.com/rawreplay/2011/09/cornel-west-at-occupy-wall-street-protest-the-elite-will-tremble/
http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Latest-News-Wires/2011/0928/Susan-Sarandon-lends-star-power-to-Wall-Street-protests
Isn’t this how the Arag spring started? Lots of unemployed people with nowhere else to go?
Marches and rallies don’t usually gain traction in the US because “we have to be at work the next day.” But if you’re unemployed…and you have nowhere to be … and nothing else to do… AND you can still “network” and check your Linked-In from your iPhone while you march….
“Isn’t this how the Arag spring started?”
Yeah, let’s swap the FIRE sector for the Muslim Brotherhood.
Federal government to dial down mortgage guarantees
Marketplace Morning Report, Tuesday, September 27, 2011
On Saturday, the Federal government will lower the mortgage price that it will back by $100,000 in an effort to wean Americans off government involvement in the housing market. Who will be hardest hit?
Steve Chiotakis: We got news today on home prices. The Case-Shiller index inched up in July, by about a percent from June. Home prices, though, are still 4 percent lower than where they were a year ago. And you’d think it would be easier to get into the housing market for somebody. But on Saturday, the Federal government’s gonna lower the size of mortgages that it’ll guarantee, that it’ll back — which means people will need more money to buy, and more money to put down.
In California, where it’s pretty expensive to buy a house, real estate agents are bracing for a big hit. Guy Cecala heads up Inside Mortgage Finance trade journal, and he’s with us now from Maryland. Good morning, Guy.
Guy Cecala: Good morning.
Chiotakis: The government increased these loan limits in the first place, right?
Cecala: Exactly. Coming out of the credit crisis of 2008, banks were struggling to stay afloat, and one of the things they did was basically pull out of the mortgage market and refuse to make any new mortgages except those insured by the government.
This left a huge void in the so-called “jumbo mortgage” market — which at that time was any mortgage above $417,000. So Congress stepped in and said, OK — on an emergency basis — we’re going to cover part of that jumbo market by raising the government loan limit in high-cost areas to $729,750 — don’t ask me where they came up with that number. Come this Saturday, the loan limit goes from $729,750 to $625,500.
Chiotakis: With the housing market in such bad shape, why would they let it happen now?
Cecala: Well, that’s the real estate industry’s argument. The flipside of that question is — basically, 9 out of 10 new mortgages being made are being funded or financed through the Federal government. And the idea is we never intended this to happen. If we don’t start rolling it back incrementally, we’re never going to get the government out of the mortgage market. And also, we’re never going to encourage private lending.
…
don’t ask me where they came up with that number
My guess thay used a very entry level 3/2 40 year old home in Greenwich CT as the basis for the high limit anything over that means you are too rich to be helped.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conforming_loan
Even the “normal” conforming loan limit is too high. 400K houses imply an income that’s close to 3X the median. They should cap the conforming loan limit at 3X the national median household income and then just float it ever year. That would help the bottom 50% buy their first houses. If you’re above the median, you don’t need government assistance for a home..
This whole program needs to end. If the Congress doesn’t have the gumption to wind down Frannie/Freddie, at least limit their purchases to first time home buyers (1st time, not first time in the past two years).
Speaking as someone who’d no longer be eligible (already done the first-time home buyer thing), I concur with Moman. Catchy slogan for our movement:
There’s only one first time.
I recall some first time buyer programs used the 3 year rule. If you haven’t bought in 3 years, you qualify. With the $8,000 tax credit, we qualified as !st time, and we/ve owned 3 homes.
“There’s only one first time.”
Reminds me of a bumper sticker I saw on a car being driven by a sweet young thing.
“It’s only kinky the first time.”
Per the July LPS Mortgage Monitor, 4% of the loans made in California from January 2009 would have been effected by the reduction in the conforming loan amount.
This reduction is a non-event in California.
Got poison candy and drywall?
The downsides to trade with China
Marketplace, Tuesday, September 27, 2011
There are signs that Chinese imports are negatively impacting the U.S.
A Chinese worker stands in front of containers
A Chinese worker stands in front of containers at a cargo terminal in Shanghai. (Philippe Lopez/AFP/Getty Images)
Kai Ryssdal: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said today he’s going to bring a bill to the floor in the Senate next week that goes after Beijing for manipulating its currency. Just the latest indicator that there are those in Washington and elsewhere who say we’re not getting all we could from our trading relationship with China.
Gordon Hanson is an economist at the University of California, San Diego whose most recent research says exactly that. Good to have you with us.
…
heh, remember the open door movement? they were supposed to take our goods while we took their money.
“he’s going to bring a bill to the floor in the Senate next week that goes after Beijing for manipulating its currency”
…which will be filibustered post haste.
And Harry Reid has put that bill ahead of Obama’s (”Pass it NOW!”) jobs bill.
AFTER they go vacation!
What kind of teeth does this bill have? Tarriffs? Not likely. Probably just a lot of finger wagging: “Now you stop manipulating your currency or I’ll … I’ll tell you stop again.”
Why don’t we demand that the Swiss stop manipulating their currency? The Japanese? The Euro gang? The Federal Reserve? Oops.
Again read up on the AMSC American Superconductor story, and ask what the F do we get by doing business with them. The CEO class has been the biggest winner of outsourcing the rest of America not so much.
New home sales at half the healthy level for economy
Marketplace Morning Report, Monday, September 26, 2011
New home sales continue to be dismal as each month of 2011 passes by. The Obama administration has a new plan to allow more borrowers to refinance their homes, but that might not be enough to turn the market around.
Adriene Hill: New home sales fell again in August — reaching a 6 month low. According to figures just out this morning, sales dropped off 2.3 percent. In actual number of houses, that points to an annual rate of 295,000 homes, which sounds like a lot, but is actually less than half of the number of new homes that economists think need to sell in order to create a healthy housing market.
…
Home sales are half of healthy because prices are twice of healthy.
oxide
Yet people in my area of So Ca are still overpaying for a home, throwing in the 3.5% down on an FHA, paying an extra $10K-$20K over list, since inventory is so tight.(Or so the multiple bidding talk from our UHS. Truthiness, who knows?)
Screws up people that can do the annual rent/price math. The beat goes on…
Where are you Awaiting? We are seeing many markets in So Cal where renting is more expensive than ownership.
Heard on the radio tonight: Greek households have an 85% rate of home ownership.
That should make it easier to tighten the austerity screws with this new property tax.
Greek parliament passes new property tax bill
Share
The Associated Press
Published: Tuesday, Sep. 27, 2011 - 11:01 am
ATHENS, Greece — Greek lawmakers approved a controversial new property tax Tuesday that aims to boost revenue as the country struggles to obtain a critical installment of international bailout loans that will prevent it from default.
The new tax passed 154 votes to 143 against in the 300-member parliament. It was announced earlier this month after international debt inspectors suspended their review of Greek reforms amid talk of missed revenue targets and delayed implementation of austerity measures. The inspectors are expected to return to Athens this week.
Greece must receive an euro8 billion ($11 billion) rescue loan before mid-October to stave off bankruptcy, a collapse that would send shock waves through financial markets in Europe and the world. But creditors have demanded more efforts to raise revenue.
The new tax will be charged through electricity bills to make it easier for the state to collect, instead of going through Greece’s unwieldy and inefficient tax system. Those who refuse to pay risk having their power cut off.
But the extra charge has deeply angered Greeks, who have already been through more than a year of sharp austerity that has seen salary and pension cuts and increased taxes across the board. State electricity company unionists have threatened not to collect the tax.
Speaking before the vote, Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos acknowledged the new tax was harsh on some, but stressed the government had no choice but to impose it as it fought to reduce its budget deficit.
…
The new tax will be charged through electricity bills to make it easier for the state to collect, instead of going through Greece’s unwieldy and inefficient tax system. Those who refuse to pay risk having their power cut off.
I predict sales of generators and illegal electric hook-ups rising exponentially…
& extention cords.
IIRC the tax increase is only a few hundred Euro’s a year. A generator costs more than that, and then there is the issue of buying gas for them.
Illegal hook ups? Don’t get caught!
and illegal electric hook-ups rising exponentially…
Your local “de-regulate ‘em, hurry!”, “Electrical Corp. Inc.$” has a peon-non-payment $olution: Digital meter$
Their motto: “we-care-really-we-do!”
I predict some hearts will go dada dada dada dada data from failed attempts!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OciCzKgGY0
Realtors Are Liars®
That e-mail exchange yesterday with the REALTOR was epic
Prepare for more.
Our UHS tells us that we should not pay list if we see a home we want. Pay the REAL value (over list/ tight inventory).
OK, well how about this lesson turd:
On a $380K offer accepted from a FHA 3/5% the down is $13,300-
Our out of pocket is $380K cash
On a $350K offer accepted their down is $12,250- Difference of $1,050 down
Out of pocket is $350K cash
They finance or get their closing costs taken care of.We have no major closing costs, per se.
They walk when they become under water. No sweat off their balls.
We lose hard earned cash. Oh, and how about rental yield-what the house value really is. He shut up… He hates us.
Awaiting. I don’t get your post at all. (but I like the venom)
Awaiting is saying that an FB with NO money can buy a house just as easily as she can with hard-earned cash. The FB can walk with no skin; she loses all her skin.
No incentive for price drops, so lowballing doesn’t work. This is why we need 20% down to come back, so people really have to think twice, or thrice, or more.
Awaiting, with that amount of cash, you could easily go Oil City Plan and live on leftover cash, rather than overpay for a house in an expensive area.
RAL - oxide got the jest. A down payment and cash cause two different points of view on what you’ll pay for a home. The 3.5%er looks at it from a monthly/I can always walk perspective. We’re hard earned cash. We can’t walk and say the hell with it. We aren’t using OPM.
oxide- Thanks, I may not have expressed it well. We own a small tech firm in our area (which is on life support) and that’s why we haven’t moved. It is now crossing our minds.
UHS are never on your side as a buyer. If word gets out that a buyer got a fair deal, their listing potential in the area drops. They live for the sign on your lawn advertising.
Buyer Agents have “relationships” with Listing Agents. They are all in it together.
I like the old Brokers who don’t give a shit anymore to work with. I might switch and break my deal.
Great insight into the corrupt reaItor syndicate. Thank you.
EURO-Land, the end game.
It seems that every Monday morning Greece is saved after some grueling weekend emergency session. By the end of the week things tend to fall apart with another market panic at hand. The rescue du jour seems to be to apply 5:1 leverage to inflate the 400 billion EURO bailout fund to 2 trillion. Yes, leverage, all or nothing. Leverage worked wonders for Bear Stearns, Lehman & Co. Initially this will cause a boom as it always does when more fuel is added to the fire.
No matter what size the bailout fund, sooner or later it will be used up and EURO-Land will be in the same position it is today just another 2 trillion (or whatever amount) deeper in the hole with credit ratings to reflect this reality.
The taxpayer in Germany, Netherlands, etc. already pays 50+% and about 20% value added tax on almost all purchases. At that stage two typical sources of government financing will be shut off, raising taxes and selling bonds to investors. That only leaves very poor options:
1. ECB prints whatever is needed = inflation
2. Default = deflation
3. Confiscation of private property (real estate, investments, retiremnet accounts, etc.)
4. Break up of EURO-Land with possible military conflict/revolution
One option doesn’t necessarily exclude the other. Governments could defalut on social security and other social programs but print money and confiscate private property to pay banksters. In particular Germany has a rich history of confiscating private property when the feces hits the fan (google “Lastenausgleich”, after WWII they put mortgages on peoples homes without their consent).
All this could of course could lead to armed conflict between or within nations or both.
Today’s Houses:
House 1: Close in, but way overpriced.
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/12617-Flack-St-Silver-Spring-MD-20906/37296212_zpid/#{scid=hdp-site-map-list-address}
1941 3/1 on 0.17 acre. Nice flat yard, decently kept home close to metro. This end of the metro is not nearly so noisy because it’s almost underground, and is not near the rail tracks. Good for the minimalist because the rooms are small. Pretty nondescript.
Jan 2003: Sold $150K
Mar 2004: Sold $235K
Sep 2011: Listed $249K
Probably worth about $175K. I’d lowball for $150 just to watch their faces.
House 2: The fixer-upper out of town
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/24705-Etchison-Dr-Gaithersburg-MD-20882/37073737_zpid/#{scid=hdp-site-map-list-address}
1972 3/1 on 0.87 acres. Kind of out of town, but commutable to suburban work. Low ceilings and not much light, and disproportionately skinny ceiling beams (4×4?) don’t help. Walls: trashed. Flooring: trashed. Kitchen: trashed. I know some of HBB thinks kitchen upgrades are unnecessary, but even the Re-store wouldn’t accept this. Yard: trashed. Bathroom: not shown. In realtor-speak, this has “great potential.” Yeah right. Most of the value is in the land.
Jul 1994: sold $127K
Jan 2002: Zestimate $170K
Sep 2011: listed $199K.
$199 would be a fair price if this were move-in condition. But as is? No way. I’d knock the price in half.
The first one looks decent for a single person. Although overpriced, of course.
One thing I’ve noticed among the listings you post is a relative absence of landscaping. A minimal number of arborvitae/yews/junipers for foundation plantings. No gardens. If I had that front yard (house #1) I would plant the biggest flower and veggie garden that would fit. Around these parts, most people go overboard with the shrubs, trees, flower beds, etc. Is everyone there too busy working to tend a garden? Is it a regional-cultural thing?
When I was bicycling around the U.S. in 1981, I noticed something as I headed up the eastern seaboard. And that was a diminishing number of gardens.
In the South, gardens were everywhere. Heck, people were so proud of them that they were out there in the front yard. Check out our tomatoes! Look at our squash!
Once I got out of NC and into VA, I noticed quite a drop in the gardening. Which made me wonder about the people and their priorities.
That was one of the first things I noticed out in the sticks in Poland. Every house still has one…big enough for the whole household it appeared. They didn’t need to walk far to have enough vegetables, cheese, and bread. Kinda makes it tough to starve them into compliance. The beef sucked compared to the US (I think it was just old milk cows), but it didn’t seem to matter.
Most of the houses that I post are in my price range, which means that they are probably inhabited by *ahem* working-class which don’t really care for landscaping. It wouldn’t surprise me if the realtor forced the seller to remove his vehicles from the lawn before taking the picture.
I don’t see many gardens around here, I’m not sure why. Perhaps because the neighborhoods are very shady neighborhoods and a lot of wildlife, two-income families, hyper-activity kids, and the like? The climate is nearly perfect and the soil is okay.
Hyper-activity kids? Well, put ‘em to work in the garden!
Worked for me and my hyperactive little friends. And we thought working in the garden was really cool.
Hyper-activity doesn’t mean the kids are hyperactive. It means they are overscheduled - school plus homework, instrument lessons, several sports teams including ones that are not connected with school, etc. The kids could be scheduled for something like 3 to 4 hours a day (excluding grade level academics) every day of the week.
You haven’t lived until you’ve found yourself on the e-mail list for the yoga class for 6 month olds.
Polly got it.
Don’t forget all the chaffeaurring that accompanies said hyperactivity — in some of the most congested traffic in the nation. You’re lucky to be home a half hour before you fall into bed. Garden, my butt.
We used to have a family on our street we called “The People Who Work On Cars”.
Even the most modest little crackerboxes around here usually have flower beds. Perhaps Mayor Daley’s love of planting flowers and trees along Chicago’s sidewalks inspired a general gardening movement in the area. You could start something in your neighborhood whenever you decide to buy!
You could start something in your neighborhood whenever you decide to buy!
I’ve been working on that sort of thing in this very block.
When I bought the Arizona Slim Ranch, all it had for landscaping was crushed rock in the front and quite a crop of bermuda grass (an invasive species) in the back. Now, almost seven years later, it’s quite the happenin’ little xeriscape.
And, truth be told, I didn’t do it all by myself. I hired helpers, including one neighbor who’s a disabled vet who did yard work to make a little extra money. (His health no longer permits him to do such work.)
I also participate in the Watershed Management Group’s Co-op. Done water harvesting workshops all over town, and I’ve hosted three here at the Ranch. Workshop #4, a how-to on trimming native trees, will be coming soon. The goal will be to get my very energetically growing mesquite tree trimmed so it doesn’t cuddle up to the house.
And I’ve been creating a guerrilla garden on the city-owned lot next door. I was out there this morn at sunrise, pulling weeds and planting cactus. (The cactus is from over here. I have enough. Gotta find other homes for it now.)
Last but not least, I’m sort of like the garbage steward. I go out two or three times a week and pick up the garbage that gets tossed onto the streets and sidewalks. The idea is to get other people to think about doing this themselves — and to refrain from littering.
Haven’t recruited any other stewards yet, but it takes time. People need to see you being a picker-upper first before they decide to join in.
Slim, you are inspiring. As well as a model for the Think Globally, Act Locally movement.
The ceiling height looks ok to me, it’s vaulted so I would think it’s at least the std 8 feet and plus. Everything else you said holds true.
I like the general look of eastern houses better as compared to my central house with the hatted roof. Somehow the triangle just makes the curb appeal better.
On #1, they should have bricked (or cricked, who cares?!) the addition rather than sided it. It just doesn’t look like it belongs as it is.
oxide
Are you running into FHA buyers out bidding you, too?
Are you at a stand-still waiting for the right house, or are you in the casual looking-learning curve stage?
Just curious.
Still in the casual looking/leaning stage. I don’t want to close until after the new year, for complex reasons. I don’t even want to engage a lying realtor until after Halloween. So I just post stuff here for the moment.
obama sure knows how to DESTROY jobs
——————————-
Obama Proposes Letting Unemployed Sue for Discrimination
Atlantic Wire | 9/28/2011 | Elspeth Reeve
President Obama’s jobs bill proposes making being unemployed a protected status — meaning it would be “an unlawful employment practice” to decide not to hire someone because he or she doesn’t have a job, The New York Times’ Robert Pear reports. That would put joblessness on par with race, color, religion, sex, and national origin, meaning job applicants who think they were shot down because they haven’t had a job would be able to sue.
Paid for by the Committee to Unelect Barack Obama
Now that’s a good idea. It will create plenty of jobs in the legal system. A friend of mine is a lawyer, currently unemployed with a huge student loan. That might get her employed again. I can already see the ads on TV…Have you been discriminated against? Do you suspect to have been disriminated against? You might not even be aware that you have been discriminated against. Call Cutthroat & Associates for a free consultation. We shake ‘em down.
As for the business trying to hire…not so much. Any job ad you put out there can get you not one but several law suits. Solution, don’t hire or move your operation to greener pastures.
Solution, don’t hire or move your operation to greener pastures.
Hope and change boyz.
Pshaw! It’s also illegal to discriminate based on age, race, etc. Employers do it ALL the time and get away with it. How do you prove that you were the most qualified candidate? You simply can’t.
This is nothing more than a feel good proposal.
You cannot solve a problem that has not been defined accurately. High unemployment was not caused by the fact that people were unemployed.
“You cannot solve a problem that has not been defined accurately.”
No truer words spoken here, Blue.
The problem is, many folks were never taught how to define it (by design).
obamaCheney-$hrub $ure knows how to DE$TROY job$! + [The US Economy] “heheeheehee…”Peter Navarro, a UC-Irvine economist, said both the Democrats and Repubicans are completely off-track with their proposals.
“It’s really, really stupid,” he said. “It’s reached the point of felony dumb.”
He said neither plan addresses the underlying structural problem with the economy, which he believes is the trade deficit with China.
Navarro said the deficit has shaved 1% off U.S. gross domestic product growth every year since 2001, when China joined the World Trade Organization, and cost the country well over 10 million jobs.
“The trade deficit is the reason people are unemployed,” he said.
Cheney-$hrub 2001
Cheney-$hrub 2002
Cheney-$hrub 2003
Cheney-$hrub 2004
Cheney-$hrub 2005
Cheney-$hrub 2006
Cheney-$hrub 2007
Cheney-$hrub Oct. 2008: “This whole sucker could go down! Heheeheeeheee”
The deficit trade with China was rooted in the Clinton administration years of the 90s.
http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c5700.html
*Clinton handed Cheney-$hrub a Budget $urplus - ( x2 $4 Trillion US Dollar Islamic Nation Building Committals)
Cheney-$hrub: “we want him to succeed as President, really we do!”
*(Clinton should’ve resigned to balance the Political teeter-totter mud slinging, as well as improve on Carter’s National Sin of “lusting” after “women-he’s-not-married-too”,… in his mind)
No doubt they are all scoundrels, but I personally was concerned about the China trade deficit long before C&B showed up. What do you think I am missing?
What do you think I am missing?
Alex, I”l take (-$4 Trillion US Dollar) War Deception for $1,000.
What do you think I am missing?
“$traw-that-broke-the-Camel’$-back”
Remember, Nixon thought China would buy US stuff.
Peter Navarro, a UC-Irvine economist
I’ve always liked Navarro. He has some great videos (I think on youtube) that talks about China, their environmental issues, trade, commerce, etc… Smart, objective, and no nonsense type of guy.
His latest book was great.
http://www.amazon.com/Seeds-Destruction-Economic-Washington-Prosperity/dp/0137027737/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_c
+1 Hwy…I am 100% in the camp that Bush/Cheney put us here….
Obama is a suck president. Too bad all the Republican candidates are an order of magnitude worse, withthe possible exception of Ron Paul, the 13th floor of the presidential campaign.
darrell
It is truly sad that every four years both parties put on such a “I promise If I’m Elected” show, the sheeples buy it all over again, and the seeds of destruction continue.
I think Ron Paul mostly has some good ideas, but he isn’t ideal either. Maybe it’s just too damn late. (I hate to say it.)
America is like a once pretty gal, now middle-aged “wallpaper” kind of country,imo.
Perhaps if Ron Paul made a few promises to the voting masses of idiots with no intention of keeping them? His regular voters would be in on the scam of course…
liz pendens
I assume from your post you like Ron Paul?
I think he is a good guy, and a breath of fresh air, but he loses me on the no regulations in commerce.
If you think chinese dry wall, or cadmium in children’s jewelery is/was an issue, we’d all be dead quickly.Not that any govt agency really does its job, but holy cr*p would things get bad.
I trust nothing big.
Maybe it’s just too damn late ??
Bloomberg…..
Ill offer a contrary opinion:
Employers today widely discriminate against you for all sorts of reasons. So job ads that state we dont hire the unemployed could mean blacks or jews too.
Suing is not about money its about truth….If OH would triple the EEOC with a mandate of 90% of the cases be settled in 90 days…it would be a benefit to our country.
My pet peeve and I get it at lest once a week is You’re overqualified…..do you know that hurts to someone who knows full well i wont get paid what I am worth and its only a temp job….but it will look good on the resume?
Overqualified means you want to hire a Moron……and I dont fit in.
Sept. 28, 2011, 9:28 a.m. EDT
U.S. durable-goods orders dip in August
Decline centers on motor vehicles, large defense products
By Jeffry Bartash, MarketWatch
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Orders for U.S. durable goods fell slightly in August as demand shrank for motor vehicles and certain large defense goods, the government reported Wednesday.
Bookings for U.S.-made products designed to last at least three years dipped 0.1% in August after a 4.1% gain in July, the Commerce Department said. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected orders to rise by 0.4%.
…
Wall street pinches pennines in an effort to avoid bonus cuts:
http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daniel-gross/wall-street-pinches-pennies-effort-avoid-bonus-cuts-181420581.html
They’ve wasted no time trying to discredit the trader who told the BBC interviewer that the world was controlled by GS and that a crash was coming. Reportedly this interview went “viral ” on the internet, someone on HBB posted it. Yesterday the propaganda machine was turned on by the WS titans in order to discredit this guy.
news.yahoo.com/blogs/cutline/bbc-victim-hoax-no-yes-men-154724196.htm
It’s not nice to fool with
Mother Naturethose daily “doing God’$ work!”The WS discreditors are discredited themselves; tactic won’t work. And this viral stuff is the sort of thing that sticks in people’s heads. Right up there with the “Should society just let him die — yes” audience in the CNN debate.
Retirees Should Think Twice About Paying Off the Mortgage
http://www.cnbc.com/id/44074468
It is my opinion, a mortgage free old age is part of the puzzle of not running out of money for us boomers. All my family members in their 60’s OWN their homes.
I read the article comment thread on life long mortgage debt, and I believe 99% thought a senior having mortgage debt was a dumb idea. Nice propaganda piece, by maybe the Mortgage Banker’s Assoc.?
Old people are favorite targets of commission junkies because they usually have to spend more money to fight back. If they fleece ‘em good enough the first time - game over.
There are some great comments at the end, many of them skewering the whole premise of the article, as well as the theoretical, pie-in-the-sky 4% return that seniors can enjoy by ‘investing’ instead of paying off the mortgage.
4%??
My savings account is under 1%.
My savings account is under 1%.
$hrugged Mr. Atla$,…Ayn Rand’s mistre$$. aka: $ir Greenis$pent, “The Knightly One”
Exactly.
My mortgage will be paid off at least 5 years before I retire.
I particularly liked the part where they say mortgage interest is deductible, but conveniently forget that money earned is taxed.
And ignore that you have to itemize to get any deduction.
And unless you’ve maxed the standard deduction, you only get a fraction of the deduction, not the full taxed amount.
Paid off mortgage 6 years ago - banked cash and would spend, but I can’t generate safe income. $500 interest income became $90.
Stimulus, my ass! (Age 59)
When I read the article the first time, I was thinking to myself “this is going to be B.S., arguing for mortgages”.
However, they did bring up the two points I would make to anyone who would argue for keeping the mortgage post-retirement:
1. A rate of return equal to the mortgage rate is impossible to come by and certainly not risk free for your cash. Paying off the mortgage is getting an absolutely risk free return at a greater level than one could ever get on the open market; and
2. If you are worried about liquidity, most banks would love to give you a home equity line on a home that is free and clear for very little annual cost.
You have to get to page two though to get there…
P.S. My folks are debt free and just came back from a 6 week trip to Europe…It’s a very nice thing to see, especially since they worked their butts off for decades and saved all they could to get there.
Just wow. Well, they say loose fiscal policy always leads to a dictatorship…
——————————-
New audio: NC governor struck serious tone on suspending congressional elections
The Daily Caller | 09/28/2011 | Matthew Boyle
If it was a joke, North Carolina Democratic Governor Bev Perdue needs to polish her delivery.
Newly released audio contradicts the claims of Perdue’s press team that her call Tuesday for suspending Congressional election was a joke or hyperbole. In the recording, her tone is matter-of-fact and her comments are part of a serious speech.
“I think we ought to suspend, perhaps, elections for Congress for two years and just tell them we won’t hold it against them, whatever decisions they make, to just let them help this country recover,” Perdue said at a rotary club event in Cary, N.C., according to the Raleigh News & Observer. “I really hope that someone can agree with me on that.”
There’s that word again: “unexpectedly!”
No worrie$, won’t have any effect on Syria or “Peak Oil”/ Mr.Long-john-silver$.
Oil slides on growing US supply
Weak gasoline demand, rising oil supplies sink oil prices below $84 per barrel
NEW YORK (AP) — Oil is sliding after the government reported weak fuel demand in the U.S. and an unexpectedly large increase in supply.
Maybe they can refill the Strategic Reserve that the tapped some months ago in order to crash the speculators for a while.
Buy low, sell high….That doesn’t sound like a government programe to me.
Well, so much for the “TrueReducetheDeficitNow!,Today!’$™” urgent efforts to: “Audit-the-Pentagon!”
(Hwy crumples “TrueAngry’$™” white-paper, tosses it in wa$te bin)
The Iranian$ are coming!, The Iranian$ are coming! The Iranian$ are coming!
Iran planning to send ships near U.S. waters:
“The Navy of the Iranian Army will have a powerful presence near the United States borders,” read the headline of the story
By the CNN Wire Staff
Wed September 28, 2011
Git yer gun Virgil! Batten down the hatches Martha! Be skeerd of dem dar irayniums!
I’d betcha money that more than a few of those Iranian Navy guys would be happy to jump ship and “disappear” into the United States. It’s called defecting.
And, while I’m on this theme, the University of Arizona’s student newspaper, the Wildcat, had a 9/11 piece on how the local Muslim community has been affected. One of the guys interviewed is active in his mosque, but he noted that he and his fellow Muslims can’t work to make this country better if they’re always at the mosque.
Then there was the interviewee who noted that, if the United States opened its borders, the Middle East would be empty by tomorrow night. Not because the inhabitants think that we’re a shining beacon of, well, whatever we are. It’s because they have to put up with so much governmental/religious/societal BS on a daily basis, and they don’t see that happening here.
Yet everyday there is an article somewhere of them being “offended” on how we MUST change to accommodate them…
EEOC sues senior living center over headscarf
The Baltimore Sun | September 27, 2011
An Ellicott City senior living facility is being sued for allegedly violating federal law for failing to hire a Muslim woman who would not remove her head scarf. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a lawsuit against Morningside House on behalf of Khadijah Salim on Monday.
The lawsuit says Morningside House’s director of health and wellness asked if Salim during a June 2010 interview if she would remove her religious headscarf, called a hijab, if she worked at the facility. Salim was not hired or contacted after her interview
And why can’t she wear her head scarf while she’s at work? I mean, for pete’s sake, it might be pretty and colorful and add a bit of joy to the residents’ lives.
One more thing: What if this lady was a nun?
There are still a few Catholic orders that require nuns to cover their hair. Would it be okay if she were in habit, including a head covering?
And why can’t she wear her head scarf while she’s at work? I mean, for pete’s sake, it might be pretty and colorful and add a bit of joy to the residents’ lives.
Or maybe it would scare the sh!t out of them. Or maybe it was a safety issue. What happens when the next one comes in a head to toe burka?
The article does not say. It also does not say if a better qualified person was hired. But it really does not matter.
She was “offended” -
So she feels she can sue. And the EEOC is supporting her. And the business will eventually settle no matter how right they may be.
Come to America and change it to the islamic hell hole you just left…
“Or maybe it would scare the sh!t out of them.”
Oh please. She wasn’t wearing a burqa or ululating on the job.
Most Americans don’t know this but Iran had a democracy in the early 1950’s which kicked out the Shah. The American CIA overthrew that democratic government when it nationalised the oil industry which was then dominated by BP.
So the Iranians got 25 more years of the Shah and a very bad attitude towards American’s. I am not some anti-american idiot. The CIA guy who did it wrote a book about it that I read. I can’t remember the name of it though.
Yep - and then Jimmy Carter helped the Ayatollah Khomeini come to power…
Yep - and then Jimmy Carter helped the Ayatollah Khomeini come to power…
Nobel’$ $core update:
$lipperybanana = 0
Jimmay Cartier = 1
lil’Opie = 1
There’s goes your Job oppoortunity at the Carter Center.
In 2002, President Carter received the Nobel Peace Prize for his work “to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development” through The Carter Center.
“slippery banana”…. lmao.
“then Jimmy Carter helped the Ayatollah Khomeini come to power”
You are off message today. Please stick to union busting.
Wait a minute…I thought Reagan traded arms with the Ayatollah for money to fund Contra Rebels in Nicaragua? But Oliver North got the numbered Swiss bank accounts wrong.
History repeats itself.
If you go back to the Great Depression, Hoover always maintained that he had the depression licked in 1931 but then the banking system in Europe imploded (so it was their fault). I can see Obama giving speaches of how he had things on road to recovery but those European’s messed it up. (Google Credit Anstaldt)
Americans recall that Hitler was the cause of WWII. Most Germans recall a bit futher back and that that hyperinflation in the 1920’s was the cause of Hitler’s rise to power.
So Germany is not going to give up the strong currency and Greece, et al will have to discover the word “bankruptcy”. The only reason Greece politicians are so adamant they won’t default is that they keep sucking in more loans every month. They will keep that going as long as they can. (Please note that I am not against Greeks, or any nationality - just commenting on the politicians)
At least Hoover got a functional dam named after him as a monument to an acheivement made during his time. Obama will get what?
Obama will get what?
Well -
Many, many “obamavilles” for the homeless and unemployed
and then there is also “obamacare” and “obamamotors”
and finally
Doing an “obama” will eventually mean something along the lines of giving a teenager boy the keys to a corvette and a 12 pack of beer…
I’ve met a lot of families who are very relieved that “Obamacare” allows their adult children to remain on the family plan until they are 26.
Other than that I find the rightwing kneejerk reaction to “Obamacare” to be amusing. It reformed next to nothing (which is what they wanted), we still have the same old super expensive, byzantine, for profit heathcare racket we’ve had for the past few decades. The average family policy now costs $15,000 per year.
Eventually this system will collapse under its own weight as we will pass the event horizon were only the richies will be able to afford healthcare. And I think it will happen before the end of the decade. The universal move to HD plans will be complete soon. It won’t be long before HDs are unaffordable. At that point employers will simply stop providing heath insurance as a benefit. Then the sparks will fly as what’s left of the middle class tries to purchase insurance on the open market.
The money has to come from somewhere.
In NJ, adult children were already allowed to stay on their parents medical insurance till age 26.
“obamamotors”
The bail out began under Bush’s watch. Do you really believe that McCain would have let GM die? I doubt it.
Plus I’d think you’d like the new GM. They closed factories and retired a lot of “union goons” which they replaced with $14/hr youngsters who can’t afford to buy the cars they assemble.
I guess Henry Ford was a pinko, pro-union commie as he believed that his workers should be able to afford the cars they built. But what does he know?
I guess Henry Ford was a pinko, pro-union commie as he believed that his workers should be able to afford the cars they built. But what does he know?
What Dip-head Ford didn’t know was that Genius $lipperyBanana & friends are quite $atisfied with their foreign non-union made Yugo’$.
Geniu$ $lipperyBanana = 1
Henry Ford = (-9) [includes son Edsel's contribution]
A man walks into an auto parts store and addresses the clerk behind the counter…
Q: I’d like a gas cap for my Yugo
A: Sounds like a fair trade to me!
Housing Crisis?
Its not the right name. Can we quit calling it that?
The whole thing was a man-made scam so easily called such that a kindergartener could have told you how it would end.
Housing Scam.
Housing “mistake”
Housing Rip-Off
A crisis is an uforseen widespread tragedy. There is no crisis.
liz pendens
Thank you. The ptb, media, r e cartel, sensationalized a natural outcome of
a bubble. When it overshoots the mean,
it will get interesting.
The Great Housing Fraud…. just what I’ve been calling it all along.
Although “Housing Rip-Off” has a nice ring to it. Oh, a home inspector from Wells Fargo came by early last night and said my bailed out LL who got “a loan workout” was 3 to 4 months behind on their payments again. Let me see I have been here for 18 months and paid $1,700 every month and they have paid $1,400 for 3 of those months. Sounds like a Housing Rip-Off!
Job-based health insurance premiums rise sharply
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/09/27/125423/job-based-health-insurance-premiums.html
The individual premium amt in this article is a joke. Ours was $14K/yr for 2 adults. Perfect health other than Glaucoma (actually not a high cost condition), which was diagnosed recently. Our annual increases started to be insane 4-5 years ago.
$14k per year for 2 healthy adults?
That’s the point at which you opt for a catastrophic-care-only policy, if you can find one. $14k a year buys a lot of routine medical care.
This country is so FUBAR.
That’s the point at which you opt for a catastrophic-care-only policy, if you can find one.
Key point in the above sentence: IF you can find one. (Emphasis mine.)
Elanor
I hear you. Thanks for an idea.
Once you don’t have coverage, the cost of healthcare takes quite a leap. For a first time patient Glaucoma appt(post op, just maintenance) it’s about $900-. Even if you have testing print outs, they want to re-test you and will not take your test data sheets.
I think it’s time for a REAL universal plan in this country.
I found a reasonable clinic through UCLA Jules Stein Eye Institute. USC wasn’t as helpful nor as nice, btw. We’re calling today.
Best of luck to you, Awaiting. I also have glaucoma, but apart from a co-pay, insurance covers the visits. The eye drops are cheap. One of them is $12/month. It was $5 when my insurance would let me buy it from Walgreens, but now they want to mail it to me in an excessively packaged refrigerated box, which I found to be so ridiculous that I pay the $12 to pick it up at a local pharmacy. Costco may sell it for less, I should check on that.
I have a catastrophic major medical plan through my alma mater. Now, I have never had to use it, so I don’t know if it’s a ‘good’ plan. But the premiums are very inexpensive. Some professional societies also offer catastrophic major medical insurance.
Elanor
Come to think of it, we had a Blue C catastrophic major medical plan, and the hell I went through when I got food poisoning was amazing (2003). The bottom line after I got coaching from an Attorney, was we paid $2K, and the hospital and Blue haggled over the $24K left. I got pretty damn sick.
It is my opinion that a catastrophic major medical plan still means a medical bk in many cases. Their claim payment record stinks.
Glaucoma Drops were running us $105/ a fill and some $50 w/ Kaiser until they switch him to some generics just before we terminated. Generics were $10. So far, Wal-Mart and Costco have been cheaper than Kaiser. I’m not surprised.
You sound like your Glaucoma is doing well. Best to you too, Elanor.
if you can find one ??
Exactly…..
And if you can’t find one, I’d opt for no insurance at all if I were reasonably healthy. It’s pretty easy to talk hospital bills down, and at 30%-50% of the yearly median income, you are hitting pretty close to the bankruptcy point if you do get sick. No need to play the game on their terms.
Of course, if you aren’t reasonably healthy and expect to spend more than $10-$15k in health care in a year, then I’d probably begrudgingly pay…
It appears insurance premiums have an added layer these days to cover the campaign contributions they help finance.
$14K/yr for 2 adults ??
Believe it or not awaiting, ours is more costly than that…Try 2k/mo….
$2k a month. Ack! Ack! Ack! This is making my head explode!
FUBAR. I simply do not understand why any so-called average U.S. citizen not directly connected to Big Insurance would oppose single-payer health care.
Since we’re on this topic, permit me to recommend Wendell Potter’s blog. He’s a former health insurance industry PR guy who went all Benedict Arnold on ‘em. You might also enjoy his book, Deadly Spin.
You might also enjoy his book, Deadly Spin ??
Ordered it after you mentioned it the other day Slim…Have not read it yet…
Well, if the 2k is mostly covered by their employer so they don’t see it, and they are concerned that the government will screw up single payer, it only makes sense that they’d prefer the status quo.
Well, if the 2k is mostly covered by their employer ??
Nope…Its covered by me…Self Employed…
I don’t recall that ever being offered. I for one will be on the old fashioned plan soon enough. If you get really sick, you are done. I’ll have enough money to live or enough money to buy health insurance, but not both at the same time.
If you get really sick, you are done ??
Thats where we are heading I am afraid Blue Skye……..
Cantankerous - yep, campaign contributions and gold plated utensils for the executives on the company jet. (Wendell Potter interview)
scdave- Wow, $2K is unbelievable. I just hope God-forbid if you ever need it, they actually pay up. You don’t know what kind of insurance you have (good or bad), until you need it. (message boards are a clue, too.)
Blue- And that’s where we are. This Depression is killing us. That’s why we need a home bought soon. No housing costs will help. Insurance, taxes, and maintenance is do-able. Our future isn’t looking as promising as it did 10 years ago.
Article about the unintended consequences of chronically low interest rates: Older people are nuking their savings accounts and putting the money into buying “investment” houses.
Scary quote: What is less known is that large numbers of older Americans have been reluctantly drawn into real estate investing. The negative impact that the plunge in interest rates has had on the incomes of these savers has compelled them to look for higher rates of return.
Another scary quote: Right after Labor Day, I spoke with a San Francisco all-cash investor who had purchased 25 properties in three western states since 2001. Having purchased two of them since early 2010, he was clearly not concerned about falling prices. In our conversation, he pointed out that had he not paid in cash, the properties might be throwing off a tiny positive cash flow. I wonder whether he realizes how much his properties had declined in value since the time of purchase.
Sept. 28, 2011, 6:20 p.m. EDT
Bernanke calls unemployment a ‘national crisis’
By Greg Robb
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The nation’s weak labor market was “a national crisis” that required attention from the White House and Congress, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Wednesday. “We’ve had close to 10% unemployment now for a number of years, and of the people who are unemployed, about 45% have been unemployed for six months or more. This is unheard of,” Bernanke said in a question-and-answer session following a speech in Cleveland. He called for policies “that could help them find work, train for work and retain their skills.” Bernanke also urged policy makers to consider “strong housing policies to help the housing market recover.” Better housing policies would “clearly be very useful,” and would allow the low mortgage rates stemming from easy Fed policy to have more effect and help the economy recover.
Bernanke openly endorses price-fixing on mccrapshax?
Bernanke also urged policy makers to consider “strong housing policies to help the housing market recover.” Better housing policies would “clearly be very useful,” and would allow the low mortgage rates stemming from easy Fed policy to have more effect and help the economy recover.
How ’bout (lower) prices that are back in line with historic metrics of incomes and rents? Or is that too much to ask?
“Or is that too much to ask?”
Indeed. Hush…just sign those papers!
The Bernank cares about the banks. Sky-high house prices caused by bad loans he’s fine with, as long as the US can sustain the wealth transfer indefinitely.
The only trick left up their sleeve is inflating a bubble, any bubble. Bubbles inflation have masked the rot for the past 20 years.
“Bubbles inflation have masked the rot for the past 20 years.
yep. We made out on the dot com bubble, but spent it renting (multiple rents) during the housing bubble. With any left over proceeds we’d like to own a little rancher outright. You know, nothing ostentatious, just a simple little home.Not all of us have Bernanke’s kind of money. I now have as much disdain for Bernanke, as I do for Greenspan.
I’ve always suspected that “Too Big To Fail” becomes “Too Big To Bail”.
You can’t just keep encouraging destructive behavior, bailing out the bad actors, and not expect negative consequences.
I thought low stock prices was a crisis and prostrate workers begging for jobs was an increase in competitiveness.
“Better housing policies” could mean the opposite of what we think a’la “The Greenspan Put”.
Steve Schaefer, Forbes Staff
If you can put the word market after it, I cover it.
9/22/2011 @ 1:02PM
No Help For Housing In Bernanke’s Operation Twist
The Federal Reserve is commencing Operation Twist as expected, announcing Wednesday that it will turn $400 billion in short-term U.S. debt into longer-term paper by June 2012. The attempt to flatten the yield curve is aimed at greasing the wheels for an economic recovery that has been fighting uphill, but that may be a losing battle.
Wednesday’s decision – which will see the Fed redirect $400 billion in Treasury holdings with maturities of three years or less into Treasuries that mature in six to 30 years – was probably the most Bernanke could get through a somewhat divided Federal Open Market Committee according to ITG senior economist Steve Blitz.
Blitz, noting that three FOMC members have now dissented in consecutive meetings, believes that the Fed, much like the U.S. economy, is stuck. “Policy reacts to crisis, and we are not in an economic crisis atmosphere,” he says. With limited appetite among FOMC voters for substantial stimulus, Operation Twist is probably about all Bernanke could have done, Blitz argues, though he doubts it will have much of an impact on the economy.
“Borrowing is about confidence,” he says. “If I’m uncertain about growth in my income I’m not going to go get a mortgage.”
…
Steve Schaefer, Forbes Staff
If you can put the word market after it, I cover it.
9/26/2011 @ 12:40PM
America’s Falling Home Sales And Why Bernanke Can’t Fix Them
Sales of new single-family homes declined 2.3% in August, and a recent string of similarly lackluster housing data and commentary offer little to suggest a swift recovery is on the horizon.
Coming in at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 295,000, August’s sales tally was up 6.1% from a year ago, but marked the fourth straight monthly decline. Inventory currently stands at 6.6 months supply, or 162,000 new homes, according to the report from the U.S. Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development. The median sales price of new homes fell 8.7% to $209,100.
The figures came as little surprise, given the dour view single-family construction that has been coming out of recent earnings reports from U.S. home builders. Last month, Toll Brothers said the market volatility of August – heightened by the Standard & Poor’s downgrade of America’s credit rating – is likely to be a drag on sales due to its negative impact on consumer confidence, while Ryland Group said it would wind down operations in Jacksonville and Dallas in order to focus on better performing markets.
It is not all doom and gloom though. KBHome recorded a narrower loss than expected last week and CEO Jeffrey Mezger said that “despite the ongoing difficult housing environment” the builder managed to generate an increase of net orders and backlog across the board in the quarter, though a focus on reducing construction and overhead costs was a major factor.
“The story remains the same for home sales and the larger residential segment overall,” according to Nomura’s economics research team. “Despite near record-high home affordability, buyers are having trouble qualifying for a mortgage, selling their current home, and further, are not convinced they have seen the bottom for home prices.”
…
Bernanke: There’s No Housing Bubble to Go Bust
Ben S. Bernanke testified on Capitol Hill just before being nominated to succeed Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan.
By Nell Henderson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Ben S. Bernanke does not think the national housing boom is a bubble that is about to burst, he indicated to Congress last week, just a few days before President Bush nominated him to become the next chairman of the Federal Reserve.
U.S. house prices have risen by nearly 25 percent over the past two years, noted Bernanke, currently chairman of the president’s Council of Economic Advisers, in testimony to Congress’s Joint Economic Committee. But these increases, he said, “largely reflect strong economic fundamentals,” such as strong growth in jobs, incomes and the number of new households.
Bernanke’s thinking on the housing market did not attract much attention before Bush tapped him for the Fed job Monday but will likely be among the key topics explored by members of the Senate Banking Committee during upcoming hearings on his nomination.
Many economists argue that house prices have risen too far too fast in many markets, forming a bubble that could rapidly collapse and trigger an economic downturn, as overinflated stock prices did at the turn of the century. Some analysts have warned that even a flattening of house prices might cause a slump — posing the first serious challenge to whoever succeeds Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan after he steps down Jan. 31.
Bernanke’s testimony suggests that he does not share such concerns, and that he believes the economy could weather a housing slowdown.
“House prices are unlikely to continue rising at current rates,” said Bernanke, who served on the Fed board from 2002 until June. However, he added, “a moderate cooling in the housing market, should one occur, would not be inconsistent with the economy continuing to grow at or near its potential next year.”
…
JANIS JOPLIN LYRICS
“Mercedes Benz”
Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz ?
My Landlords a Deadbeat, I must make amends.
Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends,
So Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz ?
Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a flat screen TV ?
Refinancing houses did not work for me.
I`m just not a victim, oh please can`t you see
So oh Lord, won’t you buy me a flat sreen TV ?
Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a night on the town ?
I did not buy a big house with no money down.
So prove that you love me and buy the next round,
Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a night on the town ?
Everybody!
Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz ?
My neighbors are Deadbeats, I must make amends,
Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends,
So oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz ?
Made the “Top Ten” Charts @ Goldenman$ucks!
You didn’t name the “Mercedes Benz” model, they’re cornfused, they all don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
BWAHAHAHicHAHAHicHAHAHAHAHicHAHAHic* (DennisN™)
+1
Sept. 28, 2011, 2:57 p.m. EDT
Obama jobless mortgage program to end half-used
Roughly $500 million expected to be returned to Treasury
By Ronald D. Orol, MarketWatch
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Only 15% of the estimated 100,000 borrowers who sought to obtain financial assistance from a $1 billion Obama administration program for unemployed homeowners will end up receiving it, a top Housing and Urban Development Department official said Wednesday.
The Emergency Homeowners’ Loan Program, or EHLP, is due to wind down this week, but just half of the funding will be used up, according to Neill Coleman, general deputy assistant secretary at HUD. The program was aimed at those who were either unemployed or who were jobless for a significant period of time.
…
How is the current global monetary regime different from a de facto gold standard?
COMMODITIES
SEPTEMBER 29, 2011
Central Banks Add to Gold Holdings
By RHIANNON HOYLE
LONDON—Emerging-market countries continued to top up their gold reserves in August, with Russia, Thailand and Bolivia among those to add to their holdings.
Central banks have bought gold as some seek to diversify foreign-exchange reserves that have grown along with emerging market export industries. The purchases have helped drive the price of gold higher, because they absorb supply and boost market sentiment.
This year, central-bank officials also began buying in earnest in reaction to the government debt woes affecting the U.S. dollar and the euro.
While central-bank officials are careful not to skew the market with huge purchases or disposals, metals consultancy GFMS Ltd. said “further large official-sector purchases should help sustain prices.”
August was a volatile month for gold prices. Gold futures traded as low as $1,607 a troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange on Aug. 1 and touched a record $1,909.30 an ounce on Aug. 23.
GFMS, a unit of Thomson Reuters Corp., said central banks appear to be viewing gold as “intrinsically more sound than most, if not all” other perceived safe-haven assets, including U.S. Treasurys, German government bonds and the Japanese yen.
Bank of Finland dealer and market analyst Eija Salavirta said in an interview last week that emerging-market central banks are moving into the gold market as buyers because of a lack of options available to diversify their reserves.
“The big education we got from the economic crisis is that you have to diversify. And now that we are in exceptional times, [a lot of] countries…don’t have that many choices,” she said.
The central bank of Russia, a regular buyer from its own domestic market, continued its long-term program of gold accumulation in August by adding 118,000 troy ounces to its reserves, which now stand at 27.161 million ounces, according to figures from the International Monetary Fund.
Russia’s holdings were up more than 7% since the start of 2011.
Thailand continued to boost its reserves, lifting them 300,000 ounces to 4.4 million ounces, a step up from its January holdings of 3.2 million ounces.
The Bolivian central bank lifted reserves by 225,000 ounces to 1.361 million ounces. Tajikistan and Greece also reported minor additions to their bullion holdings, the IMF data show.
Net central bank gold purchases are expected to total at least 336 metric tons this year, equal to around $20 billion based on recent prices, GFMS said earlier this month.
…
WSJ Blogs
Developments
Real estate news and analysis from The Wall Street Journal
September 28, 2011, 11:03 AM ET
Real Estate News: Housing Revs Up in Detroit
By Sushil Cheema
Here is a look at real-estate news in today’s WSJ:
Housing Revs Up in Detroit: Like the recovering auto industry, Detroit’s housing market is showing signs of new life, as the region was one of only two to post higher prices in July than a year earlier.
…
I could actually believe that’s a real bottom for them.