Bits Bucket for October 15, 2011
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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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Name:Ben Jones
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Question for Matt, how do you bring your proposed changes about?
Story: My Advice to the Occupy Wall Street ProtestersHit bankers where it hurts. ~By Matt Taibbi
I’ve been down to “Occupy Wall Street” twice now, and I love it. The protests building at Liberty Square and spreading over Lower Manhattan are a great thing, the logical answer to the Tea Party and a long-overdue middle finger to the financial elite. The protesters picked the right target and, through their refusal to disband after just one day, the right tactic, showing the public at large that the movement against Wall Street has stamina, resolve and growing popular appeal.
But… there’s a but. And for me this is a deeply personal thing, because this issue of how to combat Wall Street corruption has consumed my life for years now, and it’s hard for me not to see where Occupy Wall Street could be better and more dangerous. I’m guessing, for instance, that the banks were secretly thrilled in the early going of the protests, sure they’d won round one of the messaging war.
Why? Because after a decade of unparalleled thievery and corruption, with tens of millions entering the ranks of the hungry thanks to artificially inflated commodity prices, and millions more displaced from their homes by corruption in the mortgage markets, the headline from the first week of protests against the financial-services sector was an old cop macing a quartet of college girls.
That, to me, speaks volumes about the primary challenge of opposing the 50-headed hydra of Wall Street corruption, which is that it’s extremely difficult to explain the crimes of the modern financial elite in a simple visual. The essence of this particular sort of oligarchic power is its complexity and day-to-day invisibility: Its worst crimes, from bribery and insider trading and market manipulation, to backroom dominance of government and the usurping of the regulatory structure from within, simply can’t be seen by the public or put on TV. There just isn’t going to be an iconic “Running Girl” photo with Goldman Sachs, Citigroup or Bank of America – just 62 million Americans with zero or negative net worth, scratching their heads and wondering where the hell all their money went and why their votes seem to count less and less each and every year.
No matter what, I’ll be supporting Occupy Wall Street. And I think the movement’s basic strategy – to build numbers and stay in the fight, rather than tying itself to any particular set of principles – makes a lot of sense early on. But the time is rapidly approaching when the movement is going to have to offer concrete solutions to the problems posed by Wall Street. To do that, it will need a short but powerful list of demands. There are thousands one could make, but I’d suggest focusing on five:
1. Break up the monopolies. The so-called “Too Big to Fail” financial companies – now sometimes called by the more accurate term “Systemically Dangerous Institutions” – are a direct threat to national security. They are above the law and above market consequence, making them more dangerous and unaccountable than a thousand mafias combined. There are about 20 such firms in America, and they need to be dismantled; a good start would be to repeal the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and mandate the separation of insurance companies, investment banks and commercial banks.
2. Pay for your own bailouts. A tax of 0.1 percent on all trades of stocks and bonds and a 0.01 percent tax on all trades of derivatives would generate enough revenue to pay us back for the bailouts, and still have plenty left over to fight the deficits the banks claim to be so worried about. It would also deter the endless chase for instant profits through computerized insider-trading schemes like High Frequency Trading, and force Wall Street to go back to the job it’s supposed to be doing, i.e., making sober investments in job-creating businesses and watching them grow.
3. No public money for private lobbying. A company that receives a public bailout should not be allowed to use the taxpayer’s own money to lobby against him. You can either suck on the public teat or influence the next presidential race, but you can’t do both. Butt out for once and let the people choose the next president and Congress.
4. Tax hedge-fund gamblers. For starters, we need an immediate repeal of the preposterous and indefensible carried-interest tax break, which allows hedge-fund titans like Stevie Cohen and John Paulson to pay taxes of only 15 percent on their billions in gambling income, while ordinary Americans pay twice that for teaching kids and putting out fires. I defy any politician to stand up and defend that loophole during an election year.
5. Change the way bankers get paid. We need new laws preventing Wall Street executives from getting bonuses upfront for deals that might blow up in all of our faces later. It should be: You make a deal today, you get company stock you can redeem two or three years from now. That forces everyone to be invested in his own company’s long-term health – no more Joe Cassanos pocketing multimillion-dollar bonuses for destroying the AIGs of the world.
To quote the immortal political philosopher Matt Damon from Rounders, “The key to No Limit poker is to put a man to a decision for all his chips.” The only reason the Lloyd Blankfeins and Jamie Dimons of the world survive is that they’re never forced, by the media or anyone else, to put all their cards on the table. If Occupy Wall Street can do that – if it can speak to the millions of people the banks have driven into foreclosure and joblessness – it has a chance to build a massive grassroots movement. All it has to do is light a match in the right place, and the overwhelming public support for real reform – not later, but right now – will be there in an instant.
I hope they listen to Matt T. They really do need their initial list of demands to be much broader in scope than what we’ve been hearing.
I’d like to add one more: no tax amnesty for offshore profits or if you have decided to operate abroad, no bail out money. Let the country you are now based in worry about your continued existence.
And I think the movement’s basic strategy – to build numbers and stay in the fight, rather than tying itself to any particular set of principles – makes a lot of sense early on. But the time is rapidly approaching when the movement is going to have to offer concrete solutions to the problems posed by Wall Street.
Yep. Protesting for weeks on end with no message gets old. They are already become a joke.
Why are you here? What do you want?
Unfortunately, this is where the OWS will break apart. About 1/4 are starry-eyed socialists, another 1/4 are public unions who don’t want their cheese touched and the other 1/2 are all over the political spectrum.
It won’t last. They won’t change one law. They won’t get one person elected into office.
‘They won’t change one law. They won’t get one person elected into office.’
I’d like to see something positive come out of these protests, but I’ve been saying that it could go this way.
Here’s what I don’t think most people understand about what the tea party accomplished; they went from a few protests to putting dozens into congress in one election cycle. That has never happened before to my knowledge. When the speaker of the house tried to buck them, they told him straight out they would unseat him. That is unheard of in party politics.
None of that has to do with their agenda, but is how they went about it. You may not like it, but they did change things. So how do posters here put things?
‘Twice as many Americans support OWS over the Tea Party, Obama is a “socialist” and Fox is going left wing. Just relax and enjoy the ride. (or keep posting un-backed, American middle-class looter apologist, one-liner AM-radio talking points for our amusement)’
Another: ‘The tea-trash toddler tantrums are rather amusing, aren’t they? They’ll sound even better after Obama is re-elected next year’
That’s some unifying stuff there, huh? I can see that attitude sweeping in and cleaning up DC…
That’s some unifying stuff there, huh? I can see that attitude sweeping in and cleaning up DC…
I agree.
It is “easy” to protest anything - very hard to change things.
For making changes actually requires very hard work. Organization. Raising money. Dedication. Sacrifice. Making hard choices.
And yes - it REQUIRES a unifying message.
they did the changey thing in 2008. But again, they didn’t articulate what was supposed to change, and how.
Ben,
I think that the reason for the Tea Party antipathy is that it has pretty much been co-opted by the GOP. Maybe they threatened to unseat the speaker, but in the end nothing reeally changed. Wall St continues to get away with murder while the Tea Party defends the tax cuts for the rich. That’s change?
‘Wall St continues to get away with murder while the Tea Party defends the tax cuts for the rich. That’s change?’
It’s all how you characterize it, isn’t it? Anyway, we’re not talking about the tea party but the wall street protesters. What are they gonna do? You know, if I get up and say I represent 99% of the people, I better be able to back that up, or I’ll get laughed off the stage.
Like I said, I’m an optimist. I’m saying they should unify. Calling people names ain’t going to do it.
Wall St continues to get away with murder while the Tea Party defends the tax cuts for the rich. That’s change?
There were about 20 Tea Party members voted into office (house and senate) in the last election. They are a very small minority.
The democrats still control the senate. Obama still controls the White House. You will get NOTHING from them on controlling Wall Street or our debt.
The ONLY people I heard talking about cutting the spending in DC were tea party folks. They actually make people sweat about raising the debt ceiling (when it used to be an automatic given).
Since their election - not ONE TARP, stimulus, HARP, stimulus II, obamamotors, obamacare, etc has passed.
They were NOT elected to RAISE taxes. Sorry, go find someone else.
Yes - I hope they do more. LOTS more (like put bankers in jail and claw back all bailout money). But they are a step in the right direction.
It’s easy to take potshots at both the Tea Party and the OWS protesters. The point that shouldn’t be overlooked, however, is that anger over some core issues - crony capitalism and the corruption of the political process by corporate money - is growing, and a small but determined number of people are moving from anger to action. Granted, a lot of lost souls and serial joiners will gravitate to both movements, and both may end up being fragmented and co-opted. But people are finally starting to wake up.
Overthrowing a (an?) hegemony that has existed and gained more and more power over decades is a lot more complicated than saying less government, less taxes, no bailouts, hands off my Medicare. It just is and there is no way around that.
I actually admire the strategy (assuming there is some purpose to it, which may or may not be true) of the OWS people. Once they define their demands into a few sound bites (the people pushing hardest for this are the reporters since it make their jobs so much easier), it becomes easy to be co-opted by large existing forces, most likely the Democrats. The tea party got co-opted because less government spending was easy to fit into the Republican big money agenda. If their first demand had been claw back the TARP money, the Republican big money interests wouldn’t have been able to jump in with them as easily.
Sometimes waiting to clarify helps. It also risks your movement falling apart. I’d say that it is worth the risk. With no clear demands, people have to talk and think about them, rather than dismissing them. Well, actually the right is dismissing them anyway, but they have to make up what the protesters say/represent (end capitalism? really?) to do it and they are starting to look a little silly.
I also think their best message is corporate money out of lobbying/campaigns, but the Supreme court has pretty much ended that, so what good is saying that it is your goal. The next thing they need is voter registration/education. If they could get 80% voter participation for people under 30 or 35, they could take over this town. And what if they could get 10 million people to promise to hit the mute button any time any politcal ad of any kind is shown on their tv and not look up any on their computer? I’d take that pledge. It would be a little scarey to the powers that be.
Anyway, we’re not talking about the tea party but the wall street protesters. What are they gonna do?
Eventually a leader, or a group of leaders will emerge from OWS. There is a real danger that it could be a Chavez or a Castro … or even worse. I’m sure the Czar once thought that the Bolsheviks weren’t a real threat, that they were just a headless mob. Then this Lenin guy emerged … and things changed.
I think that the PTB do get it, as they are in overdrive trying to discredit the OWS every which way they can.
Polly,
You hit the nail on the head, you get it. The system as it exists today took decades to weave it’s self into the political system. The iron grip that keeps it in control is the money in politics. If there is one single point of the spear this is it. When in war (this is a class war BTW) one of the critical elements is ‘know your enemy’. The far right wing and Tea Party are the opponents. This is my position: If you support the idea that ‘Money = Free Speech’ and ‘Corporations Are People Too’ I vow to oppose you. I will join movements like the Coffee Party, MoveOn and Occupy Wall Street to use the power of a million voices to shout them down and change the arc of history. I think this movement just one of many but few wars are won by a single battalion.
‘Overthrowing a (an?) hegemony that has existed and gained more and more power over decades is a lot more complicated than saying less government, less taxes, no bailouts, hands off my Medicare. It just is and there is no way around that.’
Off with their heads?
Will push come to shove? Oppressing the masses has its own risks:
‘Paris, 1794
It is Thermidor — Month of Heat — by that queer artifact of the times, the Revolutionary calendar, and in the blistering summer the guillotine rots its own scaffold.
It is the climax of that emblematic moment of the French Revolution, often wrongly standing to casual observation as synonymous with the entire revolution. Jarring indeed how brief the span of those pregnant, dangerous days, that upon the storming of the Bastille the guillotine had not yet been erected and from that traditional birthdate of the Revolution were eclipsed successively the Bourbon monarchy, the Constitutionalist Assembly, the Girondin liberals, Marat, Danton … culminating in the bloody hegemony of Robespierre and the fatal test between the Jacobins and their enemies.
By the spring and summer of 1794, Paris is delivered fully to Robespierre. “Terror,” he says, “is only justice prompt, severe and inflexible; it is then an emanation of virtue; it is less a distinct principle than a natural consequence of the general principle of democracy, applied to the most pressing wants of the country.”
“By the spring and summer of 1794, Paris is delivered fully to Robespierre.”
And in July of that same year Robespierre took his turn in losing his head to the guillotine.
And on and on it went until France finally ended up with … Napolean.
‘until France finally ended up with … Napolean’
‘The European Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Spring of Nations, Springtime of the Peoples[3] or the Year of Revolution, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe in 1848. It was the first (and only) Europe-wide collapse of traditional authority, but within a year reactionary forces had won out and the revolutions collapsed. This revolutionary wave began in France in February, and immediately spread to most of Europe and parts of Latin America. Over 50 countries were affected, but there was no coordination or cooperation among the revolutionaries in different countries. Five factors were involved: the widespread dissatisfaction with the political leadership; the demand for more participation and democracy; the demands of the working classes; the upsurge of nationalism; and finally, the regrouping of the reactionary forces based in the royalty, the aristocracy, the army, and the peasants.’
‘In the post-revolutionary decade after 1848, little had visibly changed, and most historians considered the revolutions a failure, given the seeming lack of permanent structural changes.’
‘Nevertheless, there were a few immediate successes for some revolutionary movements, notably in the Habsburg lands. Austria and Prussia eliminated feudalism by 1850, improving the lot of the peasants. European middle classes made political and economic gains over the next twenty years; France retained universal male suffrage. Russia would later free the serfs on February 19, 1861. The Habsburgs finally had to give the Hungarians more self-determination in the Ausgleich of 1867. The revolutions inspired lasting reform in Denmark as well as the Netherlands.’
our debt.
SliiperyBanana’s GOP Clarion Call: “Audit-the-Pentagon!”
Why? It’s only $700 Billion’$…per…year!
But 1st $tay Focu$ed on “evil” American’s: “Linda-the-Lunch-Lady-Live$-Lavi$hly!”
Ben, If they only had facebook and twitter it might have turned out different LOL. History doesn’t repeat, it rhymes. Each time technology changes the speed and nature of these revolutions. Back then it was the pamphlet, book and newspaper. In the early 1900s telephones, wireless radios, film and Television(1950s) extended the flow of ideas (good and bad). Now we are at another inflection point and all the prior media channels and still there but a new dynamic has emerged. Interactive, Real-time, multimedia rich social networks not bounded by international borders(well not in China). This irony is not lost on the talking heads who like to point out all the kids with iPhones in the OWS movement. Lets see if they have the balls to shut down these networks. I dare them, go ahead, make my day.
‘Lets see if they have the balls to shut down these networks’
It was an issue in the UK riots recently. I understand some were arrested on electronic evidence of involvement.
Boy, there sure are a lot of protests and riots all over the world, huh?
“Boy, there sure are a lot of protests and riots all over the world, huh?”
And what meme are they protesting against? The status quo? What is the definition of “conservative”? The definition rhymes with “traditionalist” and ’status quo’.
If those who have cornered themselves with the label “conservative” actually understood the meaning of the word, they would abandon it in earnest. The conservatives I know completely reject the status quo. So have they completely disarmed themselves by assuming the label assigned to them by the status quo? I believe they have.
Shed the labels and reject the slightest hint of purity tests.
Here’s what I don’t think most people understand about what the tea party accomplished; they went from a few protests to putting dozens into congress in one election cycle. =
“TrueDoNothing™” / “TrueObstructionists™” / TrueGridLockers™”
Incandescent bulb survival
…completed.“Audit-the-Fed-Now!”…pending
“Audit-the-Pentagon!”…coming soon
“Get lil’ Opie!”…Job #1
Obama is a “socialist” and Fox is going left wing. Just relax and enjoy the ride.
You missed the joke there Ben. Obama is not a socialist and Fox is not going left-wing. (OK, maybe it wasn’t funny but it was a joke)
(keep posting un-backed, American middle-class looter apologist, one-liner AM-radio talking points for our amusement)’
That’s some unifying stuff there, huh?
Not unifying? I think it is unifying stuff in the big picture and here’s why. It well described and temporarily laid low a poster who constantly posts un-backed, American middle-class looter apologist, one-liner AM-radio talking points .
Now are the talking points pushed by the AM radio crowd unifying? Are they unifying for America? I think many are not. I think many of their talking points are filled with lies, half-truths and hate. I think they divide Americans and have aided and abetted the divisive, class-war waged on our poor and middle-class. This is not unifying. And I also believe that pointing this out to people who might be on the fence is much more unifying for our country than a poster who constantly posts un-backed, American middle-class looter apologist, one-liner AM-radio talking points.
The acceptance of half-truths, ignorance and hateful rhetoric in the name of unification does not unify, but in fact, it only promotes more division.
‘are the talking points pushed by the AM radio crowd unifying?’
We don’t have much radio here in N AZ. But I listen to NPR on AM radio.
‘The acceptance of half-truths, ignorance and hateful rhetoric in the name of unification does not unify’
No one has a monopoly on the truth. What I’m getting at is there is common ground if we can find it.
No one has a monopoly on the truth. What I’m getting at is there is common ground if we can find it.
Well you are right and that brings up some questions that I’ve pondered. How do we find this common ground in a blog setting and who should we worry about finding it with? And at what cost?
IMO, I will never find meaningful, political common ground with maybe 15% of Americans. Maybe I don’t respect their thinking on the issues or their agenda or bias. Maybe I feel that they promote half-truths and ignorance that is destructive to our society. Maybe I’m wrong but if I’m right perhaps it’s more important to point out these destructive half-truths to the Americans who are undecided on the issues. Maybe in this way I am promoting common ground more than if I let off the hook the 15% of Americans who I share no common ground with.
What I’m getting at is there is common ground if we can find it.
democrats = thumb-suckers lost in Mega-Mart$ bra dept.
repubicans = 2 year olds being dragged out of Mega-Mart$ gi joe toy dept,…kickin’ / screamin’ & cryin’
Mom grabs pregnancy test strips on aisle 86
If the OWS is working off the arab spring blueprint, they will have to mass huge numbers and have violent, deadly clashes with police that engender widespread sympathy with enough people such that a large political/military faction tries to gain power and make changes. Almost zero chance that’s gonna happen. People in this country still have it pretty good, even in this economy. They’re fat, have their igizmos, and the looting of the country by the banks/fed reserve hasn’t reduced their standard of living to the point where they’ve lost all dignity. Yet.
I’ve said we could learn some things from the people in Egypt:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VXP0FnTwZE
If the OWS is working off the arab spring blueprint, they will have to mass huge numbers and have violent, deadly clashes with police
Be careful about what you wish for, you might just get it.
Venn diagram of areas of agreement between the 99% OWSers and the Tea Party.
http://mobile.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2011/10/14/the_tea_party_and_ows_in_venn_diagram_form.html
“What I’m getting at is there is common ground if we can find it.”
Here is a little common ground:
1. A global financial system where fraud and corruption are rewarded with billions of dollars in profits and bonus payments, rather than long prison sentences, is too illicit to succeed.
2. It is only a matter of time before our global financial system is overhauled to root out systemic theft operations and restore a rule of law.
3. Band-aids like Dodd/Frank will not be enough to restore trust in the financial system.
“They are already become a joke.”
Take it from an RNC troll.
They don’t exactly have “no message”, tutti-fruity.
16 October 2011 Last updated at 02:46 ET
Occupy London: Hundreds protest all night at St Paul’s
There were some clashes between police and protesters, but the situation remained largely peaceful
About 500 demonstrators have spent the night outside St Paul’s Cathedral, following a day of protest in London’s financial district.
On Saturday, 2,000 to 3,000 protesters demonstrated as part of a worldwide protest against “corporate greed”, inspired by the US’s Occupy Wall Street movement.
Police arrested five people but said there was no major disorder.
About 70 tents were pitched at the foot of the steps of St Paul’s overnight.
Three of the arrests were for assault on police officers and two for public order offences.
BBC reporter Phil Bodmer said about 2,000 to 3,000 protesters took part during Saturday’s protest, but police refused to give an official estimate.
Smaller protests have taken place in Bristol, Birmingham, Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Spyro Van Leemnen, from the Occupy London Stock Exchange group, was among those camping overnight.
The 27-year-old, from Greece, said: “There are about 100 tents here - in the churchyard, on the steps, and in between St Paul’s and Paternoster Square. There are still a lot of police here but it’s all very peaceful.”
…
“That, to me, speaks volumes about the primary challenge of opposing the 50-headed hydra of Wall Street corruption, which is that it’s extremely difficult to explain the crimes of the modern financial elite in a simple visual.”
+1. I bought a copy of Taibbi’s “Griftopia”, and recommend that every thinking American (both of them) do the same. Matt has shown singular courage about speaking truth to power, while his MSM colleagues cravenly fulfil the role played by their former Pravda counterparts of propagating the party line.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog
Housing Bubble Stages of Grief: Timeline
1. Denial
Onset of 2006 housing bubble collapse — start of OWS movement in 2011
2. Anger
OWS inception (2011) — ???
3. Bargaining
???
4. Depression
???
5. Acceptance
???
4. Depression
???
lil’ Opie’s 2nd term Nov 2012
At which point another Wall Street-installed Republicrat will continue the same failed policies we’ve seen since Bush.
will continue the same failed policies we’ve seen since Bush ??
My instincts tell me that we are about to hit the wall…There is no telling what will happen after that…There are a lot of angry people in this country right now…
Republicrat will continue the same failed policies we’ve seen since Bush.
I think not, Thee MilitaryIndu$trialComplexInc. gla$$ piggy jar is nearly empty,…a GOP “TrueAnger™” sticker has been placed over the coin pour-out $pout: signed by, “TrueReduceTheDeficitNow!!!!™”
Makin’ American citizen/taxpayer$ wary of I$lamic Nation$ building = Cheney-$hrub $hadow Legacy Effect #4
“heheeehheehee…”
‘the same failed policies we’ve seen since Bush’
‘Did an elite branch of Iran’s military handpick a divorced, 56-year-old Iranian-American used-car salesman from Texas to hire a hitman from a Mexican drug cartel to assassinate the ambassador to Saudi Arabia by blowing up a bomb in a crowded restaurant in Washington?”
‘This is how Reza Sayyah of CNN quite succinctly summarised the bombshell that the US Attorney General Eric Holder dropped in Washington DC on October 11.’
‘The story is in fact so bad that even The New York Times, not known exactly for its habitual questioning of the official lines of the US government when it comes to warmongering in the Middle East, published a piece about the used car salesman at the centre of the plot in which we learn that he was a rowdy, incompetent fool. According to his friend: “His socks would not match … He was always losing his keys and his cellphone. He was not capable of carrying out this plan.’
‘We are of course instantly reminded of yet another evidently trustworthy American official, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who too with a straight face went to the UN in February 2003 and told the world body that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, as a prelude to the US led invasion of Iraq. Later on, when it turned out that Iraq had no such weapons - too late for hundreds of thousands of murdered or millions of refugee Iraqis - the Bush White House and Mr Powell said this was “faulty intelligence”.
The BHO administrations mistake, of course, was not waiting for better timing. Dropping this story after a terrorist attack or at least a foiled terrorist attack a la the “yellowcake” and “mobile labs” meme following 9/11 would have been far more effective in instilling fear and loathing in the land of free, home of the brave. And by brave I mean constantly fearful of any potential boogeyman real or imagine.
This is bigger than the housing bubble, though. I do not think we will ever need to “accept” the new paradigm of corruption. I think we will win it back in the bargaining stage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aMD4QIvGUE
As expected, a small, violent faction is using the Occupy Rome protests to launch mayhem.
Protest pandemonium as mob descends on Times Square
By GEORGETT ROBERTS, JENNIFER BAIN and KEVIN FASICK
Last Updated: 11:19 PM, October 15, 2011
Posted: 1:24 PM, October 15, 2011
The “Crossroads of the World” were jammed when thousands of Occupy Wall Street protesters brought their party to Times Square, creating pandemonium as chanting masses collided with tourists and theatergoers and resulting in over 40 arrests.
Shouting, “This is what democracy looks like,” throngs of protesters energized by yesterday’s victory in the face of possible eviction from their Zuccotti Park shantytown formed inside metal police barricades.
Police, some in riot gear and mounted on horses, tried to push them out of the square and onto the sidewalks in an attempt to funnel the crowds away.
Sandy Peterson of Salt Lake City, who was in Times Square after seeing “The Book of Mormon” musical on Broadway, got caught up in the disorder.
“We’re getting out of here before this gets ugly,” she said.
…
Sandy Peterson of Salt Lake City, who was in Times Square after seeing “The Book of Mormon” musical on Broadway, got caught up in the disorder.
“We’re getting out of here before this gets ugly,” she said.
I’m laughing as I imagine Sandy…just there for a little out-of-bounds fun, and now this!
“I can hire one half of the working class to kill the other half.
Jay Gould”
The response from one of America’s robber barons from back in the day, when asked what he’d do if there was ever a popular uprising.
I’m sure the Czar thought that would work in Russia too.
“I can hire one half of the working class to kill the other half.”
Generally this is who fights the wars, members of working classes pitted against each other.
“I have returned.” - General Douglas MacArthur
Spoken as he did it all himself, as if a few thousand solders didn’t pave the way.
‘“I have returned.” - General Douglas MacArthur’
Compare with the much more inclusive, “Lafayette, we are here!”
If I were a Wall Street billionaire who used my 2008 TARP bailout money to fund my 2009 bonus, I would be very scared at the moment.
Occupy Wall Street… mansions
By Charles Riley @CNNMoney
October 12, 2011: 7:48 AM ET
Protesters affiliated with Occupy Wall Street moved uptown on Tuesday to demonstrate outside of some of New York’s richest residents’ homes.
Protesters affiliated with Occupy Wall Street moved uptown on Tuesday to demonstrate outside of some of New York’s richest residents’ homes.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Occupy Wall Street is on the move … uptown.
Why uptown? Because that’s where the rich folks live!
Community groups and progressive organizations that have been working with the broader Occupy Wall Street movement in New York marched Tuesday to the homes of JP Morgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500) CEO Jamie Dimon, billionaire David Koch, hedge fund honcho John Paulson, Howard Milstein, and News Corp (NWSA, Fortune 500) CEO Rupert Murdoch.
The millionaires and billionaires were targeted for what event organizers called a “willingness to hoard wealth at the expense of the 99%.”
Making their way up 5th Avenue, the protesters — relatively modest in number — chanted “We are the 99%” and “Banks got bailed out, we got sold out.”
…
“Community groups and progressive organizations …”
Watch as the Occupy Wall Street movement gets hijacked by these groups.
Nothing scarier than a community group or a progressive organization.
The plutocrats have no reason to be frightened. They still own both parties. And in the last election 95% of the voters sanctioned crony capitalism, limitless bailouts, and impunity for massive fraud and criminality. The populace hasn’t gotten noticeably less docile and stupid since 2008, have they?
My words to my former Park Avenue broker look more prophetic by the day.
Around 3 years ago I told him he had better keep a UPS hat and jacket in his office to help facilitate his escape from the onrushing mobs. He worked for ML at the time.
I also told him he worked with a bunch of scumbags and that he must take a long hot shower every night to wash the associated filth off.
Another story I relayed to him. My wife asked if “XXXX drank the kool-aid?”. Meaning the BS being spewed by the investment houses. I replied “are you kidding me, XXXX works at the factory”.
He is a decent family man working in a dirty industry. He may indeed fall victim to insatiable greed like the rest.
IMO, invading their neigborhoods was the true stroke of genius coming from this movement.
You’ll notice that Mr. Gould’s plan was never hatched.
Seriously, how much could a dream home in Guilford, Ind. possibly cost?
Ex-Sox hurler to auction ‘04 Series ring
Former Sox reliever Scott Williamson will auction off his 2004 World Series ring to ease the strain of an overbuilt home that’s sapped his family’s cash reserves, but, more importantly, to finance an indoor baseball facility for kids on the Indiana-Ohio line.
Williamson and his wife, Lisa, have an 8-year-old son, Reece, and 6-year-old daughter, Cambrie. They have more assets than debt, but much of their cash is tied up in their dream house, which was built in 2004 in Lisa’s childhood home of Guilford, Ind., but has become a money pit since the economy crashed.
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1373458&srvc=rss
Seriously, how much could a dream home in Guilford, Ind. possibly cost?
Seriously, how much could a ring be possibly worth?
If he was say a former Tampa Devilrays pitcher? Not so much. But he was a Bosox pitcher from the team that won the first World Series for Boston in 86 years. I’ll bet his ring would fetch a pretty penny in Boston.
You mean I can’t pitch until I’m 60?
Most people are the same with money regardless of how many digits are involved.
They have more assets than debt, but much of their cash is tied up in their dream house, which was built in 2004 in Lisa’s childhood home of Guilford, Ind.,but has become a money pit since the economy crashed.
You mean, all of a sudden, the house became a money pit because the economy crashed? What? How the hell does that work? Did the crashing economy cause violent weather which led to enhanced degradation of the exterior? I’m at a loss here..
Banks closed in Ga, NC, NJ, Ill; 80 failed in ‘11
The Associated Press
Posted: 5:26 p.m. Friday, Oct. 14, 2011
WASHINGTON — Regulators on Friday closed small banks in Georgia, North Carolina, New Jersey and Illinois, boosting to 80 the number of U.S. bank failures this year.
The number of closures has fallen sharply this year as banks have worked their way through the bad debt accumulated in the recession. By this time last year, regulators had shuttered 132 banks.
Close the small banks in flyover country, ignore or backstop the massive, systemic fraud in the TBTF banks on Wall Street. Ain’t that America, you and me, ain’t that America, something to see….
Little pink houses for you and meGargantuan stucco eyesores for nobody..“Ooh, my arm! I think it’s broken…well, Sonja Henie’s out. We’ll take Danny Noonan.”
What Dubow gets if disability forces him out: $37M; payout much bigger than in traditional retirement .
Gannett would pay Chairman and CEO Craig Dubow $37.1 million in disability benefits, stock awards, pension and other payments if his new health problems force him from his job permanently, according to company documents filed with federal regulators.
Dubow, 56, is entitled to the payout under terms of his employment contract and the disability policy for senior executives, according to the annual proxy report to shareholders, which Gannett filed in March with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The payments are considerably more than what he would get, $22.5 million, if he retired voluntarily, the report says.
Dubow also would get limited use of the Corporate jet and access to a country club, the cost of which he would pay — but at substantially lower, company-subsidized rates, the proxy report says.
GCI announced early last night that Dubow is taking a second medical leave to deal with back and hip problems that sidelined him for four months starting in June 2009.
http://gannettblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/what-dubow-gets-if-disability-forces.html?m=1
Even though many investors are frustrated with executive pay packages, firing CEOs can be an expensive option.
According to data from GMI, the corporate governance research firm, more than a quarter of the companies in the SandP 500 reported declining income or net losses last year. It would cost a fortune, however, to fire these companies’ CEOs. GMI data shows that executives at these struggling companies are in line to receive severance payments worth $2.6 billion. More broadly, in the S&P 500, CEOs are entitled to receive an average of $22 million in the event they are fired. In total, it would cost shareholders $10.8 billion to fire the CEOs of all of the companies in the S&P 500.
CVS, The Chubb Corporation, Lockheed Martin, Comcast, and Verizon all reported declining net incomes or losses last year, and yet their shareholders would be on the line for almost half a billion dollars in severance packages if they moved to fire these companies’ CEOs
Read more: http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20111005/forbes-executive-compensation-limits-111009/#ixzz1aqvZi8yt
Read more: http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20111005/forbes-executive-compensation-limits-111009/#ixzz1aqutgtrC
Funny how you can reverse promises and find loopholes in contracts made to the little guy but CEO contracts are iron clad.
CEOs can afford better lawyers when dreawing their contratcts. And besides, most “little people” are “at will” employees anyway.
My FIL used to be an lower level executive. Once after I changed jobs my MIL asked me if I got a “good contract”. When I told her that people like me don’t get “contracts” she was surprised. I had to explain to her what “at will” employment was.
“When I told her that people like me don’t get ‘contracts’ she was surprised.”
Plus one point for unions. Union contracts allow union members to get collectively what they cannot get as individuals.
Plus one point for unions. Union contracts allow union members to get collectively what they cannot get as individuals.
Especially in closed shops states where as a condition of employment you are forced to the join the union and then the company/city/state takes out the unions due before you even get your paycheck.
You don’t even get the chance to see what you can get as an individual…
the company/city/state takes out the unions due before you even get your paycheck……
You don’t even get the chance to see what you can get as an individual… i.e. shafted
“And besides, most “little people” are “at will” employees anyway.”
I assumed CarrieAnn was referring to the “Social Security Trust Fund is just a bunch of debts (ie government bonds) that we can’t afford to repay”, kind of contract breaking. (The government bonds the rich hold will, of course, be paid in full.)
Think I said something along these lines earlier this week. The origins of the huge buy out for execs was because the assumption was they really only got fired because of a merger/takeover. The idea was to incentivise them to go for the merger if it was the best thing for the shareholders or to incentivise people to actually take the job for a company that was considered a hostile takeover target. With such a huge portion of exec salaries being stock based these days, the cash payouts shouldn’t be needed to accomplish these goals - they should want to got for the merger if it will increase the value of their shares and want to work for a company that is about to be taken over as that generally means a spike in share prices.
But don’t expect the lawyers who specialize in executive compensation to admit that.
By my tally these folks have racked in close to a trillion dollars just this year alone. The other day I saw where a senior exec in the Retail Property Management (shopping centers) got a package worth 120+ million. One of my all time favorites was the former CEO of EXXON who got over $400 million on top of billions he had already earned. He still funnels millions into the political system through super PACs. Is he a bad man? I don’t know. He maybe a jolly old fella but the system that allows this level of misdirected capital is corrupt.
By my tally these folks have racked in close to a trillion dollars just this year alone.
That’s 10,000,000 $100K per year “union goons”.
WHO are you to determine how much someone should be payed.
WHO are you to determine how much someone should be payed.
(said the South to the North in 1861)
unc….. maybe you should invoke some more constitution that you know nothing of.
unc:
It should be up to the free market. That’s why we need to get our free markets back. They are not free right now.
Stupid contracts.
Our house is a very very fine house 2 cats in the yard…..life was so easy becuase of youuuuuu
Our house, in the middle of the street….our house.
Wasn’t it the neighborhood that really made it so grand? The fact that we kind of worked together instead of stepping all over each other to be top dog. Like we’d shovel our driveway and then run over and help our older neighbor. Like our other lobsterman neighbor always brought us a bucket of lobsters at the end of the summer. Like playing baseball w/the kids w/MS cuz they made us laugh. Us kids wouldn’t have dreamed of excluding anyone who wasn’t good. It was all for fun. At least that’s how it was in my 70s New England neighorhoods. The particular structure you lived in really had nothing to do with whether you were happy or not. It was the attitudes we filled it with.
so true carrie…even the life/burial insurance guy was respected…..
So how are they going to put that soul into treeless McMansions?
Carrie-
We wish we could find your old neighborhood. That’s what we crave.
Maybe we need a time capsule.
NYCdj
Our experience in a McMansion neighborhood was, it was about your furniture, interior upgrades, your vehicle, and how pretenious and obnoxious you could be. Those people have a personality profile my husband and I can’t stand.
Awaiting,
You will need a time macine to recreate that. I’ll be 49 soon and my experience mimics Carrie’s (except the snow part).
My neighborhood now is very close knit but the pricing means very few young children. Still a relatively nice place to live for the time being.
SV guy
“time machine” is a better description than mine. Thank you.
You’re lucky. We’ve always live in pud’s w/ an hoa. This next home will of course be about the house we buy, but now we’re knocking on doors, seeing if we like the neighbors. This is our first resale home. Some people react positive that we’re paying cash (stability in the neighborhood), others are a little taken back.
Life is truly about people, experiences, and memories. The rest is noise, so to speak.
“The fact that we kind of worked together instead of stepping all over each other to be top dog…At least that’s how it was in my 70s New England neighorhoods. The particular structure you lived in really had nothing to do with whether you were happy or not. It was the attitudes we filled it with.”
That was back when we had a stable and large middle class. The security felt by the parents was picked up (just like today’s insecurity and its pathologies) by the kids, and was reflected in everyone’s daily life.
We gave that away so the top 1% could become even richer, despite the fact that they were already quite rich back then.
There must be more money…There must be more money…”
Willing to bet the insurance company was bailed out by the tax payer…
Kerry Killinger, Other Former Execs, Agree to $41 Million Payout in Latest WaMu Settlement
Another lawsuit against ex-Washington Mutual CEO Kerry Killinger and other WaMu execs is being settled as major legal action against the officials responsible for America’s biggest bank failure nears an end–without anyone going to jail and the bank’s insurance company paying the tab.
Settlement in the case, titled South Ferry LP #2 vs. Kerry L. Killinger et al, comes on the heels of another case, tentatively settled three months ago, in which another group of stockholders will receive $208.5 million, about half of it debited to Killinger and the execs but actually paid for by the bank’s insurance company.
http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/2011/10/kerry_killinger_other_former_e.php
Rich people have lawsuit insurance. Swell.
Gotta love the God and Government message.
Cain’s ‘impossible dream’ resonates with voters
JACKSON, Tenn. (AP) — Herman Cain is firing up the crowd at a tea party rally in this West Tennessee town when the generator powering his sound system shudders to a halt.
Cain stands awkwardly for a few moments then suddenly begins to sing. Slowly at first but gaining in speed, he belts out “Impossible Dream” in the rich baritone he’s honed in church choir.
“You know, when it’s your rally, you can do what you want to do!” Cain says as he finishes with a raucous laugh. The 500 or so supporters who have jammed the strip mall parking lot to hear the Republican Party’s newest star speak roar their approval.
His everyman image is resonating.
“In the field right now, he’s the most like me,” said Jimmy Hoppers, a 60-year-old physician from Jackson, who was hoping to meet Cain so he could hand deliver a $1,000 donation to his campaign. “He’s run a business and paid the bills. He’s authentic.”
On Friday night Cain, who is African-American, drew about 2,000 people — some in workshirts and overalls and nearly all white — to a feed barn in rural Waverly, Tenn.
This is a socially conservative country and Cain — ever the salesman — knows his audience. He closes by invoking God and singing the hymn “He Looked Beyond My Faults.”
“I love him,” gushed truck driver James Bland after Cain spoke. “He doesn’t talk down to you. I think he gets the working man.”
“And it makes me so happy that he’s put God back into things,” chimed in Bland’s wife, Karen
http://news.yahoo.com/cains-impossible-dream-resonates-voters-074938501.html
If only he was a community organizer - I could support him…
If only he served the interests of the super-rich and Corporate America - I could support him.
Oh wait, he does. Never mind.
If only he were lowering my taxes instead of raising them - I could support him.
Cain’s ‘impossible dream’ resonates with voters
Only because they don’t understand that:
1) He’s going to raise their taxes
2) While the rich will pay even less earned income tax
3) And pay ZERO capital gains tax
4) And he will defund Social Security
But I love how the MSM is portraying
1) A man who used to be a Fed Res fat cat (in other words a bankster)
2) A former CEO of a company where the overwhelming majority of the employees were minimum wage, part time, no benefits workers.
As someone in touch with the “little guy” because some people show up at a rally.
We’ll see if this really sells, or if he’s just the flavor of the month.
I debated Herman Cain’s economic advisor, Rich Lowrie, last night on the Larry Kudlow Show. A key point here is that the plan, which Bruce Barlett calls a “distributional nightmare,” radically shifts the tax burden from high-income households to everyone else. I focused on the median household, and Lowrie either doesn’t understand the implications of the plan or he’s deliberately misrepresenting it.
For a $50K household, married couple, two kids, all income from earnings and standard deductions, the current tax burden is $8.3K. Under 9-9-9, that would grow to $13.5K, an increase of over $5,000 (hat tip: CCH, BS). The WaPo fact checker came to a similar conclusion. E Klein too.
(I expect that any minute now the Tax Policy Center will release a slew of data supporting these points with their much more detailed tax model.)
But Lowrie wouldn’t accept that conclusion. In fact, he asserted that their federal tax would be lower because they’d move from a 15% payroll tax to a 9% income tax. This, as I said on air, is “patently wrong.”
First of all, assuming they plan to exist, they’ll need to consume stuff, and thus they’ll also face the 9% sales tax. That already makes their tax rate 18%, higher than the 15%.
But as Michael Linden points out, and this is widely agreed upon by tax economists, the incidence of the 9% tax on business income (which denies businesses a deduction for wages paid) also hits them, which is why former Joint Tax Committee chief of staff Ed Kleinbard described the tax as a 27% payroll tax for families whose incomes derive from earnings (note that Lowrie is perfectly comfortable with the standard assumption assigning the incidence of the employers side of the payroll tax to the family—this one re the business tax is equally standard).
For a family with $500K, same assumptions as above, their tax bill would fall by $44K…. (there is more)
http://jaredbernsteinblog.com/
Go to the October 14th stuff. Cain’s program is predicated on most people being terrible at math.
Just to clarify, it was Jacob Bernstein who debated Lowrie, not Polly herself, right?
His name is Jared, but yes.
Cain’s program is predicated on most people being terrible at math.
Absolutely. That Cain hasn’t been tarred, feathered and run out of town just demonstrates how gullible and lacking in critical thinking skills most Americans actually are.
Did he touch you, little guy? Where did he touch you? It’s OK, you can tell.
Shades of the hope ‘n change dupes of ‘08.
“Cain’s ‘impossible dream’ resonates with voters”
I’m from the Fed and I’m here to help you.
Riiiiiiiiiiight.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=im1SANTdqA8
“In 2005, Cain said housing bubble would not burst.”
He worked for the Fed; what do you expect?
That contrast between Ron Paul’s remarkable grasp of what was to come versus Cain’s cluelessness goes a long way to explaining why Republitards prefer Cain. There is nothing more dangerous to the fat cat bastards who profit from a corrupt status quo than a politician who really understands what is happening.
‘why Republitards prefer Cain’
I don’t know that they do. The media often tells the public who they support. Not long ago, Rick Perry jumped into the race and was almost immediately pronounced the ‘front runner.’
Based on what? I doubt many people even know who Perry is.
I doubt many people even know who Perry is.
In his case who might not be as important as what he is.
There is nothing more dangerous to the fat cat bastards who profit from a corrupt status quo than a politician who really understands what is happening.
Oh, Cain understands just fine. He’s a former bankster and they want to enhance the looting. But never mind that, the “union goon” wants your cookie!
When the youtube link is done you have a chance to click on this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_uy29aFzCU
which seriously questions whether the U.S. is any longer a nation of laws.
IAT
U.S. is any longer a nation of laws.
Obama is a joke. He just opened up a door for President Palin to send a drone to Reverend Wright’s hideout….
You do realize that Bush pushed the Patriot Act, which authorized secret searches (authorities can enter your domicile when you are away, search, and never inform you) and other changes to law that vitiate Constitutional protections. I don’t know why, in the face of massive evidence that national “leaders” have basically abandoned the Constitution, some persist in attempting to see a r**t’s a** of a difference between them. It’s like it’s some kind of sporting event, one has irrationally chosen a side, and this allows cheering and booing as we all get screwed by both sides.
IAT
“Republitards”
Oy.
From All in the Family, discussing Archie allegedly mellowing with age:
Edith: I think he’s right, Archie. Like, you haven’t said the word “Coon” in almost a year.
Archie: What are you talking about? I say it everyday.
Meathead: You haven’t said it in front of us.
Archie (agitated): Alright then: Coon! Coon! Coon!!
“In the field right now, he’s the most like me,” said Jimmy Hoppers, a 60-year-old physician from Jackson, who was hoping to meet Cain so he could hand deliver a $1,000 donation to his campaign. “He’s run a business and paid the bills. He’s authentic.”
Hate to break it to you Jimmy but unless you are a pediatrician more than half your money comes from the state. You are a gov employee and a highly paid one at that. Take away medicare, medicaid, and private insurance plans that state employees have and I’d say you’re business will shrink by 60-70%.
Woman on ‘60 Minutes’ has foreclosure dismissed
WEST PALM BEACH — A judge dismissed the foreclosure case against Lynn Szymoniak, the Palm Beach Gardens lawyer featured Sunday on 60 Minutes
Comment by Insurance Guy
2011-10-14 07:36:32
I know Lynn. The bank refiled for the foreclosure within the 30 days so nothing has really changed.
The first foreclosure was a complete mess with the robo signers and other crazy stuff. Deutche hired new lawyers and they may do the paperwork right this time. (or not).
Reelin’ In The Years
Your everlasting summer
You can see it fading fast
The Refi party`s over
That you that you thought was gonna last
You wouldn’t know a payment
If you held it in your hand
Why you think you are a victim
I don’t understand
Are you Livin’ Free For Years?
Robo signing was a crime?
Are you gatherin’ up the tears?
You aint getting none of mine
You were tellin’ me you’re a genius
Cause you cashed out seven times
Now that you spent all the money
Robo signing was a crime?
The refi on the mansion
Didn’t turn out like you planned
How these people pass for victims
I can’t understand
Are you Livin’ Free For Years?
Robo signing was a crime?
Are you gatherin’ up the tears?
You aint getting none of mine
I spend a lot of money
And I pay a lot of rent
To a Deadbeat Victim Landlord
Who a rescue plan was sent
After all the things he`s done and seen
He defaulted anyway
He pockets all the money
From the rent I have to pay
Are you Livin’ Free For Years?
Robo signing was a crime?
Are you gatherin’ up the tears?
You aint getting none of mine
When lay people (not lawyers) think of a case being dismissed, they think of a criminal case because that is what is on the TV shows. The dismissal of a criminal case is so entirely different (double jeopardy and all that) than that of a civil case that it is practically misleading to use the same term for both events. But try getting the media to explain that.
“When lay people (not lawyers) think of a case being dismissed”
I`m a lay people. What I thought about this was Lynn bought more time to live for free, hoping she will get to keep the house without making another payment on the fortune she borrowed while claiming she was a victim because they could not keep track of the money she borrowed and spent.
Now, if Lynn was saying I got caught up in a mania and I thought house prices never went down and I screwed up and borrowed more money than I could ever possibly repay if house prices did go down. So I am going to stay here as long as I can before I have to move out, file BK and start over. I would look at her differently.
and explain dismissed with prejudice to the public, and why it is so important to try and get it.
I think I may have been a little hard on Lynn Szymoniak, the Palm Beach Gardens lawyer featured Sunday on 60 Minutes. So……
Beach Boys Surfer Girl Lyrics
Little Deadbeat little one
Made my heart come all undone
Do you love me, do you Deadbeat girl
Deadbeat girl my little Deadbeat girl
I have watched you at your door
Living free for years or more
Do you love me do you Deadbeat girl
Deadbeat girl Deadbeat girl
We could live for free together
While our love would grow
With my rent check I would take you everywhere I go
So I say from me to you
I will make your dreams come true
Do you love me do you Deadbeat girl
Deadbeat girl my little Deadbeat girl
Well
Girl Deadbeat girl my little Deadbeat girl
Well
Girl Deadbeat girl my little Deadbeat girl
Well
Girl Deadbeat girl my little Deadbeat girl
http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=195994
Bald lies from the right (about the banks).
Tankxs Sammy, (goes good with morning almond champagne mimosas…)
The fact of the matter is that both major political parties actively conspired with not only Wall Street but the Federal Reserve to put in place monetary and fiscal policies, along with intentional head-turning to outrageous practices that constituted pyramid schemes throughout our economy that have enriched the few at the gross and outrageous expense of the common man. Our offshoring of jobs and the trade deficits that have resulted from it cannot be sustained without explicit and intentional actions by both The Fed and Congress to enable them. This is not just China’s fault (although they are certainly guilty as well) it is also our political and banking class — the 1% — that has willfully and intentionally sent the 99%ers jobs overseas and they all did it for profit!
Thank God that Leverage will soon be out in hardback so that everyone can understand exactly what happened, why it can’t work, and hopefully we will manage to (finally) have an honest conversation in this nation about what we can afford, what we can’t, and what we have to do to resolve what the “1%” (half of them on Wall Street and the other half in DC) intentionally, willfully and with malice aforethought engaged in over the last 30 years.
THAT IS A PONZI SCHEME AND PONZI SCHEMES ARE CRIMES!
And oh by the way, see the last year or so?
We’re trying to do it again but there’s nobody left in the economy, other than young adults that we have intentionally rendered ignorant by failing to teach them that it’s focking stupid to take $70,000 in student loans to study history while at the same time we prevent those loans from being discharged in bankruptcy.
This willful and intentional corruption of the bankruptcy process effectively makes legal predatory loan-writing by student-loan lenders and their willing accomplices in the student financial aid offices at colleges who have superior knowledge and who should be exposed to well-deserved bankruptcy themselves for writing bad loans (along with the foolish students who take bad loans and who do get screwed.) It has also caused a 900% increase in the cost of college in the last 30 years - an utterly impossible-to-sustain price change unless you intentionally bankrupt huge swaths of the young adults you lure into the trap with the claim of the necessity of a college “education” in order to obtain a well-paying job.
We are now to the point where one trillion dollars in student loans are outstanding. Put bluntly we are literally, as a nation, as politicians and more importantly as parents, screwing our kids blind in order to find just one more hit of debt crack in the carpet fibers of our economy!
2004 ——-> qtr #4 2007 = Feloniou$
“heheeheeeheee….”
http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?get_gallerynr=2321
Investing
‘Extreme Selling’ Punishes Mutual Funds as Investors Buy ETFs
By Robert Holmes 10/13/11 - 01:34 PM EDT
BOSTON (TheStreet) — Investors are pulling money from U.S. equity mutual funds as fast as they can as the stock-market decline accelerates. They’re buying government bonds, boosting savings and, surprisingly, moving into exchange traded funds.
“Extreme selling” by individual investors has caused $94.7 billion in redemptions from U.S. stock mutual funds in the four months through September, investment-research firm TrimTabs said. For all of 2008, which hosted the financial meltdown, economic recession and stock-market crash, outflows totaled $162 billion.
The wholesale dumping of U.S. equity mutual funds underscores investors’ aversion to the stock market’s wild volatility. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has had intraday swings of more than 300 points in 20 trading sessions since Aug. 1. A recent survey by Natixis Global Asset Management found 47% of U.S. investors are worried about losing money due to volatility.
The selling isn’t contained to U.S. stock funds. Investors also pulled $9 billion from global funds from the start of June until the end of August, which TrimTabs researchers say is the heaviest bleeding in 2 1/2 years. Less than two weeks into this month, October’s outflows from global funds total $1.3 billion already.
“Mom and pop are extremely disgusted with international stocks,” with “performance probably partly to blame,” TrimTabs researchers write in their report released late Wednesday. Global funds have slumped 15.4% this year, more than the 9.6% drop of the average domestic fund.
Morningstar analysts report similar findings, saying September had $6.9 billion flowing out of U.S. stock mutual funds.
So where’s the money going? Morningstar notes that $90 billion has flowed into long-term mutual funds this year as $160 billion has flowed out of money market funds. That leaves $70 billion unaccounted for, and builds on a difference of $216 billion from all of 2010.
“With money continuing to flow out of money market funds, a smaller proportion flowing into long-term mutual funds, and bank-deposit growth slowing, it’s possible that investors are now using money that used to go into savings for consumption,” Morningstar Editorial Director Kevin McDevitt writes in today’s research note.
…
“Investors are pulling money from U.S. equity mutual funds as fast as they can as the stock-market decline accelerates.”
Decline? Accelerates? I know the publish date was October 13, but when was this actually written? I’m guessing it was around 10 days prior.
How ’bout, “Investors are pulling money from U.S. equity mutual funds as fast as they can now that the market has bottomed.”
http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=^GSPC+Interactive#chart1:symbol=^gspc;range=3m;indicator=volume;charttype=line;crosshair=on;ohlcvalues=0;logscale=on;source=undefined
At what point did America become a Third World country?
Lincoln Mitchell
Harriman Institute, Columbia University
The Occupy Wall Street Movement: Not a Moment Too Soon
Posted: 10/11/11 07:38 PM ET
Following the controversial Supreme Court decision which awarded the presidency to George W. Bush in 2000, a number of commentators noted the peaceful nature in which Americans across the political spectrum accepted the decision. This equanimity was offered as evidence of the strength and resilience of American democracy. At that time, few raised the question of whether or not the relative silence which greeted what was, at best, a series of questionable decisions in Florida and the Supreme Court, and at worst, election fraud, was, in fact, evidence of the weakness of American democracy.
…
When the population became morally compromised. As evidenced by millions signing liar loans, or tens of millions sanctioning crony capitalism with their votes for Obama and McCain.
I know that for me the system lost all moral legitimacy at that moment. I mean, in all the elections in which I had voted for Senate, House, and President, I had probably voted for the winner three times (Clinton, twice). But I accepted the lost elections without so much as a second thought.
But, once one side went to court arguing that one should STOP COUNTING VOTES, and the court upheld this dubious idea, moral legitimacy was impossible. Shouldn’t any person who argues that legally cast votes should not be counted be therefore disqualified from taking an office who’s oath binds them to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States?”
I will never accept the Bush administration, I don’t care how many 9/11s occur. For all I know counting the votes would have led him to win, but because we will never know, that election, every judicial appointment he made, every law he signed, all illegitimate. I would feel the same way if Gore had taken office with that process, and I will deepen my feeling if any other candidate takes office in that way.
I believe history bears out my stance, as the U.S. has lost any semblance of cohesion, as polarization has skyrocketed since 2000. This has magnified our problems and minimized the social capital resources we have to address them.
IAT
Good stuff.
Amen! +1
yeppers
October 14, 2011, 4:30 PM ET
Housing Inventories Hit Four-Year Low
By Nick Timiraos
The number of homes listed for sale in September fell to the lowest level in more than four years, offering a mixed signal about the health of the U.S. housing market.
The 2.19 million homes listed for sale was down by 3.3% from August, which had been the previous low for the year, and about 20% from the year-earlier period, according to data compiled by Realtor.com. It is also the lowest level since Realtor.com began its count in January 2007.
Falling inventories are typically a sign of health because that leads to less downward pressure on home prices. But real-estate agents and home buyers across the country have increasingly voiced frustration with what many say are slim pickings. As a result, the latest inventory declines may point instead to the housing market’s continued disrepair.
Banks have slowed down their foreclosure processes over the last year, which could lead to lower volumes of bank-owned properties hitting the market. Meanwhile, sellers, frustrated with lowball offers, could be taking their homes off the market to wait for a sign that prices have stopped falling.
The decline in inventory is also troubling because it suggests that there are fewer opportunities for buyers and sellers to strike deals and engage in price discovery. That can further chill sales as buyers become afraid to overpay while sellers are similarly cautious about under-pricing their home.
During the month of September, listings of unsold homes fell by 7% in Portland, Ore.; by 6.6% in Dallas; and by 5.6% in Atlanta. None of 30 major markets tracked by Realtor.com posted an increase.
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they’re waiting for the market to bounce back..in the year 2525…
Banks backing off on foreclosures in Palm Beach County
By Jeff Ostrowski Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 8:45 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2011
“The banks don’t have a motivation to push these through quickly,” said Tom Ice, a foreclosure attorney in Royal Palm Beach. “There’s a lot of expense involved in owning the houses. And they understand that flooding the market with properties is going to push down the resale value of their own properties.”
“Banks are in business to make as much money as they can, or to lose as little money as they can,” he said. “It’s a bad business decision to flood the market.”
The banks just simply are holding back,” Bock said. “They have many more loans in default than they’re putting through into foreclosure.”
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/money/foreclosures/banks-backing-off-on-foreclosures-in-palm-beach-1910596.html - 89k
Bofa is foreclosing in earnest in OR; but inventory is not growing. why? Fannie is letting any “tenants” stay for a year, delaying the inevitable inventory influx for year(s). By getting into property management.
Nevermind that the mortgages that are being foreclosed upon were written largely as “owner occupied”. Folks got mortgages, didn’t follow the rules as per occupancy(in some cases anyway), rented them out, and now the peeps who are cheats get all the slick beats.
Jeff saturday; when they ever get rid of your landlord and the bank/Fannie buys your house; you may get to rent from Fannie(assuming they own the mortgage) at a lesser rate than you pay now.
We told Fannie the truth; i.e. our home was not under lease when sold at trustee sale. The realtor for Fannie assumed that it was a rental because when she showed up at the door she asked “Are you the ex-owner?” I said no, (my wife owned the home). Now wife has 14 days to collect $2100 cash for keys. She has to sign an agreement to leave the place in broom swept emptiness.
30 days cfc goes down to $500.
Then comes official eviction; realtor lady said it could take them 10 to 90 days. We can roll the dice; forget about the cash for keys which would work out if the eviction schedule runs more towards 90 days than 14 plus 10(24 days), in which case we would be out $1000.
But could have said I was a tenant and it would have worked out better. But the old adage “Cheaters always prosper” is rattling around in my head while we look for a rental in podunk Bend for $1500(Ripoff management companies too, telling owners they don’t need to take pets. and charge $40 per adult app fee only to reject you for your foreclosure or having pets) I rent out my own home to a great tenant for $825; its just that it is a 45 min commute for my wife job and kids school, that the only reason we don’t tell her to leave in 30 days. but we still may have that; it is good to have that option! Y’all have a good day now!
Housing watchers pin hopes on 2015
What it will take to reduce oversupply of new homes
By Steve Bergsman, Friday, October 14, 2011.
Inman News™
Economists are like ancient soothsayers; they, metaphorically speaking, throw a bunch of crazy stuff into a big cauldron, heat it all up over a roaring fire, and then divine the future by reading the bubbling contents.
The trouble is, no two soothsayers use the same secretive ingredients. I mean, do you throw in one eye of a toad or two, or one or three cups of crushed mandrake?
Looking over a couple of midsummer data reports, it appears the soothsayers have decidedly contrasting views of where the U.S. housing market is headed. Some have opted for the optimistic viewpoint, but others fall into the camp of the cautious. Who knows? Maybe they are both right.
At the beginning of August, the Wall Street Journal reported the number of homes listed for sale in U.S. cities declined during the second quarter. The Journal story focused on Realtor.com numbers that showed by the end June, nearly 2.34 million homes were listed for sale by multiple listing services in more than 900 metro areas, the lowest level for that time of year since 2007.
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EndTheFed is joining OWS
http://endthefedusa.ning.com/events/end-the-fed-at-occupy-saturday-october-15-rally
More sweet music.
And protests are sweeping around the world. As I said before, the next few weeks/months will be critical. Either this will fizzle out with a whimper or it will grow exponentially. The PTB are doing everything they can to “contain” the movement. We’ll see how that turns out.
The objection du jour is that the protestors “just complain, but don’t offer solutions”.
Be care of what you ask for, PTB. They might come up with “solutions” that are popular with the masses but that you won’t like one bit.
Even if this one fizzles out I think it’s gotten people thinking more and paying more attention. One of them will figure out the trick to getting a majority behind them, even if it’s not this one.
It is not going to fizzle out with a whimper. No way, no how.
Energy Dept. Ignored Warnings About Solyndra Loan
By RONNIE GREENE and MATTHEW MOSK
iWATCH NEWS and ABC NEWS
Oct. 14, 2011
When the DOE refinanced the government’s $535 million loan to the California solar panel manufacturer in February, it agreed to let investors, including a major Obama fundraiser, stand in line before the public to recoup the first $75 million of their investment should the company fail. Solyndra declared bankruptcy six weeks ago.
During a House Energy and Commerce hearing on the refinancing of the loan Friday, Rep. Cliff Stearns, R.-Florida, chairman of the Committee’s Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, asked Treasury Department CFO Gary Burner if he had ever seen another case where taxpayer money was subordinated to that of investors.
“No sir, I have not,” said Burner, who has been with the department for 28 years, becoming chief financial officer five years ago.
In March, The Center for Public Integrity’s iWatch News, in partnership with ABC News, began exposing questions about the role political influence may have played in Department of Energy loan projects, including Solyndra’s selection as the Obama administration’s first loan guarantee recipient. DOE said its recipients won awards on merit, and that it backs innovative and potentially risky projects as environmental game changers. The House Energy and Commerce Committee has sought information from Solyndra’s prime investors, including Oklahoma oil billionaire Kaiser, a “bundler” of campaign contributions to the president in 2008.
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/solyndra-energy-dept-warning-treasury-official/story?id=14739148 -
Equity Digest
Can low cash balances trigger the perfect storm in stocks?
Peter Garnry, 28 September 2011
Non-Independent Investment Research
A dangerous cocktail is brewing
Classical long-only stock mutual funds in the U.S. have lowered their cash balances in aggregate to the lowest levels since 1986 according to figures from ICI Mutual Fund Statistics. If you combine this fact with increasing risk adversity among retail and institutional investors in addition to high correlation among many assets classes then the financial system may have a new time bomb ticking, ready to explode in what could be a perfect storm.
However, a bomb always needs a trigger mechanism and in this case the trigger is asset redemption, the worst nightmare for any portfolio manager. With Man Group’s, one of the world’s largest hedge funds, shocking announcement today concerning huge asset redemption the trigger may already have been set in motion in the highly leveraged hedge fund industry.
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Imagine being hired by the Man Group. You could literally say you worked for The Man.
“Hugh asset redemption ahead?”
Pick up you bastards!
Is there anyone there?
Yes, what do you see?
Hugh asset redemption, right ahead!
Thank you.
Hard a’starboard!
What happened, Mr. Murdoch?
A hugh asset redemption, sir. I put a hard a’starboard on the engines, full astern, but it was too close. I tried to port ’round it, but she hit.
Close the watertight doors.
Doors are closed, sir.
The printing press… if we fired up the printing press…
The printing press buys you time, but minutes only. From this moment, no matter what we do, this financial system will founder.
But this financial system can’t meltdown!
She’s made of debt, sir! I assure you, she can… and she will. It is a mathematical certainty.
She’s made of debt, sir! I assure you, she can… and she will. It is a mathematical certainty.
Well put…Titanic 2012.
Hedge fund exits rose in stormy September - GlobeOp
LONDON | Wed Oct 12, 2011 4:07am EDT
(Reuters) - Investors pulled out around five times more cash from hedge funds in the month to October 1 than in the prior period, during one of the most turbulent few weeks for stock and bond prices since the 2008 financial crisis dampened appetite for risk.
Gross outflows, as measured by the GlobeOp Capital Movement Index, which tracks monthly net subscriptions and redemptions from hedge funds running around $170 billion (109 billion pounds) of assets, hit 3.17 percent last month, the fourth time gross exits topped 3 percent in 2011.
Withdrawals from hedge funds had fallen to 0.58 percent in the month to September 1, the lowest level since before the credit crunch as investors swapped traditional ’safe havens’ like the Swiss franc and gold in favour of portfolios expected to make money in all seasons.
GlobeOp’s index showed hedge fund inflows were still net positive, rising 0.31 percent in the month to October 1 on the back of a 3.48 percent gross influx of capital.
“Hedge fund investors remain committed,” said Hans Hufschmid, chief executive officer of GlobeOp Financial Services. “After a double-digit decline in equities over the quarter, alternative investments continue to hold their attraction.”
The $2 trillion hedge funds industry faces an uphill struggle to deliver an average positive annual return in 2011 against a backdrop of unprecedented stress in euro zone sovereign debt markets and equity market falls triggered by fears of a new global recession.
The average fund lost 2.8 percent in September, putting it down 4.7 percent for the first nine months, according to Hedge Fund Research’s HFRI index.
(Reporting by Sinead Cruise; Editing by Dan Lalor)
Boulder-area Realtor convicted of raping 20-year-old babysitter”"
http://www.dailycamera.com/boulder-realestate-news/ci_17903607
Rule number one: Don’t rape the babysitter!
Rule #2: Don’t fight a hod carrier.
heheeeheeeheehaahaaahaaheeehaahaaa… (Hwy50™)
Rupert Mu
rdoch is heckled by Occupy protesters dressed as Sesame Street characters in San Francisco. KGO reports.CCN Video / Oct 15h 2011
Off to do a garden project,… (Hwy laughing in am morning America)
Pawnbroker offers up to $1 million to aid NBA players
October 15th, 2011,by Mary Ann Milbourn / OC Register
We all come up short of cash from time to time and a lot of basketball players are feeling stretched these days after the NBA owners locked them out and cut off their paychecks.
Pawngo has come to their rescue. The online pawnbroker is teaming up with the commercial finance firm Metrix Capital Group LLC, to offer professional athletes “quick, discreet and reliable short and long term loans.”
The program allows an athlete to pawn items up to $1 million and get their money within 24 hours. A normal bank loan could take up to a month.
“Most people are unaware that athletes only get paid during their respective seasons, thereby leaving them 6 or more months with no income,” said Jeff Brannon, managing director of Metrix. “This program evens out their annual cash flow and allows payers to better handle tight financial positions.”
Elderly renter assistance checks on the way
Published 1:30 p.m.,
Saturday, October 15, 2011
HARTFORD (AP) — Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy says more than 42,300 checks will soon be in the mail to elderly and disabled renters to help offset a portion of their expenses.
The $21.7 million for this year’s checks was released from the state’s accounts Friday for its Elderly Renters Rebate Program, which started in 1974 to help offset rent and utility costs.
The program is designed to help people ages 65 and older, or younger than 65 and disabled.
Married people whose annual income is less than $39,500 can receive $50 to $900, depending on their income. Single people with less than $32,300 in yearly income can receive $50 to $700.
People can apply each year between May 15 and Sept. 15 at their municipality’s social service agency or assessor’s office.
Read more: http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Elderly-renter-assistance-checks-on-the-way-2220235.php#ixzz1asEyraRU
Based on those numbers, wouldn’t most people qualify for the rent subsidy? That seems weird to me.
Is Slim on holiday or is she occupying Wall Street?
or um….she found a hot date?????
My poor little kitty has been killed.
He lived by the tooth and he died by the tooth.
I love Wheaton.
Sorry to hear that. RIP Wheaton.
My condolences for your loss.
Rest in peace, Wheaton.
IAT
Sorry about Wheaton. He was a great kitty.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH3kiaJ1-c8&feature=colike
Citibank customer arrested for trying to close her bank account in protest. No laws broken but still taken down by cops. I hope she sues them big-time.
I hope that security guard gets convicted of assault.
Thousands protest banks, corporate greed in U.S. marches
By Edith Honan and Edward McAllister
NEW YORK | Sat Oct 15, 2011 9:26pm EDT
(Reuters) - Thousands of anti-Wall Street protesters rallied in New York’s Times Square on Saturday, buoyed by a global day of demonstrations in support of their month long campaign against corporate greed.
Inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement, protests on Saturday started in Asia and rippled through Europe back to the United States and Canada. Protesters fed up with economic inequality took to the streets in cities from Washington, Boston and Chicago to Los Angeles, Miami and Toronto.
After weeks of intense media coverage, the size of the U.S. protests on Saturday have been smaller than G20 meetings or political conventions yielded in recent years. Such events often draw tens of thousands of demonstrators.
In New York, where the movement began when protesters set up camp in a Lower Manhattan park on September 17, organizers said the protest grew to at least 5,000 people as they marched to Times Square from their makeshift outdoor headquarters.
“These protests are already making a difference,” said Jordan Smith, 25, a former substance abuse counselor from San Francisco, who joined the New York protest. “The dialogue is now happening all over the world.”
The protesters chanted, “We got sold out, banks got bailed out” and “All day, all week, occupy Wall Street.” They arrived in Times Square at a time when the area is already crowded with tourists and Broadway theatergoers.
“This is disgusting” said Anatoly Lapushner, who was shopping with his family at Toys R Us in Times Square. “Why aren’t they marching on Washington and the politicians? Instead they go after the economic lifeblood of the city.”
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Letter to the Editor
A protest movement in its infancy
Published: October 15
Dana Milbank’s put-down of the Freedom Plaza and Occupy D.C. demonstrators [“A movement in no need of a leader,” Sunday Opinion, Oct. 9] makes one wonder where he was during the ’60s and ’70s and whether he has any sense of how a mass movement develops.
“Where are the numbers?” Mr. Milbank complained. The answer seems obvious. The Occupation movement, though surging nationally, is at the stage civil rights demonstrators occupied in 1963-64, when a few hundred protesters staging sit-ins and Freedom Riders lighted the fuse of what was to become a social explosion. Occupation’s position is analogous to that of the antiwar movement in 1966-67, when several hundred students burned their draft cards and a couple of thousand turned up later at the Pentagon, harbingers of the hundreds of thousands to come.
More than a thousand people were in Freedom Plaza on Oct. 6 — and not just “the usual suspects.” If Mr. Milbank is sincere about hoping their numbers will increase, my advice to him is: “Wait a little while. They are coming!”
Rich Rubenstein, Washington