Bits Bucket for October 20, 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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Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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SJC puts foreclosure sales in doubt
boston.com
The state’s highest court added further turmoil to the housing market yesterday when it ruled that buyers of some foreclosed homes may not be the legal owners of those properties.
The decision leaves in limbo hundreds, if not thousands, of people who bought homes seized by lenders under questionable circumstances. They are left with no easy recourse; among their options are to sue the lender behind the botched foreclosure or “reforeclose’’ on the prior owner.
“It leaves us nowhere,’’ said Edward M. Bloom, president of the Real Estate Bar Association for Massachusetts. “The residential housing market is never going to stabilize and grow until all of these properties that are in foreclosure are organized and cleaned out.’’
This is the second ruling in less than a year in which the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has tried to sort out the mess created by the rapid-fire foreclosure of thousands of properties after the housing market’s collapse. During that time, some lenders seized and then resold homes before establishing a clear record of ownership. Last winter, the high court upheld a contentious ruling from the Massachusetts Land Court that challenged how banks had traditionally seized properties without having all the necessary paperwork.
In that case the high court overturned foreclosures of two properties in Springfield by U.S. Bancorp and Wells Fargo after the banks could not prove they owned the mortgages they foreclosed on.
Those darn robots again!
Does the title company pay up in these cases?
Depends on what the title insurance policy actually says. If it is dependent on certain things it was told being true (they are not responsible for confirming the truth of those items), and those things were not true, they might have an out. As always, the words matter.
Polly
In a sense, are you descriping carve outs, or is that something entirely different?
I think of it more as a condition - this insurance is only good if the following items represented to us by X are actually true.
Pretty close to a carve out in effect.
I had an interesting conversation about six months back, with a very-highly-placed person who works at one of the largest title insurance companies. By very-highly-placed, I mean that this person had a dotted-line reporting structure directly to the board of directors.
I asked point-blank whether they were concerned about potential losses due to foreclosure improprieties. The answer was no, that they thought their risk was well-contained in those cases.
Apparently, the large title-insurance companies have negotiated agreements with the large banks, in which the banks essentially are indemnifying them against losses in the future due to any foreclosure missteps on the bank’s part.
Interesting, no?
Addressing Polly’s posts yesterday regarding Federal employee, I think she is correct about new Feds getting 13 days of PTO plus the 10 Fed holidays off, not sure about sick days.
The squad’s subcontract allows those same 10 holidays and 15 days of PTO annually, with no additional sick leave or sick ‘bank’ of leave that can be stored up, transfered, or cashed in.
WRT alternative work schedule, working 80 hours per pay period, typically 8 9-hour days plus 1 8-hour day, and having 1 weekday off per pay period. While the 26 annual AWS weekdays off are not technically PTO, it sure feels that way, and working 9 hour days doesn’t really feel like overtime.
The whole point of this discussion is that Life is not all about work.
The Lucky Duckies working 3 jobs to scrape in $500/week can’t afford to complain, but other higher-paid and likely better-educated workers can. The ‘exempt’ employees who feel chained to their jobs who feel required to put in 50+ hour weeks choose to live that way.
The squad has Been There and Done That milking 55+ client-billable hours per week (all recorded down to 15 minute increments), and that is not Living. If you chose the expensive spouse, chose to breed children, chose to sign that mortgage albatross, then you can choose to work yourself to death to pay for all of it.
There are always some survivors.
Good points goon, but don’t forget, things can change without any control over the situation.
Illness, accidents, buy-out, layoffs, promotions, de-motions. All of these are game changers and often happen without notice.
That said, I have an old saying: I work to live, not live to work.
Choosing to pay less than 20% of net income for housing is a great way to be prepared to pay for housing with no income
I prefer 5%, but that’s just me :-).
You’re in Boulder? You must make a ton of $$$ or live somewhere ridiculously cheap. California equity locusts ruined that town.
Yeah, my lot rent just went up to $250/mo at the trailer park, effective December 1st :-).
Turkey lurkey, those turns of fate always occured. It’s just that we used to prepare for them. It was called saving for a rainy day.
When did spending every red cent so you couldn’t practice your own personal responsibility become so accepted? We’ve become a nation of victims. But really most of us are just victims of our own hubris.
When? About the time jobs went offshore and raises were far and few between while REAL inflation was double digits and layoffs were an everyday occruance.
That’s when.
We’ve become a nation of victims. But really most of us are just victims of
our own hubris.profits over people.You’re right about the globalization of our jobs but let’s be honest here. The outcry started immediately. There was no savings going on. They were not ready for anything but the good times.
saving going on
The specualtion was in repsonse to the lack of steady and relaible employment.
That said, yes there were still many who redefined “irresponsible.”
“That said, I have an old saying: I work to live, not live to work.”
My saying is: Life is like a shat sandwich, the more bread you’ve got the less shat you’ve got to eat.
Make your own bread and you have more control over how many turds are baked in.
Make your own bread and you have more control over how many turds are baked in…unless only the super-rich have all the dough.
“Make your own bread and you have more control over how many turds are baked in.”
“The whole point of this discussion is that Life is not all about work.”
The government employer programs are indeed generous, but they still are lacking for some families where mom has a toddler usually with grandma during the day. These moms are in boring low pay positions, but they provide the healthcare benefits for the family since dad can’t find a job with benefits without that college degree. So they struggle, the kids get sick, and mom is never able to accrue a sizable leave balance, so they suffer financially too. It’s a vicious circle.
If you want your life to be about having kids (and the potentially infinite financial liabilities thereof) then breed and have kids. If you don’t want your life to be about having kids, then don’t breed and have kids.
Nobody is forced to choose this, just as nobody is forced to sign the mortgage albatross
“If you want your life to be about having kids (and the potentially infinite financial liabilities thereof) then breed and have kids. If you don’t want your life to be about having kids, then don’t breed and have kids.”
“Nobody is forced to choose this”
Nobody is forced to have the infinite financial liabilities of their own kids. But they are forced to have the infinite financial liabilities of others kids.
Children of immigrants sue Florida education officials over tuition rates
By John Lantigua
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
8 hours ago
Five students who were born in the United States, raised in Florida and graduated from its high schools are suing state education officials after being charged out-of-state tuition rates at public colleges and universities because their parents are undocumented.
Parents wealth are used to determine financial aid in FIFSA, so why not use parents status for fees?
Only if the law/policy is that in-state/out-of-state tuition is based on the parents’ residency status, not the status of the student. And the state’s rules say that undocumented means you can’t be a resident, because obviously you can be a resident within the dictionary meaning without being documented.
Here’s the problem with that statement
Back in the 80s-early 90s, nobody ever dreamed that the Banksters and politicians would sell out J6P, and J6P would end up taking a 40% pay cut, even those with “secure” jobs.
IOW, kids, like houses and new cars, were “affordable” back then.
I guess we should make it legal to smother the kids when we can’t afford them anymore. But that would mean that Bill-in-wherever would be gawking at Mexican strippers, instead of formerly middle class American girls.
If I couldn’t forsee any of this, I guess I’m guilty as charged. Along with about 95% of the population.
“Back in the 80s-early 90s, nobody ever dreamed that the Banksters and politicians would sell out J6P…”
Really? I’m not so sure about that one. There were plenty of stories written in the 90-91 recession that sound almost verbatim to what we hear and read today: employment insecurity, outsourcing, white collar layoffs. Things were pretty rough on many people. (ex: the guys I worked with from Eastern, Pan Am, and TWA - the late 80s and early 90s were bad times and they knew full well they were being sold out)
Now 1995-2000 that might have been true but only because some J6P got a taste of honey with the dot bombs. (coworkers dabbling in Dell and Gateway - many of you remember those days)
Nah, if anything we are picking up where we left off before the dot bomb and housing bubble distractions.
“Most” people didn’t think they were oging to get sold out, especially the supervisor class and up. But not everyone.
The blue collar worker alreayd knew in the 1980s, but they were accused of making too much money for “jobs anyone can do” and were ignored and derided.
Interesting how the worm turned, isn’t it?
haha yes the IT guys were riding high back in the 80s, ya shoulda got a math degree, like me! my job can never be replaced! LOL.
We were right down the street (Rte 128) from Polaroid and GE. We most certainly did understand about all but the top being sold down the river.
In each life choice there are always cons associated w/every amazing pro.
Dad was successfully self employed (although he spent it all on toys) but never home. Although pretty independent I decided almost right from the start I’d rather have someone home more often to help me raise & influence our kids than a cushier life w/another workaholic. I made my choice accordingly.
So many of my more comfortable (or maybe just more spendthrift?) friends complain bitterly of their husbands’ repeated absences. I’m horrribly unsympathetic as I see they made their choices a long time ago and only just now are recognizing or admitting the downside.
From my experience, a lot of those absences are because the spouse hated his home life.
Yep. Been there.
Working on different shifts helps too. Along with reducing/eliminating babysitting expenses.
Chicken and egg, perhaps?
Passive aggression is a home life killer, I’d suspect.
My brother felt that way about our father, and didn’t take his work too seriously, lettle overtime, so he could spend more time with his kids. After he was laid off at age 51, he really really got to spend a lot of time with them. My father ended up supporting them all.
Buyer Can’t Sue After Bad Foreclosure Sale
boston.com
A Massachusetts man who bought property in a faulty foreclosure sale isn’t the true owner and so doesn’t have the right to sue over it, the state’s high court ruled.
The Supreme Judicial Court, which in January found that banks can’t foreclose on a house if they don’t own the mortgage, went one step further in a closely watched case and said a sale after that foreclosure doesn’t transfer the property. Therefore, the buyer couldn’t bring his court action against a previous owner, the court ruled.
The high court upheld a lower-court decision that said Francis J. Bevilacqua III, the buyer of residential property in Haverhill, Massachusetts, never owned it because U.S. Bancorp foreclosed before it got the mortgage. Today’s ruling could have implications in the foreclosure crisis, in which banks are accused of clouding home titles through sloppy transferring of mortgages.
“By alleging that U.S. Bank was not the assignee of the mortgage at the time of the purported foreclosure, Bevilacqua is necessarily asserting that the power of sale was not complied with, that the purported sale was invalid, and that his grantor’s title was defective,” the court wrote. “In light of its defective title, the intention of U.S. Bank to transfer the property to Bevilacqua is irrelevant and he cannot have become the owner of the property pursuant to the quitclaim deed.”
“They’re saying the innocent third-party purchaser, they’re out of luck,” Vetstein said of the Bevilacqua decision. “The court ruled that not only doesn’t he own it, but he has no standing under that procedural mechanism to have the court decree him as the owner. It’s another Ibanez case, where an innocent person bought at foreclosure and he’s left high and dry.”
Vetstein said one option is to track down the previous owner and get a deed from that person. Bevilacqua never located the previous owner. The situation is especially difficult for owners without title insurance, Vetstein said.
Bevilacqua went to Long’s court to force the original owner to say whether he had a claim on the property. A city assessment website lists four condominiums at the location with four separate owners and a total value of $600,300.
In August 2010, Long ruled that Bevilacqua wasn’t the property’s owner and didn’t have standing to inquire about claims. U.S. Bancorp conducted an invalid foreclosure because it didn’t properly own the mortgage when it sold the property to Bevilacqua, Long said. The mortgage was assigned to it after the foreclosure sale by Merscorp Inc.’s Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, a national database of mortgages.
Whoo-hoo! Nobody really owns anything!
This oughta do wonders for the housing situation, in terms of undermining confidence, what little there is of it.
“U.S. Bancorp conducted an invalid foreclosure because it didn’t properly own the mortgage when it sold the property to Bevilacqua…The mortgage was assigned to it after the foreclosure sale by Merscorp Inc.’s Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems”
Bevilacqua’s beef is with the bank. (And the robots.) Even MERS is innocent here, for a change.
Right. That’s what the court said. He should have sued the bank.
“A lot of people aren’t paying any taxes, and I like that.”
OWS supporter
The propaganda is working. They aren’t paying any federal income taxes. They are paying lots of other taxes, you idiot.
The progressive federal income tax has been cut over the years. The regressive payroll tax has been raised. The corporate income tax has been loopholed into oblivion.
“The regressive payroll tax has been raised.”
I’m tellin’ ya. Which is why I turned purple reading about Lady Bountiful Clinton going over to Libya and pledging millions of $$$ in US aid.
It’s all about the oil. Gotta make the world safe for oil.
BTW, I don’t think Uganda has oil, though. Must be rare earth or something.
It is.
It’s all about oil profits going to US oil companies paid for with US soldiers lives and US tax payer dollars.
Privatize the gains socialize the losses.
Look at Egypt, no oil and ruled by ailitary junta.
It’s also about maintaing the petro-dollar system intact via our military. Every dictator who has made a buzz about accepting anything other than a picture of a dead US president has been killed in the name of ‘freedom’.
I wonder how that strategy is going to play out with China?
Yup WT…look at your Con Ed bill. they estimated that 15% goes for NYC RE taxes plus state tax more like 20% and who does that affect more?
Oh yeah Druge is reporting Gadaffi might be deaddddd.
Scarface didn’t age well, indeed…
Libya’s best looked like Skid Row’s worst as he was finally truncated by his own.
Banksters are gettin rich
What the heck
With nothing better to do than bitch
Wheres my check?
Wheres my check?
“Guess who they bailed out? The big corporations of people who were ripping off the people in the derivatives market… If you had to give money out, you should have given it to people who were losing their mortgages, not to the banks.”
OWS supporter
“Guess who they bailed out? The big corporations of people who were ripping off the people in the derivatives market… If you had to give money out, you should have given it to people who were losing their mortgages, not to the banks.”
Ron Paul said almost the same thing Tuesday night.
WTF? Give money to people ‘losing their mortgages’, so then what, they can pay their mortgages, to the banks?
All sentiment and no articulation with that one buddy
Give money to people ‘losing their mortgages’, so then what, they can pay their mortgages, to the banks? All sentiment and no articulation with that one buddy
Tell that to Ron Paul,
And I see your point but my point is different than that specific point. I’m just happy Ron Paul sided with OWS on a few issues and I will point that out to many on the fence about the OWS.
I do agree in concept with Ron Paul saying if we had to bail out someone, we should have bailed out Main Street more than Wall Street. I do not think we should give money to people to pay off expensive mortgages now but would there have been no other option than the Bank Bailouts we did? To help Main Street more than we did? This is the Ron Paul principle I agree with. It’s after the fact but so be it.
A fair point, but between protesting the unelected who took the bailouts and the elected who gave them, it makes more sense to protest the latter.
between protesting the unelected who took the bailouts and the elected who gave them, it makes more sense to protest the latter.
I understand that point and I’d advise OWS to protest Wall Street and Washington. The OWS has protested Washington and the White House but needs to protest it more and I mean protest against the Democrats too.
The OWS needs to be protesting in front of Larry Summers and Robert Rubin’s house in addition to Rupert Murdoch’s house.
This was a bi-partisan capture of our government by corporate and big money interest. The Democrats should not be let off the hook although they might be getting more of a pass in the hope that they are the party that might revert back to their “support of the common man” roots.
There were just as many conservatives who opposed TARP as there were liberals. In fact, it passed with a higher percentage of Dem votes as compared to Rep.
I’m all on board with getting rid of the corruption and the Wall Street - Washington revolving door. But when the whole dog’s breakfast of “progressive” issues comes in the door, I go back out.
How can we agree on fixing the things we both think should be fixed, and leaving the stuff we disagree on for later?
How can we agree on fixing the things we both think should be fixed, and leaving the stuff we disagree on for later?
Now this is the most important point IMO. The first 4 points in OWS’s declaration would heal our democracy. And my next post will support this argument too.
http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=196201
1. Implementing an immediate ban on all private contributions of money and gifts, to all politicians in federal office, from Individuals, Corporations, Political Action Committees, Super Political Action Committees, Lobbyists, Unions and all other private sources of money to be replaced by the fair and equal public financing of all federal political campaigns. We categorically REJECT the concept that money is equal to free speech because if that were so, then only the wealthiest would have a voice. These actions must be taken because it has become clear that politicians in the United States cannot regulate themselves and have become the exclusive representatives of corporations, unions and the very wealthy who spend vast sums of money on political campaigns to influence the candidates’ decisions and ensure their reelection year after year.
2. The immediate reversal, even if it requires a Constitutional Amendment, of the outrageous and anti-democratic holding in the “Citizens United” case by the Supreme Court, which equates the payment of money by corporations, wealthy individuals and unions to politicians with free speech. We, the People, demand that institutional bribery and corruption not be deemed protected speech.
3. Prohibiting all federal public officials and their immediate family members, whether elected or appointed, from EVER being employed by any corporation they regulate while in office and/or holding any stock or shares in any corporation they regulate while in office until a full 5 years after their term is completed.
4. A complete lifetime ban on accepting all gifts, services, money, directly or indirectly, to any elected or appointed federal officials or their immediate family members, from any person, corporation, union or other entity that the public official was charged to regulate while in office.
This was a bi-partisan capture of our government by corporate and big money interest. The Democrapts should not be let off the hook
Oxy’s original POV, modified for [Hwy's POV]:
It was during the
Repub[MegaInc.'$] reign* when government gotsmallermore obedient andsmallermore obedient. Tarriffs: gone. Guest worker programs: gone. Glass-Steagall: gone. Energy regulation: gone. Intellectual property: gone. Progressive taxes: gone. Debt safety nets: gone. Monopoly break-ups: gone. [14+% mortgage rates: gone](And yes, Clinton should have resigned!)
How can we agree on fixing the things we both think should be fixed, and leaving the stuff we disagree on for later?
Here’s a good article on this point. Check out the Lawrence Lessig video at the beginning. (I went to school with him a long time ago)
Libertarians’ Cautious Outreach to Occupy Wall Street
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/10/libertarians-cautious-outreach-to-occupy-wall-street/247045/
With a left-leaning populist movement taking to the streets in cities around the country, conservatives are mostly content to bash the protestors as unemployed hippies jealous of their betters. In contrast, a few savvy figures with libertarian messages appreciate that although they may or may not succeed in influencing Occupy Wall Street, a limited alliance does make sense if possible, and a better opportunity to engage persuadable leftists has never before presented itself.
Prof. Larry Lessig, the Harvard academic and political activist, is among the observers calling on Occupy Wall Street and the tea party movement to recognize what they have in common. In the clip above, he says that crony capitalism is one shared object of ire, a message he repeated this week in Washington D.C., when he spoke to activists in McPherson Square. Lewis McCrary was on hand and reports on the intriguing frame that Lessig used as he began his talk: “He observed that ‘the American Spring’ had come in waves: the first, the election of Obama, which frustrated liberals when it became clear that his administration was about ‘business as usual’; the second wave, the Tea Party, which he called similarly populist in character to the Occupy movement; and lastly the great ‘third wave,’ the Occupy movement itself.”
I agree that’s an issue with the current “dog’s breakfast”. I have hope that some weeding will occur before they release the final version of their demands. There’s lots of good stuff in there, too.
“…is among the observers calling on Occupy Wall Street and the tea party movement to recognize what they have in common… he says that crony capitalism is one shared object of ire…”
The Venn diagram of Tea Party and OWS overlap:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2011/10/14/the_tea_party_and_ows_in_venn_diagram_form.html
Rio,
Regarding the points 1 - 4 above:
(1) My only qualm with “fair and equal public financing of all federal political campaigns” is whether this would give incumbents an insurmountable edge over challengers. How do we compensate for the inherent advantages of the incumbent?
(2) I am sure you are aware that the Citizens United decision was actually about whether a non-profit, donation-funded organization could air a film critical of a political candidate. Is that the sort of action you believe should be prohibited by constitutional amendment? If not, how would you separate that sort of activity from the activity you would want to prohibit?
(3) and (4). I totally agree with both.
I’ve read the whole list and I also like (16) and (20) but the rest are pretty much what I had in mind when I used the phrase “dog’s breakfast”.
The Venn diagram of Tea Party and OWS overlap:
Hwy enjoys venn’s! That one is missing something, perhaps this?:
Audit-the-Pentagon!
(With public campaign financing) How do we compensate for the inherent advantages of the incumbent?
Would not equal money for each candidate be equitable? Incumbents will always have certain advantages and I don’t know that they shouldn’t.
the Citizens United decision…whether a non-profit, donation-funded organization could air a film critical of a political candidate. Is that the sort of action you believe should be prohibited by constitutional amendment? If not, how would you separate that sort of activity from the activity you would want to prohibit?
Good Question. I’m not a Constitutional lawyer but was there not a way to separate these issues before they were brought to the courts? Or in the wording of the ruling? I mean was the Supreme Court “tricked” into passing all the bad things Citizen United brought upon us by the Trojan horse of the “airing the film” thing? It was all or nothing? Anyone? Polly?
There are a lot of people who rail about Citizens United who I don’t believe have ever looked at the details of the case.
First - what the decision did was to reverse a portion of the 2002 McCain-Feingold Act. That’s all it did. Those who claim that it overturned a century of law and gave corporations massive new superpowers are just full of so much bullshit. Everything that federal law now permits post-Citizens was permitted from 1787 through 2001.
Second - the 2002 law was just a rotten law. It permitted corporations that happened to be called “the Chicago Tribune” or “Fox News” or “Newsweek” to speak out for or against candidates, while corporations that happened to be called “the ACLU” or “the NRA” or “PETA” (or yes, “Ford” or “GE” or “Blue Cross”) were not so permitted. I happen to think that law (passed by a GOP congress, and signed by a GOP president) is the worst law enacted in my lifetime. Even TARP only runs it a close second.
First - what the decision did was to reverse a portion of the 2002 McCain-Feingold Act. That’s all it did.
So they’re wrong?
“The constitutional law scholar Laurence H. Tribe wrote that the decision “marks a major upheaval in First Amendment law and signals the end of whatever legitimate claim could otherwise have been made by the Roberts Court to an incremental and minimalist approach to constitutional adjudication, to a modest view of the judicial role vis-à-vis the political branches, or to a genuine concern with adherence to precedent” and pointed out that “Talking about a business corporation as merely another way that individuals might choose to organize their association with one another to pursue their common expressive aims is worse than unrealistic; it obscures the very real injustice and distortion entailed in the phenomenon of some people using other people’s money to support candidates they have made no decision to support, or to oppose candidates they have made no decision to oppose.”[55]
Former supreme court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor criticized the decision only obliquely, but warned that “In invalidating some of the existing checks on campaign spending, the majority in Citizens United has signaled that the problem of campaign contributions in judicial elections might get considerably worse and quite soon.”[56]” wiki
If you are on the ballot you get XXX amount of money say $1 per registered voters of all parties combined….in each election district.
And you would demand what Walter Cronkite wanted at least 30 minutes FREE political advertising from each person on the ballot….in exchange for their FREE public over the airwaves broadcast license.
YES even the communists the socialists and the Rent is too Damn high party….and the process will wean itself think of it like baseball playoffs….divisions, leagues, then the World series
But You MUST always have 3 people in any debate…..never again will it be just 2.
——-
1) My only qualm with “fair and equal public financing of all federal political campaigns” is whether this would give incumbents an insurmountable edge over challengers. How do we compensate for the inherent advantages of the incumbent?
For what its worth I am in full support of OWS. I think any action that pressures the current corrupt heirarchy is a postitive development regardless of the intended purpose.
Hwy likes that POV! x3 Cheers!
Anything that makes the pigmen squeal is probably a good thing
Agree.
That was the same reason I was for Tea Party as well. At least, early on. Who knew Tea Partiers would sell themselves so quickly? Jury is still out on OWS - I hope they accomplish something outside of the meaningless political victory in next election.
+1
We are the 53%?
http://the53.tumblr.com/
The questions really are these:
“Is there upward mobility? Can hard work and effort improve your life over how your were brought up?”
While clearly upward mobility is a bigger challenge than prior generations, and many are overpaying for educations that won’t pay back, every person has a different experience.
If 99% of the population felt the way OWS does, you wouldn’t see a few thousand people marching on Wall Street, you’d see a million or more.
The reality is that the reduction in upward mobility has been going on for a long time, the diminution of the fruits of the labor of the middle class has been going on for a long time, and the recession has brought all of this to the forefront, casting a bright light on the issue. Previously the problems were papered over with debt that couldn’t be repaid, and houses that would fall down with a stiff breeze.
I have yet to see a solution–higher taxes and debt forgiveness may be a short-term good feeling, but not a long-term fix.
What we need are jobs, and for jobs, we need fair trade (currency and otherwise), and a willingness for capital to take risk. A lot of capital is on the sidelines due to the European situation. A lot of capital is on the sidelines due to regulatory uncertainty. Fix Europe, Fix Dodd-Frank, allow housing to heal (pain and time are the only solutions), and watch the job engine restart.
In the meantime, those who are working their butts off (the so-called 53%) and scraping by, while not pleased, and also frustrated with the economic realities they live in, don’t feel that the views of the occupiers reflect their views.
In my family, I can say that 2 of the 3 children are on a very good track to provide a better life for our children than we had growing up. This is no slight on my parents…they worked their fingers THROUGH the bone for us. But from their support, all three of us are working very hard for what we have. Incidentally, the third of the three of us is working the hardest of us all…to create a business (which he started under the age of 30). He has the potential to be the most successful of us all, but it’s still a work in progress. A big hurdle to his success will be whether he will have access to capital to grow his business.
“Fix Europe”
How? And if you have a how, can the US do anything about it?
By “fix Europe”, I should have said, “put Europe on a path other than total banking collapse” (which is the path they are on now).
The way the Euro is set up, you can’t fix Europe permanently. It will break again unless everyone plays by the rules at all times, which will happen right after pigs fly over a frozen hell.
How to put Europe onto a path other than banking failure?
Face reality:
– Write down some Greek debt, and support the banking system through recapitalization/EuroTARP/Some other mechanism (good/bad banks?)
– Implement austerity where needed to assist with bearing the increased debt load…primarily in the peripheral countries (but also potentially France)–follow along with what Ireland is already painfully doing
– accept time and pain as the path required
– Likely print some Euro to ease the medicine via lower interest rates, cheaper exports, and yes, some above average and painful inflation as a forced tax on the population since tax evasion seems to be a popular past-time in some European countries.
How to do this politically? I don’t know. People know how the mess can be solved with time and pain, they just don’t have the stomach to accept the severity of the time and pain.
Can you imagine if the US could have had the same policy responses in 2008/2009 if the path taken could have been vetoed by 5% of states saying “no” (if 1 of 17 nations in the EU say “no”, the response is harder to attain)?
Can the US help the EU?
Politically? Likely not.
Technically? Perhaps.
Practically? See answer on politically.
697. America (My Country, ‘Tis of Thee)
Text: Samuel F. Smith, 1808-1895
1. My country,’ tis of thee,
I want my house for free, of thee I sing;
Yes I know I refied,
HAMP program I have tried,
from every mountainside let freedom ring!
2. My house is owed to me,
I should get it for free, thy name I love;
I sing this with a frown,
My house is upside down;
Can`t move to a-noth-er town, and find a job.
3. Let music swell the breeze,
and ring from all the trees sweet freedom’s song;
let mortal tongues awake;
let all that breathe partake;
No payments can we make, the victim song.
4. The loan they gave to thee,
Can`t be paid back you see, of thee we sing;
this is the victim`s plight
with freedom’s holy light;
Protect us by thy might, Robo, our King.
You truly are the bard of the foreclosure crisis, Jeff!
Jeff
You’ve reach a new plateau. Great work. Love it.
Jeff, you have to compile these into a book. Find a publisher, or self-publish. Seriously!
I’ve got this new degree,
It’s in art history,
I’m out of luck.
I owe two hundred grand,
But in this fascist land
My hopes they have been canned -
Can’t earn a buck.
So I will hit the street,
Try not to be downbeat,
Maybe score a toke.
Write off my loans today!
Make Warren Buffett pay,
It’s Bush’s fault anyway -
Or the Brothers Koch.
America’s 10 most empty cities. Anyone want to guess no.1 before looking? Hint- it’s not what you think (they’re no. 8).
http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/americas-emptiest-cities-2011.html
Nice to see Eddie’s home city near the top of the list of cities with the most vacancies; there should be plenty of investment properties available for him to snap up.
I noticed that too. Whatever happened to Eddie?
Baton Rouge, LA is #6 and if I were their Chamber of Commerce, I would complain about the bad press. That’s got to be the most unflattering picture CNBC could find.
Nice to see Eddie’s home city near the top of the list of cities with the most vacancies
Hotlanta? But everybody wants to live there!
My favorite is the pic of Toledo. It doesn’t know if it’s for rent, for sale, or whether it has a realtor or not.
I was expecting to see Merced, CA on the list. That was one place in CA where overbuilding really happened due to all the excitement about a new UC Campus.
When are “Americas top ten most corrupt cities” articles going to be MSM worthy?
Realtors Are Liars®
Refi’s in Big Bank Foreclosure Settlement: Not Worth It
Published: Tuesday, 18 Oct 2011 | 12:07 PM ET
By: Diana Olick
CNBC Real Estate Reporter
…
As first reported by the Wall Street Journal, the AG’s are proposing a refinance plan for underwater borrowers, trying to get banks to bring down interest rates on mortgages for those who owe far more than their homes are presently worth; that’s around 10.9 million borrowers, according to CoreLogic, but sources say it wouldn’t be all of them. It would, “target a finite number of borrowers who are current on their mortgages,” according to my source.
My source then went on to explain that this is a plan previously pushed by the California state attorney general, who has dropped out of the negotiations over issues surrounding banks’ release from future liability (the California AG did not comment in the WSJ article but claimed they had not seen said proposal). New York and Massachusetts have done the same. Apparently this could, “bring California back to the table,” says my source, because the California AG finds it, “intriguing.”
Well I don’t find it intriguing at all. It’s the same plan the Obama administration is “pursuing” with the regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. They also want an underwater refi plan, but so far the idea has been rife with difficult details that threaten to scuttle its ultimate impact. The AG proposal would be just for bank-owned loans not backed by Fannie or Freddie, so it would apply to about 20 percent of the market.
My source says the talks are getting closer to a deal, even without some of the AG’s signing on. It will include some principal write down on loans, but the future legal liability language is still in play, release from securitization issues is not clear, and the banks aren’t exactly thrilled with any of it. So now, at the last minute, they throw in a refi proposal, which maybe the banks will like, likely they won’t.
While it may help some borrowers by putting a little extra cash in their pockets, as I’ve written on this blog before, it doesn’t change the fact that these folks still have no hope of seeing their home equity again any time soon, and it doesn’t address the greater ills of today’s housing market that are keeping true recovery at bay.
….
Sounds to me like a settlement nobody can love!
Foreigners’ Sweetener: Buy House, Get a Visa .
By NICK TIMIRAOS
OCTOBER 20, 2011.
The reeling housing market has come to this: To shore it up, two Senators are preparing to introduce a bipartisan bill Thursday that would give residence visas to foreigners who spend at least $500,000 to buy houses in the U.S.
The provision is part of a larger package of immigration measures, co-authored by Sens. Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.) and Mike Lee (R., Utah), designed to spur more foreign investment in the U.S.
To fuel this demand, the proposed measure would offer visas to any foreigner making a cash investment of at least $500,000 on residential real-estate—a single-family house, condo or townhouse. Applicants can spend the entire amount on one house or spend as little as $250,000 on a residence and invest the rest in other residential real estate, which can be rented out.
http://topics.wsj.com/person/T/nick-timiraos/5585 - 99k -
Do they get deported when they do a strategic default?
I figured “cash investment” made default unlikely. But on a separate note, I remember seeing this mentioned/predicted long ago here…
By Yours truly..But maybe for $200k… that still buys a nice house in 90% of the country
Soon to come:
FAQ: How to get a US visa with just $200,000?
Ans: Get an accomplice to buy a house for $50,000. “Purchase” house from accomplice for $500,000. Get accomplice to kick back $300,000 to you. Accomplice keeps $200,000, of which he/she uses $150,000 to pay tax on the gains and $50,000 that he/she spent on the house. Accomplice gets to stay in house rent-free for their cooperation. You got your US visa for $200,000. Buy in an unincorporated area so you don’t need to pay property taxes.
Best way to find accomplices: Put ad in Strawberry Pickers Newsletter.
This bill has the potential for so much fraud.
“…potential for so much fraud.”
I doubt prostitutorial Senators in the REIC’s employ will have any problem with that…
Or you buy 1 house for $500,000 and fill it with 45 of your friends, splitting the costs. That’ll do wonders for a neighborhood’s housing prices.
bipartisan bill
No need to read any further. That alone tells you how bad this bill will be for most Americans.
This is what politicians are working on instead of addressing the jobs crisis? Shoot them all..
Ever wonder where existing pension monies go? . After layers of One Percenters skim their share the 99% are left with crumbs.
“Raimondo made several radical recommendations including a higher retirement age, reduced benefits, suspension of the annual cost-of-living-adjustments paid to current retirees.”
New Mexico fund to stick with Paulson for now
BOSTON, Oct. 12, 2011 (Reuters) — New Mexico’s state pension fund is sticking with embattled hedge fund manager John Paulson for now even as his main portfolios suffer their worst-ever losses.
His main Advantage Plus fund has tumbled 47 percent this year while his Advantage fund cousin is off 32 percent, investors have said.
Paulson said that he might be forced to return as much as one-quarter of the firm’s roughly $30 billion, the investors who listened to the call said
New Mexico, like many other large pension funds, has been advised by consulting firm Cliffwater LLC. It is unclear how Cliffwater will advise its other clients that are invested with Paulson, but Stephen Nesbitt, Cliffwater’s chief executive, said on Tuesday that he planned to dial in to the Paulson call.
http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre79b86s-us-hedgefunds-paulson/
Telling Minutes from the RI pension board selecting Cliffwater:
Treasurer Raimondo asked Cliffwater to leave the room and called upon Mr. Emkin for an update on PCG and his views on Cliffwater. Mr. Emkin disclosed that he and Steve Nesbitt worked together at Wilshire 28 years ago, but they have no economic relationships today. He explained that PCG has not worked out their business challenges and has lost a large amount of business. Mr. Emkin believes Michelle Davidson is a talented consultant, but the organization, in PCA’s opinion, is unstable. Mr. Emkin stated that Cliffwater has excellent clients with highly experienced staff and thinks they will do a commendable job.
Mr. Goodreau said Cliffwater is willing to provide complete alternate investment consulting (hedge, private equity, real estate) for $450,000. He explained that the Cliffwater mandate would offer a complete alternatives solution for slightly more than what we pay PCG for just private equity.
Treasurer Raimondo confirmed that Cliffwater was willing to be the board’s complete alternatives advisor for $450,000 for one year. Their strength is private equity, hedge funds and real assets.
Treasurer Raimondo said Cliffwater is a good fit for the portfolio at this time, because it has no hedge fund, commodity or real asset exposure
Minutes:
http://sos.ri.gov/documents/publicinfo/omdocs/minutes/4528/2011/22017.pdf
Both soaring executive pay and retroactive pension enhancements for public employees were based on the stock market bubble.
The stock market bubble ended more than a decade ago.
The executive pay and pension bubble continues.
That is the crux of the problem. Each side points at the other justifying how it is OK.
You will note that both groups effectively “choose” the pay they get and someone else is essentially forced to pay what they choose.
Children of immigrants sue Florida education officials over tuition rates
By John Lantigua
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
8 hours ago
Five students who were born in the United States, raised in Florida and graduated from its high schools are suing state education officials after being charged out-of-state tuition rates at public colleges and universities because their parents are undocumented.
“Even if you can prove you are a U.S. citizen, they are then asking you if your parents are U.S. citizens,” said Attorney Tania Galloni of the Miami office of the Southern Poverty Law Center, who is representing the students in a class action suit. “There is nothing in the statute that says they have to do this. This is an interpretation of the law being made by state officials.”
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Miami, charges that state policies discriminate against certain U.S. citizen students because of the immigration status of their parents and that is unconstitutional. Charging such students out-of-state tuition rates greatly increases the cost of attending state colleges and universities.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/schools/children-of-immigrants-sue-florida-education-officials-over-1923970.html?cxtype=rss_news - -
“This is an interpretation of the law being made by state officials.”
Just like the 14th Amendment is basically being interpreted so that the anchor baby children of illegals are automatically granted US citizenship.
What a clusterfark.
I’m a US citizen. My children could not get in-state tuition rates anywhere but the state where I was a legal resident. One work around is to join the military, or go live with someone who has. Another work around is to wait for a few years and then go to school as an adult so that your parents are not part of the equation.
Except the kids are residents of the state. Why are they not being given the resident rate?
The “kids” are still wards of the parents. They are minors.
So? How does not being a legal adult change your resident status?
I’m implying that who the student is matters less than who the student is a dependant of.
Only if the Florida rules on charging in-state vs. out-of-state tuition say that it is. If they are being sued it is likely that someone thinks that the interpretation is not consistent with the written policy. And believe me, there is a written policy.
Perhaps it is time to revisit birthright citizenship.
Not like we are still so wealthy it does not matter eh?
I was born to an American citizen working for the State Department in Africa and Am American by parent. Al,l Americans should have at least ONE American parent. We are being gamed big time!!!
In state tuition is not based on residency. (most states)
You can go to college in Michigan and live there for 4 years, vote, get a drivers license, buy a car, rent an apartment and still not get in state tuition.
Conversly, live and go to college in Texas for 12 months straight and you qualify for in state tuition.
Circumstances which do not demonstrate Michigan domicile. The circumstances and activities listed below are temporary or indeterminate and, in and of themselves, do not demonstrate domicile in Michigan:
Enrollment in a Michigan high school, community college or university
Employment in Michigan that is temporary or short-term
Military assignment in Michigan
Employment in Michigan in a position normally held by a student
Ownership of property in Michigan
Presence of relatives (other than parent for a dependent) in Michigan
Possession of a Michigan driver’s license or voter’s registration
Payment of Michigan income or property taxes
The student’s statement of intent to be domiciled in Michigan
My son went to live with his sis in AZ. The household had one military person. My son was immediately granted in-state tuition rates on that basis, was my understanding.
I find the notion of blanket immunity for crimes committed by bankers highly upsetting. And then there is the further unpleasant aspect of screwing Fannie, Freddie and investors. Otherwise, it sounds like a perfectly good plan.
Er, except for one more thing: It sounds like “Joe Howmuchamonth” will still get stuck with an unrepayable principle, which the banks will keep on their books under the false pretense that the money owed will somehow, someday be repaid.
And one more: Even though the homes lost value, as reflected in the proposed principle write-down, this will not show up in the comps. Thus unsuspecting prospective home buyers will face the purchase decision with a misleading picture of current market values. In other words, consumers get screwed through deception.
All told, this deal sounds politically expedient and great for banks.
States and Banks’ Foreclosure Settlement: Recovery Juice?
By Daniel Indiviglio
Oct 19 2011, 2:25 PM ET
Sources indicate that the settlement may benefit almost everybody — not just homeowners facing foreclosure
Here’s something nobody expected: the state attorneys general lawsuit against the big banks over their flawed foreclosure practices may produce a huge net benefit for the U.S. economy. Although talks are still ongoing, sources have revealed that some progress has been made and that a deal might be struck by month’s end. How good is the possible solution? It could eliminate a big chunk of the mortgage litigation risk banks face, limit the impact of the related losses, and also help alleviate some pressure on underwater borrowers.
A Solution Everyone Can Live With?
Aruna Viswanatha at Reuters revealed the news on the settlement talks late Tuesday:
But the article goes on to explain a very important clarification: those underwater borrowers that banks would agree to provide refinancing to would have to be current. In other words, anyone delinquent or defaulted and facing foreclosure would not benefit from this new aspect of the settlement.
Great for the Banks
Understanding why banks are embracing this approach is easy. They already know that they’re going to have to concede more here, so they might as well try to limit their losses. The might like the agreement above for a couple of reasons.
First, if their additional settlement cash provided more aggressive mortgage modifications for delinquent borrowers, then their subsequent losses would continue to pile up in later years. Mortgage modifications have a very high rate of re-default. Banks want to foreclose on as many borrowers as possible whose default they see as inevitable.
Second, this move will actually make the borrowers who can pay much less likely to strategically default. Imagine you’ve got a 6% interest rate on a $250,000 mortgage on a home that is now only worth $200,000. If the bank forgave that $50,000 in excess principal, your mortgage payment would be reduced from about $1,500 per month to about $1,200 per month. If it refinances your $250,000 loan at 4%, however, then your payment still becomes around $1,200 per month. Psychologically, underwater borrowers won’t feel so bad about their mortgages once they’re able to take advantage of refinancing at the prevailing, very low interest rates.
Then, there’s the really huge potential advantage for banks. For any of these refinanced mortgages that they’re holding on their balance sheets, they won’t face a loss. Because the principal for these loans would remain intact, they would book the new loan for the same amount. So it would create no capital hole like mortgage principle write downs would. Loans they hold as securities, however, would decline in value, since their prepayments would rise due to the refinancing boom. This means the big losers under the plan would be investors, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac.
…
http://news.yahoo.com/family-4-found-dead-suburban-nyc-home-131919769.html
Obviously the pressures of being part of the FIRE economy PTB grew to be too much for this family and the threat of divorce was the final straw leading to murder-suicide.
“The Journal News … cited a May 2000 wedding announcement in The New York Times that described Amy Friedlander as a vice president for Chase Manhattan Bank. It said she most recently was a partner in an academic and college test prep tutoring service.
The wedding announcement said her husband was an associate counsel of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners in Manhattan.”
Less than a dozen years later and they and their two young children are dead. So much for the cream rising to the top theory
One less 1%’er.
I doubt that they made the $500K combined income required to be in the top 1%.
Their subdivision was developed by Carl Icahn!?
Holy chit…. thats right down the road from me…
“Obviously the pressures of being part of the FIRE economy PTB grew to be too much for this family and the threat of divorce was the final straw leading to murder-suicide.”
Having to give up the spot-free rinse for the dishwasher and the Better Homes subscription can push some right over the edge.
Government-engineered mortgage interest reductions appear close at hand. I don’t know how large the hit will be to MBS investors, but it sounds as though they are the new bagholders in this plan.
One aspect of this latest foreclosure deal which I find puzzling is that of how the millions of already-foreclosed homeowners will be potentially impacted. For instance, if a New Deal is reached that would have prevented foreclosure for someone who lost their home at some point since, say, 2006, will it apply retroactively, at least if previously-foreclosed homeowners pursue a class action lawsuit against Megabank, Inc?
Perhaps this is where the blanket immunity against further lawsuits comes into play, as I would guess previously foreclosed homeowners could otherwise represent massive legal exposure for Megabank, Inc. I certainly hope the State AGs recognize this, and don’t sell out millions of former homeowners who were already robo-signed out of their stakes in the Ownership Society.
States near foreclosure deal with banks
A foreclosed home is seen in Bullhead City, Arizona, November 4, 2009. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson
By Aruna Viswanatha
WASHINGTON | Wed Oct 19, 2011 8:29am EDT
(Reuters) - Talks between states and top banks over mortgage abuses are nearing agreement on resolving a major sticking point that has bogged down settlement negotiations for more than a year.
A deal could be reached by the end of the month, according to three people familiar with the talks.
Under the proposed terms of the settlement — which could total $25 billion — banks would get a broader relief from potential state civil lawsuits in exchange for refinancing underwater loans, those mortgages where borrowers owe more than their homes are worth, the sources said.
The deal could provide some relief to the battered U.S. housing market and clear up some uncertainty about banks’ legal exposure that has been a drag on their shares.
Banks have been holding out on a multibillion-dollar settlement because they wanted broader legal protection than state attorneys general were prepared to offer.
Originally, the states were only considering legal protection for shortcuts taken during mortgage servicing and foreclosures, including the so-called “robo-signing” of documents to evict people behind on their mortgages.
In recent days, the state attorneys general agreed to release major banks from claims that they made legal errors when first originating the loans, such as approving loans for borrowers without verifying any income, according to two people familiar with the talks.
In exchange, banks would agree to refinance mortgages for borrowers who are current on their payments but owe more than their homes are currently worth, the sources said.
The deal is being negotiated between the states and several federal agencies on one side, and Bank of America Corp, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, and Ally Financial on the other.
The states are being careful to not characterize any potential settlement as too generous to the banks.
“While I can’t discuss the details of our negotiations, I will say that we are negotiating a limited — not a broad — civil liability release. We are discussing additional ways to help homeowners while still holding the banks accountable,” said Geoff Greenwood, spokesman for Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller who is helping lead the settlement negotiations.
It also could bolster the Obama administration’s plan to further extend help to underwater borrowers whose loans are owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac to refinance their mortgages.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Tuesday that he hopes the government will reveal the details of that plan in coming days.
The deal with the states, which would address bank-owned underwater mortgages, could complement the administration’s plan.
Representatives of Citigroup, JPMorgan and Ally declined to comment. Bank of America Chief Financial Officer Bruce Thompson said on an earnings call on Tuesday that there continues to be a lot of settlement discussions but they did not have much new to report. Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf on Monday declined to comment on the talks.
MILLIONS OF UNDERWATER MORTGAGES
…
“Banks have been holding out on a multi-billion dollar settlement because they wanted broader legal protection than state attorney generals were prepared to offer.”
This is nuts. The banks are in no position to dictate terms.
If banks don’t like what is being offered they should be cut loose and go it on their own to either sink or swim.
“The banks are in no position to dictate terms.”
Tell that to their man in the Treasury Dept.
“If banks don’t like what is being offered they should be cut loose and go it on their own to either sink or swim.”
If that were a Jeopardy question the answer would be….
What is sink?
The jeopardy question should be: “What is leverage?”
What is insolvent?
What is lobbyist?
What is a settlement?
An agreement where neither side is happy.
Without settlement, the lawsuits will go on for YEARS, and cost hundreds of millions in expenses to work through, in addition to the potential liability (or lack thereof) when all the dust settles. As usual, attorneys will get rich on these matters.
The states want resolution now to help with their economy. The banks want resolution now to define their cost.
If the states get resolution now, and the banks don’t have sufficiently defined costs, I can see how the deal won’t happen.
“Without settlement, the lawsuits will go on for YEARS, and cost hundreds of millions in expenses to work through, in addition to the potential liability (or lack thereof) when all the dust settles. As usual, attorneys will get rich on these matters.”
This is exactly what I was hoping for: The attorneys turn the tables on the banksters, with the former playing the parasite role and the later playing the role of victim.
Banksters in PRISON would be singing a VERY different tune. Nothing like a little butt love to change ones song!
[Would it be possible to get a reverse mortgage on grandma's home & a big fat check from a drilling company all-the-whiles she's resting in a convalescent home?] Who would do such a thing? Naw to shameful, never happen.
Job$, Job$, Job$! = Frack babeee, Frack!
Bill Ely, 60, said the water coming out of his well looks like milk.
“You put your hand down a couple of inches and you can’t see your hand, that’s how much gas there is in it. And they’re telling me it was that way all my life,” said Ely, who has lived in the family homestead for nearly 50 years and said his well water was crystal clear until Cabot’s arrival three years ago.
Driller wins approval to halt water to Pa. town
MICHAEL RUBINKAM - Associated Press | AP / Oct 20th, 2011
ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania environmental regulators said Wednesday they have given permission to a natural-gas driller to stop delivering replacement water to residents whose drinking water wells were tainted with methane.
Residents expressed outrage and threatened to take the matter to court.
Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. has been delivering water to homes in the northeast village of Dimock since January of 2009. The Houston-based energy company asked the Department of Environmental Protection for approval to stop the water deliveries by the end of November, saying Dimock’s water is safe to drink.
Regulators previously found that Cabot drilled faulty gas wells that allowed methane to escape into Dimock’s aquifer. The company denied responsibility, but has been banned from drilling in a 9-square-mile area of Dimock since April of 2010.
“The amount of methane in a water supply is neither fixed nor predictable,” and depends on a variety of factors unrelated to drilling, Cabot spokesman George Stark said in an email Wednesday.
Switzer said it’s inappropriate for the state to allow Cabot to stop the water deliveries while the appeal is pending — and while there still are problems with residents’ water.
“They keep changing the rules to accommodate this gas company. It’s so blatantly corrupt,” she said.
Fracking is the dumbest thing we have ever done. We live in an age where fresh water is becoming scare and yet we’re systematically desrtoying what we have left.
We are so stupid and so screwed.
Buyer beware!
If you buy real estate these days you have to watch out for:
- natural disasters (flood, draught, quakes, hurricanes, etc.)
- tainted titles
- fracking
- desperate taxing authorities city/county/state
…hmm those just come to mind right now.
That really narrows down the choices significantly.
At some point these guys are going to be showing up dead in creek beds around town. Just a prediction.
Regulators previously found that Cabot drilled faulty gas wells that allowed methane to escape into Dimock’s aquifer. The company denied responsibility,
#7 OWS Declaration
…powers to shut down corporations, businesses or any entities that intentionally or recklessly damage the environment and/or criminally prosecute individuals who intentionally damage the environment….
Thumbs up or down?
Thumbs up for me.
Revoke a CorpInc.$ SCOTU$ person$ for intentionally damaging the environment?
Woody & Hwy are a singing!:
“This train is bound glory, this train…
This train don’t carry no con men, this train;
This train don’t carry no con men, this train;
This train don’t carry no con men,
No wheeler dealers, here and gone men,
This train don’t carry no con men, this train.
© Copyright 1958 (renewed) by Woody Guthrie Publications, Inc
Thumbs down for me. While it looks like a good thing in this specific case, it includes too much power to destroy companies just because you don’t like them.
Thumbs up on holding companies accountable for external costs.
BAN THE EPA - Ron Paul
One of the few areas where I think Ron Paul is from crazy-town.
Though that didn’t stop me from writing him in in in 2008.
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2011/05/lawsuits_rally_in_albany_quest.html
“Nearly 250 landowners in the Southern Tier are suing to stop a large gas company from indefinitely extending leases that landowners want to end.”
“The two lawsuits against Chesapeake Energy say the company cannot unilaterally extend leases that have rightfully expired. This winter, Chesapeake and at least one other gas company sent letters to thousands of landowners across Central New York and the Southern Tier who signed five-year leases that allowed gas drilling on their land. Chesapeake says it has the right to extend the leases for months, or years, because of the state’s delay in approving fracking.”
Funny to think that the answer may come from mortgage companies:
Rush to Drill for Natural Gas Creates Conflicts With Mortgages
“…bankers and real estate executives, especially in New York, are starting to pay closer attention to the fine print and are raising provocative questions, such as: What happens if they lend money for a piece of land that ends up storing the equivalent of an Olympic-size swimming pool filled with toxic wastewater from drilling?
Fearful of just such a possibility, some banks have become reluctant to grant mortgages on properties leased for gas drilling. At least eight local or national banks do not typically issue mortgages on such properties, lenders say.
A credit union in upstate New York has started requiring gas companies to promise to pay for any damage caused by drilling that may lead to devaluation of its mortgaged properties. Another will make home loans only to people who expressly agree not to sign a gas lease as long as they hold the mortgage.
More generally, bankers are concerned because many leases allow drillers to operate in ways that violate rules in landowners’ mortgages. These rules also require homeowners to get permission from their mortgage banker before they sign a lease — a fact that most landowners do not know.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/20/us/rush-to-drill-for-gas-creates-mortgage-conflicts.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper
Hope and Change
Yes we can
Four more years
But Jimmy Carter put solar panels on the White House roof!
————————-
US ‘Misery Index’ Rises to Highest Since 1983
CNBC - Thursday, 20 Oct 2011
An unofficial gauge of human misery in the United States rose last month to a 28-year high as Americans struggled with rising inflation and high unemployment.
The misery index — which is simply the sum of the country’s inflation and unemployment rates — rose to 13.0, pushed up by higher price data the government reported on Wednesday.
The data underscores the extent that Americans continue to suffer even two years after a deep recession ended, with a weak economic recovery imperiling President Barack Obama’s hopes of winning reelection next year.
Inez Stallworth, an underwriting assistant for a financial services company, recently gave up her car, in part because of rising costs for gasoline and groceries.
“I can’t fit it in,” said the 27-year-old Chicago resident, who said most of her extended family was getting by “paycheck-to-paycheck.” Consumer prices rose 3.9 percent in the 12 months through September, the fastest pace in three years.
With gasoline prices high, consumers have less to spend on other things.
Moreover, a rise in overall prices saps economic growth, which is typically measured in inflation-adjusted terms.
The last time the misery index was at current levels was in 1983.
But in 1984 an improving economy probably helped President Ronald Reagan win reelection.
An unofficial gauge of human misery in the United States rose last month to a 28-year high as Americans struggled with rising inflation and high unemployment.
2bananna, 3 decades,
The misery index is at an almost 3 decade high. 3 decades.
The USA has been practicing trickle-down economics for 3 decades.
The USA has been de-regulating industries for 3 decades.
The USA has been accelerating outsourcing for 3 decades.
Wealth inequality has greatly increased for 3 decades.
Middle-class earnings have been stagnant for 3 decades.
Unions have been under attack for 3 decades.
400 families own more than 150 million Americans after 3 decades.
Americans have bought into the above for 3 decades.
Americans are wising up after 3 decades of a failed economic experiment.
and obama push the accelerator to the floor…
PS - I just read that obama has already collected more in political donations from the wall street bankers than ALL of the republicans put together.
I will get the link
I am guessing where the banksters send their contributions is a good barometer of who they believe stands the best chance of winning the election…
Agreed. This was true in 2004 and 2008 (at least for financials), as per OpenSecrets.
PS - I just read that obama has already collected more in political donations from the
wall street bankersLibyan rebels/citizens than ALL of the repubicans put together.obama has already collected more in political donations from the wall street bankers than ALL of the republicans put together…I will get the link
Here’s one:
Obama is full of Wall Street money
http://rt.com/usa/news/obama-wall-street-financial-319/
Barack Obama has remained mostly mum regarding Occupy Wall Street, but did tell reporters that he understands the frustration at “how our financial system works.” Bank industry bigwigs, however, have donated more to Obama than any GOP candidate.
Because the current commander-in-chief can raise money on behalf of both his own presidential campaign and the Democratic National committee, President Barack Obama has pulled in more donations from the financial and banking sector than any of Republican hopefuls…
…bank employees, hedge fund magnates and others in the finance sector have contributed more to Obama and the Democrats than any of the campaigns of the GOP candidates.
But this link has a different spin maybe?
Romney Beating Obama to Wall Street’s Cash
http://www.cnbc.com/id/44920282
It is no secret that the relationship between President Obama and Wall Street has chilled. A striking measure of that is the latest campaign finance reports.
Mitt Romney has raised far more money than Mr. Obama this year from the firms that have been among Wall Street’s top sources of donations for the two candidates.
That gap underscores the growing alienation from Mr. Obama among many rank-and-file financial professionals and Mr. Romney’s aggressive and successful efforts to woo them.
The imbalance exists at large investment banks and hedge funds, private equity firms and commercial banks,
among many rank-and-file financial professionals and Mr. Romney’s aggressive and successful efforts to woo them.
The imbalance exists at large investment banks and hedge funds, private equity firms and commercial banks,
(Eyes didn’t know that Mormon’$ could $u$ceptibly be “influenced” in.that.way.) :-/
But Jimmy Carter put solar panels on the White House roof!
Keep updating with your compare$ & contra$t prioritie$ list Slipperybanana.
Jimmay Carter: $437,000 thousand$ solar system/wind-vane pointing the way America ought to have gone 31 years ago.
Cheney-$hrub: $186 Billion$ to AIG MegaIn$uranceInc. least “This whole $ucker could go down!,… Hurry!!!”
“heheeheheeehe…”
I see giving up your car as a more common occurrence. Yeah, many people ‘need’ a car, but when you pencil how much it actually costs to operate, you somehow can learn to live without. By my calculation, every time I turn the key it costs me fifty bucks.
Obviously we choose where we live, and the person way out in the sticks is much more heavily relaint on a vehicle. I figured the cost savings in transportation, frustration, free time, etc. more than offset the premium I paid for living in town.
I figured the cost savings in transportation, frustration, free time, etc. more than offset the premium I paid for living in town.
For real. I save a ton of money, time and frustration by not having a car in Rio but wealthy Brazilians look at a car as a status symbol.
They can have their status, I’ll keep the cash.
We do NOT choose where we live and outside of only a few major metro areas, mass transit does NOT exist.
Example: I just started a new job a few months ago. I would like to move closer to my job, but because I was out of work for so long, I won’t be able to until I can save enough money to make the move. Which means I have to set aside money for 2 places… while catching up on past due debts because my savings ran out while looking for a new job.
There is no mass transit within MILES of my new job.
There are probably less than 10 cities you can use mass transit to get to work. None of them in the south.
Yeah, I figure the cost to operate a vehicle in the $.50/mile range. It adds up pretty quickly. I wonder how many hours these minimum-wage people are working just to pay to get to work? Operating costs for a vehicle have increased dramatically, not to mention the increased commute distances. I’ve had my share of jobs in the office complexes in the ‘burbs where public transport just wasn’t viable. And I almost was forced to take a job with an hour-plus commute each way. Ugh.
“The misery index — which is simply the sum of the country’s inflation and unemployment rates — rose to 13.0, pushed up by higher price data the government reported on Wednesday.”
How much higher would it be if the numbers for inflation and unemployment were closer to reality? Instead of a 28-year high, would it be a post-WWII high?
So, do you support stimulus or don’t you? Sheesh. Make up your mind.
This ALL started with Reaganomics and I hate the Republicans. Under Obama I see NO change in policy from Reagan, just change in “speech”
The Debt issues over the past decade MUST me monetized. This means creating some 20 trillion dollars. GOSH I am so confused wouldn’t that be inflationary? NO son we just let them ALL default….
But what about my SS payment???
BWAHHHHHH HHAAAAAAAAA1!!!!!
SAN DIEGO (AP) — The first Mexican carrier is set to roll into the U.S. interior within days.
Allowing Mexican trucking companies to deliver goods rather than transfer them to U.S. haulers at the border will put American jobs and highway safety at risk, they said.
“We’re literally taking good jobs here in America and passing them over the line to Mexico,” Hunter told the crowd, many holding signs reading “NAFTA kills” and “Stop the war on workers.”
The Corporate Giants will extract every penny of wealth.
Isn’t it strange that if you’re Mexican and legally in the USA (like these truck drivers) we don’t want you.
However if you are illegally here, we will pay for your schooling, medical care, food programs, education and a college degree.
You are insane, nobody wants them on the highways.
That’s exactly right. At least you have half a prayer if a drunk Mexican t-bones you in a car. In a truck, not so much.
Mexicans see no problem with drinking and driving. Cultural thing. But it’s a problem for the dead (murdered) American citizens who’ve had a close encounter with a drunk Mexican driver.
You are insane, nobody wants them on the highways.
The representative government of the United States says you are wrong.
PS - I do not agree with them.
Nix, nix, nix, Slipperybanana. How many tickets those maxeecan drivers gonna get once they cross Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia to pick up cotton & peaches driving faster than the 5mph posted speed limit?
Revenue$: City/County/State
“Listen here boy, we needs to do a 86 point$ inspection of yer Chihuahua licensed truck, won’t take to awful long…”
No different than Mexican airlines flying to the US - as long as they confirm to the mandatory insurance, safety, language and emissions requirements, what’s the problem?
It’s two different modes of transportation, yen, and although I’m no expert, I suspect the regulations (or enforcement thereof) are vastly different. When Mexican airlines disgorge products or merchandise here in the US, I would imagine the ground transportation to take the stuff from point A to point B is provided by American citizens.
I think there’s also a vast difference between the quality of Mexican air pilots as opposed to Mexican truck drivers, at least that’s my perception. It just opens doors to more smuggling and eliminates jobs we desperately need, IMO. Not to mention more opportunities for la mordida, which has already reached into the contruction industries in New York and Houston.
Globalization. Worst. Idea. Ever.
Exactly. Sovereign countries were created for a reason. Not the least of which is to create “cut outs” for domino effect disasters.
But it has been around since Marco Polo.
LOL, the San Jose Mercury News makes the elementary blunder of confusing income with wealth. It would not at all surprise me if San Jose residents also have the highest average household debt and a rather meager net worth.
http://www.mercurynews.com/census/ci_19151994
San Jose — still filthy rich, but poorer than it was
The San Jose area is still filthy rich compared with the rest of the country — in fact, it’s second only to Washington, D.C. — but Silicon Valley residents have on average become poorer for two straight years, new data show.
A Bloomberg analysis released Wednesday of recent U.S. Census Bureau figures says the typical household income in the San Jose area last year was $83,944, compared with the nationwide median of $50,046.
Still, it’s a 4.7 percent drop for Silicon Valley from record income levels reached in 2008. The typical household last year made some $4,100 less than it did two years prior.
Like in 2009, Washington, D.C., last year was still the richest metropolitan area in the country, Bloomberg reports. Its median income has also been dropping, although not as dramatically, and in 2010 was $84,523.
This area used to be a place where many people could get ahead.
Not so much anymore.
In the silly valley all you need is an idea and a garage.
I did some marketing demographics in the area a couple of years back.
35% Asian!!!!!!!
No more research needed on my part. We steered clear!!!!
Counterpunch ran this little gem yesterday:
Don’t Be Suckered Into Buying a House Now
by MIKE WHITNEY
http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/10/18/dont-be-suckered-into-buying-a-house-now/
“Don’t even think about buying a house for the next year or so. Not unless you can afford to flush tens of thousands of dollars down the toilet, because that’s what you’ll be doing.”
“Here’s what’s happening. As everyone knows, housing is driven by the same supply-demand dynamics as every other market. The problem is, the banksters have gamed the system so it looks like there’s less inventory then there really is, so prices are higher than they should be. By keeping millions of homes off the market the banks are protecting themselves from bigger losses. Unfortunately, it’s the buyer who ends up being the victim in this market-rigging scam.”
I think they’re incredibly optimistic if they think the problem will only last “for the next year or so.”
I wanna bunch of new candidates. Real ones, though. Do you guys think some real people will actually run for Congress pretty soon? These OWS folk oughtta produce a few. When do you think we will get them?
People don’t vote for real candidates. That’s why we got the ones in there now.
Do you guys think some real people will actually run for Congress pretty soon?
Well, given the CE hyper-$mear-Journali$m:
“Let those without sin,
step forwardshow their birth-certificate.”I will make a few predictions (and stand by them)
The OWS crowd will not change one law
The OWS crowd will not get one candidate elected
The OWS crowd will eventually resort to violence and riots
And
There will be apologists for them here on the HBB every step of the way…
You got “prediction” competition Slipperybanana…
“Weather forecast for tonight: dark. Continued dark overnight, with widely scattered light by morning.”
George Carlin / weatherman/ US comedian and actor (1937 - 2008)
George Carlin / weatherman/ US comedian and actor (1937 - 2008)
The Best!
To quote a famous conservative, you go to war with the army you’ve got. What other large motivated group is ready to go to war with the banksters?
To quote a famous conservative, you go to war with the army you’ve got. What other large motivated group is ready to go to war with the banksters?
Not the OWS crowd - according to their “initial manifesto” they want an even bigger “cradle to grave” government…
Not ONE WORD on prosecutions on the looters….
The OWS crowd will not change one law
2bananna,
If the OWS were the driving force in the passing of a law to reduce corporate lobbying and influence in our elections would you be happy or just even more pissed-off? And why?
If the OWS were the driving force in the passing of a law to reduce corporate lobbying and influence in our elections would you be happy or just even more pissed-off? And why?
Interesting you left out unions - when they hold the top 8 out of the top 10 slots of all time lobbying and influence (by dollars given).
OWS wants an even bigger and more powerful government. And one point of their “initial manifesto” carves out an exception for public unions from all their “reforms”.
You can wish to be a 2nd class citizens with an all powerful central government - No thanks for me.
Interesting you left out unions - when they hold the top 8 out of the top 10 slots of all time lobbying and influence (by dollars given).
Top All-Time Political Donors, 1989-2012 source: FEC
Unions: ———————————- 640 million dollars
Corporations and trade groups———1.5 BILLION dollars
http://www.opensecrets.org/index.php
So what if unions they hold 8 out of the top 10 spots of lobbying and influence? What is the total unions give compared to Corporations and business trade groups such as the AMA, Financial workers, Home builders etc? Do unions give more than corporations and trade groups? No they do don’t. It’s not even close. Your pushing “8 out of the top 10 spots” argument is misleading and not telling the complete story. Not at all.
Take a look at top 140 campaign contributors compiled by the FEC for 1989-2012. I just did. Of the top 140 campaign contributors here’s the score:
Unions: ———————————- 640 million dollars
Corporations and trade groups———1.5 BILLION dollars
But you didn’t answer the question 2bananna.
If the OWS were the driving force in the passing of a law to reduce corporate lobbying and influence in our elections would you be happy or just even more pissed-off? And why?
So what if unions they hold 8 out of the top 10 spots of lobbying and influence? What is the total unions give compared to Corporations and business trade groups such as the AMA, Financial workers, Home builders etc? Do unions give more than corporations and trade groups?
Here is the difference.
Unions give 99%-100% of their political donations (forced through union dues) to democrats and the democrat party.
Corporations are pretty much split 50/50.
Go scroll through the list at open secrets.
Now you know why unions are always exempt from the rules when democrats are in power…
Tutti Fruity:
You still have not answered the question. Would you be happy or mad if the OWS helped to reduce the influence of corporate lobbyists on US legislation?
Corporations are pretty much split 50/50.
According to that long list it looks like corporations and trade groups lean a bit more Republican.
Can someone check me on this? I don’t think that union dues can even be used for lobbying, never mind political donations. That money has to be raised elsewhere - obviously from members, but not through their dues.
Got Turkish debt?
The Tell
The Markets News and Analysis Blog
Emerging market bonds more stable than Treasurys
October 20, 2011, 11:02 AM
Even as markets get pushed back and forth by uncertainties about Europe, high-quality emerging-market debt should outperform U.S. Treasury bonds – considered one of the safest assets in the world, analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch said.
“There was a fear that EM debt was just like every other risky volatile asset, but this is not the case for high quality EM sovereign bonds,” analyst Jane Brauer wrote in a note Thursday.
From late July until early October, yields on a basket of eight, high-quality, 10-year bonds have fallen marginally – 18 basis points, or 0.18 percentage points, compared to Treasurys, which dropped 104 basis points. The basket includes debt from Mexico, Brazil, Russia, Turkey and Indonesia, the Philippines and Colombia.
“EM high quality bonds are relatively immune to the volatile risk-on/off moves inherent in US rates,” she wrote. “At some point, with a much higher US Treasury yield, the shrinking spread pickup of EM will be so irrational that prices will adjust. But there is still room to pick up yield and reduce volatility now, which is the goal of any real money investor.”
From yesterday’s bits, I found this stunning.
“Comment by Steve J
2011-10-19 13:49:29
Louisiana bans the use of cash in buying 2nd hand goods:
http://m.klfy.com/default.aspx?pid=2705&wnfeedurl=http%3a%2f%2fwww.klfy.com%2fstory%2f15717759%2fsecond-hand-dealer-law%3fclienttype%3drssstory“
“Besides non-profit resellers like Goodwill, and garage sales, the language of the bill encompasses stores like the Pioneer Trading Post and flea markets.
Garage sales! This is also a means to track income from garage sales so it can be taxed. And I guess everyone who sells on Craigslist would be prohibited from accepting cash as well.
I think they will find this is illegal. Currency is legal tender for all debts public and private. I sincerely doubt you can forbid people from using it, even if you limit it to only certain types of transactions that are often used to commit tax fraud (sales or other).
Soon, everything will be illegal.
In, California its against the law for car washes to utilize used underwear to wipe down cars.
Huh?
Cut corporate taxes
Increase taxes on Garage sales
Sounds about right for Bobby Jindal and the GOP.
Now isn’t this the same thing as taxing all stock sales at full cost even if you loose money on it.
If I buy a bike new for 1000 and sell it used for 200 seems like I should be able to call this a capital loss.If I lived in Louisiana I’d start calling all of my possessions investments.
The hypocrisy of the libtards is ever-present. I saw the LA protest - the community organizers, utilizing the age-old practices of the socialist deception had enticed a few thousand homeless with a free sandwich, to increase their numbers and make them seem relevant. No, the Right is not threatened - but all the people working in the downtown LA had one thing on their lips - go look for work, you worthless, smelly, repugnant pieces of… Socialism, as a societal experiment had miserably failed in USSR, Cuba, Laos, etc - and it is failing in those hybrid societies. Those dumb enough to not know history are going to try to repeat it. And all of this is the doing of the “master community organizer” - one Barry Soetero,and supported by the mexican mafia(la city council)… Enjoy the hope/change - you voted for him!!!. i consider myself politically moderate,i vote for the person not the party.
“i consider myself politically moderate,i vote for the person not the party.”
I do too, but I am not unsympathetic toward OWS. Sure, there’s always unsavory people drawn to causes. Back in the day when I wuz briefly a hippie, there were always these guys lurking on the edges of various movements (anti-war, etc.) mostly looking to get laid.
mostly looking to get laid.
“The only sin a man can commit, is when I tell him to come in my room, and he doesn’t”
Madame Hortense / Zorba the Greek
And then there were groups like the Weather Underground, led by Bill Ayers (obama’s buddy), that called for the liquidation of millions of American of those who refused to become part of the revolution…
“Keep stroking it…does it make you feel better?”
Madame Hortense / Zorba the Greek
Love that movie.
i consider myself politically moderate
Yes and your post comes off as “moderate” too.
Socialism, as a societal experiment had miserably failed in USSR, Cuba, Laos,
Let’s use the proper definitions. Socialism? No. Those were Communist/Nutjob experiments. There are countries in the world that have forms of Social Democracy that are very successful.
Below are the top 10 rankings of countries in “human development”: a long and healthy life, access to knowledge, and a decent standard of living. Now 9 of the top 10 countries are Social Democracies. (FOX would call them “Socialists”) These countries are all capitalistic but, in general they put their people first before profits. For example, 9 out of 10 of these countries have universal health-care and a more equitable wealth distribution than the USA. And of these top 10 countries, I can only think of one who is seriously floundering now.
#1 Norway
#2 Australia
#3 New Zealand
#4 United States
#5 Ireland
#6 Liechtenstein
#7 Netherlands
#8 Canada
#9 Sweden
#10 Germany source: http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/
and they all seem to be of a certain color and of a certain (if fading) religion.
and all have laws based on a certain history of certain ancient cultures.
and most have massive natural resources with a small and homogeneous population to support
hmmmmm
and (Social Democracies with high standards of living) all seem to be of a certain color and of a certain (if fading) religion.
Who cares about color and religion? Religion and race do not pay for those countries’ programs. Money does. Our GDP per capita is higher than a lot of those countries and those countries are much more secular than the USA. We can’t have universal health coverage because we’re not all white or not all Baptist?
and all have laws based on a certain history of certain ancient cultures.
And the USA does not?
and most have massive natural resources with a small and homogeneous population to support
Which translates to wealth but we are wealthier per-capita than many of those countries that have better safety nets and very high standards of living. The reason they have universal health care is not because they have more money than the USA. The reason is because they chose to do so.
In fact universal health-care saves them money ie Canada spending 10% of GDP on healthcare, covering everyone while the USA spends 18% of our GDP on healthcare and has 1/3 of our population with no health insurance or joke health insurance.
So you admit socialism works but for you only with homogeneous populations who are less religious. apparently it works so well that 9 of the top 10 are socialist countries.
Note I don’t think Holland, Lichtenstein, Ireland or Germany have massive natural resourse reserves vs population and Canada doesn’t have an ancient culture. Care to describe some ofthese laws based on ancient culture. It seems if these laws work so well they could be easily borrowed by other countries. ‘
Facts mean nothing to you guys.
Dinosaurs roamed the earth with man screw the facts.
Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor??
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8lT1o0sDwI
Forget it he’s on a roll.
Liechtenstein is ruled by Prince Hans-Adam II (Johannes (Hans) Adam Ferdinand Alois Josef Maria Marko d’Aviano Pius von und zu Liechtenstein, although his son Hans makes the day to day decisions.
It does not practice Socialism.
(Liechtenstein) does not practice Socialism.
FOX news would disagree with you.
By law, universal public healthcare is available to all citizens and registered residents in Liechtenstein.
The Ministry of Public Health is responsible for the general health policy for the country. It also oversees, supervises and implements public health services, health insurance, pharmaceutical products and food safety. It is mandatory that all qualified employees and their employers, as well as self-employed persons contribute to the public healthcare system. Contributions made by employed family members also cover dependant family members.
For the unemployed, pensioners, people on long-term illness benefits and maternity leave, there is no required contribution to the healthcare fund. The national healthcare system covers most medical services including treatment by specialists, hospitalisation, prescriptions, pregnancy and childbirth and rehabilitation.
http://www.pacificprime.com/countries/liechtenstein/
saw the LA protest - the community organizers, utilizing the age-old practices of the socialist deception had enticed a few thousand homeless with a free sandwich
Proof or Right wing propaganda??
Let’s compare to Sean Hannity using footage of one protest held in the spring to make a Tea Party protest held in the fall look larger than it was. There is plenty of proof on this one just Youtube it. Leaves are green then bam leaves are brown.
Is Hannity still frequenting seedy bathhouses in Philly?
I always watch out for the guys and gals that need to be perfect all the time. They are always hiding something.
Top Gun #1 fighter is gay that kind of stuff. Hannity always looks perfect. People that graduate with a 4.0 are into bondage or worse..
How soon will we get a test of too big to fail?
“Bank of America is moving derivatives in its Merrill investment banking unit to its depository arm, which has access to the Fed discount window and is protected by the FDIC. So now BAC’s deposits of $1 trillion dollars are at risk and by default the U.S. government. A small move in their massive derivatives positions will wipe out all of BACs deposits. Why would anyone leave their savings at this bank?”
“This means that the investment bank’s European derivatives exposure is now backstopped by U.S. taxpayers. Bank of America didn’t get regulatory approval to do this, they just did it at the request of frightened counterparties. Now the Fed and the FDIC are fighting as to whether this was sound.”
“This is a direct transfer of risk to the taxpayer done by the bank without approval by regulators. You will also read below that JP Morgan is apparently doing the same thing with $79 trillion of notional derivatives guaranteed by the FDIC and Federal Reserve. So now if these derivatives blow up (and they will) the FDIC (taxpayer) will be on the hook.”
Link:
http://www.thefinancialphysician.com/blog/?p=8049
“Bank of America is moving derivatives in its Merrill investment banking unit to its depository arm, which has access to the Fed discount window and is protected by the FDIC.
This is gigantic. Huge. Tremendous. Of large importance.
What if someone has an IRA at Merrill? Is it federally insured if Merill or BofA implodes?
This is gigantic. Huge. Tremendous. Of large importance. Thank you for passing it on.
I hope the regulators have the power to make them undo this, because if they don’t and it becomes generally known, well, I don’t want to see a real bank run in my lifetime. I really don’t.
Just to clarify, I think there are enough people who are scared of the idea of the FDIC not having enough money in this circumstance that they might acutally get out, even though it is a pain to change all their bill pay/auto deposit stuff.
$60 a year might not do it. Not trusting this Congress to keep the FDIC funded might.
I see BofA headed in the same direction as Countrywide in 2007, except possibly on a slower trajectory. Except for the “too big to fail” part, I’m not sure why they wouldn’t fail and in less than a year. If BofA were to go down, what would that do for the confidence in the other big banks?
When I first heard about this last night I was astounded at the possibility of the FDIC backstopping $75 trillion in BofA derivatives. That’s a huge number relative to the size of the U.S. economy. In 2010, U.S. GDP was about $14T and world GDP $63T.
I tried to post this last night via a Zero Hedge link that didn’t go through. I was hoping to get the boards input here. Instead I was awake 1/2 the night thinking about what this means.
“European derivatives exposure is now backstopped by U.S. taxpayers”
Well let’s all give the Greek socialists a big hand for beating back the Greek anarchist in the streets of the Acropolis today. As a result of the street battle it bought time for Parliament to pass the latest soul crushing austerity measure as dictated by their French and German masters.
Sucks to live within your means.
I mean - If you still have credit cards left why can’t you spend?
“Sucks to live within your means.”
No it doesn’t. I sleep well at night.
I’m thinking of shorting the crap out of BOA.
Ithink they are being set as the super siv proposed by Hank Paulson. Fill them up with risky sht and let the tax payer take the hit. They have been downsizing and dumping devisions, the FED forced them to buy country wide.
Another link to this story:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-18/bofa-said-to-split-regulators-over-moving-merrill-derivatives-to-bank-unit.html
Yikes! (sudden Richard Cory poem flashback moment) :-/
Mets star Lenny Dykstra pleads no contest to car theft
By Alex Dobuzinskis | Reuters – 12 hrs ago
(Editing by Steve Gorman and Cynthia Johnston)
Dykstra, 48, entered his plea, the equivalent of guilty in California, during a hearing in Los Angeles Superior Court. In addition to three counts of grand theft auto, he pleaded no contest to one count of filing false financial statements.
The onetime World Series hero faces a maximum penalty of four years in prison when he appears before a judge for sentencing in January.
Dykstra and two associates were accused of running a scheme to lease high-end automobiles from dealerships using fraudulent information and claiming credit through a phony business called Home Free Systems.
Although they were rejected at two dealerships, prosecutors charge, they drove off with three cars from another business.
Dykstra’s accountant, Robert Hymers, pleaded no contest earlier this year to a charge of identity theft in connection with his role in the scheme.
Also, Dykstra’s friend Christopher Gavanis pleaded no contest to a charge of filing a false financial statement. Hymers and Gavanis have not yet been sentenced.
Dykstra originally faced 25 criminal counts, including three counts of possession of a controlled substance, due to the alleged discovery of cocaine, Ecstasy and a synthetic growth hormone during a police search of his Los Angeles home.
Those charges together were punishable by up to 12 years in prison. But Los Angeles prosecutors said on Wednesday that the remainder of the case would be dismissed at sentencing under his plea deal.
Dykstra still faces two additional and unrelated criminal prosecutions. An indictment returned by a federal grand jury in May accuses him of stealing or destroying some $400,000 in property that was part of his bankruptcy case.
Then in August, he was charged in Los Angeles with exposing himself to a string of women who answered online employment advertisements he posted.
Nicknamed “Nails” during his baseball career, Dykstra spent more than a decade in the Major Leagues, mostly as an outfielder for the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies.
And wasn’t he a protege (or at least working for) Cramer at TheStreet.com a few years ago?
All states should be doing this.
ITEM: Some states adding assets to food stamp qualification
By John Wisely, USA TODAYUpdated
In Michigan, if you have $5,000 in liquid assets or a car or truck worth more than $15,000, you’re probably out of luck under new rules launched this month.
Earlier this month, the state of Michigan began asking residents about their assets — homes, cars, stocks, bonds, even lottery winnings — in addition to income when they receive benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the formal name for food stamps.
The decision to ask about assets rests with the states. Arizona, Texas and Indiana are among the states that ask. Oregon, Oklahoma and New York are among those that don’t, USA TODAY research showed.
Michigan wants the test to weed out people who are gaming the system, said Brian Rooney, director of policy and compliance at the Michigan Department of Human Services.
“If you’re driving an Escalade, maybe it’s time to find a car that better fits your current economic situation,” Rooney said. The state has identified about 15,000 recipients who could lose benefits.
Food stamps have been around since 1939 as a way to help low-income people get their groceries. More than 40 million Americans used the benefit in September, receiving an average benefit of $134 per person or $290 per household, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the program.
If you are driving an Escalade, you are a complete idiot for buying an overpriced Suburban.
Well and good, but I think claimants age and duration on the SNAP program ought to be considered (if not already factored in).
They need to ask the applicants for thier cell phone number and then ask them how they can afford that, but not food.
/repeat for cigarettes
I smoke old golds, drink old smugglers, but can’t afford snap crackle pop.
“They need to ask the applicants for thier cell phone number and then ask them how they can afford that, but not food.”
A pay as you go cell phone is not that expensive and may be a good choice for someone without a stable domicile , especially with the dearth of pay phones these days. Those who are eligible for SNAP may need to call 911 from time to time.
Finally! As mentioned by others, this needs to go national.
I got tired of getting flamed for posting about people driving nice cars, talking on their iPhone and using SNAP cards. Not to mention the obviously illegal parents with a bunch of obviously legal children paying for huge grocery bills with the swipe of a SNAP. I was told to go after the “Big Fish” on Wall Street. But I can`t afford to take off work and Occupy Wall Street, and Wall Street executives don`t shop at my grocery store.
Speaking of SNAP cards…I was just at the grocery store this evening, and observed three different women. At the front was a gorgeous long-legged brunette in athletic attire, smart looking too buying some fruit; paid with a shiny gold credit card and nice smile, beautiful teeth. Second in line, a short fat woman with a couple of cheap tattoos buying nothing but packaged junk-food; paid with a SNAP card. Third in line, a morbidly obese Latino woman with kids hanging everywhere on the cart like koala; paid with a SNAP card. Wonder if we are becoming polarized like the third world?
Rms:
Now you see why people should have to sit in class 25 hours a week in order to get any benefits. Learning to read, write and speak English. To read labels, to shop…basic skills most do not have.
‘ “Contrary to the misconception that we are just a large-not-for-profit organization — and we are — we’re also in arguably one of the most competitive industries known to man — higher education,” State University System Chancellor Frank Brogan told a legislative panel Wednesday.’
ROTFLMAO! I’d hate to see what tuition prices would be if these universities could charge whatever they wanted to. I also wonder if anyone on that legislative panel was paying enough attention to even crack a smile.
http://htpolitics.com/2011/10/19/university-profs-scott-posting-of-salaries-part-of-attack/
I remember seeing the salaries of University of Oklahoma faculty in 1989 while a graduate student there. In my department, those salaries were frightfully low for the amount and quality of work they were doing. They put in a lot of hours and had one of the top programs in the country. There’s no way I would have wanted to put in the work for a PhD based on their level of compensation.
sorry if this is a repost, but it’s too good to miss: California and Bust
http://www.vanityfair.com/business/features/2011/11/michael-lewis-201111#gotopage1
“I was convinced—because the credit crisis had been so different from region to region—that it would emerge with new regional strengths and weaknesses. Companies are more likely to flourish in the stronger states; the individuals will go to where the jobs are. Ultimately, the people will follow the companies.”
I don’t necessarily buy that premise. The best workers are not necessarily going to relocate to some places for a variety of reasons. Companies that want the best talent will do what is necessary to get that talent. Forcing those employees to relocated to places unattractive to them is a poor way to do that.
Just visited w/an associate that was transferred down south this summer. She admitted the energy company her husband worked for was prepared to take an $80k hit on the sale of her McMansion when they moved them down there. But they were lucky and only had to assume a $50k hit.
I think I figured out why all these larger homes are still selling here in an area where the satellite office is for NY Natural Gas market development. It also sheds light on the reason why even though she was shopping in the million dollar market down there, they had to bid 4 different times before they actually got a finished sale. The other times they were always outbid.
Solar panels and Electric Cars.
1st. point I would like to point out that 12 American solar manufactures have requested a tariff be placed on Chinese solar suppliers. Congress has several members working on a draft bill. If there has been collusion between China’s Govt. and their manufactures then there might be a big tax hike on imported solar panels. Right now might be a cycle low if your in the market for a system. My installer says he’s over booked with jobs. I guess there are at least a few jobs created from all this creative destruction.
#2. Saw yesterday the DeLorean Motor Co. will be launching a new and version of the classic Back to the Future car. Short range (100 mi max) and pricey at $90k so the Volt is a way better deal.
#2. Saw yesterday the DeLorean Motor Co. will be launching a new and version of the classic Back to the Future car. Short range (100 mi max) and pricey at $90k so the Volt is a way better deal.
In Northern Ireland?
I believe they are located in Houston.
” a separate NAR survey of about 1,300 agents in areas that experienced lower loan limits showed that 16% of buyers dropped out of the home buying process.”
Heh heh
Lawrence Yun is trying to blame this drop on the tougher conforming jumbo loan limit rules. Isn’t the reality that buyers would just look for less expensive homes? Or maybe they’re sophisticated enough to realize that they’ve got to wait for the price reductions to shake out.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/sales-of-existing-homes-fall-3-in-september-2011-10-20-1014220
Manufacturers say their biggest challenge is finding people with problem-solving skills.
Geez, the “TrueFinancialCult™” / “TrueSerialLiquiditist™”
/ “TrueFinancialInnovation$™” seemed to find it was a financial “Advantage” having people with little to zero problem-sovling skills. :-/
600,000 U.S. manufacturing jobs go unfilled:
October 20th, 2011, by Mary Ann Milbourn / OC Register
Manufacturers are suffering from a serious skills shortage with as many as 600,000 jobs going unfilled nationwide because companies can’t find workers who can do the work, according to a report released this week by Deloitte.
The report said the hardest jobs to fill are those that have the biggest impact on performance including machinists, operators, craft workers, distributors and technicians.
Deloitte said 67% of the nearly 1,100 manufacturers surveyed reported a moderate to severe shortage of available workers while 56% expect the shortage to worsen in the next three to five years.
Among the report’s findings:
* Companies depend on outdated approaches for finding the right people, for developing their employees’ skills and improving their performance.
* High unemployment is not making it easier to fill positions.
* Manufacturing is changing so quickly it’s hard to keep up.
* Manufacturers say their biggest challenge is finding people with problem-solving skills.
* The shortage will be exacerbated in coming years as many of the current skilled production workers retire.
Deloitte said there is no simple solution to solving the skills gap. The report suggested one approach would be to allow older workers to gradually scale back hours as they phase into retirement while sharing their skills and knowledge with younger workers.
Companies also should work with local colleges and trade schools to develop programs that will help train new workers supplement the skills of their existing workforce.
See, we need more outsourcing.
Or MBAs
Manufacturers say their biggest challenge is finding people with problem-solving skills?
My personal experience is yes, they are.
Manufacturers say their biggest challenge is finding people with problem-solving skills.
Who will work for only $10/hr
The really bad news is that the 25 to 44 year olds’ real median incomes in 2010 were at the same level as 1970. While this trend may exaggerate the income problem due changes in ethnicity and age over time, incomes have been stagnant for this age group since the 1990s.
“Well, there you go again…” Ronnie Raygun
Analyst: Homeownership is not hip anymore
October 20th, 2011, by Jon Lansner / OC Register
Amidst the gloomy of big home price declines, continued foreclosures, and low housing production, recently released US Census data shows some long term cracks in homeownership and income statistics. Meanwhile, we have the best housing affordability conditions in a generation, which should be good news for the prime home buyer cohorts aged between 25 and 44. But homeownership for this group has been tough in the past and is not being helped by tight mortgage credit conditions.
First, about the long term cracks:
* Income: Looking at Census data, a recent CoreLogic report shows that US median income fell 2.3% in 2010 to $49,500. That’s not a surprise given the continued recessionary feel of the economy. What’s disturbing is that in real terms median income declined 7% from peak in 1999 and is now at 1966 level.
* The really bad news is that the 25 to 44 year olds’ real median incomes in 2010 were at the same level as 1970. While this trend may exaggerate the income problem due changes in ethnicity and age over time, incomes have been stagnant for this age group since the 1990s.
* Homeownership: The US homeownership rate, according to the 2010 Census dropped from 66.2 % in 2000 to 65.1% in 2010, not good, but things were worse for the prime home buying age cohorts. According to CoreLogic, the homeownership rate for the 25 to 34 year olds dropped from 51.6% in 1980 to 42.0% in 2010. For the 35 to 44 year age cohort homeownership declined from 71.2% to 62.3% over the same time period.
* About affordability: While housing expenditures as a percent of income have risen since 1985, housing affordability conditions for homeownership are now extremely favorable thanks to low mortgage rates and double-digit price declines, which have brought incomes more in line with mortgage costs. For example, a recent study by Deutsche Bank shows that the US rent to buy ratio in the second quarter was 105.6%. In other words, it costs now more to rent than to buy. Meanwhile, as a percent of household income, the cost to own in the US was 9.3% of income and the cost to rent was 9.2%, essentially even. The cost to own peaked at the height of the housing bubble in 2006 Q2 at 17.2% of household income.
So why isn’t there more buying going on?
Clearly, homeownership is not hip anymore.
But there is another problem and that’s tough financing condition amidst a situation where a lot of consumers have tarnished credit scores. For example, a recent report by Freddie Mac shows that the average FICO credit score of recently purchased mortgages in their portfolio was 755 in 2011 Q2, up 5.2% from 2007. This seems too high for the masses of US consumers, when the median American FICO score is 723. No wonder the prime home buying age group is locked out of the housing market and buy to rent investors rule the day. The government sponsored mortgage enterprises, who failed to reign in the housing bubble are failing again by fighting old wars.
Whatever became of all those too-clever-by-half under-30-year-old home owners who knew something back around 2005 or so the over-30-year-old set was missing?
Or the twenty-somethings that couldn’t do without anything less than $500k, 4,000sf becuase they would someday grow into it?
We all knew of a few of them.
My shoe-shine boy moment came when I was in an investor’s seminar in 2004 and two squeaky clean sub-25 year-old metrosexual males walked in chests out, chin up, hair gelled just so, telling everyone how they were successful real estate investors. Shortly thereafter they slunk back to Southern California, like many others frothing at all the “cheap” real estate here.
“25 to 44 year olds’ real median incomes in 2010 were at the same level as 1970″
Is that using the “doesn’t include what you actually buy” CPI numbers?
You know what scares the chit out of me? I am feeding myself with lots of cheap veggies and stuff made from scratch (like lentil soup and whatnot) and my food bills are still nuts
I just got back from Target - diapers, 2 cans of soup, a trike for my daughter’s birthday, some cookies for her daycare party… $103
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi’s war chest might have been large enough at one point to support fighting against rebel forces, but how much Libya’s Transitional National Council can extract after Gadhafi’s reported death remains to be seen
10 to 1 says that these billions will somehow end up in European bankers hands, liquidating swiss bank accounts and gold reserves etc. and that everyone in Gadafi’s group who knows where the money is will end up dead.
Heck - we are still finding buried nazi gold
Goldman Sachs had some Libyan money too. I guess it goes to the bonus pool now….
I give him credit here.
Foreclosures: Don’t slow them, Romney says
http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Latest-News-Wires/2011/1020/Foreclosures-Don-t-slow-them-Romney-says
…Romney told Las Vegas Review Journal’s editorial board that solving the foreclosure crisis would require letting banks proceed against homeowners who have defaulted on their mortgages. New investors could then rent out the homes until markets adjusted.
“As to what to do for the housing industry specifically and are there things that you can do to encourage housing: One is, don’t try to stop the foreclosure process. Let it run its course and hit the bottom,” Romney said.
Romney elaborated during the presidential debate Tuesday night. “The idea of the federal government running around and saying, ‘We’re going to give you some money for trading in your old car…or we’re going to keep banks from foreclosing if you can’t make your payments,” Romney said, “The right course is to let markets work.”
As do I, other than the “let investors buy them” stuff. Of course, leftie radio has been all over him about this, seeing loan-owners only as victims.
First, we need to come to SOME agreement on the problem. There’s also that little MERS thing.
http://www.eglimatikotita.gr/2011/10/blog-post_2432.html
And a story all but ignored by the MSM: the biggest and most violent protests to date in Greece. Great shots of Communist union goons battling “black bloc” anarchists - let ‘em both lose.
Hopefully this foreign real estate investor encouragement measure will plant the seeds for foreign real estate investors to catch themselves falling knives, right around the time when the Chinese and Canadian real estate bubbles pop.
HOMES
OCTOBER 20, 2011
Foreigners’ Sweetener: Buy House, Get a Visa
By NICK TIMIRAOS
The reeling housing market has come to this: To shore it up, two Senators are preparing to introduce a bipartisan bill Thursday that would give residence visas to foreigners who spend at least $500,000 to buy houses in the U.S.
The provision is part of a larger package of immigration measures, co-authored by Sens. Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.) and Mike Lee (R., Utah), designed to spur more foreign investment in the U.S.
Supporters of the bill, co-authored by Sen. Charles Schumer, say it would help make up for American buyers who are holding back.
Foreigners have accounted for a growing share of home purchases in South Florida, Southern California, Arizona and other hard-hit markets. Chinese and Canadian buyers, among others, are taking advantage not only of big declines in U.S. home prices and reduced competition from Americans but also of favorable foreign exchange rates.
To fuel this demand, the proposed measure would offer visas to any foreigner making a cash investment of at least $500,000 on residential real-estate—a single-family house, condo or townhouse. Applicants can spend the entire amount on one house or spend as little as $250,000 on a residence and invest the rest in other residential real estate, which can be rented out.
…
I am appalled and dismayed, though not surprised, that U.S. Senators are trying their best to give foreign investors an advantage over their U.S. constituents in the housing market. I hope the Senators who are sponsoring this bill get run out of office on a rail.
The Financial Times
Fixing America’s housing market… with Chinese landlords?
October 20, 2011 11:10 am by Josh Noble
For a Chinese millionaire, investing is a chore these days. The stock market is in the dumps, house prices have stopped going up, and even gold is in a funk. Perhaps some real estate overseas?
Enter Charles Schumer – China-currency-policy-basher, and US senator for New York State. Under a bipartisan bill, drafted by Schumer and Utah’s Mike Lee, foreigners could be granted a US visa if they buy an American home.
The Wall Street Journal reports:
It evokes visions of a remake of the 1990 smaltz epic Green Card – only this time with Gerard Depardieau replaced by a credit-squeezed Wenzhou factory boss touring the outskirts of Baltimore in search of the perfect family home. Maybe Andy McDowell could play the real estate agent.
The demand would surely be there. In fiscal 2011, the US processed over 1 million visa applications from China – a 34 per cent rise from 2010.
A recent report from Bain & Co suggested that 60 per cent of wealthy Chinese (those with assets worth over $1.5m) are thinking of quitting China, and over a quarter of Chinese worth over $15m have already filled out the forms.
In the places where mainland Chinese citizens have already been able to access the market, the effects have been palpable. Mainland buyers have helped fuel a huge property boom in Hong Kong, and to a certain extent in Taiwan.
But even if the bill was passed, there’s a major obstacle much closer to home for any would-be American dream chasers: the Chinese government. Capital controls mean that wealthy Chinese would struggle to take the minimum $500,000 required out of the country legally, although those who trade with the US might feasibly have access to the cash offshore.
…
gads, a blast from the past..I was linked over to a 2007 blog post about IT careers and found this comment:
“…I have relatives who partied through high school, never stepped foot in a college, and wandered around their life for most of their twenties to end up in a trade such as home construction, or a no-degree job like home loans or real estate. Guess what? They earn circles around the highest paid, hardest working IT people I’ve known. The ones at desks have their own offices. The ones out in the weather earn circles around IT while taking 6-8 weeks off each year.”
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union’s executive may ask for powers to censor credit ratings for countries in crisis, its financial reform chief said on Thursday, describing a ban as one way of stopping fallout from “ill-thought-out” ratings.
The proposal, which officials cautioned may be impossible to police, would be the most stringent curb yet on rating agencies and highlights frustration in France, which was this week warned by Moody’s that its top rating was under threat, and Germany.
“These rating agencies should probably be considered one of the causes of this crisis,” said Michel Barnier, the former French foreign minister who is now the EU commissioner in charge of regulating finance.
“We are thinking about the timeliness of rating countries that are covered by international programs. Is it appropriate? If we don’t consider it to be appropriate, we could ban it or suspend ratings for the necessary timeframe.”
Good luck with that, t
Brazil is one of the world’s hottest economies. But even it is feeling a need to cut interest rates in response to a slowdown in the developed world.
Despite the fact that inflation is still a major concern in the land of Carnival, Brazil’s central bank cut its benchmark Selic rate late Wednesday by half a percentage point.
Rates in Brazil are still a whopping 11.5%, a reflection of the strength of the oil-rich Brazilian economy. But the latest cut comes on the heels of another half-point cut back on August 31. And here’s what is most telling
****
“It is very important to the Brazilian economy that the U.S. and Europe do not slip into another recession,” said Otavio Aidar, an economist for Mirae Asset Global Investments in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
However, more rate cuts in Brazil could also help to weaken its currency, the real. That could lead to increased exports from Brazil and more foreign investment there. So it’s not as if Brazil is altruistically lowering rates as a way of doing a solid for the U.S. and Europe.
******
That brings us to china
Rates in Brazil are still a whopping 11.5%, a reflection of the strength of the oil-rich Brazilian economy.
The only reason Brazil is “oil rich” is because, through government programs, Brazil became energy independent before they discovered all this new oil.
They are still trying to figure out how to extract the offshore oil they discovered after they became energy independent.
But the article said “Carnival”….
Fed mouthpiece Hillsenrath (WSJ) just announced this being considered:
Federal Reserve officials are considering a new program of buying mortgage-backed securities to boost the ailing economy, though they appear unlikely to move swiftly in this direction.
The idea would be to target any new efforts from the central bank at the parts of the economy that are most severely impeding a recovery–the housing and mortgage markets–by working to push down mortgage rates.
Lower mortgage rates, in turn, could encourage more home buying and mortgage refinancing, and help the economy more broadly by freeing up cash for consumers to spend on other goods and services. Moreover, Fed officials believe their past purchase programs helped to lift stock markets, by driving investors from low-risk investments toward riskier investments.
Those pesky high mortgage rates are the obvious root of the problem. Yeah, that’s it.
We need to keep home prices high in order to keep them affordable.
Comrade.
Anyone here live in Wilmington, DE?
I love the place, and my friend wants me to move there. What’s the political scene like? How much are teachers hated, etc.?
Mugz, The RAL’s have been trying to figure out a way to move to DE(preferably a 20 mile radius from Milford) for 6 years now. Lots of housing inventory there too. We still think and talk about it nearly every day. Our only possibility is if my employer opens an office in South Jersey.
Aw, man, I just passed through there. Spent the weekend in Bethany, but flew into Philly and spent the afternoon in Wilmington.
Everybody has there own vision of utopia, but for me it’s Delaware. Seriously. Upstate is dead and close-minded. DE seems like it’s reasonably progressive with not a lot of insanity.
I would kill to live in Bethany Beach, but even last weekend the area was mostly shut down for the season. My buds went swimming in the ocean… too cold for me and my Florida spectrum, but I’d adapt.
It’s everything I want, really.
One thing that drives me nuts about FLorida is that I can drive for 8 hours in any direction and it’s all the same (strip malls, flat, grimey and crimey, etc.)
I can’t believe how fast the landscape changes up there.
I also love those teansie plates. We saw low-600s in Rehoboth, which was a silly, but small joy.
Mingya!
http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/21/delaware-man-spends-675k-on-license-plate-6/
“Everybody has there own vision of utopia, but for me it’s Delaware. Seriously. Upstate is dead and close-minded. DE seems like it’s reasonably progressive with not a lot of insanity.”
Jeez…. have you been eavesdropping on my conversations? My EXACT sentiment. DE is *just right*. Just enough positive outlook, just enough outsider influence, just enough local influence, just far enough south, it strikes a perfect balance of political sentiments, etc. It’s truly the right mix. I can even get a slice of NY pizza in Milford!
Upstate NY/VT border area is no different than your end of the state. Anybody who is somebody left long ago. Those that stayed seem so friggin’ hopeless to me. Ignorant in so many ways, sad in others. I’m so glad I left there and I often wonder why I consider moving back. Everyone I know who left have the same negative sentiment about it.