Bits Bucket for November 21, 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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European shares tumble to 6-week low on debt fears
PARIS | Mon Nov 21, 2011 3:09am EST
Nov 21 (Reuters) - European stocks fell early on Monday, hitting a six-week low, as the expected failure of a U.S. congressional committee to agree on how to slash the deficit revived fears about the country’s finances and rattled investors.
At 0805 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 0.7 percent at 944.47 points, losing ground for the fifth time in six sessions.
“Europe is not the only one with debt problems, and at least on this side of the Atlantic, progress has been made while in the United States, there’s a political gridlock,” said David Thebault, head of quantitative sales trading, at Global Equities.
…
Related News
Debt-reduction panel spirals toward failure
By Richard Cowan and Thomas Ferraro
WASHINGTON | Sun Nov 20, 2011 6:30pm EST
(Reuters) - After more than two months of talks, the congressional deficit-reduction committee looked set to concede failure, unable to bridge deep partisan differences over taxes and spending going into the 2012 elections.
Republican and Democratic lawmakers cast doubt on any possibility of agreement in appearances on Sunday talk shows. Without some unexpected breakthrough, aides said, the 12-member bipartisan “super committee” will admit defeat on Monday.
…
“the 12-member bipartisan “super committee” will admit defeat on Monday.”
Too much kryptonite lying around.
Anyway, it doesn’t matter. In the words of Little Caligula, (GWB) “This sucker’s going down”.
They have to pretend they fought hard before screwing the little people and younger generations.
Absolutely!
In Germany the run into material assets has started.
Real Estate, precious coins, metals, collectible cars, anything that can’t be inflated away.
Most likely we will enter an era of financial repression (low interest rates in the 0-3% range and high inflation in the 5-10% range and higher taxes). This is the only way to get the fiscal situation back in order shy of outright defaults, currency reform, hyperinflation or similar drastic measures that would threaten social stability.
How do you protect your assests in a time of socialism for “too-big-to-fail-banksters” and capitalism for the rest of us?
What are the options?
- Real Estate is subject to increased taxation by desperate municipalities.
- Dividend paying stocks. Market volatility and possible downturn in the company’s fortunes.
- Precious metals. Market volatility, highly speculative but given the circumstances huge upside potential. Easy to hide from desperate taxing authorities.
- Collectibles (coins, cars, rugs, art, etc.). You really need to know what you’re doing. Can you tell the difference between a real Rolex/coin/rug and one faked in China?
Anyway, the 4 categories listed above is where I have my assets. There doesn’t appear to be any fool proof way to protect one’s assets. Any other bright ideas? I like to hear them.
http://www.thepowerhour.com/news/items_disappearfirst.htm
In case things get REALLY bad, which they might….
Most precious advice I saw in a quick glance at that link:
3. After awhile, even gold can lose its luster. But there is no luxury in war quite like toilet paper. Its surplus value is greater than gold’s.
The trouble with gold this time around is that EVERYONE figured out it was the best investment — just like real estate circa 2006.
Gold Nearing $1,900…Is $2,200 far Behind?
By Ian Cooper
Monday, August 22nd, 2011
Gold is just $12 away from $1,900…. and we still remain ultra-bullish, seeing no reason to exit any part of our gold positions mentioned in early August 2011.
And like we said, we see no reason to sell any of these positions. When gold reaches our target of $1,950, we’ll reassess that position. Taking gains now is too premature. Any break above $1,900 could tack on another 20% of upside to gold. And we’re not about to miss that potential.
Pure Asset Trader readers have been trading the above positions… and many more recently. In fact, the team just finished up their second 40-for-40 win streak in under three years.
What Isn’t Driving Gold Higher These Days?
…
…3. After awhile, even gold can lose its luster. But there is no luxury in war quite like toilet paper. Its surplus value is greater than gold’s…
Is that by weight or by volume ??? <:)
“Any other bright ideas?”
Try not to catch yourself a falling knife in the stock market (I realize this advice comes a day too late — sorry!)
The S&P500 is still about where it was in 11/98. So what if it goes down one day up the next? What’s your point?
If a company like MO pays 5% dividend a year you still come out better than in treasuries.
“What’s your point?”
It’s better to be out of stocks than in them on a day when they are down 3%, with many more down days possible if the eurozone collapses and automatic spending cuts replace the failed Supercommittee agreement.
Got stocks?
If you can time the market day to day good for you. I am not that sophisticated and I don’t have the insider information that drives the market. One day the Euro is saved, the next day the sky is falling, then its saved again, then everthing is falling apart, rinse and repeat.
When all fails you have to print the money or let everything fail in a deflationary collapse. I think it is much more likely that our politicians and the FED will chose the former over the latter.
It’s simply a bet on a political descision in the US, Japan and Europe.
It appears you are betting on a deflationary collapse while I bet on liberal use of the printing press.
“When all fails you have to print the money or let everything fail in a deflationary collapse. I think it is much more likely that our politicians and the FED will chose the former over the latter.”
I agree with you that this is the obvious outcome, but it is not obvious at this point how it will occur, given that Angela Merkel apparently is no fan of using the printing press to bail out the eurozone.
The Germans in general are no fan of the printing press, they made some bad experiences with it in the past. For some bizarre reason German politicians across all major parties have it in their mind that the Euro must be saved at all costs. I think they will agree to use the printing press instead of letting the Euro fail when the day of reckoning arrives.
Still, its a bet, by no means a sure thing. The sensible thing for Germany would be to exit the Eurozone and take charge of their own fiscal destiny. There are simply no good choices left. Being a close observer of German news and student of (economic)history my money is on the printing press. The alternative is simply to horrible to contemplate, especially if you’re an Euro politician and face eviction from the land of milk and honey.
“The Germans in general are no fan of the printing press, they made some bad experiences with it in the past.”
The Treaty of Versailles was directly responsible for the Weimar inflation, IIRC.
And Weimar hyperinflation and economic collapse begat Hitler.
The alternative is simply to horrible to contemplate
I can think of several alternatives, none necessarily horrible.
- Eject the weak PIIGS from the euro zone
- Germany and other prudent nations voluntarily leave and form a new “elite euro” common currency, leaving the profligate nations behind with the existing euro
- Germany leaves on its own and reinstates the deutschmark or a replacement for same
I’m far from convinced that the world would end in any of these three scenarios. Some banks might be screwed, but that isn’t necessarily the same thing.
“…the run into material assets has started…”
Gold and oil included? It’s odd, then, to see the prices going down instead of up…
Not really. Lots of good assets are going to be jettisoned to cover margin calls and make hedgie balance sheets look less disastrous. Expect a sharp drop and an equally sharp bounceback.
“Lots of good assets are going to be jettisoned to cover margin calls…”
That’s what I suspected was going on. When cash is short, investors have to sell hard assets to raise more of it. This happened at the onset of the Great Depression and other historical times of panic.
http://www.nyxdata.com/nysedata/asp/factbook/viewer_edition.asp?mode=table&key=3153&category=8
The NYSE has reported that in October, margin debt jumped by $21 billion, the most since June 2007’s $25 billion… just in time for the coming market rout.
I see prices going up. Take a look at an oil or gold chart over the last 10 years, you’ll see. Some days it goes down, most days it goes up. Some volatility is expexcted.
Too much money/debt, too little hard assests and somebody has to pay for the mess. Guess who?
“I see prices going up.”
Go ahead and look at what happened over the past ten years, if that’s what floats your boat. I will look at today’s price moves, and base my guess of where things are headed on today’s news.
Steel prices are dropping today as well. Declining prices of industrial commodities suggest that markets are trying to price increased recession risk due to a combination of automatic spending cuts in the U.S. with whatever resolution of the eurozone debt crisis plays out.
Industrial commodities are a bit different, especially in light of China’s real estate boom coming to an end.
Every major bank, brokerage house, sovereign state (PIIGS) or US state will get the funds needed when facing armageddon. If not we will face a deflationary collapse like in 1929 only a lot worse since the situation is coming to a head in the US and Europe at the same time.
Deflation versus Inflation is not a law of nature, it is a political descision weather to use the printing press.
When the big boys are in trouble we know how this story will end.
“Deflation versus Inflation is not a law of nature, it is a political descision weather to use the printing press.”
Totally agreed.
Where we tend to disagree is that the global economy is balanced on a knife edge between deflationary collapse or hyperinflationary monetary expansion. I am more inclined to expect some kind of middle ground marked by financial market instability, due to the tremendous uncertainty created by the political decisions which underlie the adjustment process.
“…that you seem to view the global economy as balanced on a knife edge between deflationary collapse or hyperinflationary monetary expansion.”
I’m not expressing myself well today…
How can Germany have a higher rate of inflation than other countries in the Eurozone?
Wouldn’t people just purchase from, say France or Austria?
The velocity of money. Many people with savings trying to turn their savings into goods fuels inflation. If there are few savings to begin with like in many other countries the effect will be less pronounced.
I mean why would I pay 1,000 euros for an ounce of gold in Germany, when I can drive over to Austria for lunch and pay only 800 euros?
For gold you’re right. For real estate or many collectibles that is highly impractical. In Europe there’s also a fairly hefty sales tax on precious metals.
Commodities are trade on the world market, many other inflation hedges are only traded locally.
From the NYT’s article on the failure of the debt-reduction panel: “On Senator Murray’s birthday, there were frosted cupcakes.”
Well at least one of the big issues was solved.
Can anyone who “gets it” kindly explain why Treasurys are going up in value on news of the Supercommittee’s failure to come to agreement on deficit reduction measures? I would have expected exactly the opposite effect.
Nov. 21, 2011, 10:25 a.m. EST
Treasurys up; debt deadlock spurs flight to safety
Yields on 10-year note back below 2% with 2-year auction on tap
By Deborah Levine, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Treasury prices rose Monday, pushing 10-year yields back below 2%, as a lack of progress in the U.S. toward addressing its deficit led investors out of riskier assets like stocks and fueled a shift into the dollar and Treasurys for their safe-haven status.
“The best excuse for the strength seems to be the supercommittee’s abject failure,” said David Ader, head of government bond strategy at CRT Capital Group.
The yields on 10-year notes, which move inversely to prices, fell 5 basis points to 1.97%. A basis point is one one-hundredth of a percentage point.
Yields on 30-year bonds declined 5 basis points to 2.95%.
Two-year note yields were little changed at 0.28%.
…
Can anyone who “gets it” kindly explain why Treasurys are going up in value ”
my guess is a recession forcast because of inept government
But I don’t “get it” not at all it’s just a guess
Cantankerous, I do not presume to get it. The pundits I read say money is coming in from over the pond, plunked into T-bills. On a relative basis the dollar seems sounder than the euro. Demand for bills goes up, prices go up, yields go down. That’s as far as it makes sense to me.
Great discussions lately! I’ve been catching up on what people are saying late at night. The schoolwork is beating the tar out of me, but I like wrestling with it. When people ask, I tell them, breezily, “Oh, I always wanted to be an engineer”.
They look at me kinda funny.
.
“Oh, I always wanted to be an engineer”
Stay the course — you will be richly rewarded for your efforts!
Sometimes I get tired of it, but every time I get to blow that whistle it’s worth it.
Hey, Janester. Halfway through now, no? Good for you!
Please keep us posted?
As to the question at hand, the USD is still the world’s reserve currency. No matter how bad it gets, money will still flee to perceived safety.
Folks, thanks for the rootin’!
ahanson - for better or worse, I’ve got this tiger by the tail through Spring semester 2014. My hat is off to all you guys who ground it out in a full time program. For me, even if I quit my day gig, there would not be enough hours in the week to keep up with the problem sets, mid-terms, (!ugh!) and team projects.
My youngest - one of our disaffected youth - bought SAT books in September and has been hitting them.
Glad he has enough backbone to pick up a gauntlet when he sees one. I’m keepin’ my mouth shut.
Next up: Previously-agreed pet spending projects will get protection against automatic cuts, others not so much.
Congress May Try Blocking Cuts if Debt Panel Fails
Published November 21, 2011 | FoxNews.com
WASHINGTON – Congress is facing automatic cuts of $1.2 trillion over 10 years if a 12-member Super Committee can’t agree to a package of expanded tax revenues and spending cuts, but lawmakers are looking for a way around the “sequestration” and avoid any painful reductions to their favored programs.
Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., say they are writing legislation to prevent what they say would be devastating cuts to the military. Democrats maintain they won’t let domestic programs be the sole source of savings.
…
Mr Market HATES political uncertainty.
The Deficit Deal That Wasn’t: Hopes Are Dashed
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER and ROBERT PEAR
Published: November 20, 2011
WASHINGTON — The one sliver of real hope came a week ago, in the darkened Capitol on the Sunday night after Veterans Day.
Called away from dinner tables, the Jets-Patriots game on television and, in one case, a soccer team party, several Democratic members of the special Congressional committee on deficit reduction raced to the office of Senator Patty Murray for a hasty 8:30 meeting to discuss the outlines of a potential agreement. Crucially, it appeared to have the backing of at least one Republican on the 12-member panel even though it included a tax increase.
As the members spoke, they began to see the outlines of a deal, tentatively agreeing on tax rates, revenues, spending cuts and changes to Social Security and Medicare, according to interviews with members of the committee and their aides.
Whether the committee could reach the finish line was very much in question, but at least it was in sight, for the first time in the nine weeks the group had been meeting.
It disappeared almost as quickly.
…
Not to brag or anything, but today’s MSM reports suggest my posts this past Saturday pretty much nailed down the main issues at the moment.
I suppose these developments were pretty obvious to anyone with their eyes wide open?
Stock markets slide across Europe as deficit deadlock in U.S. compounds nerves over eurozone
By Adrian Lowery
Last updated at 12:27 PM on 21st November 2011
Stock markets across Europe fell by more than two per cent today as government finance problems in the States compounded market nerves over the Eurozone.
There were no stocks showing a gain in the FTSE 100 index of leading shares, which was down 108.7 points to a six-week low of 5,254.3.
It was public debt problems on the other side of the Atlantic that prompted the latest bout of market jitters: a U.S. congressional ‘super-committee’ is expected to fail on agreeing a plan to slash America’s deficit, reviving fears about the country’s finances.
The bipartisan panel must agree on making at least $1.2trillion in cuts by Wednesday but if they fail and Congress takes no other action automatic spending cuts will take effect from 2013.
‘I think we (were already aware of this), but it’s being reported with a bit more conviction as such by the media, so it’s grabbing a bit of attention. I think it’s one of the factors that is driving the market lower,’ said Martin Dobson, head of trading at Westhouse Securities.
‘I think also the market is really starting to price in more and more a default by various countries in the euro and a potential break-up of the euro.’
…
The new name for the Euro is the Zero
Realtors Are Liars®
Title in the paper edition:
“Realtors help homeless pets”
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-11-18/classified/ct-mre-1120-umberger-pets-20111118_1_homes-for-homeless-pets-pet-project-pet-population
While I think people who help pets are wonderful, tying that to the racketeers’ syndicate is pure BS. Wasn’t it the realtors who played a huge role in the run up of housing prices resulting in people losing their homes or paying most of their incomes on housing thus increasing the number of people who can’t keep or afford their pets?
I’m of the mind that a lot of people who have pets shouldn’t have them. Why? Because they don’t have the time, money, or inclination to properly care for them.
Think for a moment about what a pet is. It’s like a child, only it never outgrows childhood. You have to keep feeding it, grooming it, taking it to the vet, et cetera and so forth.
If I were a wealthy person, I’d fund an ad campaign called “Pet Ownership: Think it over. Then decide.” It won’t have the “Pets are Wonderful” meme we hear so much of these days. If anything, it will be more of a downer. But if it helps keep pets out of the hands of those who can’t handle them, then I’d call it a win.
Real Estate: Why Home Prices Won’t Bottom Out
By John Wasik | Reuters –
Fri, Nov 18, 2011 1:10 PM EST
Possible solutions to the housing blockage range from the radical to the necessary. A group called Remortgage America is calling for the government to loan Americans mortgages at 1 percent to finance a new or existing residence.
Others would like to see Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac take the foreclosed homes they own and either auction them off or offer them in a huge fire sale.
The seized mortgage agencies account for up to one-third of foreclosed homes — about 250,000. American taxpayers are pouring tens of billions into propping up these two wards of the state, which were taken over by the U.S. Treasury in late 2008. The Obama Administration has yet to announce what it wants to do with the companies. Will they be restructured, liquidated or privatized?
A third option, which may have the least impact on a battered market, is to offer foreclosed homes in rent-to-own deals. Prospective homeowners get a place to live under reasonable leases and can build equity toward a purchase.
It’s estimated that some 3.4 million foreclosed homes will be on the books of banks and mortgage companies by the end of this year. As regulators, banks, mortgage companies and state attorneys general move sheepishly to unblock mortgage modifications, refinancings and resales, only one certainty prevails: The open market will not be able to properly price every property until all government restrictions are lifted on their sales and re-financing.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/real-estate–why-home-prices-won-t-bottom-out.html - 215k -
ohBAHma hates black people its been pretty obvious for a while..Remortgage America
I’m in favor of repaving America, so many roads are crumbing and in desperate need of saving my struts and tires from unnecessary repair bills.
“…so many roads are crumbling…”
Funny you mention this, as only yesterday morning, I noticed with consternation the highly-visible, unrepaired cracks in the street that runs past our rental home. Think of this is a form of broken-window economic stimulus for automotive shops that repair struts and replace tires, and perhaps it won’t seem quite as depressing.
ahhhh but I like driving on nice smooth roads where the steering wheel doesn’t jump out of your hands every time you hit a sinkhole ( which is bigger then a pothole)
When you have a “post-industrial” economy based on speculation rather than honest labor or production, investments in infrastructure aren’t as important as oh, say, throwing billions to political cronies who run “renewable energy” scam companies. Those cracks in the roads and bridges can fix themselves. Or the Republicrats will turn the upkeep over to their feudal “private-public partnerships” so they can extort the public for using what used to be public roads and bridges.
“A group called Remortgage America is calling for the government to loan Americans mortgages at 1 percent to finance a new or existing residence.”
gee…wonder who makes up this group.
Just another Housing Crime Syndicate/NAR front group.
Abolutely, RAL. It could also be the ABA (American Bankers Association), among a list. Who knows who, but we all know why. I found no 990 on the name.
it’s flabbergasting to me how many people do not understand that if you subsidize something so that everyone in america gets to have one…the price of that something will skyrocket.
the american people including its ruling class truly are innumerate.
They get rich off of these schemes by extracting yet more wealth from the public. And they do it with a warm smile, a pleasant voice, and under the guise of the helping the public.
But isn’t that what J6P wants, for his/her house to “appreciate” at double digit rates? Nevermind the consequences (inflation all around), as long as they have “equity” it’s all good.
Another branch of the ever-growing Free $hit Army inspired by the Boomer ethos of “Gimme mine now, make future generations pay for it.”
“Nothing is left, nothing, for future times
To add to the full catalogue of crimes;
The baffled sons must feel the same desires,
And act the same mad follies as their sires.
Vice has attained its zenith.” - Juvenal, Satires 1.
gee…wonder who makes up this group.
The answer is in your previous paragraph: The 1 percent.
Gee, almost like the author read hbb discussions.
Obama finds better business ties in Asia
By Julianna Goldman - Nov 21, 2011 12:01 AM ET (bloomibergi)
The president’s nine-day trip to the region began with a forum in Hawaii alongside Boeing’s chief executive Jim McNerney and wrapped in Indonesia with the announcement of what would be a record aircraft sale for the Chicago-based company. Obama promoted it as a milestone for his trade agenda…
The Boeing deal with Lion Air involves the purchase of 230 airplanes valued at about $22 billion with options for another 150 aircrafts valued at $14 billion. The White House says it expects the agreement to support more than 110,000 U.S. jobs at Boeing and at suppliers in 43 states.
While Obama’s administration approved fewer regulations during his first 22 months in office than his Republican predecessor, George W. Bush, in the same time period, his overhaul of the health-care system and financial regulations are among the chief sources of complaints from businesses.
Critics including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, executives such as Verizon’s Ivan Seidenberg and Republicans in Congress argue the regulatory environment is creating uncertainty that holds back companies from making investments that would spur hiring.
An example cited by congressional Republicans and business groups led by the Chamber of Commerce is a complaint brought by the National Labor Relations Board against Boeing in April. The NLRB, the majority of whose members were appointed by Obama, contends Boeing it violated labor laws by deciding to build a 787 Dreamliner plant in South Carolina.
———–
I guess “supporting” the jobs at Boeing count in the “jobs saved” column and not the jobs created column.
And can’t the “business” media go four paragraphs without slamming Obama? This guy just got them some customers and all they did was whine that the skilled laborers are paid too much.
“Obama promoted it as a milestone for his trade agenda… ”
Buy American, or we’ll occupy the Pacific. Gotta admit, that’s a pretty good trade incentive.
This is starting to sound familiar.
Just think how many jobs they could brag about, if they had kept building subassemblies “in-house” rather than farming them out.
A Boeing exec said they were moving production because of unions.
When execs are that incompetent, what else can you do?
And can’t the “business” media go four paragraphs without slamming Obama? This guy just got them some customers and all they did was whine that the skilled laborers are paid too much.
You answered your own question. The insatiable maw of big biz isn’t happy that billions in orders were delivered, they also want cheap labor to maximize their profit.
And how much foreign aid do we have to send to Indonesia so they can afford to “buy” these 230 airplanes?
Keeping America safe for “democracy.”
Show of hands: How many posters think Obama’s little hissy fit about ramping up US presence in the Pacific is nothing more than a ploy to get China in line with “global” finance and business policies?
I just noticed something on the Google News page about China possibly enacting laws to protect IPs. And then there was that meeting with Wen Jibao and all of a sudden not so much news about flexing muscle in the Pacific.
Palmy is known for flashes of paranoia. But, just because you’re paranoid, doesn’t mean they aren’t out ta get ya!
Haven’t seen the presidential tantrum but I can say in general I find these bold proclamations to be nothing more than false bravado from a falling empire.
We are witnessing the greatest chess game in history between the Red Shield gang and the Chinese. Regardless of who “wins” we six-packs are hosed.
Everybody have a pleasant Monday.
Chess: A war game where all the participants, except the king, are subject to be sacrificed in order to save the king.
Six-pack: An readily expendable participant of a global chess game.
At the end of the game the king and the pawn go back
in the same box.
- Italian/Greek Proverb
It must really grate the Davos crowd that they are just as mortal as the other 6+ billion schleps who inhabit the blue marble known as Earth.
At the end of life’s game we all go into a box. Which is why we should try to make our lives count for something.
“Haven’t seen the presidential tantrum”
I just meant that the threat to ramp up in the Pacific was a hissy fit in itself.
“We are witnessing the greatest chess game in history between the Red Shield gang and the Chinese. Regardless of who “wins” we six-packs are hosed.”
Testify, my brothah!
false bravado from a falling empire.
Foghorn Leghorn: “That is gonna cause more confusion than a mouse in a burlesque show!”
This is a problem us “US Americans” have. Thinking about complex relationships is hard. Better to put simple labels on things, so we can catergorize them with our stereotypes*
We roll Iran in with the “Arabs”, even though they are Persians.
Likewise, we think that All the countries in the Far East are just one vast body of people. The truth is that the Japanese don’t trust the PRC. Neither do the Vietnamese. The Russians have to start thinking about sharing a border with a country that is searching all over for natural resources. China isn’t that far away from Australia.
It isn’t that putting our guys in as tripwires all over the place bothers me. It’s been a pretty good plan to keep the peace for 70 years. It’s that all the benefits, like stable international relationships, open labor markets, no problems with wars blowing up large capital investments like airplanes, ships, buildings, etc, are all aligned in favor of the banksters and MNCs, instead of J6P.
(*Some may accuse me of stereotyping “banksters” as corrupt, greedy lying defacto criminal scumbags. All I say is “Guilty as charged” and “Watch what they do, not what they say.”)
+1. The greatest national security threat we face, IMHO, is the dumbing-down of our population. IDIOCRACY has arrived.
Thank you, Gulf.
The Chinese have been laughing at our regime for quite awhile. Laughing not only at the Republicrat mainstream, but also the electorate who keeps voting the same people (non-libertarian) into office to implement even more central planning that goes nuts.
“And then there was that meeting with Wen Jibao and all of a sudden not so much news about flexing muscle in the Pacific.”
I’m sorry could you give a little background on this? By “flexing muscle,” do you mean Obama ramping up in Northern Australia, or China showing off that old Russian aircraft carrier?
As for protecting IP, that can’t come soon enough.
“By “flexing muscle,” do you mean Obama ramping up in Northern Australia,”
Yeah, sort of, I meant going to Australia to announce ramping up in the Pacific. (Wonder how much money we’re giving to Australia?)
“As for protecting IP, that can’t come soon enough.”
Yes, but I don’t think it will really take place. Anything the Paper Tiger promises is but an illusion. Or delusion.
I doubt that the meeting with Wen was enough to take the Aussie ramp-up out of the news. That was a pretty small story because it’s a small ramp-up. Natalie Wood was enough to knock it off the news.
Natalie Wood was enough to knock it off the news.
That happened decades ago, who really cares? And yet it was all over the place.
Hollywood, like NYC, thinks its the center of the universe.
What’s Wood but doesn’t float?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_KhErNyiq8
Australia doesn’t need US Marines. They’ve got untrained teenagers (and a disarmed population, due to gun control. Something Aussies may live to regret).
First-time buyers of new homes will be able to borrow up to 95% of their value as part of plans David Cameron says will help get “Britain building again”.
The mortgage indemnity scheme, in which government will underwrite part of the risk, could help up to 100,000 people.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-15810966
And the three top rated comments on this article are
laughingman
This isn’t about helping First time buyers. It’s all about helping builders and keeping property prices high.
They say builders can’t build because they can’t sell to people who can’t afford it.
Well guess what. it’s not lending that’s at fault. The price is simply too high. You couldn’t get a bigger elephant in the room.
Richard
With almost a million unoccupied housing, would it not be better to allow local councils to take ownership of abandoned properties, renovate them and use them for social housing.
The right to buy scheme will only increase house prices, which is the last thing we need - the market correction is still in progress and house prices must come down first. Almost a million more houses would help that
Helga
New homes are more expensive, why sell them to those who can’t afford it?! There are lots of pre-loved £45-70K 2-bed terrace houses for sale in the area where I live whilke new 3-beds starting at £100K(!)-perfect for 1st time buyers. If they start earning more later in life they can upgrade it to a mansions if they wish. I do not support the concept “I want it all and I want it now”, sorry!
Not really the comments the politicians want really.
“Pre-loved” sounds vaguely disgusting.
Vaguely?
Maybe they meant, “pre-lubed?”
Timber another ones going down.
Hungary has officially requested precautionary financial help from the International Monetary Fund and the European Union, confirming a sharp reversal of the government’s opposition to working under the international lender’s oversight.
But the euro zone debt crisis and Hungary’s weak economic outlook coupled with the threat of a downgrade to “junk” debt status prompted the government to take a sudden U-turn.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/1121/breaking25.html
Cyprus is not very far behind Hungary.
Isn’t Cyprus still two countries?
Who would have thought that the Magyars were better off when they were commies?
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=GAGB10YR:IND
Watch Austrian ten year bonds. Their banks have big exposure to eastern European debt.
polly
“jeff can you clarify your question to me from yesterday? I was out and about so I didn’t see it until later. And I’m not sure exactly what you are asking. The owners of the bonds are the owners of the bonds.”
I am sorry I drove up to Gainsville yesterday and I got back too late and too tired to check. They aren`t making land anymore because they already made too much but that`s for another day. I am not sure if I can clarify my question, but I will try. Ben Bernanke has added $1.8 trillion of longer-term GSE debt and mortgage-backed securities (MBS). Is that (MBS) a bond? If it is a bond and the Fed is the holder of $1.8 trillion of bad mortgages is the Fed responsible for allowing this to drag on and on? Should the question “why won`t the banks kick the Deabeats out” be Why doesn`t the Fed kick the Deadbeats out?
The next financial crisis will be hellish, and it’s on its way
By Addison Wiggin
Forbes – Wed, Nov 16, 2011
“Through quantitative easing efforts alone,” says Euro Pacific Capital’s Michael Pento, “Ben Bernanke has added $1.8 trillion of longer-term GSE debt and mortgage-backed securities (MBS).”
The Fed’s entire balance sheet totaled around $800 billion before the 2008 crash, nearly all of it Treasuries. Now the Fed holds more than double that amount in mortgage derivatives alone, junk that the banks needed to clear off their own balance sheets.
Owning bonds doesn’t necessarily give you the right to force the servicer to take a particular action. It isn’t like being a shareholder (even being a shareholder isn’t much like being a shareholder given that big companies only pay attention to their institutional shareholders).
My understanding is that if you owned enough bonds in all the tranches of bonds issued by a particular trust, you would probably have the ability to change the servicing agreement or perhaps fire the servicer and pick a new one with new agreement that would make them sell the houses even if it did depress the market.
BUT, it is very, very hard to get that many bonds from the same trust (they are owned all over the world). It isn’t even that easy to figure out if you own them. And these things could be written to require a supermajority (2/3’s) of all the tranches. After all, the banks had a huge incentive to write in a profitable stream of payments for themselves and bond buyers don’t pay much attention to servicing agreements.
So, it is very unlikely that this some huge hidden conspiracy of people who could act and know they could deciding not to. It is most likely just the way stuff is happening. I think the Fed is probably in a better position than most to know if it has the ability to act with respect to one trust or another just because of the volume it holds, but I doubt they have even looked at it. They aren’t worried about their balance sheet, aren’t concerned that someone might make them mark-to-market someday in the future, etc. Why would they waste their time? Also, they are interested in keeping the balance sheets of the banks healthy looking. Forcing price discovery on MBSs doesn’t help that.
Sorry, jeff. Your bankster-heroes are still on the hook.
“Sorry, jeff. Your bankster-heroes are still on the hook.”
Well they are not my “heroes” but if it makes you feel better to say that go right ahead. The other problem is it doesn`t look like they are on the hook, or at least not for $1.8 trillion of it anyway. But your heroes Diver4life and Lynn the 60 minutes Robo queen who stole, oops I mean refied over $500k are still living rent free and I guess that`s what counts.
“The Fed’s entire balance sheet totaled around $800 billion before the 2008 crash, nearly all of it Treasuries. Now the Fed holds more than double that amount in mortgage derivatives alone, junk that the banks needed to clear off their own balance sheets.”
“But your heroes Diver4life and Lynn the 60 minutes Robo queen who stole, oops I mean refied over $500k are still living rent free”
Why won’t your bankster-buddies throw them out?
Tell the truth. Were you at the the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway yesterday?
Well they are not my “heroes” but if it makes you feel better to say that go right ahead.
Sometimes you come across as being on their side.
And alpha has a point, why aren’t the banks evicting the deadbeats? A: Because it benefits the banks to allow them to stay put.
“Because it benefits the banks to allow them to stay put.”
BINGO
And alpha has a point, why aren’t the banks evicting the deadbeats? A: Because it benefits the banks to allow them to stay put.
Control fraud expert William K. Black offers a very simple explanation:
The very essence of a control fraud is gaining control of a company for the purpose of looting it. The longer you can remain in power, the more time you have for looting.
If the banksters kicked the non-paying homeowners out, they’d have to re-price the empty home down to something closer to its true value. Which would bring the looting party to a not-so-fun end. And no bankster wants that.
If someone could get me a pdf of a typical servicing agreement, I would be delighted to analyze it for everyone, point out where the issues are. Please don’t do it illegally; I won’t look at something like that.
I suspect these deals were all filed electronically with the SEC. If you know the name of a nice complex MBS trust, you might be able to find all the filing papers there. Not sure if the servicing agreements are part of the public papers, but they could be. It reasonably falls under information the purchaser of a bond would want to have before buying it. Not that many of them acutally did, but reasonably they should have.
“Sometimes you come across as being on their side.”
I guess it must seem that way. The only reason I found and return to this blog is because I want a house I can afford. I don`t want a house that the banksters live in, I want a house that the Deadbeats live in. “why aren’t the banks evicting the deadbeats?” Because of the Robo signing MERS garbage. That does not make me feel any better about people who bought and refied waaaaay beyond their means while telling me and my children I was an idiot for not buying a house getting to live in “their” houses rent free for years because they are no longer financial geniuses but victims. I have paid over $100k in rent to Deadbeat LLs who put the money in their pocket and the first one walked on a short sale with another $40k cash out refi beside that. The current LL will probably do the same with $150k cash out refi.
Put the banksters in jail, I don`t care. Do what ever you have to do so I can buy a house in a decent hood B4 I am too old to do so. I don`t live with the banksters, I walk among the Deadbeats. So you and alpha tell me what to do to make this stop. If I never say the word Deadbeat again, will that make it stop? Will that make the banksters put the houses on the market? If so I will start as soon as you tell me it will.
I am not pro banker and anti Deadbeat. I am pro me, people like me who want to own a house at a price that is not artificially inflated by the banksters, the govt. and the Deadbeats. I am pro common sence and economics 101. I don`t want to pay too much rent on an overpriced house anymore, I want to own and pay for a decent house at a real world price.
I am pro common sence and economics 101. I don`t want to pay too much rent on an overpriced house anymore, I want to own and pay for a decent house at a real world price.
That seems pretty reasonable.
I think however that it’s worth remembering that the “deadbeats” are merely the pawns of the Banksters, and that railing against the deadbeats is pointless. If McDonalds gave away free food on Wednesdays there would be a line out the door. I wouldn’t blame those people anymore than I blame the housing deadbeats. If someone is giving stuff away from free, someone else will accept it.
“and that railing against the deadbeats is pointless.”
With all due respect railing against the banksters seems equally pointless. If someone is allowing you to steal a trillion $ on Wednesdays I still blame whoever for stealing it. If someone is allowed to steal, someone will do it. Doesn`t make it right, Deadbeat or bankster.
No it’s not pointless. That’s like saying “sit down and shuddup”. I honestly do not GAF if it’s banks or deadbeats. Both are part problem and I’m not going to shut up about it. Thieves need silence to continue their theft.
With all due respect railing against the banksters seems equally pointless.
I disagree. They are the ones getting the bailouts and the 0% interest funds from the FedRes. Take those away and maybe they’ll start evicting people. When your cost of funds is effectively 0% a non performing asset doesn’t hurt much at all, and it would hurt much more to foreclose and resell the house at market prices.
What is pointless is railing against the banksters, then turning around and voting for their errand boys, as 95% of the electorate did the last time around.
“If I never say the word Deadbeat again, will that make it stop? Will that make the banksters put the houses on the market? If so I will start as soon as you tell me it will.”
Since nobody said yes..
Deadbeat Deadbeat Deadbeat Deadbeat Deadbeat Deadbeat Deadbeat Deadbeat Deadbeat Deadbeat Deadbeat Deadbeat Deadbeat Deadbeat Deadbeat Deadbeat Deadbeat Deadbeat Deadbeat Deadbeat Deadbeat Deadbea tDeadbeat Deadbeat Deadbeat
dead·beat 1 (ddbt) Slang
n.
1. One who does not pay one’s debts.
adj.
Not fulfilling one’s obligations or paying one’s debts:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/deadbeat - 33k
Last week I had to go before the Martin County Fl. Construction Board to get my Martin County licence renewed. An old dude inspector took 4 of us that were on time for the meeting (shockingly the 15 who were in trouble were late) up to the meeting room. On the elevator ride up I jokingly asked him… How is business? The other 3 contractors laughed and the old dude inspector looked at me smiled and said… “Are you paying your taxes? County business is good.”
I’m paying my Martin County taxes. But they do keep going down every year, so, although business is always “good” for taxing bodies, it’s not always “wonderful” like it was during the boom years.
I used to work for a local government (during the boom) down here. Let me tell you, the spending was so over the top that I doubt I’ll ever see something like it again (unless I wind up in Scores with a guy and his corporate Amex Black Card). We had so much money that we decided to build a city hall that would rival some of the best in the world, and still, even with that, couldn’t figure out how to spend it fast enough.
Of course, now that agency is pretty much bust. That’s what happens when you spend tax money like a drunken sailor.
“I’m paying my Martin County taxes. But they do keep going down every year,”
In Palm Beach County property taxes are going down every year for people who bought during the boom years or did not have a homestead exemption that locked the appraised value at the purchase price. For those who owned before that and had the place homesteaded the property tax still goes up every year by the 2% or whatever it is allowed. The County appraisals are still going down but not to the point where it helps someone who boght in 1995. 2005, that`s another story.
NY Times had an article this weekend about Las Vegas’ expensive new city hall.
Way too big now that they have trimmed 2/3’s of the city employees.
LOL. That’s pretty much word for word the situation in West Palm Beach. Even the cost was about the same (150M or so). What a bunch of fools; the need for a physical city hall building drops every single year, and yet, despite that trend which shows no signs of stopping or slowing down, we’re going to build a huge building and adorn it with nothing but marble floors and the best furnishings and fixtures that money can buy..
Great plan…
As I mentioned some time back, we need to start getting used to hearing the phrase, “President Hillary Rodham Clinton.”
http://nationaljournal.com/2012-presidential-campaign/democratic-pollsters-obama-should-abandon-run-for-second-term-20111120
Time to put some grown-ups back in charge.
Speaking of Hillary,…
To quote Cole Younger: “Women,…love ‘em!”
President Thein Sein has moved to end Myanmar’s political isolation since taking power nine months ago, releasing political prisoners, legalizing unions and lifting censorship of media outlets like the BBC. President Barack Obama last week said he’d dispatch Hillary Clinton to Myanmar after seeing “flickers of progress,” the first visit by a U.S. secretary of state in more than five decades.
Suu Kyi to Stand in Myanmar Vote for First Time Amid Reforms:
November 21, 2011, By Daniel Ten Kate
Nov. 21 (Bloomberg) — Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi will stand in an election for the first time after her party voted to rejoin politics as the former military dictatorship undertakes democratic reforms.
Suu Kyi will lead a slate of candidates in upcoming by- elections after her National League for Democracy said on Nov. 18 it would formally re-register as a political party, spokesman Nyan Win said by phone today. The party boycotted an election last year won by allies of the former ruling junta.
Earlier this month, Thein Sein updated the law to pave the way for Suu Kyi’s party to re-enter the political process and contest 48 seats in by-elections, opposition news outlet Mizzima reported. Suu Kyi, who spent 15 of the past 22 years under house arrest, has called on Thein Sein to free more than 500 political prisoners still behind bars.
“We’ll try our best,” Nyan Win said, adding that the Election Commission hasn’t set a date for the by-election. The party’s candidates will be mostly youth and ethnic minorities, he said.
Ron Paul is the answer. He’s as close as we can get to an anarchist at this time. Google Ron Paul and anarchist and you will see what I mean.
Phase I: If Paul is elected then he will veto every piece of legislation. Neither party will support him. His very ideology is the opposite of both intrenched parties. It will destroy the system and the only institution left standing will be the military. Phase II: From the ashes a new order will rise.
You do realize Congress can pass laws despite a veto, right?
Sure they can. But remember Paul has promised to gut the executive branch of the Dept. of Labor, Education, EPA and Dept. of Energy so who is going to enforce these “laws”?
FBI? Or is Paul getting rid of that too?
If Ron Paul is the answer, what is the question?
Too many rights for women? Too little Christian fundamentalist control over daily life?
People are enamored with him becauase he’s promising to take us back to 1903. 1903 isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
And then there’s that New Republic article that ran back in January of 2008. Do a search and it’ll come right up.
Seems that Dr. Paul has more than a passing acquaintance with groups that promote bigotry.
“Seems that Dr. Paul has more than a passing acquaintance with groups that promote bigotry.”
Come on Slim, you’re better than that.
The good Dr. isn’t a bigot. At least I haven’t heard him say anything remotely racist.
As far as Women’s rights go. I believe he is the ONLY candidate that says you own your own body. If a women wants an abortion she can get one on her own. The Feds won’t pay for it, which is ok with me.
(My position on abortion is that it is a personal decision not to be decided by government).
“…The good Dr. isn’t a bigot. At least I haven’t heard him say anything remotely racist….”
Well, I certainly have.
For journalistic diversity, back when such things were available through the mail in the form of six-page “newsletters” (early 1980’s in this case,) I subscribed to one edited by your “good” Dr. Paul.
Marketed as an investment advisory, (Through Agoura Publishing, IIRC,) it was basically a monthly screed touting gold (and silver, shortly after the Hunt brothers went bust and the market tanked,) restoring the supremacy of white male Christianity, overturning the Federal government and its welfare state; and in every single issue, the useless, lawless, intellectually inferior, overbreeding, welfare sucking, morally inferior ad nauseam, “blacks” in America. And upon occasion, South Africa.
This was in the days before The Onion, but I swear it was so overt and so bizarre, I literally thought it was some awful National Lampoon parody until I was halfway through the subscription. I recall that at one point I actually asked a Texas friend of mine if this guy was a crony of trickster Kinky Friedman or something. The only other commentator whose blatant prejudices came close was “Taki” Theodoracopulus– who as some of you may remember was eventually banned from the popular press for being such a douce about it.
Imagine my bemusement when this guy Paul re-emerged on the national scene packaged as a Lyndon LaRouche “libertarian.” Having studied with Nathaniel Brandon, I can assure you his perversion of Rand’s social mores came as something of a shock to me. And to my mind, his attitude towards women was nothing short of medieval.
Sadly, I agree with much of his economic and military ideology, but cannot get past his simplistic overview of societal systems and that truly breathtaking racism. Nonetheless I am glad he’s stayed in the national spotlight, if only to remind us that politics does indeed make for strange bedfellows.
It will be fun to see what happens (and how he morphs his message,) when he inevitably overtakes Newt as the Frontrunner of the Month, and the MSM is finally forced to give him a broader forum….
Totally agree about military ideology, yet too many neanderthal traits.
Like the Libertarian/Minimalist approach, though.
Time to put some grown-ups back in charge.
As much as I dislike her on a personal level, I think she would probably be far better that any of the losers the GOP is fielding, as well as Obama.
I have to grudgingly admit you might be right.
After almost three years of his presidency, I’ve come to the conclusion that Obama’s biggest problem is that he rose too far too fast.
To be sure, the Illinois Senate was a bit slow for him. And that’s probably what motivated him to run for the U.S. House back in 2000. Recall that Bobby Rush crushed him in the primary.
Okay, fast forward to 2004, he’s running for the Senate, and he gives one heckuva speech at the Democratic Convention. We know the rest — he was on a steep upward trajectory after that.
I think that Obama would have been a lot more successful as a president if he’d first spent some time as a governor. Even one term as governor of Illinois would have given him the administrative and managerial experience that he’s been lacking.
I also think that he would have been a better president after age 50 than before. It’s a maturity and wisdom thing.
Makes sense to me. It’s kind of like if I was magically president one day. I’d have what I think are some good ideas, but my odds of being effective are poor.
“I think that Obama would have been a lot more successful as a president if he’d first spent some time as a governor. Even one term as governor of Illinois would have given him the administrative and managerial experience that he’s been lacking.”
How about a former general who had to earn his way upward, who has a devoted following that can’t be swayed by partisan politics or neo-con meddling?
How about a former general who had to earn his way upward, who has a devoted following that can’t be swayed by partisan politics or neo-con meddling?
Like Colin Powell?
“Like Colin Powell?”
I was thinking of someone tough like McChrystal since we need a serious house cleaning, both houses, in addition to Wall street. FWIW, I can’t imagine McChrystal lying to the UN about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction at the behest of the Jewish war-mongers that permeate the defense and state departments. A former general would likely have a disciplined cadre of peers that could be counted on too.
There’s a reason why we get these unknown ventriloquist dummies for presidents.
<i.FWIW, I can’t imagine McChrystal lying to the UN about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction…
Well, imagine it. He seemed to have no scruples about covering up Pat Tillman’s death by “friendly fire.”
http://www.thenation.com/article/mcchrystals-pat-tillman-connection
Well, imagine it. He seemed to have no scruples about covering up Pat Tillman’s death by “friendly fire.”
In my eyes, McChrystal was the fall guy when things went wrong. When Clinton decided to withdraw the AC-130 gunships from Mogadishu as an “olive branch” gesture, and things went badly resulting in ambushed Soldiers being killed, Les Aspin’s career was finished as he had to impale himself on the sword for his boss.
The military enlisted and officer ranks, McChrystal included, are disposable items for the upper echelons in the defense and state departments. Few commanders are happy being saddled with celebrity soldiers, and I’m sure the folks in S2 (intelligence) had the spin machine going well before Pat’s death; had things not gone so wrong I’m sure we would have had Tillman action figures at McDonald’s.
Thanks for the refresh, Sammy.
All the Illinois Govornors seem to end up in jail.
LOL! That’s right, he would have been governor of Illinois.
Reagan was a state governor. So was Bill Clinton. Oh wait, so was Jimmy Carter.
Time to come up with a new catch phrase.
As much as it goes against the grain to say so, Hillary would be an improvement over what we’ve got now.
I wasn’t terribly impressed with her when she was running for President. Thought she was doing too much riding on Bill’s coattails.
However, her performance as Secretary of State has caused me to change my thinking. To the point where I think that, hands down, Hillary has been Obama’s best cabinet pick. If he did as well on his economic/financial picks, I’d be a lot happier with him.
She’s not been operating in a vacuum, you know. There’s a concerted effort between executive
administration and State….
Egypt stock market drops on political unrest
By TAREK EL-TABLAWY - AP Business Writer | AP – 54 minutes ago..
CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s benchmark stock index extended its decline for a second consecutive day and airport officials reported a sharp drop Monday in international passenger arrivals as deadly clashes in the capital cast fresh doubts about the country’s political stability days before pivotal parliamentary elections.
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/egypt-stock-market-drops-political-unrest-100600797.html - -
No wonder the super wealthy plutocrats obtained the largest share of national income– 25% of the nation’s wealth- greater than any other industrial nation in the the period of 1979 to 2005. Make no mistake; after unemployment– this disparity between the 1%– 3 million– or the 0.1%– the 300,000– and the other 312 million citizens of the U.S. has become the major theme of the Occupy Wall Street movement– and an important national debate.
I commend you to the late Justice Louis Brandeis warning to the nation that ” We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.” We have to make up our minds to restore a higher, fairer capital gains tax to the wealthiest investor class– or ultimately face increased social unrest.
The Top 0.1% Of The Nation Earn Half Of All Capital Gains:
By Robert Lenzner | Forbes – 8 hrs ago
Capital gains are the key ingredient of income disparity in the US– and the force behind the winner takes all mantra of our economic system. If you want even out earning power in the U.S, you have to raise the 15% capital gains tax.
It’s crystal clear that the Bush tax reduction on capital gains and dividend income in 2003 was the cutting edge policy that has created the immense increase in net worth of corporate executives, Wall St. professionals and other entrepreneurs.
The reduction in the tax from 20% to 15% continued the step-by-step tradition of cutting this tax to create more wealth. It had first been reduced from 35% in 1978 at a time of stock market and economic stagnation to 28% . Again 1981, at the start of the Reagan era, it was reduced again to 20%– raised back to 28% in 1987, on the eve of the October 19 232% crash in the market. In 1997 Clinton agreed to reduce it back to 20%, which move was an inducement for the explosion of hedge funds and private equity firms– the most “rapidly rising cohort within the top 1 per cent.”
Make no mistake; the battle that is to be fought over the coming attempt to reverse this reduction in capital gains will be bloody and intense. The facts are clear according to the Congressional Budget Office more than 80% of the increase in income inequality was the result of an increase in the share of household income from capital gains. In fact, you can go so far as to claim that “Capital Gains income is the most unevenly distributed– and volatile– source of household income,” according to Laura D’Andrea Tyson, University of California business professor and former chairwoman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Clinton.
The MegaInc.$ & Wealthie$,…they’re $uffering $o!…hurry! reduce/eliminate their taxe$, hurry,… Cinder$ & Ashe$…Schemer$ & Scammer$…Agonie$ & Pain$,…Hurry!, Hurry!, Hurry!,… Help ‘em!.
“TruePatriotCEO’$™” plead, plead, plead: “give u$ a tax repatriation holiday and we’ll bring the money back and we’ll start creating Job$! Job$! Job$!…”
A capital gains tax is something one pays when he SELLS. If one doesn’t sell then he doesn’t have to pay a tax.
The super-wealthy don’t need to sell much of their assets to live well. All they need are assets that serve them well without having to put them on the market.
The super-wealthy don’t need to sell much of their assets to live well.
Apparently the super-rich are selling quite a lot of something if “It’s crystal clear that the Bush tax reduction on capital gains and dividend income in 2003 was the cutting edge policy that has created the immense increase in net worth of corporate executives, Wall St. professionals and other entrepreneurs.” Forbes
Buffett, for example, has tons of assets but only a hundred-thousnd dollars of income - and it is this income Buffett pays taxes on, not the tons of assets.
He would pay taxes - capital gains taxes - if he were to sell some of his assets but this he won’t do. And why would he want to? He has all the benifits of the having the assets (i.e. a corporate jet at his disposal) without having to bother paying any of the taxes.
Warren Buffet sells assets all the time and they are itemized in the Berkshire Hathaway year-end 1099s
Wrong. I just went back two years and in this period of time Buffett has not sold one share that he owned.
He’s GIVEN shares away, but that is not the same as selling them. And he doesn’t have to pay taxes on these gifts.
I just went back two years and in this period of time Buffett has not sold one share that he owned.
Yes, you are correct on Buffet however the Buffet example does not negate the fact that the rich sell assets all the time (to make money) and that…. “In fact, as the Washington Post reminded us last week, capital gains make up nearly 60 percent of the income that goes to America’s 400 highest-earning taxpayers. Since the early 1990s, over 80 percent of all capital gains have gone to America’s richest 5 percent — and almost half to the richest 0.1 percent.”
http://inequality.org/census-and-capital-gains/
Part of that is the from the carried interest in hedge fund compensation being called capital gains when it is really compensation for services provided. Some of the rest is from people with gobs and gobs of stock options diversifying out of their company’s stock.
the 15% favorable rate was extended to dividend income as well.
and now they are going to lower corporate rates as well…unbelievable.
“This is better than 2010, because you can avoid estate taxes and you don’t have to die to do it,’
Under Obama Tax Deal, 2011 Could Be Best Year For The Rich
Personal Finance|12/12/2010
Janet Novack, Forbes Staff
(I write from D.C. about tax and retirement policy and planning.)
Friendlier? How could wealth transfer taxes be any friendlier? After all, under the Bush tax cuts the estate tax disappeared in 2010 (for just one year) allowing families of billionaires who died this year, including Yankees owner George Steinbrenner and Metromedia founder John Kluge, to inherit free of federal estate taxes.
True enough. But for a family to benefit from that one year lapse, a (presumably) loved one had to actually die. For 2010, the amount a still breathing rich person can transfer to his kids or grandkids without owing taxes remains the same as a decade before: just $1 million.
By contrast, under the version of the Obama-Republican deal introduced late Thursday by Senate Majority leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., the exemptions from the gift tax, estate tax and generation skipping transfer tax (the tax imposed on gifts to grandkids if their parents are still alive) are “unified”–meaning they’ll all rise in tandem in 2011 to $5 million, from the $1 million or so they would have been next year after the Bush tax cuts expired.
“This is better than 2010, because you can avoid estate taxes and you don’t have to die to do it,’’ observes Columbia Law School Professor Michael Graetz, who was Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary for Tax Policy during George H. W. Bush’s administration and is the author of books on both estate and income tax.
Moreover, rich folks with good estate planners will be able to transfer a lot more than $5 million per person, or $10 million per couple. Before this deal, President Obama had favored returning to the 2009 estate tax law—a $3.5 million estate tax exemption and a 45% rate. Even Republican staffers had assumed that the political price of gaining the higher estate tax exemption of $5 million and the lower rate of 35% in the Obama-Republican deal, would be restrictions on planning techniques such as the Walton GRAT (named after a member of the Wal-Mart founding family who used it). Such techniques allow rich folks to transfer considerable wealth and treat the transfer as having miniscule gift tax value. (An explanation of GRATs and why today’s low interest rates make them even more attractive for the rich, is here.)
The super-wealthy don’t need to sell much of their assets to live well.
Then why are they so hell bent of preserving their 15% rate? If it really doesn’t matter they should be fine with doubling it or more, but they fight tooth and nail to keep it down.
I wonder why?
Depends on the definition of “live well.” The Walton family probably thinks they’re struggling because, oh horror, the Koch family got a better yacht.
+1 ROTFLMAO!
If you work for Wal Mart at the Director/upper management level, you conform or get booted out the door. And if you are a supplier, God forbid you show up to a meeting with them in some fancy foreign car.
Conformity means modest houses, and US made cars. At least when you are in Bentonville. This helps keep the schlubs/serfs in line, and preserves the illusion that you are “one of them”.
Of course, the Walton kids don’t live in Bentonville.
http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/photos/top-rated
Call it a hunch, but I’m guessing these denizens of Wal-Mart rarely grace the dinner parties in Bentonville.
I know — and fear — that website.
Owning is one thing, controlling is another. People who own usually had to put up their own money. People who control only have to be able to worm themselves into a position of power.
Those who control corporations are granted stock and stock options which they usually promptly sell. This is a form of income for them. These are the people who enjoy the low tax rates. They may not own much in the form of assets as compared to owners (such as Buffett) but they get to live quite well because they live off the corporation (and hence the shareholders) - the corporation pays for most everything they need or want so they don’t need to own all that much asset wise.
That is why there needs to be a distinction between earned income and stored income when one is talking about “wealth”. Earned income and stored income - or stored wealth - are two different things but people talk of them as if they were the same.
They don’t live off the shareholders. They live off the customers.
Not Fannie Mae Oxide.
I just now went to yahoo Finance and checked out B of A’s financials and learned (surprise!) that “All insiders and 5% owners” owned zero number of shares.
Zero.
These insiders get paid big bucks in salaries and stock but they are not owners. The true owners are the stockholders - that is where the “wealth” is stored, in all the accounts of thousands of stockholders. And these stockholders are the ones who ultimately finance the lavish lifestyles of the insiders - the non-owners.
combotechie meet $ir IRS, $ir IRS meet combotechie:
Earned income and stored income - or stored wealth - are two different things but people talk of them as if they were the same
Billionaires Duck Buffett 17% Tax Target Avoiding Reporting Cash to IRS:
BloombergBy Jesse Drucker | Bloomberg – 11 hours ago
When billionaire Billy Joe McCombs, co-founder of Clear Channel Communications Inc., reported a $9.8 million loss on his tax return, he failed to include about $259 million from a lucrative stock transaction.
After an audit, the Internal Revenue Service ordered him to pay $44.7 million in back taxes. McCombs, who is worth an estimated $1.4 billion and is a former owner of the Minnesota Vikings, Denver Nuggets and San Antonio Spurs sports franchises, sued the IRS, settling the case in March for about half the disputed amount.
McCombs fight with the IRS illustrates an overlooked facet in the debate over tax rates paid by the nation’s wealthiest. Billionaires — from McCombs to Philip Anschutz to Ronald S. Lauder — who derive the bulk of their wealth from stock appreciation are using strategies that reap hundreds of millions of dollars from those valuable shares in ways the IRS often doesn’t classify as taxable income, securities filings and tax court records show.
The 800-pound gorilla is unrealized appreciation, said Edward J. McCaffery, a professor of law, economics and political science at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
While Warren Buffett has generated attention with his complaints that he and his fellow billionaires pay federal income taxes at a lower rate than his secretary — about 17 percent — the real figure is often smaller, said David S. Miller, former chair of the tax section of the New York State Bar Association and a partner at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP in New York.
The problem is not that people like Warren Buffett pay tax at a 17 percent rate, it’s that they can use complex transactions not available to most Americans to get cash from their appreciated stock without paying any taxes at all, Miller said.
Tip of Iceberg
The rate at which the 400 U.S. taxpayers with the highest adjusted gross income actually paid federal income taxes –their so-called effective tax rate — fell to about 18 percent in 2008 from almost 30 percent in 1995, IRS data show. That’s the tip of the iceberg, since much of their wealth never converts into income on a tax return, McCaffery said.
In the McCombs case, the billionaire entered into transactions known as variable prepaid forward contracts. He received about $259 million for lending an investment bank his Clear Channel shares with a promise to deliver the stock for good a few years later. The arrangement enabled McCombs to defer paying capital gains tax because he hadn’t sold his shares, lawyers for the billionaire said. The IRS deemed the transaction a sale since the bank paid McCombs cash and got the use of his stock almost immediately.
Realized Gains
Taxes on capital gains are triggered when assets like appreciated shares are sold — a process called realization. What constitutes a realized, taxable sale is a frequent bone of contention between the IRS and the clients of tax planners.
Transactions intended to pull cash out of appreciated assets tax-free aren’t limited to stock. Boston real estate developer Arthur M. Winn exited his interest in a piece of real estate by converting his stake into a share of a partnership free of any capital gains tax, court filings show.
The IRS objected and claimed Winn and his partner should have reported a $12 million taxable gain. A U.S. Tax Court judge sided with Winn on one aspect of the deal; others were settled with the government. The details haven’t been disclosed.
Mark-to-Market
Miller, the former chair of the tax section of the New York State Bar Association, has proposed a so-called mark-to-market system to tax the annual appreciation in the stock holdings of the top 1/10th of 1 percent of taxpayers. That would essentially tax gains in a given year regardless of whether the shares are sold. In a 2005 article in the journal Tax Notes he estimated this approach would raise between $490 billion and $750 billion over a decade.
Borrowing against appreciated stock and real estate is a popular tax deferral strategy particularly as interest rates plummet, said Randy Beeman, a private wealth manager at The Wise Investor Group in Reston, Virginia, a unit of Robert W. Baird & Co. The interest rate on loans to some wealthy individuals has hovered around 1 percent.
Vikings Purchase
McCombs, ranked 312 on the most recent Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans, made his fortune in automobiles, real estate, and then by building Clear Channel into a large radio station operator and outdoor advertising business. He is now the chairman of Xe Services LLC, the military security contractor formerly called Blackwater Worldwide.
In the late 1990s, McCombs borrowed about $300 million to finance the purchase of the National Football League’s Minnesota Vikings. By 2002, the Clear Channel shares pledged as collateral were falling in value and McCombs faced margin calls from lenders. He didn’t want to sell his shares, partly because of a strong emotional attachment to his ownership in the company, according to a filing by his lawyers in U.S. Tax Court.
Instead, he entered into a series of variable prepaid forward contracts, receiving about $259 million from JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) in exchange for an agreement to deliver his Clear Channel stock in one to three years. The transaction was structured to limit his potential losses by varying how many shares he would deliver at the end of the transaction.
He loaned those shares to JPMorgan in the interim. That allowed the New York-based bank to short the stock — selling the borrowed shares to hedge against any decline in the price of the stock it would eventually receive from McCombs.
Lawyers said the cash received up front didn’t have to be reported as income because it was’t a taxable sale until McCombs turned over those shares for good.
The IRS said the transaction was a cash sale of the shares, generating taxable income of as much as $213 million.
“Those who control corporations are granted stock and stock options which they usually promptly sell. This is a form of income for them. These are the people who enjoy the low tax rates.”
And these are precisely the people we need to be taxing at the same rates everyone else pays. So what if Buffet and the Waltons can sit on their assets? There are many people who are using capital gains as a means of having their income taxed at a lower rate. That’s why we should raise the rate and close the loophole.
I just now went to yahoo Finance and checked out B of A’s financials and learned (surprise!) that “All insiders and 5% owners” owned zero number of shares.
There’s a reason why the B schools are bursting at the seams while engineering and other “hard” majors are ghost towns: The real money is in being part of the managerial class. Or as a former HP colleague one said about HP managers who break into the 3rd level of manangement (say a manager in charge of an R&D group within a biz unit, say the R&D manager for flatbed scanners): “That’s when you start to make the ‘crazy money’”
“The real money is in being part of the managerial class.”
There it is. You don’t need to own the assets, just control them, and let the true asset owners pay all your bills while you convince them they should be greatful.
I am speaking from the perspective of rising from J6P hood into wealth. Becoming a member of the managerial class is your best bet. But remember, you will need a mentor to adopt you when you are young. Carly Fiorina married her mentor when she worked at Lucent. Had she not she would probably be a middle manager somewhere.
There are other ways to get rich of course. Orthopedic surgeons do pretty well, but unlike execs they don’t get a golden parachute for botching a surgery.
Buffet is openly asking to pay more in taxes. Why?
because he is old and will die soon
ChinaGov’tMaterial$Aqui$tionTeam$ dial in on Hwy50’s CB radio bandwidth: “Roger, we copy that, over mudtailwagger!”
In addition to clean energy, the Chinese government has promised grants, tax breaks and other support to promote “strategic industries” including environmental and information technology, biotech and high-end manufacturing.
The U.S. trade deficit with China hit a monthly high of $29 billion in August and is on track to surpass last year’s $273 billion, the highest ever recorded with a single country.
US envoy says China pledges access to clean energy suppliers; China urges efforts for growth:
By Associated Press, Published: November 20 | Updated: Monday, November 21
The U.S.-Chinese committee aims to defuse trade tensions by focusing on individual policy disputes. Previous meetings have produced pledges by Beijing to lower barriers to imports of American beef and to fight rampant Chinese software piracy.
On Monday, the two governments announced they signed agreements to improve cooperation on intellectual property, technology, energy, trade statistics [? ;-)] and business relations. No [copies of the] details were immediately released.
The meeting came amid mounting demands by some American lawmakers for punitive tariffs on Chinese goods if Beijing fails to ease exchange-rate controls. They say China’s yuan is kept undervalued, giving its exporters an unfair trade advantage and wiping out jobs in the United States.
Earlier Monday, Wang appealed to U.S. envoys for cooperation to revive the global economy, emphasizing shared goals instead of disputes over currency and other irritants.
“We are facing a very serious global economic crisis,” Wang said. “Ensuring economic health is the responsibility of every nation. Unbalanced progress is better than balanced decline.”
Some Bugaboo CRA facts and charts:
1) The housing boom and bust was global Source: McKinsey Quarterly
2) Nonbank mortgage underwriting exploded from 2001 to 2007, along with the private label securitization market, which eclipsed Fannie and Freddie during the boom
Source: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
3) Subprime Lenders were (Primarily) Private: Only one of the top 25 subprime lenders in 2006 was directly subject to the housing laws overseen by either Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or the Community Reinvestment Act Source: McClatchy
4) Lenders made 12 million subprime mortgages with a value of nearly $2 trillion. Mortgage Companies and Thrifts NOT affiliated with CRA made 75% of Subprime Loans from 2004-07,
cra-chartg1109 Source: Orange County Register
5) Fannie and Freddie risky loan purchases was dwarfed by Private Label Securitization Source: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
6) CRA were less likely to default than Subprime Mortgages
Source: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
7) Suburbs and Exurbs were where the boom & bust occurred — not the CRA regions Washington Post
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2011/11/charts-facts-economic-crisis/
Tankxs! (eyes will add it to the inGREEDient$ for cranberry reli$h recipe that my big brother likes so much)
But so many people want to believe it’s all the Black people’s fault. And la la la la they’re not listening!
It feels so right, it can’t be wrong!
…and the leebrul socialistas.
This might be a great week, Wedne$day; an automatic “High-Noon” showdown, (iffin’ the repubicans can stick to their gun$ of: “…read our AngryLip$, NO / None / Never! on ANY new taxe$!
US citizen/taxpayer monies for future Deploy$: “Shock & Awe III” $ balance left-overs: (-$4+ Trillion)
US citizen/taxpayer monies for future Employ$: “Audit-the-Pentagon” $700 Billion$, …per year! bzzzbzzzbzzzz (sound of MilitaryIndu$trialComplexInc. haircut clippers clipping…)
No, not really. The triggered military and discretionary cuts won’t start until 2013. That gives the Congresscritters all of 2012 to make some other law that will nullify the triggered cuts. And any critter (including Obama) who won’t vote in favor to nullify the cuts will be barraged with ads that “critter X wants to cut JOBS in his district [insert tax cut cheerleading].”
A little new music from 2011…wat U think?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oPDfEKf2pQ
Cool, Tanks!
“…$neaky i$ as sneaky doe$”
$ as in Wall $t.
$ as in MegaInc.’$
$ as in $uffering $o’s
Zydecool -
Deejay, are you aware that there’s a two-hour Cajun/Zydeco program here on KXCI? Airs on Sunday evenings at 6 p.m. Tucson time. I’ll bet you and the regular host, The Desert Duke, would really hit it off.
Even I don’t agree with this being done. She is the First Lady and her husband is The President no matter what.
First Lady Michelle Obama booed as honorary starter for Ford 400
By Juan C. Rodriguez
Sun-Sentinel
7:42 p.m. EST, November 20, 2011
HOMESTEAD—
NASCAR fans booed First Lady Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, before the start of the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Obama and Biden served as Ford 400 Grand Marshals, where they addressed the drivers’ meeting Sunday afternoon before presiding over the ceremonial starting of the engines for Sunday’s race.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/sfl-nascar-homestead-michelle-obama-20111120,0,6437580.story - 166k
I bet she was the only black person there.
You speak more truth than you know, Steve.
First Lady Michelle Obama booed as honorary starter for Ford 400
I wonder if the NASCAR fan base has a higher percentage of racists in it compared to the percentage of racists the general population.
Do you really have to ask?
If they would cheer for a record number of executions and boo at gay soldiers, would they cheer the execution of a gay soldier?
The magic 8 ball says yes
Is this a trick question?
chortle
Are there any non white NASCAR racers?
Depends on your definition of “white”.
Juan Pablo Montoyo is from Colombia.
Bill France once said: “We’re in show business, not the racing business”
In NASCAR, it’s better to be a decent driver and a excellent product representative, that it is to be the best driver in the world and a crappy (from the sponsors viewpoint) representative.
AJ Foyt, Parnelli Jones and Dale Earnhardt would never get lose to the track in today’s NASCAR. Not pretty/telegenic enough.
He looks European.
Any NASCAR drivers that look like this guy?
http://www.giovannidossantosramirez.com/images/news/giovanni-dos-santos-celebrando-gol-Gamper-2007.jpg
His name is Giovanni Dos Santos. He is one of Mexico’s top soccer players and plays in Europe (he’s shown wwaring a Barcelona Jersey_
I had a childhood friend who was a friend of the Willie T Ribbs racing family.
I wonder if the NASCAR fan base has a higher percentage of racists in it compared to the percentage of racists the general population.
Hard to say, since the rest of the population works so much harder to hide it.
Being that it elected a black man (or a mulatto if you want to split hairs) as President I would say that the general populace, while still racist, is probably less racist than the NASCAR crowd.
Carl:
maybe if you find a black man would put in the effort to race at 200+ mph, then we will get an answer…the williams sisters proved tennis could be open to people of color…if you qualify.
Take a look at all the current crop of NASCAR drivers.
All of them got their starts on mommy’s and daddy’s bankroll.
Most of them started in “carts”. These aren’t the Briggs and Stratton type you drive around in the backyard. They are mini-race cars. And are priced accordingly.
If they are any good, around 16 years old, they will start running a regional series. Trouble is, only certain regions in the country really count. If you aren’t in one, you need to move. Then bankroll six figures plus, to run a season.
If you are lucky, you might pick up some sponsorship. Usually, your main “sponsor” is the business mom and dad own, with some help from businesses owned by friends/neighbors of mom and dad..
Even drag racing isn’t cheap. They have a class for kids that runs mini dragsters. Figure $6000 just getting the car. Then you need a trailer, tow rig, travel expenses……..hell, I can build a REAL car cheaper than that. And unlike the mini dragster, they can drive it to school.
Maybe that’s why I’m so bitter. I’d rather “do” than “watch”. The problem is, I’ve been priced out of “doing” pretty much everything I like to do.
Pro racing is the biggest waste of money ever invented.
I like racing, but it stops being “real” to me past the road rally level.
I hope it was done because of her politics not because of her race. If not for the election next yr, she probably would not have made it there to begin with. Politicians (dems and reps both) and spouses, bankers and to some extent, lawyers should be booed from every chance you get. It’s bout time people start giving it back to them…..
Booing the First Lady is tacky and vulgar.
If Michele Bachmann is elected president is it ok to boo her husband?
Yes, but it’s OK to pity him. (Even though he cheats on taxes - if he cheated on her he’d get his ass kicked!)
Stay classy, NASCAR.
Damn! You beat me to it!
Geez, don’t these guys get the true meaning of $&P’s imminent progno$tication: America [AA+] Day: #108
What’s the matter with Iowa? [& Kan$as, Nebra$ka, Minne$ota, Illinoi$, $outh Dakota,...] :-/
On the other side are often investors who view U.S. farmland as the latest hot commodity, with prices soaring at a rate not seen since the 1970s, in some cases to record highs.
In the Hawkeye State, the nation’s leading corn producer, prices have risen by nearly a third, as many bet that China’s expanding wealth, the increased use of biofuels and a growing global population that has just passed 7 billion will put a premium on fertile soil for decades to come.
Large-scale farmers and wealthy outside investors - who are weary of Wall Street’s roller coaster - are lining up to plow their money into the perceived stability of farmland. Large parcels of good land can be difficult to find in the U.S., and what is out there doesn’t tend to come up for sale very often.
Insight: In Iowa, farmland boom means end of an era for many:
By PJ Huffstutter | Reuters – 9 hrs ago
OWN YOUR OWN
It didn’t used to be that way. For generations, rural Iowans believed strongly that farmers should own their own land. That attitude to keep outsiders out solidified during the Great Depression, when banks and insurance companies foreclosed on thousands of farmers and took back their lands.
The philosophy prevailed here and elsewhere in the Midwest in the late 1970s and early 1980s, as fear of outside investors resulted in some states passing laws that banned farmland from being owned by foreigners and corporations.
For decades, they got their way. In 1982, 94 percent of the state’s farmland was owned by people who lived in Iowa, according to data compiled by Iowa State University.
But that resolve has waned. When the U.S.’s rural economy eroded in the wake of the 1980s farm collapse, many families encouraged their progeny to leave the land and find their economic fortune in America’s cities.
The kids left. Many of them they stayed away. As the years passed, that familial loyalty to the land faded.
Today, about 20 percent of Iowa farm land is owned by people who don’t live in the state, according to Iowa State University data. The average Iowa farmland owner is a single woman - often a widow - who is over the age of 70.
MORE RISK-TAKING, LESS BACK-BREAKING
Running a farm has always been inherently risky. Though technology and automation has made the physical labor easier, the financial burden has grown even more challenging.
Input costs have doubled or more in recent years, and commodity prices have remained volatile. The recent MF Global bankruptcy has strained the trust of some farmers in the markets and Wall Street in general.
So they’re selling. Farmland auction listings in the Sunday edition of the Des Moines Register have increased 65 percent since August, when corn and soybean prices surged to new highs. Billboards in Illinois and TV ads in Missouri tout sales for crop land and cattle operations.
“What we’re losing are the small family farms, the 200 acre to 600 acre ones,” said Michael D. Duffy, professor of economics at Iowa State University. “It’s the scale issue. Big is getting bigger.”
The agribusiness corporate cartels are killing the family farms, not to mention what they’re doing to the health of the population through their “profit first” approach to the food supply.
“TrueProducer$™” + “TrueCeralEnabler$™” + “TrueProfit’$™” = Mon$anto Tri-infectya
Yesterday afternoon, in downtown Tucson, I witnessed a remarkable event.
I was at The Screening Room for a presentation of a film called “Greenhorns.” It’s about young people who are becoming farmers, and oh, are they enthusiastic about the life they’ve chosen.
Mind you, this is downtown Tucson. Not a hotbed of activity on Sundays. And this film sold out the Screening Room, which seats 130. In addition to “Greenhorns,” there was a locally produced short about four local farmers who were treated like heroes at the reception afterward.
On a more personal note, I can certainly relate to the health aspect of food. Something’s got a not-so-nice hold on my digestive system, and it’s being very slow to leave. I experienced a bout of fever and chills on Friday evening and had to go home from grocery shopping in a taxicab.
Today, all I’m feeling is tired and that sensation of knowing exactly where breakfast is in my digestive tract. It’s slow-burning its way through, and, no, I did not put cayenne pepper on my pancakes.
Looking forward to this whatever-it-is finding another home. I’m tired of playing host to it.
ADM: price fixing and commodity manipulating since 1971.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oa2Cm9dqUqY
Egyptian cops “protecting and serving.”
I think there is a job opening at UC Davis, must be good with pepper spray.
I’m proud of my alum, we burned our Bank of America down just next to campus in the 70’s as a protest. I won’t advocate violence, so instead we need our government to start putting bankers in jail.
America - Land of the Free, Home of the Sprayed.
How do you misplace $1.2 bn? My wife freaks out if $20 goes missing.
Nov. 21, 2011, 11:36 a.m. EST
MF Global trustee: $1.2 billion missing
By Ronald D. Orol
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - A trustee seeking to distribute customer securities overseen by bankrupt MF Global Inc. estimated Monday that $1.2 billion in client money may be missing, twice as much as previously expected. “At present, the Trustee believes that even if he recovers everything that is at US depositories, the apparent shortfall in what MF Global management should have segregated at US depositories may be as much as $1.2 billion or more,” the trustee said in a statement.
While Jon Corzine (prospective Obama Treasury Secretary) walks the streets a free man. Criminal indictments are for the little people.
It’s a shame when rich folk steal from other rich folk.
Really, it’s like they made-off $cot free.
But it is financially prudent, as po’ folk by definition have no money.
“It’s a shame when rich folk steal from other rich folk.”
Reminds me of the movie, Casino, where concealing profits from the IRS is known as skimming, and the crooked insiders were “skimming the skim.”
Of course it ends badly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RHcrhI7J54
Maybe the fact that the Feds seem to be looking the other way is a diabolical Obama plot.
Useful to demonstrate to the anti-reg crowd what a true “free-market” would look like.
Are you joking?! The anti-reg crowd would still blame it on too much regulation!
Some people can be reasoned with, but some need a clue-by-four upside the head. Repeatedly.
I did my part to keep the economy humming along this weekend - I bought a new garage door.
The guy working at Lowes that sold it to me was 76 years old.
The guy working at Lowes that sold it to me was 76 years old.
Eyes wonder what type car he drove to high-school when he was a sophomore?
The car was probably a domestic model. Was the garage door made in China?
This is the lucky ducky lifestyle that awaits the majority of Americans.
The door is to be made in three possible locations. Indiana, Florida and I forgot the last state.
I got it I got it dad’s 49 DODGE….do I win???
A 76 yo probably couldn’t AFFORD a car when they were in high school.
I went clothes-shopping last week. The saleswoman was 72. She came to the U.S. from Uzbekistan 20 years ago. She was a dentist there. For a while after she arrived here, she tried to get into a dental hygienist program, but they all filled with 19-to-21 year olds.
On Saturday night, we had dinner with a couple who are both attorneys. She hasn’t practiced law for years, but she recently started working at Barnes & Noble part-time for $8.75 an hour. After a glowing review, management gave her a raise of 25 cents an hour. We all had a rueful laugh over that.
Back in the 70s, there was a law that allowed our local McDonalds franchisee to pay us a sub-minimum wage.
After I worked there for a few months I got a 5 cent/hour raise. They acted like they promoted me to Vice-President.
The didn’t appreciate my lack of teamwork when I said: “Thanks……at this rate, I might make minimum wage by the time I hit 21…..”
Yeah……my problems with management go WAY back……
I’ve had to fire some of my clients for that attitude.
As AZ Slim. She knows what I’m talking about.
Tampa police fear for their lives and have to use a tank to deal with a dozen peaceful protestors:
http://www.thedaily.com/page/2011/11/19/111911-news-tampa-tank/
Thank god we don’t live in a police state, huh?
Who wants to bet that tank was bought in 2006 with tax revenue from 2005. How would you like to be at the budget meeting in Tampa when they are trying to figure out where to cut.
Mr. Johnson you have the floor.
I propose we cut the Tampa Police Dept. Tank Battalion.
I propose We the People start seriously questioning the militarization of municipal police departments.
Dude
I don`t know about where you live but here the County Sheriffs Dept. and every town that has a PD has a GD SWAT team. I have questioned it and so did the European snow birds that had their music too loud at 2am last winter in Juno Beach. Well it was the perfect and only reason to break out the Juno Police Dept. SWAT team and over the fence they went. Much to the surprise of the seventy year old people who had Lawrence Welk cranked up too high.
Thankfully the incident ended without bloodshed.
No need… Florida is home to the world’s greatest inter-department turf wars. I’m sure before it’s all over state police will be arrested for interfering while the Hillsborough sheriff was trying to arrest Tampa PD.
A little late for that Sammy.
Way too late.
Existing home sales up 1.4%, still at depressed levels
By Derek Kravitz, Associated Press
Updated 7m ago
WASHINGTON – The number of Americans who bought previously occupied homes rose slightly last month but remained at depressed levels. And more deals are being canceled at the last minute, a sign that even those who are looking to buy are worried about the housing market.
Home sales rose 1.4% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.97 million, the National Association of Realtors said Monday. That’s below the 6 million that economists say is consistent with a healthy housing market and slightly ahead of last year’s sales — the worst in 13 years.
…
“Sales of existing homes up 1.4% in October”
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/sales-of-existing-homes-up-14-in-october-2011-11-21
Welcome to the HBB everyone.
New Occupy members!
Leaders of the 1.1-million-member trade group declared their commitment to protect homeownership.
“People still have champagne tastes and beer pocketbooks,”
Home shoppers go to open houses for $500,000 properties, but only qualify to buy a $300,000 home.
Realtors blame banks for slow recovery:
Published: Nov. 17, 2011 Updated: Nov. 20, 2011 / OC Register / By JEFF COLLINS
“Twenty-three percent of the sales in Arizona are to Canadians,” said Ray Levin, an agent with eXp Realty brokerage in Scottsdale. “It’s brought us back from the dead.”
Phoenix used to have 30,000 to 35,000 homes for sale, Levin said. Now it’s down to 20,000.
“Most of the bargains are gone,” he said.
It’s the same in Palm Springs and elsewhere in the Coachella Valley, added Marnie Balog, a Keller Williams agent in Palm Desert and the next president of the California Desert Association of Realtors.
“Inventory levels are down,” she said. “It’s very much a seller’s market. We’re getting multiple offers.”
You can smell the fear.
A 300k house where I live will get you +/-3000sqft.
Where?
A 3,000 SF house for $300K?
Most anyplace except the D.C. area, NYC area, San Fran, beachy areas of SoCal.
Check out these Atlanta-area listings. The first one is a foreclosure; the other two are regular resales.
http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/2966-Fredrick-Drive-Ne_Marietta_GA_30062_M60144-69910?&ex=ATGA_4260570
http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/1254-Bonshaw-Trl_Marietta_GA_30064_M68763-60296?ex=GA542502454
http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/2739-Stillwater-Lake-Ln_Marietta_GA_30066_M59478-27552?ex=GA540936506
Most of Texas.
In a nice neighborhood as well.
“A 300k house where I live will get you +/-3000sqft.”
FWIW, $300k is a lot of money if you have to pay it back, and 3000-sqft is a lot of house too; think cooling/heating, taxes, furnishings, etc. This is manager or business owner turf, not J6P.
Don’t tell KabulLandlordInvestorGirl.
Kabul’s unlikely housing bubble seems ready to burst
http://www.kansascity.com/2011/11/20/3276305/kabuls-unlikely-housing-bubble.html#ixzz1eMWbxyhi
The war in his homeland was a boom time for Sayed Aman Abed.
The Kabul real estate broker made a small fortune over the last several years as billions of dollars in foreign aid and reconstruction contracts flooded into Afghanistan, creating a robust market for homebuyers and renters in the capital. Abed, a slight, boyish 25-year-old, did well enough to pick up the entire tab for his wedding last year, which cost $27,000, a princely sum in Afghanistan.
But Kabul’s unlikely housing bubble is deflating rapidly amid a rash of extravagant insurgent attacks and growing worries among Afghans about what will happen after U.S. combat forces stand down, as expected, by 2014.
Yet another bubble paid for by US taxpayers.
27K is still a princely sum even here. ESPECIALLY for just a party.
I’m not going to worry about someone who can blow 27k on an effing party.
The lobotomized 95% contined to vote Republicrat even as they blithely ignored the massive fraud on Wall Street and flagrant disregard for the rule of law by the .01% who are literally above the law, thanks to being Too Connected to Jail (TCTJ). But now the sheeple better take notice, because their 401(k)s are about to be decimated as small investors flee this rigged Ponzi market.
http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=197878
We’re done folks.
CNBC is reporting that there are now clients running out of the markets entirely because they do not believe their customer funds are safe.
That’s the end of it. The belief that there are more MF Globals has now taken hold. The thieves have pushed it too far and now we’ve got the start of a global liquidity run, and with good reason.
The authorities both in the regulatory side and on the prosecutorial side have refused to put a stop to the thievery and now the risk factors have turned into realized risk.
The market is done folks. You can be right but if you make your bet in the markets, are right, and then get screwed anyway when someone steals the money and nobody goes to jail there comes a time when people begin to understand that it can happen to them and will unless they depart the market.
We’re there folks.
worth, which nets out free credit cash accounts and cash balances in margin accounts, plunged by $46 billion, the most since the Lehman collapse which saw net worth implode by $184 billion.
So they think the financial firms holding their stock investments will take them for themselves?
Too bad they didn’t previously notice that the top executives of the companies whose stocks they hold were already taking all the profits for themselves.
That 2.0% dividend yield is all you get.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=fmcn&ql=1
Meanwhile, another scam Chinese stock peddled to US bagholders implodes like a supernova. When China’s real estate bubble explodes and their economic data is also revealed to be a fraud, I will have popcorn in hand.
Instantaneous overreaction to news, both overseas and domestic, currently is causing chaos in the market. The VIX is doing quite well.
If I had my way, Thanksgiving would become a weeklong holiday at least once a decade — a time to take stock of who and where we are, and where we are going.
We would take our heads out of the clouds of our self-absorption, including the Internet “cloud.” We would turn off our cell phones and TVs. We’d put away our iPads and Kindles.
We’d take a walk around the block and say hello to everyone we came across. We’d volunteer for some kind of community service for a day or two.
We’d actually give thanks for what we have and celebrate the good in our lives.
This would definitely be the year of my choosing for the weeklong Thanksgiving celebration of life.Happy Thanksgiving !!!!!
I have a more personal reason to be thankful this week.
On Friday evening, I went for my weekly shopping trip to the food co-op. As I walked around the store, I felt worse and worse. Nothing like looking at food when your desire to even be around it is falling to zero.
After I checked out, I started feeling very flushed. And sweaty. All I was doing was standing there, not exercising.
I had to lie down on the floor.
The co-op people got me a cup of water. This, after I discreetly grabbed a bag from the checkout stand and used it for the same reason you use bags on airplanes. And, since I didn’t have much of an appetite since breakfast, well dang if I couldn’t toss my cookies. Didn’t have any to toss.
The co-op staff also called a cab, explained that I was on a bike, and told me to wait.
Well, who should show up but the world’s greatest cab driver. He loaded the bike in the back of the cab and took me home. I can’t say I felt all better once I got home. Spent much of the evening fighting off the chills.
Saturday, Sunday, and today, well, I’m better but not well. My digestive system still doesn’t seem to understand that it’s supposed to digest without feeling like it’s aflame. I mean, come on. I didn’t put cayenne pepper on this morning’s pancakes.
I think I’ll head back down to the co-op and get some kefir. It’s supposed to be helpful for this sort of thing.
Glad to hear that you are on the mend and that the cabbie loaded your bike well. Nearly had mine fall out/drag the front wheel on the pavement the one time I was a bit too into my cups to bike.
Az Slim- G E T W E L L S O O N
Hope you’re recovering. That technicolor yawn thing is awful. I hope you recover fast.
My husband has the stomach flu himself, and is slowly becoming human again.
I was surprised to read the flu shot is for respiratory viruses and not the stomach variety. News to me. Either way, like you, we’ll pass.
Oh btw, probiotics worked on my stomach virus last week. I waited until the worst passed, and I could keep it down. The next day, I was feeling almost healthy.
You sure it wasn’t plain old food poisoning? Years ago wifey and I got sick more than half a day after eating at a local deli-style place. Our stomachs had passed that meal on, so all we had were dry heaves. Weak, sweaty/clammy, etc.
I think dry heaves are your digestive system’s way of telling you, “Nothing more right now, thank you.”
You sure it wasn’t plain old food poisoning? Years ago wifey and I got sick more than half a day after eating at a local deli-style place. Our stomachs had passed that meal on, so all we had were dry heaves. Weak, sweaty/clammy, etc.
I think dry heaves are your digestive system’s way of telling you, “Nothing more right now, thank you.”
Dr. Bill in Carolina, the more I think about what happened, the more I am inclined to agree with you. And, just a few minutes ago, I got back from a very nice walk around the neighborhood. Brisk walk, chilly weather and the sun going down. Perfect.
I’m on the comeback trail!
Glad to hear it Slim.
sold in 04
Thanks for the sentiment. A very worthwhile give thanks message in your post.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
(My favorite holiday.)
Well that sounds like my life every day, although I’ve gone through great strides to get to this point. Yeah, I still get spend time at home on the Internet (limit myself to an hour a day) but don’t watch television (no cable and no reception), no cell phone (although I do have a Tracfone for traveling), volunteer a few hours a week at the food bank, alternative humane society, resilience groups, etc.
And you’d be amazed biking to work the people that say good morning to you, or at least give you a nod of acknowledgement and a smile. And many times at the bike rack outside the store striking up a conversation that last longer than you’d ever anticipated, but yet you realize that being in a hurry really isn’t so important in the bigger picture.
Building community is much easier than you think. And although I have very little, I many times feel that I am the richest person alive. I indeed wish all of you posters and lurkers (like me) a Happy Thanksgiving.
Personally, there are some neighbors I’d rather NOT meet.
Me too,but I take the golden rule and apply it to circumstances that test my character. At least I gave it a shot. Some people just aren’t my “flavor”, as you point out, turkey lurkey.
And that’s OK.
Yesterday I overhead my new neighbor call me the “cocktail waitress” type, because I am 20 years older and in good shape. I wonder if I should call her the “m.a.d.” type (mom ass disease-large heiny). LOL
Just a few short years back, everyone in San Diego was house rich. These times, they are a changin’…
On Hold For Food Stamps
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
By Maureen Cavanaugh, Patty Lane
On hold times are affecting those needing food stamps and other services from San Diego county.
Aired 10/25/11
GUEST
Adrian Florido, reporter with Voice of San Diego.org.
Jennifer Tracy with the San Diego Hunger Coalition.
As high unemployment and a bad economy continue, the need for food assistance has increased in San Diego. And County officials say they are committed to meeting that need. But, a new report finds that the phone line set up to help people apply for food stamps and other benefits, is answering only about 18-percent of the calls…and wait times have increased to about 40 minutes.
Click on my name for a link of the paintings:
Burning bank artwork leads to police questioning
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Published: 08 September, 2011, 01:09
Alex Schafer is causing a stir with his art.
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TAGS: Art, Crime, Protest, Politics, Law, USA, Corporate news, Banking, Performance, Culture, Economy, Finance
Three years after the bank bailout saved America’s financial institutions, big banks appear to be more protected than ever, even from a harmless oil painter.
Police have repeatedly questioned a middle-aged artist with an inflammatory political message, while the banks he is speaking out against continue to get bailed out.
“I’m not a terrorist. I’m not firebombing any banks.”
That is the response artist Alex Schafer gave police when he was questioned about his oil paintings. Schaefer has let out all his frustration with the American financial system – on canvas.
“Bad banks should fail,” said Schaefer. “Bad businesses should fail. And a bank is a business and somehow it’s been turned into something else,” Schaefer added.
While artists are known for catching the spirit of the times, Schaefers’ recent paintings depicting bank buildings engulfed in flames caught the eye of the Los Angeles Police Department. Schafer was first approached while painting in front of a Chase bank branch. Three weeks later the police visited his home asking him if he hated banks and planned to do just that – burn them down.
“It’s just bizarre because I don’t feel like I’ve done anything outside of everything I’ve ever done, yet this has really touched a nerve,” said Schaefer.
In recent years it seems like large banks and their bosses have been protected from prosecution for their role in the devastating financial crisis. Now it appears banks are being protected even from an artist’s brush stroke. The chaos depicted in Alex Schafer’s painting is just symbolic. But the financial chaos caused by JP Morgan Chase and other big banks is very real to many Americans.
“It’s a different kind of terrorism that they’re causing,” said Schaefer.
Since 2008, none of the bank bosses in charge during the mortgage meltdown have done any jail time. Instead, they were the recipients of bailouts and bonuses, while millions of Americans suffered through foreclosure, unemployment and financial ruin.
Schaefer’s flames symbolize bringing the current system down.
“I think we need to reform our banking system completely,” said Schaefer.
Besides the repeated visits from police, Schafer also says recent online visitors to his blog include employees of JP Morgan Chase, as well as members of the Department of Justice.
Shafer maintains a good sense of humor about the ordeal and his symbolic bank burning seems to be resonating with the public.
“I started the bidding off at 920 bucks and its at $10,100 now,” said Schaefer.
That is the big money statement he definitely plans to take to the bank.
I love hearing the naive still claim we have freedom of speech.
Thank god we don’t live in a police state.
Paging Polly: I put an old stroller out for trash and someone already took it.
It was… a recall.
So when their child gets choked to death, I’m off the hook, right?
Where do you think this is, some country where you have rights?
Posted on Mon, Nov. 21, 2011 07:58 AM
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Time to dismantle Fannie and Freddie
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
The following editorial appeared in the Kansas City Star on Friday, Nov. 18:
Congress is moving to block bonus payments to executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two mortgage giants that have received nearly $170 billion in taxpayer bailout money. On the surface, it’s outrageous to hand out bonuses to the people who operate the two agencies that did so much to cause the housing meltdown.
But there are two considerations to keep in mind. The bonus recipients aren’t the same people who ran Fannie and Freddie into the ground. The original executives are long gone. Second, given the uncertain future of Fannie and Freddie, the agencies may be able to justify some bonuses.
No one knows how long Fannie and Freddie will be around, given the wide agreement on Capitol Hill that they should be dismantled. The Obama administration agrees but hasn’t said yet how it would do that.
…
Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2011/11/21/3278268/time-to-dismantle-fannie-and-freddie.html#ixzz1eNxQFJ7I
The author is obviously unclear on the concept of “prevention.”
Prophylaxis. How do you wrap a Trojan around F&F?
November 21, 2011 9:31 PM
Bank of America Shares Decline 5 Percent to March 2009 Levels
Nov. 21 (Bloomberg) — Bank of America Corp. dropped the most in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and touched levels last seen in March 2009 as investors speculated on how much faulty mortgages will cost the lender.
Bank of America fell 5 percent to $5.49 at 4:01 p.m. in New York, the lowest since March 11, 2009. The shares are down 59 percent this year, the worst showing in the 24-company KBW Bank Index.
The lender, ranked second among U.S. banks, told Fannie Mae it won’t cooperate with the U.S. mortgage firm’s new stance on loan buybacks, according to a regulatory filing. This may set up the bank for penalties or other sanctions, according to Washington-based Fannie Mae.
…
Bank of America fell 5 percent to $5.49 at 4:01 p.m. in New York, the lowest since March 11, 2009. The shares are down 59 percent this year, the worst showing in the 24-company KBW Bank Index.
Isn’t five bucks a share the threshold for being a penny stock? Meaning that if your at Mr. Lincoln’s picture or below, you’re in penny stock territory?
So much for Buffett’s $7.00 options retaining value. How long available - I will have to check. Better Beta lately, though still down.
IBM was a good move. Buying BofA is like getting in bed with the devil IMHO.
“Isn’t five bucks a share the threshold for being a penny stock?”
According to Wikipedia the threshold is a dollar.
But other sources on the net say the definition has been stretched to stocks selling for under five dollars a share.
May I add: dear OWS and TEA Party, please keep people like me and my wife separate from these types. At least he’s wearing it on his sleeve:
For the past two years, Frank Biden’s been flying around the state talking to local school boards, lobbying for the Mavericks High charters. “I’m a salesman. I’m nothing but a P.T. Barnum for these kids,” he says.
Biden’s not an educator. He served as a legislative director in the Clinton administration and worked for a humanitarian aid group
in Nicaragua before settling in South Florida. He lives in Ocean Ridge and is currently developing a country club community in Costa Rica.
http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2011/11/joe_bidens_brother_promotes_charter_schools_mavericks.php
Interesting. I’ll keep my eye on this one:
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/13575-74th-Ave-Seminole-FL-33776/47213782_zpid/
O.k., not going to lie, I may go check this out with my realtor:
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/11723-67th-Ave-Seminole-FL-33772/47257286_zpid/
Looks nice, Muggy.
But it says …”well maintained but needs updating.”
What does “updating” mean? Can one live in it without this updating.
The second one is a winner! Go for it!
(only possible problem I see is replacing appliances)
Yeah, I like it too.
Looks like the all neighbors mow the front lawn; a good sign.
The interior looks good and so does the little lake behind it, but…
That exterior blue is hideous and I hope you like ‘gators and big snakes ’cause with all that water, you’re going to have both.
Wait, don’t you have small children?
NOVEMBER 21, 2011, 12:02 P.M. ET
US Stocks Tumble As ‘Supercommittee’ Deadlock Spurs Selloff; DJIA Down 309
By Brendan Conway
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–U.S. stocks tumbled, sending the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average back into negative territory for the year, as fears that the euro-zone debt crisis is spreading and concerns over the apparent failure of U.S. deficit-cutting talks overshadowed a number of larger corporate deals.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 309 points, or 2.6%, to 11487 in midsession Monday trading, after hitting a series of fresh session lows in the morning. All 30 blue-chip components were in the red. The Dow was down 0.78% for 2011, dipping into negative territory for the year for the first time since mid-October.
The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index shed 29 points, or 2.4%, to 1187 and the technology-oriented Nasdaq Composite slid 64 points, or 2.5%, to 2509. The S&P 500’s industrial stocks fell 3% to lead decliners, with the energy and financial sectors’ losses close behind.
Trading volume was relatively thin, with about 1.6 billion shares changing hands in New York Stock Exchange composite volume as of noon. The daily average is north of 4 billion.
The U.S. supercommittee, charged with reducing the budget deficit by at least $1.2 trillion over the next 10 years or else trigger automatic spending cuts, is facing almost certain collapse. Besides the uncertainty over the size of the eventual cuts, if any, investors were concerned over the chance for downgrades to the U.S. credit rating. Standard & Poor’s downgrade of the U.S. government in early August helped trip off that month’s stock-market declines and the market volatility that has since persisted.
“There’s a sense that the U.S. economy is looking down the barrel of a gun but [Washington] cannot figure out what to do,” said Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Capital Group. “These downgrades are coming, as sure as the sun comes up tomorrow. They’re a foregone conclusion.”
Demand for U.S. Treasury bonds jumped, sending yield on the 10-year note down to 1.9605%. The U.S. dollar rose against the euro but eased against the yen.
“It’s all the supercommittee [today], and I do not think that an S&P downgrade is discounted into the market. They did it last time because of the dysfunction,” said Sandy Villere, co-portfolio manager of the Villere Balanced Fund. “As an investor, it’s very frustrating to see this level of dysfunction.”
Europe markets fell sharply, with the Stoxx Europe 600 losing 3.2%, on fears of debt-crisis contagion. Moody’s Investors Service said it may change its stable outlook on France’s triple-A rating to negative in the coming months, and that German banks have sizeable exposures to troubled euro-zone countries.
Meanwhile, Germany’s Bundesbank cut its 2012 growth forecast for the German economy to between 0.5% and 1% from the 1.8% growth predicted in June.
Asian bourses also declined, with Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average losing 0.3% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index giving up 1.4%.
Gold futures fell 2.2% to $1,687.90 an ounce, while crude oil futures lost 1.4% to $96.33 a barrel.
…
Will Farrell ever take off his rose-colored glasses? I know the world loves an optimist, but this really is over the top.
Nov. 22, 2011, 12:01 a.m. EST
Very slow growth 2012 then long bear to 2020
Commentary: Decade of woe for stocks, time to buy bonds
By Paul B. Farrell, MarketWatch
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (MarketWatch) — “Top advisers see very slow growth in 2012.” That headline is screaming at Americans in “InvestmentNews: The Leading News Source for Financial Advisers” and most trusted.
Get it? Not just “slow growth,” but “very slow growth in 2012.” Another even predicted “very slow, measured growth for two, three years.” Actually it’s far worse. Folks, this is not some worried bull hyping naïve investors, not a Wall Street bank analyst, a Washington politician covering his butt, nor one of Mad Money’s market mavericks.
No, this comes from the most respected news source reporting to America’s financial advisers. These are the 100,000 professional Registered Investment Advisers who are advising Americans on managing trillions of retirement assets.
Get it? Main Street America, you should “expect very slow growth” in 2012. That was the response when asked what “scenarios are you painting for your clients?” The panelist at a recent InvestmentNews Round Table then added: “It’s going to be ugly and violent.” Why? Because the politicians “are driving things” and they are “capricious, which leads to volatility.” And clients are “not really happy,” but “they lived through ‘08 and ’09,” so 2012 will be “just a little bump in the road.”
…