The Housing Bubble

“And what happened to the old timers like Professor Bear and the Got Popcorn guy, ”

Prof. Bear is now “Cantankerous Intellectual Bomb Thrower”.

BTW what happened to this blog? ……
Now it’s indistinguishable from Kos with the rants against corporations and capitalism.

Oh woe, woe unto me and the ruling class. The message of our well-heeled masters is being washed unto the sea. The battle for the mind has turned!
Jacques De BloqueHead, Propaganda Dept., Louis XVI, 1788

And 4 real:
“Suddenly, the issues that inspired the (OWS) movement itself — the remarkable flow of wealth and political influence to the wealthiest 1 percent, the lack of any prosecution for Wall Street crimes, the lack of opportunity amid crushing student loans debt for the nation’s youth — were suddenly on the radar screen. One analyst found that major news articles mentioned “inequality” doubled in the month of October, while stories mentioning the “richest one percent” increased a whopping five-fold.” mediamatters dot org

In the 5+ years the squad has been reading the HBB, only in the past year (specifically since the Wisconsin governor Walker hoo-hah) has their been a coordinated attack against the interests of the middle class and working poor on the HBB. These posts read like they were lifted right from a Heritage policy paper or a US Chamber of Commerce lobbying memo.

…because corporations and capitalism are tools of commerce, not structures for society.

What we have now is the worst of all worlds: communist corporatism.

Nonprofit corporations are usually nonstock and don’t have owners.

BTW what happened to this blog?

“Blame-the-Blog” is that your new GIG?

“Kos”

NYC, we’re all waking up to the fact that the two party system is BS. Join us…

Wait. I’m confused. Are you talking about the deabeat FBs or the deadbeat bankers?

“The high rest$ upon the low” Lao Tzu

(500+ years before year 1)

Warily watching for the illusive notice

This is the flip side for the “deadbeat” set, not knowing when the Sheriff will suddenly show up and dump all your stuff on the sidewalk. How can you possibly live a normal life that way?

Easy. Keep all your good stuff in storage. Just keep minimal stuff at the free house. There is very little stuff out there that can’t be easily replaced.

A divorce (and/or a good divorce lawyer) is helpful in this regard. You find out that material crap is not that important. And spending good money in order to “save your investment” is mostly throwing good money after bad.

When they foreclosed on my wife, a realtor rep for Fannie came by offering to lease me the property; they could also be offering deadbeats lease to own deals as well to deal with or defer as much shadow inventory as possible to avoid dumping on their own market. Offered the lease as she thought/hoped I was a tenant(wife and I do have differing last names and I was not on title or loan of our home).

Then they offered us $1800 to move within a couple weeks, less if we took more time, and finally said an eviction would occur eventually if we dragged our heels too much. Nothing too scary considering we milked almost two years without paying the mortgage. We stayed for an additional month after the auction and then received $1400 cash for Keys.

They only move your stuff to the curb if they need to get the sheriff involved and actually evict you. So programs are in place to make things pretty smooth for deadbeats who stop paying. And if the deadbeat has a bit of righteous indignation for the fog a mirror underwriting (a no-doc loan meant wife got a 300k loan on a 6k income at the grocery). Since the bank must have believed the place was appreciating and banked on that belief making loans like that. But if we had made ourselves scarce prior to auction; we would have sacrificed 1 more month of time and $1400 cash. Why would they pay you to leave if you are already gone?

Why would they pay you to leave if you are already gone?

Good question.

But that didn’t stop a “pay you to leave” notice from being affixed to the side door of a vacant house up the street. Place was in foreclosure, and it had been vacant for about four months.

“Easy. Keep all your good stuff in storage.”

Then why bother having “good stuff”? Even if what’s in the house is “junk”, you still have to collect it, pack it from the sidewalk, get Uhaui, find a new place to live, etc., all on a moment’s notice. Why would I want to live like that?

And the curb is PUBLIC property so no one can be charged with stealing your stuff….is trash and anyone can take it. So you’d better be there with a truck and help to move it.

I’ve seen scavengers who were tipped of by sheriff dept when this would occur big truck with 2-3 helpers just waiting for it to hit the PUBLIC curb.

Sounds like a new niche business today

——-
They only move your stuff to the curb if they need to get the sheriff involved and actually evict you

” Is it greed to want to till one’s own garden soil…to feel the warm sun nurture one’s fruits and produce from one’s own land? And is it greed to want to provide the warmth of the hearth to your family, knowing that perhaps one day this family home can be passed down to a son or a daughter?”

I guess that wouldn`t be greed, but buying a condo or a McMansion for $500k and planning to sell it in 2 years for $750k is. Taking a $150k cash out refi from a house you paid $150k for 4 years earlier is only because you think you will be able to pay that back and take another $150k with you when you sell it is greed. Dude, I don`t know where that warm sun and produce one`s own land and summers past stuff happened but it wasn`t here. I live in SE Florida.

But I gotta tell ya, that`s as close as I have ever come to reading real poetry. Well done RioAmericanInBrasil.

Rio, I’m not sure if that’s sarcasm or drugs kicking in.

I’ve spoken my piece on deadbeats:
1. First time homeowners who got hoodwinked by fine print legalese and/or bad faith lies from originators and realtors: I let them off the hook.
2. refi-ers and serial refi-ers or ones who didn’t read even the most basic components of the contract (”I didn’t know it was a neg-am1″), especially the ones who b!tch: no sympathy.
3. Other FBs: They get about 1/3 blame. Gov tried to help wioth programs, but the damage was too wide and too deep.

1. First time homeowners who got hoodwinked by fine print legalese and/or bad faith lies from originators and realtors: I let them off the hook.

I actually know a guy like this. Smart guy. But he didn’t understand sales or salespeople. Thought that if some guy at a mahogany desk and in a suit was telling him something, it must be okay. He got scammed with a loan with bad terms. He learned his lesson, lost a few grand to the originator when he had to refinance into a fixed rate (this was many years ago).

But I gotta tell ya, that`s as close as I have ever come to reading real poetry. Well done RioAmericanInBrasil.

(Rio, iffin’ you had tossed in something about a frog Olygal would be all a smilin’)

I actually know a guy like this. Smart guy. But he didn’t understand sales or salespeople. Thought that if some guy at a mahogany desk and in a suit was telling him something, it must be okay.

Lately, my father has fallen into this category. He’s no longer of sound mind, and he’s gotten into a real doozy of a deal or two.

The good news is that my mother, who’s a real mean so-and-so when it comes to dealing with slick sales people, is now handling his affairs. So, no more slicksters getting anywhere near Dad.

I had all those feelings and wants for YEARS! I was one of the original posters on this blog so that’s how long I’d wanted all that. And I am just an average, single parent, working at a modest paying Marketing job at a small suburb outside of Philly. I’m nothing spectacular. I don’t understand the stock market. I don’t have rich parents. Hell, I don’t even get full child support! But I did know then NOT to be so stupid as to buy into the mania. I watched the bubble like a hawk (from my HBB vantage point). I was ridiculed during that time among co-workers, friends, and some family members even for my anti-housing stance (after all, they all saw their home values skyrocket!)

My son’s childhood memories from birth through Kindergarten are from a 3rd floor apartment in a complex, and then a townhouse rental. We now have a home (and I may have bought a little early as prices have slipped a little in the year+ I’ve been in my house), but I saved and saved and saved for that house and put 25% down. No help from anyone or any program.

My point is that, yes, many people want those Norman Rockwell memories in a house, but if you want it so badly that you would make foolish choices, then that’s on you. It’s just as easy to make memories in a rental as it is in a mortgaged home.

I had all those feelings and wants for YEARS! I was one of the original posters on this blog so that’s how long I’d wanted all that. And I am just an average, single parent, working at a modest paying Marketing job at a small suburb outside of Philly.

Which suburb? I grew up outside of Media and West Chester. Still have family near West Chester.

I’m on the other side of the city - Willow Grove/Hatboro area.

many people want those Norman Rockwell memories in a house, but if you want it so badly that you would make foolish choices, then that’s on you

I understand most of that and I lived through the pain of 2 housing bubbles 10 years apart but I try not to deride “fools” because I turned out to be smarter than them and one way or another it is “on them”.

Dude, I don`t know where that warm sun and produce one`s own land and summers past stuff happened but it wasn`t here. I live in SE Florida.
Good one.

that`s as close as I have ever come to reading real poetry.
Thank you.

@ eastcoaster

Thank you! I’m so sick of hearing about the poor, poor FBers and their plight! It wasn’t exactly a picnic for all of us that “did the right thing” this past decade or so!
They can cry me a friggin river! (and I swear, I am usually a very empathetic person)

It wasn’t exactly a picnic for all of us that “did the right thing” this past decade or so!
They can cry me a friggin river!

Totally.
(But make sure they cry you a river as big as the river about everyone’s “picnics for doing the right thing” otherwise it won’t be the same size river)

Hello Eastcoaster, glad to hear you’ve been doing well. Congrats on the house, I do recall your stories and admire your patience.

Everyone else - I’m sick of the “it’s someone else’s fault” sob story.

Everyone else - I’m sick of the “it’s someone else’s fault” sob story. On why house prices have not fallen fast enough to bury more FB’s faster so I can get a cheaper house because I did the right thing? That sob story?

“On why house prices have not fallen fast enough to bury more FB’s faster so I can get a cheaper house because I did the right thing? That sob story?”

I don`t consider that a sob story. When the housing mania took off and financially crippled the world there were willing participants. Banksters, Fbs and serial refinancers the main players along with Realtors, mortgage brokers, appraisers, rating agencies etc.

There were also some people who knew that it was insane and already owned homes but did not cash out refi them to insane values and there were some people (although very few) who knew it was insane and did not listen to “there not making anymore land” or “House prices always go up” and buy in to the mania. These two groups of people did the prudent thing, they did NOT buy into the housing mania for quick riches and a fat payday.

For some there was sacrifice as eastcoaster stated, they put off what they wanted for themselves and their families as to not put themselves and their families in a BAD financial situation. Well for myself and many others it has been 9 going on 10 years waiting for a place like you yourself described Rio. Kids do a lot of growing in 9 years, and in that 9 years (I know it started B4 that but that`s about how long it`s been for my family) this housing thing blew up, just like some people thought it would.

Well when someone wins, someone else loses and the PTB seems to have picked the banksters, serial refinancers and the FBs (who I affectionetly call Deadbeats) as winners and those who were prudent, saved and sacrificed as the losers. That doesn`t sound like a sob story, sounds like pending charges to me.

PS
Going on 10 years and a decnt house in a decnt hood is still artificially $90k too high where I live. My oldest kid turns 20 Christmas day.

I don`t consider that a sob story.

I didn’t consider it a sob story before because it was my story. But now after 10 years of reality, and with many truly suffering as well, maybe I’ve lost my bias toward people like you and me that did get ripped. Sometimes, what is, is, and for every one of us who did the “right thing” and suffered, now 20 will suffer, so I have mixed feelings on what is happening.

And how important is it in the end? And who wins? Yes the bankers won this one. Bankers won. The deadbeats did not. It might seem they have won for now but they really have not. Sure the B.S. government programs might save 5% maybe 10%, but 90% have lost. Some will get free rent for awhile but most will have lost much more than they have gained. It does not make me happy for you, me or them.

I do not defend the serial refinancers and I recognize that serial refinancers piss all of us off but even then, how many of them did it with malice or with the knowledge that things would turn to crap? Many were just dumb lucky. Stupid. I still hope at some point in my life I will be dumb lucky. Don’t most of us?

Going on 10 years and a decnt house in a decnt hood is still artificially $90k too high where I live.

I’ve lived bubbles more than most. I’ve paid their price and became stronger for them I hope. The 80’s oil bust changed the path of my life that I studied 4 years of hard science for. Totally. I lived the housing bubble twice - 88-91 in LA and 99-2008 SF Bay. I felt derision towards me on steroids as I funded my business rather than a house, and prices there got 500-700K too high so to me 90K “too high” doesn’t do to much to me anymore. And with today’s interest rates, is it really 90K too high? IDK. If it’s 33% of your pay with 20% down that’s the way it has been no? It’s never been easy really.

And yes there should be pending charges against those responsible but charges are meant to punish and of all the groups responsible for this mess, I can only think of one specific group that has not been punished yet at all. And that group that has escaped punishment is not you, not me and not the FB’s.

Happy Thanksgiving to you, yours and the HBB crew.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family Rio.

“The broke little people have looted us,”

They take $1,700 a month from me.

“Sometimes the hand you hold is the hand that holds you down.” - Everclear, “Everything to Everyone”

“They take $1,700 a month from me.”

Move, if it bothers you so.

Otherwise one might think it’s nothing more than a debating device.

No need to move. Rather, fight to change the situation. You know… the American way.

When “income requirements” are 10x income, when loans are granted solely on FICO, and FICO has nothing to do with income, you basically have no requirements.

I suspect that a LOT of the so-called “primes” refied into option neg-ams on homes they had owned for years, lived it up on the cash, and then lived it up again because they paid only the minimum option. Now they’ve reset or ballooned and suddenly discovered that they have to pay the actual mortgage on a $600K house. No income or FICO is going to save them from that.

I have no love for the FBs, but I object to people using them as an excuse for, or distraction from, the people who orchestrated and truly profited- and continue to profit- from the bubble: the banksters and their cronies, and the political philosophies that brought such a fiasco about: deregulation, globalism, and trickle-down economics.

Seconded.

‘the people who orchestrated’

So you’re saying they got together and planned the housing bubble? I’ve seen lots of reports about ’should have known’, ‘turned a blind eye,’ criminality, but I don’t know about orchestrating the various bubbles.

‘and truly profited- and continue to profit- from the bubble’

I know a guy who refied his house several times up to about $1 million and walked away. I’d say he profited. I used to know appraisers who would calmly tell me they ‘hit the numbers’ regularly. They drove expensive cars, refied like mad and walked away. The Toll Brothers CEO probably kept those Picasso’s on his wall since he’s still selling houses for a nice chunk of change. I could go on.

‘I object to people using them as an excuse for, or distraction from…’

Some of us can walk and chew gum at the same time.

For myself, I got the blame game out of my system years ago. IMO, we should be focused on cleaning up our corrupt governments and not playing the lame-stream media game of ‘who’s the victim’. That’s the distraction.

“So you’re saying they got together and planned the housing bubble?”

I’m saying they were definitely aware that it was occurring, could have stopped it if they had wanted to, but instead chose to profit from it, and indeed helped orchestrate it. Do you think it was forced on them?

And I’m saying they are responsible for keeping most of the shadow inventory off the market. They choose to let the FBs squat for free, because it gives them free maintenance of the properties, and it helps them sell the idea that the FBs are the ones to blame for the bust- when it was actually deregulation, crony capitalism, and government sell-out. The plutocrats are indeed setting up a blame-game that absolves themselves.

“not playing the lame-stream media game of ‘who’s the victim’. That’s the distraction.”

That’s exactly what I’ve been telling our resident victim/whiner, jeff.

I agree that there are people trying to deflect blame off themselves and onto others. But I still don’t understand how that lets, shall we say, some of the examples in Ben’s post off the hook. Aren’t they all just different parts of the same crisis living in evil symbiosis?

I don’t see why it is an either/or choice. But what I did see eloquently mentioned was a sign at an OWS protest that said,

“If they enforced banking regulation like they enforced park and camping ordinances, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”

And I think that’s even without glass - steagle. The banker fraud is a conspiracy, yes. The conspiracy to defraud investors who they sold the MBS to. It is quite clearly documented in many places where bankers (GS, BofA, Wells, etc) used known puppet ratings to sell bundled securities, and internally bet on the failure of same securities, even while documenting via email that they knew the securities were bound to fail despite the “AAA” rating.

It is also well documented that buyers committed fraud hundreds of thousands of times with “liar loans”. I mean Jeebus! They have a term for it! Any attempt to defend any of this behavior is beyond me.

“Oh, but the bankers were worse. Oh, but the FB’s were worse.”

Girls, you are both right. Murder and child molestation are both wrong, we don’t need to argue over which is worse, we need to punish the perps for both crimes.

I’ll say it: it was orchestrated, planned and done with forethought and malice.

Just like the Savings & Loan heist.

“I still don’t understand how that lets, shall we say, some of the examples in Ben’s post off the hook”

It doesn’t, and I’ve never said it did.

The people who are making the ‘blame them, let the other guys off’ game are those who are saying that the bubble was forced upon the banksters by the CRAs, and/or that the actions of the FBs were so egregious that we should ignore the banksters’ actions, and focus our wrath on the FBs.

It’s propaganda meant to hide the results of deregulation and transfer the blame for its failure to the least powerful party involved in the fiasco.

Here’s an idea: We the People (who pay the bills) can stop acting like sheep and start acting like citizens of the Republic. Which means instead of passively viewing your choices as whatever corporatist Repubicrat Tweedle Dee or Tweedle Dum appears on the ballet, do the hard work of giving your time, money, and support to alternatives - and refuse to vote for unprincipled, Wall Street beholden marionettes (I could name a couple of names here). Write in your REAL choice even if they aren’t on the ballet. Stop playing the Republicrats game. Dig deep and contribute money to candidates and groups that demonstrate integrity and commitment to actual principles (this categorically rules out contributing to EITHER Establishment political party). Stop being a passive observer and start doing the hard work of changing the system and restoring the Republic.

“Stop being a passive observer and start doing the hard work of changing the system and restoring the Republic.”

+1! Support OWS!

“+1! Support OWS!”

We need people like Ben to bring together all of the factions. That’s the only way around the “dirty hippies” road block.

Those memes are so embarrassingly infantile, that they tell me that the TPTB are actually worried.

If the libertarians and TEA Party are going to meet me half way, then they have to admit that the EPA protecting water is a good thing, and that there is no free market for educating poor children.

Beyond that, you had me at, “Fu$k crony capitalism AND big government.”

“Write in your REAL choice even if they aren’t on the ballet.”

Here in NY, they used to make it real difficult to write in names. But with the new voting machines, it has become easier! Last time out, I voted for Daffy Duck for state assembly.

“Stop being a passive observer and start doing the hard work of changing the system and restoring the Republic.”

+1! Support OWS!

My very same thought.

Ron Paul types are too soft for the job jailing bankers, lobbyists and crooked politicians.

Well Sammy, the sad fact is that Penn State students and NASCAR fans are the majority in this country.

In other words, critical thinking just ain’t gonna happen, ever.

Here’s an idea: We the People (who pay the bills) can stop acting like sheep and start acting like citizens of the Republic.

+1. Well said Sammy.

But with the new voting machines, it has become easier!

I know in Austin it was “easy” to put in a new name. However, there was a pool of “valid” write-in candidates. The rest would be ignored. I don’t recall the requirements for becoming a “valid” write-in candidate.

In other words, critical thinking just ain’t gonna happen, ever.

And this is the strongest argument against moving away from a republic and towards a true democracy…

We need people like Ben to bring together all of the factions.

We need people like Ben and sites like the HBB that tell the truth and “rage against the dying of the light.” And HBBers need to dig deep and provide monetary substance to keep the struggling pockets of resistance, like this one, vibrant and fighting. That’s one thing I think we can all agree on.

Ron Paul types are too soft for the job jailing bankers, lobbyists and crooked politicians.

Think again, rms. And at least we’re stepping up and standing up against the status quo. And you?

Sammy, you’ve been peddling your “both parties are bad” rhetoric for years and it’s getting tired. Last time I checked, the entire Democratic party voted to cut tax breaks for companies who offshored jobs, while the entire Republican party blocked it. You gonna blame Obama, or “throw ALL the bums out,” even the ones who tried to create jobs?

But go ahead and continue to beat your dead horse to a diminishing audience. Thanks to Ross Perot and Ralph Nader, third-party will never again happen in this country.

Here’s another idea as well:

“You have riches and freedom here but I feel no sense of faith or direction. You have so many computers, why don’t you use them in the search for love?”

Lech Walesa quotes (Polish trade union Activist, Electrician and President of Poland (1990-95). Nobel Prize for Peace in 1983. b.1943)

Who’s gonna be the first one to climb the fence?

Ron Paul types are too soft for the job jailing bankers, lobbyists and crooked politicians.

Even a vanilla repub admin would have put some bankers in jail than current monstrosity we have. I am convinced of that.

“But go ahead and continue to beat your dead horse to a diminishing audience. Thanks to Ross Perot and Ralph Nader, third-party will never again happen in this country.”

Keep voting for the status quo and you give up your right to complain. Yes, members of both parties have made some good decisions and some bad decisions over the years. However, we’ve had a roughly equal split of Democrats and Republicans in power over the last 50 years and our country is a mess. An absolute mess. I don’t see how it’s a stretch to assign blame to both parties. And I refuse to waste any energy arguing over whether one party is slightly more to blame than the other.

“Think again, rms. And at least we’re stepping up and standing up against the status quo. And you?”

I’m busy looking for a retired general.

My plan:

-Change my name to “None of the Above”

-Get my name on the ballot for US Senator/Representative

why don’t you use them in the search for love?

Uh, that business is actually a going concern.

Sadly I have not believed for a while that we could ever affect change from the voting booth. It’s not about advocating violence, believe me. I cringe when I think of what could happen. It’s just that when I look at the Goldman Sachs alums are where charts… Where are they in our government? Where are they in the Fed Reserve? Where are they in European and other governments? Where are they in the IMF, in the EFSF. I don’t like the pattern. Nope, the sense of foreboding is deep. The violins are getting strident, and we in the 99% are gonna need a bigger boat.

It’s funny. We talk about how ubiquitous the lobbyists, and the media control, and the owned judges right down to the Supreme Court are, and yet we never quite seem to connect all the dots and admit what a force we are up against.

“…Democrats and Republicans in power over the last 50 years and our country is a mess. An absolute mess.”

We were running a surplus not so long ago. I think it was two wars, one major tax-cut, and one prescription drug benefit ago.

It just seems like another world, and another time.

“I’m busy looking for a retired general.”

One of the most down-to-Earth people I have ever met, is an overweight, middle-aged town police officer. I tell him all the time to run for president.

Oxide, your partisanship socialism is getting very old. I suggest you stop pointing the finger at free market types and realize we do not have a capitalist economy, but a mixed economy which blames capitalism for everything.

Oxide, your partisanship socialism is getting very old.

You mean this?

the entire Democratic party voted to cut tax breaks for companies who offshored jobs, while the entire Republican party blocked it.

So Bill, telling what was and promoting protecting American jobs is now “socialism”? Or it’s “pointing fingers at “free market types”?

Your thinking is staggering.

“Recent EPA decision to shut down 25% of coal burning plants…..”

EPA isn’t making that decision……the power generating companies are. This is because they don’t think installing scrubbers and CO2 emissions gear on 50 year old coal plants is cost-effective.

Building new coal burning and/or natural gas burning plants is expensive. It’s cheaper (and more profitable) to keep the old polluters running, and pay the lobbyists/shills a few million bucks to blame the regs for “lost jobs” and “over-regulation”.

Same thing with refineries. Oil companies have SHUT DOWN oil refineries over the last 10 years, but not because of the EPA, but because THEY COULD.

Speculation and artificial scarcity are what have driven up the prices.

TAX THE EVIL RICH!!

That’s not boiler plate.

I see.

PS: If the Bush cut are not extended, everyone gets hit with higher taxes. 10% rate goes to 15%. 25% rate goes to 28%.
$1000 child credit get cut to $500.

But hey, that only affects billionaires right?

PS: If the Bush cut are not extended, everyone gets hit with higher taxes.

Twist reality dude. Obama offered to extend the tax cuts to those in the 10,15,20, 25 and 28% tax brackets and only let the Bush-tax-cuts-for-the-rich expire on the higher brackets. Get out much?

I’ll take a 5% income tax increase. If the 1%ers get their tax bill raised by the same 5% on their “income”

“This is something very different,” said Huw Jenkins, a former head of investment banking at UBS AG (UBSN) who’s now a London- based managing partner at Brazil’s Banco BTG Pactual SA. “This is a structural change. The industry is shrinking.”

Oh, no! Where will all the talent go now?

“I’m still scratching my head,” said a former employee of Nomura, the large Japanese bank, who was laid off on Oct. 1. “I went to the right schools, I know the right people and I’m very good at what I do. But when you have to cut costs, you have to cut costs.”

The ex-Nomura employee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because a confidentiality clause is attached to her severance package, said she had recently come across a group of Occupy Wall Street protesters in Lower Manhattan. While she said she did not support all their ideals, she could now sympathize with their frustrations about high unemployment and a growing sense of economic hopelessness.

“I’m in the same boat as these guys,” she said of the protesters. “I just want to start working.”

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/11/21/wall-st-layoffs-take-heavy-toll-on-younger-workers/?ref=business

“I went to the right schools, I know the right people and I’m very good at what I do. But when you have to cut costs, you have to cut costs.”

Cut the top pay at these wealth destroying organizations to the same level as the President, and cost would be more than sufficiently cut.

I went to the right schools, I know the right people and I’m very good at what I do.

So did many of the rest of us, kiddo. Unfortunately, it’s not as if going to good schools, being well connected, and having expertise count for much anymore.

“Or so they believe.”

As I said, Karma.

They will just reclassify them as Interns and will get paid with meals and a metrocard…

And they’ll get to live in a cardboard box from Nordstrom instead of one from Walmart.

Evidence exhibit “A”: “Enwrong“

List is from 2006, (update needed for the awaiting verdict portion, but the MegaCorp.Inc’$ as $elf-ethical SOCTU$ “per$ons” remains as true as ever!)

Eyes know, eyes know, x1 “example” does not a trend make…

AWAITING A VERDICT:

-Enron founder Kenneth Lay and former CEO Jeffrey Skilling. Trial began with jury selection Jan. 30. Skilling faces 28 charges, including fraud, conspiracy and insider trading, on charges connected to various alleged schemes to fool investors into believing Enron was financially healthy so Enron executives could pocket millions from sales of inflated stock. Lay faces six counts of fraud and conspiracy on allegations of perpetuating the ruse upon Skilling’s resignation in 2001, less than three months before Enron crumbled into bankruptcy. If convicted on all counts, Skilling faces a maximum of 275 years in prison, while Lay faces a maximum of 45 years.

-In a separate case, Lay is slated to go to trial before U.S. District Judge Sim Lake without a jury on Thursday on one count of bank fraud and three counts of making false statements to banks. Prosecutors allege he misled lenders of his intention to use $75 million in personal loans to carry or buy stock on margin. Each count carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison. Lake aims to issue his verdict after jurors in the conspiracy case against Lay and Skilling render theirs.

ON TRIAL:

-Former Enron broadband unit chief financial officer Kevin Howard and former in-house broadband accountant Michael Krautz were the first of five former executives from Enron’s defunct broadband unit to be retried this year after a jury hung on most counts against all the defendants after a three-month trial in 2005. Jurors could not reach verdicts on any of the 15 counts Howard and Krautz faced last year. In November, the government re-indicted each on five counts of conspiracy, wire fraud and falsifying books and records. Their retrial began with jury selection May 2 in the courtroom next door to the Lay-Skilling case.

AWAITING TRIAL:

-The remaining three of the five former Enron broadband executives await retrials.

Former broadband unit CEO Joseph Hirko and Rex Shelby, a former senior vice president and software strategist, are slated to go to trial on charges of conspiracy and insider trading on Sept. 4. Each were acquitted on a handful of more than 20 charges each faced last year, and were re-indicted on fewer than 10 counts each.

Scott Yeager, former senior vice president and broadband strategist, has no trial date set pending the outcome of his appeal to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to drop insider trading and money laundering counts against him. Jurors in last year’s trial acquitted him of fraud and conspiracy charges, and he was reindicted on 13 counts, a dramatic drop from the more than 100 he had faced.

-Three British bankers fighting extradition on charges of wire fraud for allegedly bilking their former employer, National Westminster Bank, out of $7.3 million in a scheme engineered by former Enron finance chief Andrew Fastow. David Bermingham, Giles Darby and Gary Mulgrew were arrested in April 2004 and pleaded innocent.

CONVICTED AT TRIAL:

-November 2004, four former Merrill Lynch & Co. executives and a former Enron finance executive, conspiracy and fraud. Jurors determined former Merrill executives Daniel Bayly, James A. Brown, Robert S. Furst and William Fuhs and former Enron executive Dan Boyle conspired to pass off a loan from Merrill as a sale of three power barges moored off the coast of Nigeria in late 1999. In March, Fuhs was released from prison on bond pending appeal, the other four are serving prison sentences ranging from 2 1/2 years to nearly four years.

ACQUITTED AT TRIAL:

-November 2004, former in-house Enron accountant Sheila Kahanek was found not guilty by the jury in the barge trial.

CONVICTION OVERTURNED:

-In May 2005 the U.S. Supreme Court overturned former Big Five accounting firm Arthur Andersen LLP’s June 2002 conviction of obstruction of justice for destroying Enron-related audit documents in October and November 2001 as regulators began probing the energy company’s finances. The high court ruled unanimously that vague jury instructions allowed jurors to convict without finding criminal intent behind the mass document destruction effort.

GUILTY PLEAS:

2005:

-July, Christopher Calger, a former executive in Enron’s trading business, pleaded guilty to participating in an asset sale scheme to recognize earnings prematurely and improperly. Sentencing: Aug. 10.

-December, Richard Causey, former Enron chief accounting officer. Originally indicted in January 2004, Causey was part of a unified defense team with Skilling and Lay for nearly two years until he pleaded guilty to securities fraud. He was not called to testify by either side in the Lay-Skilling case. Sentencing: Aug. 17.

2004:

-January, Andrew Fastow, former finance chief. Indicted in October 2002 on what eventually grew to 98 counts of fraud, conspiracy, insider trading, money laundering and others. Pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy, admitting to orchestrating myriad schemes to hide Enron debt and inflate profits while enriching himself with millions. Surrendered nearly $30 million in cash and property. Agreed to serve up to 10 years in prison once prosecutors no longer need his cooperation. Testified against Lay and Skilling. Sentencing: June 13.

-January/May, Lea Fastow, former assistant treasurer and wife of former finance chief Andrew Fastow, who quit Enron in 1997. Pleaded guilty first to a felony tax crime, admitting to helping hide ill-gotten gains from her husband’s schemes from the government. Withdrew plea, then pleaded guilty in May to a misdemeanor tax crime. Released in July 2005 from year-long prison sentence.

-May, Paula Rieker, former No. 2 executive in investor relations and corporate secretary. Pleaded guilty to insider trading for selling shares in mid-2001 upon learning that Enron’s broadband unit lost more money than publicly disclosed. Testified against Lay and Skilling. Sentencing: July 28.

-July, Kenneth Rice, former broadband unit CEO, pleaded guilty to securities fraud. Admitted to conspiring with others to describe Enron’s network control software as revolutionary and the network as up and running when neither was true so Enron stock would rise and he could profit from sales of inflated shares. Testified in the first broadband trial last year and against Lay and Skilling. Sentencing: Dec. 4.

-August, John Forney, former energy trader, pleaded guilty to wire fraud for manipulating energy markets during California’s power crisis of 2000-2001. No sentencing date set.

-August, Mark Koenig, former head of investor relations, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting securities fraud. Testified against Lay and Skilling as well as Howard and Krautz. Sentencing: Oct. 27.

-August, Kevin Hannon, former chief operating officer for the broadband unit, pleaded guilty to conspiracy for scheming with Rice and others to tout Enron’s broadband network as having capabilities it didn’t have to impress analysts and inflate company stock. Testified against Lay and Skilling. Sentencing: Dec. 4.

-October, Timothy DeSpain, former assistant treasurer, pleaded guilty to conspiracy, and admitted lying or withholding pertinent information from credit rating agencies at the request of multiple superiors so Enron’s financial picture appeared healthier than it really was. Sentencing: Sept. 15.

2003:

-February, Jeffrey Richter, former Enron trader. Pleaded guilty to wire fraud, admitting to manipulating the California power market. No sentencing date set.

-September, Ben Glisan Jr., former Enron treasurer, pleaded guilty to conspiracy. Admitted to designing financial structures that helped manipulate Enron’s books. Went straight to prison for a five-year term. Began cooperating with investigators in early 2004. Shaved more than a year off his sentence for good behavior and completion of an alcohol treatment program. Slated to be released in September to be confined at home until his sentence is finished in January 2007. Testified against Lay and Skilling and the barge defendants.

-October, David Delainey, former head of Enron’s trading and money-losing retail energy units. Pleaded guilty to insider trading. Testified against Lay and Skilling. Sentencing July 10.

2002:

-August, Michael Kopper, former top Fastow aide. First Enron insider to plead guilty; pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy. Admitted to helping Fastow carry out schemes to help Enron manipulate its books while skimming millions for himself, Fastow and selected friends and colleagues. Testified in the barge trial. Sentencing: June 9.

-October, Timothy Belden, former top Enron trader. Pleaded guilty to wire fraud for participating in trading schemes to manipulate California power markets. Testified against Lay and Skilling. No sentencing date set.

-November, Larry Lawyer, pleaded guilty to filing false tax returns that didn’t identify more than $79,000 in income over four years he received as “gifts” from Kopper for his work in one of Fastow’s schemes. Sentencing: June 26.

WITHDRAWN GUILTY PLEAS:

2005:

-December, David Duncan, Arthur Andersen LLP’s former top Enron accountant. The government’s first Enron-related cooperating witness, he pleaded guilty in April 2002 to obstruction of justice, admitting to participating in destruction of Enron-related documents. In December 2005 U.S. District Judge Melinda Harmon granted his request, unopposed by prosecutors, to withdraw his plea on grounds that he didn’t admit to having criminal intent when he entered it. Prosecutors have the option to indict him.

SETTLEMENTS:

-July 2003, J.P. Morgan Chase and Citigroup paid nearly $300 million to settle allegations from the Securities and Exchange Commission, New York state and New York City that they helped Enron manipulate its financial statements and mislead investors.

-September 2003, Merrill Lynch & Co. avoided prosecution related to the barge deal by acknowledging that some employees may have broken the law and implementing reforms.

-October 2003, Wesley Colwell, former chief accounting officer for Enron’s trading unit, agreed to pay $500,000 to settle SEC allegations of manipulating earnings by using trading profits to offset massive losses in Enron’s retail energy unit. Cooperated with the Justice Department and testified against Lay and Skilling, but faces no criminal charges.

-December 2003, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, avoided prosecution by accepting responsibility for crimes committed by employees who knowingly participated in complicated transactions that wrongly moved assets off of Enron’s balance sheet so the energy company could inflate earnings.

-February 2005, Raymond Bowen Jr., finance chief at Enron from the aftermath of its failure through his resignation in October 2004, agreed to pay $500,000 to settle SEC allegations that he knew or should have known some assets were grossly overvalued to falsely inflate profits. Bowen did not admit or deny the allegations and faces no criminal charges.

– The Associated Press

I still wonder if Ken Lay isn’t living incognito on some Caribbean island. His death was just a bit too convenient, to my suspicious mind.

Especially when Ken’s wife got to keep the money he stole.

I had a friend who worked at Enron.

They were guilty as hell and so was Arthur Anderson.

I had a friend who worked at Enron.

They were guilty as hell and so was Arthur Anderson.

Brian Cruver’s book about his time at Enron was, IMHO, a much better read than The Smartest Guys in the Room. In Anatomy of Greed, Cruver writes about the experiences of rank-and-file employees in a highly dysfunctional company.

My favorite anecdote was his ordering of a Dell computer several weeks after his layoff. He thought that the “employee benefit” computer order wouldn’t go through. It did.

They were guilty as hell and so was Arthur Anderson.

Which eventually caused my big brother to go from silly Bad,…to Way Wor$e.

Let’s just say that the fluffer facilitates something that’s very important in the filming of, ahem, explicit scenes.

Alright I looked it up. Doesn`t anyone want to work anymore? And people complain about illegals cutting the lawn for somebody. Hey wait a second, are they hiring illegal fluffers? Is there a fluffer union? Were there fluffers protesting with the teachers in Wisconsin?

Those poor fluffers, more Luddites.

Yep. Nobody appreciates hand craftsmanship like they used to.

Did I say move for the house?

I never said that. Lot’s of emotion at the HBB today just like at work. I tried to give the girl a complement and suggest there might be a job where she could also have a little bit more. I guess the word “chained” was a poor choice. A lot of times when we chose words for someone’s else’s choices we attach our own feelings about our present or a past situation and don’t even realize we’re hurting the person’s feelings . But everyone has to make their own choices. If I think she’s intelligent it goes w/o saying that I feel she can figure her own balance of life out for herself. That’s been my constant theme on this site. People can decide for themselves what’s best for them.

I was only trying to communicate for all she shares w/us here at the HBB I picture someone w/her ability and knowledge in a little more. Sheesh! Next time I’ll keep my stupid compliments to myself.

CarrieAnn, you are way over reacting. No one is attacking you.

Heh heh….I think I started thinking of the experience of those sucky years before we moved and then my rationale went out the window. Heh heh…I’m ok now.

Remember, there was a Bush appointee, a former ambassador, an ex-Clinton staffer, a Jackie Kennedy cousin and a few assorted others there. And lots and lots of people that wanted to get into good graces w/those types. Perhaps a microcosm of what it’s like to live among the halls of power.

I don’t know if my marriage can survive sharing a bathroom in the morning… The thing that pisses me off is that Landlord is trying to play hardball thinking we wont move and in the end he’s not going get a better rate from anyone new (I comps in the neighborhood are going at or below what I currently pay).

Why not look at long island city/ sunnyside queens blvd or right off Northern blvd steinway. astoria is getting very expensive a quick trip on the 7 or E/M/N/R to manhattan… I live in a 2 family house with good street parking and paying less then you before the increase….but then my lanlord paid off his house 20 years ago