Bits Bucket for November 26, 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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Comment by whyoung
2011-11-25 12:09:47
In SHTF circumstances, I would think that sealed brand name products would command a bit of a premium, due to the perceived assurance that you were really getting what you paid for.
Otherwise, perhaps some distilling equipment would be the way to go…
I’ve always figured that knowing a thing or two about keeping yeast happy and productive (e.g. beer, wine) would tend to be a useful skill to have if the SHTF.
Apocalypto Now!
That’s what’s going on over here in one of Tampa Bay’s oldest retirement communities. Violent home invasion attempt in the wee hours of Thanksgiving morn, brought to you by a couple of growed up anchor babies and their white trash, tattooed lady friend “Brianna”.
Maybe the old guy should have offered them cervezas before they got him with the tire iron.
Any relevant comments you have to share are diminished by your thinly-veiled racism.
And no, references to “white trash” do not excuse your small-minded resentments. Try making your point without the cultural references and you’ll be a lot more credible.
You’re so much better than this, Palmy.
Pax.
I think Palmetto sees certain ethnic groups have a higher incidence of committing crimes. It’s a very unfortunate reality. But it is reality nonetheless.
It’s not a question of better or worse. It’s just… accurately identifying reality.
I find it to be a very unfortunate reality. I don’t look at whites however as sinless. I’ve lived next to white underclass and it was no picnic. They were a relentless nuisance. Whites commit some nasty crimes. Look at the Petit murders up in Connecticut. It doesn’t get more nightmarish than that. Look at World War I and II. Doesn’t get more nightmarish than that.
On the other hand, it’s not an accurate assessment of reality to say that all minorities are more crime prone than all whites.
It’s more of a betting game really. You take two groups and say, 10% of group A is a criminal and 25% of group B is a criminal. Let’s bet on which one is and which one isn’t. Pick one at random and place a bet. There can be heroically good people in B and vicious psychopaths in A.
In looking for houses, I see that underclass areas - white or black - are not areas I particularly would want to live in. Underclass whites commit a lot of property crimes. Underclass blacks commit property crimes and more violent crimes.
There’s a term - ‘heuristic’ - a fancy way of saying ‘a rule of thumb method’. Majority minority areas just tend to be higher crime. I can tell by looking at the area. Checking the crime maps confirms my suspicions. With white underclass areas, one has to look at the crime logs to see high property crimes.
I don’t like this heuristic. I don’t like the underlying reality which it describes. But I can’t deny it. I don’t revel in it. I hate it actually. But I can’t deny it.
Up On Cripple Creek lyrics
Songwriters: Robertson, Robbie;
When I`m thrown out of this mansion
You know where I want to go
Straight down the Mississippi river
To the Gulf of Mexico
To Lake Charles Louisiana
Little Bessie, girl that I once knew
She told me just to come on by
If there’s anything that she could do
Up on Cripple Creek, she sends me
If I spring a leak, she mends me
I don’t have to speak, as she defends me
A Deadbeat’s dream if I ever did see one
Does the Euro survive?
Does the dollar survive?
No.
Probably.
All Fiat meets the same fate, even the cars!
How Many Homes Are in Trouble?.
By Robbie Whelan
November 11, 2011, 4:18 PM ET.
Call it what you will—the “shadow inventory,” the “distressed inventory,” the “foreclosure pipeline”—but if you ask five researchers how many houses or mortgages we should worry about, you’ll probably get at least five completely different answers. Given this, Developments examined these worrisome numbers and see how they stack up. Here’s a roundup of distress numbers, and how researchers arrived at them:
LPS Applied Analytics
Number: 4 million loans
Explanation: This is the number of loans that have either been delinquent for 90 days or more or are in foreclosure. The latest report showed that the number of new loans entering delinquency was slowing, but the number of homes in foreclosure that have not been sold remains fairly flat, mainly because the foreclosure process has been bogged down by legal issues in many states. LPS doesn’t use the term “shadow inventory.”
Amherst Securities
Number: 8.2 million and 10.3 million loans
Explanation: Laurie Goodman, a trusted authority on housing finance issues and managing director at bond-trader Amherst, recently presented this whopping estimate of loans “that may be subject to distressed sales over time.” Amherst divides the nation’s 55 million mortgages into five categories: non-performing loans; loans that were once delinquent but are now performing and likely to re-default; performing loans that are underwater by more than 20%; performing loans that are underwater by less than 20%; and performing loans with some equity in them. Amherst considers loans that are 60 days delinquent to be troubled – most other estimates start the clock on their definition of distress at 90 days.
Barclays Capital
Number: About 3 million loans
CoreLogic
Number: 1.6 million homes
Capital Economics
Number: 4.3 million homes
In the end, the question of how big a problem the housing market faces from distressed loans, or the shadow inventory, or whatever you care to call it, probably boils down to that real-estate adage: it’s all local. If your community has a high rate default or foreclosure, or even just a lot of vacant property, it’s a good bet that the pricing pain will continue for some time to come.
http://blogs.wsj.com/developments/2011/11/11/how-many-homes-are-in-trouble/ - 113k -
It’s been a mystery to me why there has not been a big up tic in arson. It’s one of the fastest ways known to reduce the problem of excess housing yet the number of houses lost to arson is tiny. Is it because the fire insurance coverage has been dropped on so many of the houses?
No reason to burn it if you get to live in it for free.
Instead of complex calculating, they should just check each house for mortgage/income ratio. Anything over about 4.5 is going to eventually foreclose.
“Instead of complex calculating, they should just check each house for mortgage/income ratio. Anything over about 4.5 is going to eventually foreclose.”
I agree. Napkin calculations are sanity checks that are trying to tell you something.
Walmart: More Bang for the Buck.
The bunny farm. More bucks for a bang.
Our local wally-mart is a circus freak-fest of obese, tattooed trash, but they do have a great deal on Russian-made 7.62×39 ammo. $4.97/20 is more bang for the buck indeed
But do they sell AK-47s? Or do people just bring ‘em with?
“Our local wally-mart is a circus freak-fest of obese, tattooed trash,”
Being a little tough on the 99% there aren`t ya, take them out and it`s like “We are the 43%”.
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What, no facewear to protect from pepper spray attacks?
I read somewhere that somebody had fun waiting 5 hours in line for a washer-dryer combo. They were delighted that they got one of the eight w-d combos offered. I must have read that wrong. These stores only offer a few items at the advertised price and everyone else is SOL?
That’s right, and that’s why I never bother with those stupid “door busters”. One year I went to see if I could get one of those bargain basement laptops. The few they had were gone within a minute of opening.
“What, no facewear to protect from pepper spray attacks?”
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Black Friday Pepper Sprays
Pepper Sprays are one of best non-lethal Black Friday shopping devices obtained mostly by people who don`t want to lose that $200 discount on that Flat Screen TV. As you can see every year in the news people are walking out of the store empty handed only because they were not one of the lucky 25 to get their hands on that bargain. That low price is your right and you should take action now to protect yourself and fight against shoppers who got in line before you Thanksgiving day. Our pepper sprays range from Security Plus Pepper Sprays to Mace Pepper Sprays. There are several different varieties available meeting your needs and size of the crowd that may be trying to beat you to that last TV. Get the one which meets your needs. Please note that a few Walmarts are against the usage of pepper sprays and you should know whether your Walmart has any prohbition.
Also see our line of Black Friday Stun Guns
Stun Guns are another line of non-lethal self defense devices obtained by people who don`t want to lose that $200 discount on that Flat Screen TV.
http://www.blackfriday.pepspry/msk/stungn/walmart
Offer rain checks and the violence goes away. But then there’s no sense of urgency and we all know capitalism is all about a sense of urgency, so we can’t have that.
Marketing people must die.
Whenever I run into people who say they work in marketing or have worked in marketing, I know they are effing morons and I run away as fast as I can… because I can’t kill them.
I need to find a good publically-traded pepper spray maker to invest in.
America, Land of the Free, Home of the Sprayed.
“Don’t spray-tase me bro!”
(yes, it’s a new word for the era)
“These stores only offer a few items at the advertised price and everyone else is SOL?”
You don’t go shopping much, do you?
This is SOP.
It’s the same with car dealers. Their advertised prices are good for only 1-3 actual cars on the lot of hundreds.
But it’s not called “bait and switch” any more.
The only time I feel a sense of urgency is when the farm website says that the berry picking is good, and so I have to get there early before the field is picked out. Last summer I drove up at 9:07 am, and for the first hour it was just me and the lucious raspberries. I got 8 pounds that day.
Were the berries planning to walk off the field at 10am?
IAT
Ariz. grandpa roughed up by police in Walmart
November 25, 2011 4:32 PM PrintText Ariz. grandpa roughed up by police in Walmart
(AP) PHOENIX - Police in the Phoenix suburb of Buckeye are coming under fire for a video posted online Friday that shows a grandfather on the floor of a Walmart store with a bloody face after police said he was caught trying to shoplift a video game.
The video, posted on YouTube, shows 54-year-old Jerald Allen Newman unconscious and covered in blood after a police officer took him to the ground Thursday night.
Officers in the video are shown trying to sop up blood as outraged customers yell expletives and say, “That’s police brutality,” and “He wasn’t doing anything.”
“Are you sure that was necessary for shoplifting?” said one shopper. “Why would you throw him down so hard?”
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57331366/ariz-grandpa-roughed-up-by-police-in-walmart/ -
“Why would you throw him down so hard?”
Because they can.
“Officers in the video are shown trying to sop up blood as outraged customers yell expletives and say, “That’s police brutality,” and “He wasn’t doing anything.”
I hope they were smart enough to have the SWAT MOP on hand to sop up the blood that tends to pour out of the heads of those pesky suspected shoplifting grandparents after they are slammed on the floor.
http://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security/senators-demand-military-lock-american-citizens-battlefield-they-define-being
Hey, Wal-Mart is part of the new “Battlefield.” Any roughness is entirely necessary and justified.
Thank god we don’t live some godless communist police state!
Our brand of religious corporate police state is so much better!
Safeway apologizes after guard busts 4-year-old for ’shoplifting’
CNN
7:06 p.m. PST, November 25, 2011
EVERETT —
A 4-year-old girl in Washington state was busted for shoplifting, and now grocery store officials are apologizing.
Savannah Harp was at the Safeway supermarket with her dad and she apparently snacked on some dried apricots, then put the bag back on the shelf.
Her father didn’t notice, but a security guard did.
He hauled them to a break room, where he read them the riot act.
“He proceeded to tell them, ‘Your daughter stole and she’s banned from the store, and we will be pressing charges. And she needs to sign this form saying she understands she can’t come into any Safeways,’” the girl’s mother, Alissa Jones said.
Savannah can’t read or write, but the guard had her scribble her name anyway.
Safeway fired the guard.
A spokeswoman says while the shoplifting policies are there to protect customers, guards have to use common sense, too.
http://www.q13fox.com/news/kcpq-safeway-apologizes-after-guard-busts-4yearold-for-shoplifting-20111125,0,2757689.story -
Way too many Nazis punks out there.
On the other hand, how do you NOT see your kid doing this?
I would’ve banned the kid and parent both. As a PAYING customer I don’t want to subsidize some brat’s grazing on the food while her Section 8 parent pretends not to notice.
I remember reading that it’s not considered shoplifting until the customer leaves the store. Usually they put a watch on the person until he passes the last check-out with the items.
Even if the guy wasn’t roughed up, any lawyer could get him out in a heartbeat since the he never had the opportunity to put the item back. Once or twice I’ve put something small in my purse by mistake and then found it and put it back. I hate to think I could be thrown in the clink for that.
“Why would you throw him down so hard?”
Um, because he was stealing from you and physically assaulting your security staff?
Oh how I love the smell of cayenne pepper in the morning.
It smells like….Walmart.
Lol. The fragrance of cinnamon as a lure to shoppers gives way to the fragrance of pepper spray?
In Walmart you can always tell when there is a sale going on because of the smell of pepper spray?
Renewable power trumps fossil fuels for first time.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-renewables-20111125,0,2421278.story
“Electricity from the wind, sun, waves and biomass drew $187 billion last year compared with $157 billion for natural gas, oil and coal, according to calculations by Bloomberg New Energy Finance using the latest data. Accelerating installations of solar- and wind-power plants led to lower equipment prices, making clean energy more competitive with coal.”
Little known fact that US solar industry is the one of the few sectors of the job market that has been growing.
Solar Industry Employment Report - October 2011
http://thesolarfoundation.org/research/national-solar-jobs-census-2011
There are currently 17,189 solar establishments employing 100,237 solar workers. This represents an overall growth rate of 6.8% over the past year, nearly 10 times higher than the national average employment growth rate of 0.7%. The number of these solar workers is expected to grow by almost 24%, or by approximately 24,000 new jobs, by 2012
–
An industry pushed to grow as fast as the Fed can shovel money (borrowed from China) in to it.
FWIW, Vestas, a Danish builder of wind turbines set up shop in Colorado a few years ago. They build wind turbines and are growing as business has been brisk for them.
Vestas says it will lay off American workers if U.S. subsidy expires in 2012
By E&E, 11-10-11 • Posted: Thursday, November 10, 2011
Special to E&E
Published: Thursday, November 10, 2011
Vestas Wind Systems forecast lower sales and profit margins in the next four years and said it would lay off workers at its American factories at the end of 2012 if the United States doesn’t renew the renewable energy production tax credit.Denmark-based Vestas, the world’s largest wind turbine maker, said it is going through difficult market conditions, with slower demand growth, falling prices and diminishing profit margins.It abandoned its targets of €15 billion ($20.3 billion) in sales and a 15 percent profit margin per year by 2015, saying instead that it hopes to reach a “high single-digit” profit margin in the medium term if the U.S. market normalizes.
I love reading the luddite posts all over the Internet that renewable energy is not feasible.
You can’t fix that kind of stupid.
The basic meme is that Renewable Energy = limp-wristed, weak, sissy, gay.
A real man presses the gas pedal to the floor and makes loud revving noises (how many dead American soldiers per gallon?).
The kind of stupid you can’t fix is the kind that says industries like wind and solar farms deserve endless, bottomless taxpayer subsidies for their inefficient energy production. I’m all for solar and wind for personal use, when it’s feasible.
But oil companies do deserve endless bottomless taxpayer subsidies, such as the U.S. military making the oceans safe for the transport of oil. YES, ain’t America GREAT!
IAT
How’s about we all agree to stop energy subsidies, PERIOD. Why encourage overuse of energy to begin with by forcing taxpayers to artificially push down the prices?
Same goes for the overeating that comes from ag subsidies. Got fat?
In Northern Palm Beach County house prices dropped like a rock in 2008 and then just stopped. They have actually gone back up and the inventory has dropped like a rock. Here are the County sales records of the house right behind me. Sold for $157,500 in 1990 $337,423 in 2005 $185,000 in 2008 and $270,000 in 2011. There are still at least 5 houses in this hood that should have been foreclosed 2 years ago with people living in them or LLs collecting rent on them, this is pretty representative of what has happened in decent neighborhoods since 2008. Whatever happened in 2009 to make the price drops stop and the shadow inventory grow, I wish it would stop.
Owner InformationPCN: 60424025250000900
View Property Details
Name: DELRE JOSEPH A JR &
Location: 17 QUAIL CIR
Mailing: 17 QUAIL CIR
TEQUESTA, FL 33469 2131
Preliminary Appraisal ValueMarket Value: $201,526
Assessed Value: $201,526
Exempt Amnt: $50,000
Taxable: $151,526
Preliminary Tax ValueAd Valorem: $3,542.24
Non ad valorem: $413.07
Total: $3,955.31
Sales InfoSale Date Sale Price
06/24/2011 $270,000
08/25/2008 $185,000
04/02/2008 $100
07/22/2005 $337,423
12/27/2002 $10
08/01/1990 $157,500
01/01/1980 $29,000
01/01/1979 $21,900
DC is the same.. prices dropped to circa 2004 and froze there. Anything that drops to 2002 prices is either trashed or snapped up.
Realtors Are Liars®
Today’s Houses:
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/12604-Littleton-Street-Silver-Spring-Md-20906-Silver-Spring-MD-20906/2125878227_zpid/
1958 3/3 on 0.2 acres. Nice back yard, walk out basement. Functional kitchen which may need updating later. Bathroom, livable, but gosh I don’t need a hot tub… Beautiful flooring. Nice deck too.
No price history.
Jul 2011: Listed $284K. This would be a livable house if I could lowball it by about 30 K.
That place is neat and sweet but it’s 1950’s vintage so the elec is certain to be a nightmare and the finished basement will exaggerate the bad dream. Silver Spring is a nice town too but it’s roughly 160k overpriced by my metric.
I’ve never understood the obsession with interior finish systems in basements either.
Awww come on ox live a little we have a friend who has one in their yard yes a yard in Manhattan…lucky dawg, well we partake in the use of said hot tub while house sitting their 9 pets….
but gosh I don’t need a hot tub
“but gosh I don’t need a hot tub”
Neither does aNYCdj; All he needs is a friend who has one.
Why buy a cow when you can get the milk for free? (or something along those lines)
psst combo…i dont have a yard to put one in….
psst … you don’t need one. As long as you have a friend that has one you are all set.
I used to work with a guy that had a boat and liked to water ski. Water skiing is not something that someone is able to do by himself so he enlisted several of us to go water skiing with him.
He supplied the boat and the skis, we supplied the gas. It was a win-win all around. So I - and a few others - benifited from having the use of a boat and skis without all the hassle of owning the things.
Update, according to Redfin this house sold in July. Zillow isn’t doing well.
By your metric, SS houses should be selling for $60K. They haven’t sold for that since the mid-70’s. The area has jobs, simple as that.
And they’re overpriced at grossly inflated levels.
Your point?
The jobs grossly inflate the rent prices right along with the house prices.
The rooms are too big in that house, but that’s just me. I was raised in a large (sqft) 50’s home where much of the space was wasted, filled with “things.” It does have that quality of construction look with the hardwood floors; everything in my price range is “wall-to-wall” carpeted. The price is rich, not a first time buyer place, but not excessive either given the size of the place and its yard. How far away (miles, time) are the real jobs?
Hmmm… as I said, this one was a little overpriced. But as I said weeks ago, house prices are diverging. Anything trashed just sits and chases the market down. Anything that says “quality” commands quite the premium. This one felt like quality (but I wonder of that basement stays dry.). I suspect there are a lot of people out there like me who have cash saved up and they’re tired of fluffing the landlord.
As for jobs, this house is a tiny bit far out — about 10 miles from the suburban jobs (some agencies are HQ right at the Beltway level). But it’s close to major roads so it wouldn’t be a bad commute.
Just wrapped up an awesome “staycation.”
- We got an upgraded room at Champion’s Gate for $99! (paging combo). Heated pools and 80 degree weather - awesome for swimming with the kiddos.
- Celebration FL is creepy.
- Legoland is absolutely amazing for little kids (I would say 6 and under). Totally amazing.
I looked up prices in Celebration and they were insane during the bubble. $800k for a condo? It is sooo weird. I like the nod to all of the legit architecture, but then it’s all made with crap materials so it still looks fake… kinda like one big plastic Adirondack chair.
“but then it’s all made with crap materials so it still looks fake… kinda like one big plastic Adirondack chair.”
That’s my take on Vegas.
The fake Venice gondola ride at the Venetian was just pathetic. We’ve done the real one in Venice.
Vegas isn’t my “flavor” either.
Muggy- loved the comment about “so it still looks fake… kinda like one big plastic Adirondack chair.” lol
You just described my former McMansion neighborhood, a plastic (and stucco) Levittown.
I’m finally getting around to removing those plastic flamingoes from my front yard.
Sacrilege!
“Muggy- loved the comment about “so it still looks fake… kinda like one big plastic Adirondack chair.” lol
You just described my former McMansion neighborhood, a plastic (and stucco) Levittown.”
Yeah, I don’t know which way is up now… it’s come full circle. It’s so bad that I now appreciate a simple ranch from the 60’s. I think the faux cool architecture stuff may be the worst. I mean, styrofoam columns? WTF. Molded plastic railings?
And then, the Florida worst, is when houses go for the Key West look but get the proportions all wrong. Gack.
Comment by Neuromance
2011-11-25 20:11:06
60 Minutes has a piece on homeless kids this weekend. They are forced into homelessness when parents lose jobs and then get foreclosed on. Looks like the government will have to work harder to keep house prices high in response. You know, in order to keep them affordable.*
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/03/06/60minutes/main20038927.shtml
* Federal and Fed policies keeping rents and house prices high helps people make ends meet how exactly? “We have to keep house prices and rents high in order to make them affordable” sounds a lot like “We had to destroy the village in order to save it.” Dr. StrangeLove is giggling maniacally somewhere.
———————————————————————————-
“60 Minutes has a piece on homeless kids this weekend.”
Real victims. Not victims like 60 minutes Robo signer queen Lynn Szymoniak the white collar crime lawyer who has trained FBI agents who still lives in her mansion for free for going on 4 years now after she stole I mean took out over $500k in equity out of “her” house. Gotta keep those house price/rents up. Screw the banks, screw the Deadbeats and screw the Fed.
Number of Palm Beach County students in school without permanent homes on rise
By Allison Ross Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 10:45 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2011
It was as if they all had figured out his secret - that somehow the discussion was about him, about his family.
He could sense the eyes of every other kid in the room on him.
Every time his history teacher said “homeless,” he’d sink lower, finally putting his head on his desk.
“I felt like they were talking about me,” said Austin, 16.
During the summer, Austin, a student at Seminole Ridge High School in Loxahatchee, and his family were booted from their tenuous middle-class lifestyle when their rented home went into foreclosure. Austin’s mom couldn’t get the security deposit or down payment back and didn’t have enough money saved for a new place.
Austin spent the first few weeks of school sleeping on the floor of his aunt’s trailer or staying in hotels and homeless shelters.
Lately, he and his mom have been hopping from one church to another each week as part of a program Austin’s mother managed to enroll them in. It’s not the best situation, but it’s a safe roof over their heads until they can save the money for their own place again.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/schools/number-of-students-in-school-without-permanent-homes-1991836.html - 90k
A survey was done in our school district and the results was that 25% of all students were homeless for at least three months during the past two years.
The definition of “homeless” did include moving in with grandma and grandpa.
Thank you for clarifying that many of these kids did have a place to lay their head at night. That 25% number is a real attention grabber. My first thought when I read the beginning of the thread is the PTB aren’t going to be real happy at the airing of this 60 Minutes story. They don’t want the people that think all is well to get sidetracked noticing the growing numbers that are falling through the cracks. I’m sure the usual demonizers will be out yelling it’s their parents own fault to ensure spending continues within the strata whose income is still yet to change. In many cases it is the parents’ fault but how bad of a penance do we as a society expect them to pay while the real masterminds not only go free but earn more bonuses w/tax payer funded reserves.
I think this is what disturbs me most about this whole process. If politicians/leaders would just come clean about where this is going we could lessen the impact. I want to start figuring out how to rebuild. But the real crash hasn’t even happened yet. The last 3 years have been a total waste of time and resources. How long will the people already out in the cold be able to last as this correction is dragged out longer and longer?
“The last 3 years have been a total waste of time and resources.”
Yup.
I was thinking again today… boy, think of all the things people could do if they weren’t giving all their money to housing.
My realtor never responds when I suggest that my purchase value should mirror my current rent value.
CarrieAnn writes:
“I think this is what disturbs me most about this whole process. If politicians/leaders would just come clean about where this is going we could lessen the impact.”
If politicians/leaders come clean, you really think that will lessen the impact? If they can kick the can down the road, slowly letting those who foresaw a better life either die or become incapacitated, while the younger set of increasingly diminishing expectations matures, the politicians/leaders can hope to ride out the unending downturn by remaining in power. If they tell the truth and people realize what the future means, there will be bloodshed, mostly of the 99%, but some of the 1% won’t survive either. Seen in this way, it is easy to see why no politician of any power is going to “come clean.”
IAT
“Seen in this way, it is easy to see why no politician of any power is going to “come clean.””
So then can we expect people to stop complaining about “all this spending”?
““Seen in this way, it is easy to see why no politician of any power is going to “come clean.””
‘So then can we expect people to stop complaining about “all this spending”?’”
No. Complaining is part of the painful process of adjusting to the new reality of almost universal downward mobility. Complaining is not the same as actually acting to do something about a particular situation. As there are almost no solutions that will save a substantial proportion of people from downward mobility, you an expect complaining to actually increase, not decrease, during this period. Further, the politicians will tolerate complaining, as long as it goes no further than the serial replacement of one Demopublican by another.
Have a nice day!
IAT
“The definition of “homeless” did include moving in with grandma and grandpa.”
From…
Number of Palm Beach County students in school without permanent homes on rise
“The school district counted 1,443 of its students as homeless in the 2009-2010 school year, an 80 percent increase from the 2007-2008 school year. And homeless liaisons with the district say that’s only a fraction of the actual number of homeless students there are in Palm Beach County.”
I know 1 of them whose parents rented in the last hood I was in. They are living in a hotel, couldn`t afford the sky high rent around here. $1000 to $1400 for an apartment and $1,700 to $2,500 for a house. It`s too much. Great if you`re section 8 but those of us who earn average or below average salaries are going down the tubes, if we weren`t smart enough to pay $450k for a house in 05 we are SOL. At this point I am a couple of bad months from having a kid eligible to be a stat in that arcticle. Pisses me off when Deadbeats say I don`t want to go through my retirement by paying that mortgage or worse yet the 60 minutes Robo signer queen Lynn Szymoniak the white collar crime lawyer who has trained FBI agents who still lives in her mansion for free for going on 4 years now after she stole I mean took out over $500k in equity out of “her” house and several more like her that I know.
I just had a conversation with my neighbor. Good guy, nearing 70, hasn’t worked in a looong time, has a paid off home and a rental or two, doing ok.
We started talking politics, as is my wont, and he believes that a new president with the right stuff can turn this thing around in a couple of years. I say the problem is structural and collapse is quite possibly in our future.
I hope I’m wrong.
Corporate committees are not known for innovation and our government is nothing but one big corporate committee. Hence my quip of corporate capitalist communism.
There hasn’t been a strong leader since Kennedy. Which is why he was assassinated.
Good morning HBBers! Here’s a little holiday hysteria update:
http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2011/11/25/shoppers-pack-monroeville-mall-on-black-friday/
This was small potatoes by Black Friday standards, but the payoff is the location: the Pittsburgh Monroeville Mall of George Romero/Dawn of the Dead fame! Always nice to see life imitating art, eh? By the way, if any of you have missed the original horror masterpiece from the 70’s, do yourself a favor and see it. Best commentary on American Consumerism ever made… if you can stand all the blood.
They were punching each other over yoga pants at Victoria Secrets. So do these types of women still go home and tell themselves they’re VS “Angels”?
It’s kind of like that Bridal Day at Filene’s basement. The girls ran through the doors pushing others out of the way, grabbed a bunch of dresses off the racks and threw them on the floor, and then proceeded to try them on right there in front of everyone. I always wondered if they realized any princess mystique they might have been going for had gone out the window w/that behavior. I used to wonder if hubby looked down the church aisle proud he was marrying a roller derby queen. Sigh. I was born at the wrong time. I think I’ll be long dead before women celebrate quiet elegance again.
No need to try on. Just grab a dress that’s two sizes too big and have it altered later. You’ll get a perfect fit and save yourself the catfights. Done.
And yeah, I wonder about those men myself.
Sounds like a plan to me.
We need to stack a bunch of $2 toasters on the rim of the Grand Canyon, unleash the sub-moronic hordes, and let natural selection do its thing.
YOU ARE A GENIUS!
(damn, why didn’t think of this?)
No need to waste toasters, just create a false Walmart front and have the threshold of the door at the cliff’s edge…
There is always a place for understated elegance Carrie.
I for one appreciate it.
From the video:
Shopper: “I have a bigger car so I can put more stuff …”
Reporter: “You’re being used!”
Shopper: “I know, I know.” (smiles and laughs).
What a lemming.
Big Boxmart
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKv6RcXa2UI
I just took an NRA fundraiser phone call (or so they claimed) saying the UN was looking to take our guns away from us through international law. It was from a certain politician who’s name I missed. Then they tried to sign me up for an NRA membership. Do people think this is just fraudulent activity? Or is there something like this presently going on?
I ran across something the other day saying some other bill was going to be introduced in the Senate on Monday that chipped away at our rights. I want to stay alert but can’t help but notice the escalation of fear based technique in sheeple herding and shearing. Maybe this is just the basic” never let a good crisis go to waste” activity.
This is the psychological tone that creates Bear Markets.
Greed predominates for one season, fear predominates the next.
Prices go up in the season of greed and they go down during the season of fear.
Each emotion produces a responding price. Each price produces a responding emotion. Back and forth they go; Back and forth go the prices and back and forth go the emotions. Each is linked to the other.
IMO if one understands this then he understands all he needs to understand.
The NRA is always shouting “Wolf ” over some obscure thing a Congresscritter has attached to a bill, even though everyone and their brother knows it doesn’t have a prayer of getting thru.
The game plan:
-New York liberal attaches an “assault rifle ban” to a bill. Makes his supporters happy, so the money will continue to flow…..never mind it doesn’t have a snowballs chance of getting out of committee.
-NRA starts “liberals are going to take your guns” campaign out in Flyover, and money flows into their coffers, because everyone out here gets their info from Fox News, and doesn’t know how government works.
IOW, a win-win.
Works with abortion, taxes; any subject you would care to list.
I am a strong proponent of the second amendment but I am not a NRA member. Why you ask? Because of their failure to get behind Montana’s Firearms Freedom bill. The bill that tells the Feds to follow the 10th amendment using firearms as the example.
Anyway it involves the “Commerce Clause” and is rather lengthy. But that showed me that the NRA was more about $$ than freedom. I’m not saying they’re bad but that I couldn’t support them financially.
I’m a strong proponent of the 2nd Amendment and an NRA member, but they often disgust me with their inflamatory and frequently dishonest tactics designed to rile the goom-bahs into coughing up more money. That, and the endless fundraising junk mail. I’d quit, but for the fact the NRA for all its faults is the sole bulwark between an over-reaching political class that would love to see a disarmed populace, and the Second Amendment.
Eurozone banks prepare for breakup
By LIZ ALDERMAN • New York Times | Posted: Saturday, November 26, 2011 12:00 am
PARIS • For the growing chorus of observers who fear that a breakup of the eurozone might be at hand, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has a pointed rebuke: It’s never going to happen.
But some banks are no longer so sure, especially as the sovereign debt crisis threatened to ensnare Germany itself this week, when investors began to question the nation’s stature as Europe’s main pillar of stability.
On Friday, Standard & Poor’s downgraded Belgium’s credit standing to AA from AA+, saying it might not be able to cut its towering debt load any time soon. Ratings agencies this week cautioned that France could lose its AAA rating if the crisis grew. On Thursday, agencies lowered the ratings of Portugal and Hungary to junk.
While European leaders still say there is no need to draw up a Plan B, some of the world’s biggest banks, and their supervisors, are doing just that.
“We cannot be, and are not, complacent on this front,” Andrew Bailey, a regulator at Britain’s Financial Services Authority, said this week. “We must not ignore the prospect of a disorderly departure of some countries from the eurozone,” he said.
Banks including Merrill Lynch, Barclays Capital and Nomura issued a cascade of reports this week examining the likelihood of a breakup of the eurozone. “The eurozone financial crisis has entered a far more dangerous phase,” analysts at Nomura wrote Friday. Unless the European Central Bank steps in to help where politicians have failed, “a euro breakup now appears probable rather than possible,” the bank said.
…
I look forward to the new DMark again featuring the genius Karl Friedrich Gauss.
A closely-watched pot never boils over, UNLESS the fire is left on too long, too hot.
The euro zone
Is this really the end?
Unless Germany and the ECB move quickly, the single currency’s collapse is looming
Nov 26th 2011 | from the print edition
EVEN as the euro zone hurtles towards a crash, most people are assuming that, in the end, European leaders will do whatever it takes to save the single currency. That is because the consequences of the euro’s destruction are so catastrophic that no sensible policymaker could stand by and let it happen.
A euro break-up would cause a global bust worse even than the one in 2008-09. The world’s most financially integrated region would be ripped apart by defaults, bank failures and the imposition of capital controls (see article). The euro zone could shatter into different pieces, or a large block in the north and a fragmented south. Amid the recriminations and broken treaties after the failure of the European Union’s biggest economic project, wild currency swings between those in the core and those in the periphery would almost certainly bring the single market to a shuddering halt. The survival of the EU itself would be in doubt.
Yet the threat of a disaster does not always stop it from happening. The chances of the euro zone being smashed apart have risen alarmingly, thanks to financial panic, a rapidly weakening economic outlook and pigheaded brinkmanship. The odds of a safe landing are dwindling fast.
Markets, manias and panics
Investors’ growing fears of a euro break-up have fed a run from the assets of weaker economies, a stampede that even strong actions by their governments cannot seem to stop. The latest example is Spain. Despite a sweeping election victory on November 20th for the People’s Party, committed to reform and austerity, the country’s borrowing costs have surged again. The government has just had to pay a 5.1% yield on three-month paper, more than twice as much as a month ago. Yields on ten-year bonds are above 6.5%. Italy’s new technocratic government under Mario Monti has not seen any relief either: ten-year yields remain well above 6%. Belgian and French borrowing costs are rising. And this week, an auction of German government Bunds flopped.
The panic engulfing Europe’s banks is no less alarming. Their access to wholesale funding markets has dried up, and the interbank market is increasingly stressed, as banks refuse to lend to each other. Firms are pulling deposits from peripheral countries’ banks. This backdoor run is forcing banks to sell assets and squeeze lending; the credit crunch could be deeper than the one Europe suffered after Lehman Brothers collapsed.
…
Someone’s gotta pay for the debt. Too many bad loans were taken out. Everybody wants to keep what they got. The group that will most likely pay is the most disorganized group and the group from whom wealth can be taken in the most surreptitious fashion.
Austerity is a controlled burn. Inflation will be better for the lenders, but it could turn into an uncontrolled burn. I don’t know if the Germans want to take that risk for the Euro. Depends on which they determine is the least risky strategy.
The Germans have an unhappy history with inflation but I don’t know if that’s a trite reading of history or not. If they take a “this time it’s different” approach, they may well be more willing to reach for the printing presses. But the top decision-makers hold their thoughts closely and only a few know what they’re thinking.
How is the RNC candidate clown show shaping up these days? I have done my best to ignore it.
Given that Obama recently took down Osama and Muammar, I find the notion of the RNC candidates fighting among themselves to out-hawk Obama both ludicrous and frightening.
“Lots of rhetoric and little substance” seems to be a recurring theme among the RNC hopefuls.
Republican debate: candidates stumble again on foreign policy
Opinion: There was a lot of rhetoric and little substance in latest Republican debate.
Jean MacKenzie
November 23, 2011 10:22
It was a night long on rhetoric, short on substance as the eight Republican hopefuls squared off yet again, this time at historic Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C.
The short version has former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich emerging as the strongest challenger to former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, the assumed nominee, despite his continued lackluster ratings in the polls.
Gingrich looked calm, confident, and knowledgeable; it was his debate to shine. Other standouts were Congressman Ron Paul, who seemed to be in a different debate entirely, and Congresswoman Michele Bachman, who had numerous opportunities to get her strong opinions front and center.
The stated themes were national security and foreign policy, but the group instead engaged in a lively round of Obama-bashing, coupled with a race to demonstrate who was the toughest, strongest and most hawkish potential commander-in-chief.
…
It’s pretty hilarious to see the Republican candidates alternate between disparaging Obama and revealing their own abysmal lack of job qualifications. How can the RNC hope to regain the WH if they can’t even vet a qualified candidate?
POLITICAL DIARY
NOVEMBER 23, 2011
Cain’s Foreign Policy Fogginess
Herman Cain’s dearth of knowledge and interest in foreign policy was on full display in last night’s GOP debate.
By ALLYSIA FINLEY
“I’m not supposed to know anything about foreign policy,” said Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain the other day after fumbling a question about President Obama’s actions in Libya. “Because you run for president [people say] you need to have the answer. No, you don’t! No, you don’t!” His dearth of knowledge and interest in foreign policy was on full display in last night’s GOP debate.
Unlike Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, Mr. Cain didn’t jump to provide his take on issues when he wasn’t called upon. He reticently responded to most questions, which sharply contrasted with most of the other candidates’ considered, if at times wrongheaded, answers. When asked about the Transportation Security Administration’s unpopular airport pat-downs, he replied that “we can do targeted identification. If you take a look at the people who are trying to kill us, it would be easy to figure out exactly what that identification profile looks like.” Yet he wouldn’t specify this supposedly self-evident identification profile when asked.
On the Patriot Act, Mr. Cain was even more hazy. “If there are some areas of the Patriot Act that we need to refine, I’m all for that. But I do not believe we ought to throw out the baby with the bathwater.” Again, he wouldn’t specify which areas of the Patriot Act he disagreed with or thought should be amended. Neither would he say with any clarity whether he’d support an Israeli strike on Iran to destroy its nuclear weapons program.
On whether the U.S. should continue to send foreign aid to Africa, he again voted present, even while he criticizes Mr. Obama on the campaign trail for being indecisive. “It depends upon priorities,” said Mr. Cain. “Secondly, it depends upon looking at the program and asking the question, has that aid been successful? . . . It may be worthwhile to continue. It may not. I would like to see the results.”
…
MARKETS
NOVEMBER 26, 2011
New Strains Hit Euro, Global Markets
Common Currency Falls After Italy’s Borrowing Costs Soar; Coming Week Poses Key Test of Sentiment
BY STACY MEICHTRY AND JONATHAN CHENG
ROME—Uncertainty in financial markets deepened as Italy’s borrowing costs soared to euro-era highs and Prime Minister Mario Monti said European leaders understood an Italian collapse would mean “the end of the euro.”
Europe’s troubles weighed on markets world-wide: Stocks in the U.S. had their worst Thanksgiving week since 1942, the year the U.S. officially set the holiday at its current date. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has shed 7.6% the past two weeks. The common currency showed its own signs of strain, ending the week down 2.1%, its lowest level in almost two months.
…
The Death of the Fringe Suburb
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/26/opinion/the-death-of-the-fringe-suburb.html
“By now, nearly five years after the housing crash, most Americans understand that a mortgage meltdown was the catalyst for the Great Recession, facilitated by underregulation of finance and reckless risk-taking.”
And dragged out by endless govt. programs.
Fringe Suburb = Overflow Area
The debt-fed Great Expansion pushed out the building of houses to places where they should never have been built. Now the Great Contraction is allowing these places to go back to nature where they belong.
What an astonishing surprise!
Not where I live. The expansion continues.
The biggest reason being that BECAUSE OF the recession, once mid-level suburban developments/planned communities are turning ghetto and the only place to go IS farther out.
Moving closer to the city brings only speed traps for cash and very poor streets even in the best neighborhoods and NO real mass transit.
“In the late 1990s, high-end outer suburbs contained most of the expensive housing in the United States, as measured by price per square foot, according to data I analyzed from the Zillow real estate database. Today, the most expensive housing is in the high-density, pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods of the center city and inner suburbs.”
What about those SoCal peeps that had to head east on the 10 until they could afford the mortgage?
“Boomers want to live in a walkable urban downtown, a suburban town center or a small town, according to a recent survey by the National Association of Realtors.”
Sounds reasonable, but I’m not sure I’d listen to anything that the NAR has to say given their history of economic propaganda.
“As Congress works to reauthorize highway and transit legislation, it must give metropolitan areas greater flexibility for financing transportation, rather than mandating that the vast bulk of the money can be used only for roads.”
Sounds like the lobbying problem, again.
A special hi to Jeff Saturday for all his daily comments. Hey Jeff- check out 103 Magnolia in Tequesta- recently sold for $300,000.
Location Address: 103 MAGNOLIA WAY
Municipality: TEQUESTA
Parcel Control Number: 60-42-40-25-45-000-0010
Subdivision: RIVERSIDE OAKS REPL
Aug-2011 24720/0151 $300,000 WARRANTY DEED FRIERSON ROBERT W &
Oct-2010 24122/0016 $0 CERT OF TITLE FED NATL MORTG ASSN
Nov-2003 16268/0567 $341,352 WARRANTY DEED SEDELNIK PAUL M
That place is about 200 yards from me as the Deadbeat flies and wouldn`t seem too bad if you didn`t know that SEDELNIK PAUL the previous and original owner took out a little “equity” B4 he became a victim.
Original purchase
Nov-2003 16268/0567 $341,352 WARRANTY DEED SEDELNIK PAUL
Let the games begin!
Type: MTG
Date/Time: 3/9/2006 13:32:50
CFN: 20060142442
Book Type: O
Book/Page: 20035/1226
Pages: 5
Consideration: $200,000.00
Party 1: SEDELNIK PAUL M
Party 2: NATIONAL CITY BANK
Legal: RIVERSIDE OAKS L1
Type: MTG
Date/Time: 4/10/2007 12:52:33
CFN: 20070172622
Book Type: O
Book/Page: 21606/756
Pages: 10
Consideration: $385,000.00
Party 1: SEDELNIK PAUL M
Party 2: GROUP ONE MORTGAGE INC
MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS INC
Legal: RIVERSIDE OAKS L1 L
Type: MTG
Date/Time: 6/8/2007 08:57:28
CFN: 20070279867
Book Type: O
Book/Page: 21819/720
Pages: 6
Consideration: $115,000.00
Party 1: SEDELNIK PAUL M
Party 2: BANKATLANTIC
Legal: RIVERSIDE OAKS RPLT L1
I didn`t know what I was signing!
Type: LP
Date/Time: 3/18/2008 23:45:10
CFN: 20080100474
Book Type: O
Book/Page: 22512/465
Pages: 2
Consideration: $0.00
Party 1: WELLS FARGO BANK NA
Party 2: SEDELNIK PAUL M
RIVERSIDE OAKS HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION INC
BANKATLANTIC
SEDELNIK SPOUSE
Legal: RIVERSIDE OAKS L1 L
Type: LP
Date/Time: 3/27/2008 16:40:27
CFN: 20080116122
Book Type: O
Book/Page: 22534/1254
Pages: 1
Consideration: $0.00
Party 1: BANKATLANTIC
Party 2: SEDELNIK PAUL M
Legal: RIVERSIDE OAKS RPLT L1 L
Type: JUD
Date/Time: 7/22/2010 15:16:54
CFN: 20100267619
Book Type: O
Book/Page: 23964/418
Pages: 6
Consideration: $0.00
Party 1: WELLS FARGO BANK NA
Party 2: RIVERSIDE OAKS HOMEONWERS ASSOCIATION INC
BANKATLANTIC
SEDELNIK PAUL M
Legal: RIVERSIDE OAKS RPLT L1 L
Grand Total
$491,944.32
I don`t know what hapened to BANKATLANTIC`S $115,000.00
I guess it`s on the Fed`s balance sheet.
Hayzoos aych krighst.
500 large doesn’t sound like a medical bill.
Had I known you were going to post 103 Magnolia in Tequesta- recently sold for $300,000 I would have waited to post this
Up On Cripple Creek lyrics
Songwriters: Robertson, Robbie;
When I`m thrown out of this mansion
You know where I want to go
Straight down the Mississippi river
To the Gulf of Mexico
To Lake Charles Louisiana
Little Bessie, girl that I once knew
She told me just to come on by
If there’s anything that she could do
Up on Cripple Creek, she sends me
If I spring a leak, she mends me
I don’t have to speak, as she defends me
A Deadbeat’s dream if I ever did see one
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2009/10/21/us-usa-fed-bailout-idUSTRE59K01420091021?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=11604
Reuters) - A $29 billion trail from the Federal Reserve’s bailout of Wall Street investment bank Bear Stearns ends in a partially deserted shopping center on a bleak spot on the south side of Oklahoma City.
The Fed now owns the Crossroads Mall, a sprawling shopping complex at the junction of Interstate highways 244 and 35, complete with an oil well pumping crude in the parking lot — except the Fed does not own the mineral rights.
The Fed finds itself in the unusual situation of being an Oklahoma City landlord after it lent JPMorgan Chase $29 billion to buy Bear Stearns last year.
That money was secured by a portfolio of Bear assets. Crossroads Mall is the only bricks and mortar acquired through bailout. The remaining billions are tied up in invisible securities spread across hundreds, if not thousands, of properties.
It is hard to be precise because the Fed has not published specifics on what it now owns. The only reason that Crossroads Mall has surfaced is that it went into foreclosure in April.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/nov/25/eurozone-crisis-ecb-imf-bonds
Yet another bailout being foisted on American taxpayers, as the EU is turning to the IMF to buy their soon-to-be-worthless bonds. US taxpayers supply 27% of the IMF’s budget.
Thank you Obama voters. Thank you McCain voters.
Did you see my post from yesterday?
http://www.unelected.org/audit-of-the-federal-reserve-reveals-16-trillion-in-secret-bailouts
No, but I’m very familiar with the machinations of the Wall Street-Federal Reserve looting syndicate, including the $16 trillion in secret bailouts uncovered to date.
Incredible article, ecofeco.
The MSM didn’t carry this $16T story for obvious reasons.
Yet another victim.
MLS# R3242084
204 Woodbridge Dr
List Price $104,900
DOM: 4
Short Sale Yes
County records paid $67k in 1994
Location Address: 204 WOODBRIDGE DR
Municipality: JUPITER
Feb-1994 08146/0578 $67,000 STATE DEED LADD JERRY E &
Gentlemen start your engines.
Type: MTG
Date/Time: 10/16/2003 13:17:31
CFN: 20030633513
Book Type: O
Book/Page: 16033/331
Pages: 14
Consideration: $105,000.00
Party 1: LADD JERRY E
LADD MONICA M
Party 2: MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS INC
FULL SPECTRUM LENDING INC
Legal: JUPITER VLG 9 L568 L
Type: MTG
Date/Time: 11/2/2006 14:59:18
CFN: 20060618456
Book Type: O
Book/Page: 21040/606
Pages: 19
Consideration: $147,000.00
Party 1: LADD JERRY
LADD MONICA
Party 2: MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS INC
COUNTRYWIDE HOME LOANS INC
Legal: JUPITER VLG 9 L568 L
Type: LP
Date/Time: 11/21/2011 16:34:30
CFN: 20110433856
Book Type: O
Book/Page: 24864/1051
Pages: 1
Consideration: $0.00
Party 1: BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUSTEE
BANK OF NEW YORK TRUSTEE
Party 2: LADD JERRY E
LADD SPOUSE
LADD MONICA
JUPITER VILLAGE PHASE IX HOMEOWNERS ASSN INC
Legal: JUPITER VLG 9 L568 L
Below a couple eye opening articles on the crackdown on OWS:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/nov/25/shocking-truth-about-crackdown-occupy
The violent police assaults across the US are no coincidence. Occupy has touched the third rail of our political class’s venality
The mainstream media was declaring continually “OWS has no message”. Frustrated, I simply asked them. I began soliciting online “What is it you want?” answers from Occupy. In the first 15 minutes, I received 100 answers. These were truly eye-opening.
When I saw this list – and especially the last agenda item – the scales fell from my eyes. Of course, these unarmed people would be having the shit kicked out of them.
————————————————-
http://inthesetimes.com/uprising/entry/12303/mayors_dhs_coordinated_occupy_attacks/
Did Mayors, DHS Coordinate Occupy Attacks?
When a series of crackdowns on the Occupy camps suddenly occurred in, more or less, the same week, many observers wondered if perhaps the attacks had been coordinated at a national level. Oakland Mayor Jean Quan confirmed that suspicion during an appearance on the BBC - excerpted on The Takeaway radio program - when she casually mentioned taking part in a conference call with the leaders of 18 US cities right before the raids.
That was where OWS screwed up.
They should have told the NYC/Oakland fuzz that they were camping out for “Black Friday” sales.
Only the naive would believe it wasn’t.
Well I think I`ll put on my body armor, grab my gas mask, jump in the tank and head on over to the Mall and see if I can`t get a little Christmas shopping done.
Well I went to Best Buy with my friend Bubba
A rocket explodes on the store assistant manager and the other shopper, killing them. jeff looks down and covers his head as
rockets explodes all around him.
STORE MANAGER
(into radio)
Ah, Jesus! My store is down hard and
hurting! 6 pulling back to the blue
line, Leg Lima 6 out! Pull back!
Pull back!
BUBBA
jeff! Run! Run, jeff!
STORE MANAGER Pull back!
STORE MANAGER gets up and grabs jeff by the collar.
STORE MANAGER
Run, goddammit, run!
The shoppers get up and runs toward the cover of the parking lot.
SHOPPER
Medic! Medic! Jesus, can I get a
medic?
jeff
I ran and ran, just like X-GSfixr told me to.
Rockets explode in the isles as jeff runs out toward the parking lot clearing.
jeff (V.O.)
I ran so far and so fast that pretty
soon I was all by myself, which was
a bad thing.
jeff
Bubba!
jeff turns around, then runs back into the store.
jeff (V.O.)
Bubba was my best good friend. I had
to make sure he was okay.
Rockets explode in the isles. jeff runs back into the
store to look for Bubba.
1ST SHOPPER
Any friendlies out there?
2ND SHOPPER
Yeah, I’ve got three over there.
1ST SHOPPER
Where the hell are you?
jeff stops. He looks around, scared.
jeff
Bubba?
Something moves. jeff turns and looks, then rushes over.
jeff (V.O.)
And on my way back to find Bubba,
well, there was this boy laying on
the ground.
jeff
Tex!
Tex lies on the ground, his face distorted with pain.
jeff
Okay.
jeff reaches down and picks up Tex from the ground. jeff pulls Tex up over his shoulder, then runs.
jeff (V.O.)
I couldn’t just let him lay there
all alone, scared the way he was, so
I grabbed him up and run him out of
there.
jeff carries Tex out of the store and into the parking lot.
He sets Tex down on the hood of a car, and runs back into the store.
jeff (V.O.)
And every time I went back looking
for Bubba, somebody else was saying,
“Help me, jeff. Help me.”
jeff drops another wounded shopper down at the hood of a car next to Tex, and then runs back toward the store.
jeff grabs the third wounded shopper up from the ground and turns him over. It is DALLAS.
DALLAS
Can’t hear… Can’t hear…
Dallas is dropped off at the car next to the other wounded shoppers. jeff turns to go back to the store.
2ND WOUNDED SHOPPER
No sweat, man. Just lay back. You’re
gonna be okay. You’re gonna be okay.
jeff (V.O.)
I started to get scared that I might
never find Bubba.
STRONGARM
(over radio)
You’re danger close for crack air,
over.
jeff trips over something and falls to the ground. He
looks up to find two bloody legs. It is the store manager, who is wounded. He speaks into the radio.
STORE MANAGER (into radio)
Roger, Strongarm, I know my position
is danger close! We got Pepper Spray all
over this area! I gotta have those
fast movers in here now! Over!
STRONGARM
(over radio)
Six, Strongarm, we want…
jeff
Hey Bud, the assistant manager’s dead!
STORE MANAGER
I know he’s dead! My whole goddamned
store is wiped out!
STRONGARM
(over radio)
Leg Lima 6, Leg Lima 6, how copy you
this transmission? Over.
jeff tries to pick up the store manager, who tries to push jeff away.
STORE MANAGER
Goddammit! What are you doing? Leave
me here! Get away. Just leave me
here! Get out!
jeff pulls the store manager over his shoulder and runs through the store.
STRONGARM
Leg Lima 6, Leg Lima 6. This is
Strongarm, be advised, your fast
movers are inbound at this time,
over.
jeff (V.O.)
Then it felt like something just
jumped up and bit me.
jeff falls down.
jeff
Ah, something bit me!
jeff gets up as the store manager yells. The store manager fires his pistol at the unseen enemy as jeff pulls him away.
STORE MANAGER
You dink son-of-a-bitch! I can’t
leave the store! I told you to
leave me there, jeff. Forget about
me. Get yourself out! Did you hear
what I said! Goddammit, pull me down!
Get your ass out of here!
jeff drops the store manager down on the car, next to the other wounded shoppers. The store manager grabs jeff by the shirt, angry.
STORE MANAGER
I didn’t ask you to pull me out of
there, goddamn you! What the hell do
you think you’re going?
jeff
To get Bubba.
STORE MANAGER
I got an air strike inbound right
now. They’re gonna nape the whole
store.
jeff gets up and runs as the store manager yells after him.
STORE MANAGER
jeff, you stay here, goddammit! That’s
an order!
jeff
I gotta find Bubba!
jeff runs through the store searching for Bubba. jeff
slows down and looks around carefully.
BUBBA
jeff…
jeff
Bubba…
Bubba looks up as he lies on the ground.
BUBBA
I’m okay.
Bubba holds a Laptop over his wound. Forrest removes the Laptop to look at the wound. Bubba’s chest has been blown
open.
jeff
Oh, Bubba, no…
BUBBA
Naw, I’m gonna be all right.
jeff looks around as he hear the voices of the enemy.
jeff
Come on. Come on. Come here…
jeff carries Bubba through the store. The sound of
approaching planes fills the air.
BUBBA
I’m okay, jeff. I’m all right.
The roar of approaching planes is deafening. jeff looks
up in fear. Three planes dive down toward the jungle. They fire napalm as the store explodes with massive fireballs.
jeff runs, carrying Bubba. The fireballs explode behind
him. The entire store is in flames.
jeff carries Bubba to the back of the parking lot. The store manager and the other wounded shoppers wait for a rescue helicopter.
STORE MANAGER
Helo’s inbound. Pop smoke, get it up
there!
jeff (V.O.)
If I’d a known this was gonna be the
last time me and Bubba was gonna
talk, I’d a thought of something
better to say.
jeff looks down at Bubba.
jeff
Hey, Bubba…
BUBBA
Hey, jeff. jeff, why’d this
happen?
jeff
We went shopping.
jeff (V.O.)
Then Bubba said something I won’t
even forget.
BUBBA
I wanna go home.
Supercommittee failure means automatic spending cuts
Contra Costa Times
Posted: 11/26/2011 04:00:00 PM PST
This summer, to avoid the politically manufactured threat of defaulting on the federal debt, Congress made an agreement to reduce the debt by at least $2.2 trillion over the next 10 years.
Nearly $1 trillion of the reduction would come from scheduled cuts to discretionary defense and nondefense spending and the rest from the work of the so-called supercommittee through new revenues, more spending cuts, or both. If the supercommittee failed, $1.2 trillion in additional automatic cuts would hit defense and domestic spending equally beginning in January 2013.
I never liked this plan, but it is the one that both parties agreed to, including conservative tea party Republicans closely allied with Pentagon spending.
The supercommittee failed. Now, Congress must honor its agreement.
Failure came as no surprise. The Republican leadership in Congress and their committee designees made it clear that their highest national priority is protecting the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent in our country, even though there is no way to balance the budget with the tax cuts to the wealthy in place.
The automatic cuts could have been avoided. Had Republican negotiators been willing to put real new revenues on the negotiating table, the supercommittee could have achieved its goal. But they refused to call on millionaires and billionaires to pay their fair share, even though many of them believe they should pay more in taxes,
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and Republicans rejected every one of the Democrats’ balanced proposals.
Despite the high cost of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, the worst income disparity in our country’s history and the desperate condition of America’s middle class, Republicans in Congress chose to protect millionaires and billionaires rather than solve our country’s serious problems.
Now, some want to renege on the deal.
They want to spare the Pentagon from the automatic cuts they voted for. Fortunately, President Barack Obama has made it clear that he would veto any bill that seeks to overturn the automatic cuts. I support him 100 percent on this point.
If Republicans wanted to avoid deep Pentagon cuts, they shouldn’t have chosen to block a committee agreement by shielding millionaires and billionaires. They took a stand for the “1 percent,” not for the country. They can’t protect millionaires and the Pentagon. It doesn’t work that way now.
Failure has its consequences.
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“Now, Congress must honor its agreement.”
Hollow words, IMHO. Meaningless.
Eurozone looks to International Monetary Fund as contagion spreads
• Italian and Spanish bond yields reach new highs
• Belgium downgraded by S&P credit-rating agency
David Gow in Brussels and Giles Tremlett in Madrid
guardian.co.uk, Friday 25 November 2011 15.24 EST
Eurozone leaders were tonight looking again to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help countries in distress as bond yields in Italy and Spain hit new highs and the credit-ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) downgraded Belgium.
Meeting in Berlin, the finance ministers of Germany, Finland and the Netherlands even hinted at the prospect of an enhanced role for the European Central Bank (ECB) if all other steps to save the euro collapsed. But they again ruled it out as an immediate solution.
Their talks, ahead of Tuesday’s meeting of the 17-member Eurogroup in Brussels, came amid reports that Spain’s new centre-right government might soon apply for aid from both the IMF and the European Union’s main bailout fund, the European financial stability facility (EFSF). Spanish state borrowing costs earlier leaped to the dangerously high level of 6.7%.
However, senior Partido Popular sources said reports that the Rajoy administration – not yet officially installed – would seek external aid were false. “The party absolutely denies this,” a spokeswoman said.
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Op-Ed Contributor
The Death of the Fringe Suburb
Victor Kerlow
By CHRISTOPHER B. LEINBERGER
Published: November 25, 2011
DRIVE through any number of outer-ring suburbs in America, and you’ll see boarded-up and vacant strip malls, surrounded by vast seas of empty parking spaces. These forlorn monuments to the real estate crash are not going to come back to life, even when the economy recovers. And that’s because the demand for the housing that once supported commercial activity in many exurbs isn’t coming back, either.
By now, nearly five years after the housing crash, most Americans understand that a mortgage meltdown was the catalyst for the Great Recession, facilitated by underregulation of finance and reckless risk-taking. Less understood is the divergence between center cities and inner-ring suburbs on one hand, and the suburban fringe on the other.
It was predominantly the collapse of the car-dependent suburban fringe that caused the mortgage collapse.
In the late 1990s, high-end outer suburbs contained most of the expensive housing in the United States, as measured by price per square foot, according to data I analyzed from the Zillow real estate database. Today, the most expensive housing is in the high-density, pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods of the center city and inner suburbs. Some of the most expensive neighborhoods in their metropolitan areas are Capitol Hill in Seattle; Virginia Highland in Atlanta; German Village in Columbus, Ohio, and Logan Circle in Washington. Considered slums as recently as 30 years ago, they have been transformed by gentrification.
Simply put, there has been a profound structural shift — a reversal of what took place in the 1950s, when drivable suburbs boomed and flourished as center cities emptied and withered.
The shift is durable and lasting because of a major demographic event: the convergence of the two largest generations in American history, the baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) and the millennials (born between 1979 and 1996), which today represent half of the total population.
Many boomers are now empty nesters and approaching retirement. Generally this means that they will downsize their housing in the near future. Boomers want to live in a walkable urban downtown, a suburban town center or a small town, according to a recent survey by the National Association of Realtors.
The millennials are just now beginning to emerge from the nest — at least those who can afford to live on their own. This coming-of-age cohort also favors urban downtowns and suburban town centers — for lifestyle reasons and the convenience of not having to own cars.
Over all, only 12 percent of future homebuyers want the drivable suburban-fringe houses that are in such oversupply, according to the Realtors survey. This lack of demand all but guarantees continued price declines. Boomers selling their fringe housing will only add to the glut. Nothing the federal government can do will reverse this.
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Can’t say HBBers didn’t go overboard trying to sound the alarm on this likely future development half a decade ago…
Saturday, 26 November 2011 11:17
Inside Report from the National Association of Realtors Meetings
Written by Gary Edelbrock
Inside Report from the National Association of Realtors Meetings
Did you have a happy Thanksgiving? Hey, this is Gary Edelbrock here, and I’ve been talking with Josh Lethbridge, the newly chosen President of the Prescott Area Association of Realtors, about his recent opportunity to attend the National Association of Realtors (NAR) meeting. He brought back some tidbits of information I thought you might be interested in.
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NAR’s focus for 2012 is to defend private property owner’s rights, and protecting the public from the government’s interference in the market,
…
This is fantastic: An NAR member who suggests that government interference in the real estate market is a bad thing. I guess he would naturally advocate repealing the Mortgage Interest Deduction, reducing FHA loan limits, restructuring the GSE’s (Fannie and Freddie), and implementing the regulations in the Dodd-Frank bill intended to repair the broken, subsidy-ridden U.S. housing market.
Oh wait!!!
One of the key things that Josh pointed out is the NAR activity in Washington. “As they always have, NAR plays a major role on Capitol Hill, and are key players in real estate legislation. This year, and for the foreseeable future, we face efforts to repeal the Mortgage Interest Deduction, reduce FHA loan limits, restructure the GSE’s (Fannie and Freddie), implement the tangle of regulations that make up the Dodd-Frank bill, and define “Qualified” mortgages that would further depress the market. Additionally, Realtors have been instrumental in ensuring that the funding for the FEMA flood insurance is maintained through the National Flood Insurance Program.”
Republican housing platform: PROVIDE FEDERALLY-GUARANTEED MORTGAGES TO SUBSIDIZE “AFFORDABLE HOUSING” FOR THE 1%.
Andrew C. McCarthy
National Review Online
November 26, 2011 4:00 A.M.
Republicans Subsidize Mansions
The GOP is missing its chance to stand for limited government.
Almost two weeks ago, when they figured no one was watching, the Republican-dominated House of Representatives, by an overwhelming 292–121 margin, voted to increase funding for the Federal Housing Administration. Just as government debt hit $15 trillion, edging closer to 100 percent of GDP, these self-proclaimed scourges of spending decided Uncle Sam should continue subsidizing mini-mansion mortgage loans — up to nearly three-quarters of a million dollars.
Given the straits that the mortgage crisis has left us in, to say nothing of the government’s central role in getting us there, one might think Republicans would be asking whether the government should be in the housing business at all. “Stop out-of-control spending and reduce the size of government” — that is what Boehner, Cantor, & Co. promised in big bold letters during the 2010 campaign. That was in the snippets of text that occasionally interrupted the gauzy photo spread they called their “Pledge to America.”
Instead, here we are a year later, careering toward the cliff. We ought to be doing everything in our power to tee up the 2012 election as a high-noon showdown between Obama’s insatiable Leviathan and a GOP vision of fiscally sane, constitutional conservatism. So how do Republicans respond to their moment? How do they propose to “stop out-of-control spending and reduce the size of government”? Why, by putting taxpayers on the hook for shaky loans on luxury homes — sure to add prodigiously to the already $142 billion (and counting) housing bailout attributable to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
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