Bits Bucket for January 17, 2012
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
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Can’t stick around to see how this goes today but when I saw this I knew it was one that had to hit the hbb:
State to help elderly downsize as Government tackles housing crisis
“Elderly homeowners will be encouraged to downsize to smaller properties and allow councils to rent their homes to local families under Coalition plans to ease the nation’s housing crisis.
Grant Shapps, the housing minister, said councils should offer to help pensioners move to more suitable accommodation to create space for families.
Local authorities would then take over responsibility for maintaining and renting the vacated properties at affordable rates, transferring any profit from the rental income back to the elderly person or their estate. The Government believes the proposal would provide support for the elderly to move without having to sell their homes at a time when there is a shortage of affordable housing for young families.
Research released last year estimated that 25million bedrooms in England were empty, largely because elderly couples do not move out of family homes to smaller properties.
At the same time, young families are increasingly being squeezed into small homes and overcrowded flats as a result of the country’s high property prices”.
….”Government analysis of the Redbridge project suggested that 200 people in the borough were considering moving, but felt that they could not afford to. Under the scheme, the council helps elderly people move into a new property such as sheltered accommodation. The local authority foots the bill for moving costs, renovations and financial advice.
In return, the council is able to rent the house to families in need and manage that tenancy directly. A four-bedroom house managed by the council would be rented at a typical rate of £1,300 per month, £300 less than the average market rate for a privately rented home.
Pensioners who take up the council’s offer use the rental income from their former home to pay for their new accommodation. Lower council tax, utility bills, and the income from their former home mean they can save more than £7,000 a year. Analysis of the project, conducted by Cambridge University, said the Redbridge scheme was “financially astute”.
“There are clear financial gains for the owner-occupier and family from this arrangement,” the report said. “There is also scope for the council to charge a rate of interest on its investment as the margins would allow this.”
The report said the scheme could be funded using “social impact bonds”, the Coalition’s new method for attracting private-sector investment in public projects which provide a social benefit.”
Of course no mention of all the empty bank held properties across the nation. I’ll add some of the more interesting comments that appeared on the FaceBook link to this publication below:
Lawrence H Morris Send all the EU immigrants home, voila, no housing crisis!
Sarah Roberts Disgusting that the elderly should be ‘encouraged’ out of their homes if they’re happy living in them. I’ve not read the article yet … but just the headline has annoyed me!
Bullhead Igor Tovgr there are 930000 empty homes across the UK, 350000 of which are long term empty. Another fraudulent scheme from government!
Peter Changeling These are family decisions not Government - who botch everything they touch - and will take a fair cut no doubt.
about an hour ago ·
Bernadette Johnson Perhaps granny is better ff living where she does, with daughter two doors away and grandson and his new wife just up the road - that way her family can keep an eye on her without taking away her independence.
David Shires They already are encouraged through excessively expensive heating costs. They aren’t and shouldn’t be forced to do anything and any policy should first and foremost be in the interests of the elderly home owner but many people here are being quick to condemn something that could well be mutually beneficial.
about an hour ago ·
Claire Ford There’s no respect for the elderly. Once they stop paying into NI etc they become worthless to the government and are expected to rot away in a grotty care home for the rest of their days. Disgusting.
Peter Changeling ^^here here, we all grow old, pay taxes all our lives, slog it out raising families, paying mortgages - for these bastards to assume automatic rights based on age - it’s an outrage.
Jack Morton theer would be much more of everything if we did not have the millions of muslims and others , imposed on us . the governments caused this and then target the elderly — not bloodyon !! ok - we are headkng right on for a revolution/civil war in this country . ther is no-one to vote for from the the three main parties . wwe are no longer represernted — we are living in daily dictatorship , as the government continue their policies against their own peolple .
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9019124/State-to-help-elderly-downsize-as-Government-tackles-housing-crisis.html
Ed Koch tried that in New York City subsidized housing in the 1980s. The seniors were incensed — how dare those people suggest they leave their low-rent, three bedroom apartments.
Those people being the families crammed into one bedroom apartments at higher rents paying taxes to support their subsidies.
As for myself when I get older, because of the city’s decision to subsidize 1 to 4 family homes with much lower taxes, were I to downsize to a condo I would face a much higher tax bill, a real inhibition to downsize once your working days are over. As this article from England suggets, when you downsize things should be cheaper, not more expensive.
There was a similar fuss in Saint John a few years back - senior living alone in a 4 BR subsidized apartment - she didn’t want to move, because she liked having room for her kids when they came to visit…meanwhile there was huge waiting list for family-size places. Can’t remember how it turned out.
Easy solution to that: write into the rental agreement the terms under which the subsidization either continues or is discontinued. Or alternatively, write this into the laws about rent-subsidies.
Market-rents would probably have readily resolved this.
there is an old song about this by Genesis ” get them out by friday” an British band so maybe this is not new ?
That was on “A Trick of the Tail” wasn’t it?
More central planning in real estate.
If they’d stop warping the market to help Wall Street, perhaps they could stop with the pass-through transfer payments to Wall Street.
The article is not about the United States. Stop with the duck speak.
The net result of the actions listed above will allow the elderly to move without having to sell. This keeps stock off the market.
The elderly frequently will downsize into newer, smaller quarters as they grow older. And having bought likely before the bubble, they are uniquely poised to make a lot of profit from selling now. Yet the article identifies some new phenomenon where supposedly the elderly don’t want to take advantage of this profit-making opportunity. This sounds bogus.
So - in order to combat this new inexplicable phenomenon, the UK government will allow the elderly to move into assisted/senior living while the government acts as rental agency for the new landlords.
And it’s all wrapped up in a happy sounding “help the elderly, help the young people” wrapper. Like “The Rainbows, Unicorns and Puppy Dogs Act of 2012″ which suspends habeas corpus.
I did use the term “Wall Street.” Wall Street is a global mafia. And it’s a well known shorthand for the financial industry in general.
I’ve thoughtfully summarized the article for you. However, for your own benefit, why don’t you go back and try re-reading the article. And this time for comprehension.
“I did use the term “Wall Street.” Wall Street is a global mafia. And it’s a well known shorthand for the financial industry in general.”
Not in the UK it isn’t. They call it “the City” which is short for the City of London which, oddly enough, does not refer to all of London, but a tiny portion of the metro area which is where the UK financial services industry is centered. The US is not the center of the universe.
Not in the UK it isn’t. They call it “the City” which is short for the City of London which, oddly enough, does not refer to all of London, but a tiny portion of the metro area which is where the UK financial services industry is centered. The US is not the center of the universe.
When I was visiting my family in Cornwall, I noticed more than a touch of London resentment. As in, it was the capital of the country, it looked down on them, so they returned the favor.
When I was in Ireland you almost never heard the word “Dublin” or “Dubliners” without the F-word in front of it.
That probably exists in many countries. Here at home, residents of the red states have animosity toward New York City and Chicago. In western Canada they hate Toronto.
England
OK at first I wasn’t sure what was going on
Expiring mortgage aid destabilizes owners
By Kimberly Miller Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 9:01 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/money/foreclosures/expiring-mortgage-aid-destabilizes-owners-2104222.html - 77k -
43 COMMENTS
Are worth the ride
Two things:
1) A lot of FBs were unstable to begin with.
2) FBs are not “owners” until they pay off the mortgage.
ok, what happened,,,someone named ed does some ’sleuthing’ but I don’t see it. then someone thanks jeff for the sme info. did the paper delete the original comment about her other mortgages?
My personal favorite is one Deadbeat saying another Deadbeat takes being a Deadbeat “to a whole new level.” Which makes me wonder…. Who is the greatest Deadbeat of all? There should be an award. Or maybe a cage match….
In this corner owing $2.3 million on 3 properties on which he has not made a payment in four years, the reigning Deadbeat champion, Steve “I didn’t know what I was signing” Johnson.
And in this corner, the challenger owing $6.5 million on 10 units while not making payments for 3 1/2 years but collecting rent on 8 of them the whole time, Bill “they told me realestate only goes up” Baker.
“Jeff, it seems some people take “deadbeat” to a whole new level. I was offered this program and chose not to participate.(I would not have qualified due to being in excess of 18 months anyway) My strategy of simply not paying has been effiective without outside influence. 6 months of assistance and you are right back where you started. I think I will continue with my stategy, it has worked for 42 months and my foreclosure was recently dismissed by BofA. It seems like a smarter move.”
diver4life
8:21 PM, 1/16/2012
My strategy of simply not paying has been effiective without outside influence.
lol. I like diver4life. Maybe you should have a beer with him, Jeff. You may end up with a deadbeat friend, and ‘come away with a different point of view’.
“lol. I like diver4life. Maybe you should have a beer with him, Jeff. You may end up with a deadbeat friend, and ‘come away with a different point of view’.
You know what`s kinda funny, I like him too. Actually I do have a few friends that I know are Deadbeats, probably more than a few that I don`t know about. One in particular (We`ll call him Ray, because his name is Ray) is a punch-out guy for a company we do work for (when we have work) refied his way up to $350k on a 90k house. He pays a lawyer $400.00 a month to keep him in his house and when I see him I always ask… Still living for $400 a month Ray? He laughs and says… YUP! I laugh too, shake my head and say…. Have a good day ya Deadbeat (in a joking way I guess you would have to be there) he says… You too, I`ll catch you later.
+1. At least he’s being more effective at sticking it to the banks!
“ok, what happened,,,someone named ed does some ’sleuthing’ but I don’t see it. then someone thanks jeff for the sme info. did the paper delete the original comment about her other mortgages?”
The paper deleted ed`s post and this one I posted that
diver4life responded to.
House bought for 145k in 96, 1 condo 75k in 02, 1 condo 94,800 in 05 which is a total purchase price on all three of $314,800. The total mortgages taken out on all three $1,116,877.00 with one SAT filed in 98 and one in 2004 So on top of a probable 3 years of rent collected on the condos w/o paying the mortgage you are probably looking at $250k cash out at least.
Wow, why would they delete a post that is inserting facts into their victim-hood story??
“Wow, why would they delete a post that is inserting facts into their victim-hood story??”
Because their victim said….
“I feel that I’ve been duped, and I don’t know if it’s by the government, the bank, the Hardest Hit program or all of the above,” she said.
Hahaha I knew it…everyone loves exposés on a national level, but when it’s local they get all uptight because people actually know these folks.
I think my neighbor is a serial defaulter. they “bought” this new house in 2005. they don’t live there, but have a series of “roommates” that cycle through this fairly large house monthly.
the owners come by nearly every day or 2 to check on the place and collect the rents due.
I understand they “own” several of these. I am beginning to believe they have a full time job driving from camp to camp to check on the tenants and collect the weekly rent payments.
I guess they get GUESTS from ads on Craiglist by listing weekly room rentals.
I don’t know but suspect they are collecting the rents while waiting for foreclosure. who knows? But it makes me wonder how much of this is going on.
If you’re of the same evil turn of mind as I am, why not report these people to the IRS? I’ll betcha money that they’re not paying federal taxes on this bit of entrepreneurship.
they don’t live there, but have a series of “roommates” that cycle through this fairly large house monthly.
This is exactly why we left California; I never could afford a neighborhood that was immune from government interference. The last stage of this game will be HUD moving in the low-life dregs.
BTW, sorry to hear about your observation; no job, and now the neighborhood.
The IRS isn’t going to do much if all you say is, “I think these people aren’t paying their mortgage so I bet they aren’t paying the taxes on this business either.”
You might get a quicker response if you checked out your local and/or state rules on running a boarding house or hotel and called up the appropriate agency if you think you can ID a violation. Most places have hotel taxes and weekly rentals might fall under the definition.
You might get a quicker response if you checked out your local and/or state rules on running a boarding house or hotel and called up the appropriate agency if you think you can ID a violation. Most places have hotel taxes and weekly rentals might fall under the definition.
Gotcha!
Here in Tucson, the code enforcement reporting form is a thing of beauty. We neighborhood activists use it often.
bloomberg
For the first time, Wall Street’s biggest bond-trading firms hold more U.S. Treasuries than corporate securities, signaling concern the economy’s rebound will be too slow to sustain record demand for riskier assets.
The 21 primary dealers that trade directly with the Federal Reserve held a total of $74.7 billion of Treasuries as of Dec. 28, compared with $61.1 billion of company debt, according to Fed data. The aggregate position in U.S. government bonds has increased from a $38.6 billion bet against the securities in May, while corporate holdings have tumbled 50 percent from $121.8 billion.
xxxx
While the central bank has helped push 30-year fixed mortgage rates to record lows of less than 4 percent, the Fed forecasts that home-loan borrowing in 2012 will decline to the least in 15 years. Americans who might refinance and buy properties are getting shut out by stricter lending standards or avoiding transactions as values tumble amid mounting foreclosures, a Jan. 4 report to Congress by the Fed showed.
The latest S&P/Case-Shiller index of property values in 20 cities shows a decline of 3.4 percent in October from a year earlier, the New York-based group said Dec. 27.
“While the central bank has helped push 30-year fixed mortgage rates to record lows of less than 4 percent, the Fed forecasts that home-loan borrowing in 2012 will decline to the least in 15 years.”
I thought the bottoming out of U.S. home sales transactions volume would be in 2011, but this Fed forecast leaves me wonder if my bottom call was early.
Of course, there is no telling yet at what point prices will bottom out…
The will to borrow at high prices and low interest rates is still in the dying process. How can the Fed exit this strategy without a real recovery?
They need to mention the green shoots
“…Wall Street’s biggest bond-trading firms hold more U.S. Treasuries than corporate securities…”
At today’s interest rates, they gotta hold a LOT of Treasuries just to cover salaries, bonuses and fixed costs.
In other news China’s economy slows to slowest growth in 2 1/2 years and markets see this as a good thing offsetting the problems in the EU??????????????????
“Misery loves company” theory in action?
Also in the news, for the 1st. time more Chinese are living in urban centers than rural areas. Maybe there was a plan all along to fill those ghost buildings after all?
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/17/world/asia/china-urban-population-duplicate-2/?hpt=ias_c2
Looking at world markets this morning they seem to think slowing to ‘just’ 8.9% growth is very bullish.
Revolution in the making.
Chinese economic data is even more untrustworthy than ours.
Preach it, Sammy!
Back when I was a young pup studying economics at the University of Michigan, I had a prof who was a world-renowned expert on the Chinese economy. One of the biggest challenges he faced was teasing the real story out of the official government data.
In a global economy that is all about bubbles, the thought that a govt might start encouraging rather than fighting bubble formation is considered good news.
Now you know what they REALLY meant by “New World Order” and “Global Economy”.
Pump-n-dump and churn-n-burn.
The Wall Street Journal
BUSINESS
JANUARY 17, 2012
U.S. Steps Up S&P Inquiry
Former Analysts Questioned Again On Mortgage-Bond Ratings
BY JEANNETTE NEUMANN AND THOMAS CATAN
Federal prosecutors are stepping up their probe of Standard & Poor’s financial crisis-era ratings of troubled mortgage securities, according to former analysts questioned by prosecutors and another person familiar with the situation.
The probe is focusing on whether the firm’s managers ignored its own standards when assessing the mortgage products in an effort to cater to banking clients eager to sell the securities, according to the former S&P analysts.
At least five former S&P analysts have been contacted by Justice Department officials in recent weeks as part of a civil inquiry into the McGraw-Hill Cos. unit, these people said.
…
“Federal prosecutors are stepping up their probe of Standard & Poor’s financial crisis-era ratings of troubled mortgage securities”
“The probe is focusing on whether the firm’s managers ignored its own standards when assessing the mortgage products in an effort to cater to banking clients eager to sell the securities,”
How much of a “probe” is this really going to take? I`m pretty sure I can pull off of I-95 at the 45th St. exit and pick up a guy with a “will work for food” sign that could get to the bottom of this in about 20 minutes.
And the outcome of this Federal probe, like all the others, will be token fines and no admission of wrongdoing, with immunity from future criminal prosecution.
E.g. pay-for-protection.
It really took them five years to get around to even talking to these guys??? WTH.
yes, and in the meantime, the SEC DESTROYED thousands or boxes of incriminating evidence because “No one was pursuing these possible cases”.
that’s right. The SEC has destroyed piles of evidence. So, the SEC is complicit in all the coverups of criminal wrongdoing.
I suspect Obama will eventually put Franklin Raines in charge of the SEC when public outrage reaches a fever pitch.
Strange that with the MSM’s deep and lasting coverage of all this criminality that there isn’t more public outcry.
That is if you got your MSM ‘news’ from Rolling Stone Magazine or National Review.
Here’s an example of how nothing changes.
I just finished reading “Nothing Like It in the World” by (the late) Stephen Ambrose. It’s about the building of the first transcontinental railroad by the Union Pacific westward from Omaha and the Central Pacific eastward from Sacramento. That’s the road that meets at the famous Promontory Point.
The government both gave assets (alternating sections of land along the right-of-way) and lent money (in the form of 30 year bonds) to the two railroads and actually set up a competition in that the entity that laid the most track received the most compensation. This arrangement passed CONgress in 1862 and was amended in 1864, all while Lincoln was President. Yet 20th century historians try to portray Johnson and Grant as the bad guys here.
The insiders of both companies were extremely generous to themselves (anyone remember Credit Mobilier from high school history class?) and also paid off various members of CONgress through free stock and other considerations. The workers and the subcontractors were left sucking hind t**t.
After the railroad was finished, various newspapers raised the hue and cry about insider deals, substandard workmanship and the like. CONgress finally held extensive investigations in which the insiders were portrayed as Satan’s spawn. But in the end, all it did was “pass two meek resolutions of censure.” No one went to jail. No one disgorged any of his profits.
However, the government did receive full payment at maturity, with all interest, in the bonds that were issued. It also was able to sell the valuable sections of land (all part of the Louisiana Purchase) that it still held for much more than if the railroad didn’t exist. The desert portions are still mostly owned by the govt.
Lincoln was a railroad lawyer. I think he was seriously enthusiastic about transcon rail, but as usual he did not understand rail was not that profitable without graft and giveaways. Or he didn’t care, just wanted the rail to the west done already.
(I guess that’s where the green energy proponents are coming from.)
I suspect Obama will eventually put Franklin Raines in charge of the SEC when public outrage reaches a fever pitch. </i?
Public outrage? These are the sheeple who voted overwhelmingly (95% of the electorate) to make the banksters’ gambling losses whole out of taxpayer money. The outrage is confined to the thinking 5%, not the Obama Zombies, McCain Mutants, and Establishment GOP Hollow Man Hayseeds.
Humorous piece on pretentiousness in Slate. Interesting theory on the source of the economic crisis in the opening paragraph:
ACI
A new way of measuring pretentiousness.
By Calvin Trillin|Posted Friday, Jan. 13, 2012, at 4:40 PM ET
Talking a lot about wine gets you a substantial ACI
When I entered the nearly empty bar near Grand Central, I was unsurprised—and, I’ll admit, rather pleased—to see, sitting on the stool he’d occupied when I was in the bar some months before, the mature gentleman who had told me that the economic crisis was inevitable once smart people started taking jobs on Wall Street. (“Our guys would have never invented credit default swaps,” he’d explained. “They couldn’t have done the math.”)
http://www.slate.com/articles/life/low_concept/2012/01/calvin_trillin_offers_a_new_way_of_measuring_pretentiousness.html
Speaking of their guys not being able to do the math, the mature gentleman is on to something. I saw this played out in my own family between my grandfather, who had quite the way with words and was real schmoozer, and my deeply introverted but mathematically brilliant father.
Grandpa worked on Wall Street as a bonds analyst. My dad was a chemical engineer. I can personally attest to the fact that Grandpa couldn’t have begun to attempt the math. No way.
As for Dad, he had a less-than-stellar opinion of financial types. He thought they were slicksters in nice clothes.
“slicksters in nice clothes”
Your dad was a wise man in his younger years.
When the total far exceeds the sum of the parts, I question the use of the words “smart” and “math”.
Early in my engineering career, I published a memo recommending a change in operating signals that I suggested would save a few million $. One paragraph followed by 5 pages of equations.
I was exhaulted as an Expert by people who had no idea what I had said and had no way of determining if I was right.
I at least did not blow anything up.
Have to laff, Blue.
My son learned a valuable lesson in high school when at the last minute he put together an engineering project which didn’t work and in fact, fell apart upon demonstration, but it looked plausible when he presented it. As his was one of only three entries in his age and project division for our county, he won third place AND a $50 prize from the State engineering association that sponsored the event.
Engineering: Bad planning, unworkable end-product, but they’ll still pay you for showing up. And you can put it on your resume.
Well, the fact that you are able to post a note on this blog indicates that the effort of several thousand engineers resulted in something “workable”.
From Politico - ‘Occupy Congress’ protest planned as lawmakers return:
“As Congress returns from winter recess on Tuesday, lawmakers on Capitol Hill will be greeted by throngs of Occupy Wall Street protesters, who are trying to organize one of the largest gatherings that the movement has seen.
In a demonstration they are dubbing Occupy Congress organizers are hoping to see thousands gather on the National Mall for “a day of action against a corrupt political institution.”
FINALLY, they are hitting the correct target. Wall Street may be the pits, but they couldn’t have done what they did without the implicit consent and aid of CONgress.
Free Markets: BOO-YAH!
and congress wouldn’t have done what they did if they hadn’t been bought off by WS. I still blame WS more than their puppets.
People don’t have to accept bribes, you know. Who made TARP possible?
Groups of people have done bad things throughout history. One of the purposes of “government”, as such, is to restrain people from doing these bad things. Otherwise you get places like Somalia. And that’s what happens when you get a government that doesn’t do its job.
I doubt too many of us could survive in a Somalian type country, where anything goes and he who hath the greater force (weapons, guns, personnel) wins.
“…People don’t have to accept bribes, you know….”
It’s pretty hard to get elected without funding these days. Call it what you will….
I blame the sheep who continue to install and maintain Wall Street-owned candidates in office despite ample evidence of whose agenda they are going to be pursuing.
http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?cid=N00009638
I blame the sheep who continue to install and maintain Wall Street-owned candidates
Then you blame the United States Constitution which set America up as a Democratic Republic along with blame falling upon the SCOTUS which allowed corporate citizenry/Citizens United and you blame the Government for allowing a system of corruption.
(Simply systematically scorning the sheople is simply too simplistic)
People deserve the governments they get.
From the New York Times - The Invisible Hand Behind Bonuses on Wall Street:
“Mr. Johnson, a consultant who speaks with a light twang from his native Alabama, has never worked for a bank. Nor will his company, Johnson Associates, pay million-dollar bonuses to any of its 12 employees this year. But as one of the nation’s foremost financial compensation specialists, Mr. Johnson is among a small group of behind-the-scenes information brokers who help determine how Wall Street firms distribute billions of dollars to their workers.
Bonus math in a financial downturn is a delicate art. Because the payments typically make up at least half of an employee’s yearly pay, erring on the low side can mean losing a star performer to a rival firm.
“Someone on Wall Street might go apoplectic when he heard he got $3 million and another guy got $3.5 million,” Mr. Johnson said.
Go apoplectic? What tangible value do these financial terrorist pigmen provide to the real economy? They are sociopathic economic rapists begging for a Marie Antoinette moment…
What tangible value do these financial terrorist pigmen provide to the real economy?
I want to know where they worship.
They are still missing the targets, IMO. The politicians are but agents of the PTB.
The targets should be officers and directors who run the corporations that sold us out.
The targets should be officers and directors who run the corporations that sold us out.
That was precisely what they did when they went on their billionaires walking tour on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
Now they will have protested everywhere they’ve been told they really should have been protesting by the libertarian right- ie the homes if the sell-out CEOs, and DC. Are they legitimate protesters now, or is there a new hoop for them to jump through to earn their support?
They need to find Jesus and stop being so damn young.
“The targets should be officers and directors who run the corporations that sold us out.”
Well, maybe. Without government, these folks could be taken out and publicly drawn and quartered.
Wall Street and other financial entities derive their power from a government that permits them to do what they do. And then restrains the populace from taking the necessary action to rid themselves of lice. Can you say Federal Reserve?
The politicians supposedly work for us. The CEOs do not. We can only expect to restrain the CEOs. We are obliged to disclipine our employees, up to and including dismissal, hanging & etc.
Demonstrations outside Congress will not impact the process directly, but it could sure wake up some of the sleepy deluded populace. It will be interesting to see what gets through the media filters.
FINALLY, they are hitting the correct target. Wall Street may be the pits, but they couldn’t have done what they did without the implicit consent and aid of CONgress.
Why go after the monkey instead of the organ grinder?
Jamie Dimon, Richard Fuld, Angelo Mozilo, Alan Greenspan, Timothy Geitner, Henry Paulson deserve the same golden shower funerals recently administered by U.S. Marines to Afghani Taliban.
‘deserve the same golden shower funerals recently administered by U.S. Marines’
I suppose it’s a waste of time noting that these are humans you are talking about. But maybe it is worth pointing out that these young men will return home and someday may be next to you as you go through your day.
‘According to friends and family, a much darker Ocampo returned home after he was discharged in 2010. Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas has scheduled a news conference for 11 a.m. Tuesday to announce charges against Itzcoatl Ocampo. The 23-year-old is expected to be charged with four counts of murder in the serial killings of four homeless men since late December.’
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2012/01/ap-suspect-in-killings-returned-from-iraq-changed-011612/
Some sociopaths wear uniforms and some wear pinstripes, the latter should worry you more.
Worse yet, one of these guys may marry your daughter. I can tell you how that plays out.
I am impressed that as a society we have labored long to dismantle the traditions from which spring morality. We send these boys into hell totally unarmed.
Maybe it would be better then if dogs or other animals pissed on the banksters/corrupt politicians’ corpses rather than to compromise any actual human integrity.
Maybe it would be better then if dogs or other animals pissed on the banksters/corrupt politicians’ corpses rather than to compromise any actual human integrity.
Not if it’s my parents’ dog.
Why? Because when it comes to finding a place to pee, he’s very particular. Only the best place will do.
‘the latter should worry you more’
I’m an adult and don’t need some anonymous ‘goon’ lecturing me on relative evils. But given that I live in a country that just sat by while the govt passed a law that allows the military to arrest and detain any of us, if you want to know what I worry about; look in the mirror.
We send these boys into hell totally unarmed.
Ah, but we give them a nice signing bonus so they can buy a truck.
Ah, but we give them a nice signing bonus so they can buy a truck.
+1 This was true back in the early seventies too.
Jamie Dimon, Richard Fuld, Angelo Mozilo, Alan Greenspan, Timothy Geitner, Henry Paulson deserve the same golden shower funerals recently administered by U.S. Marines to Afghani Taliban.
Comments like that aren’t real helpful. The sociopaths you name need accountability under a rule of law, not infantile fantasy punishments.
FINALLY, they are hitting the correct target.
You targeters are missing the point. Did all the Tea-party protests take place in DC? Did all the Vietnam protests take place in DC? Did all the civil rights protests take place in the South or in DC? It seems to me they took place all over the USA. And besides, OWS’s message is directed at DC and Wall Street combined. You all can’t see that? You don’t think DC thinks about the NYC protests? Like they have to be on the DC mall to make any points? In this day and internet age? Come on. You all might as well be saying about the OWS:
“They shouldn’t be waving peace-signs”
Which is the only group that can outlaw the blatant and ongoing bribing of elected officials- Wall Street crooks or the elected officials?
That’s why CONgress is the proper target.
Actually, BiC, it was the Supreme Court. And they blew it. (Again.)
Occupy SCOTUS!
Got Eurasian contagion?
Emerging Stocks Drop Most in Three Weeks on Euro, China Concerns
January 17, 2012, 2:48 AM EST
By Ian C. Sayson
Jan. 16 (Bloomberg) — Emerging-market stocks fell, dragging the benchmark index down the most in three weeks, on speculation European rating cuts in Europe will curb demand for riskier assets and as analysts lowered some price targets.
The MSCI Emerging Markets Index declined 0.8 percent to 945.78 as of 2:44 p.m. in Singapore, bound for the sharpest loss since Dec. 28. South Korea’s Kospi Index slid 0.9 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index dropped 1.4 percent before tomorrow’s release of data that may show China’s economy grew at the slowest pace in 10 quarters.
“The downgrades crystallize fears the European debt crisis may slow economic growth and temper risk appetite,” said Jonathan Ravelas, chief market strategist at Manila-based BDO Unibank Inc.
…
Greece Is Insolvent, Will Default on Its Debt, Fitch Says
January 17, 2012, 7:25 AM EST
By Adam Ewing and Marcus Bensasson
(Updates with debt swap details from seventh paragraph, bill sale in 11th paragraph)
Jan. 17 (Bloomberg) — Greece is insolvent and probably won’t be able to honor a bond payment in March as the country negotiates with creditors to cut its debt burden, Fitch Ratings Managing Director Edward Parker said.
The euro area’s most indebted country is unlikely to be able to honor a March 20 bond payment of 14.5 billion euros ($18 billion), Parker said today in an interview in Stockholm. Efforts to arrange a private sector deal on how to handle Greece’s obligations would constitute a default, he said.
Prime Minister Lucas Papademos is scheduled to meet tomorrow with a group representing private bondholders after a five-day break to hold talks on forgiving at least 50 percent of the nation’s debt in the euro area’s first sovereign restructuring. Greece’s official creditors begin talks Jan. 20 on spending curbs and budget cuts that will determine whether to disburse additional aid.
“The so-called private sector involvement, for us, would count as a default, it clearly is a default in our book,” Parker said. “So it won’t be a surprise when the Greek default actually happens and we expect it one way or the other to be relatively soon.”
…
Yawn.
yeah really….
Greece Is Insolvent, Will Default on Its Debt, Fitch Says
Yawn.
NO YAWNING. This is BIG. Is not this the first time the creditors taking a meaningful loss (50%) has been so mentioned in the MSM? I noticed this the first time yesterday on CNN International where the anchors all talk with English accents. Is this not going substantially “Icelandic”? If it is, there will be no more yawning.
scheduled to meet tomorrow with a group representing private bondholders after a five-day break to hold talks on forgiving at least 50 percent of the nation’s debt in the euro area’s first sovereign restructuring.
I think that the Masters of the Universe will continue to bail out Greece. Can’t have that first domino fall.
Of course eventually bigger countries will require bailouts. But until then they will continue to kick the can down the road.
I think that the Masters of the Universe will continue to bail out Greece. Can’t have that first domino fall.
How? And who?
Printing press. They can conjure money out of thin air. Not without consequences, of course, but those consequences mostly hurt the little people, so it’s all good.
Is this not going substantially “Icelandic”?
I don’t think it’s anything like going Icelandic. This is a voluntary move on the part of the creditors, and the creditors are agreeing because they would like to get their other 50%, at least substantially supported by ECB largess.
Contrast that with Iceland, where the creditors expected to be paid, and were told by the PEOPLE that they would not pay.
Night and day, IMHO.
Contrast that with Iceland, where the creditors expected to be paid, and were told by the PEOPLE that they would not pay.
Night and day, IMHO.
How can it be “night and day” when the end result is the same? (creditors taking substantial losses)
Now the mechanism might be different but the end result is very much the same. And the end result being similar is most likely because the Icelandic mechanism is less appealing than the potential “voluntary” Greek mechanism.
So I wouldn’t say it’s “night and day” but rather “dusk and dawn”.
Iceland’s creditors were paid in full.
Not by Iceland, but by the Bank of England and Dutch government.
The UK declared 4 Icelandic Banks terror organizations and consficated what assets they could find on the UK.
Iceland refused to pay the UK or Netherlands back claiming Iceland never authorized the bailout.
Of course at $330k per person, they would have had a hard time just paying the interest on the debt.
How can it be “night and day” when the end result is the same?
How is the end result the same? Greek creditors are expecting to get 50% of their money back…
Ok, so the Greek solution is half as good as the Icelandic solution.
Iceland’s creditors were paid in full.
Not by Iceland, but by the Bank of England and Dutch government.
And the creditor that I was happy to see get stiffed was those respective governments, which thought they could bail out their constituents at Icelandic expense. Eff ‘em.
Actually, when you think about it, it was through the US taxpayer, via AIG….
Folks in Greece need to put the FU back in FUN.
HEY, here’s an idea - sell the Parthenon to china, to cut up and move to a theme park outside beijing…like old london bridge at havasu?? or wherever it wound up…
Maybe the Chinese can write a check to the UK for the Elgin Marbles to go with it.
At the risk of being terribly un-PC, I advocate leaving the Parthenon frieze right where it is. The British Museum is open every day of the year, is well-run and takes good care of those marbles. Contrast this with the Greek work ethic, i.e. frequent strikes/numerous scheduled museum closures, and serious design flaws in the new museum designed to hold said marble frieze. My vote goes to the Brits.
I second your vote, Elanor.
What is wrong with the museum the Greeks built for the marbles? I haven’t followed that story.
Polly, my opinion is based solely upon my experience at the new Parthenon Museum in 2009. The floors are partially made of transparent glass, meaning that people can see up the skirts of women on the floor above. Not kidding! But even worse is the lack of sufficient restrooms for women. In a brand new modern building, that is inexcusable. They also have an exhibit of significant objects right in the entrance hall, which creates a huge bottleneck. It’s just dumb. Some of it maybe intentionally dumb.
Isn’t there insurance (unpayable of course) to be paid in the case of an official default?
For a long time, I pondered how to get into the large bond insurance industry. It’s a lot like the post-rapture “take care of your pets” industry. You merely collect the money and never have to worry about paying out. If a payout is indicated, you immediately go bankrupt in the case of bond insurance. In the case of Rapture, you’ll have bigger problems than walking a rapturee’s dog.
“…If a payout is indicated, you immediately go bankrupt in the case of bond insurance….”
Unless you’re AIG.
Pimco’s Gross Says Greece to Default Following Downgrades
January 17, 2012, 1:25 AM EST
By Wes Goodman
Jan. 16 (Bloomberg) — Bill Gross, who runs the world’s biggest bond fund at Pacific Investment Management Co., said Greece is heading for default.
The downgrade of European ratings by Standard & Poor’s last week shows countries can fail to meet their debt obligations, Gross said in a Twitter posting. Greece will prove to be the latest example, Gross wrote.
Greek officials will meet with lenders on Jan. 18 after discussions stalled last week over the size of investor losses in a proposed debt swap, raising the threat of default. European officials and creditors plan a 50 percent cut in the face value of Greek debt by voluntarily exchanging outstanding bonds for new securities, though the two sides haven’t been able to agree on the coupon and maturity of the new debt.
France and Austria lost their top rankings in a series of downgrades Jan. 13 that left Germany with the euro area’s only stable AAA grade, as S&P warned that efforts to address Europe’s financial problems are falling short. The region’s leaders are struggling to tame a crisis now in its third year and convince investors they can restore budget order.
S&P cut Greece’s grade to CC in July, meaning the nation’s debt is “highly vulnerable” to nonpayment, based on the company’s rating definitions.
Pimco’s $244 billion Total Return Fund, run by Gross, increased its holdings of U.S. government debt to 30 percent of assets in December, the most in 13 months, according to the company’s website.
“The bulk of sovereign-bond holdings should be in the U.S.,” Gross wrote Jan. 4 on the Newport Beach, California, company’s website. Investors should favor Treasuries, he said, “as long as European credit implosion is possible.”
…
Pump-n-dump masquerading as news.
will the US stock market tumble again on this rumor becomming fact ?
another recession ahead ?
Jan. 17, 2012, 7:00 a.m. EST
Payroll tax law may starve, reform Fannie, Freddie
Further pressure seen on the two ailing giants
By Ronald D. Orol, MarketWatch
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — When Congress signed a deal in the waning days of 2011 to extend the payroll tax cut by two months, they paid for it by increasing and diverting fees charged by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to guarantee mortgages.
That may not be an accident, as the move could starve the two government-seized housing giants and boost languishing legislation designed to reform or dismantle them, analysts and Congressional staffers say.
At issue is a law approved Dec. 23 that extends tax cuts for roughly 160 million Americans. The deal requires Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to hike the fees they normally would charge for guaranteeing credit risk and allocate that increase towards offsetting the cost of the tax cut extension. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the fee hike will bring in $35.7 billion over ten years, bringing in between $3 and $4 billion a year.
The re-routing of new guarantee fee funds is expected to cause trouble for Edward DeMarco, the acting head of the nation’s top housing regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency. DeMarco is charged with restoring the health of the two big mortgage firms but so far they have cost taxpayers $183 billion as of Dec. 14.
…
I’m reminded of the line from CCR’s “Fortunate Son”:
“When you ask them, “How much should we give?”
They only answer, “More! More! More!”
Oooooo! That’s another good song for my deejay set. Thanks!
OWS not so much dead as hibernating? I expect activity to heat up considerably as 2012 election season gets into full swing.
Occupy movement marches on MLK Day in recognition of wealth inequality
Protesters used the day to shed light on labor union struggles
By Shoshana Akabas · January 17, 2012, 12:43 am
Last night, nearly 44 years after the death of Martin Luther King Jr., Philadelphia residents and Penn students gathered at 30th Street Station to voice their concerns over wealth inequality and to shed light on labor union struggles in light of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
The event, which was organized by the Occupy Philadelphia Labor Working Group, consisted of a rally at 30th Street Station, a march to the post office on 30th and Walnut streets and inspirational presentations from guest speakers.
Approximately 400 people turned out for the event, including nearly 40 Penn students.
The event was scheduled purposefully for MLK Day to set the tone and provide inspiration, said School of Arts and Sciences graduate student Neha Sobti. “MLK Day is for … protesting, organizing and making real change to make equality a reality.”
…
In Ann Arbor, Michigan, there was quite the turnout at the “Occupy Governor Rick Snyder’s House” event.
OWS really needs to be concerned about being hijacked. Originally they were about Wall Street malfeasance. Just today, I heard on the radio about protestors supposedly under the banner of OWS protesting the construction of a juvenile detention facility. Their slogan was something along the lines of “build more schools not prisons”.
OWS attracted all kinds of people united on economic issues. If they start flaking and advocating for fringe social issues, that will be the solvent which dissolves the movement.
Here in Tucson, the Occupy thing is down to just a handful of people Downtown.
Last time I visited the site, a guy came over to me and started telling me all sorts of stories about how people had come there, set up camp, and then proceeded to sit there. And sit there. And sit there. Not doing a thing to help keep the camp clean or help with any of the other chores.
The guy also wasn’t very happy about the free pizza stampede. Seems as if people came from miles around to partake of the pizza that had been provided around Thanksgiving.
So, looks like the freeloaders poisoned the well for everyone else. Too bad.
I’m of the mind that if the Occupy movement wants to be truly effective, it needs to get over the camping obsession. It was fun for a while, but you know, it’s time to move on. Occupy in other ways. Like mike-checking the president of Blue Cross, as was done in DC. Or the President of the United States, which happened in New Hampshire.
Occupy a barber’s chair.
Those loosers need to get a job and go back to mom’s basement
Occupy a dictionary, you looser.
Looser than what?
Let me guess: The credit underwriting on a subprime payment-option liar loan?
Wow, Crack, that’s really FUNNY!
Hahahahahahahaha. “Occupy a barber chair.” Brilliant.
Barber chair…. (snort.)
China could be the next country to go bust, if its headlong rush to build ever-taller skyscrapers is a guide to its future economic health.
According to a study by Barclays Capital, the mania for skyscrapers over the last 140 years is a sure indicator of an imminent crash.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/jan/11/skyscrapers-china-india-recession
Apologies if this has already been posted.
http://market-ticker.org/
Another “MF Global” crops up in Canada.
What a surprise!
/sarc
Returns on capital are low everywhere. If a money manager is reporting hefty returns then he is either a financial genius or he is a liar.
This should not be a shocker to most people but for some reason it is.
The real pain will happen when we see giants like Fidelity and T Row Price etc getting caught at this. Invest in a large heavy mattress making company because people will be hiding a lot of cash under their mattress.
The market is booming,(?)
But where are the buyers?
Inventory is looming,
ReaItors Are Liars.
PM warns violence could destabilize Romania
ALINA WOLFE MURRAY, Associated Press
Monday, January 16, 2012
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — More than 1,000 demonstrators jeered government austerity measures in downtown Bucharest on Monday as Romania’s prime minister warned that violent clashes like those that left 59 injured over the weekend could jeopardize stability and economic growth.
Protesters who gathered in freezing temperatures for a fifth day of demonstrations chanted “Freedom!” and held banners saying “Hunger and poverty have gripped Romania!” They waved flags with the center ripped out, a symbol of the 1989 uprising against former Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. A car parked in the vicinity was set on fire but firefighters put out the blaze.
http://www.seattlepi.com/business/article/PM-warns-violence-could-destabilize-Romania-2549137.php -
A thousand demonstrate, millions stay home. The government will not be swayed by racous but small protests.
Mighty oaks from acorns grow.
In a corporatist, statist-run country acorns become chestnuts roasting on an open fire.
…… (fun)Yun picking at his nose…….
LOL, RAL.
“A thousand demonstrate, millions stay home. The government will not be swayed by racous but small protests.” Nicolae Ceausescu, 1989
He didn’t get it either.
Recall that thousands of Romanian soldiers volunteered to be part of Ceausescu’s firing squad.
I recall seeing footage of Ceausescu and his wife after they were sentenced to the firing squad.He was full of bluster and arrogance, making dismissive facial gestures. His wife, on the other hand, looked petrified. Apparently she did “get it”.
He was probably a sociopath who still thought he could BS his way out of it and she wasn’t.
SNL called him Puppy-Ceausescu after they citizens were done with his body.
Fed’s Lacker: Not Central Bank’s Role to Intervene in Housing Market
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2012/01/13/feds-lacker-not-central-banks-role-to-intervene-in-housing-market/
Of course Jethro Lacker was the only one stating that risk premiums were far too low, dating back to 2006. Nobody listened to him.
Another Fed ploy? Probably.
One Lacker is not going to prevail over the Fed’s Wall Street lackies.
Earlier in a speech, Lacker said an oversupply of housing and tight credit standards indicate the housing market is in for a lengthy adjustment process.
Not to mention the reduction in incomes that has occurred. Shouldn’t housing go through a significant adjustment process based solely on that?
Yup. Worth mentioning again the Bloomberg article I posted last week stating that only 7% of those laid off since the 2008 “financial crisis” have regained or exceeded their previous incomes.
The future belongs to Lucky Ducky!
He’s just setting himself up to take over when the final bubble pops.
http://news.yahoo.com/greeks-strike-against-austerity-eu-imf-visit-084154979.html
Greeks rallying against austerity. Decades of socialism have turned Greeks into a nation of cheats and layabouts; now they get up in arms when the inevitable bill comes due. If I was a German I’d be fuming at being an involuntary creditor to these ingrates.
But Germans have to realize that the only reason they’ve had the booming economy that they have is because they have been able to sell to ohters on credit.
Had they not loaned the trading partners the money, then they would not have bought, and Germany would not have had customers.
Everything is interconnected. You can’t assume “all else being equal”. If one thing was different, than nothing would be the same.
Decades of socialism have turned Greeks into a nation of cheats and layabouts;
Funny, I thought that’s what decades of downsizing, wage cuts, free-markets” and out-sourcing did.
Exactly! They were lazy!
/sarc
Damn those $10/hr school janitors….. they crashed the global economy.
$19/hr., plus full benefits=$30+/hr. Just sayin’.
the joys of an integrated europe. all they need now are some yellow school buses to ship all the greek to germany and let the germans provide them with free food and housing.
The Germans are more likely to provide them with jobs, unlike our own masters.
Decades of socialism have turned Greeks into a nation of cheats
So it’s socialism that turns people to cheats??\\
Good to know. They must have infected all of our capitalists.
PS Germany is socialist too.
PS Germany is socialist too.
Nein! Not the hard working, frugal Germans! Nein! Say it isn’t so!
That totally skrews up the propaganda.
PS Germany is socialist too.
Indeed, they have socialized medicine, free education and other stuff that “Barry the Commie” never delivered.
damn socialized medicine. Where can I get the regular high priced medicine?
Thank yesterday for posting Bain Romney capital owns clear channel…just a few months ago…uh Rom got a few questions for ya!
http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/98185/hundreds-cut-by-clear-channel-yesterday
From the Washington Post - Climate and the culture war:
“A theory about the role of carbon dioxide in climate patterns has joined abortion and gay marriage as a culture war controversy. Climate scientists are attacked as greenshirts and watermelons (green on the outside, red on the inside). Skeptics are derided as flat-earthers. Reputations are assaulted and the e-mails of scientists hacked.
Conservatives have also tended to equate climate science with liberal policies and therefore reject both.
In the conservative view, the real liberal goal is to undermine free markets and national sovereignty (through international environmental agreements). In the liberal view, the real conservative goal is to conduct a war on science and defend fossil fuel interests.”
This is all just a scam by Al Gore to sell more movie tickets, right? Let’s just keep going the way we are for another 100 or 200 years, maybe add another 3 billion eaters to the globe. Free market capitalism has unquestionably proven that infinite growth within a finite system is not only possible, but necessary. Keep on breeding (fill that quiver) and keep consuming, never mind the economic externalities…
I’m trying to convince the Luddites to buy beach-front property.
The good news: the one percent are already there. The bad news: after the flood the rest of us will pay to rebuild.
From the LA Times - Climate change becomes a flash point in science education:
“Although scientific evidence increasingly shows that fossil fuel consumption has caused the climate to change rapidly, the issue has grown so politicized that skepticism of the broad scientific consensus has seeped into classrooms.
Texas and Louisiana have introduced education standards that require educators to teach climate change denial as a valid scientific position. South Dakota and Utah passed resolutions denying climate change. Tennessee and Oklahoma also have introduced legislation to give climate change skeptics a place in the classroom.
Resistance to the scientific consensus breaks down mostly along regional lines, with greater pushback in the South and in regions where livelihoods have been built on extractive industries of fossil fuels.
Attacks on evolution come largely from conservative Christians who believe in a literal reading of the biblical creation story. Climate change denial is mostly rooted in political ideology, with foes decrying it as liberal dogma, teachers say.”
One fundy that I talked to invoked the “he said that he would not bring another flood to punish us” (somewhere in Genesis — perhaps “The Lamb Lies Down”?) as the evidence against global warming.
He blinded me with… science!!
I wanted to quote my Magic Eight Ball as to why I’d win a million dollars, but as he was fixing my plumbing, I didn’t want to piss him off.
Now bring in the usual HBB suspects.
ISTR that “Lamb Lies Down” had a lot of references to the Book of Revelation. “He brings down the fire from the skies…”
I was really only trying to reference the pre-Phil Collins prog-rock group Genesis. Accidental dove-tail!
Phil on drums not mike.
I liked the drumming Genesis Phil better than the oh-so-cute solo performer Phil.
Agree 100%. One word for you: Susudio.
“In The Air Tonight” makes up for a lot of Susudios.
But by all means, let’s let local school boards determine the public school curricula.
So, it seems the Facebook IPO is back on.
I’m torn. If this goes as well as expected, we can expect a lot more low/no profit tech companies going IPO. Long-term, this will be bad for the nation as they are sure to go the way of the same tech bubble in the 2001 tech wreck. There is just not the income revenue there. Any attempt to drastically increase revenue will just cause people to go to the next hot thing… Friendster, MySpace???
On the flip side, if we don’t have some new catalyst for tech spending soon, I could find myself out of work. A group of us were talking last week about how the computer software industry has really matured and how we’re not sure there is still enough work to keep tens of missions of programmers employed.
I got into computers during the PC revolution. The cheap computers opened up untold new processes to automation. Every mom and pop shop needed POS, inventory, accounting, etc software. As we ran out of new hick client aps that needed written, along came the web ap revolution. To take advantage of lower total cost of ownership by moving the ap to a web server instead of having to install and maintain thick clients all over, many UIs were rewritten as web. But even that cycle is almost complete.
Tablets are not going to create a need for new software sufficient to drive tens of millions of programmer jobs. Virtually every field of software is seeing consolidation as big fish eat smaller fish. Most companies have shut down in-house development and moved to commercial off-the-shelf.
So, do a root for another DotCom bubble that fuels mal-investment, keeping me and millions of my fellow computer programmers employeed for a few more years, even though it will crash and burn the larger economy when it to, like all bubbles, pops?
Software is nowhere near its nadir.
What’s obvious to programmers is still bass-ackwards crap to the average user.
Indeed.
I’m certainly not a programmer, but I can tell you that the Web runs on good programming. To the point that we design people have learned that we must be very kind when speaking to programmers.
Why? Because we need them. Oh, do we ever.
And this country needs deprogrammers to correct the thinking of the deluded masses brainwashed by the Housing Crime Syndicate.
“On the flip side, if we don’t have some new catalyst for tech spending soon, I could find myself out of work. A group of us were talking last week about how the computer software industry has really matured and how we’re not sure there is still enough work to keep tens of missions of programmers employed.”
I have a suggestion: dynamic carpooling, which would allow those who cannot get around by mass transit to live with one few car when in a family, and perhaps no car when single.
You’d need a “carpool club” with drivers and riders. Each would use cellphones to contact the club’s computer when they would be making a trip, the computer would match them, and a GPS system would guide the driver to the pick ups and dropoffs.
The riders would pay the equivalent of 50 percent more than a bus ride for door to door service (say $3.00). The club would keep perhaps 50 cents of that, and pass the rest of the drivers to offset the cost of their cars and gas. That could be $3,000 to $5,000 saved/earned per rider/driver if it meant not having a car, with its fixed costs, rather than just leaving a car at home.
Some of the 50 cents would be passed on to a “sales rep” for each rider/driver, who would help demonstate and install the system, and go up and drive people themselves if a club driver was not available. Perhaps younger retirees would take the job. Older retirees who can no longer drive would be a key market. The mobility of the suburban elderly can be expected to become a crisis in the near future. Younger people who will not be able to afford their own cars to begin with are another key market.
You’d need several things to make this work.
First, lots and lots of people doing it, a “chicken and egg” problem. If enough people did it, there would be riders from just about anywhere to just about anywhere available just about all the time in mid-sized and larger metros. Otherwise, riders without cars could be stranded.
Second, a link to government records to screen out the violent convicted and bad drivers.
Third, a computer program and support system. Perhaps one could create the computer system and then approach government to help create the other two. I suggest the mililitary and related contractors around DC as a possible first mover.
As a city planner, I suggested this 18 or so years ago when asked to come up with a transportation proposal for a more suburban part of NYC (Staten Island). Perhaps the time is right now.
WT:
City planner….ok i see so much waste of time, space and resources even as I drive through Long island city
The waste is in the under-utilization of all resources…..by forcing everyone to work M-F 9-5….its dead after 6pm and thousands of FREE parking spaces and weekends holidays…..Why WT?
With the exception of some very poorly designed roads, highway exits most of the transportation planning across this country has been pretty good.
Maybe you have to think backwards WT, give tax breaks only to businesses that employ most of their FT workers on 2nd 3rd shift weekends and holidays so adding public transportation becomes profitable…..or your carpooling idea might work is thousands of people on SI have to be at work for 11 pm…or 9am sunday morning
You don’t have children, do you?
Got two of them. And one car. No car before the kids, and probably no car after. You can do that where I live, due to transit, bikes, stuff you can walk to. Not so in most of the U.S. So this is an alternative.
Understand the theme: computer programs to allow a more modest reduction in the American standard of living than our circumstances would otherwise requirem by substituting IT, the one thing getting better, for more expensive resources.
PLENTY of demand for that.
“Got two of them. And one car. No car before the kids, and probably no car after.”
I second that notion. No car before the one kid, now have one car (Mini Cooper) for the wife’s commute and longer trips. Anything else, I do by bike. It’s not easy, but it’s a money saver and fat burner, so I do it.
I am lucky to have a friend who has access to a truck though. Using it to pick up a 1000 gal water tank for the garden. Supposed to rain by Friday, so I’m scrambling to clean the gutters, hook it up to the gutters, raise it for more pressure and install the leaf catcher and mosquito screens by then. Off to the hardware store on the bike!
[Luckily/unluckily I received my 30 notice last week, so I'm not doing too much work on that front anymore!]
No Darrell no kids but working in radio and tv stations for years you have no choice to work all types of hours, breaking stories…etc
Some jobs a seat has to filled 24/7 so if you are stuck in snow I have to stay until someone relives me…i’ve pulled many a 16-20 hour shifts in blizzards almost hurricane winds and then slept on a couch till my next shift hoping my relief bought some extra food to eat….so my views maybe kinda skewed.
The comment about kids was focused at DJ’s comments about wanting to get more people on evening and night shifts. Good luck getting the public schools to offer 3 shifts so kids can go to school when the parents are working, or paying someone to watch the kids midnight to 10AM every day you have to work.
We could basically achieve the same thing as the carpool database by people just standing out on the street corner with a sign saying “Central and Thomas, $3″. If I stood out on the street corner looking for a ride, people are unlikely to pick me up for fear I’m a murdering, rapist, car thief. I know you mentioned a quick check of records… but I do not think that would be near enough to lift peoples’ fear of giving rides to strangers.
I’m not sure I agree, if trips were for club members only and had to begin or end at their homes, which would be right near the homes of the other club members in the vehicle.
Isn’t waiting on the corner for a ride common in Washington DC?
Don’t they call them “slugs”?
Maybe it will make the parents work harder at keeping the marriage together????
or paying someone to watch the kids midnight to 10AM every day you have to work.
[Luckily/unluckily I received my 30 notice last week, so I'm not doing too much work on that front anymore!]”
That sucks is your industry in decline ?
Isn’t waiting on the corner for a ride common in Washington DC?
Don’t they call them “slugs”?
Indeed it is. The idea is to get a commuter or two in your car so you can use the HOV lanes on the freeways around DC.
“comment about kids was focused at DJ’s comments ”
Gotcha, my mistake.
“That sucks is your industry in decline ?” Yes and no. I work in IT for (bump-bump-ba) the Financial Industry. {Shiver} Really though, I tried to quit in August when we re-lo’d since I hated the job and they don’t let anyone work remotely.
They wouldn’t let me quit and let me work remotely, 5 hours a day and gave me a raise. But they finally found someone permanent in SF so the cushy gravy train is over. I find myself wanting to build another 4×20 raised bed. One in the ground and filled, number 2 built and the rain is coming…
Park and ride (something very much like what you suggest, but without an IT component) is pretty common in my city - when i say ‘common’, i mean ‘exists’ and i’ve never met a single person who uses it. I think the inconvenience factor at $4 a gallon is too high. Maybe at $8.
Younger generations are not as car-oriented as the boomers. They’d just as soon share rides or take transit, surveys say.
Then there is the problem of all those 80-somethings in places where you have to drive everywhere. I wonder if their preferred alternative — taxpayer subsidized door to door limo service — will be affordable? Probably not.
My grandmother moved out to the burbs to be near her sons before she died. The taxi ride to the doctor cost more than the doctor.
Maybe on the East Coast. West of the Mississippi, you don’t exist if you don’t have a vehicle. Ride the bus? I hope you have a lot of time to spare.
West of the Mississippi, you don’t exist if you don’t have a vehicle. Ride the bus? I hope you have a lot of time to spare.
Here in SF bike riding is practically a religion. But the drivers are crazy, too, and it seems like there’s a lot of tension between bicyclists and drivers. People bike in their work clothes and in fancy clothes; I love seeing that.
I would love to bike more, but with 2 kids, a large dog, and a surfboard…
…plus our house is on one the steeper hills in the city.
“Here in SF bike riding is practically a religion”
Judging by the massive traffic jams in the Bay Area, I would say that more folks need to “get religion”. And you guys actually have a real subway system (BART), which is pretty rare in the west.
Younger generations are not as car-oriented as the boomers. They’d just as soon share rides or take transit, surveys say.
I’ve read this too. It seems to be a recurring theme on Streetsblog.
Oh, yesterday evening, I saw a couple of young ‘uns flirting at an intersection. Both were on bicycles, and they appeared to be heading to the same destination.
Slim, do people really cycle (non recreational) when it’s 110 outside? It snowed here today, also not very practical for cycling to work.
I miss my SF commute. The 20 pounds that I had dropped biking 20 miles a day came right back on and I’m back at square one.
And it is easier to chat up someone on a bike than in a car. Then again, I was asked (before I sold my car), “But you do HAVE a car, right?”
I got hit twice, but I believe that SF drivers are more awful than crazy. It’ll still get you dead, of course.
Slim, do people really cycle (non recreational) when it’s 110 outside? It snowed here today, also not very practical for cycling to work.
We sure do!
And didja know that, this past June, there was a high temperature of 113 degrees? That was on a Monday, and yes, I did my weekly walk around Downtown Tucson. All three miles of it. And I rode the bike to and from.
Attendance on that walk was a bit low, but there was a nice atmosphere. People actually looked out for each other instead of focusing on their fitness walk while chatting with their friends, or beating their personal best on the three-mile run.
Younger generations are not as car-oriented as the boomers.
Maybe it’s that $1k/mo to operate and depreciate?
And didja know that, this past June, there was a high temperature of 113 degrees?
You must be sturdier that the folks I know in Tucson.
What they’ve told me is that once it’s 9-10AM everyone retreats indoors until the sun sets and it cools off (to a frigid 90F).
FWIW, the only people I see cycling out here (in the summer) are the tight cycling pants, 5% body fat crowd,who tend to travel in pelotons.
But I really don’t see this trend towards ditching cars in favor of bikes, not in my neck of the woods. If anything, my peloton acquaintances drive Audis and BMWs. And ALL of my HS aged son’s friends have cars. All of them.
Younger generations are not as car-oriented as the boomers.
Maybe it’s that $1k/mo to operate and depreciate?
While that may not help I don’t think that it. When I was a kid we would work like slaves and put every dime into the car.
Why? Because that’s what got us to where the girls were in style sufficient to get their attention.
So what has changed? Either there are other ways to get to the girls now in sufficient style or else video games and porn makes the girls less important. I’m certain it’s something to do with one or both of those things…
Any of my bro’s or sis’s see the latest NAR lie on television? Dripping with patronizing sanctimoniousness.
They’re “protecting the word home” according to the pathetic comic strip.
Speaking of dripping, just a reminder that Rick Santorum will be on C-Span’s Washington Journal call-in program at 7am ET on Friday, January 20. Please call him with your questions and comments.
Why, that’s 5:00 a.m. Tucson time! I think I’ll ooze on over to the phone and give him a call.
Good news or bad news? Make up your mind!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46025535/ns/business-stocks_and_economy/
“More than four years after the United States fell into recession, many Americans have resorted to raiding their savings to get them through the stop-start economic recovery.”
“In an ominous sign for America’s economic growth prospects, workers are paring back contributions to college funds and growing numbers are borrowing from their retirement accounts.”
“Some policymakers worry that a recent spike in credit card usage could mean that people, many of whom are struggling on incomes that have lagged inflation, are taking out new debt just to meet the costs of day-to-day living.”
“American households “have been spending recently in a way that did not seem in line with income growth. So somehow they’ve been doing that through perhaps additional credit card usage,” Chicago Federal Reserve President Charles Evans said on Friday.”
“If they saw future income and employment increasing strongly then that would be reasonable. But I don’t see that. So I’ve been puzzled by this,” he said. “
It’s good news fro the richies. All the money in those raided savings accounts is going to end up in their wallets.
Our debt is their wealth.
Remember that volatile food and energy costs are excluded from calculating “core” inflation. Let them eat i-Pads…
American government has been spending recently in a way that did not seem in line with income growth. So somehow they’ve been doing that through perhaps additional credit card usage.
Good news or bad news? Make up your mind!”
we never post good news here
Tune in and listen to RAL ask Santorum why he’s obsessed with sexual topics and gay men in particular.
Why Rick?
C-Span’s Washington Journal is the best call-in program there is. They rarely cut the callers off and keep their cameras fixed on the guest in the hotseat.
I think people obsessed with gays have gay tendencies.
EXACTLY.
But why is the proclivities of others important to a presidential election?
Because he’s really looking out for the well-being of America’s pets, as it is not gay marriage per se that is the threat, but the slippery slope to which it leads…
If someone asks, how are you going to bring jobs back to America in the face of $2 an hour global wage? Ummmmm I’m pro-life.
How are you going to balance the budget without raising taxes or cutting 80% of the budget that goes to things I like? Family values, free market, rugged individualism.
How are you going to support home prices so we can go back to cash-out refinancing every time we max out the credit cards? Defense of Marriage Act.
I don’t see how this trend can be happening as well as a uptick in housing prices except certain locals
By Sara Murray WSJ
The pool of Americans relying on government benefits rose to record highs last year as an increasing share of families tapped aid in a weak economy.
Some 48.6% of the population lived in a household receiving some type of government benefit in the second quarter of 2010, up a notch from 48.5% in the first quarter, according to Census data.
Expanding government programs combined with the worst downturn since the Great Depression have led to an explosion in the share of Americans relying on outside help. To combat prolonged economic weakness, Congress extended unemployment benefits to a record 99 weeks (up from the normal 26-weeks offered in most states). The food stamp program was tweaked so it was more generous. Americans flocked to Social Security disability, a last bastion of support for some of the long-term unemployed. (See a timeline on the history of government benefits programs here.)
One of the worst part about being unemployed is you run out of personal projects to do, and then what? no jobs and you cant legally take an intern job that’s in your field, to keep up your skills even if you are on Welfare……because you have to be available for paid work.
This again is a serious waste of resources and the emotional toll of having to lie to ui to even work for free.
So lets fingerprint and drug test all those deadbeats….ok?
One of the worst part about being unemployed is you run out of personal projects to do
I honestly cannot imagine that occurring. You need more hobbies…
“I honestly cannot imagine that occurring. You need more hobbies…”
Hear, hear! With the new-ish arrival, I have so many hobbies not getting done. Pick any one of these: fly-fishing, camping (though we are going over Prez weekend), clawhammer banjo, foreign language practice, re-reading Moby Dick with the S.O., biking, re-furbing my C-64, getting a new job, assassinating gophers, cooking, etc. etc. etc…
Bubbs,
Start reading Moby Dick to mini-Bub as a bedtime story. Just the cadences will soothe, and you’ll be starting a lifetime love of reading for your young’un.
By the time mine was old enough to understand 10% of what I was saying, I’d already gotten through Moby and started on Le Morte D’arthur. Brings a whole new appreciation for the poetry.
I honestly cannot imagine that occurring
Agreed. When in doubt, volunteer.
I work a full-time job and volunteer for two non-profits. The non-profit work is almost another full-time job, and I’m not as involved as I’d really like to be.
And that doesn’t include working on the car, gardening, and other house projects I have.
Silly. The billionaires are going to buy up the excess housing supply in bulk for huge discounts. With the excess housing supply off the market, people will magically have jobs that pay high enough wages to afford bubble prices for houses and builders won’t bother to just build more houses to replace the absorbed supply.
Don’t you get it. The laws of supply and demand are just suggestions that we can ignore whenever we feel like it.
Earlier this month, I got yet another rate hike notice from my health insurer. Which is owned by Goldman Sachs. It seems as if this poor, starving health insurance company just isn’t making enough money these days. So, they sent me their second rate hike notice in less than a year.
Since I’m a freelancer, I’m used to getting rejection letters. And health insurance companies, they’re very good at sending rejection letters. Especially when we’re applying for coverage or trying to get them to cover something after we’ve paid all those premiums. So, in honor of this latest rate increase, I’m turning the tables on them. I’m sending them a rejection letter. Details here.
Hell hath no fury like Slim scorned!
Give ‘em a little indigestion. If nothing else it will make you feel a little better.
Great letter, Slim. Far more charitable than the innumerable ones I’ve circulated AGAINST BLUE CROSS!
(er, excuse me.)
Romney pays a lower overall tax rate to the federal gov than the average American family. Is this a great country or what?
Romney says he pays about 15 percent in income tax
Jan 17, 4:16 PM (ET)
KASIE HUNT
FLORENCE, S.C. (AP) - After weeks of stalling, Mitt Romney did an about-face on Tuesday and said he will release his tax returns in April and that they will show he pays close to 15 percent of his income in taxes.
The top federal tax rate for investment income - qualified dividends and long-term capital gains - is 15 percent. By comparison, the top tax rate for wages is 35 percent, on taxable income above $388,350. Wages are also subject to Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes.
At 15 percent, Romney’s federal income tax rate would still be higher than the tax rate paid by most Americans.
On average, households making between $50,000 and $75,000 will pay a federal income tax rate of 5.7 percent this year, according to projections by the Tax Policy Center a Washington think tank.
However, when payroll and other taxes are included, that same household would pay an average federal tax rate of 16.6 percent.
EXACTLY. They always seem to leave out payroll taxes when talking about how many households do not pay taxes.
We need to return to a 1950s style tax code with a tiny (or better yet, non-existent) payroll tax and a very steep income tax with a 90+% top rate.
Oh, but no none paid that top rate because they could spend their money on all kinds of loopholes. RIGHT, and what was one man’s loophole was another man’s job, income, ability to live a middle-class lifestyle.
The debt can’t be repaid unless the people with the money spend the money.
Well, Romney pays the payroll tax too, I assume, or does he?
“By comparison, the top tax rate for wages is 35 percent, on taxable income above $388,350. Wages are also subject to Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes.”
Now people might think the same last dollar of income taxed at the 35 percent rate can’t be the same as the dollar of income that pays 15 percent for FICA. But what if you are the spouse with the lower income in a two-income family? Then it’s possible to hit that 50% plus state income taxes (and local in NYC too).
His income comes from capital gains, which is not subject to payroll tax at all.
Married filling joint, the 35% starts at $380K, well above the max $215Kish that is 2x the max SS cutoff. 2x the SS max is near the top of the $28% bracket.
I say get rid of payroll taxes and capital gains. Treat it all as income regardless of the source, with a very progressive rate with a 90%+ top rate….. lots of loopholes for spending on silly things like creating jobs and increasing the number of people in the middle-class.
Not to mention a big tariff on any money leaving the country.
Well, Romney pays the payroll tax too, I assume, or does he?
He pays the payroll tax on his first $110,000 in income. That’s not enough to change his overall tax rate.
And he says he barely makes any income anyway- it’s all capital gains (ie no payroll tax).
Sorry left leaning spendthrifts of other people’s $. Taxes are paid in dollars not rates. Romney probably pays more than most people earn.
Sure, but fairness is expressed in rates, not in dollars.
He earns a boatload, and pays a far lower rate than someone like me who earns way less.
Hush up while the serf defends his master.
Cute sayings don’t change the facts. You could tax all the millionaires at 95% and still it would not keep up with government spending. And the taxes are in dollars who cares about the rate? The upper income groups pay a disproportiate share of taxes. But still not enough for spendthift bleeding heart liberals. I guess I am naive. I still don’t understand why all those Democrats simply don’t start a charity for universal health care and all the other social programs they want.
P.S. Increasing the approximately $100K social security limit does not change anything since people are supposed to get back from SS what they put in. Unless some are taking out more than they put in. Impossible that would make it a ponzi scheme.
And the taxes are in dollars who cares about the rate?
That is a bunch of cr*p.
Tax rates should not DECLINE for the super-wealthy. Regardless of how many dollars they pay.
Anon,
I am far from a bleeding heart liberal although I have some compassion for my fellow man. That’s not the point.
The point is, why should a very wealthy individual pay a far lesser effective tax rate than you or I? Where’s the justice in that? There is none. I am for dramatically reducing the size and scope of the Federal Beast and the taxes needed to buy the meat that is thrown at it. But for our dear sweet ukulele playin’ uncle to pay peanuts compared to we serfs grinding it out day by day pay. Then for the old bastard to talk out of both sides of his face.
I’m not buying it.
Fairness certainly is in the eye of the beholder.
but isn’t your implication that it’s unfair what he’s paying in dollars?
Just what is it you’re arguing for here? Flat tax, based on RATE, btw) no longer good enough? Now everyone should pay a flat AMOUNT?
Of course fairness is in the eye of the beholder.
But for me, beholding that the very wealthy pay essentially HALF of the rate that I pay really pisses me off.
You are sounding a lot like a bought-and-paid-for shill, btw. I used to think RAL was crazy for suggesting that there might be paid posters on this blog. But the sheer number of far-right talking points that you managed to shoe-horn into a single post has just convinced me otherwise. Congrats.
I used to think RAL was crazy for suggesting that there might be paid posters on this blog. But the sheer number of far-right talking points that you managed to shoe-horn into a single post has just convinced me otherwise
Read up on the Kochtopus, Prime, and then ask yourself why they wouldn’t pay people to troll websites. Hell, it’s a major part of their whole ‘astroturf’ strategy.
I’m sure glad the GOP ClownCar has been winnowed down to one passenger.
I miss Michele Bachmann
+1.
Pushing on a string ?
“The real money these days is going straight under the mattress,” said TrimTabs CEO Charles Biderman. “The Fed is doing almost everything in its power to entice investors to speculate in overpriced asset markets. Yet investors - particularly on the retail side - are mostly refusing to take the bait.”
From January to November, $889 billion poured into savings and checking, while stock and bond funds drew just $109 billion. More money went into bank accounts even at times when the market rallied.
Biderman attributes the reluctance of retail investors to commit money to three factors: 1) an increase in baby-boomer retirees who are becoming more risk-averse in their later years; 2) an economy getting better but still struggling, and 3) worries that the Fed is running out of ammunition to stimulate the economy.”
4. Strong suspicion that stocks are overpriced and are being manipulated.
5. Strong suspicion that this has always been the case, that the stock market is massively rigged in favor of the insiders, and that thee and me are not going to get to the inside via a 401k or a mutual fund.
4) They can see it is all smoke and mirrors based on $1.3T+ a year deficits and easing of FASB157 that encouraged companies to lie about the value of assets on their balance sheets.
Everyone is awaiting the wipe-out, hoping to pick the bones clean, not realizing that when that happens, the money in the bank isn’t going to be there either, and then the govt is going to have to tax the money away to pay interest on the exploding debt.
There is no where to hide from the implosion that is coming. But, still… people try.
not realizing that when that happens, the money in the bank isn’t going to be there either
Why do you believe that, Darrell? FDIC has an unlimited credit-like from the US Treasury, and the US Treasury can print up as much paper money as it needs (or get the Fed to print up orders of magnitude more instantly electronically).
I seriously doubt your “bank run” theory.
$889B…. You think every account is under the FDIC limit? And when the treasury is paying 8% on $15T debt and our deficit is $2.5T a year instead of $1.5T a year… Then we default. What are those unlimited number of treasury dollars going to be worth?
Go ahead and doubt the bank run theory, but it was pretty much happening in 2008 until the government started running the $1.3T+ a year deficits and then eased FASB 157 and told everyone to lie.
“OWS really needs to be concerned about being hijacked. Originally they were about Wall Street malfeasance.”
Actually, not true.
Initially Adbusters set a goal of campaign finance reform, getting the big money out of politics. Before the occupation even began, a wide range of other groups had signed up with their own agendas. The real numbers for the initial occupation came from established activist groups, one focused on homeless rights, another focused on promoting anarchist philosophy, and yet another wanting to end the fed.
Even before the protests officially began, it was a hodge podge of conflicting, mutually exclusive goals.
I attended the occupation here in Phoenix at least 20 days, seeing the total lack of progress and inability to focus on a set of goals. I just walked away one day when there was supposed to be a working group on macro-economics, but it degraded into a working group on anarchist philosophy and another on ending the wars and how evil our active duty military and veterans are.
There was never the focus on economic issues that some like to claim there was. It was always as much or more about homeless rights, ending anti-camping laws, anarchist philosophy, ending the wars, legalizing marijuana, ending the use of fossil fuels, amnesty for illegals…. on and on… as it was about campaign finance reform, banking reform, or tax/entitlement reform.
The group did name itself “Occupy Wall Street”, which provides some inkling about their initial focus.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2011/1024/Top-5-targets-of-Occupy-Wall-Street/Wall-Street-obviously
However, in poking around other web sites, unfortunately it looks like they are getting pretty well hijacked. Pity.
No more DJs at the radio stations, replaced by a corporate programmer assembling play lists and downloading into the computers at dozens of radio stations. An engineer can monitor the broadcasts and mix in the local commercials for a dozen stations.
Self-checkout replaces the cashers are ever more stores.
ATMs, gas pumps with CC readers needing no human transaction, Internet shopping makes items move directly from manufacturer or distro center to your door, Itunes means no music store, netflix destroyed the video rental brick and mortar stores, Best Buy the last big consumer electronics store is crashing as Amazon’s showroom, video conferencing reduces business travel.
Construction is in the toilet and demographics says it will be there for decades.
The manufacturing jobs that have not moved to Asia are on their way to Mexico.
Banking/finance has become an ever larger segment of our economy, but it is poised to crash.
Where or where have all the jobs gone? Of where oh where will the new jobs be coming from?
No more DJs at the radio stations, replaced by a corporate programmer assembling play lists and downloading into the computers at dozens of radio stations. An engineer can monitor the broadcasts and mix in the local commercials for a dozen stations.
I volunteer at a radio station that’s going the opposite direction. It’s training more people to be deejays the old fashioned way.
As in, OMG, what are we going to play next? Where’s that public service announcement? Hey, Slim, pay attention to what player you’re cuing the next song on!
All of the above happened yesterday morning during one of my on-air practice sessions. And I’m very grateful for my mentor, the station’s general manager, for being so patient with me. Not to mention the people listening to the radio. Bless you all too.
Fonzi must be falling on hard times. He’s pimping reverse mortgages.
Pathetic man you are Henry.
House a couple blocks away was reverse mortgaged in 2006. It was foreclosed in 2009.
Re-sold to what appears to be one of those 2010 tax credit buyers. The purchase price was $200k less than the reverse mortgage amount. Wells Fargo really took a haircut on that one.
I’m thinking these reeeeee-verse mortgages are evil.
Cruise Ship Captain Placed Under House Arrest
COLLEEN BARRY, NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press
Published : Tuesday, 17 Jan 2012, 6:40 AM CST
ROME (AP) - An Italian coast guard official vehemently demanded that the captain go back to his crippled cruise ship to oversee its evacuation, but the captain repeatedly resisted, according to a shocking audiotape made public Tuesday.
Prosecutors have accused Capt. Francesco Schettino of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning his vessel before all passengers were evacuated during the grounding of the Costa Concordia cruise ship off the Tuscan coast on Friday night.
Schettino has insisted that he stayed aboard until the ship was evacuated. However, a recording of his conversation with Italian Coast Guard Capt. Gregorio De Falco indicates he fled before all passengers were off — and then resisted De Falco’s repeated orders to return.
“You go on board and then you will tell me how many people there are. Is that clear?” De Falco shouted in the audio tape.
Schettino resisted, saying the ship was tipping and it was dark. At the time, he and his second-in-command were in a lifeboat and the captain said he was coordinating the rescue from there. He also said he was not going back aboard the ship “because the other lifeboat is stopped.” Passengers have said many lifeboats on the exposed port side of the ship didn’t winch down after the ship had capsized.
———————————————————————————-
I have found this video on youtube of who I believe is Capt. Francesco Schettino at a party in New York a few years ago.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPwrpVetsnU - 90k -
Schettino’s goose is cooked. If there’s an Italian dish that features goose, let me know. He’s going to be eating a lot of it.
I’m more concerned about the blatant and current cover-up about knowledge of the ship’s position. The Captain didn’t steer the ship himself; he needed a navigator to assist him. So the navigator knew. I bet the helmsman knew too. And it’s worse, since all the ships on this cruise line have courses plotted at HQ and submitted to each ship before it starts a voyage. There is real-time tracking of these ships. So the cruise line company knew about the deviation as soon as it happened. There are a LOT of people involved, but the media is concentrating on the Captain. So it’s a cover-up, and it doesn’t even take much knowledge to see that.
Realtor Goons
End Piracy, Not Liberty
Tell Congress: Please don’t censor the web!
:+
:/
3