Bits Bucket for February 7, 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
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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Zimbabwe Ben’s printing press is going into hyper-drive. From Zero Hedge: “The surge in the U.S. money supply in recent years has sent gold into a series of new record nominal highs. Money supply surged again in 2011 sending gold to new record nominal highs. Money supply has grown again, by more than 35% on an annualized basis, and this is contributing to gold’s consolidation and strong gains in January. The Federal Reserve’s latest weekly money supply report from last Thursday shows seasonally adjusted M1 rose $13.2 billion to $2.233 trillion, while M2 rose $4.5 billion to $9.768 trillion.”
The economy
A hair of the dog
A bit more debt keeps the recovery on track
Feb 4th 2012 | WASHINGTON, DC | from the print edition
AFTER three years of stagnant loan growth, The Peoples Bank in Coldwater, Ohio, has noticed a change. Clients who two years ago would not have qualified for a loan now find that they can. One customer who was working for only 35 hours a week two years ago is now working 45 to 50 hours. “That was his reason for coming in: he had steadier income,” says Jack Hartings, president of the seven-branch bank. Since the bank’s main alternative to lending money is buying Treasury bonds that yield only 1%-2%, Mr Hartings is eager to make new loans.
Across the country, bank lending, which shrank almost steadily from early 2009, is growing again (see chart), thanks to modest employment growth, stabilising home prices in many regions, and the Federal Reserve’s Herculean efforts to hold down interest rates.
This is helping. In the fourth quarter, America’s economy grew by 2.8% at an annual rate, the fastest in an otherwise dreary year. Much of that was from inventory restocking which will not be repeated. Still, consumer spending rose at a 2% annual rate and house building expanded by 11%, the most since 2004.
Both of these sectors were helped by easier credit. Moderate job growth, skimpy pay rises and higher petrol prices held growth in income after taxes and inflation to just 0.9% last year. Consumption grew faster because households borrowed more and saved less. Saving, which had topped 5% as a share of disposable income in the wake of the recession, had fallen to 3.5% in November.
…
With monetary inflationists in control the last several years one would have been wise to buy as many ounces of gold coins as possible…years ago…perhaps stopping purchases at $1000.
It’s getting closer to morning in America, but that will be after 2016 when RomneyBama is ousted. Stocks are the best place to be. Start a slow selloff of your own gold before the next gold bust knocks spot price down to $600 and stays there through 2036. Dump gold in early 2016.
Start a slow selloff of your own gold before the next gold bust knocks spot price down to $600 and stays there through 2036. Dump gold in early 2016.
bill, is that really you, or did someone hack your account? The above sounds suspiciously like market-timing… Wouldn’t you just hang on to your intended asset-allocation and occasionally rebalance?
You don’t make any money till you cash out.
Personally, I will maintain ten percent in precious metals.
It’s getting closer to morning in America, but that will be after 2016 when RomneyBama is ousted.
And is replaced by another corporatist/bankster boot licker.
Precisely. Wall Street puts its own agent into the White House now every 4 years. It does that by buying both sides. Since 95%+ of Americans refuse to vote outside the Two-Side System, then it only stands to reason that Wall Street wins every time.
I don’t know who will run for President in 2016, but the winner will be a Wall Street agent. That’s already baked into the cake. As you implied.
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2012/01/31/sicily-pitchfork-movement-in-revolt-western-media-blackout/
A “pitchfork rebellion” flaring in Sicily. When you read their demands (i.e. arrest of corrupt politicians who led Italy into its current mess) you’ll understand why the MSM has consigned this story to the Memory Hole - wouldn’t want to rattle the markets or give the proles ideas, would we?
“Pitchfork Rebellion” sounds much more exciting than “Occupy Protest.”
Facts & Stories
Sicily: When Farmers Hold Their Pitchforks
Francesca Giuliani (January 20, 2012)
The haulers’ and farmers’ unrest in Sicily will last for five more days. In the meantime, Sicilians spend up to €3 a liter for gas.
The last five days have not been pretty for those Sicilians whose gas tanks were empty.
The strike organized by the so called “Movimento dei Forconi” (the “Pitchfork Movement”, a protest movement gathering Sicilian farmers), the haulers of the “Forza d’Urto” group, and AIAS (Associazione Imprese Autotrasportatori Sicilia – Sicily haulage companies association), with roadblocks and blockades in the island’s refineries and ports, has led to a lack of petrol at gas stations all over the island. Local bloggers today signaled that on the Messina-Catania highway the price of gas has jumped to €3 a liter.
Groceries are also becoming a scarce resource. Reportedly, in the Lentini area, bread and poultry stock are close to exhaustion, even though trucks bringing food, milk, livestock and medications shouldn’t be blocked by the demonstrants.
The Pitchfork Movement and Forza d’Urto are demonstrating to sensibilize the government on the unbearability of the economic crisis for the striking categories: haulers can’t afford gas, farmers can’t sell their products and they can’t grapple with increasing taxes.
…
Soon to morph into a “lamppost” movement.
Damn unions!
/sarc
You would think with gas at that price a Nissan Leaf would be the car of choice. It’s a fricking island, how much petrol does it take to get around?
I believe that “scooters” are the “car” of choice.
Your average new car in Europe costs about 50K American… for the small ones.
Your average new car in Europe costs about 50K American… for the small ones.
Not true.
I just looked at VW’s Spain website. The Golf models start at 18K Euros, about $23K US. The Polo starts at 13K Euros.
My bad. I haven’t looked at the exchange rates lately.
Clue: It’s Sicily. Mainland Italy likes to pretend that it’s not there. So they can protest all they want. The mainland will continue to pretend they aren’t there, and stopping the flow of stuff like gasoline will hurt Sicilians a lot more than it will hurt the mainland.
The elite are waiting for the same thing in the USA, really. They are waiting for the riots in the poor areas, so they can send in the cops and firemen, bust some heads, then drag in the bulldozers for more “urban redevelopment”, which the property developers (ever in control in most city governments) will use for another round of bank fraud.
Stimulus dry-up hurts Florida’s economic recovery
By Emily Roach
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Federal money for capital projects shrank by about 20 percent since 2009, according to a study by the National Association of State Budget Officers.
“It’s not that the government is doing damage by cutting back,” said economist William Stronge, professor emeritus at Florida Atlantic University. “It’s that local government is being required to cut back because the stimulus is ending.”
The Wells Fargo Economics Group concluded that the cutbacks, which reined in many local governments after years of rampant spending, detracted from job and economic growth over the past year. This year, the public sector won’t help the economy, and could harm it, the group forecasts.
Temporary federal stimulus money to keep teachers and police employed is expected to drop from $66 billion nationwide in the last fiscal year to $23 billion in the current year, the state budget officers association concluded. Florida’s capital expenditures shrunk from $10 billion in fiscal year 2009-10 to $8 billion last year and are calculated by the association to be $9.6 billion this year, although the federal portion declined.
Yet, the biggest hits are yet to come, with the cuts due to the debt ceiling standoff kicking in next year and an array of tax breaks set to expire at the end of the year, Stronge said.
Lynn University finance professor Ralph Norcio said it’s about time the government started cutting back, but everyone must share the burden to get the economy back on track.
“We need people (in government) who are going to be honest with people, who say, ‘If you really want to see your children not have a standard of living that is considerably lower than what you have, then you need to do something now,’ ” Norcio said.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/money/stimulus-dry-up-hurts-floridas-economic-recovery-2155076.html -
” …but everyone must share the burden to get the economy back on track.”
Eyes trying to remember, whose mantra was:
“Cut or shut it!!!!!”
The TrueAngry’s or the $uffering $o’s?
(What would 20% of the “Audit-the-Pentagon” yield…on a yearly basi$?)
“Federal money for capital projects shrank by about 20 percent since 2009, according to a study by the National Association of State Budget Officers.
“It’s not that the government is doing damage by cutting back,” said economist William Stronge, professor emeritus at Florida Atlantic University. “It’s that local government is being required to cut back because the stimulus is ending.”
“It’s not that the government is doing damage by cutting back,” said economist William Stronge, professor emeritus at Florida Atlantic University. “It’s that local government is being required to cut back because the stimulus is ending.”
Huh? I guess that’s why he’s ‘emeritus’.
What’s amazing is that someone in the media would print such a stupid comment, based on the circular reasoning of an “Economist”, and think there was any informational value to the comment, other than: ECONOMISTS are STUPID.
The only thing hurting Florida’s recovery is…. Florida.
Realtors Are Liars®
Actually RAL, eyes was thinking a large oversize book for the coffee table featuring pictures of their tattoo’s might be a conversation starter.
I dunno - pics of all those realtor tramp stamps might be off-putting to some people.
eyes was thinking something more $ophisticated, like a compare & contrast theme over say “ugliness”: The Hou$e, The Loan$, The $eller, The Buyer$ or The Arse?
Especially stamped above Roseanne Barr-dimensioned arses
They’re in the classroom, they’re in the home, they’re in the vacation plan$, they’re in theater$, they’re on the Radio & TV & Cable & $atellite, they’re on the ipod’$ & ipad$, they’re on the kids clothe$, they’re sides of buse$ of everywhere, they’re in the parents wallet$ & they’re in the kids too! They’re the truth-tellers of human history, they’re the maintainer$ of the “Happiest Place on Earth!”
They’re here, there, everywhere!
Now they’re watching over the diseased, wounded, bleeding, coughing, crying, sick lil’ children.
Oh,my!
(Follow-the-Crane$!)
$5 million gift to CHOC includes Disney-themed lobby:
Disney employees are designing an interactive lobby with characters.
By COURTNEY PERKES / OC Register
Published: Feb. 6, 2012
ORANGE – The Disneyland Resort announced a $5 million gift Monday to Children’s Hospital of Orange County for an expansion that will include a Disney-designed lobby.
The donation toward a 426,000-square-foot patient tower was announced with Disney music and flourish on top of a CHOC parking garage overlooking the construction site on La Veta Avenue in Orange. Mickey Mouse, wearing a tuxedo, blew a kiss to Kim Cripe, chief executive of the hospital.
In addition to giving money toward the $560 million expansion, about a dozen Disney employees are designing an interactive lobby that will include characters. Disney created a lobby last year for Florida Hospital for Children in Orlando.
“This is just perfectly aligned,” said George Kalogridis, president of Disneyland Resort and a member of the CHOC board. “We love, of course, to entertain children. The majority of our philanthropic efforts are centered on children.”
The gift from Disney is CHOC’s third largest in a $125 million fundraising campaign.
Last year, CHOC received $30 million, the largest in its history, from the estate of Robert Tidwell, a retired investment banker living in Garden Grove. Tidwell’s only previous donation had been a used computer. The hospital also received $10 million from Hyundai for cancer care.
(But vaaaaait, there’$ more)
Mo$t of the funding will come from operating income, loan$ and more than $150 million from two $tate ballot measure$ that i$$ued bond$ for children’$ hospital$.
(I hope the Looney Tunes characters get in on this act, just think of all the oppoortunitie$:
Mental ho$pital$, the Congre$$, the $upreme Court, the $enate, the White Hou$e, … Why just the other day they had the Warner Bro$ boyz over at the $imthsonian opening a new theater, $imply $aturating darling…$imply $aturating, $oak it up folks!)
This must seem really bizarre to non-Americans.
Cartoon hospitals? What’s not normal about that?
/sarc
I think it wouldn’t be so unusual in Japan….
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pokémon_Jet
Airliners with a funky paint job aren’t unusual.
IIRC, Japan has a national health system, so I wouldn’t expect any Pokemon themed hospitals in the Land of the Rising Sun.
Read T.R. Reid’s book, The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care, about how hospitals in Japan treat their patients.
Reid fondly recalls one hospital’s policy statement in its lobby. It went on at great length about how patients were to be treated kindly and spoken to softly. Because those patients were the entire reason for the hospital’s existence.
I’d assume at least some of the Disney money is going to make the lobby and common areas more kid friendly and appropriate. My wife spent alot of time in OC hospitals when she was a kid in the ’70s, and said they were horrible places with nothing for a kid to do or touch, and she would be there for weeks at a time. She said she would often follow doctors on their rounds at 2-3 years old for something to do. That couldn’t have been good for her mental state.
The children’s hospital near me has a horse riding range, and other stuff doesn’t directly impact care, but does make the stay for terminally sick kids slightly more bearable.
BTW, I’m not sure if how (much better) other countries handle the financial side is fully relevant as my trips there as part of charity work have shown there are kids flown in from all around of the world for specialized care.
I can see it now: Kids who went into the hospital for the first time being huge fans of Disney. Then, after finding out that hospitals aren’t such fun places, they come out wanting nothing to do with anything produced by Disney.
File this under “Unintended Consequences.”
Maybe they’ll get a free annual pass to Disneyland when discharged?
Children’s Hospital in OC has an annual “CHOC Walk” fundraiser. It must seem odd to foreigners how the allegedly “richest” country in the world needs charity to provide healthcare.
In Colorado
Great point.
As a former individual health care insurance subsciber, it amazes me how many think we actually have a system. Its been nonexistent for a long time. It’s piecemeal, by class, and dysfuctional.
We thought going from a blue product to kaiser would help us. Nope. Now we’re out of the game due to cost.
ok, as usual, “dysfunctional”.
I had grade inflation.
We have useless Blue Cross. But having coverage makes me feel like a(nother) catastrophic event and it could save our paid off home.
I have every diagnosis necessary for a nerve pain drug according to the TV commercials that I have been funding for Pfizer. Chronic fibromyalgia(probably not actually fibro but hey I do have the dx) type pain unresolved after a three surgeries (one of them deemed experimental by Blue; even after the pre-approval! cost me 50k out of pocket)
Drug costs me $300 per month; because Blue has decided that their own idea of therapy (an anti-depressant) would be better. Tried that and could not stand the side effects, but somehow that did plus my doc’s opinion that I need this therapy did not sway the appeal for coverage.
The nerve drug is effective; and has allowed me to function for the last 5 yrs($3500/yr*5yrs=$17,500=our personal CC debt). But no dice; negged upon appeal. Maybe I should take ahansen’s advice and smoke reefer and take oxycodone.
I cope by taking as little of the expensive uncovered drug as possible. A friend of mine gets the same meds for 20 bucks. So Kaiser may trump Blue in some cases.
I have purchased our “toe tag house” for cash. Carrying insurance plus paying for uncovered meds may cause us to lose it if we can’t find a job with bennies. But without insurance a hospital stay would do the same; which begs the question:
How could you be sitting on half a million or more for a house and not have health insurance? Buy that house; get cancer(or any other expensive malady involving hospital stay); lose house. Plus you pay rack rates rather than rates that insurance has negotiated for medical care, if I am not mistaken.
Losing home for lack of medical insurance would suck; I wouldn’t wish it on ya. Do you perhaps carry long term care insurance?
How could you be sitting on half a million or more for a house and not have health insurance?
Maybe you can’t get health insurance. Happened to the father of a former boss. He had scarlet fever as a child, and no insurance company would touch him.
So, he self-insured by becoming a very good individual investor. Guy made a pile of money.
Fortunately he didn’t have any health troubles that were bigger than his stash of cash. And the key word in the previous sentence is at the very beginning.
They cannot kick you out, only put a lein on it so it maybe years before they can collect and if you have barely enough income to pay the bills, how much realistically can they dock from your pay?
Is your house on 1 floor did you build a handicap ramp? With nerve damage you cant climb stairs….image if they did try and make you sell the house….you’ll be on Drudge!!!
——-
Buy that house; get cancer(or any other expensive malady involving hospital stay); lose house.
mikeinbend
Hey fella, those are some brutal comments. Firstly, if I am not mistaken, didn’t you game the housing and finance system? I would never lecture you, and would appreciate the same respect.
My husband’s Glaucoma sent our insurance into the stratosphere, and he is limited in his EE career now. So we had to make choices. One was to pay out of pocket for services, and not be insured. So far, it’s working out. His surgeries are behind him and we paid Kaiser over $100K in premiums for that. (years of individual coverage)
I am interviewing REITs and will insure him under my plan. Right now, we are preserving as much capital as we can. We found a great eye clinic that is a better at Glaucoma than Kaiser, and inexpensive compared to our $20K+ yr premiums and co-pays.
When the shtf due to an illness or condition, you do what you have to for survival. A paid off home is essential for us.
We have always honored our mortgages, debts, and never ever gamed the system. Look in the mirror, before you point the finger. (and I don’t mean the middle one. LOL)
My one and only lecture for Awaiting is that: I can’t figure out why you want to tie up ALL your precious cash in California. If your goals are a paid-off house, low expenses, and emergency medical cash, ISTM that California is the worst place to do that.
If I may be bold, you sound like a prime candidate for a variant on Oil City plan. I’m sure you could easily find a $120K house in a medium-sized city with a really good university med school/hospital (I can think of 5-6 cities off the bat). That extra $300K you would save in cash may make up for your husband’s EE career, which your husband could lose at any minute.
Again, I don’t know your situation, but I just can’t let someone essentially throw out much needed cash without saying something.
Sorry to offend; your not having insurance gave me pause and since mine is a PITAssets I was simply wondering possible ways to drop it.
I did say I did not wish that fate upon you; sorry you inferred some sort of judgement on my part. Apparently you think that honoring a contract by going into foreclosure you is a less moral thing to do than honoring a contract by paying for it. That said..I will try again.
W/O Insurance who’s payin if one’s medical needs exceed wealth/debt created fiats $$? If they did maybe you would see gaming the system different.
Hope that came off less offensive. Gotta run
Just what a sick, terrified child needs to see; a giant mouse with a huge plastic head advancing toward it, arms spread, smiling with that mouth– that terrible, terrible MOUTH –grinning….
“Welcome, little child. Welcome to the… (GLOOOOOOMP)
In a way, it makes sense. If you’ve ever visited a Disney theme park, you know it is designed to separate you from your money, pretty much like our healthcare “system”.
South Florida housing market listed as tops for improvement
by Kim Miller
The National Association of Home Builders listed South Florida today as a top achiever for housing on an index that looks at six consecutive months of performance.
The Miami metropolitan statistical area, which includes Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties, is a “notable new entrant” to the list.
“While many markets of the February index are far from fully recovered, the index points out where employment, home prices and housing production are no longer retreating and have held above their lowest recession troughs for six months or more,” said David Crowe, chief economist for the National Association of Home Builders.
12 Responses
4
area realtor Says:
February 6th, 2012 at 12:54 pm
As I’ve been telling you people for months, the market is rebounding and if you don’t buy soon you will once again miss you on the American dream of homeownership. This market is tricky, and only a professional realtor has the resources to help you make lifelong decisions that you do not have the intelligence to make on your own. You go to a doctor when you get sick, a lawyer when you get sued, and a realtor when you are ready to buy or sell a home. This article is obvious. The time to buy or sell is right now. Once everyone discovers this market again, it will be too late.
5
just saying Says:
February 6th, 2012 at 1:08 pm
I noticed a few magazines that had lists of cities. West Palm Beach / Palm Beach County did not go well on many of them. This according to MONEY, FORBES, TRAVEL and other financial reports.
We were ranked in the top ten for the following….
Worst place to find a job…
Worst place for unemployment….
Worst place for corruption….
Most Miserable city….
Most overpriced city…
Worst for foreclosures….
Even the FBI has our area ranked high for crimes and gangs.
What can we conclude on this information?
Time to pack your bags and leave town. We are only a short period away of ending up like ghetto areas of Detriot or Flint, Michigan.
8
With Sympathy Says:
February 6th, 2012 at 1:53 pm
Making people come up with a substantial down payment is racism, pure and simple. Minorities (not including those from another nation) do not have the ability to save up thousands of dollars to put down on a house. When you work for minimum wage or close to it because someone correctly assumes they can pay you that based on the color of your skin, you’re always fighting just to pay your basic bills, often without success, and your credit falters. When someone else tells you that you CANT buy here because your credit or down payment is inadequate, they have successfully found a way to keep you out of their neighborhood. Florida is one of the best states in the nation for minority homeownership. It’s about the only positive statistic our state has going for it. Area realtor is correct, prices will soon be rebounding. Start making people put more down on homes and that trend will reverse itself. And those of you complaining about too many immigrants moving in etc, just remember that if it wasn’t for them, no one would be moving here and prices wouldn’t just be in the toilet, the homes wouldn’t be selling at all.
http://blogs.palmbeachpost.com/realtime/2012/02/06/south-florida-housing-market-listed-as-tops-for-improvement/ -
You guys did’nt make the list for:
Worst for counting the peoples votes?
“Worst for counting the peoples votes?”
The people counting the votes do Ok, but the people trying to vote seem to have a hard time, like trying to figure out how to use a a punch card. Now having said that, after the voters got an education that BB would have had to print a few billion to pay for on how to use a punch card, the brilliant election officials of Palm Beach County went out and spent millions on brand new touch screen voting machines. First time they were used, big surprise there were problems. So they had to go out and spend more millions on more brand new touch screen voting machines.
Personally I think they need to invent a machine that can pick out candidates at the local, state and federal levels who are allowed to have their names placed on all the brand new touch screen voting machines. Maybe that would make a difference because the voters and the voting machines don`t seem to be getting it done.
Good grief…. someone co-opted my user name…
Realtors Are Liars® Says:
February 7th, 2012 at 8:19 am
Why buy a house today when you can buy later for 65% less?
http://blogs.palmbeachpost.com/realtime/2012/02/06/south-florida-housing-market-listed-as-tops-for-improvement/
“Good grief…. someone co-opted my user name…”
YOU’RE RIGHT! It`s Response #13, just below leonard of Saratoga Bay. Although this is the first I`ve heard of Gangsters actually being in control of an HOA. Carry on RAL, outstanding comment in the local rag.
12
leonard yanez Says:
February 6th, 2012 at 7:48 pm
Home prices are dropping big time in Saratoga Bay.
Gangsters are living here and control the HOA.
It seems there are foreclosures happening here all the time.
My neighborhood is a sewer.
I rather be in Hell than live in Saratoga Bay.
13
Realtors Are Liars® Says:
February 7th, 2012 at 8:19 am
Why buy a house today when you can buy later for 65% less?
Good grief…. someone co-opted my user name…
At least they used it to say something exactly like you say on a regular basis!
Yes….. I’m ok with it as long as the counterfeit RAL stays on message.
Maybe they were just attempting to quote you in an appropriate place.
I’m waiting for someone to pick up the moniker “Used House Pimps Are Liars®”.
” The time to buy or sell is right now”
Imagine if your doctor said something like this to you? “the time to have or not have an operation is right now”
I’d not only get a second opinion, i’d probably get out the door as soon as i could get past the checkout desk and find another doctor.
No doubt. But then imagine if most doctors said things like that? Time to bail on the whole “profession”.
I’d not only get a second opinion, i’d probably get out the door as soon as i could get past the checkout desk and find another doctor.
LMAO
We were ranked in the top ten for the following….
Worst place to find a job…
Worst place for unemployment….
Worst place for corruption….
Most Miserable city….
Most overpriced city…
Worst for foreclosures….
I guess it really is different in Florida.
“area realtor Says:
February 6th, 2012 at 12:54 pm
As I’ve been telling you people for months, the market is rebounding and if you don’t buy soon you will once again miss you on the American dream of homeownership. This market is tricky, and only a professional realtor has the resources to help you make lifelong decisions that you do not have the intelligence to make on your own. You go to a doctor when you get sick, a lawyer when you get sued, and a realtor when you are ready to buy or sell a home. This article is obvious. The time to buy or sell is right now. Once everyone discovers this market again, it will be too late.”
Ok at first I almost bought it as it does actually sound like something a real-TOR might actually say, but then I noticed that the username is “area realtor.” Straigt out of the Onion….
Nicely done: 8/10
Worst robo-signing fraudclosure culprits attempting to buffalo NY AG Eric Schneiderman - who MAY just have the cojones to do his job and uphold the law. We’ll see.
http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=201604
Feb. 6 (Bloomberg) — Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. made a last minute demand that New York drop claims filed against them Feb. 3 as a condition of a $25 billion nationwide settlement over foreclosure abuses, a person familiar with the matter said.
The deadline for states to sign the proposed deal is today. The push by the three banks raised a new obstacle in getting New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s support for the deal, said the person. Schneiderman, along with the attorneys general of California, Nevada and Delaware, has voiced concerns about the terms of the accord.
“…made a last minute demand…”
Wouldn’t it be prudent for the New York and other state AGs to first determine whether other serious crimes besides robosigning fraud were committed by Megabank, Inc before acceding to demands to let them off the hook?
Surely you jest. The whole point of the token $25 billion settlement - a fraction of the free money they’ll get from Zimbabwe Ben’s liquidity machine - is to grant them impunity from any further criminal or civil consequences for systemic fraud and criminality.
Most Republicrat-owned State AGs know who signs their paychecks and assures their future careers by protecting the status quo, not impartially enforcing the law.
Why, impartial enforcement could lead to “man-on-dog” action!
/sarc
Santorum’s gonna sweep Colorado Springs, El Paso County, and all the fundy nutjob voters across the state tonight.
Let Freedom Ring!
Santorum’s gonna sweep Colorado Springs, El Paso County, and all the fundy nutjob voters across the state tonight.
Like I said, those people WON’T vote for Romney. And if he wins the nomination they still won’t for him, they might even vote for Obama to keep Romney out of office. It’s amusing how the MSM glosses over the animosity Protestant Fundies have for Mormons. Probably because to a secular observer they look and sound the same.
those people WON’T vote for Romney.
But will they vote for Romney/Santorum (or some other fundie VP choice that Romney is sure to make) ?
But will they vote for Romney/Santorum (or some other fundie VP choice that Romney is sure to make) ?
I don’t think it would work.
I don’t think it would work.
It worked for Kennedy and Johnson, who mixed like oxygen and phosphorus.
Likewise, Eisenhower and Nixon. No love lost between them either.
http://www.dailypaul.com/211599/did-only-25-of-the-campaigns-identified-supporters-showed-up-somethings-very-wrong
Election fraud in the U.S. with Diebold machines counting the votes? Inconceivable!
Diebold?
kinda poetic
Be Bold! be Bold,…in everything be bold!
(Reckons that includes for some folks: Fraud$)
http://www.salon.com/2011/09/27/votinghack/
A piece of equipment so integral to the integrity of U.S. elections would be designed to be secure and tamper-proof.
Or not. Those with a vested interest in the continuance of crony capitalism, i.e. the Republicrats, might not want to leave election outcomes to chance, especially with those pesky Ron Paul supporters threatening to upset the cozy corporatist status quo.
How else could RNC leaders ever possibly hope to get otherwise-unelectable candidates like Palin, Perry or Cain elected?
Never underestimate the stupidity and zombification of the American electorate. That means you, Obama Zombies & McCain Mutants.
Iraq / USA Boots & Guns & Bombs = my vote well cast me thinks, who’d you vote for Sammy? Did it yield “healing”?, or was it a black harvest?
Caucusing for Ron Paul tonight here in Colorado!
Caucus raucous! (tm Bloom County)
Go RP. Go goon!
My heart will always belong to Michele Bachmann but tonight Ron Paul gets sloppy seconds.
Well Michelle has better legs and a better bustline than RP. Other than that, she is too much a statist for this Henry David Thoreau.
They used Diebold machines for their caucuses?
Canada’s housing market
Look out below
After years of lecturing America about loose lending, Canada now must confront a bubble of its own
Feb 4th 2012 | TORONTO | from the print edition
IN FEW corners of the world would a car park squeezed between two arms of an elevated highway be seen as prime real estate. In Toronto, however, a 75-storey condominium is planned for such an awkward site, near the waterfront. The car park next door will become a pair of 70-storey towers too. In total, 173 sky-scrapers are being built in Toronto, the most in North America. New York is second with 96.
When the United States saw a vast housing bubble inflate and burst during the 2000s, many Canadians felt smug about the purported prudence of their financial and property markets. During the crash, Canadian house prices fell by just 8%, compared with more than 30% in America. They hit new record highs by 2010. “Canada was not a part of the problem,” Stephen Harper, the prime minister, boasted in 2010.
Today the consensus is growing on Bay Street, Toronto’s answer to Wall Street, that Mr Harper may have to eat his words. In response to America’s slow economic recovery and uncertainty in Europe, the Bank of Canada has kept interest rates at record lows. Five-year fixed-rate mortgages now charge interest of just 2.99%. In response, Canadians have sought ever-bigger loans for ever-costlier homes. The country’s house prices have doubled since 2002.
Speculators are pouring into the property markets in Toronto and Vancouver. “We have foreign investors who are purchasing two, three, four, five properties,” says Michael Thompson, who heads Toronto’s economic-development committee. Last month a modest Toronto home put on the market for C$380,000 ($381,500) sold for C$570,000, following a bidding war among 31 prospective buyers. According to Demographia, a consultancy, Vancouver’s ratio of home prices to incomes is the highest in the English-speaking world.
Bankers are becoming alarmed. Mark Carney, the governor of the central bank, has been warning for years that Canadians are consuming beyond their means. The bosses of banks with big mortgage businesses, including CIBC, Royal Bank of Canada and the Bank of Montreal, have all said the housing market is at or near its peak. Canada’s ratio of household debt to disposable income has risen by 40% in the past decade, recently surpassing America’s (see chart). And its ratio of house prices to income is now 30% above its historical average—less than, say, Ireland’s excesses (which reached 70%), but high enough to expect a drop. A recent report from Bank of America said Canada was “showing many of the signs of a classic bubble”.
The consequences of such a bubble bursting are hard to predict. On the one hand, high demand for Canada’s commodity exports could cushion the blow from a housing bust. And since banks have recourse to all of a borrower’s assets, and Canadian lending standards are stricter than America’s were, a decline in house prices would probably not wreck the banks as it did in the United States.
…
I’m expecting the collapse of the Canadian housing bubble to be far more enjoyable a spectacle than the collapse of the U.S. housing bubble was.
173 new towers? According to the new “skyscraper corollary”, Toronto is about to go bust very soon.
173 new towers?
How many new condos is that? At 200 per tower that would be almost 35,000, very expensive condos.
Who’s going to buy them? “Wealthy foreigners?”
Yeah, I’d love to spend my winters in a Toronto high rise condo.
Make sure you are near the lake to get the full effect of the wind!
While regulators and enforcers at the national level have turned a blind eye to foreclosure fraud (not to mention mortgage origination) out of deference to their Wall Street-owned Republicrat masters, some county and state AGs are actually showing a sense of integrity and commitment to upholding the law and protecting the public - imagine that. Maybe there’s hope yet for accountability and consequences for bankster fraud and criminality.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-07/lender-processing-unit-indicted-in-missouri-for-forging-mortgage-documents.html
Lender Processing Unit Indicted in Missouri for Forging Mortgage Documents
Docx LLC, a unit of Lender Processing Services Inc., was charged in Missouri with forgery and making a false declaration related to mortgage documents it processed.
A Boone County grand jury handed down the 136-count indictment against Docx and founder Lorraine Brown alleging that a person whose name appears on 68 notarized deeds of release didn’t actually sign the paperwork, Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster said in a statement yesterday.
“When you sign your name to a legal document, it matters,” Koster said. “Mass-producing fraudulent signatures on millions of real estate documents across America constitutes forgery.”
Lender Processing, based in Jacksonville, Florida, says about half of all U.S. mortgages by dollar volume are serviced using its loan-servicing platform.
Michelle Kersch, a Lender Processing spokeswoman, didn’t immediately return phone and e-mail messages seeking comment on the indictment. The indictment was reported earlier in the New York Times.
There’s an NC county recorder by the name of Thigpen. And he’s not happy about how his county was cheated out of recording fees on property transfers.
Look for a lot of other county recorders like him in the near future. They’re not a happy bunch of public officials.
http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=201621
Jon Corzine’s Three Card Monti scam at MF Global continues to baffle investigators trying to figure out where $1.2 billion in “customer” (mark) funds vanished to. I’m going to go out on a limb and say there will be no criminal indictments, a few slap on the wrist fines, and pious warnings to do better next time, while customer bagholders will be told to suck it up and get used to life in a Banana Republic.
They might go through the motions. Might. But rest assured that no wrongs will be righted.
And yet J6P will still roll up his windows and lock his doors as he drives through a “bad” neighborhood when he should be racing through the “good” ones and golf courses clinging to his wallet.
Unfortunately for J6P, the richies can mug him while he watches “Dancing with the Stars” on his 60″ TV
Jon Corzine’s Three Card Monti scam at MF Global continues to baffle investigators trying to figure out where $1.2 billion in “customer” (mark) funds vanished to.
This continues to amaze me. Shouldn’t “customer segregated accounts” actual be in, ummmm, segregated accounts—e.g. not commingled with the rest of the firms accounts?
Seems like it should be fairly easy to look through the audit-trail of transactions on the segregated accounts for large transfers…
From the front page of the WaPo:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/granite-why-every-homeowner-wants-a-piece-of-the-rock/2012/02/01/gIQANBN4uQ_story.html
–I’ve said it before, in 20 years this will be the definition of “dated” like avacado green appliances.
Isn’t it a relatively simple matter to tear out and replace radioactive granite counter tops with something less hazardous to your health?
What’s Lurking in Your Countertop?
By KATE MURPHY
Published: July 24, 2008
SHORTLY before Lynn Sugarman of Teaneck, N.J., bought her summer home in Lake George, N.Y., two years ago, a routine inspection revealed it had elevated levels of radon, a radioactive gas that can cause lung cancer. So she called a radon measurement and mitigation technician to find the source.
Tony Cenicola/The New York Times
TESTING Reports of granite emitting high levels of radon and radiation are increasing.
DETECTION Using devices like the Geiger counter and the radiation detection instrument Stanley Liebert measures the radiation and radon emanating from granite like that in Lynn Sugarman’s kitchen counters.
Nathaniel Brooks for The New York Times
“He went from room to room,” said Dr. Sugarman, a pediatrician. But he stopped in his tracks in the kitchen, which had richly grained cream, brown and burgundy granite countertops. His Geiger counter indicated that the granite was emitting radiation at levels 10 times higher than those he had measured elsewhere in the house.
“My first thought was, my pregnant daughter was coming for the weekend,” Dr. Sugarman said. When the technician told her to keep her daughter several feet from the countertops just to be safe, she said, “I had them ripped out that very day,” and sent to the state Department of Health for analysis. The granite, it turned out, contained high levels of uranium, which is not only radioactive but releases radon gas as it decays. “The health risk to me and my family was probably small,” Dr. Sugarman said, “but I felt it was an unnecessary risk.”
As the popularity of granite countertops has grown in the last decade — demand for them has increased tenfold, according to the Marble Institute of America, a trade group representing granite fabricators — so have the types of granite available. For example, one source, Graniteland (graniteland.com) offers more than 900 kinds of granite from 63 countries. And with increased sales volume and variety, there have been more reports of “hot” or potentially hazardous countertops, particularly among the more exotic and striated varieties from Brazil and Namibia.
“It’s not that all granite is dangerous,” said Stanley Liebert, the quality assurance director at CMT Laboratories in Clifton Park, N.Y., who took radiation measurements at Dr. Sugarman’s house. “But I’ve seen a few that might heat up your Cheerios a little.”
…
I remember that article. I also think they calmed down the radon concern quickly. You never hear about it much anymore.
Did it become a disclosure/test issue in any states? (Something I need to add to my escrow list.)
I think this is great. You can have your food irradiated and save the expense of buying a microwave. This should be a selling point for granite countertops.
Just make sure that you don’t have any pegmatitic veining in the granite and you’ll be fine. Duh!
“–I’ve said it before, in 20 years this will be the definition of “dated” like avacado green appliances.”
…and shag rugs and fake wood paneling.
“fake wood paneling” and mirrored walls
We’re still seeing that in homes we’re looking at with move in perfect prices. Yet they paint and re-floor the house. Tacky shortcuts and the houses sits. Idiots.
Another idiotic thing, granite w/ original cabinets that are worn and dated. Ready made cabinets aren’t that expensive. They could have easily done it right.
Another idiotic thing, granite w/ original cabinets that are worn and dated. Ready made cabinets aren’t that expensive. They could have easily done it right.
I saw that in a house I looked at back in ‘03. It was a FSBO featuring granite tops on 1950s-vintage cabinetry. Let’s just say that the two elements did not complement each other.
I also enjoyed that house’s freshly painted rooms and dirty, unpainted closets.
OTOH, older cabinets are often made out of nicer wood than the particle board + veneer that is the norm on modern cabinets.
I’ve found that all older cabinets ever needs is paint and new knobs/handles, because yes, the wood is usually cabinet grade plywood, top to bottom inside and out.
OTOH, older cabinets are often made out of nicer wood than the particle board + veneer that is the norm on modern cabinets.
+1. You actually have to pay extra to “upgrade” modern cabinets to a decent grade/thickness of plywood. The old ones were build that way without having to pay for “upgrades”.
Translation: please upgrade my new cabinets to not be cr@p.
It’s a shame that granite has been elevated to the “status” of luxury upgrade. Granite and marble have been used in industrial and community kitchens, prep surfaces, sideboard furniture, for centuries if not millennia. (Next time you’re in a French medieval castle, look at the kitchen surfaces. Yep, granite.)
And it’s used for good reason; it’s durable, fireproof, highly scratch resistant, sanitary, versatile, easy to keep clean (ever spill a pot of marinara sauce on a Brazilian granite floor? It blends right into last night’s salad….) and most of all it’s beautiful.
Compared to the environmental cost of replacing formica, coran, tile grout, etc., every ten years, it’s a bargain to do it once and do it right. And compared to the radiation the average homeowner gets from their TV or kitchen microwave on a daily basis, any danger from the average granite household surface is negligible.
(Just for the record, the amount of radiation in a TSA body scan is about the same as that contained in a half of a banana.)
Thank you for defending granite. It is indeed beautiful and durable, although it can chip, like any stone. A few nicks and dings here and there add to the character.
Still hate being body-scanned by the TSA, however.
Still hate being body-scanned by the TSA, however.
I refuse it; I’d rather take the required molestation.
well…what was the deal with granite, in the first place? All I could think of was how many plates and glasses I would break on it.. the HD here didn’t even seem to be carrying it at the height of the boom. Corian was the big deal here IIRC.
well…what was the deal with granite, in the first place? All I could think of was how many plates and glasses I would break on it.
I’m such a klutz that I’d be breaking all sorts of things on it. As if I don’t do that when I drop stuff on my tile floor. Nothing like having to break out the vacuum cleaner to get all the broken glass up.
Corian is great in the bathroom(s) but I am not sure it’s a practical solution for a kitchen solid counter top. Thank you, Montana. I’ll have to look into that.
Jim A
That’s definitely a man’s outlook. Very practical, and no doubt a true state. But sometimes cabinets are past their prime and are dated. Just like us gals, it’s time for a facelift.
Slim,
How lazy can you be. Painting the closets is a no brainer. Us detail people do it right the first time. I don’t like people who have no pride in their product, regardless what it is. (Like my spelling/typos. LOL)
But sometimes cabinets are past their prime and are dated. Just like us gals, it’s time for a facelift.
Maybe I’m stuck in this male perspective as you suggest, but I firmly believe that you can give them a facelift without tossing out well-made cabinets and replacing with less-well-made ones.
I’ve done this before with a simple coat of paint, by replacing just doors and drawer-faces (built them myself, and they came out great!), just replacing hardware, etc.
There are lots of options. I just refuse to replace something that is better-built with something that I have to upgrade for significant $$$s to something that is still not-as-well-built.
Prime, ahansen, and the rest of you smarty-pants:
What great and insightful posts. Thank you.
Prime
You’re right, depending on the cabinets. We were looking into refacing a kitchen, of a home we put an offer in on. The cost to reface and redo the kitchen exceeded the cost of rip and replace with ready-made cabinets.
Sometimes it’s a cost factor. Sometimes the older cabinets weren’t of good quality. I took note of your point.
Oh, and that house had a $10K-$15K pool issue. We let the deal die.
I’ve done this before with a simple coat of paint, by replacing just doors and drawer-faces (built them myself, and they came out great!), just replacing hardware, etc.
Did this in my house in Austin. 9′ vanity with double-sink. The previous owner had done a hideous paint job on it (oil-based), but it was still in good shape. Kept the mirror (9′ mirror is expensive!) and simply put some trim around it. Replaced the vanity top. Sanded down, primed, and painted the cabinets and replaced the drawers and doors. Night and day difference, and made sure to use quality, paint-grade wood for the new drawers and doors. Got them made by a local cabinet maker. New faucets and hardware as well.
Sadly, I think I finished that project 3 days before I sold the house. Never really got to enjoy that, given the many hours of work that went into it
A well-built, dove-tailed cabinet, gouged, stained, or dented, is still a thing of beauty. The pressboard and staple crap that passes for cabinetry in today’s kitchens is an abomination and should be shunned.
When I built this house, I didn’t even put in cabinets, just 1×12″ mahogany shelving (with the aforementioned granite tops,) and some stainless steel garage racks for hanging pans and gizmos and storing foodstuffs in the pantry. No closing doors to hide the stuff within keeps my housekeeping honest. Sort of.
Dove-tailed.
What a magical word! And so few get it.
We must’ve been lovers in a past life. =)
Past life? Huh? Oh honey… you telling me it’s over now?
But for truly suggestive joinery I always have to go with “mortise” and “tenon.” There’s just something so illicit sounding about it.
We have been very pleased overall with our purchase and installation of a Corian countertop and backsplash in 2000.
Still pleasing after all these years -
And no chance of glowing in the dark or microwave popcorn coming to life as we sleep (wink).
You can put anything down on the counter, no matter how hot it is and not worry about burning a ring into the plastic. That is about it. I kind of like the granite in my current rental kitchen, but the nice deep sink and the functioning garbage disposal are more important. Also, I don’t worry about sealing it. If it needs to be sealed, the landlord can take care of it. All they have to do is leave me a note.
Really, Washington Post? Really? Is this 2005?
Granite: Why every homeowner wants a piece of the rock
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/granite-why-every-homeowner-wants-a-piece-of-the-rock/2012/02/01/gIQANBN4uQ_story.html
There is a poll where you can share your opinions about granite if you like.
David Stockman (former Reagan Admin guy)interview on Daily Ticker:
110M households currently in U.S.
30M are renters
30M have paid off homes
50M are left, of which
40M aren’t under water
10M are the target of Obama’s 140% LTV program. He’s no fan of the meddling.He said that the govt should stay the hell out of the market, and let the market sort itself out. Interesting interview.
So let’s get this straight: The 100m responsible U.S. households are being forced to bail out the 10m whose financial irresponsibility put them underwater?
If you voted for Obama, McCain, or any other Establishment Republicrat politician, then yes, this is EXACTLY what you voted for: endless punishment of savers and the responsible to subsidize the stupid, reckless, feckless, greedy and fraudulent.
Bailouts are an American Family Value!
Cantankerous
Yes, and thank you for the simplicity. As parsimonious, no debt, savers, it just pisses us off. We’re thinking of becoming flakes.
“If your neighbor’s house catches fire because of carelessness with a lit cigarette, you have to put that fire out so your house won’t catch fire.”
-Didn’t you pay attention at all when Mr Bernanke was explaining? Gosh!
“financial irresponsibility” = $ign here, initial here, …ea$y, pea$y, lemon $queasy,… fini$hed, … bon appetite!!!!!
“Next!”
ProFEE$sional Financial Innovation$:
“What? what?, we didn’t do anything “legally” wrong, well, maybe just a tad, hey got a call, gotta take it, gotta go, $ee ya”
It’s not about bailing out homeowners. It’s about bailing out the bnaks that lent them the money. If they wanted to bail out homedebters, they’d make bankruptcy easier. You sure don’t hear any proposals along those lines do you?
Jim
Yeah, Stockman admits it’s banks that get bailed out, but gamers win, too.
Only on HBB. From oxide.
Here in Tucson, at least in my nabe, people who are in trouble with their mortgages aren’t sticking around. Uh-uh. They’re walking away in droves.
Right now, we neighbors are watching what used to be a very nice house that was owned by a gay couple. One of them signed off on some sort of fiddly loan, and, quite frankly, he wasn’t of sound mind. He ended up losing the house.
It was sold to a family that could never begin to afford it — I suspect that a subprime mortgage was involved — and the place was vacated late last year. They’re in trouble with the city over the unkempt appearance of the property, and very little effort is being made on the cleanup front.
I think that this place will be our nabe’s next foreclosure. Whenever that happens. There are a lot of foot-dragging banks around here.
The people that are underwater get lower interest rates as a reqrd for not having walked by now. The people that made the loans are rewarded for making the stupid loans in the first place, by increasing their odds of getting paid back.
It seems only those that are still awaiting cascade debt default into depression are turned into an inclined plane wrapped around an axis.
$30 TRILLION TO PROMOTE CRONY CAPITALISM: The Fed’s Bail-Out of Wall Street
Author: L. Randall Wray · February 3rd, 2012
I’m directing a research project on the Fed’s bail-out of Wall Street and am periodically posting updates on the findings. Previously I’ve blogged the preliminary findings of two of my grad students, James Felkerson and Nicola Matthews and the first paper was finished a few weeks ago (my summary here http://www.levyinstitute.org/pubs/op_23.pdf; full paper here http://www.levyinstitute.org/pubs/wp_698.pdf)
As expected we got a lot of push-back. The Fed funds a huge stable of economists whose research funding relies on maintaining good relations at the Fed.
(I saw many of them presenting research studies “proving” there was no housing bubble as late as 2008 even as the whole damned US real estate sector was crashing. Many of you have no doubt seen former Governor Rick Mishkin’s performance when he explained away his glowing reports of Iceland’s banks—research funded by the Chamber of Commerce. It should be no surprise to read his remarks at an FOMC meeting when he described his efforts at income generation through textbook writing, required to “afford” his wife (he also refers to “Ben” Bernanke, but it is not clear that Ben agrees he writes textbooks to “afford” his spouse): “In the inflation reports, they’ve moved to using the best textbook writing techniques—nice colors, boxes. Ben and I have been involved in this process. It’s the reason that I can afford my spouse.” P. 144 http://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/files/FOMC20061025meeting.pdf)
However, let me say that there are also a lot of objections from serious independent scholars with no love lost on the Fed. The typical objection is that in a financial crisis the central bank has no choice but to provide “liquidity” to stop runs—and if it took tens of trillions of dollars to do that, so be it. They also object that a lender of last resort intervention to “provide liquidity” should not be called a “bail-out”. And finally, some (erroneously) claim we could not tell the difference between a stock and a flow—the total outstanding Fed commitments peaked at some $1.5 trillion so the cumulative measure we reported–$29 trillion—was double and triple and quadruple counting.
OK I have dealt with the last complaint in several previous posts, and no careful reader of Felkerson’s paper linked above can possibly believe that we confuse stocks and flows. We provide three measures of the size of the bail-out, including two measures of the peak outstanding Fed commitments plus the cumulative measure. The latter was $29 trillion at the time, but because the Fed has recently ramped up its lending to the European Central Bank, that is now well over $30 trillion. It is our argument that if you want a measure of the total Fed effort at rescuing the US financial system, it makes sense to add up the Fed’s lending and spending (to purchase toxic assets, for example) over time. $29 Trillion and counting.
And to be more precise, that is what it is taking to rescue Crony Capitalism—an America of, by, and for Wall Street. It will take more. Much more. The $29 trillion was only a down-payment. This will not stop—so long as we have Crony Capitalism, the Fed and Treasury will need to keep shoveling dollars into the bottomless pit.
…
30. Trillion?
Mission! Accomplished!
If they succeed in stabilizing the system, and the politicians keep their jobs, everything will be back to “normal” - the same ponzi schemes and leverage which led to the 08 crisis - and the same trickle down / concentrate the wealth / firehose money at Wall Street policies.
But, the seeds of the next crisis will have been sown without this one every really having been resolved. “Mission Accomplished” banners will be flown in DC and New York, because the goals will have been accomplished - politicians keeping their jobs, preserving the current system, and keeping the financial sector profitable.
I’m guessing though, that at some point, the registered voters will realize they’ve been sold out by their representatives and won’t be so sanguine. Things will change, of this I have no doubt. How quickly and dramatically is the question.
Darrell: “Gold, cigarettes, piggyback rides, not anti-debt. A piece of paper or a ledger entry saying IOU a gold, IOU a cigarette, IOU a piggyback ride are all anti-debt.”
Comment by Prime_Is_Contained:
The IOUs are all debt—and in this case, they are debt that does NOT have matching anti-debt.”
The piece of paper that says “I, Darrell in Phoenix, owe the holder of of this note one piggyback ride” is anti-debt to the holder of the note and debt to some dude named Darrell in Phoenix.
You can’t be owed something(anti-debt), unless someone owes it to you.
“Mining gold does not create matching debt. Paying off a debt with gold destroys the debt, but does not destroy the gold.”
Walk into a bank and say “I have gold and want to use it to pay off my debt.” You will be told that gold is not legal tender, and therefore it can’t be used to pay off debt. You have to go sell your gold for legal tender.
Doug:
“If you tried to pay for that cheeseburger with, say old US 3-cent pieces, the restaurant probably would accept them either, even though that are legal U.S. tender.”
Alpha:
“Perhaps, but only because they might not recognize them as money. Legally, if they are shown to be money, they have to accept them- all US coins and bills are legal tender.”
Incorrect. “Legal tender” does not mean people have to accept it in exchange for stuff. Legal tender means that if you have debt, people have to accept it as payment for the debt.
So, the cheeseurger restaurant does not have to accept the 3-penny coin for a burger, but a bank must, by law, accept it as payment for a loan.
So, the cheeseurger restaurant does not have to accept the 3-penny coin for a burger, but a bank must, by law, accept it as payment for a loan.
Ha-ha! Gotcha! Walked right into my little trap:
“However, restaurants that do not collect payment until after a meal is served would have to accept that legal tender for the debt incurred in purchasing the meal.”
wikipedia
drat. As a former burger flipper at McD, I was thinking of fast food where you pay prior to receiving the food.
Kinda nit-picky, but it does illustrate an important point about legal tender- once a service or good has been provided, the provider must accept legal tender as payment. Neither gold nor Euros (in the US) have to be accepted.
The piece of paper that says “I, Darrell in Phoenix, owe the holder of of this note one piggyback ride” is anti-debt to the holder of the note and debt to some dude named Darrell in Phoenix.
Yep, sorry—mea culpa. I realized later that I had said that bit about IOUs totally backwards.
The IOU is anti-debt. And the writer of the IOU owes that debt.
But my point about the gold not going poof is still valid. When the “IOU a 1oz gold coin” is paid in full with a 1oz gold coin, the coin is not consumed in the process.
The debt and anti-debt go poof when they meet (like matter and anti-matter), but something of value still remains: the gold coin. What is it?
” the gold coin. What is it?”
A commodity. Just like a chicken, gold has its own value independant of any debt that borrowed it into existence.
Unlike a chicken, gold:
Has pretty much the same value anywhere in the world.
Is easy to store.
Can’t be grown from an egg.
Has an indefinite lifespan.
Is fairly easy to covert into fiat currency (I have yet to see a sign twirler with a “We Buy Chickens” sign). In most countries you can convert a gold coin into fiats at any bank branch.
Can be pressed into coins.
In most countries you can convert a gold coin into fiats at any bank branch.
Really? I didn’t know that… Any generalizations on how bad the rate-of-exchange will be vs a gold dealer?
In Mexico the price of “Centenarios” is published daily in the financial pages and is what you would get at any bank (they also sell them).
Very cool.
Any idea what the spread is like? Dealers never buy and sell at the same price… Or do they use transaction fees instead?
There is a spread, I forget how much.
Why did we stop using gold as money?
Quite simply, gold as money doesn’t give us enough tools for managing the money supply to create economic stability.
Once upon a time, there was 100 million people on earth and they farmed with horse drawn plows and hand tools. At that time, there was about 4 billion ounces of gold available for the money supply. This is 40 ounces per person or about 160, 1/4 ounce coins.
There are now 7 billion people, operating robot assisted assembly lines. The gold supply has increased from 4 billion to 5 billion ounces.
IF, gold supply increased at 1% per year, while the total production of goods and services increased at 10% a year, then no one would spend their gold, because every year, it would buy 9% more stuff than it did the year before.
So, people created paper money. You could take your wheat to a warehouse, and the warehouse would give you pieces of paper that repersented the wheat. You could then go to the market and sell the wheat.
Well, once the warehouse operator realized that not everyone would come and get the wheat out at the same time, he could actually issue more pieces of paper than there was actual wheat. He could “loan out” the wheat, just as banks were “loaning out” the gold.
In this case, it is not the wheat in the warehouse that gives the paper value, it is the promise to repay the loan that gives the paper value.
WOW, major advancement. We can use pieces of paper, that have value only because it is backed by a promise to repay. This abstract money backed by a promise gives us MUCH more flexibility for creating a stable economy than the old commodity based money system.
But, as long as the 2 monetary systems coexisted, people misunderstood what gave the paper value. They thought that there was still enough physical commodity in the bank/warehouse to back all the paper. There was not. The paper was backed by a promise to repay. If there was a scare, everyone would attempt to exchange thier paper for stuff at teh same time, and there was not enough stuff. Crash.
To allow us to maintain a stable money supply independant of the amount of gold in a vault, we had to stop allowing the direct conversion of the paper to gold.
Now, it would be clear to everyone that it is not physical stuff that creates value of the money supply, but rather the debt that offset money creation that gives the money value.
Oh… people still don’t get it. They still think of gold as money?
Dang. The fatal flaw was that they didn’t change the name. Instead of calling dollar “money” in 1971, they should have changed the name to anti-debt.
Instead of saying “I’d like to deposit this money into my checking account” we should all be saying, “I’d like to deposit this anti-debt into my chekcing account”.
If you walk into a store with some gold and try to use it to buy stuff, he owner should not say, “I’m sorry, we don’t accept gold. We only accept money.” The owner should say, “I’m sorry, we don’t accept gold. We only accept anti-debt.”
IF, gold supply increased at 1% per year, while the total production of goods and services increased at 10% a year, then no one would spend their gold, because every year, it would buy 9% more stuff than it did the year before.
That is a total non sequitur right there, Darrell. If no one were willing to spend their gold, it would be IMPOSSIBLE for the total production of goods and services to increase at a significant rate.
In other words, the increasing value of the gold coins) would throttle the growth such that there was not massive deflation. It would find an equilibrium.
Darrel,
Have you ever heard of a shilling? Of a copper? Of a silver dollar? Do you understand that “gold standard” doesn’t mean a currency composed of only gold? Do you understand that during the 70’s and 80’s, this “anti-debt” you are so fond of had to have an interest rate of 18% paid on it for people to keep it in the banks? That is DOUBLE the measly 9% you mention would be incurred in gold value increase.
Also, as gold rose at 9% per year, that means wages could stay flat, and you would automatically have some lower cost of living increase in your salary purchasing power while doing absolutely nothing different! You would NEVER have to ask for a raise, the booming economy would give it to you in increased purchasing power.
Also, being a medium of exchange with increasing value, instead of buying a bunch of depreciating assets like cars and TV’s, people would be investing in high rate of return items like Solar panels, public transportation, and long lasting building materials instead of the cheap crap from china… The only way that system could possibly get screwed up is if the government came in and spent way more in gold than was available from the incoming tax on the people…. Ohh.. oops…
So it doesn’t sound like the solution is to go off the gold standard, it sounds like the solution is to fire those who overspent in government….
Comment by chilidoggg
2012-02-06 20:56:24
“What’s the difference between paying your bills with euros and paying your bills with chickens?”
The person accepting the Euros is doing so because there is someone with debt designated in Euros that will trade him stuff for the Euros so they can repay their debt. The value of the Euro comes from the debt that offsets it. If the debt can’t be repaid and defaults and is written off as uncollectable, the euro ceases to have value.
The person acepting chickens is doing so because there is inherit value in chickens. You can wait for the chickens to lay eggs. You can eat the chickens. You can trade the chickens to someone that want eggs or to eat chickens. Chickens are incredible starch to protien biochemical conversion machines, and people are willing to trade stuff to get them bacause of that inherent value.
Oh, and if we’re in Europe, the law says that you have to accept Euros as payment for debt. The bank can say, “I’m sorry, we don’t accept chickens.” They can’t say, “Sorry, we don’t accept Euros.”
Darrel,
Who does say, “Oh we do accept chickens!” Because clearly someone is buying chickens from a chicken farmer. Also, if a farmer grows chickens, but doesn’t sell them, how much income tax does he owe on those chickens he didn’t sell?
Texas Squatter With $16 McMansion Kicked Out After 8 Months
By ANNE-MARIE DORNING and SUSANNA KIM | Good Morning America – 17 hours ago
Kenneth Robinson has finally been kicked out of the $340,000 home that he had lived in since June for $16.
Robinson, 51, lived on Waterford Drive in Flower Mound, Texas, but he did not own or rent the home he claimed he had a right to live in. After the owner abandoned the property, which had been in foreclosure for over a year, and the mortgage company reportedly went out of business, he submitted a $16 filing fee at the local courthouse, claiming the law of “adverse possession” gave him the right to occupy the home.
However, a judge in Denton County ruled Monday that the current lienholder, Bank of America, can force Robinson out.
Adverse possession is a common law concept developed in the 1800s. According to Lucas A. Ferrara, a partner in Newman Ferrara, a New York City real estate law firm, adverse possession was enacted to ensure that property wasn’t abandoned and was “maintained and monitored.” It requires the posting of a clear, public notice that someone is at the property — hence the court filing — and that someone would remain there for a specific period of time, usually 10 years.
After the time requirement is satisfied, the Robinsons of the world have the opportunity to claim clear title to the property. In the meantime, the original property owner could fight the action, but it would be costly. And since the house has already been abandoned, it’s not likely the original owner would wage an expensive legal battle to get it back. The mortgage holder would have to fight a court action too.
David DeCosse, the director of campus ethics programs at the Markkulla Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, said that even though Robinson may have a right to do what he’s doing, it’s not necessarily the right thing to do.
http://gma.yahoo.com/texas-squatter-16-mcmansion-kicked-8-months-173113977–abc-news.html
Truth, lies and Afghanistan
How military leaders have let us down
By LT. COL. DANIEL L. DAVIS
http://armedforcesjournal.com/2012/02/8904030
Thanks. I just sent this to a friend, who is a retired Air Force officer.
When it comes to deciding what matters are worth plunging our nation into war and which are not, our senior leaders owe it to the nation and to the uniformed members to be candid — graphically, if necessary — in telling them what’s at stake and how expensive potential success is likely to be. U.S. citizens and their elected representatives can decide if the risk to blood and treasure is worth it.
The average G.I. has no idea that he/she is serving the interests of Israel by occupying Afghanistan and Iraq long enough to surround Iran with strategic airfields, which will be guarded by private security contractors at U.S. expense.
Also to protect the poppy fileds…the taliban burned all the Poppy (herion) fields, guess we didnt like that.
I have a knuckle headed nephew who joined the Marines and was sent to Afghanistan. I hope he comes back in one piece.
Roger on the “back in one piece” sentiment.
Afghanistan is one area of the world that we need to GTFO of. And soon.
I have a friend who did 3 tours.
I hope he stays back for good, now.
Banks Pay Homeowners to Avoid Foreclosures
Bloomberg
By Prashant Gopal - Feb 7, 2012 12:00 AM ET
Banks, accelerating efforts to move troubled mortgages off their books, are offering as much as $35,000 or more in cash to delinquent homeowners to sell their properties for less than they owe.
Farley, whose home construction lending business dried up after the housing crash, said the New York-based bank agreed to let her sell her San Marcos, California, home for $592,000 — about $200,000 less than what she owes. The $30,000 will cover moving costs and the rental deposit for her next home. Farley, who is also approved for an additional $3,000 through a federal incentive program, is scheduled to close the deal Feb. 10.
“I wondered, why would they offer me something, and why wouldn’t they just give me the boot?” Farley, 65, said in a telephone interview. “Instead, I’m getting money.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-07/banks-paying-homeowners-a-bonus-to-avoid-foreclosures-mortgages.html
They were just nice, of course with other people’s money.
If they need to cut their own CEO’s salary to cover the cost, you bet they will not be so nice.
I think they’re trying to avoid foreclosures because:
1. They get stuck with an empty house that just sits there, rotting away, and…
2. …the house also becomes a vandalism target, and…
3. … a place of opportunity for copper thieves.
Then there’s that “mark to market” monster. We can’t have that thing coming anywhere our nation’s housing market, now can we?
Then there’s that “mark to market” monster. We can’t have that thing coming anywhere our nation’s housing market, now can we?
They sure seem to have avoided that already through other means (political pressure on FASB).
This is going to be a wild election season. In the months to come we most assuredly will be bombarded with the Pro-Obama message from every media source and the Administration.
- They will try to convince us that Unemployment has nearly resolved (wow, a WHOLE one tenth of a percentage decrease, and that is suspect).
-We will be reminded daily of how the economy has turned around.
- We will be told the housing crisis is over.
- We will hit with poll after poll, rigged and manipulated with one goal; to falsely inflate Obama’s approval ratings
- We will be told “the worst is over”
It will all be Orwellian lies - the perverse kind of DoubleSpeak in which Democrats specialize as they command the State Run Media.
But they can’t fool The People. Every day, in every neighborhood will be millions of Americans still out of work, as Obama ships their jobs overseas. Neighborhoods and homes will remain blighted; boarded up and shops closed. They’ll see more and more of their friends and family on govt assistance. They will SEE THE REALITY before their very eyes.
They will be living The Truth, and it is a reality that Obama nor his minions and sychophants can change with mere words. America will take that with them to the ballot box, and there’s nothing Obama can do about it.
Don’t worry, there will be just as much fraudulent and irrelevant crap from the other side.
As I’ve said, thank goodness I don’t live in a swing state so I’ll be spared this crap on TV. I’ll make up my own mind who to vote against, thank you.
Democrats specialize as they command the State Run Media.
I didn’t realize that Rupert Murdoch was the “state”.
If Obama wins, it will be because the GOP fielded an unelectable candidate, who at this point in time appears to be Mitt Romney. A candidate that one of the GOP’s core constituencies, the Protestant Fundamentalists, will refuse to support because he is a Mormon.
constituencies, the Protestant Fundamentalists, will refuse to support
What’s your proof? Anecdotal example doesn’t count.
Here’s a recent example, courtesy of the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
Living in AZ, you probably get to see the “culture clash” between the LDS and the Protestant Fundies much more up close and in personal than say someone who lives in New England.
Beyond the anecdotal:
http://craigeisele.wordpress.com/2012/01/15/evangelical-leaders-go-against-romney-on-religious-grounds/
http://theiowarepublican.com/2011/tir-focus-group-evangelicals-will-revolt-against-romney-nomination/
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/evangelicals_planning_plot_against_RKh5pKIIGodjQm11EJTwWL
etc.
Of interest, I found one website called “Evangelicals for Mitt”, which went to great pains to justify voting for Romney, even though he is a Mormon. I strongly suspect that the website is funded by Romney. In the “about” section it simply says:
“Evangelicals for Mitt is, first and foremost, a group of friends.”
No names are given, which means they couldn’t come up with a single fundy pastor who backs Romney. I suspect none exist.
It is important to understand how much Fundies hate Mormonism. Tune in to any fundy radio station and you will find that there is an anti-mormon show. Go to any bookstore and you will find bookshelves full of anti-Mormon literature. If there is anything that Fundies agree on, it’s that the LDS are the Enemy.
To clarify, I meant a fundy bookstore, such as the “Bible Superstore” we have in Fort Collins.
♪Dum Dum Dum♪ Dum Dummmm♪
Here’s some more: What Southern Baptists think about Mormonism.
http://www.truthandgrace.com/Baptistonmormon.htm
Let me tell you, it’s overwhelming. I have never seen or heard anything out of Protestant Fundamentalism that does not regard Mormonism as something akin to the whore of Babylon.
He meant the librul State run media corporations because we all know how progressive world wide corporations are and how they would never allow 14hr a day conservative talk radio in every city over 200k and 24/7, mean ol’ corporate commercials, on their airwaves.
But they never liked Catholics, either. Yet they love all the Catholics on the U.S. Supreme Court.
They never disliked them the way they dislike the LDS.
“We will be told “the worst is over””
anyone check out charles hugh smiths blog today? he should have titled it “by the pricking of my thumbs; something wicked this way comes”.
“Obama ships their jobs overseas”
Federal government, executive branch jobs are being shipped overseas?
Wherever you found that, post this in response.:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/09/28/us-usa-democrats-offshore-idUSTRE68R40I20100928
It was in sold in 04’s original rant.
By Jason Schultz
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 4:39 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012
Polo club founder John Goodman has adopted his longtime adult girlfriend as his legal daughter in what plaintiff’s attorneys are calling an attempt to shield assets from a civil suit filed by the parents of a Wellington man killed in a car crash.
Goodman, who founded the International Polo Club Palm Beach in Wellington, legally adopted 42-year-old Heather Laruso Hutchins, as his daughter on Oct. 13 in Miami-Dade County, according to court documents.
———————————————————————————-
I had to go out to the Polo Club today to do an estimate. They won`t let the peons in the front gate so I had to drive another 2 miles west to go through the service entrance. They don`t spend the big money on english speaking security guards at the service entrance like they do at the front gate. So my guy from Hati or wherever asks me where I`m going and who I am working for. I tell him Bent Cypress and Shapiro/Pertnoy. He looks at his sheet for a few seconds and asks me… and what`s the name of your company? (I`m sitting there thinking I was called in so I`m on that list somewhere, but I wonder if this guy can really read?) So I say…. I`m with Berkowitz, Manson and Bundy LLC. He looks down at his list for a few seconds and says… OK go ahead.
So I say…. I`m with Berkowitz, Manson and Bundy LLC. He looks down at his list for a few seconds and says… OK go ahead.
You could’ve just said that you’re with BTK.
This is done ALL the time by the wealthy.
It’s the biggest tax dodge there is. It’s also the ultimate deduction and shield against lawsuits.
Full details click my name for link.
Love the comments “What if Joe 99%er hit someone?”
In New Tampa. You gotta be Diogenes to appreciate this. I am sitting in my car outside Starbucks. The road Bruce downs under construction for the last year or two to make four lanes six lanes. The drive behind Starbucks has a steady stream of cars evading the BBD part to get to a side street to a back nabe.
In LA I will notice less traffic than this on Torrance Blvd. This is mad!
Regarding the whole “All dollars are borrowed into existence”, aka “Debt and Anti-debt” debate, something occurred to me a few minutes ago.
Where is the corresponding debt, when the Fed creates a $1T out of thin air and uses it to buy MBS that it then holds on its balance sheet?
I’m not seeing the debt. Am I just missing it, or is this a case of dollars/anti-debt that have no corresponding debt?
The Fed buys debt.
http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h41/current/
As of Feb 1, the Fed has $3T it has QEed into existence.
In millions of dollars:
U.S. Treasury securities 1,661,622
Federal agency debt securities (2) 101,498 Mortgage-backed securities (4) 835,847
Etc.
There is a dollar of debt for every dollar the Fed injects.
When the Fed makes overnight loans, it is doing swaps. You owe the bank, the Fed takes the debt and gives the bank money, overnight. Next day, the loan goes back to the bank and the money back to the Fed.
The debt today is Camp Pendleton. And Chesapeake Bay. Maybe New Orleans. We promise that the “money” we give to foreigners is valuable, and then we proceed to break that promise by making it unvaluable. So foreigners take something that they feel is adequate compensation.
“…when the Fed creates a $1T out of thin air and uses it to buy MBS that it then holds on its balance sheet?”
Sounds analogous to piggy-back-ride currency in the prison yard, except that piggy-back-rides require labor inputs while the Fed’s new money comes out of thin air. No printing-press technology needs to be applied for either piggy-back or Fed money creation.
Piggyback Rides Replace Cigarettes as New Prison Currency
Posted on April 29, 2010 by Jeff Wysaski
Piggyback rides have replaced cigarettes as the preferred type of currency in the San Quentin Correctional Facility in Marin County, California, according to prison officials.
The move comes largely due to decreased demand for cigarettes within the borders of the prison walls. Just as the larger society is trending towards healthier lifestyle choices, so too are our nation’s most dangerous inmates. This desire to improve personal habits has dramatically reduced the amount of cigarette smokers at San Quentin.
Struggling to find a new product that is more in demand than tobacco, inmates quickly settled on piggyback rides. The idea – which was proposed by three-time murderer and current inmate Rocko Colton – was initially met with resistance by the majority of the prisoners at the maximum-security facility.
One free piggyback ride around the yard was all it took to change their minds, however.
…