Bits Bucket for April 19, 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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Capitalism replaced by “creditism,” but there is no going back, and governments should borrow and invest in favored sectors: article.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/capitalism-is-dead-credit-new-king-says-duncan-2012-04-18
An argument for “hair of the dog.” Someone has to keep borrowing, so the governments should.
“The biggest impediment the world faces in overcoming this crisis is the broadly held misconception that we are operating in a capitalist system.”
“Duncan sees the global economy as having undergone a fundamental transformation during the past 43 years. Since changes in 1968 that freed the Federal Reserve from holding physical gold in reserve against dollars in circulation, total global credit has expanded 50 times, or from about $1 trillion to $50 trillion in 2007.”
“Over that period, credit creation and consumption, or what Duncan calls ‘creditism,’ took hold as the growth dynamic behind the global economy, displacing capitalism, which he says relied upon sound money, hard work and capital accumulation.”
“Attempts to break the global economy’s reliance on credit creation as a driver and reboot back to earlier ways won’t work, said Duncan, who sees “sound money” policy recommendations as a recipe for disaster.”
“Over that period, credit creation and consumption, or what Duncan calls ‘creditism,’ took hold as the growth dynamic behind the global economy, displacing capitalism, which he says relied upon sound money, hard work and capital accumulation.”
What an excellent observation! And we’ve seen - and experienced - the blow-off stage of this creditism several years ago when housing speculation and equity extraction reached the point where they displaced old fashioned employment as the primary method of making money, and many people got sucked into this blow-off stage and quit their good paying jobs so as to get rich speculating in real estate. And now that the blow-off stage has, well, blown off, these people are now stranded.
Darwinism, and all that goes with it.
we’ve seen - and experienced - the blow-off stage of this creditism several years ago when housing speculation and equity extraction reached the point where they displaced old fashioned employment as the primary method of making money,
Correction
When housing speculation and equity extraction REPLACED jobs lost forever to technology and offshoring labor, thus hiding the wealth extraction from the middle and upper middle class to the top 0.1%
“displaced old fashioned employment as the primary method of making money”
Henry Ford: Employers — $$ –> employees ==> customers –$$ –> employers — $$ –> employees…
Unfortunately Henry’s plan only works in a closed system. As soon as you have to compete with slave labor from China the benefits of paying your workers well goes out the window. Same holds in a world of limited resources.
Henry was also making the single luxury item that everyone in his day wanted. As soon as his employees had enough money, they all wanted cars and his was the only one available. Not only does it not work if have to compete against slave labor, it doesn’t work if you have to compete against anything.
“having undergone a fundamental transformation during the past 43 years.”
[Hwy50 whistles loudly!]: “Hey Luther, yo Martin, get over here we need some of yer input in this di$cu$$ion]
contrite [kənˈtraɪt ˈkɒntraɪt]
adj:
3. (Christian Religious Writings / Theology) Theol remor$eful for past $in and … re$olved to avoid future $in
Was that to the whole congregation or aimed squarely at the 1% of his day?
“He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God’s punishment for sin could be purchased with money.”
The current drisis is Debt Exhaustion. We are not the first culture or empire that has undergone the same thing. We did it on a grander scale though.
Hair of the dog….it’s only a postponement. There is only one ending, but variations on messiness.
Leveraged 50:1 worldwide in 40 years. Imagine how a collapse of that credit bubble would impact on a personal level. Unimaginable? Not for me, I was already married then and functioning in a world without much credit.
Oops…what’s a drisis? Try “crisis”.
If you have a drisis, best to go see a doctor immediately and have it removed.
Could it be a sniglet between “dried” and “crisis” as in “credit dried up”?
Bullcrap article.
The entire reason for the invention of commercial incorporation was to acquire capital through investors and issuing a promise to pay in the form of stock. Corporations have ALWAYS worked from credit in one form or another.
From Wiki:
“The alleged oldest commercial corporation in the world, the Stora Kopparberg mining community in Falun, Sweden, obtained a charter from King Magnus Eriksson in 1347. Many European nations chartered corporations to lead colonial ventures, such as the Dutch East India Company or the Hudson’s Bay Company, and these corporations came to play a large part in the history of corporate colonialism.”
Corporate. Colonialism.
The whole point of stock is that you don’t have to pay them anything. Debt has to be paid whether the company does well or not. Dividends on common shares are discretionary. If the company doesn’t do well, you don’t get paid anything and your shares lose value - down to zero if need be. The concepts are very, very different.
I understand, I was just trying emphasize that corporations have been dealing in OPM )loans, investments, bonds,etc) since the beginning and no matter how one spins it, OPM means it’s not yours and therefore an obligation in some form or another no matter the legal fiction that says you don’t have to pay it back.
In other words, debt.
The reason why “no one” wants to de-credit is that it would require liquidation, and that would mean all sorts of privileged sectors would have to take losses, even accept a meta-loss of privilege. So they keep pretending that we can borrow, tax and spend our way out of this. So the crash that’s been built into the system, keeps being put off, until it cannot be denied by the least privileged sector, and then it will be felt across all sectors catastrophically. No one will escape by then.
We’re only at the beginning of the Second Great Depression, and the way it’s got to play out, it’s going to be called the Greatest Depression by the survivors. In effect, the Collapse Bubble is still expanding. Government bailouts are the main driver of that.
I just wonder how long they can put off the inevitable.
“…or from about $1 trillion to $50 trillion in 2007.”
Suppose we woke up tomorrow morning to discover the Fed increased its balance sheet overnight by $50 trillion, to double the global money supply.
Would the globe wake up twice as rich?
Would the globe wake up twice as rich?
Those with physical assets would find that their prices had doubled overnight, yes.
Those with cash would find that their cash was only worth half as much.
So it would depend on what you were holding. But the globe on average would not be any richer.
“Would the globe wake up twice as rich?”
No, the rich on the globe would wake up richer. And by using capital starvation, they’d force the non-rich to undergo more bankruptcies and foreclosures and (from stress) medical costs and divorces. Hence, the assets of the non-rich will fall in value and then be snapped up by the rich. The End Game is for the rich to own everything worth owning, and so they will own you by proxy, by making you rent your way through life; when they own all your future time, they own YOU.
That’s why all of these QEs haven’t been inflationary. They only and largely kept bailing out the rich. At the start of this long process, say the year 2000, the top 20% of the USA owned about 80% of everything. By 2010, halfway through “the plan”, they owned about 85%. They are coming for the next half, so that the top 20% will own 90% of everything. That means on average, the wealth base of the middle class will fall 50%. Their involvement in the consumer economy will collapse, and the nation will take on the appearance of a Second World country. Private security will be a booming business.
The remaining 10% that 80% of the people will own, won’t be worth having. But the top 20% may take a stab at gobbling up half of that, again. After all, institutional investors are taking a stab at buying up huge amounts of pissant houses in bad areas, betting they can rehab them minimally and then rent them out for that big ROI they all seem to demand. So it’s possible this process of destroying the middle class will progress. I estimate the 20%-own-90% plan will complete in the early 2020s at most. The Greatest Depression will be full-on, then. No one will deny it, then. But the gated-community elite may play with their spreadsheets and decide that they will want to keep buying up assets at any price or condition. We’ll have to see, and I’m glad that I’ll be armed to the teeth all through this.
“Young Americans are eschewing cars for alternative transport, leaving carmakers to wonder if this is a recession-induced trend or a permanent shift in habits.”
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/78420798-895c-11e1-bed0-00144feab49a.html#axzz1sTufedVD
I would love to live car-free.
It’s part of what Grandma Skye meant when she said “The’ll just live like we did.”
Save this for down time reading.(not to long)
General Motors’ Destruction of California Transit Systems
http://www.trainweb.org/mts/ctc/ctc06.html
This is probably indicative of a national scheme.
The old red car line…$.25 Pasadena to LA.
Well, there is plans a-foot to bring LA street cars back! Really, google it! [only these might have bicycle racks too]
“Aaaaaalllllllllll Aboard Amtrak!”
I *think* I rode one of the last red cars, from Eagle Rock to downtown LA, with my mother when I was about 3. Not really sure though.
They still have x1 “real” + x1 “replica” running along “Ports-of-Call” in San Pedro, sometimes free, sometimes $1.00 all day.
Kid that started the Inland Empire Railroad museum, was so saddened by they’re being ripped & crushed & torn apart, he started buying as many as he could get fer $50.00 - 250.00 ea.
Bless his heart!
Thank you ALL for chiming in. I grew up (3-18 years old) in
North Hollywood, and I don’t recall the “Pico and Sepulveda” song, or seeing any of the Red Car line infrastructure remains.
It must have been great.
Oxide-
Car come in handy sometimes, for sure, but on the left coast, we’re addicted to our cars. I prefer to use the $1.50 ea way subway in Los Angeles and walk to get around the urban areas, where it makes sense and is available to use. Cars are also a pita.
Yes, the ideal is to use the car only for trips or for hauling things like groceries and loot from Home Despot, and then finding other transport for the daily commute.
However, operating with no car at all works only if you live in a maintained apartment or have access to a car. I’m not sure it’s feasible for a homeowner. Somehow, Slim the Homeowner does it with a bike kid caddie. Sometimes, you just need a car. Zipcar and rental companies are filling in some of the gaps.
Somehow, Slim the Homeowner does it with a bike kid caddie.
I have a bike trailer that will probably see service this weekend. I need to go pick up some landscaping rocks.
There is a zip car right behind my building. Just try reserving it on Friday for a few hours to do errands on Saturday? It is mostly gone all weekend. And when I walk past the space later in the day on weekdays (also possible grocery shopping times) there is often another car parked behind it, so you would have to wait for a tow truck to get rid of the illegal parker. There are others not too far away, but then you have to drag your groceries with you when you walk back from the spot or unload them, bring up to your apartment or leave under the eye of the doorman, and then return the car and walk back.
Not a good situation if anything is frozen and you want it to stay that way.
“I would love to live car-free.”
It’s a beautiful feeling. Makes “portaging” my dobro a challenge, but otherwise great.
I’m finding the opposite. After a couple decades of being car free, having a car is a beautiful thing.
When earning $8/hour working 25 hours a week as a BA barista or retail worker bee while repaying student loans there is not much appetite for a $30,000 new car. Nor will there be much “household formation” among these Lucky Duckies
Not much appetite for ANY kind of car. A decent used car, i.e. a beater that can pass inspection, is $3000 and up these days.
The days of the $500 beater are long gone.
turkey lurkey
I need some new wheels myself. My Volvo is 17 yrs old, 303K on Vixen. I refuse to buy a new one until a decent EV that’s affordable comes out. Looks like I’ll be biking. lol
Almost any small car made after 1999 and in good condition with ~100K miles is worth buying.
2005+ is even better.
When earning $8/hour working 25 hours a week as a BA barista or retail worker bee while repaying student loans there is not much appetite for a $30,000 new car.
Heck, I make almost 100K, and I don’t have much appetite for a $30K+ new car. Doesn’t mean that I don’t WANT one, but I’m not gonna buy one anytime soon. I’ll most likely buy a used “granny mobile”, probably a 5 year old Buick with 30K on the odometer, when the time comes.
Anybody have feedback on brand-new Kias? At under $10k with a 100,000 mile warranty, they seem to be very attractive.
I would love to live car-free.
I’m doing it. However, if you make this lifestyle choice, and, yes, it is a choice, prepare to live in an urban area with fairly flat topography, good year ’round weather, and kindred spirits who are doing the same thing.
If the above doesn’t fit your locale, you’ll have a tougher go of it. But it won’t be impossible. I’ve met daily bike commuters from Alaska.
I would love to see baseball players eschew gum.
I’m just thankful that gum has mostly replaced chewing tobacco.
“I would love to live car-free.”
Yea, its great… until you have to carry your laptop, gym bag and groceries at the same time on a subway or bus.
Realtors Are Liars®
Water is wet.
Not always, not when frozen.
Not always, not when their lips aren’t moving.
I saw a Realtor car parked outside my office building the other day. It was a beat up car, but interesting thing was she had her “business card” painted on the driver side door with her photo and contact information. She is “The Listener.” Gave me a little chuckle.
“Mary Jane”
The Listener
XYZ Realty Group
Painted on the door? really? why not just a good old magnetic sign? lol
Unemployed artist work cheap.
She didn’t have money for a magnetic sign. Only had money for some nail polish.
When I went to the UHS classes, we were told to forget substance. Image, Slogans, and Marketing. Ask open ended questions, mirror and reflect fears, needs, emotional anchors.Those who like book smarts need not apply. And you know, in Ca, that’s spot on.
So I said something to the effect that it’s the biggest investment in one’s life, and that’s the criteria? Oy Vey.
(Working in a REIT, I was just speechless.)
When I went to the UHS classes, we were told to forget substance. Image, Slogans, and Marketing. Ask open ended questions, mirror and reflect fears, needs, emotional anchors.Those who like book smarts need not apply. And you know, in Ca, that’s spot on.
Speaking as a 25-year resident of Arizona, I know exactly what you mean. We have quite a few California airheads here.
Not that you want them back, mind you. But we do get a bit weary of them.
Az Slim-
I was at a job interview yesterday. The topic of other candidates in the lobby was boob job doctors. You don’t have a job, and you’re worried about your “girls” being perky? That’s the first thing, I worry about. LOL
California women…gotta wonder sometimes…
The sad thing is, those boob jobs probably did make a difference in the interviews.
A few years ago, I took a couple undergrad courses at the university, and I was stunned at the number of college-age students who showed up to class in PINK-on-the-butt sweatpants but perfect hair and makeup, holding the ubiquitous cup of coffee. I don’t know how they did on the exams but when it came to a future job, they had the morning coffee thing down pat.
I must have missed the fashion trend where makeup was more important that decent clothing.
“Men only have enough blood to supply one organ at at time, and a smart woman will take advantage of that fact.” - A talk show caller (woman) from many years ago.
Fannie, Freddie tell banks to speed up short sales
by Kim Miller
Federal mortgage backers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced accelerated short sale timelines yesterday that will require approvals within 60 days and anything over 30 days will require weekly status updates to homeowners.
The changes, which begin June 15, include short sales handled through the federal Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternative initiative and traditional programs.
“Short sales are more complex than routine home sales since they may involve multiple parties and long-distance negotiating,” said Tracy Mooney, senior vice president for Freddie Mac’s single-family servicing and REOs. “Freddie Mac’s new timelines are intended to help make the decision process more transparent and timely for short-sales.”
Freddie Mac completed 45,623 short sales in 2011, a 140 percent increase from 2009.
The announcement comes on the heels of Bank of America’s updated short sale system that is supposed to increase process efficiency and decrease timelines.
According to Jacksonville-based Lender Processing Services, short sales outnumbered foreclosures nationwide for the first time in January as banks became more amenable to the deals. Short sales accounted for nearly 24 percent of home purchases in January, compared with 19.7 percent for sales of foreclosed homes.
Tags: foreclosure, Foreclosures, Freddie Mac, Palm Beach County, short sales
This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 18th, 2012 at 7:10 am and is filed under Foreclosures, Housing affordability, Housing boom, Mortgages, Real estate bust. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Related:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-17/short-sales-surpass-foreclosures-as-banks-agree-to-deals.html
Good morning, CIBT as a follow up to yesterday…
“But I can say that last year, when some of the world’s most knowledgeable investors shunned Treasurys based on similar concerns, the asset class had a record year.”
Is that not what happens near the end of a bubble? The inexplicable frantic energy that pushes prices up when it makes absolutely no sense. While some recognize what’s going on and back out, others continue to push forward, often making the naysayers looks foolish in the short term. But I don’t believe for a moment that the Fed can push rates down further nor will investors accept treasuries based on the coupon alone. As we’ve learned from the housing bubble, these things can take a long, long time.
Incidentally, we’re starting to see signs that the investor class is starting to slosh the OPM back to housing. Some of that cash might have been chasing treasuries previously.
The question isn’t so much how much farther the Fed can push down yields, as the answer seems obvious — 0% is a hard floor — until you realize that it really isn’t, and there is no Law of the Universe of which I know that says rates could not (temporarily) be pushed to negative levels. Not to suggest that will actually happen; but if the Fed says they will keep rates low until 2014, or maybe 2015, what makes you think they can’t or won’t, and if they will, doesn’t that make Treasurys a safe bet for a while longer?
The trick is in the rate of deflation. Real rates are above zero if you recognize that we are in deflation. The Fed’s objective is to slow or hide this as much as possible. Their wet dream is for you to believe that we are experiencing inflation and that money is free.
+ 1.
and that money is free ??
Almost…The rub is, how do you get some of it ??
Blue and combo, when most people are running out of money sooner in the month than they used to, due to increases in rent, utilities, food, gas, etc., that’s inflation to them. If you told them we’re in a deflationary period now they’d laugh in your face. Or worse.
I agree Bill…There is definitely no deflation in the “must have’s”…
“when most people are running out of money sooner in the month than they used to”
The clueless MSM attributes WallyMart’s beginning of the month spike in sales to what they term the “paycheck cycle” when it is in fact when the Lucky Duckies get their EBT food stamp cards reloaded. The under $500/week crowd do not get “paid” monthly, if they have jobs they get paid either weekly or biweekly.
The clueless MSM attributes WallyMart’s beginning of the month spike in sales to what they term the “paycheck cycle” when it is in fact when the Lucky Duckies get their EBT food stamp cards reloaded. The under $500/week crowd do not get “paid” monthly, if they have jobs they get paid either weekly or biweekly.
If you want to see this concept in action, head to your nearest Walmart at the end of this month. Plan on arriving around 11 p.m.
You’ll see a lot of people moseying around the store, filling up their carts. Then, when the clock strikes midnight, the race to the checkout stands is on.
Midnight is when the EBT cards get reloaded.
Bill, I agree. The wealth transfer is in full game on mode. It is not because we all have too much money.
I am doing my part to starve the aquisitors by purchasing less of all the aforementioned things.
“If you want to see this concept in action, head to your nearest Walmart at the end of this month. Plan on arriving around 11 p.m.”
They stagger it in the Centennial state. The day the EBT card is recharged is the same as the last digit in your SSN, with ‘0′ bein the tenth.
I’ve only been in our local WallyMart that late once. It was pretty quiet, but it might have been after the 10th of the month.
“due to increases in rent, utilities, food, gas, etc., that’s inflation to them.”
Note that these are all “needs” industries. Prices of needs are going up because retailers know that people will pay, and that people will give up unnecesary items to pay for the needs. This is not textbook inflation, but a decrease in the standard of living.
I disagree Oxide. You’re pointing out the “non-elasticity of demand” for these items but the prices ARE going up and that’s inflation. The standard of living always goes down during inflationary periods. During the double-digit inflation of the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, we had to cut back our discretionary spending almost completely, even though I was fully employed throughout the period. The raises did not keep up.
Whatever you decide it is, you’ll be better off to need little and want less. The Credit Expansion is over.
And in that same period my dad’s raises more than kept up. We went from relying on gramdma and grandpa to eat a few times a week and being a one car family without a walkable supermarket (my grandmother took my mom shopping on senior discount day) to being solidly middle class. That the house payment stayed fixed in comparison to my father’s growing salary helped a lot.
By the end of that period my parents had two newish cars and managed to get both of us through private college. Both of us worked during school and vacations and had scholarships, but we had less than $10K of loans each and they didn’t borrow anything.
During the double-digit inflation of the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, we had to cut back our discretionary spending almost completely, even though I was fully employed throughout the period. The raises did not keep up.
I concur. I had one heck of time back then as I was just out of school and trying to get started. The mental scar tissue is still present.
The raises never kept up.
http://www.halfhill.com/inflation.html
I concur. I had one heck of time back then as I was just out of school and trying to get started. The mental scar tissue is still present.
Roger on the mental scar tissue.
If the Fed holds the rate steady and other such tampering (ie operation twist), about all they can do is keep treasuries from depreciating. You only get the abysmal coupon. Why hold a treasury that yields .05% when there is no hope of appreciation but considerable risk of depreciation? Might as well start buying foreclosed properties in bulk.
Could that be their intention?
I’m skeptical that this is the intention. The most obvious reason to keep rates low is that the US can’t handle paying more interest on the national debt. An (un)fortunate side effect?
If you feel 99% certain that the economy in the US and around the globe is going to continue it’s collapse and that the US is the best of all the bad options treasuries are a good bet. You could buy forclosures and still loose 20% or more (Gary Shilling predicts another 20% drop).
What will happen to your foreclosure properties when interest rates climb? What will happen to unemployment??
Personally, I don’t think I’d be buying bulk foreclosures if I had the means. Just an observation on a trend that could affect treasuries. There’s been a fair few articles talking about bulk purchases recently.
It seems like the 1% have just too much bloody money around for it not to be causing a bubble somewhere.
It seems like the 1% have just too much bloody money around for it not to be causing a bubble somewhere.
Exactly. Hence the need to return them to the progressive tax system.
Exactly. Hence the need to return them to the progressive tax system.
+1. At an absolute minimum, those earning all of their income via capital gains need to be taxed at the same rates that those earning their income via wages pay.
Barney would never let this happen in Mayberry. :-/
“Crundwell moved city funds into multiple city accounts, including a joint account for the city of Dixon and herself, according to federal authorities. She then withdrew $3.3 million from the account, using only $74,274 for city operations. The FBI expanded its investigation, and discovered from July 2006 to March 2012 she allegedly deposited more than $30 million into the joint account. She allegedly then paid out more than $30 million for her own personal and business expenses.”
“She had earned an annual salary of $80,000.”
Small Illinois town’s comptroller accused of stealing millions:
By Jeff Stacklin | The Lookout
The chief financial officer of Dixon, Ill., has been put on unpaid leave after she was arrested by FBI agents and charged with defrauding the city of $3.2 million and misappropriating another $30 million in city funds.
Crundwell, an award-winning quarter horse breeder, spent the money on jewelry, a motor home, and her horse farms in Wisconsin, reports the Tribune.
Federal agents seized the contents of two bank accounts, seven trucks and trailers, three pickups, a $2.1 million motor home, and a Ford Thunderbird convertible — all of which were purchased with illegal proceeds, according to federal authorities.
“FBI agents and charged with defrauding the city of $3.2 million and misappropriating another $30 million in city funds.”
Well maybe she just commingled the town’s funds with her own like Jon Corzine did with MF Global. So that would make it OK, right?
The first thing we did was pick up the phone and call….
I`m thinking Ghost Bustsers….Who you gonna call? Jon Corzine!
IIRC Dixon’s sole claim to fame is that it was Reagan’s boyhood hometown. Now they’ve got something else to talk about, I guess.
Is it really possible to pay $2.1 MILLION for a motor home?!
Heard of it…Never actually seen one…I have seen many that were at the 1-mil threshold though….
Me’s imagination is fertile ponderin’ the activities that commenced within, like what kinda popcorn maker does it have?
You bet. A new tricked out four slide Prevost with all the goodies can easily top 2 mil. Another
one is Newell.
We know a couple who live in CT and travel down
to Palm Beach for the winter in their Prevost.
They trade it in every three years with about 12k
miles on it and they never use the kitchen. They stop at restaurants. They don’t like to mingle with the common folk…..
They sound like terrible people. The world will be a better place when they’re gone.
Thank god she wasn’t standing in line at the grocery store talking on her cellphone while buying steaks and beer on her food stamps before getting into her Escalade.
Let’s see, $400 a month (avg max food stamps) goes into $3.2 MILLION, how many times?
“…….award winning quarter horse breeder……..”
$32.2 million……..you can buy a lot of feed for the hayburners with money like that.
Like airplanes, want to make a small fortune in the horse business?
Start with a large fortune.
Like airplanes, want to make a small fortune in the horse business?
Start with a large fortune.
Methinks that the current crop of in-VEST-ors who are snapping up houses to rent out will learn the same lesson.
Will there be an effort to extend the $51,000 per household largess to households who lost their homes before this foreclosure prevention money became available, or will the pool of lucky winners be limited to those who made it this far through the Great Recession and its aftermath?
Frannie generosity could cost taxpayers $128 bln
By Daniel Indiviglio
April 18, 2012
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.
The holy grail of foreclosure prevention looks near struggling homeowners’ grasp – but its contents may taste bitter to taxpayers. The Federal Housing Finance Agency appears close to caving on letting Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac cut mortgage balances for underwater borrowers. A new Breakingviews calculator shows that this policy shift would not cost too much more at the margins. But it introduces another layer of moral hazard: if it encourages enough borrowers to sip from the cup, Frannie’s already gargantuan $150 billion bailout tab could almost double.
If properly targeted, forgiving lump sums from borrowers’ mortgages isn’t overly expensive. FHFA Acting Director Edward DeMarco revealed last week that 700,000-odd government-backed, underwater borrowers already in default might qualify. Their balances could be cut by an average of $51,000 a pop.
Plug those numbers into Breakingviews’ calculator, along with Barclays’ assumption that redefaults may hit 40 percent, and it shows that principal forgiveness costs $9 billion more than the projected cost of Treasury’s original Home Affordable Modification Program. That initiative shrinks a borrower’s monthly payment without reducing balances. Forgiveness is more expensive – while it usually pushes redefault rates down by five to 10 percentage points, according to Barclays, it cuts mortgage principal and interest revenue.
…
More free obama money.
Life is good - for some.
Sorry - nothing for renters or those who pay their bills…
The Federal Housing Finance Agency appears close to caving on letting Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac cut mortgage balances for underwater borrowers.
I don’t see anything in that quote that says you have to be a deadbeat. In any case, its posturing. There won’t be any debt forgiveness.
Where the no compromise morality meets the reality.
The morality view……Deadbeats gotta pay, they signed the papers. Even though they were conned in to doing so by business and government at all levels.
The reality…….some people that owe $2-3-4-500K more than the house is worth will NEVER be able to pay it back. Or will be a debt slave for 20-30 years, in which case they aren’t going to buying any new houses, cars, etc. Not sure that the economy can stand turning 20-30-40? million households into permanant debt slaves.
There has to be a solution that punishes all those involved equally, while minimizing the impact to those of us who refused to participate.
But I’m a dreamer that way……….
Yeah, I’m a dreamer too. (Cue up that New Radicals song, “You Get What You Give.” The one with the refrain about the dreamer’s disease.)
April 18th, 2012
10:58 PM ET
Down with debt weight
Editor’s Note: Robert Skidelsky, a member of the British House of Lords, is Professor Emeritus of Political Economy at Warwick University. For more from Skidelsky, visit Project Syndicate or follow it on Facebook and Twitter.
By Robert Skidelsky, Project Syndicate
…
With fiscal, monetary, and exchange-rate policies blocked, is there a way out of prolonged recession? John Geanakoplos of Yale University has been arguing for big debt write-offs. Rather than waiting to get rid of debt through bankruptcies, governments should “mandate debt forgiveness.” They could buy bad loans from lenders and forgive part of the principal payable by borrowers, simultaneously reducing lenders’ collateral requirements and borrowers’ debt overhang. In the US, the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF) program and the Public-Private Investment Program (PPIP) were in effect debt-forgiveness schemes aimed at sub-prime mortgage holders, but on too small a scale.
But the principle of debt forgiveness clearly has applications for public debt as well, especially in the eurozone. Those who fear excessive public debt are the banks that hold it. Junk public bonds are no safer for them than junk private bonds. Both lenders and borrowers would be better off from a comprehensive debt cancelation. So would citizens whose livelihoods are being destroyed by governments’ desperate attempts to de-leverage.
Philosophically, the debt-forgiveness approach rests on the belief that creditors share culpability for defaults with debtors, since they made the bad loans in the first place. As long as the borrower has not misled the lender at the time of taking the loan, the lender bears at least some responsibility for the transaction.
In 1918, Keynes urged the cancelation of inter-Allied debts arising from World War I. “We shall never be able to move again, unless we can free our limbs from these paper shackles,” he wrote. And, in 1923, his call became a warning that today’s policymakers would do well to heed: “The absolutists of contract…are the real parents of revolution.”
“Philosophically, the debt-forgiveness approach rests on the belief that creditors share culpability for defaults with debtors, since they made the bad loans in the first place.”
“The absolutists of contract…are the real parents of revolution.”
The $COTU$ Inc. “persons” are quite contrite, just look at the $hame dripping from their face$. :-/
$pin one for them thar million$ of deadbeat$ Jeff.
“$pin one for them thar million$ of deadbeat$ Jeff.”
“Revolution 9″ Lyrics by The Beatles
share culpability share culpability share culpability share culpability share culpability share culpability share culpability share culpability share culpability share culpability share culpability share culpability share culpability share culpability
“The absolutists of contract…are the real parents of revolution.”
The zombie files: Nearly 7,000 stagnating foreclosure cases lie dormant in Palm Beach County’s courts
By Kimberly Miller Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 10:40 p.m. Saturday, April 14, 2012
“I have no idea what’s going on and I’m not pushing it,” said Robert Feinson, a Jupiter resident whose case has sat idle since November 2010, more than two years after his lender initially filed for foreclosure against him. “Right now, we’re just waiting to see who is going to make the next move.”
The 6,927 zombie files make up about 17 percent of Palm Beach County’s 39,252 foreclosure cases.
share culpability share culpability share culpability share culpability share culpability share culpability share culpability
“Both lenders and borrowers would be better off from a comprehensive debt cancellation.”
Well, he’s half right.
If you are only telling a half truth, then you are a liar.
That statement of the obvious made me laugh.
Although if you factor in that somehow the FEDS will funnel cash to the lender to make them whole maybe it’s not so funny?
“Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”
“– The Lord’s Prayer”
I guess it`s OK then because the next line is….
“And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.”
Now if that line had come before the “”Forgive us our debts,” line I guess all the serial refinancing Donald Trump wana be victim Dedabeats would not have taken on such a large roll in this housing bubble. But the way it reads they had been lead into temptation and must be delivered from the evil banksters while their greed must be overlooked because somebody forgot to not lead them into temptation. Unless it was God who said… Realestate only goes up. Buy now or be priced out for ever and ever. Amen? Then of course that would make God a Realtor and I don`t think that is the case, is it?
Personally I think if we are going to bring the “The Lord’s Prayer” into this it needs a rewrite.
Forgive us our debts, unless you are a renter. Because then nothing bad could ever happen to you and Thou shalt have no excuse not to make every payment on time or Thou @ss shall be kicked to the curb. Amen.
I would contend that without the authority of the law, forgiveness is impossible. Since the authorities are lawless, there will be no forgiveness.
Since the authorities are lawless, there will be no forgiveness ??
You got it backwards Blue Skye….Because they are lawless, the forgiveness becomes selective…
Personally I think if we are going to bring the “The Lord’s Prayer” into this it needs a rewrite.
FWIW, I’ve only seen the word “debt” used in the Lord’s Prayer in the King James Version translation. Other translations use words such a “sins” or “trespasses”.
In the Episcopal Church, it’s “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
My understanding of that portion of the Lord’s Prayer is that the forgiveness we show others will be the yardstick used on us on judgement day. So in other words, if you’re a hard ass on your fellow man, you should expect the same treatment on judgement day.
So in other words, if you’re a hard ass on your fellow man, you should expect the same treatment on judgement day.
Pretty well mirrors what I heard in the Episcopal Church. There’s quite a bit of emphasis on how you treat others.
“My understanding of that portion of the Lord’s Prayer is that the forgiveness we show others will be the yardstick used on us on judgement day.”
It’s a temporal warning also. That forgiveness you receive??? Extend it to others.
“It’s a temporal warning also. That forgiveness you receive??? Extend it to others.”
Last month on about the 15th my DB LL said they did not get my rent check and said I had to bring them another one. I told them I sent it on the 5th like I usually do but they insisted they had not recieved it and if it did show up they would tear it up but I had to bring them another one because they had to make the mortgage payment. I brought them another check (after I put a stop payment on the first one) and handed him 2 of the Wells Fargo slips that the forclosure inspectors leave when they come around. The DB LL insisted that the mortgage was paid up and it was me who was causing the problem by not getting them paid by the 5th of every month.
About 2 weeks later we were served with the second foreclosure here (first one recieved a workout after about a year in Nov. 2010) this one listed my wife and I as UNKNOWN TENANT #1 and #2 instead of by our names like the first one. So the DBs I know want to receive forgiveness they just don`t want to give any.
PS
DB LL #1 in Jupiter Landings was the same sh#t. Griped if the rent was late by a week all during the 3+ years they collected rent without paying the mortgage.
Hell hath no fury like a Deadbeat scorned.
In that case I would go take a dump on his front porch…. rent paid in full.
this one listed my wife and I as UNKNOWN TENANT #1 and #2 instead of by our names like the first one.
Awesome—I was wondering what the inspiration was for your new HBB handle.
In that case I would go take a dump on his front porch…. rent paid in full.
That seems a little extreme, but I would be very tempted to stop paying the rent, and fight any eviction proceedings with the argument that the impending foreclosure due to non-payment by the DB LL was a violation of your lease, and had interfered with your “quiet enjoyment” of the property.
Comment by jeff saturday
2012-04-14 12:38:26
We reicevd our second LP delivered to this residence by Palm Beach County on Thursday. The first one on 05/05/2010 had my name as well as my wife`s name on it as TENANT #1 and TENANT #2 . This one however does not, we are now known by WELLS FARGO BANK NA as UNKNOWN TENANT #1 and UNKNOWN TENANT #2. The DB LL recieved their NOT (workout) on 11/05/2010 after collecting rent and not paying for a year, now after another year I guess the DB LL has sucked about as much tax free cash as he can out of this debt shack. (credit RAL)
But this is not a bad thing for me. I have been a long time Colts fan thus the name jeff saturday. The Colts have blown up the team and Jeff Saturday has moved on to Green Bay, Peyton has gone to visit in Colorado. So it seems the time for me to move on has come as well. Rio asked me yesterday if there was anything I wanted him to tell the Unkown Comic, yes Rio there is. Tell him that from now on I shall be known as The UNKNOWN TENANT.
So it seems the time for me to move on has come as well.
I’m sure I speak for many of us on the HBB when I say that I sincerely hope that your next landlord is not a deadbeat.
But I’ll miss your deadbeat song lyrics. It seems as though your current landlord has given you lots of inspiration.
No, I think he’ll still be here, just changing the screen name. Not sure about the lyrics.
And deregulateth not the banksters, for they are near to the evil one, and shall do his bidding if giveneth the chance.
Your debt is forgiven. Now GTFO of the house or do you need some help?
+ a bazdrillion.
Editor’s Note: Robert Skidelsky, a member of the British House of Lords, is Professor Emeritus of Political Economy at Warwick University.
Why do I get the feeling he has never worked a day in his life?
This never-ending debate about cramdowns has to be a key factor preventing the housing market from getting back on its feet, as policy uncertainty is a sure way to shut down market forces.
Bloomberg News
Geithner’s Math Puzzle Beyond Numbers for DeMarco: Mortgages
By Clea Benson, Dan Levy and Jody Shenn on March 29, 2012
Timothy F. Geithner is giving Edward J. DeMarco, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s overseer, some math homework. For DeMarco, it’s more of a psychology question.
Geithner, the U.S. Treasury secretary, is offering new incentive payments to the two government-supported mortgage financiers if DeMarco drops his opposition to principal reductions for homeowners whose loans are backed by the companies. Geithner told Congress yesterday he was sure the economics would work in favor of debt reductions “in some circumstances.” The Treasury would pay a maximum of 63 cents for each dollar of loan forgiveness as part of its expanded Home Affordable Modification Program.
It’s not just a question of whether the numbers add up, DeMarco said in an interview at Bloomberg’s headquarters in New York yesterday. The Federal Housing Finance Agency also is examining for the first time whether forgiveness would encourage defaults among borrowers who have kept making payments on mortgages that exceed the values of their homes, he said. The analysis may be finished by mid-April.
“The principal forgiveness debate for FHFA is not a question of should we forgive principal versus should we be foreclosing on borrowers that stop making mortgage payments,” DeMarco said. “We’ve got to consider all of the ramifications of principal forgiveness relative to other tools.”
…
just send every american a check and get it over with.
“The Treasury would pay a maximum of 63 cents for each dollar of loan forgiveness as part of its expanded Home Affordable Modification Program.”
“just send every american a check and get it over with.”
Not every american.
Forgive us our debts, unless you are a renter. Because then nothing bad could ever happen to you and Thou shalt have no excuse not to make every payment on time or Thou @ss shall be kicked to the curb. Amen.
Dude they only send money to job creators.
“Dude they only send money to job creators.”
And they only let Loanowners not send money.
I’d be happy to take a check!
examining for the first time whether forgiveness would encourage defaults among borrowers who have kept making payments on mortgages that exceed the values of their homes, he said. The analysis may be finished by mid-April.
I wonder how many tax dollars they spent for THAT juicy contract. Because I can give you an answer to that question right now.
As could all of HBB.
US unemployment claims signal slower hiring
By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER The Associated Press
Posted: 8:41 a.m. Thursday, April 19, 2012
WASHINGTON — The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment benefits suggests hiring is slowing.
The unemployment rate has fallen to 8.2 percent in March from 9.1 percent in August. Part of the drop was because people gave up looking for work. People who are out of work but not looking for jobs aren’t counted among the unemployed.
———————————————————————————-
Big job fair in Palm Beach Gardens today
By WPTV WPTV Staff Writer
Posted: 6:09 a.m. Wednesday, April 18, 2012
PALM BEACH GARDENS — Get your resume ready.
The West Palm Beach Career Expo will take place today in Palm Beach Gardens and is open to the general public.
The expo will be held at the DoubleTree Hotel and Executive Meeting Center, which is located at 4431 PGA Boulevard.
The job fair, which runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., aims to connect local hiring employers with qualified candidates throughout the area.
Free workshops will also be featured.
You can RSVP at southflorida.jobsdirectusa.com
6 COMMENTS
Job Fairs my butt. Most are nothing more than recruiters and employment companies trying to make a buck. Seems every time there is one of these fiascos, people write in to say what a waste of time and energy they were. Publicized as being “BIG”…well we shall see what’s bigger the hype or the number of real employers looking for people or just most of the same nonsense as the past.
Job Fairs?
7:45 AM, 4/18/2012
Don’t fall for these job fairs down here in the South. These jobs fair companies are a typical Florida scam. Retail, restaurant, insurance sales and other low wage and commission only jobs are not real jobs. When someone has a job fair that has real employers offering real wages then I’ll actually get off the couch and check them out. Until then, if they want me working they’d better start offering a decent salary and full benefits just like real employers offer would/should. No more hucksters.
FL native
11:46 AM, 4/18/2012
I went to the BIG Job fair today. It was in a small room at the hotel. There were 7 employers. Only 2 of them I have not seen at previous job fairs. They were Next Era (FPL) and City of West palm Beach.. There were about 40 people in the room. Each company said you could leave a resume but you were better off to go to the website check out the jobs and apply.
With the exception of the two companies stated, the rest were sales jobs.
Why did I waste my time.
Johnny
5:45 PM, 4/18/2012
I found Jessica Renard’s assistance to be very valuable in her presentation. She gave many helpful suggestions that I can apply to my job search and offered to personally share her network with me. The educational portion was much more helpful than the booths of employers.
Job seeker
8:38 PM, 4/18/2012
Job seeker is a plant.
That is the U3 number.
Always look at the U6 number.
Before I learned better, I went to job fairs. Nothing ever came from them. The 2nd-to-last that I went to, had a copier supply/service company there, which was right up my alley, and a real job. So I got to talking with the rep there, and after he determined that I was not a bullshitter, and that I really knew tech, he dropped whatever facade that he had put up, and finally admitted that he wasn’t there to look for new employees. I asked, then why are you here? Well, his copier company supplied the copiers for the event. So they put up a table just for show.
The last job fair that I went to, was almost entirely stocked with community colleges (they didn’t have positions open, they just wanted to sell you an “education”), fast food, and the military. Oh, there was one place that did tech work, from the flyer’s claims… but their table was bare. They didn’t even bother to show up.
I will never attend another job fair. They are worthless. They must be part of the EEO con that’s been pulled on Americans. Lots of job ads aren’t for real positions, I learned; those ads are there for EEO compliance, and the positions are filled in other ways (i.e. they already had a guy in mind, but that’s against EEO). There’s no point in even applying… which makes total sense, since I’ve sent out 100s of resumes just to get back a big fat silence.
Same is true for those procurement fairs that various government agencies have now and then. People at the tables are all a-flutter with how their agencies want to do business with little squirts like me.
Well, I’m here to tell you that those friendly people aren’t the actual purchasers of your goods and services. Those people don’t come to these events. You have to look for them through your own prospecting efforts.
The world’s biggest food company has been losing ground since 2006 as consumers switch to tap and filtered water and as concerns over the environmental impact of plastic packaging and energy used in transportation deter some shoppers, said Hope Lee, an analyst at Euromonitor International in London.
Please the environment?? I’d say that people are saving money in the most obvious places. Why spend 2 bucks on water that is more often than not less healthy than tap/filtered.
I have always said my grand parents were the best environmentalists.
Not that they meant to be - they were just really thrifty.
Examples:
Nothing was thrown out that wasn’t fix 12 times, you bought the whole chicken and ate the whole chicken (including feet and gizzards). What could be composted - was composted. You got just a few lights at night to read (no tv) and lawns were for fools (that is good garden space). Etc.
And they did not trust banks either.
Only time I consume bottled water is when I’m at an event where it’s provided for free. Otherwise, it’s tap water for this camper.
BTW, Tucson Water is talking about yet another rate increase. Big part of the reason is that we Tucsonans have gotten so good at conserving water.
Demand goes down, so price goes up? or is it price goes up, so demand goes down?
Locally, we’re of the mind that the demand has gone down due to our increased attention to conservation. Meanwhile, the water company is claiming that their fixed costs are increasing.
They probably are. I imagine the cost is more in the pipes than the water. It costs as much to fix a cracked pipe whether you send down 100 gallons or 50 gallons.
The water guys are copying the gasoline/oil guys playbook.
“Why spend 2 bucks on water that is more often than not less healthy than tap/filtered.”
Not true. Your local tap water, while potable, is far less filtered than bottled water.
Lessend EPA standards over the last 20 years have allowed higher and higher concentrations of all sorts of fun things in your local water supply. Arsenic being a leading chemical.
However, a simple screw on tap filter will solve that.
My tap water tastes like sulfur, but I don’t bother with filtered water. I use distilled. I know what I’m getting, and it’s never shipped far. Only a buck a gallon too.
I’ll likely put a filter on my faucet eventually.
Get a reverse osmosis filter at Costco for less than $200. It has three or four stages depending on which one is available. The R/O technology is the same used in the ultra-high purity water systems in semi-conductor plants.
The Costco unit is the best bang for your buck.
Here is today’s propaganda piece:
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_20429074/denver-housing-market-second-nation-quick-sales
“Metro Denver’s real estate market, not long ago a buyer’s domain, suddenly has shifted to a seller’s paradise, at least in some neighborhoods and price ranges.”
Maybe in a few select nabes, where the managerial class lives. But a “sellers paradise”? Maybe if you drop the price enough.
Gotta love how they pump that sense of urgency:
“New advice from the trenches on buying a home: Look early. Think fast. Hone your quick-draw skills with the checkbook.”
Gotta love how they pump that sense of urgency:
“New advice from the trenches on buying a home: Look early. Think fast. Hone your quick-draw skills with the checkbook.”
If it’s something that requires quick-draw skills with a checkbook, I think I’ll just leave mine at home. False urgency tends to lead to bad decisions.
Realtor lies abound.
Do you expect anything less?
The Denver Post is a f*ing joke. And if you want more propaganda read Mike Rosen’s column there today.
I avoid reading Mr. Rosen’s rants.
In case anyone is thinking about that Ph.d in chemistry….
What does a Ph.D. in chemistry get you?
By Janet D. Stemwedel | April 18, 2012
-snip-
Economic forces in the world beyond your graduate program might be such that there aren’t as many jobs suited to your Ph.D. chemist skills as there are Ph.D. chemists competing for those jobs. Among other things, this means that earning a Ph.D. in chemistry does not guarantee you a job in chemistry on the other end.
Oops forgot the link!
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/doing-good-science/2012/04/18/what-does-a-ph-d-in-chemistry-get-you/
I knew some PhD chemists who were having trouble finding chemistry jobs 15-20yrs ago. One was running a tutoring program for undergraduates.
Part of the problem is that academia is geared toward getting more people into the PhD pipeline. The fact that there’s little or no demand for such people in both the academic and non-academic job markets is beside the point.
What is the point? Well, academia needs a steady influx of grad students to do the scut work in the lab.
Our education system just looks like our health care system.
It’s not the research lab. It’s the teaching labs. Every sci/eng major has to take two semesters of freshman chem, and the TA’s have to come from somewhere. This is why the PhD glut is in chemistry and not, say, biology. Only bios take biology, but everyone takes chemistry.
Qualitative, Quantitative, Bio, and P-chem, the later being the ball buster….
I know two PhD chemists from good schools (Cal and Yale).
One is a nurse, the other is a high school teacher.
Has anyone discussed the JOBS Act of 2012? Obama signed it on April 5, 2012. Spitzer, Black and Taibbi have been raising the alarm about it, but it’s gaining no traction.
Basically, it sounds like an attempt to unleash the stock market again. I had a suspicion politicians would do something to pump the economy up in time for the election. Both the president and the Congress’s jobs depend on it, and thus this bill was passed quickly and in a massively bipartisan manner.
Silly me, I thought they would do something healthy for the economy to take the pressure off of people being pushed into rentals, with rents going up and gas prices going up. Instead they’ve decided to inflate another bubble. We’ve talked about how they’re continuously replacing one bubble with another, and it looks like they’re at it again.
“No matter how cynical you get, it is impossible to keep up” -Lily Tomlin
1) “Once again, the Puppets on Capitol Hill are about to slam the Muppets on Main Street. The country still hasn’t recovered from the Wall Street-induced financial cataclysm of 2008, yet Congress is preparing to enact the Orwellian ”JOBS Act”—a bill that should in fact be called the “Return Fraud to Wall Street in One Easy Step Act.” The bill will undo some of the most important reforms placed on Wall Street in a generation.”
Slate link (Spitzer)
2) “In fact, one could say this law is not just a sweeping piece of deregulation that will have an increase in securities fraud as an accidental, ancillary consequence. No, this law actually appears to have been specifically written to encourage fraud in the stock markets.”
Rolling Stone (Taibbi) link
3) “It is self-defeating for us to say this because as criminologists and anti-fraud specialists we would have job security for life if this bill was adopted. It is literally composed of the wish list in regard to fraud-friendly provisions that those intent on cheating have been dreaming about and salivating to achieve for decades. This bill will kill millions of jobs because financial frauds are weapons of mass financial destruction. It will start an international fraud-friendly deregulation race to the bottom and will become the basis for further criminogenic U.S. Congressional actions.”
Huffington Post Link (Black)
Basically, it sounds like an attempt to unleash the stock market again.
They can unleash it all they want. I predict that the stock market will act like some unleashed dogs. As in, they’ll run around growling and snapping as they attack innocent bystanders (or, in this case, 401k investors).
Stock market maulings are awfully hard for the 401k-possessing little people to recover from.
The time will come when Beanie Babies will be looked upon as a good investment. (Good = Relative to Stocks)
What is “worth” more? A Beanie Baby, or a piece of paper that is essentially worth nothing?
Tweedledee, tweedledum. And yet we still waste time and bandwidth here with partisan attacks on one another.
Forget 666. The “Sign of the Beast” in the U.S. is 535, the number of senators and representatives.
I’ve always felt like art is beanie babies for the wealthy.
Sales of U.S. existing homes fall 2.6% in March”
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/sales-of-us-existing-homes-fall-26-in-march-2012-04-19
Like eyes said, many, many, many, are makin’ monie$ off of $ickness & thee poor [U$ Gov't].
National Healthcare $ystem = “Evil”
“…But the larger point in last week’s column was that the calculus for medical charges in general is beyond comprehension, with outrageously high fees used as a starting point in a bizarre game of bargaining. Glenn Melnick, who teaches hospital finance at USC, told me it’s as crazy as if he asked to buy the TV in my living room, and I gave him a price of $1 million to start the conversation.”
“This is the kind of insanity that exists when medicine and medical insurance are about private profit rather than public health, when 50 million people are uninsured, when Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements don’t always cover true costs and when polarized politics prevent the kind of reasonable discussions that could lead to solutions.”
The bizarre calculus of emergency room charges:
Readers share their experiences about the bewildering fees charged by hospitals. Even medical professionals can be baffled by the way costs are determined.
By Steve Lopez / March 31, 2012 / LA Times
Like Moser, lots of patients are surprised to get separate bills like that, unaware that a hospital’s doctors can be independent contractors. It’s like going to a Laker game, paying $150 for a ticket, and later getting an additional $75 bill in the mail from Kobe Bryant.
[Hey now, that $orta thing will rule Hwy50 going to a Angels-Pujol$ game!]
Dad had bypass surgury years ago, back when it was a hit-miss proposition.
Has a lot of faults, but taking getting ripped off wasn’t one of them.
As he was waiting for surgury, and in the few days after surgury, he’d notice doctors he’d never seen before come into his room, ask how he was doing, look at his chart, and leave, never to be seen again.
But he heard from them……..when every last one of them sent him a $500 bill for “consultation”
Dad called the MD and the surgeon (both old timers) and told them that if they needed all this additional consultant help, maybe they weren’t the good doctors that they professed to be.
Doctors are like any other profession. 10-15% are “Great”, 60-70% are “OK/decent/ average” and 10-15% leave a lot to be desired.
The problem is, they all charge us on the “Great” payscale.
Dad called the MD and the surgeon (both old timers) and told them that if they needed all this additional consultant help, maybe they weren’t the good doctors that they professed to be.
Your dad sounds like my kind of person. Yay, dad!
Stocks Dip, Wall Street Wrestles With Choppy Session
Bernanke is twiddling his thumbs. Any moment, he will hit the Print button.
Well I`m shocked. Who could have ever guessed there was such a thing as a Honduran Navy.
Coast Guard stops 30th drug sub
By CAROL ROSENBERG The Miami Herald
Posted on Wednesday, 04.18.12
crosenberg@miamiherald.com
When reports first surfaced in the 1990s of boat builders making submarines for cocaine smugglers in the jungles of Colombia, U.S. law enforcement regarded them as a comic curiosity. Today, with the disclosure that the U.S. Coast Guard has intercepted its 30th semi-submersible in less than six years, the vessels are now seen as a troubling tactic.
The Coast Guard said in a news release Wednesday that two of its cutters, the Decisive and Pea Island, chased down a sub on March 30 in the Western Caribbean. It credited collaboration with the Honduran Navy.
The Coast Guard also released an eerie photo — the bow of the sub, painted with shark’s teeth — disappearing beneath the surface.
The suspected smugglers on board scuttled the cramped craft before they were taken into custody, sending their suspicious load into “thousands of feet of water” about 150 nautical miles north of Honduras, according to an official close to the operation. By one estimate, it was carrying several tons of drugs. Intelligence agencies believe these kind of vessels are bound for Central America.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/18/2756060/coast-guard-stops-30th-drug-sub.html - -
How do you say “Dive! Dive!” in Spanish anyway?
They aren’t “submarines”. They are boats, with no “freeboard”.
The cartels need to go talk someone into selling them a “Kilo” class Russian sub, then replace the warheads on the torpedos and cruise missiles with cocaine and meth.
“The possibility that the Supreme Court will strike down all or part of the Affordable Care Act has given new life to Republican calls to put market mechanisms to work in holding down health care costs. The public is certain to hear lots more about it on the campaign trail later this year.
There’s one big problem, though. Markets cannot work when consumers and patients have almost no information about the prices they pay for health care.
Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., chairman of the House Budget Committee, has resuscitated his proposal to turn Medicare over to insurance carriers. Future retirees would be offered financial help to pay for policies sold through public exchanges similar to the ones set up under Obamacare. The subsidy would be limited to the value of the second-lowest cost plan offered on the market. The idea is that over-65 consumers, who would still have the option of remaining in traditional fee-for-service Medicare, would drive down costs by forcing the plans to compete for their business by offering lower-cost alternatives.
Other Republicans and conservative think tanks are touting laws that would allow insurance carriers to sell individuals policies across state lines, which would be coupled with incentives to shift people away from employer-based coverage. Under such plans, individuals could buy catastrophic coverage for expensive hospital stays while using the savings to pay the entire cost of routine health services, just like they pay out-of-pocket now for lawyers, flat-screen TVs or the week’s groceries.
Again, the idea is that people putting up their own money will be much more likely to scrutinize the price of tests, drugs and procedures, and choose accordingly. If they comparison shop, they might even visit the provider down the street.
Employers are already moving in the direction of giving consumers “more skin in the game,” according to a recent survey by the Employee Benefits Research Institute. One in five Americans are already in high-deductible insurance plans, an all-time high, even though this approach is leading many to skimp on preventive services that could avoid higher health care costs down the road.
Unfortunately for the architects of such proposals, there’s a crucial element missing from their proposals, something that is necessary to make any market work: accurate and easily accessible price information for consumers. Have you ever walked into a doctor’s office and seen a price posted for all the tests, products or procedures that might be offered during your visit? At the hospital? Ever seen a price list at the local pharmacy? “
http://money.msn.com/politics/post.aspx?post=f6abaa65-58d5-43ec-b8d8-18abfe87648a
Here is another reason that health care is not a free market. If a doctor charges $1000/hour, can I know it before I schedule the appointment? If I select a surgeon based on price, can I find out that the hospital he works with is also the lowest cost?
In our current system, I have zero negotiating power. That has been delegated to the insurance company by my employer. The insurance company is delighted when I choose to postpone getting care in favor of paying premiums.
Although he is under age 65, Paul Ryan should set an example for us by enrolling himself and his whole family in this voucher program and experience the “free market” health insurance system for himself.
Back in 2009, while I was visiting my aunt in VT, we went to a town hall hosted by Sen. Bernie Sanders.
His take on the much-vaunted Congressional health insurance plan? “It ain’t that great. I have the same plan that my secretary has.”
These tube-steaks seem to forget that the “future retirees” that they are going to try to sell this garbage to have heard this all before. See “HMO”.
NOBODY wants to sell health/life insurance to the over 40 crowd, unless they are forced to, or there is some kind of scam involved….(which, fundamentally, is why the Republicans like it…….another means for their vampire business friends to suck money from what’s left of the middle class corpse).
In the meantime, the offloading of “expenses” continues…….another of my 50-ish friends just got the boot, and now gets to join the wonderful word of the 1099 employee. Haven’t got the heart to tell him he’s going up against a gazillion other guys, who have a two year start developing networks. Hopefully, his wife is working, has insurance, and his house is paid off.
Any “Free-Market” plan passed by the Republicans should have a optional “voluntary euthanasia” plan.
Given the choice between extending my life for a few months/years, (at the cost of being a debt-slave and/or handing over all of my worldly assets and possessions to the doctors and hospitals), or
being pulled out to sea on an ice floe……sign me up for the ice floe.
(From the 21st Century version of the Hippocratic Oath:
“Above all, I must not play at God. That’s what the Republicans are for.”
“which, fundamentally, is why the Republicans like it…….another means for their vampire business friends to suck money from what’s left of the middle class corpse”
I think the plan is to solve the boomer problem by making us corpses.
That’s the plan…….all kinds of financial and demographic problems get fixed, if you can make that happen.
Gen “X” and “Y” will root for it. Until Gen “Z” and “AA” are in their 20’s.
Even better if you can make it happen by doing nothing. Or passing any kind of “Free-Market” health plan. At least the Germans were honest about it, when they killed off the “parasites” and “untermensch”.
Back in the day, guys like us were valued for experience and leadership, and as mentors for the young guys. All of the young guys I know want it (and need it…….new guys computer skills are great, but nobody seems to know how to turn wrenches anymore….or want to learn. The problems come when something going bad is sitting right in front of you, but nobody has the experience to recognize a problem staring you in the face).
The morons that run the show have decided the old timers cost too much, so we’ll get shoved on the ice floe, and let the pups learn by OJT/trial and error. So, everybody (mostly the customers) gets to pay for the mistakes all over again, one way or another.
IOW, privatizing the gains (by paying lower salaries), and socialize the losses (by people getting killed, flights cancelled and delayed, costs passed thru.)
Multiply this, times just about every technical field/industry you can name.
This is why you have a long talk with your kids and transfer your assets at least 5 years before you get sick and need medicaid…..have joint checking accounts with each one of them…
And I agree we should have a Dr. Kevorkian available when our time comes…Now only get Polly to write up a new law so that no one can get sued or arrested after you die, that would be perfect.
Given the choice between extending my life for a few months/years, (at the cost of being a debt-slave and/or handing over all of my worldly assets and possessions to the doctors and hospitals), or
The idea is that over-65 consumers…would drive down costs by forcing the plans to compete for their business
News flash: no insurance WANTS the business of an over-65 consumer. If they did, we wouldn’t have Medicare in the first place.
Totally correct, Oxide. That’s the first thing I thought when I read that. Doctors now are turning away Medicare patients in droves since they refuse to deal with Medicare’s underpricing. A man with a Medicare card has no negotiating power; few service providers want to see him.
What the (rightwing part of) Congress is planning on doing, is stranding the Boomers. They will give them vouchers and tell them to compete, but the insurers will take those vouchers plus a buttload of cash in order to insure them. “Voucher, plus.” That’s the larger plan for all of us, actually: To throw us to the insurers, who like dogs will tear us apart.
The Congress has no desire to handle the root problem: Health care is too expensive. The market is very controlled and there’s no way to innovate cheap solutions; medical innovation today only drives EXPENSE.
These are complex products. The what the insurance does and does not cover are contained in booklets. One would need a 3-dimensional display to effectively compare them. And someone to input all that information. And an interface to make sense of the comparison.
I think it could be done, but there’s big money in obfuscating what’s covered and not covered, and what the prices are, prior to purchase.
If they are identical products, then it would just be a question of price. Still some kind of neutral third party - an exchange I suppose - would have to compile and present the information.
Plus, what if the insurance company doesn’t want to cover you? The elderly are one giant pre-existing condition.
Plus positive infinity!
I lvoe the across state lines insurance plan. An utter race to the bottom. If your state wants insurance company jobs just agree to let the company have very little in reserve to deal with a surg in medical costs, and allow the insurance company to drop people when they get sick for no reason, and shield the company from law suits. In return as a politician you will get a wall of money for your campaign and a nice job as a lobbyist in 10 years.
This country is doomed.
Yup. We’ll have insurance-magnet states.
Sort of like what South Dakota is to the credit card companies. And what Delaware is for corporations.
My #1 cost cutting plan eliminate 90% of breast reductions, unless you are so huge its obvious to all its necessary….ddd’s are not big enough for coverage.
Flippin’ flip!
SO my realtor sends me a listing that looks familiar. Sure enough, we looked at it a few years ago. Well, they bought it for $114, cleaned it up and put in steel appliances, and now they want $200k!
Crunk that.
An additional $86k for finger print-magnet appliances and a cleanup? Yowzer. I’m in the wrong business.
OTOH, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that the house just sits there with its “for sale” sign creaking in the breeze. Two hundred smackers is a lot to pay for a wigwam.
What would you say about one that sold in 2010 for $300k and just sold again last week for $590k?
“we looked at it a few years ago. Well, they bought it for $114, cleaned it up and put in steel appliances, and now they want $200k!”
Bunch of that around here. Did your Liar tell you “anything in that price range is going fast because there is no inventory” Euh, I just got that bad taste in my mouth. What a giant sh#t sandwich this is being served up by the Fed, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the banksters and the Deadbeats.
Remember, Ben Bernanke hates you.
Palm Beach County home sales and prices up in March
by Kim Miller
Sales of existing Palm Beach County homes were up 24 percent in March compared to the previous month, while median prices inched up 6 percent to $197,000.
According to a report released today by the Florida Realtors, Palm Beach County single-family home sales dipped 7 percent in March from the previous year, but prices were still higher than the $190,000 seen in March 2011.
Statewide, single-family home sales in March were up nearly 6 percent compared to last year and 30 percent from February. Prices were also up statewide, increasing 10 percent to $139,000 compared to March 2011.
“The data indicates that property prices have hit the bottom, turned the corner and we’re heading uphill. The decrease in inventory and increase in buyers has generated a more competitive marketplace which has positively impacted property values,” said Tim Harris, president-elect of the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches.
Florida’s upbeat home sales news matched national numbers, which showed a 5 percent increase in March compared to last year, according to the National Association of Realtors. The seasonally adjusted annual sales rate in March was 4.48 million.
But Wells Fargo advisors called a 2.6 percent drop in March purchases from February “disappointing.”
“Home sales could be held back because of supply factors and not by demand,” said National Association of Realtors Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. “We’re already seeing this in the western states and in South Florida.”
Palm Beach County’s supply of single-family homes shrunk to 6.2 months in March from 13.5 months last year. Inventory was down to 5.9 months in March from 10.4 months during the same time in 2011.
This entry was posted on Thursday, April 19th, 2012 at 11:57 am and is filed under Florida economy, Housing affordability, Mortgages. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
4 Responses to “Palm Beach County home sales and prices up in March”
1
Get in the Game Says:
April 19th, 2012 at 12:58 pm
Ms. Miller – are you reporting on ALL houses in PBC?
If not, you used the word ‘existing’ incorrectly – yet again.
If a structure or an idea is in real being (look it up in Webster’s) OR to have actual being; be real (American Heritage Dictionary) it EXISTS.
So, since ALL houses therefore exist…you can further delineate them by age, type, condition…
Since RE traders like to use condition as a marker…
The houses are either USED or NEW.
It is quite simple – yet ‘reporters’ seem to be lazy and use incorrect terms for some reason?
Please advise.
2
area realtor Says:
April 19th, 2012 at 4:47 pm
I know many of you reading this may not have been living here ten years ago. I just want to give you some free advice as a community service. This is exactly what happened in 2002, almost 10 years to the day – prices started going up. Smart people acted fast and bought homes. Not so fast people (slow people) waited on their hands hoping prices would begin dropping, but they kept going up and up. Some people also tried to save money by not using a professional realtor to buy, and they do lost out to smart people who hire expert professionals to help them make such a major decision. The prices doubled between 2002 and 2006 – and experienced realtors (true professionals) will tell you the same thing will happen again between 2012 – 2016. Based on this information from impartial sources, now is certainly the time to buy – unless you don’t mind paying double for your house in four years.
3
Realist Says:
April 19th, 2012 at 6:09 pm
What about the backlog of foreclosures that haven’t been dealt with yet? Are those houses figured into the numbers??
4
orofthepress.com Says:
April 19th, 2012 at 6:30 pm
Foreclosures are still backlogged. The only ones coming on the market are overpriced Fannie Mae and HUD. They rip off the little guy because it’s the only option for a mortgage. If the listing doesn’t sell, then Fannie sells it in bulk to one of Obama’s corporate buddies. The bulk sale raises the median number. All a gigantic scam.
Look at a chart showing inventory. It started to fall when the robo-signing scandal hit. 18 months of no foreclosures tends to do that. But look before robo-signing, foreclosures were at all time highs. There is inventory coming the question is will they release it or keep manipulating?
Some people also tried to save money by not using a professional realtor to buy, and they do lost out to smart people who hire expert professionals to help them make such a major decision.
That comment’s a real laugher.
It reminds me of a now-deceased friend who was quite knowledgeable about his field of work. He liked to refer to himself as an egg-spurt.
“This is exactly what happened in 2002″
Well, he’s right about the date, but he’s wrong about which direction we’re going in. Prices are dropping past 2002 and are heading to 1996.
Realtors can’t admit that. They have to sell you a house in order to make a living. But you know this, Slimster.
Realtors are Decepticons.
Well, they certainly do like to transform, don’t they? We transformed a lot of housewives and strippers into realtors, then back again, for instance. LOL!